Nico's POV
We found our new home. It was rather nice and had enough room for us all. Only it didn't have power.
Bryn was mad at us for letting Clara go off on her own.
"We could have gone with her!"
"We would have gotten her killed or caught! She's quick, and sneaky. She can get in and get out without being seen. All of us around they would know something was up."
She quieted down, but still looked pissed. She probably still didn't trust us yet. I didn't blame her, and now that her friend was gone, it would be even harder to get her to listen to us. Clara was her voice of reason.
Petra took a look at my shoulder where the bullet hit. It actually only grazed my shoulder blade so I didn't have to worry about anything, it just had to heal on its own over the next week or so.
Everyone spent the rest of the day barricading windows and doorways with furniture from around the house. Only once we were sure we got everything we got settled down and ready for bed.
Petra and Bryn slept in a little girls room on the second floor. The bed in the master bedroom had two mattresses so we split it and Rain and I each took our own mattress.
I dragged my mattress and slept outside on the balcony.
Stars above looked nice. A few clouds were in the sky but for the most part it was a clear night. The moon casted it's bright light on the city in the distance. Clara was there, hopefully alive and well. I didn't want to think about what fiends could do if they found a girl like her alone.
I noticed that steam and some smoke still rose from the forest just beyond the city. The fires were probably dying down now.
A long highway that led from the city to who-knows-where caught my attention. I stood up on the balcony and looked out at it. A few vehicles drove on it back into the city. I couldn't tell what type of vehicles they were but their lights showed that they were Old World.
I don't know how long I stayed awake out here. I couldn't sleep, too much was going through my mind.
Draco. Maybe Clara. My friends. I hated to say it but I was stronger than Rain, by far. If something happened to me, the others would likely die. Their lives depended on me.
I shut my eyes and tried to sleep. The sounds of crickets and owls soothed me and I soon drifted off.
Rain's POV
I woke up to the sound of birds chirping and Nico in a panic.
I rolled over to see that he was laying out the balcony, having a nightmare.
"Nico? Nico!"
He jumped, "Gahh..."
He had tears in his eyes and rolling down his cheeks, "Rain? Where's Draco!?"
"What? Nico...he's..."
"Never mind...it was just a stupid dream."
"You dreamt of Draco?"
"Yeah.."
"You ok?"
"I'll get by. We should wake up the girls and start breakfast. Might as well started the day."
I walked into the room the girls slept on. Petra was sleeping but Bryn was awake and changing into her normal clothes.
"Oh! Shit, sorry I didn't see anything I promise." I covered my eyes with my hand, she covered her breasts with hers.
"It's alright, Rain. I'm sure you've seen a woman in a bra before, living with two girls and all."
"Um, actually no. They're actually pretty good at not letting me see them change."
"Oh..."
I still had my eyes covered, I actually didn't see anything. I heard clothes rustling around and Bryn spoke, "Ok I'm dressed. You can look now."
"Again, I'm sorry."
"It's fine, Rain, really. Just knock next time."
"Will do. What're you doing awake so early anyways?"
"I smelled you guys cooking breakfast, and figured it was done."
"We just woke up..."
Now that thought about it, I did smell food cooking. I went back to the master bedroom where Nico was tying his shoes, "Nico, do you smell that?"
"What?"
"It smells like something is cooking."
"Oh shit.."
He tossed me a pistol and I snuck down the stairs. A guy about my height was standing in the kitchen cooking. I snuck down the stairs and across the room until I was behind the counter. I stood up and aimed the pistol at him.
He plopped a scoop of beans down on his plate, "You want some?"
"Wha..."
He turned around and smiled at me, "I realize you're probably confused..."
"Who the fuck are you?"
Bryn and Nico ran up behind me.
"Relax, relax. I'm Marc Raza. I'm not here to hurt you, but I'm also not here to help you, per say."
"What are doing here then?"
"I'm just traveling. I'm going south. I came across this house and...and I found a dog outside. I didn't want it to bark and alert any fiends that might be in the area so I hurried inside here."
"That's impossible we had all the windows and doors barricaded."
"I noticed. But you missed the garage entirely. The garage has a side entrance. You didn't barricade that. That's where I came in from. Don't worry, I barricaded it for you."
This guy was strange. He was our age but different. His cold eyes stared into mine as he spoke.
"You're heading south?"
"Yes."
"Where you from?"
"Lightstone. I noticed that the Princess is here."
He bowed and kissed Bryn's hand. He looked back up, "Are you also heading south?"
"Yeah."
"Do you wanna travel with me?"
"I guess. But for now we're staying here. Our friend is out trying to join the fiends. They stole our stuff."
"Oh. Well alright, I guess we could stay here as long as we needed."
"Hopefully we won't have to stay longer than a few days to a week."
"Well in the meantime, let me cook everyone breakfast. How many are there?"
"Us three, you, and another upstairs."
"Five plates it is."
There was something about this guy. He was too nice for a wastelander. If he traveled like us then he should have been colder and not as trustworthy in us.
But maybe he realized that four on one wasn't the best odds for him. Only time could tell if he was really a good guy.
