“Why was it abandoned?”
“They said there was a plumbing problem.”
I stare at her in amazement. “A plumbing problem.”
“Yeah.”
“And you believed that?”
Lexy looks at me, her face offended. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because it’s dumb. It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Thanks a lot.” she grumbles, playing with her sock.
“Look, just think about that. They cleared out this entire place over a plumbing issue? Who even has plumbing to have an issue with anymore? It’s ridiculous.”
“If this entire place was flooding with sewage, you would stay?” she asks sharply. “With children and everything. You would tell everyone to stick it out?”
“Not the children, no, but someone would have stayed with the animals and the farming and greenhouse. All of that is way too precious to bail on over a little bit of shit.”
“I don’t think it was just a little bit.”
“Whatever, it’s too much to lose.” I insist. “The whole place couldn’t have been abandoned over that.”
“Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe some people stuck around to keep it functioning while it was cleaned up. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Can we make this sock now?”
I look at the directions and shake my head. “You probably can, but I can’t. Wait, so if you’re all from different Pods how do you not know how many there are? Can’t you get together and say ‘Hi, my name is Lexy and I’ve been held prisoner in Safeco.’ Then somebody else does the same and eventually you find out how many there are. Easy.”
She looks up at me, her eyes annoyed. Still, she hands me a roll of thread and glances behind me at the other women in the room.
“Some of us have talked.” she whispers. “We’ve tried to get an idea of how many there are but it’s tough. They name the Pods with numbers and letters, nothing sequential.”
“What’s this one?”
“Pod A-63. I came from Pod C-92 which is the football stadium, some others are from G-11, Safeco, and G-35 is farther south on the eastern shore. So far we’ve counted groups from 4 different Pods but the names are all over the place. They can’t be sequential because even if each letter stopped at 100 Pods, that would mean there are at least 700 of them out there each with over 200 people inside almost every one.”
I frown. “There aren’t 200 people here.”
“186.” Lexy says without hesitation. “I’ve counted. Think of the rotations. We’re never all in the same place at the same time so of course it doesn’t feel like that many.”
“If there were that many Pods with 200 people each, you’d be looking at a population of 140,000 people in this area. That’s impossible.”
She shakes her head firmly. “I don’t think there are that many. I think they label them like that to throw us off. If they called them Pods 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, then we’d all know how many there were or at least have an idea. This way, we have no clue. Maybe there are only 4. Maybe there are 15. We can’t know.”
“Shady. But what does any of this have to do with me? You wanted information from the outside world but what exactly are you looking for?”
Her eyes dart around the room and I imagine she’s taking in every face before speaking. She’s quick, I’ll give her that. It keeps me wondering if I should even be talking to her.
“You know about the gangs, right?”
“Some things, yeah. Not their secret handshakes or anything, but I’ve picked up some stuff.”
“Is it true about The Hive? Is it the largest gang?”
“By far, yeah.”
“Can the hornet be trusted?” she whispers.
“Vin?” I chuckle. “No.”
She frowns. “He’s your friend, though, right? You trust him.”
“Yes and no. It depends what you’re trusting him with.”
She squares her shoulders and sits back from me. “That’s between him and I.”
I laugh. I don’t mean to laugh in her face, but it’s funny to me somehow. This mild mannered girl trying to teach me how to sew is playing tough guy and demanding a private audience with my buddy the pimp. Vin will eat her alive and spit her back out.
“Why are you laughing?” she asks indignantly.
I put my hand over my eyes briefly, shaking my head. “I don’t know. It’s not particularly funny. It’s also not going to happen.”
“Why not?”
I lower my hand and look her in the eyes. “I’ll ask you again; what do you want to talk to Vin about?”
She doesn’t answer.
“That right there is why.” I tell her. “I’m not going to take you to him. What if you say something ridiculous and he never lets me hear the end of it? I can’t live with that, Lexy.”
“It’s not ridiculous.” she says hotly. “It’s actually very important.”
I shake my head. “I have zero faith in humanity. You need to prove it or go to him yourself. Or are you scared to do that?”
When she looks away I know that’s what it is. All of the rumors they tell these people about the gangs has her terrified to speak to him alone. She won’t go near him without me and that’s a huge problem for her because I don’t trust her enough to take her anywhere near him with ‘very important’ topics.
“You cock blocking me, Kitten?”
I sigh. “Given the chance, yes I would. But I don’t think she wants that kind of conversation with you.”
“One never knows what lies in the interiors of a woman’s heart.” he muses, swirling his hand elegantly through the air, looking at me with half-lidded eyes. “What desires reside within.”
I look at Nats. She’s smiling and shaking her head over her eggs.
“What is this?” I ask her. “What is he doing?”
“Pressing your buttons.” she chuckles. “Give her a break, Vin.”
“Fine.” he groans, sitting forward. “What do you think she wants?”
“I don’t know yet, but whatever it is, she wants it from you and only you.”
“Gotta be something to do with The Hive. We’re all from the outside but if she’s looking for me specifically, it’s the only thing that sets me apart.”
“Is there anything she could want that they’d actually be willing to give her?”
“Not likely.” he laughs. “And it doesn’t matter. Once I’m outta here, I’m never coming back so whatever she wants, I’m not the guy to deliver.”
“We’re never coming back.” Nats corrects, glaring at him.
“Right, yeah. Sorry. Once we’re out, we’re never coming back.”
I look to Nats. “Is he going to…”
“Double cross us? Probably.”
I shake my head at him. “Nice.”
“Nothing’s been decided yet.” he says dismissively.
“That’s your defense?”
Nats shrugs. “At least he’s honest.”
“Don’t give him points for that.” I jab my finger in his grinning face. “No points!”
“Is there a problem here?”
Caroline. That woman’s voice could give me a cavity. She’s standing directly behind me and tell me that’s not intentional on her part. She knows about my issues with personal space and right now she’s crowding it hard, her hands taking hold of the back of my chair and brushing my back. I suppress a shiver.
“We’re fine, Caroline.” Vin says, looking at her hard.
“Are you sure?” She leans her weight on her hands on the back of my chair. I can feel her body closing in on mine. I have to grit my teeth to keep from screaming. “It was getting awful loud over here.”
“It was a lively discussion.” Vin stands and comes around the table to face her. He pushes into her space, forcing her off my back. “It’s nothing to worry about.”