Andrew and Yui walked behind Dan’s group, holding hands at a distance. Yui was as far away from him as possible while still making contact. She nervously glanced between Andrew, who was wearing a stupid grin, and Ezra. Ezra was barely able to walk, being almost completely supported by one of Dan’s men. He periodically grunted in pain as he shuffled forward. Andrew walked with a half skip in his step, seemingly completely unladen by his bags.

“So Ezra, how long you been in here for?”

“Fuck you, you stupid bag of shit.”

“Thanks, very informative. Dan-man, how long has Ezra been here?”

“About three weeks.”

“That’s funny, ‘cause I remember seeing him in class the day before I came here… Weren’t you looking at cuckold fetish porn on your laptop instead of listening to the lecture on Power Series?”

“Wait, how could that be the last lecture you were at if that’s the last one I was at before I came here?”

“Ah, now notice that he doesn’t deny what he was watching.”

“Shut the fuck up Andrew.”

“Well, guess there’s some sort of weird time shit going on between the normal world and this place.”

“Come to think of it you’re probably right” One of Dan’s men chimed in. “Nobody said they heard anything about suspicious disappearances before they ended up here, so its possible we all came here at the same regular world time.”

“You sound like a smart guy, what’s your name?” Andrew asked while holding back a laugh. He lightly tugged on Yui’s hand and she reluctantly came closer to him.

“Billy.” He looked to be pretty young, maybe only seventeen. Still, he was well built and had the bruised knuckles to boot. He looked at Andrew for a moment, trying to figure out whether or not he had been insulted, then gave up. Andrew nodded at him and kept walking. There was a sort of intersection up ahead, with one path seeming to go in the same direction they were already heading, and the other taking a sharp right turn to a much wider tunnel. Andrew glanced at Yui and saw a strand of hair hanging in front of her face. He reached over and gently brushed it behind her ear, then fixed his own hair. She looked at him quizzically, and he nodded back at her. Dan’s group came to the intersection and turned into the wider tunnel.

“We’re here.” Dan said, looking over his shoulder at Andrew. “Start anything here and you’ll be shot dead. Okay?” Andrew nodded at him, still grinning.

“Why don’t we just skip straight to the shoot him dead part?” Ezra said with a scowl.

“We? Why don’t you do it yourself? Lets get us some guns and have a duel. I’m not sure you’d want that though; Every Thursday I went to the range while you went to fag club.” Ezra grumbled something then looked away from him.

“Knock it off, you two,” Dan scoffed “You’ll both be killed if you start anything this close to him.” The walls of the tunnel got wider and wider the farther they went. They rounded a bend and the tunnel turned into a bustling cavern.

It was as if they walked into a third world market. Scattered throughout the place was a network of tent like structures, sleeping bags, and shops. Various clotheslines, wires and ropes crisscrossed the space, with blankets, curtains, and whatever else could be used as a barrier hanging from them, forming individual enclosures of various shapes and sizes. People moved aside cloths to variously enter and exit tents. Andrew noted that none of them had anything over the top. He glanced up and took in the domed stone ceiling. They didn’t have to worry about rain so roofs would be a waste of limited resources. Somewhat separate from most of the tents was a somewhat more orderly arrangement of shops. Some had their goods displayed on chairs, others on bookshelves. The poorest of the bunch had them spread out on floor mats in front of them. The commercial area seemed pretty busy and was patrolled by groups of men openly carrying rifles. The Merchant’s guards perhaps? A closer look showed they were all wearing white armbands.

As they walked further into cavern the smell of hundreds of people living in close proximity hit them. Andrew scowled, then looked to Dan’s men. They hardly reacted to it at all, probably because they were used to it. Yui made an expression of disgust and covered her nose. Andrew could feel the eyes drawing to them. The normal day to day chatter of the makeshift village slowly turned to excited murmurs. He held his head high and squeezed Yui’s hand as they paraded through.

After they walked through a bit of the residential area and ignoring a few inquisitive residents, a rather out of place sight started coming into view. It was a 50s style mom and pop diner, with a neon sign and all. Around it there was a circle of roughly 50 feet where there were no structures, or loiterers. Dan started working his way towards the diner. Once they reached the entrance Dan motioned for them to stop.

“Alright, I’m going to go inside and let the boss know what’s up. Y’all stay out here and don’t start anything.” Andrew nodded at him and watched him enter the diner. Through the door he caught a glimpse of a few people lounging around in the booths. The door closed shut behind Dan. Andrew looked over his shoulder and found the entirety of the cavern gawking at him. Might as well give them something to watch, he thought. He gently pulled Yui towards him and gazed fondly into her eyes. She looked up at him with a mix of confusion and embarrassment, then averted her eyes. He touched the tip of his nose to hers. She looked back at him and blushed before he planted a short kiss on her lips.

