Age of Z: A Tale of Survival (12 page)

“Hey, Casey... I know you're anxious to meet my buddy, but how about we stop for dinner first? I don't know about you, but I've starved.”

Casey scowled, and glanced around distastefully at the crowds. He was still sticking pretty close to Alexa and had clearly not come to adjust to all the people yet.

“It'll be impossible to forage or scavenge with all this mess,” he said, “and there can't be anything to hunt here with everybody scaring off the game.”

Alexa laughed. “We're in civilization now, Casey! Or what passes for it, these days. We don't have to hunt or scavenge right now.”

She took a sharp turn and followed her nose, and then her eyes, to the fire pit one of the civilians had set up carefully along one of the makeshift roads. Casey followed her, looking a bit confused at the declaration. Alexa found it a bit sad, that the only thing Casey knew, was able to know, was survivalist life.

Well, Alexa would give him a taste of something new, for the moment. Literally, even. She approached one of the civilian vendors by the fire pit, and gestured at some of the man's offered goods.

They bartered fiercely for a few minutes and shortly after Alexa handed over several cigarettes in exchange for two skewers of seasoned beef chunks and fresh vegetables, grilled to perfection over the fire. She handed one over to Casey, who had watched the exchange with interest, and said cheerfully, “Bon appétit!” before digging ravenously into her own meal.

“This is what we scavenged for?” Casey asked, blinking down at his dinner.

“Sorta,” Alexa explained through a mouthful of grilled beef and pepper, “it's all for trade, you can use it however you want to. For food or more supplies or whatever. If we were gonna live here and we found some great stuff we could even use it to buy into a dorm or get a space out here.”

She ripped off another hunk of seasoned meat and nearly cried for joy; it had been way too long since she'd eaten anything this flavorful. “C'mon, eat up, enjoy!”

Casey eyed the skewer for a moment, but then carefully set into his own meal. His eyes lit up with surprise at the taste, and Alexa watched in amusement as he devoured it rapidly and even licked his fingers afterwards.

“Good, right?” Alexa said with a laugh, as she finished off her own. “Crazy what a few spices can do. Or, y'know, a someone who actually knows how to cook. Far cry from my burnt venison and burnt rabbit and burnt can of vegetables.”

“I'm still not sure how you managed to do that.”

“You know what? Shut up. Just shut up.”

Casey smirked, but then added more seriously, “But it was good. Is this... how people ate all the time?”

“More or less. Better even.” Casey frowned a little, and Alexa said apologetically, “I'm sorry. That you had to come back to... this
.
”

“Not your fault,” Casey said. But that deep frown was back all the same.

Alexa hated seeing the poor guy down, especially when she felt a little guilty about causing it, so in an effort to cheer the clone up she hunted through the market place until she found a suitable vendor. The opportunistic and highly clever woman had managed to create a collection of miniature fried fruit pies, sprinkled with sugar which were in high demand and particularly expensive due to their rarity.

Alexa had to trade an entire pack of cigarettes and the bottle of drinking alcohol just for two little folded pies the size of her palm, which was a scandalous ripoff if she'd ever seen one. But it ended up being worth it, when she handed off one of the treats to Casey, and the clone got his first taste of dessert and actually smiled with real enjoyment at it.

There you go,
Alexa thought to herself,
not all bad, right?

Casey's mood seemed to improve even more as they finished the pies. By then it was starting to get dark, with the sky turning deep reds and purples, and under normal circumstances by now they'd be in severe danger by virtue of not having found a shelter yet.

But Alexa didn't rush them off to find a place to hole up before they ran out of light, and it became apparent why a few moments later, when several makeshift stadium lights mounted on the nearby roofs snapped on. Between those and the bonfires lit everywhere by the citizens, the lighting remained decent even as the sky began to get dark.

Casey looked stunned. “There's electricity here!”

