RULE #28

Keep an eye out for signs left by other Scavengers. They can save your life.

~ The Scavenger’s Handbook

“Hey, pretty boy!” Cake shouted at the crouched Joshua. He was busy checking his bag and was taking his sweet time at that. “You’ve got quite the balls, making Grey mad!”

The two of them were supposed to keep watch, while the others got some sleep. In another four hours, they would switch with another pair of people. That was how things worked when you had someone to travel with, in the ruins. She understood it, Grey understood it, only those Axion bastards didn’t get it. The fact, she was pissed because of the wound, had nothing to do with her foul mood. Actually, she was happy Grey paired her with this asshole. Cake had a bone to pick with him.

“Miss Cake,” Joshua spoke with obvious restraint, his self-righteous expression face infuriated her. “I wished to talk to our guide about your behaviour. But it might be better this way.”

“You got a problem, punk?” She felt the familiar surge of adrenaline at the smell of a fight. He thought he had a problem with her? The nerve of this guy. She was the one who had a problem with him. Her hands tightened into fists as she stepped closer.

“First, you almost kill Heather and her team.” He pointed a finger at her. At least he was smart enough not to reach for his weapon. From this close, Cake would skewer him, before the fancy gun could mark her skin. “Then you fail to scout the tunnels for danger. And how did you know Maité’s team carried explosives? You must have rummaged from their luggage.”

“Is that all, pretty boy?” She clicked her tongue and thought about giving him a proper look, without the glasses. However, that was likely to have her get scolded by Grey again. She would rather chew her own throat than allow that to happen.

“I can’t prove it, but I am sure you killed Jasper, leaving him to be eaten by those cannibals.” There it was. He took the swing, just as she had expected.

The behaviour of the tourists had rubbed her the wrong way from the start. So, what if they were from Axion? That gave them no right to think they were better than everyone else. If anything, they were like helpless children. Stomping their way through the ruins, ignoring the basics of survival and they had the gall to blame those who knew what they were ding for their mistakes. Sure, she baited Joshua into this fight. Cake’s posture screamed conflict and she had picked her words carefully to facilitate such an outcome. In a way, he should be thanking her for curbing his ego.

Cake bend her knees, barely avoiding the fist from smacking her in the head. Springing back up, she dove into the young man turning the fight into a wrestling match. Damn it, but Joshua was not bad at it, alas he lacked the experience of participating in the brawls at Leeroy’s place. A man could learn a lot there, the most important part being to never start a fight with Cake.

Twisting her body in his grip, she wrapped her legs around his neck and began punching him in the chest and stomach. The girl hissed when her knuckles impacted with the hard armour hidden within the high-tech protection suit. Ok, she might have underestimated her opponent a little. Joshua used the momentary lapse of focus and with a grunt got to his feet and slammed her into the ground. This only caused Cake to tighten her hold around his leg as the air was driven out of her lungs. Actually, did she hear an echo when her head bounced on from the dirt? She missed her chance to react, allowing the boy to slam her again. Suddenly the ground broke.

The way they were entangled with one another it was hard to tell how long they had been falling for. Apparently, some idiot had dug a hole and covered it by a metal lid, which, surprise, surprise, couldn’t hold their combined weight. This much Cake divined when the bloody thing scraped the back of her shoulder as she landed in a deep mixture of water, mud and rotting vegetation. It tasted as bad as she imagined, but at least it had cushioned her fall.

“What the fuck happened?!” She spat a mouthful of the mixture and winced at the stinging in her wound. Yep, she was getting an infection, there was no way around it and she wasn’t that good on antibiotics too.

She should have bit the bullet and bought some from Leeroy before heading out. The guy was a creep, but he always had a good stock of emergency supplies set aside, which he sold at extorting prices. It was all No-eyes’ fault, he had pushed her to get going as fast as possible. Yes, when she got back home, she was going to have a chat with the prankster. Before that, however, she had to find a way out of this tight hole. It had to be two by two meters and, if she guessed it right, four or five meters deep. Not the best place to get trapped in. As for an exit, well, by the looks of it, Cake had two option to choose from. The rusty ladder attached to the far wall or the small tunnel to her right. She was about to go check the latter when something, or rather someone very specific, grabbed her ass and pushed her to the side.

