I wake up and find myself in a medical bed. I groan as I sit up, and then cough up a little blood. I look down and see that my stomach was heavily bandaged. I look over in the corner and see that Opera is sitting in the seat that is there, asleep.
I try getting up out of the bed, only to fall onto the floor. This wakes Opera up, 'Wait, how did I know that?' I roll over and look at Opera who is bending down to try and help me up.
"Oh my god, your alive!" Opera cries out with tears in her eyes, "I thought I lost you! After you blacked out, I panicked!" Opera pulls me off of the floor and helps me onto the medical bed, "I'm so glad you're alright..." Opera gives me a hug.
"It'll take a lot more than some stray sniper round to kill me." I say with a smug look. Opera giggles before looking me in the eyes, dead serious, "So... When were you gonna explain that scar to me, hm?" Opera nods towards the scar.
"I was going to when we got back. But things happened and... you know..." Opera gives me a look telling me to tell her or else. I take a deep breath and exhale slowly, "I was bitten." Opera's eyes widen at those words, "How long ago...?"
I avoid looking at her, "Around four days prior to being captured..." Opera looks at me with difficulty, "And you didn't turn...?" I nod. Opera looks at the floor, before perking up, "Thats great!" Huh? "This makes you the ultimate infected fighter, right. If they bite you, you can just shrug it off!"
I blink at her, confused, "Not the kind of reaction I was expecting, but ok." Opera smiles widely which makes me smile a little as well, "I think I also got powers from surviving the infection." Opera's eyes are shining, "What kind?!"
"Well, for one I can regenerate slowly. Don't ask me how I found that out." Opera nods, "I can also go into this state of extreme focus, which causes my vision to lose color, but I can see heat signatures." Opera nods again.
"I can also gain super strength at random times, though I think it is triggered by extremely stressful situations." Opera listens with glee, "And I think I also have a sixth sense, which is new."
"Cool~!" Opera says in awe. Opera suddenly looks sad, "I checked around the settlement. I didn't find anyone, alive that is." Opera looks at the floor, "I can just imagine what happened to them."
I reach for Opera's shoulder and grab it reassuringly, "It's ok." I bring Opera into a hug, which she doesn't resist. Opera starts crying into my shoulder as I pat her back gently.
After Opera was finished crying, I ask her something, "How did you get captured?" Opera wipes her eyes and answers me, "After you left to go scavenging, I decided to gather up a group of people to help me look for anything I could use for my work."
"Freaking military ambushed us and killed those who fought back too much, which turned out to be everyone but me apparently, as I had forgotten my weapons at home." Opera pauses, "I guess in a way, me getting captured was a good thing. I avoided whatever happened to the settlement."
Opera perks up a little with a small smile, "At least my workshop is ok. If not a little messy." I smile at her optimism, "Well, Zara, you should rest up a bit more." Opera gains an excited look, "I'm gonna go work on the hover jeep. Make it a bit more badass!"
Opera leaves the room, leaving me all by myself. I lie down and close my eyes and fall asleep.
By the next day I am up and walking around. I go outside and head towards Opera's workshop. As I near the workshop I hear the sounds of drilling and other mechanical noises. I enter the workshop and see Opera working on some kind of metal bracer with a tube on top.
I wait until she is finished before talking to her, "So what are you working on?" Opera turns around with a wide smile on her face, "Something for you!" She turns back around and grabs what she was working on, "Lend me an arm, would you?" She says half-jokingly.
I put my arm out and she quickly attaches the metal bracer she was working on to it, "What is this?" I ask. Opera finishes attaching the bracer, "This! Is a grappling hook! Try it out!" I look at her strangely before I aim my arm at a nearby wall, "How do I...?"
"Just push this button here. Oh, but be careful as I haven't tested it yet." Opera says. I aim the grappling hook and push the button on the top.
Suddenly, a hook shoots out of the tube and into the wall, "Cool! Now how do I reel it IIIINNN!" I suddenly find myself flying towards the wall at a fast speed, "OPERA!!! HELP!!!" I crash into the wall headfirst, "Ugh... Opera... I swear you're gonna kill me one of these days..."