“Can’t you wait until you’re alone to make out with your bimbo girlfriend?” Ezra spat.

“Isn’t there an oven you sh-”

“Stop it, both of you.” Billy interrupted. Andrew glanced between him and Ezra, then looked back to Yui. He wrapped his other hand behind her back and she laid her head on his shoulder. They stood like that in silence for a few minutes until Dan came back out.

“Lovebirds, Merchant wants you inside.” Andrew half nodded at him. “Everyone else, Ezra is to be shown to a room. After that we’re going to go back on patrol.” Dan opened the door and motioned for him to enter. Andrew walked in, tugging Yui behind.

He swiveled his head around, taking in as much of the diner as he could at once. The floors were a checkered black and white. The counter was immaculately clean, with two women in their forties sitting down at it. They were both dressed in out of date business attire, looking like secretaries from the 80s. Maybe that was when they were still attractive. One was behind a laptop plugged into a wall outlet, while the other was sorting through stacks of paper. They both spun around in their stools and stared at him. He tried to put on as much of bored expression as he could as he looked over to the booth area. A man stood up from a booth and walked over to him. He was tall and lanky, wearing a denim jacket, snakeskin boots, and a cowboy hat. Andrew glanced at his waist and saw two holstered revolvers. He looked back up to the man’s face and smiled.

“Howdy partner.”

“Real funny there! So you’re the new guy. They call me Gunslinger Sam, but you can just stick to Sam, or Cowboy if you like nicknames.” He spoke with a strong western accent and a friendly tone. He held out his hand.

“Nice to meet you then Cowboy.” Andrew grasped his hand and gave it a few quick shakes.

“So what do I call ya, Nat-si?”

“Andrew will do for now.”

“Dragon, Wiseguy! Come meet our distinguished guest!” He turned around and called out to the booth area. Andrew looked over his shoulder and made out four heads for the two names he heard.

“You guys must be pretty distinguished, what with having code names and hanging out in the Merchant’s place.”

“Damn right we are! We’re the best of the best, his strongest and coolest men.” Andrew’s eye twitched at the sheer corniness of what he just heard. Sam smiled at him as if to say he knew before continuing. “Everyone else has to run jobs for food and rent like independent contractors, but we’re the salaried employees.”

“So guys like Dan and Ezra are mooks and you’re the minibosses.” He saw a suave looking man in a black business suit get out of the booth. He was tall and well built, with dark hair neatly gelled back.

“A pleasure to meet you.” The man in the suit spoke slowly and with composure. “I’m Antony, but the people here call me Wiseguy.” He held out his hand for a shake. Andrew let go of Yui and shook his hand. “And you dear miss, may I have your name?” He looked to Yui.

“The girl doesn’t matter Wiseguy, The Merchant wanted to meet Andrew.” Said the cowboy.

“That’s no excuse for being rude. Don’t they know how to treat a lady out west?” He turned away from Sam and back to Yui. “I’m sorry about that, miss. May I have your name?”

“Y-yui.” She stammered out. Andrew glanced back to the booth they were sitting at, still seeing the backs of three heads.

“It’s a pleasure to meet such a lovely lady.” Wiseguy reached to touch her hand, probably to do that thing where he kissed it. Andrew stepped forward and between them. Before he could say anything he saw a scantily dressed girl scoot out of the booth, followed by a very muscular and very tattooed man.

“Why didn’t you tell me there was a hot chick?” He asked Antony in annoyance while lumbering over. Another girl scooted out behind him and shot an offended look to the first. Andrew motioned for Yui to back up.

“You The Dragon?” Andrew asked, glancing over his muscular form, trying to figure out how the hell he’d take him in a fight.

“No, I’m just Dragon. That girl free or she yours?” He leaned so he could see around Andrew and ogle Yui.

“She’s taken, so what’s your deal?”

“I’m the strongest and baddest motherfucker in the caves. I got back from crushing Muslims in Afghanistan just in time to smash bastards for The Merchant. So is that chick your slave or your girlfriend? ‘Cause if she’s the former I’ll buy her off you, just name your price.” The two girls dragon was with started glaring at Yui and whispering to each other.

“She’s somewhere in between and not for sale. I would appreciate it if everyone would stop making advances on her.”