“Get off me!” Joshua barked as he emerged from the water. His attempts to clean the transparent front of his helmet resulted in smearing the mixture, further obscuring his vision. With a grunt, he removed the valuable piece of gear and looked around, before his eyes stopped on Cake. He desired to kill her, even if he could not do it right now. Not with her holding her rifle anyway.

They stared at each other for a moment, before the Axion brat turned around and walked to the ladder. He had groped her! Only Grey had permission to do something like that, and as much as she would like to shoot this prick in the back, Cake couldn’t do it, because there was no hiding it from Grey. On the other hand, if the boy slipped and broke his neck, that would be another thing. There would be plenty of opportunities for that once they were out of the Park.

“This is not over,” Joshua said, his voice returning to normal, despite the fact he was not fully protected anymore. It was impossible for Cake not to notice something like that. In other words, they had the damned things on for nothing. No, that was wrong. They were hiding something else as well. Whatever it was, it could wait. This place had a bad vibe to it.

Reluctantly, she removed her finger from the trigger of her weapon and searched for her glasses. As luck would have it, they were floating at the edge of the water, where the tunnel began. For the most part, the item was ok, but the frame was bent and felt uncomfortable resting on her ears. Great! They were a gift which she had protected for ages and this idiot had broken them. Such a crime could not go unpunished. Cake was going to find what Joshua cherished and when she did, she was going to destroy it. Caught in imagining his expression, she missed the scream that came out of the teen before he landed on her, submerging her the waist-deep foul water once again.

“Do you have shit for brains!” She screamed at the boy the moment she emerged and pushed him back under with the intent to drown him. Grabbing her leg, he managed to escape her grip and stand on his feet.

“What the hell are you doing?!” He shouted and pushed her away. “The ladder broke!”

“Of course, it would!” Cake hissed and adjusted the strap of her rifle. “What kind of an idiot climbs a rusty old ladder like that? You were supposed to use it as support while you scale the wall because the damn iron has practically rotted by now.”

“Where are you going?” Joshua demanded when she stepped on the solid ground of the tunnel.

“Looking for another exit. This is a bunker, which means that it has another way in and out.” She pointed at the small plaque fixed to the wall. She had missed the letters reading ‘Restricted Area’ initially. But now, she knew it wasn’t some random hole in the ground.

“We should wait for the others to come search for us.” He said as he followed her out of the water.

“Right…” Cake spat on the ground trying to rid herself of the revolting taste in her mouth. “We were supposed to wake them in four hours and I don’t plan on sitting here while we wait. Worst case, we’ll have to backtrack.”

She was going to fix this mess before Grey could yell at her again. If she did so, he might praise her and tell her how much she meant to him again. Not to mention that it would show him that she was a reliable partner.

“You realise our gear is up there,” Joshua looked at the small opening looming way above as he tested his leg.

Cake could see he was having trouble placing weight on it, but it didn’t look too serious. Most likely either the knee or ankle or both were sprained. If she had to be honest, they were lucky to be alive after such a fall. And to get away with no injuries bordered a miracle. She hated to admit it, but he had a point. Without gear, they were in a bad spot. After some deliberation, Cake removed the handgun from her belt and gave it to Joshua.

“Don’t make me regret this.”

“Why are you giving me this?” He looked confused. “This place looks abandoned…” The boy stopped when the memory of the shrimp-hound sprung to his mind. It wasn’t that long ago for him to feel safe and Cake wanted to punch him again. However, a faint, familiar scent caught her attention.

“Do you smell that?” She asked and crouch down where it was stronger.

“All I can smell is rot.” Joshua’s nose wrinkled as he inhaled.

“It’s like the disinfectant Grey uses when he is out on a run. He has a similar fragrance when he comes back.” Cake muttered mostly to herself. “But at the same time, it is a little different… Like, there is a sweet note to it.” She followed the scent like a hound. “Wait a minute, it’s coming from you!”

