After Life -- Chapter 3: Everything I Need

[parallax23]

Chapter 3:  Everything I Need

It was night when three army supply trucks arrived.  They were risking a lot.  The food and medicine could have been tampered with.  There could have been containers of nerve gas or bombs.  Yet it was a risk they had to take.  There were so many mouths to be fed. 

They had to do it.

Even the president agreed when word got out that there were three humans locked inside.  The military had no idea what they were dealing with.  The higher-ups weren’t so sure about destroying billions of dollars worth of military technology that couldn’t be replaced.  They had aimed to prevent exposure, but now that the cat was out of the bag, some were having doubts that laying waste to the transgenics made sense.

So for the time being, they were at a moot point.

Ten minutes before the exchange was to take place, Max and her close friends stood in the parking lot.  The trucks would be allowed in and the supplies would be unpacked in front of them.  Then Logan, Sketchy and OC would leave with the soldiers.  It sounded simple enough, but there were so many ways this could all go wrong.

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“You okay, boo?” asked OC.

Max put on a determined face.  “Yeah, I just…”

“No need to explain,” said Original Cindy.  “Maybe you should tell him the truth about you know who.”

Max shook her head.  “I can’t.  Not now.  He needs to let go… more than ever.”

There was no arguing with her.  Besides, maybe Logan was better off thinking she was happy this way.  It wasn’t like they could stay here together.  They still couldn’t even touch.  Maybe they needed to move on.  Life was just downright nasty sometimes.  Logan and Max’s relationship would have to wait.  There was too much at stake.

Original Cindy saw Alec giving Sketchy his interview and she didn’t even need to hear it to know that he was taking a lot of the credit for what went down.  She was going to have to straighten that boy out.  First, she needed to hug Max.

“Now girl, you take care of yourself,” Original Cindy said to her.  “Not that you can’t, but you’re going to be watching out for a whole lotta people… among a whole lotta other things.”

She motioned her head towards Mole, who was armed and ready for action.  Joshua was standing beside him, saying goodbye to Logan.

“So, do you wanna tell him?” asked Alec, causing Max to jump.

She had been lost in her own thoughts and hadn’t noticed him walking up to her.

“No,” she snapped and hit him.

He would have jumped out of the way but thought she would take comfort in hitting him.  He didn’t want to let them know he was going to miss them too.  He didn’t miss anyone, that wasn’t the kind of person he was.  The situation could have been worse, like with Biggs and Cece.  They would probably see each other again soon.  There was no point in long goodbyes.  People came and went.  No need to get sentimental about it.

“Who would’ve thought I’d end up with an abusive girlfriend?” Alec said.

Max rolled her eyes and went over to Logan.

“Hey you,” Max greeted him.

“Hey,” replied Logan.  “So I guess you find him annoying still?”

“Sometimes.  Sometimes… he’s a really good guy,” Max said.

“Yeah,” Logan said.  “Look Max, we’ll probably video conference again soon but it’s not the same.  I just wanted to let you know that you can always count on me.  If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“I won’t,” said Max with a hint of sadness.  She wanted to tell him the truth, except she couldn’t find the words.  She wanted to hug him and remembered why things had to be this way.  “Okay, let’s do this bitch.”

“We’re ready to move in case something goes sideways,” Mole said, even though he was the only visible person with a gun.  The gang knew that there were others lurking in the shadows.

Max gave the order to open the gate and three supply trucks entered.  Before the gate could close, a pick-up truck came blazing through.

“Max, there’s another vehicle!” someone screamed into her phone as the military drivers came out.

“I knew it was too good to be true,” said Mole as he aimed to fire.

The speeding pick-up came to a quick halt in front of the military trucks.  Max and Alec grinned at the sight, telling Mole to stand down.  The soldiers began unpacking the supplies while Zack, Zane, Jondy, Brin, Syl and Krit stepped out of their vehicle.

“Look there, the cavalry’s arrived!  Too late as usual,” Alec said.

Max ran over and hugged all of her siblings.  She hugged Zack last as Logan watched.  There was so much she wanted to say, to take in, but they would have to wait.  The other X5s tried to hug ‘Ben’ but he dodged them.  He wasn’t Ben.  Ben had died.  Syl declared that he was their brother just the same and threw her arms around him.  Alec couldn’t refuse a pretty blonde.

“All right, that’s everything.  Now hand over the prisoners,” said one of the soldiers after they were done unloading.

Max nodded.  “All right.”

She couldn’t do anything to show affection to her friends.  No one could.  They had been trained better than that.  Original Cindy, Sketchy and Logan climbed into the trucks.  Max couldn’t help but watch as the vehicles left.  She wanted to cry.  Alec put his arm around her.

“Don’t cry.  Or Logan may jump out of the truck and kick my ass,” he whispered.

“Shut up,” Max said, not tearing her eyes from the vehicles.

“We’ve got enough to keep us going for a week,” Mole informed them once the gates closed.  “If any of this stuff is good.  What exactly do we do after the military drops in on us before the week is up?”

“You mean you plan to stay here?” demanded Zack.  “They’re waiting for us out there!  They know we’re here!”

“If you want to leave, be my guest.  But we’re done running,” Max shot back.

“Well, this is a suicide mission.  And we’ll see you through it,” Krit said.  “Right guys?”

The others nodded quickly but Zack was hesistant.

“Fine.  We’ve got nothing else to lose,” said Zack finally.

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“Thinking about them?” Asha asked.

She was with Logan in Joshua’s house.  They were coming up with ways to help Max and the others through the S1W.  There was no going back there any time soon.  Max’s face was everywhere as well.  She had been declared by the media as the leader of Terminal City.  Not to mention the transgenics on the outside who were trying to get into Terminal City were lurking around Seattle that Logan was trying to wrangle together in the meantime.

“The media is trying to make it look like no one wants them.  No one wants to help.  But I doubt it,” Logan told her.

“Logan Cale doubts the media’s spin on things – stop the presses,” Asha replied with a laugh.

“We need to find out who’s willing to help, and fast,” was all Logan said.  “We have White and his guys, plus National Security waiting to strike.”

He had no humor left in him.  He was a man on a mission.  It was the time he lost Max to Manticore all over again.  He was back to his ‘man on a mission’ persona.  Except this time, the mission was way bigger than either of them could imagine.