Chapter 4

On Saturday the twins rode the hour and a half with me in my mom-bomb minivan while telling Seneca and Ashley all sorts of their own adventure stories as we drove. As I expected, Henry was the adventurous one always getting into trouble, but Linda had her moments apparently too.

Their story of taking their bicycles to every pet store they could reach within a day and buying all of the crickets they had on hand was a family favorite. You could tell they’d told the story a hundred times before, trading the lead back and forth. I nearly had to pull over I was laughing so hard when Henry described letting them go all over their Highschool on the second to last day of the year.

Frank drove up separately with Bitch Queen ‘Lyra’. I asked if they were a couple and was told ‘not anymore’. I hadn’t been that pleased that she was coming, but she made for a stronger group, and we hadn’t been successful in finding any other good candidates.

I had met one for coffee that I’d found in the classifieds. He had to advertise carefully in the ‘companions wanted’ section (this was in the early days before the PortalDiver app was up and running, and before it was actually ‘legal’ to enter these things).

‘Peter’ had carefully worded that he was a ‘personal and team protection worker’ available for hire. When we met, I was immediately was on guard and he just seemed ... off. When he casually mentioned that he would accept pay in sexual favours, I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

There is nothing but someone’s word that what happened in a portal actually happened. The body of anyone that died in a portal was unable to leave. I decided then and there never to run a portal without another woman present, and never with a person who gave me the hebeejeebees.

The kids ran out of the van as soon as I released their car seats. Seneca initially had fought me on getting into his until Henry called out ‘dibs!’ And tried to squash himself into the Pup-Patrol booster seat ... nothing like seeing someone else enjoying themselves using one of your things ... Seneca actually complained to me that Henry was ‘Stealing my seat! He can’t do that!’ ... thank you Henry!

There was a new litter of barn kitties and the kids would be gone and ignoring us all day. Oddly both Frank and Lyra wanted to see them too. It was the first smile I’d seen on the Bitch and it pissed me off somehow that she could look so pretty, even in body armor and old coveralls.

With the children distracted we had a pee, filled our water bottles, shouldered our packs, and walked off to the portal. Things had changed since I was last here a month ago. An old truck trailer was parked on top of it with the wheels and the axels removed. “We can lock it up this way, and I don’t have to worry quite so much. Bruce once told me he had to remember to step up a bit as you exit, or you’ll trip ‘n fall.” Uncle Norm said as I paid him the 10 silver in advance.

The others hadn’t been in yet, (besides Frank who had already spent all his silver) and didn’t have any, so we agreed that I’d take the first 8 silver we found as repayment. After a final check, we linked hands and entered the shimmering portal. Risking life for profit.

I’ve described how I just knew that my staff was mine, but watching the twins walk directly to two sword/shield sets that were exactly the same was unnerving. I had to think again about WHY this was all happening. After a few seconds of introspection, I was jolted back to the present by the sound of the Bitch crying.

“What’s the matter? Is it the wrong colour?” I stage whispered to Frank. I know I was being a bitch myself, but this girl had rubbed me the wrong way from the first moment ... at least that’s what I told myself.

To his credit, he took me to task gently. “Cut her some slack please, she’s had a hard year. She’s crying happily because she’s a Healer...”

“Fuck! The luck of the goddamned devil! Beautiful Healer, healed from all the wear and tear of her previous life, now she’s gonna be rich too...” I let my inside voice out for a bit.

“Took four days for her to heal ... she was driving a car with her parents when it happened. Rolled it on the freeway and killed her Dad. Mom was partially paralyzed and blinded. She broke it off with her boyfriend, dropped out to care for her and hasn’t finished first-year of her program. She just spent the last few dollars of her father’s life-insurance policy to get that used armour she’s wearing ... she’s entitled to a few happy tears since things are finally looking up.” Frank whispered quietly but with a tight jaw.

I was a little chagrined, but nobody had a perfect life.

“Good for her, good for us.” I replied neutrally.

