Black Market Merchant - Chapter 233: An Unexpected Answer

After a sad afternoon of burring the dead, Lisa, with the help of Gillian, managed to convince everyone to stay the night in the dam’s tunnel. They couldn’t be sure that all the Twisted were gone and it was best to stay put for the time being. No one really argued the point for they were all just to tired to do so.

As the night fell everyone was silent. Even the children, who would normally be overjoyed at the opportunity to have such large sleepover, were silent. Seeing such monstrosities, chaos, and death all within the span of one day everyone seemed to just want to be left alone and think things through.

Though tired, Lisa elected to say awake and give the others a peace of mind knowing that the only entrance to the dam tunnel would be protected. However, throughout the night she wasn’t alone. Zane was the first to stay up with her.

The dim glow of the yellowed bulbs from the tunnel streaked out from the cracked metal door and out onto the concrete floor of the powerhouse building. This glow separated the two of them as they sat in silence on either side of the doorway. In contrast to the yellowed glow, the unobscured moonlight cascaded through the open sliding doorway and busted out skylight window to cast a myriad of shadows all about the room. The pale blue moonlight mixed with the intangible shadows only added to the eeriness that permeated their worries of if the Twisted might return.

“Well, the Sun People didn’t so that much today.” Zane finally said breaking the silence. “I didn’t see them moving anything that might be a hint as to what that gas was either. They just went about tying up the Twisted they caught and unloaded some boxes from the beached barge. I think they were planning on spending the night down there in the open.”

Lisa didn’t reply. Instead, she was aimlessly looking out the sliding doorway at the cold blue hue of the moon on the distant buildings. Then beyond that was the fiery red glow of the town wide fire consuming silently all in its path.

“Are you listening to me?” Zane asked cautiously.

Lisa blinked twice and turned to face him. “I am mostly. It is just I can’t help but wonder what the next best thing to do is. So many people are going to be relying on me to get answers or find a solution to an ever-growing problem; ‘where is this town headed and will we all survive?’.”

Zane was silent for a moment. “You have all of us to help you make those decisions. Isn’t the saying, teamwork makes the dream work, something to live by? You don’t have to go about this on your own.”

Lisa gave a small smile. “Look at you, trying to sound all cool. I already know what you mean. I am just referring to my role in the broad sense.”

“Oh, I see.” Zane said as he fidgeted a bit with a loose string on his pants.

“Tell me Zane, how would you try to feed several hundred to up to a couple thousand people by tomorrow?” Lisa asked.

“Uh, I have no clue.” Zane replied.

“Neither do I, not for all of them anyway.” Lisa sighed. “We could try catching fish like before, but I bet between the Twisted swimming and splashing about, along with all the smoke ash accumulating in the river, has driven them away. The ERM has only a handful of rations and I doubt the Mad Dogs will spare any of their food.”

Zane interrupted her. “Why not just go take it from the Mad Dogs? You said you wanted to take them over, so why not use this as an excuse to do the takeover?”

“It would be a convenient option, but it won’t be the best way to win them over.” Lisa replied shaking her head. “No, I need to get them to willingly let me lead them.”

Zane gave a shrug. “That will make it easier if they want you in charge. I know I wouldn’t want to be put under the command of someone I resented.”

“What about being under my command? Do you not resent me?” Lisa asked giving him a sideways glance.

“Not at all!” Zane quickly answered. “If I hadn’t been, then I might have already been dead to the Twisted or from my injuries.”

“That’s good.” Lisa replied as she turned to look back out the moonlit town.

They were quite again and for how long, they didn’t really know. Zane felt awkward the entire time, not because Lisa was intimidating to talk to, but because she was supposed to be his boss. Her action earlier that day were beyond impressive, and he didn’t want to make things awkward between them if he complemented her and got harshly put down.

Then a thought popped into his mind, “Wait, do I like her? Just because I am impressed by her fighting skills or that she might be opening up to me?”

Zane looked back over at the tall, fair skinned woman next to him. Her long black hair was draped over her shoulder and onto her chest. The cute way she was now resting her hand on her chin as she looked away from him almost made him forget she was so dangerous. This might be the first time he felt this way about her. Every other time before it seemed to him that she was always about to beat him up at the drop of a hat.

“No, I must be getting tired.” Zane thought shaking his head. “There is no way I actually like her.”

“Zane?” Lisa suddenly spoke up.

Zane jumped slightly as he perked up hearing his name. Then, unintentionally, he stammered a reply. “Y-yes.”

