To Be A Warrior

Chapter 1: Sorry For Party Rocking

Nicole chuckles and looks at me. "Reminds me of St. Lincolns back in D.C. Remember?"

"Unfortunately," I grumble, before my attention goes to Jody when she speaks.

"Come on. It's up to us to head them off, or this peace conference is going Guy Fawkes faster than you can say Rule Britannia! Run!"

I roll my eyes at her reference to one of those old history documentaries that someone managed to upload on Roufflenet. Sam was really into it because one of the Roman soldiers was named Samnium or something.

The entire thing seemed more like a Roman Zombie AU than actual history, especially since it said something along the lines of the dead coming back. Plus one of the Roman soldiers that helped Samnium was suspected to be a woman in disguise-a woman with a Greek name, at that.

I push the thoughts away and swallow down the teasing insults that rest on my tongue as we head out. The bikes are getting louder, meaning the bikers are getting closer. Peace never seems to be an option. Even though it's clear that nearly everyone wants it, there's always that one person or group who refuses.

This peace conference is already on shaky ground with everyone still trying to come to terms with the fact that the country's former leader was a nutcase who started the apocalypse. Some are still wary of Jaime, and even warier of Janine.

Nicole suggested that Jody be the one to be in the conference while Janine helps with security, but it didn't go over well. Even though she hasn't tried to kill me recently and has been formally made a runner with her own designation, Janine, Sam and everyone else still feels slightly wary of her, since she still works for the A.M.T.B.

Not that I blame them. Even I don't fully trust her.

It doesn't take long for us to get out far enough to see unwelcome guests.

"They're circlin' the buildin'," Jody says, and I narrow my eyes at the war paint on their faces and the tattoos lining up and down their arms. With how messily they're done, I can only guess they got them after Z Day from someone who's not a professional.

All of them have pieced cheeks, too, and they're also not done properly. They stick out too much, a sure sign that their bodies are rejecting them. If they don't get them out soon, it'll lead to infection-if they aren't infected already-and bad scarring, not that they seem to care.

"They've got flaming arrows," Nicole hums, and Jody gasps.

"Bloody hell. That one's got a nice crossbow. If you get your hands on it, it's mine, okay?"

She shrugs. "I just want one of their motorbikes."

"The spikes all around the House of Commons are keeping them at bay for now," Sam cuts in. "The peace conference must be their target."

"No shit," She scoffs. "But what do they want? Just to stop it from happening?"

He sighs. "All we have are rumors. I mean, we've ran into them a few times before. They just seemed to like destroying things, but... well, there's been some stuff about weird bone-obsessed cannibal bikers in North Yorkshire on Operator Roufflenet for a while."

Nicole frowns. "There's Operator Roufflenet? How come I never knew about this?"

"Because you never asked, Miss... I'm Convinced I'm A Better Operator Even Though I'm Not."

"You've got to work on your insults."

"Oh, shut up. And, yeah, there is Operator Roufflenet. Just to share intel between settlements, rumors, that kind of thing. A lot of it turns out to be nothing, but this... well, they're saying Sigrid had a deal. She just didn't bother them, and they kept their murder/cannibal stuff north of Thwaite. They did, of course, come around every once and awhile to set a building on fire or something, but they weren't too bad. But since Sigrid fell, well, they've got ambitious. If you can call anarchists ambitious.