Chereads / The Handyman / Chapter 4 - Allies

Chapter 4 - Allies

Handy had begun to set up a small iron pan from his pack along with a wire stand and a couple smaller pieces of wood. Placing the pan on the stand and setting the wood underneath he set the pieces alight with his flint and steel creating a makeshift stove. 

"You carry wood?" Lily questioned.

"If I find it."

"Like from a tree?"

"It tends to be."

"That doesn't feel sanitary."

"It's not."

He began pouring a can of beans into the pan along with some cut sausage from a small bag. They sizzled against the heated metal as Lily's hunger began to mount.

"I thought you didn't find any food."

"Emergency supply."

"Is this what your diet usually consist of?"

Handy didn't answer, he merely stirred on in silence.

"As far as diets go meat and beans is pretty good I'd say, back at the village it was usually just whatever was in the convince store or left over from past hunts."

Handy still ignored her, picking up the pan and setting it on the floor as he began to pull a fork from his pack.

"Can I have some?" Lily asked meekly. To this Handy looked up, stared for several seconds, and then stated flatly,

"No."

"What!? Why not?"

"It's mine."

"Didn't your mother teach you sharing is caring?"

"She did."

"This is messed up, I'm going to starve to death and the blood will be on your hands."

"You ate a few days ago."

"Well I'm hungry today, what am I supposed to do?"

"Eat bark, there's some trees over there."

Lily rolled her eyes as she walked back out towards the barricade. She began prodding at it finding it just as stable as it appeared walking towards the houses adjacent to the sandbag wall. As she approached the barred window, absently slapping it to test it's stability, a voice screamed out.

"Who goes there!?"

Lily fell flat on her butt as she screamed out in terror due to the sudden noise. The inside of the house was completely dark making the man inside indistinguishable, but to Lily's ears he sounded like he had been smoking cigarettes his entire life and that he wasn't very happy that she hit his window.

"U-um I was just wondering if you had any food?" Lily squeaked out slightly rattled.

"Food!? This look like a goddamn super market to you!?"

"Uh no not really but, you know maybe if that supermarket was in a zombie apocalypse it could look like this I guess?"

"What!?"

"Well maybe you have some to spare? Or I could do a job for it or something?"

"No! Go away! We don't want no- Wha? Hey! Go away I got this shoo!"

Lily still couldn't see but she could now hear some sort of scuffle between two people behind the window as the gruff man was moved away and then replaced with a new voice.

"What do you need?" The new voice asked in a much sweeter tone.

"Food! Please, if you have it."

"You said you'd work for it?"

"Yes! Although I'm not very physically capable I can do laundry and stuff!"

Lily heard a click as the entire section of wall that surrounded the window opened revealing a hidden entryway a little larger than the window itself.

"Climb through," The voice stated, reaching a hand through the darkness. Lily grabbed a hold and hopped into the darkness as the man guided her through the inky blackness. Upon the house's front door opening she was blinded by the re-exposure to sunlight, as her eyes adjusted she was taken a back.

The area directly behind the sandbags was covered in razor wire stretching roughly 20 feet down the street, beneath that was a hole filled with some sort of black liquid. Beyond the razor wire the street formed a cul de sac with the center most building being a large fortified tower. It was enormous compared to the houses around it stretching what seemed to be four stories into the sky. The tower was constructed from a base of what seemed to be a similar two story family home much like the rest on the cul de sac, however this one had additional storage crates stacked on the left side of the house and a set of support beams climbing up the crates connecting to the roof. Her nervousness was apparently visibly evident because her guide spoke up in assurance. 

"It's stable," He said gesturing to the tower.

"Are you positive?"

"You live around here?"

"I did live about a days walk west, now I'm traveling to Sickle City."

"So you probably went through the massive storm a year ago?"

"Oh yeah with the tornadoes and whatnot." 

"Well it didn't fall then and it's not going to fall now." 

"How do you even build something like that?" 

"A crane and hard work, took a little over half a year."

"But where did you get the resources?"

"You'll meet our leader soon, if she wants to tell you she will." 

Lily's nerve's slowly began to climb. Her assumption of this place was just that the people on this side of the neighborhood had a resident with engineering skills but upon seeing the razor pit and DIY skyscraper she realized she might be dealing with a much more capable outfit. As she approached the tower it occurred to her that the only people around she had seen were the gruff man and her current escort. He seemed fairly young, mid to late 20's at most; he wore grey camo cargo pants and a grey tank top with a machete strapped to his waist. Seeing as how he seemed like a capable guard and this place clearly had sufficient fortification she expected people to be bustling around, however it was pin drop silent as the two walked up to the door of the tower. 

As soon as the door opened a world of chaos was unleashed. A loud mechanical thud rang out from one of the upper floors creating a rhythmic tone of machinery that filled the floor at a constant rate. As for the floor itself there were three people in lab coats bustling about amongst several tables. It was hard to even imagine this as a home with how cluttered the room was with various tables filled with vials and machines. To Lily none of the things scattered about were recognizable as anything but each person was so focused on moving from table to table that they were each clearly of importance. Writing things down, checking a machine, and then moving to some other task with such focus that they didn't even notice the two walking in. 

"Where's York?" 

One of the scientists, a shorter thinner man, spoke up without stopping what he was doing, "Third floor." 

Lily and the man began walking past the tables and scientists through an archway and turning to walk up a staircase nestled in the corner. As she walked up she could see a ladder going through a hole in the ceiling leading to the upper floors at the top of the steps. She didn't get a good look of the second floor as there wasn't a lot of open space, just a central room with three doors leading to what would usually be bedrooms however now probably served a different purpose. The third floor housed a much more interesting sight, several boxes stacked to the ceiling created a labyrinth of cardboard obstructing the rest of the floor from view. The room was already comparatively small being two storage containers wide and ceiling maybe eight feet high but with the added boxes it felt slightly claustrophobic.

A voice called out from somewhere amongst the boxes, "Is someone there?"

"We have a visitor," the man said.

"Sam? Is that you?"

"Yeah we have a visitor."

"Did you figure out that thing I told you about?"

"Yeah I- can you just get out here please?"

A rustling was heard several boxes down as a women emerged from the stacks. Her hair was a deep crimson tied in a messy bun, glasses lay crookedly on her face and her clothes were wrinkled beyond belief. If it weren't for her lab coat giving the illusion of professionalism she would appear to be just another disheveled vagrant but it was clear to Lily that her appearance was just the product of intense focus.

She looked Lily up and down several times before inquiring, "Can I help you?"

"My names Lily, I need food please," Lily stated flatly.

"She was at the window saying she'd be willing to work for it," Sam continued.

The women that Lily assumed was the previously mentioned York began to rock in place slightly before muttering, "Work? Hmm, I don't really know if we have any work but you can have food for free if you want."

Sam stepped forward and began whispering rapidly in her ear, clearly he didn't agree with her hospitality. After several seconds of rapid hushed tone discussion York turned to Lily looking directly into her eyes and asked, "Are you here with one 'Handyman' by chance?"