Storm

Chapter Eight

Riding into the city felt longer than it had the last time. It probably was due to the fact that I was nervous.

I knew there were other people on this mission and I had backup, but I couldn't help the feeling. The mission shouldn't be too dangerous. I knew that. All we had to do was reach the informant, and then go. If we were lucky, we would get in and out undetected.

Even so, my mind kept replaying those first few unexpected shots in the store...they could come from anywhere, at anytime.

The truck ran over a bump as it made it's way past the outskirts of the city and towards its center. I watched the buildings grow on either side of me, slowly reaching higher and higher up. Finally, I could tell we were nearing the store we'd gotten our supplies from. As we drove past, I wasn't surprised to see that the windows still were riddled with bullet holes. The look didn't seem like it would be good for business.

"You think they'll start shooting again?" January asked, as she nervously glanced out the window next to me. Her mouth was stuck in a frown.

"I just really hope not. I don't think I'm ready for round two," I replied.

"Hey. Good thing we're disguised. They have no reason to shoot us down," Sean said from the front, his voice low and rough. He kept glancing in his rear view mirror. I guess even he couldn't keep his anxiety from showing.

Somehow, we managed to make it to our stop without being shot to death. Relief sunk into my bones as Sean opened the door, and got out at our destination.

From where I was sitting on the left side of the car, I found it difficult to see past Natalie's head to where our informant had holed up. It took me getting out of the car to finally see where we were. It was a bar, except, it, like the store, was riddled with bullets and its sign was half out. At some point it read "Bordeau's" in neon green. Now it was just "Bes".

That did tell me one thing, though. They had electricity. Or at least batteries. Which meant this was probably a popular hang-out spot for whoever still remained in this dilapidated city.

I walked around the car, checking my boot quickly to make sure the knife I'd brought was still there. Not many of us had guns, mainly because not all of us had convenient places to put them. Even though I had my small maroon pack, I knew that the shape of the gun would be obvious from the outside.

I scrunched up my nose as we walked into the bar. It smelled like body odor and booze, reasonably. Natalie cracked a joke about us being too young to be allowed inside.

Once we were in, it was simply a matter of finding our informant. I looked around the room, having no clue who it could be. There were a couple pool tables off to the left with only a single game going down. I could see the stack of coins by the side of the table. Even out here, money from the Equator still meant a lot. It kind of surprised me.

The men playing all were semi-similar. Each had a beard of varying lengths, and they all looked drunk. I guess I understood their idea. Things were horrible. It made sense to just try drinking their way through it. But at the same time, it made me wonder how any of them had survived this long.

There were a few people seated at the bar. A couple of men, ranging from their twenties to their seventies, and a woman sat there. There was even a very young looking boy having a drink. I guess no rules really applied anymore.

Something about the scene felt off, and it took me a couple minutes to realize what was wrong. There were adults here. Usually, you'd expect that from a bar, but in a place like this...

All that meant was that the Equator had left this place alone. The adults here hadn't been killed off. Or, maybe they all were just really good at defending themselves.

Or they could just be a part of a large underground gang that nobody had cared to mention to us yet.

I tried not to think of that last option. Claire was positive this city was mostly gang-free. I believed her.

To my surprise, it wasn't one of the buff-looking men that we ended up heading towards. It was the girl. She had straight, long black hair and tanned skin. She wore flannel and jeans and seemed to be minding her own business as Sean sat down next to her. I wondered what he was expecting us to do. It only hit me then that this was a little odd, having the rest of the people from our car just kind of standing there while Sean talked. It made us look quite conspicuous.

Already, as I was thinking that, I saw Natalie also sit down at a stool, a little ways down, along with the other boy I didn't know. That left just January and I, standing there, with not much to do. I knew that the people from the other car were waiting in the SUV as guards, only if needed.

I motioned to the two bar stools nearest us, and January and I sat down.

It felt like we were attracting a lot of attention, despite trying not to. I could hear the low voices of Sean and the girl from a few seats down. I tried eavesdropping, but it didn't really work.

"This is fine. We'll be fine...," January muttered, but it seemed like she was just reassuring herself. I hoped it would, too. The only thing stomping on that hope was how many looks we were now attracting from the group in the corner playing pool. They seemed to think something was up.

Nope. Nothing going on here...look away, I thought, hoping it'd somehow convince them telepathically.

But in the end, it wasn't them who needed convincing.

Because the explosion came from outside, blasting what remained of the bar's windows in.