Opera runs over to check on me, "Are you ok?!" Opera helps me up, "I am SO sorry! I should have tested it first!" Opera quickly removes the grappling hook from my arm. I hold my head in pain and say, "I'm fine. I should heal in just a little bit."
"Ok." Opera goes back to her workbench and grabs something off of it before running back to me, "Here, plans for the new gate. So that we don't have to worry about people attacking as much." I grab the plans and look at them.
She plans on making a sliding gate, like the one back at the prison, except much stronger and without an entry post. We already have two towers on either side, we just have to get rid of one to make room for the gate to slide into when open.
"Looks good." I frown after realizing something, "Do we have the resources for this?" Opera grins at that, "I was hoping to use the scrap from the tower we're gonna take down for the gate. As for how we're going to power it? I'll think of something."
I give Opera back the plans and she heads back to her workbench, "In the meantime, I'm gonna work on the grappling hook. Maybe add an emergency disconnect." Opera suddenly jumps up, "I just remembered something!" She goes into a separate room and comes back shortly after with a familiar object.
"I found this lying around and fixed it back up for you." In her hands is the glider I discarded a while ago, "I even upgraded it too! You can fold it and unfold it at the push of a button!" She puts it on and demonstrates by pushing a button located on its bottom.
The glider looks like a small bag when folded. When unfolded however the glider looks like a makeshift parachute, "Last time I used this I was shot out of the sky by a Spitter." Opera takes the glider off after folding it, "Yeah, well, it's still a work in progress."
She puts the glider on the ground and waves me off. I walk towards where Opera parked the hover jeep. I reach the vehicle and notice a few things; One, the vehicle has a whole new paintjob, which consists of a black background covered in graffiti. Two, the gunner's seat has a lot more armor. And three, the thing has a lot more armor in general. I'm sure she added some things under the hood.
After admiring Opera's work, I head to the gate and notice something in the distance. I get up on one of the towers to get a better view, "People?" I climb down off the tower and run towards Opera's workshop.
"Opera! We got people moving towards us!" Opera quickly puts down what she was working on, "This might be good! More people means we can get more done!" Opera and I run back towards the gate.
When we arrive, we see a large hover bus a few meters away from the gate. The bus stops. I walk up to the vehicle and shout, "Hello?!" Suddenly the side door to the bus opens and a single man walks out. He eyes me in a way that makes me uncomfortable.
I look over his shoulder and see that the bus is full of poorly dressed people, 'Great, a bandit.' The man smiles and says, "Why hello little lady! Wanna come with me? I promise it'll be fun~" My face scrunches up in disgust as I know what he's implying.
"No thanks, I'll pass." I pull out my pistol and quickfire at his chest. Surprisingly the man just takes it and dies on the spot, "Well that was easy." I look at the bus, "Time to set the people free." I walk over to the bus and notice that the doors are still open, "That guy was either really confident or just plain stupid."
I enter the bus and see that all the people are tied to the seats and handlebars, "Don't worry, I'm here to let you guys go. Just hold on a minute." I pull out my knife and begin cutting the prisoners loose.
They all thank me and get off the bus. I go to the back and see that people aren't the only thing the bandit was transporting, "Opera! I hit the motherlode!" Opera climbs on the bus and starts drooling, "More toys~!"
Right there in front of me, is a pile of weapons, clothes and supplies. I Realize something, "Hey, Opera?" Opera looks at me while holding a sniper rifle like it's a child, "Yeah?" I look at the pile of items and say, "Couldn't we use the bus's engine to power the gate?"
Opera's mouth goes wide as she almost drops the sniper in her hands, "Why didn't I think of that?! Thanks for the idea, Zara!" Opera gives me a quick hug before going to the driver's seat of the bus and pulling it into the base.
I look out the window and notice that the prisoners I freed are making themselves awfully comfortable in our base. I step off the bus once it stops and yell out, "HEY, PEOPLE!" They all look at me, "IF YOUR GONNA STAY HERE YOU NEED TO CONTRIBUTE! OTHERWISE JUST LEAVE!"
The people look at each other, before a few leave, "Hey Opera. How much do you wanna bet those that left get eaten in less than a day?" Opera grabs her chin and closes her eyes, thinking, "They'll probably be fine, at least some of them."
"Right..."