RULE #0

You are a Scavenger. Lucky you. Never forget, you are living on borrowed time!

~ The Scavenger’s Handbook

“There is a girl, she is nice and sweet, that’s why they called her Cake.”

Hm-hm-hm.

“They gather from far and wide, just to hear her speak.”

Hm-hm-hm.

“Except for ol’ Grey, who’s being a prick.”

Hm-hm-hm.

“That’s why little Cake made him a gift.”

Hm-hm-hm.

“Made of turpentine, nails and spit.”

Hm-hm-hm.

“To repay ol’ Grey for the pill slipped.”

Hm-hm-hm.

“Only one question remained.”

Hm-hm-hm.

“Should it be Grey or Leeroy who receives the gift.”

Cake paused her song and scratch her cheek with one finger, while she examined her work. It was coming along quite nicely, but it needed more pink she concluded. And more heart and smiles too!

“Breaks a little at the end and there a few kinks to clear, but it’s not bad for a first draft. Don’t you think so, One-tooth?” She spoke to the skull on the broken toolbox next to her, while rummaging through the spray-paint cans which carpeted the floor of her hiding place.

“Giving me the silent treatment again, ay?” Cake stopped her search for the pink paint and engaged into a staring contest with the skull. After a couple of minutes, she gave up with a sigh of defeat and growled at it. “I suggest you change that attitude of yours before you lose that last tooth. Now, come and help me find one that’s not empty.”

This proved a difficult task and in a short while, she began kicking and throwing the empty cans. Screamed and yelled, Cake stepped on a full one and slipped. Crashing to the floor she burst into laughter and rolled over until the feat passed. She had done in it this time. All the goodies she found in that underground building in the tunnels were gone and it had taken her days to move them quietly to her hiding place. As if a switched was flipped inside her head, her face became still and she stared at the holes in the roof.

“Yes… I’m mad.” Cake rolled on her elbows and looked at the skull. “What do you mean why? It should be obvious! Instead of being a gentleman about it and knock me out, he drugs me! The nerve of that guy!”

She paused and bit her lower lip, jumped to her feet and walked to the three barrels she had strapped together. Over the last couple of days, she had been slowly filling them with various ingredients to make a portable bomb. There was a slight problem, however. For some reason, the damned contraption kept on growing and growing. Now it was too heavy to lift and Cake was not sure if she should risk revealing the location of her hiding spot.

The girl smiled at how clever she was. No one would look for her in the room above the workshop she had created. They might search the rooms above it, but no one would bother going to the third floor of the building. Not that anyone ever came over, people only remembered she existed when they wanted something fixed.

“Something’s broke? Go and ask everyone else first. When they fail, bite the bullet and go see Cake, cause she’s really good with tech!” The girl screamed at the skull and kicked the makeshift bomb. “It’s not like Cake wants friends…”

“Yeh… Perhaps you are right, One-tooth,” she sat next to the skull and placed it in her lap, gently caressing the bleached bone with her hand. “I don’t need them as long as I have Grey. He’s the only one to care if I’m ok or not.”

Cake paused and looked at the skull, her face twisted by disgust. “Uwe! No! Leeroy’s a fucking creep!” She lifted the morbid object and looked into the empty eye sockets. “Ha-ha, very funny.”

With the skull in her hand, she walked towards the boarded window and looked at the ramshackle building that jutted like a tumour from the remains of the old world one. Surrounded by the gutted carcases of one- and two-story buildings, the bar was the only lit one. A collection of flashing neon signs informed people that it belonged to Leeroy. Similar to the ones painted on the wall constructed from concrete slabs and steel plates.

Cake had to admit that Véi Dron was a cosy place, but there were too many tall buildings sticking to one another. But this part of the safe zone was different. About two hundred meters of lean anaemic trees and brown shrubs separated the small structures from the giants that loomed in the distance. Behind this rare patch of clear land, there was a small half-meter tall concrete wall, that separated the tiny complex from the wide street, or at least what was left of it. And how could she forget about the sign at the start of the pathway that leads to the bar? It was the first Cake saw when she woke up in Grey’s arms after the two of them escaped the cannibal horde that overran Sector 9.

