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“Clint has a guy he knows inside. Name’s Ashton. Initially, he was hesitant to tell us much on account that he feared for his life, but I cut him a deal, allowing him to enter the Keep for information.”
“So our woman-to-man ratio will get even worse.”
Cole cuts me a glare. “In case you haven’t noticed, Clint is really fucking gay.”
I nod my head as apprehension washes over me. “Oh…”
“Ashton was stationed at the middling base, and he’s unaware of where the elites are holed up, but if I had to guess, it’s somewhere nice.”
“Can’t we send a few drones up to find them? We have the skies.”
“Already have. Wherever they are, they have access to the underground and use it to travel.”
“What exactly are Caspian’s terms?”
“He wants to move his people into the Keep, creating a second faction within that reports to him.”
“No-fucking-way…”
“He only plans on taking the elites, those showing promise, and as many women as will pass inspection.”
“You said no, didn’t you?”
“I did, but to be honest, sometimes I think I should negotiate a tad more than I do.”
“Are you fucking crazy?”
“The problem with the Keep is that it takes people to run it. Sure, many of the systems are automated, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. We’re overextending ourselves by running such a tight ship. Caspian’s people wouldn’t be able to man it either due to their numbers, and they don’t have the knowledge we do. Atticus is key to the Keep staying up and running, and he loathes Caspian. If I let them in, the manning issue would force us to work together, because we’d need each other.”
“After what he did to Britney, there is no way in hell I’ll stand for him coming anywhere close to what’s mine.”
“Relax. I turned him down, but it got me thinking. We need more people.”
“You still thinking of bringing Russ in?”
“He has too many men. The Keep can sustain them all, but it’d make our male-to-female ratio even worse.”
“Eva has about ten younglings she’s teaching. Fancy a bit of child labor?”
Cole laughs. “Actually, they are all being given chores. Most of it is with the animals. Rat can milk a cow better than the machine we have. A fucking utter whisperer if I ever saw one.”
“Well, I don’t know what to say to that.”
“How about nothing?” Cole gets up from his seat. “Looks like Britney’s thirty-day confinement is up, and I think a reunion is in order. Get to the cafeteria with the others.”
I breathe out a sigh of relief, eager to see my lady.
* * *
BRITNEY
My time in the pen went by painfully slow. Cole was kind enough to provide me with reading material in the form of homesteading magazines and post-apocalyptic prepping.
Which I admittedly found both appalling and interesting.
For one, the literature did not take the dead rising into account. They had plans for overreaching governments, acid rainfall, and what to do during severe droughts, but no corpse-wrangling advice.
I’d give them all one-star reviews if I could.
