“I don’t know if I should welcome you, or be terrified of you,” he admitted heartily. “You wanted a change of scenery, so you came down to the most dangerous spot in this region? That’s Scavenger material if I’ve ever seen it!”
“Glad to hear it.” I smiled.
“That’s not all I wanted to talk to you about, Marcus… ” Natalie spoke up. “The reason Johnny didn’t make it is because, well… I think the Rubberfaces are evolving.”
Marcus’ demeanor changed back to somber.
“Shit,’” the leader groaned as he walked back to his chair and plopped down. “Tell me everything.”
Natalie spent the next few minutes going through the details of our meeting. How she saw the flames, picked me up, and then was ambushed by Rubberfaces on the other side of the river.
As she spoke, I could see the color draining away from Marcus’ face.
He placed his fingertips together in front of his mouth as he listened, but his eyes were dead as he nodded at her words.
“This is bad,” he stated flatly. “This is very bad, Natalie… It was already looking bad when they learned how to use guns. But if they’ve started to figure out how to use vehicles and how to strategically mobilize against us? Well, we’re doomed. And not just the Scavengers… I’m talking about the whole human race.”
Should I tell them? I kinda felt like this would be the place to reveal my true identity, but there was a small voice in the back of my head that was telling me not to.
And it wasn’t Karla.
For now, I would remain in my facade.
Still, that wasn’t going to stop me from picking their brains about how to finish the mission.
“Isn’t there any way to stop them?” I questioned. “You know, before they get to that point?”
Both of the Scavengers looked at me like I was insane.
“What do you mean ‘stop them?’” Marcus scoffed. “Don’t you think if there was a way to stop the Rubberfaces, we would have done it already? Those melted-faced bastards only live for two things, and two things only… To wipe out the human race and to feed on radiation. And god help anyone who tries to stand between them and their goals.”
“So, what’s the plan, then?” I asked. “Do we just sit around and wait until they evolve even further?”
“Hunter… ” Natalie warned.
“We will do what we can,” Marcus grumbled. “For the moment, that’s doing what we’ve always done. Going out, scavenging for supplies, and killing any Rubberfaces we see along the way. It’s all we can do.”
Oh, great, he was one of those leaders.
Getting Natalie on board might be trickier than I thought.
“I’m sorry to trouble you with this information, Marcus,” Natalie said with a slight bow. “But I thought you needed to know.”
“Don’t apologize.” Marcus smiled half-heartedly. “The news may have been grim, but I always appreciate when my brothers and sisters are honest with me. I dunno… It makes me feel like I’m somewhat of a successful leader.”
“We couldn’t ask for a better leader,” Natalie reassured him. “Thank you for your time.”
“Thank you.” Marcus bowed and then turned to me. “And welcome to the Scavengers, young man. Hunter, right?”
“That’s me.” I nodded. “Hunter Bragg, at your service.”
“Well, Hunter Bragg.” The brown-haired man smiled. “You picked a fine time to join up with our group. Tonight was already going to be a somewhat rowdy night, but now? We have a life to celebrate. You two go out there and enjoy yourselves. I’m sure the rest of the Scavengers are waiting for you.”
“What about you?” Natalie asked. “Won’t you join in the festivities?”
“Perhaps.” The Scavenger leader shrugged. “But for now, I have much to ponder on.”
“Don’t work too hard,” the blonde woman pleaded before she turned back to the door. “I hope to see you out there soon!”
I followed Natalie out of the hut and back onto the beach, under the starry night sky.
“That went well,” I chuckled once I was sure we were out of Marcus’ ear shot. “What’s that guy’s deal, anyways? Why is he the leader of all these people?”
“Simple,” Natalie explained, “we chose Marcus as our leader because he has the most military experience out of any of us. That, plus he knows the Fallen Lands better than anyone else.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because… ” she sighed, “this is his home. At least, this was his home, before Doomsday happened.”
“Wait, how old is that guy?” I gasped. “I thought Doomsday happened like, twenty years ago?”
“Believe it or not, Marcus is in his forties,” Natalie chuckled.
“Damn,” I whistled. “Are you sure he’s not a vampire or something? Because he doesn’t look a day over twenty.”
“I can assure you he’s in his forties,” the blonde woman continued. “He is from the area you keep calling ‘Chicago.’ In fact, he lived there his whole life, up until he went off and joined the Coast Guard. One day, he was in a helicopter, flying a search and rescue mission over the far northern side of the lake when… well, you can guess what happened next… ”
“Doomsday happened,” I concluded, and Natalie confirmed with a nod.
“His entire family was wiped out from the initial blast.” She frowned. “And I strongly suspect several more of his acquaintances were turned into Rubberfaces. Either way, he refueled the helo and returned to his hometown, where he, my parents, and a few more of our elders started up the Scavenger lifestyle.”
“Is Chi—er, the Fallen Lands the only place you guys explore?” I questioned as we walked along the dark beach.
“Not at all,” Natalie explained. “We have Scavengers go out to the other big city on the lake, north of the Fallen Lands. The one with lots of abandoned beer factories. We’ve also got crews that go out to several cities along the eastern coastline, but none of those are quite as fruitful as the ones in the Fallen Lands or the Beer City.”
Beer City. I was sure that, in my timeline, Milwaukee would love to be called that.
“You do that all from one boat?” I pointed to the large vessel off the shore. “Doesn’t that take forever?”
“Not if you do it strategically.” The blonde woman shrugged. “When we go on large scavenging expeditions, the captain makes a large circle around the lake, dropping each team off at their locations before dropping anchor at the Fallen Lands.”
“Why there?” I continued. “Wouldn’t it be way more time efficient to just make the entire loop again, and then pick up the Fallen Lands’ team last?”
“If only we had that luxury… ” Natalie trailed off. “You saw how the city is… swarming with Rubberfaces. We have to leave the boat there because it’s the place with the highest rate of danger. You don’t really hear about hordes of Rubberfaces up in the stadium city in the bay.”
“Who knows?” I joked. “There could be Rubberface football fans.”
Natalie looked at me blankly just as I realized my joke wasn’t going to make sense, so I just continued onward as if I hadn’t said anything.
The two of us eventually came to a tent surrounded on all sides by empty alcohol bottles that had been lined up along the edges as if they were a fence of booze. The door of the dwelling was completely covered with bottle caps, and from the inside, I could hear someone mumbling to themselves.
“William’s tent,” Natalie explained, but I’d kinda already figured.
“Is that Natalie and the newbie?” William’s voice slurred.
The long-haired Scavenger popped his head out from between the flaps, looked between the two of us, and smiled a wide, toothy grin. When he finally stumbled out of his dwelling, the lanky man was completely shirtless with his colorful tattoos on full display. From just a quick glance, I could see he had a boat, a few tribal tattoos, and one of those large, pointed “S” shapes I always remembered drawing in middle school.