“Boys, you know the rules.” A man emerged from the kitchen area to their right. He was short and partially balding, but carried himself with the confidence of a world leader. He must be The Merchant, Andrew thought. “Women and alcohol are allowed on the premises as long as you can enjoy yourselves peacefully with them. The second you can’t, they will be removed.”

“Sorry boss.” Dragon murmured.

“Sylvia” The merchant turned to the woman at the laptop. “Begin a new audio recording in ten seconds. Dragon, take the girls you already hired and use them outside.” Dragon nodded before quickly collecting the under-dressed girls and exiting. Sylvia turned around in her chair and gave a thumbs up.

“Mr. Andrew, you’ve made quiet a splash since arriving in our little red home. I see you have Joey’s bags. I trust he didn’t just give them to you. Tell me how you got them.”

“Well, me and my girl were hungry, but somehow Joey ended up eating wood and I ended up dining on his sandwiches.” He rotated the pole in his hand.

“Wiseguy, confiscate that stick.” Antony walked over to him and put his hand on the top of his rod and tried to pull it away from him. Andrew held onto it.

“You’re going to give me that stick.” He spoke slowly and clearly. Andrew considered his position, then let go of it.

“Thanks for taking that off my hand, it was getting to be a pain to carry.” He cracked a grin, Wiseguy didn’t reciprocate.

“A few days ago my scouts reported that a party of bandits was clearing out a new section of rooms and had an Asian woman as a prisoner. Today I heard that same party of bandits was found dead in a pile outside a room. Now you’re standing in front of me with an Asian woman behind you.”

“And?”

“How many people helped you fight them off?”

“None.”

“I won’t go into details, but there was a… very high level of brutality involved in the killings.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just defended myself as best I could.” The merchant was quiet for a minute.

“And with Ezra...”

“Oh, I know him from school, we never got along.” He paused for a second. “Well, if that’s all the questions, I got some stuff I’d like to sell to you.”

“Andrew, I’m more interested in you than whatever trinkets you stole from Joey. Tell me about yourself. You mentioned school, what were you studying?”

“Chemical engineering, I got a book on it in my bag plus some more back in my room.”

“And your fighting, have you had any formal training?”

“I’ve done judo for a while, though when it comes down to it I end up mostly free-styling.”

“Any experience with firearms?”

“Yeah, once a week I’d go to the range with my .45. Do kitchens ever turn up in this place? Because that’s where my gun is.”

“No… I can’t say I’ve ever heard reports of a kitchen.”

“Well shoot.”

“I want you to work for me Andrew.”

“Like just for a job or…”

“No, as a full time agent and retainer. You’ll just have to do a mission for me to prove yourself and you’ll be

compensated generously.”

“What’s the pay like?”

“You get your own room in the area, three meals a day plus water, an alcohol ration, and a negotiable weekly salary of MP.”

“MP?”

“Merchant points. Essentially my own currency backed by the sandwich. Many others also accept it as payment.”

“How can you afford to back something with a sandwich? Won’t you run out eventually?”

“Every night the entire diner restocks itself, there’s a near infinite supply of food and water under my control.”

“Well ain’t that dandy.”

“Do you accept my offer?”

“Honestly man, I’m not a big fan of following orders or working for other people. I’d like to keep on going as a freelancer. I’m not opposed to taking up jobs from you, it’s just that I’d prefer to have the option to say no, you know?”

“If you work for me I’ll put up your woman as well.”

“I mean that’s fine and all but-” Andrew stopped, feeling Yui tug on his shirt. He turned to look at her and she spoke.

“Andrew, I don’t want to keep wandering around and fighting random people. I want safety, security, provisions. I would be really thankful if you accepted his offer and got a place for me to stay. If you won’t do it for yourself, won’t you do it for me?”

Andrew was quiet for a moment. He glanced to the rest of the people in the diner, scanning their expressions. Sam smiled and nodded at him. Wiseguy looked blankly back at him. Andrew turned back to The Merchant.

“Okay uh, how about this. I’ll try being your guy for a month or two. At the end of that I’ll decide whether I like it or not. Is that fair enough?”

“A forty day trial period?”

“Sure.”

“Good. Welcome to the team Andrew. Your first assignment is going to be in two days. To make sure you don’t into too much trouble or heavens forbid get cold feet, I’m going to have to have you stay in a room until then.”

“I’m under house arrest?”

“Well, I’d hate for you to run into anyone else you know from school among my staff.”

“Alright, I guess I can do that. This should be a good opportunity for me and you to get uninterrupted alone time huh Yui?” He turned to her and smiled. He could feel her heart drop.