“That’s impossible.” He waved her away, clearly questioning her sanity. “There should be nothing coming from the suit.”

“Nope, I’m sure of it,” Cake leaned closer and sniffed him, slowly going down from his chest. “Step aside.”

Unceremoniously, she pushed him away. Her curiosity spiked, she got closer to the ground. There it was, the source of the strange odour, a small nozzle peeking from the ground where Joshua's foot used to be.

“What is it?” The boy asked while trying to get a better look over her shoulder.

“I have no clue. If Grey was here, he would surely know,” Cake pinched her nose, while she answered his question. The smell was starting to irritate her senses.

“I don’t get it. Every time you start speaking, it always ends with Grey. Sure, he has a lot of experience, but he is not all-knowing.” Joshua crouched next to her and turned on the LED flashlight attached over his left breast.

“You don’t get it, kid,” Cake looked at him, knowing he could not see her eyes hidden behind the sunglasses. Perhaps she should allow him to get a better look. That usually got people to take her seriously. “He’s seen shit and lived to tell about it.”

She motioned for Joshua to lower the light, and against her better judgment removed her glasses. The way she saw it, sooner or later the tourists would find out she was a mutant. That was if they didn’t suspect it already. Cake let out a disappointed sigh as the boy recoiled and fell to the ground. She could see it in his eyes and the tensed shoulders that he was trying not to pull the gun she gave him. A moment later Joshua smiled nervously and averted his eyes by turning his head to the right. The same as always. A part of her had hoped that he would be different since he was from Axion. It was pointless to ask him why he had reacted this way. People never could give her a clear answer.

“You… You are a mutant…” Joshua stuttered.

“Congratulations!” Cake clapped her hands and smiled. “You win rad pill!” She leaned closer, enjoying his discomfort.

“But mutants can’t fit in human society…” He closed his mouth before he could finish the thought. However, it was too late. The words were spoken.

“You see, I’m special,” Cake pulled the hunting knife she kept hidden in her boot and carefully dragged it from Joshua’s chin, down his chest and stopped short of the precious items between his legs, making sure to keep the blade a hair’s width away from actually injuring him.

“Everyone likes cake,” she hummed. “And Grey named me Cake, so that people would like me too. But they never do.” As suddenly as it had started the tune died and she continued in a sombre voice.

“I don’t remember much of Sector 19, but the little I do could be described as Hell on Earth. Missy called it a repressed memory, however, there are things I can never forget. Things like the cracks filled with fire, running like spiderwebs through the streets. Or the ash chocking the toxic air unable to escape the closed vents in the spider-infested dome.” Cake chuckled as the images danced in her mind.

“Most of all I recall the cries of the Burned Men, pleading for help as they butcher anyone they see. Only the silent Flesh Tailors could make them run and seek shelter because they were monsters of a different breed. Always looking and searching for new parts to graft to their creations.”

“I can’t imagine…” Joshua tried to speak. Probably to comfort her, but she did not need his pity.

“Shush,” Cake pressed the blade against his groin. “I’m not done talking. Amongst this place of madness and despair, there he stood in front of me after the Burned Men and the Flesh Tailors had taken turns to pillage my home. Grey, a natural human, the only of his kind in the entire Sector and he had stirred it like a nest of fire ants. By the time we left, all the monsters, that haunt my nightmares to this day, kept their distance.”

She clicked her tongue and stood up. “So, my little tourist, you better get it in your head – Grey knows what he is talking about. If he tells me to duck, I duck. If he tells me to jump, I jump. And if he needs to put a bullet through me, I don’t complain, because I know that’s the right thing to do.”

“Do you get it now?” Cake offered her hand and helped Joshua to his feet. “And Josh, the only reason you don’t have extra holes in you, is because of Grey.” She moved fast and kissed him on the cheek before he knew what was happening. The stunned expression on his face was priceless.

“Do you feel dizzy?” Cake asked as a sudden wave of vertigo assaulted her.

“What?” The question was enough to confirm that the tourist was a slow one.

