Not waiting for Eva to finish, he began to work over the entire post office from one side to the other. Quickly exploring to find anything he could claim, and convert to points.
Or at least chart everything out that he could so he could draw upon it later.
It felt like he’d only been gone for a few minutes when Eva stopped him while he was checking over a massive machine. Felix thought it might be a sorting device but he really had no idea.
All he knew was it was a mass of thick metal sheets and looked as if it were older than the building itself.
She’d hustled him into the main room everyone was staying in.
Sitting down on top of a desk, Felix folded his arms in front of himself. He let his eyes slowly roll over the seven people who had just sworn themselves to him on a blood oath. They’d all been given a chance to refuse, save the thug, and all had opted to join him.
Eva hadn’t told them much, other than that Felix and she had a place where, if they could get to it, everyone would be safe.
She didn’t specify where, who, or how, which was good, but they all seemed to eager to have a way out.
“So they were here for… your food?” Felix asked, staring at the man who’d been so defiant in the face of a gun.
“Food. Women. Both. Didn’t matter,” he said. “They weren’t going to get anything from us.”
“Admirable, if a bit suicidal. Your name is…?” Felix asked.
“Steve. Steve Middleton,” Steve said.
“Derek. Derek Bissell,” said the second man, without any prompting.
“Nancy Boltman,” said the woman next to him.
“Amy Inocencio.”
“Katy Hendricks.”
“Lauren Romick.”
Felix took that all in and nodded his head.
Looking to the thug he’d bound against her will, Felix waited.
“Julia Crawfird,” she muttered, standing up straighter under his gaze. She still seemed a touch out of it, but was quickly recovering
She was a remarkably tall young lady.
“Welcome aboard, one and all. Sunrise comes in an hour or two, everyone get some sleep. I’ll take the first watch, and we’ll organize in the morning. And so you know, our goal tomorrow is barricading this building. As far as I can tell, and after searching through it, it’s defensible. With a clear exit that’s actually not obvious, or even visible from the street.”
In fact, it opened up out into a private parking lot on the other side of the wall.
“It’ll need some work, but once we get holed up, we’ll have a better chance of keeping others out,” Felix finished.
“What then?” asked Katy.
“Food, water, intelligence. I’d like to know who is controlling each block of the city. Who the local players are. How they’re operating and what their activities are. Once we know that, we can better plan our moves, and how we get out of here,” Felix said. “Go to bed everyone, I’ll see you all in the morning.”
Standing up, Felix checked the pistol and knife, and went towards the front of the post office. He could hear Eva trailing along behind him.
“Well?” she asked quietly when he stopped.
“Well what. I’m going to watch the front entrance. You’ll be watching in a similar fashion when daybreak happens so I can get a nap in,” Felix said. “So you might want to hit the sack while you can.”
Eva snorted at that. She partially turned to leave and stopped. “Thank you… I know you did that for me.”
Felix nodded his head at that, not even trying to deny it. “I did.”
Smiling at that, Eva moved behind a desk, curled up, and promptly dropped off to sleep.
And when the morning comes… we’ll find out what we’re dealing with.
“Engineer,” Steve said. “National Guard.”
“Huh. And why are you out here in the city and not deployed? Last I heard they were all holed up with the army,” Felix asked.
Looking out through the broken entryway, Felix could see the morning gloom. He figured daylight wouldn’t be far off from now, and he could send his people out to begin gathering information.
“Wasn’t on the clock when it went down. Didn’t think I’d make it across the city so I didn’t try. From what I can tell, it was the right choice too.”
Felix made a curious noise but didn’t look away from his task. He needed to be ready if someone decided to drop in for a visit.
“In those first few days, a lot of people got shot simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Blue on blue situations,” Steve elaborated.
“Ah. That makes sense,” Felix conceded.
“But you wouldn’t know that. Would you?”
Sparing Steve a dangerous glance Felix deliberately slipped his finger into the guard.
“As soon as everything went down, Legion sealed itself up tight and hunkered down. No one’s seen much of you all since it all started.”
“Interesting theory you have.”
“Not a theory. I was there when we took over. I know you, Mr. Campbell.”
“And you decided to put yourself into slavery to me anyways? Considering all the rumors out there, I’d be curious to know why you did that.”
“Because you’re not supposed to be out here. The fact that you are means that Legion is probably now on a warpath trying to find you. Either you’ll find them, or they’ll find you, and that means a free ticket out of here for my people and I,” Steve explained.
Felix couldn’t help but appreciate the cold logic of it. It made sense.
He liked it, because he’d do it himself.
“That’s a fair point, Steve. For now, let’s work on improving our lot. I’d be much obliged if you could start working on getting a bunker of sorts in place here. Turn this single entryway into a choke point. We’ll barricade the back door to a degree, but nothing that can’t be dismantled in a hurry if we have to bail,” Felix said.
“Would if I could. I kinda need materials for that,” Steve said, shaking his head. “Steel would be great. Even if I can’t patch it together, getting it in place with a backstop would still do wonders.”
Wish I could help ya there. But as far as I can tell, doing anything that requires modification at any level balloons the points I need to an astronomical level. I can’t even make a—wait.
“Eva,” Felix called out softly.
“Mm?” she replied from where she was dozing. She hadn’t seemed to Felix as if she’d been sleeping very well.
At best she might have caught an hour or two of actual sleep.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like you to take the watch. I need to try something before the day gets started,” Felix said.
“Mm-hmm.”
Eva slowly got her feet, rubbing the palms of her hands into her eyes.
“Remind me to better appreciate what we have when we get back,” she grumbled.
“Noted. Need a minute to hit the bathroom or anything?”
“No. No, I’m alright. You only need a couple of hours?” she asked.
“Maybe less than that if I get this to work. We’ll see.”
Eva trudged over to him and leaned up into the desk. She held out her hand to him, still blinking rapidly to clear her vision.
“Shoot first, ask questions later,” Felix said, laying the pistol in her palm. “Safety’s off and should remain off.”
“’Kay.”
Smiling, he patted Eva on the shoulder, and went back towards the rear of the post office.
“Come on, Steve. Things to do, no time to do it,” Felix called over his shoulder, making a beeline for the machine he’d seen previously.
“What are you doing?” Derek asked when Felix passed by the sleeping area.
“If you’re awake, get ready to work. We’ll be moving out in an hour or so. Otherwise, get back to sleep. Going to be a long day,” Felix said.
Stopping in front of the massive machine, Felix gave it a once over.
“What are you looking for? And how is this going to help us?” Steve asked, walking up next to him.