I took another bite into my meal and cleaned off my knife on the fur of the bear we finally took down. We relit the grill with as much salvaged coal as possible and dry wood that had died with the cool season as we cooked the slain monster over it.
With the knife, I was able to cut it down into reasonable chunks and Noah retrieved some seasoning and spices from the village.
This bear was surprisingly easy to cook and he tasted downright delicious. It tasted very sweet and tangy probably because he was eating a lot of fruits and berries before our encounter and for that perfect tenderization, I slow-roasted the bear with the seasonings.
We left the head of the bear out in the middle of the village so people would know that the caves are now safe and maybe they could use it in their breakfast soup or something.
Noah complained about how long it took but it was well worth the wait and he knew it too the way he devoured it. After the three-hour long meal that we both enjoyed immensely, Noah hung the skin on a rock to dry out.
He said that he had always wanted one of those real animal fur coats from an animal he himself killed. There was plenty of string at the village and he had a basic understanding of how to sow from having to make his own clothes from caveman devices in his tiny little house.
He walked back inside the cave and sat next to me on the floor by the wall as I was taking my last bite trying to stuff myself before I could fall asleep. He plopped down beside me and groaned as he leaned back on the wall.
"Why the hell would you go after--"
"I was not about to be the cause of an entire village being slaughtered after you people and the bear clearly lived in peace for like how long now?" I shot at him. "The bear attack was my fault and I needed to correct that and that's the end of it."
He gave me a dubious look. "You should have let me help."
I crossed my arms, not really expecting that. "It was none of your business."
A victorious smirk crossed his face and his nose wrinkled in that cute way when he's about to say something he may get slapped for. "Is that seriously what you're going with? --cough--pathetic--cough--"
Case and point. He also has a habit of calling people out on their crap when they were wrong and they both knew. He pretended to clear his throat. "Sorry, my throat's been messing with me since morning."
"Whatever, why would you hole up out here in this jungle of a state?" I asked him, thinking of all the hell I went through to find him and get here. "Rapid water levels almost consumed this state completely, thus making you, a bitch to find."
He slouched even further. "I needed to get away from New York and I was staying with a friend a couple of miles here when the eind dagen hit."
I gave him a curious stare.
"It's Dutch for 'the end of days.'" he told me. "That's what these people have been calling it ever since the Dutch claimed to have predicted it first and blah. You know, before the world lost all power."
He looked up at the ceiling of the cave and seemed to follow the dancing shadows of the flames jet back and forth. "My friend and I," he sighed. "We hiked and hiked through the dense forests that seemed to have come out of nowhere and after about a year and a half we stumbled upon this place; long before the bear."
"What happened to him." I probed, knowing he was purposely excluding that detail.
"Well, he died from falling into a nasty snake pit a few yards out that way." He pointed beyond the village. "and he screamed and screamed but no one could go in and save him so after who knows how many bites, the screams stopped."
"I'm so sorry." I tried to comfort him. He had a lost look in his eyes and shrugged his shoulders after another mourning sigh. He suddenly snapped to attention and looked down at me.
"How did you find me?"
"Databases, phone calls, flight records...eventually I figured out that you've been coming here often from your jail records and then you signed your name under a house that near that police station for a credit card denial."
"Smart girl," he applauded. "But then how did you actually find this place?"
"That was the easy part." I smiled carelessly. "Knowing you, you had to be in some gathering or 'safe house' of some sort. When I realized a lot of people have been going in the same direction, I simply asked where they were going and most of them said a village in the rainforest down by the Florida/Georgia state border. A friendly person led me here, but they turned around a little bit before the cave."
"Quite the adventure, huh?" he yawned. "Just like our dear old Uncle taught us right, you know, before...he...killed himself." he veered off. "Did you ever know why he would do such a thing?"
My mind when horridly blank. "I..." I turned away so he wouldn't see my face blush by pretending to fiddle with something around my belt. "I have no idea."
He bought it and stood up again. "So what were you about to show me before Senior Farina busted in about the bear?"
This time, he saw my face drop like a pile of loose bricks and I couldn't look him in the eye. "That..."
"What? What is it?"
"Dad was a part of the team that caused the 'eind dagen' that wiped away half of the planet and was framed for the cause of it." I divulged. He was taking a minute to process so I pulled out the wrist phone. "I have his video that he made, explaining all that he could."
As the video played his face grew more and more grave and I don't blame him for his reaction. He had no preparation like I did and this was a total shock on top of me suddenly appearing here and the bear attack. I wouldn't be surprised if he had fainted right there and then.
"How did...how did you...get...get ahold of th-this?" he stuttered in between sobs of some emotion I don't recognize. Maybe it was a mix of multiple.
"Now that is a long, long story that you are not prepared for."
"Tell me."
"All you need to know is that I am going to need your help if I'm going to prove his innocence."
"And how the hell are we about to do that?" he chocked. "The government and jail system was kind of thrown into the air when half the world became fair game."
"Well he was arrested before the eind dagen and since half the world is 'fair game' the other half isn't and he is held accountable."
"Do you even know where he is or how exactly he's innocent?" he countered. "Do you have any proof?"
"If I knew the answer to these questions I would have never come to this hell hole now would I?"
"What help do you expect me to be on this crazy thing you have planned?" he asked me angrily.
"Does that mean you won't go with me?"
He went silent as he looked back up at the ceiling then got comfortable under the thick wool blanket he fetched from some house. I tucked myself in and rested my head on my arm and we both faced the opposite way of each other.