“Dizzy,” She repeated the word slowly. “You know what that means? Also, my fingers are starting to go numb…”

Joshua's eyes were going to shoot out of their sockets. He grabbed her hand and dragged her deeper into the corridor. The young man was strong, but there was a noticeable lack of coordination in his movements as he sprinted.

“What do you think you are doing?” Cake yelled at him, trying to match his pace.

“Knockout gas! I should have noticed it sooner. At a low concentration, it has no effect on me and since you showed no signs, I couldn’t connect the dots.” He barked.

“Stop!” The girl yanked her hand away and halted forcing him to do the same. Joshua was about to yell at her or he did, but Cake did not care. She removed the mask she used for painting and shoved it in his chest. “You can use this one. The straps are adjustable.” Not wasting any more time, she wrapped her scarf around her face.

“I…” Cake cut him off before he could say anything else.

“You left your helmet back at the nozzle.” She pushed him forward and settled into a jog. “You might have missed it, but you are starting to lurch from side to side while you run.”

“Thank you,” Joshua muttered next to her and placed the item on his face. “What are we going to do now?”

“There is a door further down the tunnel.” She pointed at the obvious slab of steel, forgetting that he was a normal human.

“You sure?” The question reminded of that mistake. To him, this place was too dark to see further than a meter or two away.

“Of course, I’m sure! Now move!”

It took them half a minute to reach the door. At first inspection, it looked like your average airlock, with I bio-coded panel next to. But there was a problem – it lacked a handle. There was also no latch above it, where the emergency release should be. This left them with only one option – bypass the bio-coding. No matter how fast they worked, it would take them hours to strip the protective cover and reveal the electronics underneath. The chances of jamming the entire thing after that bordered certainty.

“Hey, pretty boy,” Cake moved away from the panel, not before kicking the wall. “You mention you people had an old-world key, back at Leeroy’s. Come on do your magic.”

Joshua rolled his eyes and took her place, examining the damned thing. “First, it’s not magic. And second, it works only on the doors between sectors and some others. But it is useless if there is no dialling pad.”

“Move aside,” She commanded. “Maybe it’s rusty too.” Stepping back, Cake run at the door.

“That’s at least half a meter of reinforced steel. Breaking it down won’t…” Joshua’s eyes widened as he saw the airlock move slightly to the inside as Cake’s body slammed into it. “…work.”

Gathering his wits, he rushed to her side and helped her up. She had sparked his curiosity; the girl could see it in his eyes. It wasn’t just the need to find safety from what was obviously a trap. No, deep down, Joshua was just like her. The only difference was that he was better at hiding it. With their combined strength, they managed to push the door enough for a person to go through. Bright light flooded the tunnel and Cake had to hold the tourist from bolting into the unknown. They were lucky so far and there was no need to push that luck any further. Pressing her index finger against her lips, Cake sneaked a peek of what waited for them on the other side.

“Shit!” She cursed as bullets ricocheted from the thick steel door.

“Automated defences?” Joshua ventured.

“Nope,” She shook her head and dropped into a prone position. “Bullets run out. Energy weapons can work indefinitely as long as the turret’s UV panels are intact. Cover me.”

“With what?”

“The damn pistol I gave. Keep in mind the clip has only ten rounds and with the one in the chamber, you have a total of eleven shots. Make them count.” She tapped Joshua’s shin. “Stand over me. That will direct their aim to you.”

“Are you serious?! What can an absolute piece of tech do.” He groaned as he fiddled with the weapon.

Cake turned on her back and swore. “For fuck’s sake! It can decorate the wall with your brain if you keep pointing it at your face! Do you even know how to use a gun?”

“A real one – yes! But this thing is ancient. On Axion, the only mechanical weapons we have, belong to the Museum.” Joshua’s whining was starting to get on her nerves.

“Give me that!” She outstretched her hand and motioned with her fingers. “Watch carefully. I doubt I’ll have a second chance to show you twice.”

Dextrously, she ejected the bullet in the chamber and caught it mid-air with her left hand. Following that, Cake removed the clip and inserted it at the top. She used some extra force when placing the clip back in the pistol, something she would never do; however, she was quite angry at this point. Finally, she pulled back the slide, turned the gun on its side to give Joshua a better look as she flipped the safety off.