I started checking my bag to see what had gone through the portal and what hadn’t. Snacks, water, some latex gloves and toilet paper had made it. The small hacksaw and blade had too, but not the hammer.

“The hammer didn’t come through.” I said as I looked up. Lyra was touching Frank with her staff and mouthing some unusual words. The twins were looking at their swords and shields. “Check your packs please, we need to know what went through and what was left behind.”

The two groups separated and the team started digging through their packs.

“Combat knife didn’t make it ... folding pocketknife did!”

“Flare gun isn’t here, roll of baling wire did!”

“Bottle of wine made it, the 100% grain alcohol bottle didn’t.”

“The whole first-aid kit made it, so did the food and water. The motion detector alarm did too, but it seems dead.”

These four were trying to game the system. The system was on to them though.

“Ok, I’ve been in before and you already know what I could tell you about this place. My only question is: Do you still want me leading this expedition? The team is measurably changed with the addition of a Healer.” I spoke plainly. We were about to risk our lives and I wanted them to be clear that if I decided on something, then that’s what we were going to do.

“Vote immediately please.” Frank replied. “Hands up to confirm Leslie as team leader.” all four of them did. “That enough?” He asked pleasantly.

“Thank you, I wanted everyone on board with this. Ok: to reiterate we are here for the cash only. We are mercenaries, pirates, scavengers, and we got to survive if we want to spend our ill-gotten gains. Things have changed with the addition of a Healer. We are down a fighter, but ‘way’ better overall with having Lyra here. She’s still in the rear, and Frank or I will be guarding her at all times. First up, we need to know the limits of your abilities. I saw you heal Frank by touching him with your staff. Can you heal at a distance?” I was in full ‘lead’ mode.

“Nobody’s injured ... I can tell...” she said in a lovely voice that didn’t fail to make an impression on me, even as I noted it was just another thing to hate her for.

I took off my armored glove and punched a wall, not hard enough to break my knuckles but certainly enough to bleed. Her shocked eyes said it all. She may have been here for a good reason, but she was not yet mentally prepared to do what we may have to do inside.

“Stand at the opposite corner and give it a try.” I said as I walked to my own corner of the room, blood dripping from my battered knuckles. I felt better already having gotten out some frustration out.

The healing worked at a distance, and it was fascinating to see the skin seal up and knit together so quickly.

“I think it’s more effective when I’m touching the person.” she said. And walked over to me with her staff out.

“I’m good enough.” I dismissed her and slipped my glove back on. “We need to know if you can heal yourself though.”

She blanched, but then she seemed to have something inside her change. Taking her own glove off she also punched the wall ... a look of shock as she hurt her own hand. I tried (and probably failed) to keep my own expression neutral as she grimaced and fixed her own hand.

“Almost perfect, but I’m out of Mana.” She said, smiling with annoyingly perfect teeth.

I nodded, “According to the ‘Net, it’ll restore in one full hour. Let’s spend that on formations...”

We were ready an hour later and trotted down the long staircase to the grey portal at the bottom. The five of us appeared in the exact same place on the factory floor. We tried to all hide behind the forklift, but were spotted, or heard, or smelt, or ... something.

“Frank, Bitch, go and cut those handrails! Linda, Henry, fighting retreat towards the stairs.” We had worked out positions before we entered, but I was really hoping that we wouldn’t be spotted.

It’s been said that no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Two smaller groups immediately turned toward us. I gotta give Bitch credit here, she was digging her hacksaw from the backpack as she ran and hit the stairs and was sawing within seconds. I didn’t have a chance to see any more before I engaged the larger (5) of the two groups immediately with my sling.

I didn’t make a very good impression as my first four stones failed to take down any of the five targets. Henry and Linda engaged the first group while I chucked a few more stones at the other group (4) coming at us from slightly further away. I dropped two (which nobody noticed) before stepping in and dropping two more from the first group who were trying to get at Linda from the side.

The twins were fighting side to side with their swords on the inside. This left the outside to their shields, which were being grabbed at by the Walkers. They were holding them back, but not making much headway before I arrived. A change in plan was needed.

