“That’s a lot of information, Drew. Somewhere there are other versions of us trying to survive this? Makes you wonder which one of us has a soul, or if any of us do,” Katie said while leaning against her spear.
“You took all this in stride and just sort of kept pushing forward, which is much more than the rest of us did. Without you, we would all be dead. That includes pretty much everyone we’ve met since Advent, except JP and Robbi,” Sarah said, tugging on her braid. It was something Drew had never seen someone do, but which caused him to hide a laugh, as he remembered a book series he had read as a kid where a character tugged on her braid repeatedly.
“But I don’t like how this Ares is making decisions for you. You shouldn’t have to join the Order of the Dragon if you don’t want to,” Katie added, “I mean, I know that we’ve basically been shanghaied here, but they can’t force you to accept their morals.”
Drew ran a hand through his hair; they were almost back to the entrance to the auto shop and hadn’t seen any sign of the Trolls. “I guess, but if I sit back and do nothing…” Drew trailed off for a minute thinking, “I can’t do that, I can’t just let all those people die if I have a chance to save them. And if it gives me an edge to do that?” That was why he had enlisted. He wanted to help make the world a better place. He had thought the coast guard would help him do that. “Could you? Would you if you were in my shoes?”
Katie and Sarah both shook their heads, Sarah answered though, “No Drew. We wouldn’t. We’ll both help you as much as we can, but…” She held her empty hand up an expression of helplessness.
“Well, I was thinking about that, and I think I have some ideas about how all of us can work together a little better to make us more effective at combat,” Drew began explaining his ideas. Most of his ideas were for Katie, but he had some ideas for Sarah too; however, those would take either some additional xatherite or pieces of equipment.
Chapter Thirty-One — Murphy
They returned to the auto shop almost exactly…who knew how much later. Drew added mechanical watches to the list of things he needed to acquire. The lack of knowledge about the world around him was beginning to get very annoying; he missed GPS, his cell phone, and hamburgers. The thought of a hamburger made his stomach rumble. Katie and Sarah both laughed.
“I take it you’re hungry?” Katie asked, and Drew nodded, digging through his pack to pull out a handful of Beef Jerky.
“Yes. I really want a breakfast burger, with a nice drippy sunny side up egg on top.”
“Oh gosh, I would really love a honey mustard and avocado salad,” Sarah said, her own stomach rumbling.
“I’d like some fresh waffles with whipped cream and strawberries,” Katie said. The others nodded in agreement.
“Oh man, remember in A-school, they had that waffle bar every weekend; Fresh waffles, any kind of berry you could ask for, whipped cream, and shaved chocolate?” Drew added.
“Yeah, it was basically the only thing that was edible during the entire A-school experience,” Katie said with a grin. Sarah just nodded her head, not having spent months in Petaluma suffering the results of students learning how to cook like they had.
Daryl greeted them at the door to the auto shop. He stared at Drew for a moment, then frowned.
“Hey Daryl, how’s it going?” Drew asked.
“You can’t hear me?” Daryl asked with a frown, and Drew paused for a moment.
“Oh right, one second.” He tried to think up an interface-his new xatherite said it would block all unwanted mental intrusion, and it apparently defaulted to blocking everything. Nothing happened, so instead, he thought about allowing Daryl’s communication in. “Try now.”
‘Hello?’ Drew heard Daryl’s voice in his mind and smiled.
“Okay, I got it that time. Sorry, I had to unblock you,” Drew said with a shrug and Daryl just glanced from Drew to the two girls.
“Did you guys pick up more xatherite out there or something?” he asked. All three of the coasties just laughed and moved into the building.
“We ready for the planning meeting?” Drew asked, between a mouthful of the jerky he’d taken out of his pack after commenting on food. Daryl assented, following along with the other three more out of habit than anything else. They were all as crazy as Drew was.
“What on earth did they do to Coasties to make them so strange?” Daryl muttered under his breath. The Coasties opted to ignore the rhetorical question, although Drew had an urge to belt out some random phrases they had been required to memorize in boot camp about King Neptune. Most of the survivors had collected around a workbench in the middle of one of the auto bays. There were a few papers taped and stapled together that recreated their knowledge of the interior of the former DIA building.
Once all but the three or four people who’d been posted as sentries were gathered, Sarah stepped forward and cleared her throat; the talking immediately ceased. Sarah seemed a little surprised by the suddenness of the quiet. “Excuse me, everyone. I just wanted to get this planning session in order. The sooner we organize everything, the sooner we can rescue everyone.” She paused for a minute to gather her thoughts. “First things first, what’s our status on weapons, food, and armor?”
Min Sun answered first, “We have 15 troll armor, two orc armor, and that’s it.” Sarah nodded her head in understanding.
Bill spoke next, “Ma’am, aside from you and Katie’s two spears, and JP and Robbi’s guns, we’ve got a half dozen metal bats, and other blunt weapons mostly improvised with what was available in the auto shop. We also have five fire axes and about a dozen handmade grenades. As for food, we have about 5 days’ worth for 24 people, give or take a few meals.”
Sarah nodded, “Alright, so we need to get more food for the prisoners we rescue, and some more weapons wouldn’t hurt the cause either. Bill, I want to discuss some logistics with you afterward, but I’ll turn the meeting over to Drew to plan the rescue itself.”
Sarah stepped back, and Drew took her spot. “So, I guess first thing…Do we think they’re going to send another food gathering group out today?”
No one answered, and the silence lingered for ten heartbeats. Bill finally broke it, “Well, they’re going to have to feed people somehow. A day or two might be fine, but…” He trailed off, not wanting to say the implications.
“What are the trolls eating?” Sarah asked since the food runs had been for human food only.
“I’ve never seen a troll eat anything,” Bill said, and all of the prisoners murmured in agreement.
“Alright, well, let’s assume they’re going to send out another team today. If they do, we need to be in a position to ambush them again. We also need to work on how we’re going to get everyone else out. Does anyone have any skills that can cut through metal? Even if it’s slow, I personally have a small amount of acid I can use a couple times a minute. Anything like that?” Drew looked around, but no one seemed about to raise their hands.
“Okay.” Drew turned to JP, “What’s your effective range with those pistols?”
“I can hit center mass on moving targets 55 out of 60 times at 60 feet.”
“Wow, okay. Can you use a rifle?”
“Yes, I’m not as good a shot with one, but all of my skills work on any firearm.”
“Any particular reason you aren’t carrying one?” Drew asked, running a hand through his hair. Everyone else was pretty much just watching the exchange between the two.
“Lost it on the bridge,” JP answered with a glance at Robbi.