“Restricted Zone. Hydro-pump Complex 9. Service Militaire d’Arrê.” She recited without thinking what was written on the thick metal plaque half-buried between the two eroded columns that marked the entrance.

The girl always wondered why only a few people settled within the complex, while everyone else stayed at the lower floors of the towering structures across the street. Sure, the garden, as the land was called, was a mire of gas pockets. People had to poke them open and let the toxic fumes spill into the air and within several days it would be a perfect place to start farming or construct over. But because no one bothered to do something this simple, this place could never rival the Stadio that was at the heart of Véi Dron’s safe zone.

Then again, people had scoffed when she moved into the building next to the bar, but once Grey had a word with them, they didn’t bother her again. Like, literary, no one came to talk to her unless they were desperate to get something repaired. Sure, inside the bar they cheered and laughed with her, some listened to her stories too. But that did not change the fact that she felt like some rare trophy on display. Only Grey acted normally around her. Piss him off and he would hit her. Behave like a spoiled kid and he would smack her on the head because he cared.

“You see, One-tooth, that’s why I like him,” Cake smiled at scull and returned to rummaging through the empty cans. “I suppose you are right; I might have crossed the line… Jumping on his back and biting his neck…” She slapped her forehead. “What was I thinking!”

“What do you mean by that’s not enough?” The girl placed the skull on the closes barrel and began counting on the fingers of her left hand. “He’s strong. Smart too. Confident. Don’t forget capable. He doesn’t play around…” Cake paused with a perplexed expression. “Like, he knows what he wants and how to get it. What would you call that?”

“Besides, he’s a man. A real one, hard and big…” She placed her hands on her hips and stared at One-tooth. “I see that as a plus. Him being old means he has had plenty of experience.” The girl stopped and a bright red spot formed on her cheeks when her brain processed what she had just said.

Cake turned around, trying to hide that she was blushing from the silent skull. “And no. I’m not going to tell him that I like him. Grey will acknowledge it when he thinks I am ready for him.”

“You are not going to tell him anything!” The girl spun on her heels and descended on the inanimate object like a feral beast. She kept hitting it with her feast and screaming wildly until the all that was left of the skull were broken fragments.

“See what you made me do! I’m never going to speak to you again One-tooth!” Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Cake walked to the metal wrack at the back of the room.

A collection of skulls, leered at her, waiting patiently for the girl to choose which one was going to be her new companion. It was a hard choice to make, every one of them was interesting in its own right. Some were human, while others were those of mutants. But she was tired of them, they always managed to push her buttons and end up shattered. Instead, she chose one from the top shelf. The most interesting ones were there. The most precious and rare, neither that of a human and not that of a mutant, but not of a beast either.

This one was large, nearly twice the size of her head, and yellow. Its smooth surface gave the impression that it was glowing. An illusion, Cake reminded herself, nothing but reflected light. What made it interesting was the fact that it had no eye sockets and no lower jaw. Instead, a thick bone-plate covered the area above its nose. Thin metal plates, of material she was not familiar with, were mixed at random intervals at the back and top.

She had found it. and all the other rare ones, deep underground in the subway tunnels. Behind one of the mangled carts, there was a door leading to a fairly large set of rooms, littered with the remains with all manner of unique creatures. There were a lot of other interesting things and boxes of medical supplies, most of which she had no idea how to use. And the best part was that nobody knew that such a treasure was only a few hours away from Véi Dron. Cake couldn’t wait to tell Grey all about it. Yes, he was the only one who would know what all those things were. But for that, she needed to play nice with Leeroy first. The creep had banned from his bar and that was where Grey spent his time when he was not out there exploring the unknown.