“I think we can try using the fire to our advantage.” Lisa continued paying no attention to his stuttering reply. “The people returning to the tomorrow will need help getting the fire put out. If we can offer our services, they will be willing to let us protect them, just as a gang might. If we can cut in on the Mad Dogs turf it will hurt their efforts to rebuild themselves with the townspeople’s tribute. If I recall correctly, Hugo said many of the gangsters were former townspeople. It will be a good way to cause a rift between Martinez and them.”

“I can see how that might work, but it probably won’t be enough to convince them.” Zane replied regaining some of his composure.

“Perhaps not, but that is just another step in my plans.” Lisa answered. “The fire will also have destroyed a lot of homes too. When the people start coming back, they will have nowhere to go. The Mad Dogs likely lost a lot of members to the Twisted and against the Skull. They will be looking to recruit from these people to rebuild their numbers and I bet many of them will be family members hesitant about joining forces with a gang. We can put a dent in that plan as well.”

“How?” Zane asked. He was surprised Lisa was thinking so far ahead and what she was saying made sense to him. It sounded like something Garret would have tried doing.

“All those storage units we have been clearing out will be perfect.” Lisa replied pointing in their general direction. “I had noticed that powerlines run from the dam to a small power station across the street behind the third building on the right. It would be easy to get power running to the units, if the power station is still in working order and guessing that because the equipment here works, then it should be working there too.”

Lisa then turned to face Zane and there was a silvery twinkle in her eye. “All the storage units are climate controlled, meaning they have air conditioning as well as lights!” Lisa then raised her hands to perform an air quote motion. “We can ‘Rent’ those units to them and as payment they will work for us on anything we will need them too. At least until they can pay us.”

“Woah, that’s an unexpected idea.” Zane said scratching his head in thought. “It would be like recruiting people to join us with out actually joining a gang.”

“Exactly.” Lisa replied. Then she let out a sigh. “This plan won’t work unless we have food. That’s the real issue now.”

“I think I have a solution for that.” A male voice in between them suddenly announce.

They both looked back to see Gillian was coming out from the tunnel. “Sorry, I hope I wasn’t intruding.”

“You aren’t, but tell us, what is your solution?” Lisa asked as she adjusted her sitting position.

“Well, its kind of a controversial idea and it might not work. I had been unable to sleep in there and the idea just came to me a moment ago.” Gillian explained as he walked between them to head for the sliding door. “I was just about to go give it a try.”

“Well don’t leave us in suspense. Tell us!” Lisa replied getting up.

Zane too got up and curiously followed them. Gillian stepped outside and pointed towards the Twisted piled on the dam. “Those Logos Cutters, they look like rabbits. I wonder, do they taste like one too?”

Zane’s jaw dropped. “Eat a Twisted!? You cannot be serious.”

“Hmm, that might not be a bad idea.” Lisa remarked.

Zane’s head snaped as he turned to look at her. “Please tell me that was a joke!”

“No, I am not joking.” Lisa replied. “Gillian, go get one and bring it over to the firepit. I’ll start getting a flame going. Zane, go find some firewood.”

“We are really going to try this?” Zane said still unable to believe his ears.

“Yes, and I know the Dixon and the others want their blood as compensation for their help, but there is more than enough blood from the other Twisted.” Lisa replied as she hurried for the firepit. “This is an unexpected short-term solution to our food shortage, why would we not try?”

Not much later the three of them were sitting around a good-sized fire and hanging on a spit was a Logos Cutter. Without its mangy fur or long sharp claws the creature did indeed look like a rabbit but three times the size. The smell emitting from the meat dripping with grease was agonizingly good smelling too. It was not long before the meat turned a juicy golden brown and Lisa took it off the flames.

“Here goes nothing.” Lisa said as she cut off a hind leg.

The two men watched carefully as she bit into the white meat and steam burst out. Lisa cupped a hand over her mouth as the hot meat hit her tongue. She chewed slowly for a few moments and the two kept an eye out for any faces of disgust she might make.

Lisa swallowed. “Its good! It’s a lot tougher than normal rabbit but I think we can eat this. I tasted nothing unusual.”

Gillian picked up the knife Lisa had used and cut off a front leg from the Logos Cutter and bit into it. “Oh my! It is good. If it wasn’t the middle of the night, I would go get everyone to start collecting these Logos Cutter right away!”

“Maybe you can convince us.” Another voice called from the direction of the powerhouse building.

All three turned to see John, Richard, and Dan coming out to them. All three were eyeing the fire and the creature next to it. The smell from the cooking meat undoubtedly had brought hem here.

Lisa stood up and motioned for them to join them. “Eat and see for yourself. If you like it then let’s get to work. There are hundreds of Logos Cutter’s out there and soon to be lots of mouths to feed!”