A/N: Chapter 5 is here! Once again, no zombie action 'cause it's a new environment for Laura, so it's like another orientation chapter. All the same, though - I hope you like it :)
CHAPTER FIVE: RECRUITMENT
"Right. What's in your backpack, then?" Harry asked me expectantly, "Empty it out on this table, please,"
I had just finished changing into the spare clothes he'd given me while my old stuff had been taken to a watering hole somewhere to be washed. Now, I was clutching the straps of my backpack protectively and looking at Harry suspiciously.
"Why?" I asked.
"Security precautions," he replied, "and besides – I need to see if you have anything useful,"
"What, so you can take it and then send me on my way with nothing?" I demanded.
A smile began to tug at his lips. "Not necessarily,"
I glared at him, but his expectant gaze remained unstirred. Feeling slightly defeated, I sighed and removed my backpack; thumping it on the table and unzipping it reluctantly. I then pushed the bag so that it slid across the table towards him, and he caught it with a thank-you nod.
"While I take a look at this," he spoke up again, "can you take out any weapons you have and lay them out on the table?"
I sighed again and pulled out my crow bar and my hatchet from where they were strapped to my belt, and the knife I used to open Sid's can from my jacket pocket. I dropped them on the table without a word.
"Sorry. I didn't take time to clean them. I hope you don't mind a little blood on your table," I said cockily.
"Is that all?" He asked, ignoring my comment.
For some reason, I felt somewhat disappointed that I didn't get a bite from him.
"No. There's also a gun and another knife in the backpack," I replied obediently.
He took out the four cans of food that I had left, my three bottles of water, the packets of rubber gloves, the boxes of meds I took from the pharmacy and finally the gun and knife that I had promised were in there. He nodded pensively at the items before peering into the backpack once again.
"Is there anything else in here?" He asked me.
"Uh, no. I don't think so,"
Harry looked at me thoughtfully, and then his eyes drifted down to the front pocket of my bag, and he immediately unzipped it. His eyes widened, and he seemed rather shocked at whatever he found inside; causing me to frown in confusion. I don't remember anything else being in there.
However, my jaw then dropped as he pulled out the handful of condoms that Annalise pushed at me that time we raided the desk. I had kept them out of my sentiments for her...but I'd totally forgotten that they were in there.
"Shit...I forgot about those," I cursed under my breath.
"Why," Harry began slowly, "do you have so many of these?"
"Annalise gave them to me. A few hours before she died," I answered truthfully, "I kept them because she practically begged me to take them once we discovered the stash,"
"Where the hell did you two find a giant stash of condoms?" He asked me with raised eyebrows.
"We used to take shelter in an old pharmacy," I replied, "there was a whole bunch of them in a drawer we unlocked in the back room,"
An amused smile began to spread across Harry's face. "Well. I guess I'll let you keep these, then. You never know when you might need them," he said with a chuckle as he put all the condoms back in the front pocket of my bag, "anyway," he cleared his throat, "so, the stuff you've carried around actually proves to be quite useful. I'll add them to our storage, and then I'll see if I can get Hailee to show you around,"
My head jerked up in surprise. Was this him saying he was letting me stay with his group?
"Wait...what are you saying?" I asked, "That I can stay?"
"You most certainly can," he smiled at me, "judging by the amount of blood on your weapons, you appear to be a rather experienced killer. And seeing that all this food is only edible when cooked, it also tells me that you know how to cook,"
"Well...yeah. I guess," I said; rather impressed at how well he figured me out, "but really? I can stay here? With you...and your group?"
"Yes, Laura. In short, I'm recruiting you," he said, "I can see that you have skills, and I can help you brush up on those skills. Although...I suppose...aside from Eric you'll be the youngest. You're, what? 18? 19?"
"19," I nodded, "but turning 20 in three months,"
He nodded back. "You'll be the youngest, alright. The youngest adult, that is," he smiled, "thank God. The youngest adult used to be me,"
"Huh?" My eyes widened, "Really?"
He nodded again, his smile growing a little. "I'm 23. The rest of the group are aged from 24 to 29. Excluding Eric, who's 8," he chuckled, "it's quite funny, because I think in dog years, Sid is older than all of us."
I couldn't help chuckling myself at that thought. "That is pretty funny,"
"Anyway," Harry was trying to get focused again, "I'll help you find Hailee. She should be around here somewhere."