“Here, all done!” Cake hissed. “Hold it tight, otherwise the recoil will force it out of your hand.” It was like teaching a child and she did not like children. They were obnoxious, needy and constantly made fun of her. She had plenty of experience to go by with the three snotty brats back at Véi Dron.

“If a Scav can do it, how hard could it be?” Joshua stepped around her shoulders and leaned through the gap. The moment he pulled the trigger, he cursed. “What the hell! How can you aim with such a thing?!” He shouted as another volley of rounds peppered the door.

Cake laughed, both at the Axion teen and the idiots that were shooting at them. They were as dumb as the tourists. Standing in the middle of a fairly spacious room, all lined up in two rows of three. The ones at the back standing tall and the other three on one knee in front of them. They had identical clothing and all were about to crap their pants. Well, there is a rule in the ruins. You don’t shoot at people unless you want to make enemies. And out here, there were plenty of things hunting your ass to allow for such luxury as turning others against you. There were exceptions of course, like the Skins and most mutants.

Six rapid pulls of the trigger. That’s how much it took for Cake to kill them. It was like shooting at tin cans, back when Gray was teaching her how to use a rifle. But now, she was way better at it. She remembered his words clearly; always aim for the body, even if they have a flack vest on, it will knock a person down, giving you enough time to fire again. That was the second lesson he taught her – always have some sort of protection on you. The poor sods clearly had no one like Grey to impart such valuable information on them. Or they were just overconfident like Joshua and his gang. Either way, it did not matter anymore, since they were dead.

“Go check the door at the back. I’ll see what’s behind the one on the left.” Cake ordered as she walked carefully into the room.

This place was clean. Not like Véi Dron, but proper clean to the point where it felt unnatural. And there were so many working lights. Whatever was going on here was not good. People avoided restoring places like this for a reason and it wasn’t only because they didn’t know how to. Anything hidden underground was evil. It was common knowledge that the robots, dangerous mutants and monsters wandering the ruins, all of them came from bunkers like this one.

The door opened the moment she walked next to it. Cake froze at the sight of the bulky figures standing behind an overturned table. They were dressed in all-white suits and had enormous hunches on their backs. It took her a second to realise that those were actual hazmat suits. Not like the patchwork recycled ones she saw from time to time on some of the Scavengers that passed through Leeroy’s. Such items were a rarity and as expected were the talk of the day. However, that was not import now, the most important thing was that the two people Cake was looking at were armed. And here she was out in the open with no cover, just begging to get filled with led. With a wild shriek, the one on her right started shooting and Cake saw her life flashed before her eyes.

She did not dare believe it, but the person had missed, emptying the entire clip into the wall around her. Having this much luck was not a good sign; it only meant that something nasty was waiting just around the corner. But as Grey said, take advantage of your luck while you can and that’s exactly what Cake did. The girl pressed the rifle to her shoulder and fired. Her first shot was off and hit the target in the arm, however, the second one went straight into the cumbersome head-piece and her enemy fell to the glistening metallic floor. A moment later, the other one was lying on the floor motionless. For a moment she thought she had missed the sound of Joshua firing, but the boy came running into the room after she lowered her weapon.

“What did we do?” He moved his fingers through his head as he walked to the two figures. “These people are scientist… Men and women of knowledge and you gunned them down…”

“They shot first,” Cake shrugged, unsure what he was getting at.

“They were innocent! We are the ones to intrude in their home!” Joshua screamed at her.

Slowly, she walked to him and punched him in the face. “Haven’t you learned a thing?” Cake was proud that she managed to mimic the cold furious tone Grey used when he was angry. “They shot first. They took the risk to shot at me and they paid the price.”

“Now, you check in here and I’ll search the other room,” she tapped him on the shoulder. Dipping her finger in the small pool of blood gathered around the person she had shot; Cake drew a smiley face next to the door.

She pulled down her scarf and gave Joshua an encouraging smile. “If we get separated, follow the signs back here.”