“If getting the dead Warden to work was not enough,” she spoke to the large skull, “I’ll give him a box of pills too. One of the smaller ones, of course.” The girl smiled and carefully placed the thing where One-tooth used to be.

“Right. I knew you would agree that it was a good idea! But you need a name… Hmmm… I’ll call you No-eyes.” Cake tapped the thing like a pet and shifted her eyes to the rifles left behind the barrels.

“You make a good point. I better make sure they are clean and loaded…” She paused at the sound of someone entering her workshop. The rusted cans she had fashioned into an alarm system were one of her greatest ideas. At least they were when she was eleven. Now, they looked silly, but she was too attached to them to throw them away.

“It will have to wait, I guess.” With a wide grin, she walked to the door. “Keep an eye on the others No-eye and make sure they behave.”

Once downstairs, Cake saw that it was none other than Henry waiting for her. He was one of the guys working for Leeroy, which meant that there was good news. The girl adjusted the sunglasses hiding her eyes and clapped her hands, startling the hunched man.

“What can I do for you, lad?”

“Ah, Cake,” the man gulped and looked nervously at the door. “I got a message for you. Leeroy wants you to come to the bar…”

“I’ll stop you right there, my good man,” she passed gingerly around him. “The brat can’t tell me what to do. So, you know, shoo.”

“Look, I was told to bring you there,” Henry sighed and reached inside the thick coat hid his ugly body. “Red Mark. Untouched.” He dangled the dirty beer can in a way that Cake could clearly see it.

“Leeroy said no one had found any of those in months.” She eyed the item with suspicion.

If the creep had lied about something like this, there was no telling what else he was hiding from her. Not to mention that a bribe like this came with a lot of strings attached.

“I found it on one of the fresh faces that came through yesterday,” Henry shrugged. “Poor man went to bed and just didn’t wake up. Missy said there was too much radiation in him, so we couldn’t cook him either. Shame too, he was a heavy fellow.”

“You are a credit to the human race, Henry,” Cake said with disgust.

The man enjoyed human flesh a bit too much, a trend that was becoming noticeable among Leeroy’s staff. Using the occasional idiot that broke the rules at the bar and got himself killed, was not a bad idea. But it was supposed to be when the community was going to starve. As of late, that had changed. There were rumours that a few of the people who stayed over through the night never came out. And there was always a fresh supply of food at Leeroy’s. One didn’t need to be a genius to put two and two together. What boggled the mind, was why everyone was turning a blind eye to this. Not that Cake was free of blame, however, she was an outcast. No one would listen to her, even if she said something.

Now, Henry wasn’t the sharpest tool, but this was a new low for him. Missy was the closest thing they had to a doctor in these parts and she always gave a correct diagnose, especially when dealing with a dead body. For this idiot to not be able to remember this much, was astonishing. If the Scav had died of radiation poisoning, to the point the woman had had to put her foot down and stop them from using him for food, then the beer was as good as poison.

“Don’t get the wrong idea, man,” Cake stopped her pacing and cracked her knuckles. “Shove that thing up your ass and walk away. And do yourself a favour and don’t come back here.”

“Look here, girl, Leeroy said I need to bring you to the bar.” The hunchback stretched his shoulders, probably thinking he was going to scare her. “He may allow you to do as you like, but we both know he is the one who calls the shots around here. When he calls, you come running, you hear me, mutant freak?”

“Because you are an idiot, I’m going to let this one go,” Cake said coldly.

All the while she was designing a new contraption, inside her head, which would maim Henry. As Grey kept telling her ever since she was a little girl, she had to develop a thick skin. That didn’t stop her from preparing her revenge. The people here knew better than to insult her. However, there was always someone that needed to be reminded of this.

“Why do you have to be so difficult?” Despite his face being hidden behind a worn out and very dirty rebreather mask, Cake could see that the man was happy about this development. With obvious satisfaction, Henry whistled loudly and a moment later two more brutes entered her workshop.