I ran behind the first group of the dead (between them and the next group!) to help Henry on his off side. This gave me the chance to strike one zombie from behind and gave Linda some breathing room before the next group of three approached.

Zombies don’t get distracted once they fixate on a target. They will chase (kinda slowly) any target they sense until there are killed, or vice versa. This is awesome if you come from behind at a couple of them who are after your buddy, but not so great if you catch the attention of twenty of ‘em all by yourself.

With the first five whittled down to three, the three of us dispatched the rest just before the next two staggered up and were killed by the Wonder twins. I collected the eight silver I was due from the corpses strewn around us before hustling the siblings off to the stairway that Frank and Bitch were working on.

By now I didn’t really want to call her Bitch anymore, but it should be noted that in the end she registered herself as “The Bitch” on her Hunter registration once those came out, so I’m feeling free to refer to her that way.

Looking from a distance, I could see that the crane catwalk actually had two ‘loose’ zombies on it. One was stumbling down the stairs while the other was headed directly for the rail.

The Dead don’t have a ‘life preservation’ instinct at all and won’t care if they fall 4 stories as long as they are getting closer to a warm target. Henry had made it to the bottom of the stairs and was on lookout, but only looking out, not up. I ran and managed to tackle him (without getting stabbed somehow) pushing him onto the stairs before the body came barreling down to the floor into roughly the spot he’d just been standing on.

“That’s a new move!” I joked as we picked ourselves up.

“Bitch, can ya help us out here?” I asked.

Lyra dropped the hacksaw and pulled her staff, touching Henry on his shoulder and hip and touching me on my neck.

“I’ve only got one more in me right now!” She yelled (unnecessarily) as she picked up her hacksaw to finish off the second handrail. They’d made good time.

“Wonder Twins, get up the stairs and kill anything that’s loose up there. If one is stuck in the cab of the crane, just lock it in and come back down.” I called out and reloaded my staff. The noise we were making had attracted at least three more groups of the dead. I was hurling stones at the largest group as fast as I could when I heard Frank yell “the B&B is ready” and I retreated to the stairway.

I took a break once the Zombies were within striking range of the base of the stairway. Frank tried his ‘Fireball’ which was probably a decent attack against just about anything but Zombies, it mostly just made a horrible smoke and smell in this instance.

Henry came back down the stairs looking tired already. “Two more killed upstairs. Linda wanted to make sure the one in the cab was taken care of, so we took it out too...”

I just nodded and took a swig of water. Frank and Bitch were trying lunge strikes on the Zombies piled up against their ‘Bruce and Bill’ with some success.

I let Henry catch his breath while we waited for Linda. As she approached, I asked the two with staffs to back out and prepare the next position while I and the two with swords killed those zombies we could right here.

It just worked so much better with more Weapons. Bruce and I had been forced to fight even as we were exhausted. With a spare (or two) the fighters could take a break every couple of minutes or so, reducing the load (both physically and mentally). It makes you fight harder knowing you have no backup, but with the ability to take a 30 second rest every so often, you can try new moves that might tire you out or might just work out really well.

The three groups of Zombies plowed into the B&B and were killed by the three of us before they had a chance to overwhelm the position.

I called Frank and Bitch back down to show them how to retrieve Silver from a dead body. They caught on pretty quickly.

Lyra was not as pleased to be mostly left out of the hand-to-hand fighting despite the fact that she was too valuable to risk, so I pulled out the clean nametag ID that I’d found on the last run and charged her with looking for anything ‘clean and pristine’ like this.

We actually had enough time and fighters to clear the stairway then branch out and lure in the remaining free Zombies in the factory. Groups of three Weapons were a mandatory minimum in exposed areas. Finding out the dead could fall from the sky was a hell of a wakeup call. A bigger group was better.

Lyra pointed out a clean bandanna and a clean hardhat on two of the corpses but couldn’t bring herself to loot them until I pointed out that they could just be taken into inventory just like the Silver could. Our Healer became the loot collector for the group once she figured that part out.