***
"Hailee," Harry beckoned her over from where she was talking to Eric; his free hand holding on to my forearm.
"Yeah, boss?" She asked, making her way over.
"Laura's cleared of bites. She's safe, and she's staying with us," he said.
Hailee seemed surprised at his statement. "Really?"
"Really," Harry gave her some sort of warning look, "would you mind showing her the ropes around here?"
"Uh, OK. You're the boss," Hailee shrugged, "I'll take her off your hands,"
Harry nodded at her, and turned to me.
"Go with Hailee, OK? She'll take care of you," he gave me a small smile before walking away.
"So," Hailee spoke up again, "your name is Laura, right?"
I nodded. "Laura Marshall,"
"Hailee McDermott," she smiled at me for the first time, "I guess I'm showing you how things work around here,"
"I guess you are," I replied.
"OK, well," she looked around uncertainly, as if she wasn't quite sure where to start, "I guess we'll get started by showing you around the place. Maybe you'll get to meet some of our crew in the process,"
I suddenly gasped as I felt someone hug me from behind. I turned around, and I couldn't help smiling when I saw that it was none other than little Eric who had hugged me; looking up at me with a big grin on his face.
"I just heard the news," he said happily, "I'm so happy you're staying, Laura!"
"I'm happy to be staying, too," I chuckled and patted his head.
"You should play with me and Sid when you've gotten used to the place," he said with a smile, "Sid loves playing fetch,"
"I'm sure it'll be lots of fun," I smiled back at him.
"Eric, how about you talk to Laura after she's been shown around?" Hailee suggested warmly.
"OK, mum!" Eric nodded obediently before running back to Sid; who was barking a few metres away.
"Mum?" I turned to Hailee with an astonished look on my face.
"Oh...yeah," Hailee smiled coyly, "Eric's my son,"
"Really?" I peered at her face, and then nodded, "Oh yeah. Now I'm seeing a resemblance,"
"Oh, I know. It's hard to find my genes in his face," Hailee chuckled, "he looks too much like his father,"
"His father? You mean the guy who threatened to 'blow my fucking brains out'?" I asked in amusement.
"Yeah. I'm sorry about that. Louis can be really aggressive," she said apologetically, "it's just that...because he's so young Eric's been in danger far too many times. He's just trying to protect him,"
"It's understandable. He is only 8," I said assuringly, "but...don't you think you two look a bit young to be parents?"
"Oh...yeah," Hailee seemed embarrassed, "Louis & I were both 17 when we had him. It was a...broken condom incident,"
"Ohhh..." I felt guilty for mentioning it, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"
"No, it's OK," she said with an assuring smile, "everyone else in the group knows. You may as well know too," she looked over at Eric and smiled, and following her eyes I saw that Louis was now playing fetch with Sid alongside his son, "but he is a very loving father. He was even excited when I told him that I was pregnant...he didn't want me to even think about abortion,"
"Lucky you," I said with a smile.
"Yeah..." her voice sounded distant and somewhat dreamy, before she cleared her throat and smiled at me, "anyway, let's get on with this, shall we?"
***
"So, there are two bunkers here because Harry decided it'd be best if male & female dormitories were separated," said Hailee, "the female dormitory is here. We have a couple spare beds because there's less girls here than boys,"
She opened a door and let us into a relatively large room that had a number of beds scattered around the area as well as a few clothes thrown here and here.
"Sorry – the girls in this group aren't very tidy," said Hailee, "but in my opinion the guys are way worse,"
"That's OK," I said assuringly.
I was too busy admiring the beds to care about the mess. It had been ages since I'd last seen an actual bed – let alone several beds in one room.
"How did you get all these beds in here?" I asked in awe.
"Good question," Hailee said with a chuckle, "the bed structures were built by us. The mattresses, blankets and pillows are ones we picked up from a number of houses and scrubbed the life out of until we knew they were as clean as they could be,"
"Wow. That's impressive. This is better than any base I've seen in movies and video games. You must've kept real busy these past six months,"
"We have," Hailee nodded, "but it's worth it. We're really comfortable here. And it's all thanks to Harry that this became possible. He's an amazing leader. Moody sometimes – but still amazing,"
"Mm. Looks like it," I said in agreement.