Petra came down the stairs and eyed Marc with a worried expression on her face but didn't say anything.
We finished eating, mostly in silence, and he offered to wash all the dishes, "I'm just trying to earn my keep."
We let him, after all, he couldn't do any harm to us washing plates.
Petra tapped my shoulder and pointed up the stairs. I followed her up and she whispered to me, "Who is he?"
"Some guy from Lightstone named Marc Raza. I guess he's just going South too."
"And he wants to travel with us?"
"Yup."
"Can we trust him?"
"I don't know. He seems alright, but it might be an act. We'll wait. Let him stay for now but if he does anything sketchy he's out of here."
We went back down stairs to find Nico standing guard near Marc. I could see his fingers fidgeting near his pistol on his hip.
Bryn was sitting on the couch looking at the bow and arrows I had found.
"Like what I found?"
"Looks nice. I want to test it out. Nico said I'm a natural good shot. Can we go try it out later?"
"Do you know how to use a bow?"
"Well not really. But I can figure it out. Take me somewhere to train."
"Alright, lets get our stuff ready."
After a few minutes we left to go find somewhere for Bryn to train. Before we left Nico told Petra to get stay in his sight, while Marc sat on the couch and read.
Nico didn't trust Marc yet. Not sure if he ever would.
Clara's POV
The woman with lime green hair sat on a bed at the opposite side of the room and talked to me, "So what's your name?"
"Cl...Vera."
"Vera, well I'm Aurora. I'm not really that bitchy. I just put on the show to show the other fiends I'm tough. But that doesn't mean I think twice about killing. You step out of line, you're dead."
"Oh."
"Now, you don't look tough. You look like someone could kill you in a heartbeat."
"Do I really look that weak?"
"Yup. You may have the best aim ever with a gun, but that won't matter if you don't survive Grunt status."
"What's Grunt status?"
"You're first week as a fiend you're a Grunt. You get a knife and no armor. If you survive the whole week, you become a fiend. Most people die after three days because they get cocky and try to take on a convoy or mess with people they shouldn't. There is another option though."
"What's that? I'm not strong enough to survive a week with only a knife."
"Well I'm not really sure if you're strong enough to survive this either. It's an arena. Usually five or six people fight to the death, survivor gets to become a fiend and completely skips Grunt status."
"So I'm dead either way?"
"Not necessarily. If you go out into the wastes you're probably dead. But if you stay behind to fight in the arena you might stand a chance."
"But I'm not good at fighting. You said most people could kill me in a heartbeat."
"True. But I know whose fighting in the arena tomorrow. I can get you signed up and let you fight. I know the other fighters and I know their weaknesses. You can survive if you listen to me."
"Why are you helping me?"
"Don't think it's because I'm a Saint. I'm doing this so you'll owe me. Never help someone unless you get something out of it. Be it money, power, supplies, whatever, get something out of it. Otherwise, they're not worth helping."
"Ok, I'll do the arena then."
"Good. Violetta will be watching so we can't make contact while you're there, so we gotta go over the plan now."
"Which is?"
"Look at yourself. You're small. You're probably quick on your feet, am I right?"
"Yeah."
"Then you use that. You're going up against Pug, Liz, and Seas. They're all different and look pretty strong. Liz got in a fight with two male fiends her first day here, she killed them both. She's a badass killer, but her height can work against her. She's 5'11. Her legs are really long, if you take low shots at her she might end up falling."
"Ok, low shots on Liz."
"Seas is a fucking evil genius. He somehow hacked his Plasma pistol to shoot both Plasma and Laser at the same time. I didn't even think that was possible. But he can't use guns in the arena so you don't have to worry about that. But he's smart and can think of plans on the fly. I can't tell you too much about what to look out for with him because he's so smart. Just try to let someone else kill him."
"Right. And Pug?"
"Pug is a tough little bastard. He's just as short as you, but he probably works out 25 hours a day. His arms and legs are huge. If he gets a good hit on you, you'll be dead before you hit the ground. But he's not fast and pretty stupid from what I've seen. Just run circles around him until he's tired and try tricking him. That's how you win. Being the baddest bitch."
"How do I kill? With my bare hands?"
"The arena floor is covered in sand. If you can find a knife or a sword or anything under it that could help. If not, along the walls of the arena are two foot long spikes. Push someone into them and they're done."
"How big is the arena?"
"Oh, I don't know. Good size I guess. It's circular so you always gotta watch your back. I'd say it's about 50 feet diameter."
I nodded my head. If I could just run circles around the edges until the other people killed each other and there was only one survivor that would be easy.
Aurora tossed me a bottle of pills, "You ever tried Ice?"
"I don't do drugs."
"Oh, toss that back over here then. I'm not gunna force you to pop a pill every once in a while, but I'm just sayin', if you're in the fiends, you'll be doing drugs soon enough."
She opened the bottle I tossed back to her and swallowed a pill.
She fell back on her bed, "Ahh...that's better. Go to bed Vera. You need rest for tomorrow."
I rolled over and laid under the comfortable blankets. I shut my eyes and drifted to sleep, knowing that tomorrow very well could be my last.