Fatal | The Second Life I [COMPLETED]

Chapter 19: Orion

"I'm Orion." The man says. "Shall we sit down and talk?"

"Yeah." Tori says. "Let's do it."

"Great." Orion says, and he leads us to a table. I pull out my squeaky chair, looking at everything inside. This building was large. Much larger than the Battery House. "So. How'd you all find us?" He says, sipping a drink of some sort.

"One of you guys sent a radio message." Blake says.

"Oh, ok." Orion mutters. "I didn't think we'd ever pull anyone from that. Hm. Glad we kept it. Next question: Where are you all from?"

"We have a group." I begin. "It's set up in Battery Park."

"You all are surviving in Manhattan?" He asks, dumbfounded. "My, every attempt of going into Manhattan from us has resulted in death."

"You gotta stick to the coast." Blake mentions. "Inner City is Hell."

"Understood." Orion says, leaning back in his chair and taking a sip of his drink. "So, last question. Why'd you come here?"

We look at each other for a second before Adam speaks up. "Because we could?"

"There must be a better reason than that, right?" Orion asks.

"We're trying to see how many others are still out there." I say. "You're the first so far."

"Ah, ok." He says. "Makes sense. Well, I can give you some info on that."

"First, though." Catey interrupts. "Do you know a girl who calls herself Eagle?"

"Yes." Orion says, clearly stumbling on the question. "She left us a while ago. She went to live on her own, I guess. You saw her?"

"She kinda saved our asses." Tori says, with a little laugh. The picture of the flying clocks comes into mind, and I laugh along.

"Oh, good." Orion says, leaning forward. "She was always interested in the science of the disaster. She left because we were apparently 'not doing enough to stop the virus."

"Like what?" Adam asks.

"Where do I start?" Orion asks. "Those wasted aren't even normal zombies, they have new chemicals or something with the glow? And don't even get me started on the whole age restriction."

"Battery has a science division." Adam says. "They're doing something to find it, I guess.. hell, I don't know how they're doing it."

"Eagle would love that." Orion says. "Say, maybe mention it to her if you see her again. But I must get on with the info."

"Let's hear it." I say.

"Alright. Let's just say all of Brooklyn outside this courthouse and likely Queens as well are war zones." He says. "Not only are there a lot of wasted, but rival gangs are going at it constantly. No law or order, no peace."

"Sounds like the Bronx." Tori says. Now that I think about it, leaving the city would be harder than staying in it. With this info, and without a boat, all routes would be too dangerous.

"Oh, it's up there too?" Orion mutters. "Damn. Well, that sucks. But yeah, it's lord of the flies out there. Don't go there. Oh, I almost forgot. Your names?" He pulls out a notepad.

We list off our names, unconcerned. He couldn't do much with those names anyways.

"Well, amazing." He says. "I have some special info for you all, if you don't mind."

"Hit us." Blake says. Orion raises his hand and mock punches him, causing Adam to laugh. Orion then sits back down.

"Okay." He begins. "Eagle has gotten us some very important leads. In her exploration, she has found a very suspicious building near Columbus Park. Something to do with the disease and North Korea."

I give him a confused look. "North Korea?"

"You know how it started." Orion says. "Some bomb hit one of the towers by Central Park. The chubby fat kid on the peninsula liked bombs." He twirls his hair. "Look, it's just a theory."

"A GAME THEO-" Adam starts, and we all laugh.

"Look." He says, ceasing his laughter. "I know you want answers. We all do. Eagle can't inspect the house because there is a buttload if zombies. Her clocks don't do the trick for whatever reason." He swallows. "But, this place may have answers."

"Why don't you guys do it?" I ask. "I mean, you've known about this for how long?"

"About a month and a half." Orion mutters. "We don't know how to navigate Manhattan. As I've said, our expeditions didn't go so hot. My people are against that type of expansion. And the threats like gangs to the east are a lot on our plates."

"We'll think about it." Tori says, sighing.

"Great!" Orion exclaims. "Alright. Whether or not you do it, you should stay here for the day. Leave tomorrow, yeah?"

"It's not even noon, though." I say.

"Oh, I know." Orion says. "This way, you can meet some of my people. Learn about the other survivors."

We look at each other, skeptical. I then turn to Orion. "Look, we won't stay the day, but we got some stuff to do here. Eagle said you got a ton of guns."

"She was correct." Orion says, matter-of-factly. "You've brought stuff to trade, right?"

"Right." I say.

"Well then. Skippy is our arms dealer. Red-head dude on the south side of the building. He can help you with most of anything." He says. "I gotta get going. Just know, I'm glad you guys came."

"Why's that?" I question.

"Because I now know there are other civilized people in this world." He says, standing up. "You're free to leave whenever you please."

"Us too." I say. "See ya!"

"See ya!" He says, jogging off.

"Well then." I say, turning to everyone else. "Who wants to explore Columbus Park?"

"I'm down." Catey and Blake say.

"Not us." Adam and Tori say.

"Oh come on, Adam!" Blake says. "It's adventure!"

"Fine." Adam says.

"It'll be okay, Tori." I say. "I promise."

She sighs. "Okay, let's do it. Fuck it."

We get up from the table. "Someone find the radio and tell Riko we'll be a bit late. Ima go get a new gun."