"So...you can sleep there," she gestured to a bed on a further end of the room, "it's the warmest part of the room to me – which is handy during the cold season – and your bed's right next to mine. If you have any spare stuff you can put it in that wooden chest at the end of your bed. We built those too, you know,"
"OK. Cool," I took off my backpack – that now only had my weapons and the condoms in it – and chucked it on the bed. I then hopped on the bed to test its comfort, "holy shit. This is the softest mattress I've laid on for months," my eyes began to slowly close, "I could fall asleep right now,"
"Oh no," Hailee pulled me off the bed with an amused smile, "sorry, girl. It's orders. No sleeping until it's actually bedtime,"
"Right. Yeah. Sorry," I gave her an embarrassed smile in return.
"It's OK. I know the beds are really comfortable, though," she winked at me, "anyway, I'd better take you to our agriculture block next. So come on. Off we go."
She took my arm and led me out of the dormitory, taking me past the garage to the far east side of the base. She led me into a little area that was fenced by a tall set of hedges, and after taking me through the entrance, my jaw dropped as laid eyes on the thriving crops and trees that were planted all around the area.
"Holy..." my voice drifted away as I looked around the garden in awe.
"Carrots, potatoes," began Hailee; pointing to each individual set of crops as she spoke, "apple tree, pear tree. We also have a few cotton plants over there, and a really small bunch of coffee plants in that far corner which we use sparingly," she continued, "there's plenty of crops here. Most of the time they're only harvested during our main mealtimes, but you can pick things like the apples & the pears for a snack,"
"Shit," I breathed, "you guys have it great here,"
"It's better than how most people live, yeah," said Hailee, "we're able to do this because Harry only accepts the most able, fit & ruthless people into our group. Which, you know, narrows the selection down by quite a lot,"
"Jesus..." I gulped, suddenly feeling intimidated by the fact that Harry might've made a mistake in letting me stay. I mean sure – I was pretty ruthless, but...was I really good enough to be in his group?
"So congratulations," Hailee continued; smiling at me, "nobody's gotten the blessing of Harry's acceptance for three months,"
"Thanks..." I replied with an anxious bite of my lip.
My head suddenly jerked up as I heard a twig crack from the other side of the tree. Cautiously, I followed the noise; with Hailee right behind me. I then gasped in surprise as I saw that a girl dressed totally in black – seemingly Japanese with a large katana strapped to her back – was collecting a bunch of apples from the apple tree and shoving them into the small satchel that hung by her hip.
"Oh, don't worry about her," Hailee said dismissively, "that's just Mako. She's Harry's right-hand-man...or woman...or whatever. Second in command, basically," she tried waving the girl over, "yo, Mako! Say hello to our new recruit!"
Mako didn't move a muscle. She just stood there, staring at me with a slight glare in her eyes. Without a word, she huffed and went back to picking apples.
"Sorry," Hailee said with a sigh, "she really doesn't like people,"
"That's OK," I said nervously; feeling somewhat intimidated by this mysterious girl.
"Let's get on with the tour, shall we?" Hailee suggested; placing a hand on my back and leading me out of the garden.
***
"So, what's the deal with Mako?" I asked as Hailee began to lead me to the toilets & wash-up area, "Why did Harry choose her as second in command? Is he like, dating her, or something?"
Hailee burst out laughing. "Don't be ridiculous," she sniggered, "she is so not his type. No – she's second in command because she's the fiercest out of everyone – he can trust her to keep things under control when he's not around. And she's a really good fighter, too. Trespassers never get past her. You're lucky Harry wasn't away when you arrived – or else Mako might've had you decapitated. She isn't permitted to accept new recruits when Harry's away – so she just kills them instead,"
"Oh...geez," I gulped and held my hand around my neck, "I am really lucky,"
"I think she's getting tired of her position, though," Hailee continued, "I overheard her talking to Harry once about possibly stepping down from being second-in-command. He wouldn't hear of it, of course. Nobody's better at controlling people than Mako – aside from Harry himself,"
"Does everyone find her scary, or is it just me?"
Hailee shrugged. "We're all used to her by now. You'll get used to her too – don't worry,"
I bit my lip uncertainly and nodded. I thought Mako was really intimidating.
Hailee & I suddenly jumped at the sound of a cry of alarm followed by a gunshot.
"What was that?" I asked with a gulp.
