Misconceptions

Chapter Three - Traps

"I agree. It's either now or later, and the sooner we do this, the bigger a head start we'll have when we need it," Ian said. 

"Violet?" Cormac said softly. Violet's gaze was on her hand on the table. Her fingers were tapping against the wood, nervously, and her foot was shaking. She chewed on her lips. And finally, after another minute of patient silence, she looked up.

"Yeah. Yeah, we should do this. We have to, right?" The others smiled in some relief, and Violet stood up from her chair, the metal scraping loudly against the concrete floors. "I'm ... gonna go sharpen the knives. Let me know when we're leaving." She turned and disappeared around the corner, heading up the stairs and outside.

"I'll gather some water and pull the laundry from the creek bank. With the space heater down here fixed, we can dry them inside if they're still wet," Hector said, standing and head out just as well, leaving Cormac and Ian at the table together. Cormac left the map out on the table, picking up a pen to study the paper, to make notes and marks on it. 

"Can I ... ask what happened? Last time? I know I came right after, but I never really ... " Ian said quietly, glancing at Cormac curiously. He knew well enough that it wasn't anything good, but he had never been told much of anything. Cormac sighed softly.

"Violet's brother used to be part of our group. Virgil. He was a real sweet kid, he was a few years younger than Violet. Just turned eighteen. He used to be our inside man, he could get through the systems fine as a minor who showed no signs of aggression or discontent. Violet had gotten custody of him when she was eighteen after their parents passed, and she fought like hell for that. The two of them joined like that. But last year, on his eighteenth birthday, he caught word of a resistance group." Ian could feel his heart drop. 

"When we showed up, there was supposed to be several people. But there wasn't anyone. We were a little early, so we stuck around, since Virgil insisted. But ... the authorities showed up instead. Virgil was gunned down before we could react. We only barely got away. Violet had been shot. Hector had to carry her back, and she demanded I bring back Virgil. I camped out for hours, I almost couldn't do it. He's buried out by the laundry spot. We couldn't mark it, because ... you know."

Ian nodded solemnly, swallowing hard. He never even knew she'd had a brother, let alone had lost him. "I ... I see. I'm sorry."

"It's ... it's hardest on her. Be careful bringing it up right now, okay? She's not too great with handling that situation. She doesn't remember many of the details anymore," Cormac said, and Ian nodded. "Can you go run some inventory on the food supply? We're not leaving for a few hours, and if we're low on anything, I'd like to try and stock it back up on our way back from it." Ian nodded, standing and leaving the room to take care of the task quickly. Cormac could tell the story had rattled the other. It wasn't much of a surprise, after all. 

He hadn't even told the whole truth.

The impact of the decision seemed to have left everyone in the group quiet for the rest of that time, until Cormac gathered them all to point out the route and explain the plan. It was very simple, really. Cormac would go inside with Ian, while Hector and Violet stayed outside as lookouts. If all seemed fine, the other two would follow them in and all would be armed. They only brought water as a necessity.  The trip would take about an hour to get there, and then however long the meeting would last, and they would have to be extra careful on the way back.  They knew not to have high hopes, but when they started the trek out, it was hard not to thing about the possibility of finding others. Of gathering forces. Realistically, the bunker could hold more people. It was something the group talked about often, just in case. The idea that they could find more cots, fit in more space. There wasn't a whole lot, the bunker had been built many years ago for a single family, but Cormac knew a lot about making things efficient, at least.