Noah shifted behind me. "Why don't we just sleep in the village instead of these sharp rocks?" he hissed as he shifted again.
"Because we can't have anyone notice when we leave in the morning."
****
~ Greyson ~
A maroon red, mid-level Chevy truck pulled up in a violent jerk onto the dirt sending gravel flying off to the sides of the truck.
It stopped suddenly right in front of Greyson as if threatening to hit him with the vehicle, stopping just barely in front of his toes. Greyson stood his ground as the truck pulled up.
"Why the hell was I called into this old, abandoned factory at this time of the day?!" Mr. Stein barked as he stepped out of the truck, acting as if nothing happened between Greyson and the truck just then.
It was almost eleven at night and Stein was extra grumpy because he was off hours. Greyson was wearing his usual white lab coat and Stein had on a regular everyday suit, but long rubber boots instead of his normal shoes.
My dad seemed to have done the same thing, probably because all the red soil they are walking on. "And I see why you asked me to wear 'sensible shoes'." he grouched as he made his way past Greyson without looking him in the eye. Greyson followed behind him into the factory.
Greyson gave a lifeless, but scientific speech about what he's about to show him with enthusiasm draining at each five-syllable word.
This was on purpose; to confuse Stein with fake details to make what they are doing sound authentic.
Greyson hoped in front of Stein and led him through two double doors. "This factory isn't anywhere near old; it's still in peak condition, but it is abandoned," Greyson informed him. "They went bankrupt and was forced into an eviction about half a year ago. This place was well maintained."
"I don't care about its well being; I want to know what I'm doing here?" Stein demanded as he took in the surroundings of the place.
There were rows and rows of machines and rotators going across the inside and up into the air that attached somewhere on the ground. The building itself was at least four stories, but there no elevators or stairs because the entire complex was just one large room.
With the obvious exceptions of office rooms and bathrooms and such sprinkled along the outer edges. There was one long balcony that stretched along the entire inner perimeter that was reached by a small ladder on both sides.
"Well, you don't have to do anything but watch," He stated with a soft smile creeping its way onto his wistful face as the rest of the team came from around the corners of machines that seemed to have been improved. "Our project will show you the rest."
Greyson held out the ore and put it on a metal plate on a table that was connected to a network of cords and cables leading into the wall.
He pointed at Henson who had a huge smirk on her face that reflected the mood of the whole team. Her face flexed as she pushed up a massive red lever that was sticking out the wall next to her by the entrance. The ore glowed and began to float on the plate.
All at once, the entire factory turned on.
Every piece of equipment and light came to life and sounds started buzzing and humming in the background as machines continued their work as if the six-month hiatus never existed.
This was a newspaper factory and the only problem was that there was no paper to process, sort or package, so the machines were grabbing nothing and placing that same nothing to another type of machine and the process continued.
That explains why the place went out of business; paper was practically nonsexist nowadays. All the bathroom paper towels were long replaced by pressure dryers that you put your hands into a tube-like capsule that is open on the side facing you and it evaporates the water left on your hands. There have been a lot of innovations like that one in the year 2098.
"How are you doing this?" Stein asked, trying his hardest to mask his amazement.
"Take a guess." Greyson swaggered. Stein looked at him know realizing what this entire thing was for, but he couldn't fight them on this; this was the real thing. Stein's face gave away exactly what he was thinking. "Is this large scale enough for you?"
The whole team stood in a circle around Stein as he was still taking in how profound the display really was as the noises fill his ears and the sight of all those operating machines working in sync was more than enough for his eyes. Dr. Vault smirked as he watched Stein's facial expressions of wonder.
"Guess that means our funding is in order."
Not saying another word, Stein made his exit back into his truck to wane their victory as much as possible since he clearly couldn't deny them the money. He slammed his door and drove off, recreating that dirt flinging effect as the wheels spun through the ground.
The moment Greyson made sure he was out of sight, he waved his hands back to the team and they went to work. They knew using the rest of the ore to power the factory could be risky if it turned out to not work and it needed further tweaking to get right.
So instead they had to take power from several power lines that attached to a city a few miles out from the factory. Now they didn't lose the ore they had left and got the funding to continue their experiments.
It was Dr. Vault's technological prowess that created the little light show of the floating fake ore that merely had a battery-powered light bulb.
"Is it disconnected yet?" Greyson demanded sternly as he approached his team. Henson pulled down the lever she operated earlier and all the power shut down. Dr. Vault and Lance were busy undoing the cables in the back that was sucking power from an unsuspecting city, illegally.
Greyson helped by placing the disconnected cables into the back of a van that Dr. Lance was able to get a hold of from a friend of a friend who used to work with him in electronics.
Dr. Lance and Vault were covered from head to toe in rubber while inside a small box at the edge of a three part ladder. It was connected to a huge utility truck that was parked underneath the pole.
This took about three hours before they were finished and the four of them drove to a storage unit they had prepared ahead of time. Lance returned the van while Vault returned the utility truck to its original parking space in a large lot by its company. He had hotwired it for his own bidding before hand.
They all went home amazed at how being so bad could fell so good. Of course, for one of them, being dishonest was only the beginning.
Next was the destruction of the world.
***
A/N: Looks like this glossy professional team isn't as innocent as one would presume! Stealing power to mimic results? Must say I'm impressed.
What a terrible thing that happened to Noah's friend. Either way, it looks like Noah hoped all aboard the express to the insane asylum with Skylar on her quest! What do you presume will happen to them on the way? Actually, where on earth are they even going? Whag could possibly be their next move? Vote and comment your thoughts!