"I dunno," Hailee bit her lip, "but it sounded like it came from the zombie containment facility,"
"The what?!" My jaw dropped.
Did I hear that right? Did she literally just say that there was a zombie containment facility inside this base?!
"Come on," Hailee said; beckoning me to follow her before darting away.
"Hey...wait up!" I immediately bolted after her; not wanting to be left behind in case I got lost.
I followed her until I began to the familiar huskiness of Harry's deep voice. It kinda sounded like he was telling someone off.
"I've told you this a million fucking times," I saw that he was glaring at some guy with a clipboard and a big, heavy trench coat, "it was your idea to build this thing, so you're the one who's supposed to keep an eye on it!"
"Haz, I swear to you," the guy sounded kinda frantic, "I only looked away for a moment. Obviously there's a weak point somewhere in the containment building, but I'll get that fixed ASAP. I promise,"
"You'd fucking better," Harry snapped, "because if I get one more slip-up like this, your whole zombie-containment idea goes right out the window. Got it, Payne?"
"What happened?" asked Hailee, seeing that the two guys hadn't noticed our presence, "Who fired a gunshot just then?"
"I didn't have a choice," grumbled Harry, "this motherfucker jumped me when I least expected it!"
He pointed towards the ground; and for the first time I noticed that it was a dead walker – causing me to jump back and scream a little.
"Wha...W-Where the hell did that come from?!" I asked with wide eyes.
"It came from my quarantine facility," said the other guy, "damn thing found a weak point in the building and managed to escape," his eyebrows then rose; as if only just realising he'd never seen me before, "hang on a minute...Harry, who the hell is this? How'd she get in here?"
"She's the newest addition to our group," Harry replied matter-of-factly, "you honestly think I'd let some random girl wander around the base?"
"Oh...right," Liam glanced at me and gave me a small smile, "charmed. I'm Liam,"
"Hey," I gave him a little wave, "I'm Laura,"
"You'd better get this fucking thing fixed, Liam," Harry interrupted; prodding Liam's chest, "I mean it."
"Yeah. I'll get right on it, Haz. I promise,"
Harry sighed and nodded at him before walking away.
"Liam's a researcher," Hailee explained to me, "last month he had this idea to build a 'zombie containment facility', so he could observe their behaviour and see if he can discover any changes. He also knows quite a bit about medicine, so he's also hoping to find a way to cure to the apocalypse,"
"He really thinks there's a way to reverse the way people come back from the dead?" I asked; cocking my eyebrow.
"Yeah...I think it's pretty dumb too," Hailee admitted with a laugh, "but we keep him around because he'll be handy if anyone gets sick or anything,"
"Harry seems to get really impatient with him," I said; biting my lip thoughtfully.
"He gets impatient with everybody," Hailee chuckled, "but yeah – Liam does get on his nerves a lot,"
"Is that...the zombie containment thing...over there..?" I asked; pointing to where Liam was disappearing into a building with a gulp.
Hailee nodded. "Yeah. Liam spends pretty much every moment of the day in there. He kinda has to, though. You know – to keep an eye on the walkers,"
"There must be a lot of them in there," I chewed my knuckle anxiously; seeing how big the building actually was.
"Not really," said Hailee, "we need to be careful that we don't outnumber ourselves. There's only a few in there. Maybe ten – at most,"
I shuddered. "And...one got out?"
"Yeah. It's happened a few times now. There's always that one persistent walker who's determined to get out,"
"And yet...you guys still stay here?" I asked, "Even when zombies keep escaping from that place?"
"Even if they all escape, we'd easily outnumber them. Like I said – there's only a few of them in there. We could take 'em all down, easy,"
"If there's only a few, why is that building so big?"
"Space," replied Hailee, "if one escapes when someone's in there for whatever reason, it's important to not be compressed in any way. You need the space to get away,"
"Right. Yeah. Of course," I said with a nod. I then looked at her, "hey, look. I don't mean to cut short your tour or anything, but can you show me the bathrooms?"
Hailee smiled. "I knew that question would pop up sooner or later. They're at the far end of the base. Follow me."
***
"Wow," I said as I left the bathrooms, "that's impressive. Working toilets and a working bathing area? How did you manage that?"
"You'd be amazed at what our solar panels can do," Hailee said with a chuckle.
"So what's next?" I asked her.