It was Sign and Mark. Great, more people she didn’t like. Between the three of them, they had a single brain cell working and by the dumb looks in their eyes, the hunchback was the one using it. The thing was, Leeroy was not this stupid to pick a fight with her. He might be a greedy little creep, but he followed one very simple rule – make a profit. And Cake helped him fill his pockets quite nicely.

In other words, she surmised, this was all Henry’s idea. That’s why he had brought the two thugs. For years, those three were trying to pick a fight with her and she had always ignored them. But, as it would seem, they had found the excuse they were itching for.

“What do you think? Is she mutant- or human-like under all them clothes?” Sign grunted from behind his hood shaped mask with a clear visor at the front, evoking chuckles from the other two. The desire in his eyes was clear and it answered the question of why they were hoping to accomplish here.

Three against one were not good odds. What would Grey do? That was simple. He would defuse the situation by saying something smart and when their guard went down, he would bolt it for ruins. Yeh, that was too much work. Besides, Grey was Grey and she was Cake.

At the moment Mark put his hand on her, she stabbed his groin with her knee. The man didn’t even scream as he tumbled to the ground. Now then, since the time for talking was over, not to mention she didn’t feel like it, Cake picked a bolt-cutter wrench from the table she had conveniently stopped her pacing at.

“Remember, don’t kill them.” She smiled and slammed the tool at the side of Sign’s head. This, however, allowed Henry to smack her in the back with the pipe he had been hiding under his coat.

Biting the yell of pain back, Cake turned around and head-butted the man, before she tore the rebreather from his face. The air around Véi Dron was fairly safe to breathe, without one being too concerned with protection. Most people wore masks and the like out of habit these days. But in this case, the damned thing would only get in the way, while she knocked Henry’s teeth out.

Slamming her fists into the struggling man’s face, Cake laughed with joy and forgot all about the other two goons. Sign quickly corrected that by grabbing her from behind and dragged her off from the mewling hunchback. Mark wasted no time to jump back into the action and began hitting her in the body, while his friend held her in his firm grip. They might have bound Cake’s hands, but she had feet too. With one well-placed kick in the groin, she brought Mark back to the ground retching and convulsing. This prompted Sign to toss her aside like a ragdoll and into a pile the pile of junk she used as spare parts.

A high-pitched scream put the brawl to a sudden stop. “What the fuck is going on here!” Leeroy stood at the door of her workshop in a state that was the closet Cake had seen him turn apoplectic. The towering form of Jenkins looming behind him as a reminder that nobody should be getting any stupid ideas.

“What did I tell you, you idiots?!” The boy screamed, shaking where he stood. “Go and tell Cake to come to the bar because Grey is looking for her! When did I say, beat the shit out of her first?”

A primal cry, akin to that of a small animal, the kid turned to her and with uneven voice apologised. He had a lot of things to say, but all Cake heard was that Gey was looking for her. Not bothering to say a word, the girl jumped up and sprinted up the stairs to collect her gear. This was the first time he was the one calling her!

“No-eyes! It’s happening! I think it’s finally going to happen!” Cake yelled as she crushed through the flimsy door dove for her weapons. “I can’t believe it either!”

Thanks to having planned to go out for a run to the ruins, most of her gear was prepared. All it took was to arrange it in her back and move. Instead, Cake grabbed as much as she could and dumped it inside. The girl was almost done when she stopped and looked at the large skull.

“Should I change into something nicer? How about that dress I found?” Cake looked at her faded leather pants and torn t-shirt with worry. Chuckling, she shook her head and smiled at the morbid object. “No, no. You are right, No-eyes. There is no time for that.”

Fuelled by new purpose, Cake bolted for the stairs, stopping for long enough to grab her flack vest in one hand and slung her bag over her shoulder. No-eyes was right, she had to hurry before Grey hanged his mind.