Joe and Leo drove through the wasteland and forest. The view from the aircraft left Leo mesmerized. Joe just looked at him and chuckled. It took a bit for the atmosphere to get better. Joe and Leo both took leaving Fiver pretty hard.
"Hey, Joe, what do you think happens when we die?" asked Leo as he played with the passing wind with his hand.
"I don't know, Leo. My father believed if you were good, you were allowed to meet in heaven."
Leo paused for a second and then asked another question. "Do you think Fiver was good?"
Joe looked at the boy and said, "I would say so. He saved our lives after all."
The AI chimed in with, "Sir, I don't believe that the concept of heaven Joe is..."
"Sprite, zip it. The kid doesn't need your facts right now." Joe responded sternly. The AI was more intelligent than anything he had ever seen, but it lacked when it came to common sense and emotions.
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Hours flew by as Joe and Leo switched off with driving. They eventually came upon Oklahoma City. Two years ago, Joe heard that humans and refugee beastmen were hiding here. Oklahoma City didn't get attacked in World War III but was raided repeatedly. These attacks chased people into the surrounding rural areas. Eventually, people returned and started a small settlement there.
Joe decided it would be an excellent option to check out and explained to Leo the situation. He had no idea what to expect when they arrived.
Leo grew up with not seeing many people let alone a whole city full of them. He was excited but also a bit nervous.
Joe explained that they would need to be careful as some places receive anyone but some places are more dangerous.
In the distance, they saw some buildings and went towards them. Joe knew it had to be settlement as most buildings were destroyed or in shambles.
"Personnel in the hovercraft halt," a voice from an intercom said to Joe and Leo. Looking around, they couldn't see anyone.
"Warning, Sir! Incoming plasma shot!" A blast passed right next to the hovercraft. Joe stopped the craft as to comply.
"Joe, that blast almost killed us." Looking ahead, Leo saw a giant blaster cannon mounted on an old building.
"That was a warning shot. Do not try anything funny and land the craft now," commanded the voice from the intercom.
"I hope they know we are friendly," Joe remarked as he landed the craft. They landed the ship in a painted red circle. The three buildings surrounding the landing zone had people and beastmen come out holding weapons.
"I hope so too," replied Leo as he looked at the people encircling them.
A man, woman, and beastman came forward. In the middle of the three, the older woman spoke up first. "Hello, I am Anna Stewart. I'm the President of this settlement. The beastmen here, calls me Leader. His name is Lycan and is the commander of the Warrior Brigade. To my left is Jack O'Connor, commander of the Defense Brigade. Now state who you are and why have you come here?"
The beastman, Lycan, glared at the visitors, warning them not to try anything. Jack, on the other hand, smiled at the two new visitors.
"Mam, My name is Joseph Brown, and this boy's name is Leonardo. We are escapees of a Canine-beastmen spacecraft east of here. It is 1000 kilometers from here."
"Joseph, you were off by 70. It is 1070 kilometers," Sprite replied as Leo hurried to place his hand over his wrist to drown out Sprite's remark. He learned from the Beastman incident that he should keep knowledge of Sprite to a minimum.
Leo cleared his throat to distract them and said, "Nice to meet you."
Seeing his cue, Joe continued, "Like I was saying, we were both imprisoned and escaped with the help of a beastman, who was our cellmate." Joe went silent for a few seconds and then said," we don't know if he made it out alive."
Lycan perked up and asked, "What was his name so we can honor him?"
"He was Unit 9345, but we called him Fiver."
"Thank you, human Joseph. Shadow, go carve the name Fiver on the memorial," commanded Lycan. "Us free beastmen don't use our unit numbers any longer."
A feline variant beastman responded, "As you command." She left to complete her job swiftly.
Leo looked at the thin beastmen near Lycan disappear quickly. She was different compared to the canine variants he had seen. The feline variants were more cat-like and focused on speed and agility.
Sprite picked up on the fact that she used some sort of wind movement technique. The AI also began scanning the area in case his master would need to make an escape.
"Alright, everyone, stand down," yelled Jack. He could tell the situation didn't need the whole town pointing their weapons at the visitors. "Get back to it. You all can meet the new guys later."
Anna walked forward and shook Joe's hand. "Welcome to the settlement. We named it Independence. Sorry for the show of force, but in these times, it is hard to trust others."
"I can understand that," replied Joe. "How can your people use beastmen blasters?"
"I can explain that tomorrow in due time. I'll have my aide Samantha take you to a place to rest. Tomorrow morning, she will retrieve you and bring you to the council room in the town hall and discuss what you know and where you can pitch in." Looking over to a young woman about 19 years old. The lass nodded her head in agreement. "Good then, I shall see you tomorrow. We will move your ship into a bay for safekeeping. Hope you don't mind." Anna gave a smile that Leo didn't quite understand. He made a mental note to ask Joe and Sprite about it later.
As everyone started to disperse, Lycan gave a chest salute and left. Then Samantha walked up and motioned the two men to follow her.
Walking through the buildings was like a maze to Leo. He never got to see so many structures still standing for the most part. They weaved through the piecemealed settlement and came to an old gas station.
"Even though this place is close to the center, no one wanted it. So, it is all yours," said the girl in a sweet tone.
"Thank you, Samantha. We will see you in the morning," responded Joe.
Joe then watched as the girl smiled at Leo. Even though Leo was younger than her, he was still a good-looking young man. His roughed-up exterior made Samantha wonder even more about him. When Leo caught her staring, he frowned and tilted his head out of curiosity. Mistaking the frown as he was upset, she looked down and said, "Goodnight." She hurried off quicker than the feline beastmen from before.
Joe looked at Leo and laughed. He might be a good fighter, but he knew nothing about women. "Let's get inside and clean up the place if we are going to be living here for a bit."
"Sprite, why did Joe laugh at me?"
"I don't know, Sir. I'm 55% sure it had to do with the female, but also, Joseph doesn't make sense most of the time. So, that could be the other 45%, Sir."
Joe had already left the boy standing outside and began sizing up their new place. "Leo, hurry up. I need your help moving all the junk piled inside."
Leo ran inside to help move around stuff. There were shelves, tables, an old van, and even a bunch of scrap metal. As the sun was creeping down, Joe dusted off his hand and looked at Leo with a job well done. They moved most of the junk to block the open windows and built a living area next to the countertop.
Joe finally had some time to finish bandaging himself up. Even though Leo did a patch job, Joe needed to redo it as not to get an infection. Now Joe could seal it with some gel Sprite told them was in the station. After that, Joe finally crashed from exhaustion. Leo laid down, but his mind was racing.
Laying there, Leo could hardly sleep. He was in an iron cell the night before with little hope of escaping. With Fiver's help, they survived and got to see the sky again. Then Joe took him to this settlement where they have a lot of humans. When he was looking around, he couldn't even count them all. Sprite performed a count for him, but Leo told the AI to only talk to him in private or when Leo asked a question. Looking at Joe sleeping and then down at Sprite, a feeling crept up he had never felt before.
"This is what it feels to have a home and a family….."
"Sir, a family is a group of people that have mated together to produce offspring…."
"Nooo Sprite, I don't want the mating story again."
"Sir, your pheromones were rising when you saw the female named Samantha. You should mate with her."
"Sprite stop talking. I'm going to bed." Leo rolled over and covered his head with an old vehicle cover. He slowly drifted off to sleep.
As the boy fell asleep, many mutated beasts began to creep towards the settlement. Since energy returned to the world, many beasts morphed, and the ones close by were once coyotes. After naturally absorbing energy, these coyotes became bigger and faster. They quickly became one of the mightiest packs in Oklahoma.