"Well...let's see...I've shown you the bathrooms, the containment facility, the garden, the garage, the ammo store room, the food storage, and the dorms...umm...I think that's it. I've shown you everything,"
"Wow, already?"
"Yeah," Hailee chuckled, "sorry. I know it took a little while,"
"So...what do I do now?"
"Well...you should probably check with Harry to see what type of post he's planning for you. We have all types of jobs here...watch dogs, harvesters, stock-takers, builders...although that's a job usually reserved for the men. Harry's a fair guy – he'll probably start you off with something pretty light,"
"OK. Where can I find him?"
"He should be in his quarters, polishing his guns or something. If not, take a look around. If he's not in his quarters he'll either be doing a patrol, checking the radio, ordering someone around or telling someone off,"
"Alright," I gulped, "thanks, Hailee. For the...tour, and everything,"
"No problem," she smiled at me and looked around anxiously for a bit, "hey look – I don't mean to leave you alone, but I should probably check on Eric. He's a little bit accident-prone and needs to be kept a regular eye on. I know Louis should be watching him still, but...I just want to make sure,"
"Oh, yeah. Yeah, of course. I understand,"
"Thanks," Hailee smiled again, "welcome aboard, Laura,"
I smiled and waved at her as she rushed off.
OK. Now to find Harry. Where did Hailee say his quarters were, again? Oh, right. Just a little north of the dormitories...close to the Mess Table.
I began to do some thinking as I made my way over. So what am I meant to call him, then? After all, I guess he's my new boss. I've heard a few people call him 'sir', but that's kinda stuffy. I wonder if that was his command or just something that came up.
As I reached Harry's quarters, I tried listening at the door to see if I could hear anything. It was dead silent in there. All the same though – I was still hoping he was there and just being oddly quiet, 'cause I'm still trying to find my way around and I'm pretty sure if I start going walkabout to look for him I'd get lost. Someone needs to draw a map of the base or something and pin it to a few walls.
Gulping, I took a deep breath and rapped my knuckles on the door.
"Come in," I heard Harry call out distantly.
The door opened with a soft creak, and I saw that Harry was sitting on his bed; sharpening a knife like he was when I first met him. The irony is so strong right now.
"Hi, Laura," he gave me a soft smile, "everything alright?"
"Uh, yeah. I just finished the grand tour, and uh...Hailee said that I should see you about my...post?"
"Oh, right," Harry cleared his throat and put down the knife, "well, since it's nearly dusk, and you're still being shown the ropes around here, how do you feel about joining Vivienne and Niall in the kitchen tonight?"
"Er...yeah. OK. I could do that," I said with a nod.
"Good," Harry smiled again, but it disappeared in a fairly quick amount of time, "if Vivienne even bothers to come back, we can get started," he muttered angrily.
Clearly, this Vivienne chick annoyed him a lot.
"Where is she?" I asked.
"She went out with Max earlier today to try and find some more supplies. But of course, like always they still haven't returned. I knew sending them out together was a bad idea, but I gave it one last chance. Fucking worst decision ever," he sighed and shook his head, "they never get anything done together. They love to just wave their guns around willy-nilly to scare people off. Attract attention, is what they do. Scare off, my ass,"
"Why don't you just boot them out, if they're really that useless?" I asked.
He looked at me. "I'm not really a fan of cutting members off my team. It's the thought of them having nowhere else to go that bothers me. And besides – they're not useless. Not when they're together, at least,"
"OK, so...what do you want me to do during the wait?"
"Just get used to the environment for now," he told me, "I know this place is pretty big. It's going to take some getting used to,"
"Yeah," I let out a chuckle, "so different from a standard pharmacy shop,"
He let out a chuckle and smiled down at the ground; looking rather boyish but I still thought it was pretty cute.
"Well, I guess I'll...leave you in peace then," I backed up closer to the door, "after all, I...didn't want to intrude,"
He smiled at me. "You weren't a bother, Laura,"
I smiled back. "But still...I kinda do want to look around a bit more,"
"Yeah, sure. Go ahead,"
I nodded and opened the door; about to exit when I suddenly stopped in my tracks for some reason. I turned back to him; and saw that he was about to go back to sharpening the knife.
"...Harry?"
His head jerked up; somewhat surprised at my address. "Yeah?"
"Thank you for letting me stay,"
His lips perked up into another smile. "You're most welcome, Laura."