Alexa grinned. “Yup. In the buildings, too.” she added, pointing to the hotel up ahead, where a few dim and flickering but still obvious windows were lit up.

“See, this is one of the reasons New Avalon does so awesome–they've got access to stuff a lot of communities out there don't. The electricity is rationed pretty carefully but they make sure the grounds are lit up and safe, and every building has emergency lights. Plus it gives them heat in the winter, 'cause winter in New England can really suck otherwise, and they've got the water working too.”

Casey looked a little more impressed than before. “You weren't kidding, when you said this was civilization, were you?”

“Nope! They've really thought things through out here,” Alexa said, still grinning. “Look, you can even see–all the buildings have solar panels and things on them, and they've got backup plans to keep it running. And they make sure the place is sanitary too, thanks to the running water and plumbing they've still got working, so illness and disease is way low here compared to other places. They're as on top of things here as you can get in the apocalypse.”

“No wonder you thought your friend might be able to help me out here...” Casey looked thoughtful.

“Oh, right
.
” Alexa felt like face-palming a little. “There was a reason we were heading this way, wasn't there? Now that we've eaten we can go see him. It's kinda late, but he's always been a night owl anyway, I'm sure he won't mind. C'mon, let's go.” And she gave Casey a quick tug, before leading him for the far south of the island. Casey, with a raised eyebrow and a suspicion look, followed.

Most of New Avalon's open space had long since been claimed by refugees and civilians, and gradually converted into makeshift streets for all manner of workshops and shelters. Towards the end of the island, though, and still a bit of a walk from the hotel, was a small enclosed space that nobody was allowed through without clearance.

The reason why was fairly clear: there were two buildings, walled off with fencing and plastered with signs warning people to stay clear in a number of languages. The signs also made note of sensitive electrical equipment that could potentially be dangerous, and that it was a severe violation to progress beyond that point.

If the signs weren't deterrent enough, the guards usually were: they were posted all along the fence, and down the dirt path leading to it, constantly alert. They were polite and non-aggressive whenever they were forced to turn a wandering civilian away, but also unrelentingly firm about doing so: no trespassers, no exceptions. Each one of them was armed with bows and possessed a quiver of arrows over one shoulder, and every single one clearly knew how to use their weapon.

Casey frowned at the high security and gave Alexa another skeptical look. “Your friend lives out here?”

“Would you believe me if I said he was a very private person?” Alexa asked hopefully.

“No.”

“Alright, well, that's a lie anyway. He really is a people person. He's just gotta be on-hand for the important stuff.”

“You're not making any sense. And how are we supposed to get past all those guards, anyway? Fight them?”

“No!” Alexa looked horrified. “Oh no. No fighting people. Bad LS.” Casey scowled at her, as if to say
answer the question already,
and she flashed a grin, saying, “I've got connections
.
”

She did, actually, and it was obvious soon enough. The guards out here were part of a particularly special security rotation, which meant most of them were familiar with Alexa and recognized her right away. They waved her on through, some grinning, and if a few gave Casey suspicious looks, a quick “he's with me” was enough to get the clone past as well.

Alexa did, however, run into complications at the fence gate, and the last checkpoint before getting into the smaller complex. She didn't recognize the guard here; the girl was clearly new, since Alexa hadn't seen her last time she'd visited.

She was dressed in army fatigues, had blonde hair that was just getting long enough to tie back, and held her bow like she knew how to use it and would, which was normally a good thing for this particular security force. Unfortunately she also had a pretty nasty temper and point-blank refused to let Alexa through the gate. “No entry.”

“What!” Alexa gave her an incredulous look. “Look, I don't know what they told you–”

“Nothing except the rules. You're not mentioned in them. Go away or I'll make you, and don't think I won't!”

“What were you saying, about connections?” Casey growled at Alexa, giving her a look.

“Not. Helping. Just... shut up a minute.” Turning to the girl, she added, “Alright, look, honey–”

“Do not
honey
me, you–”

“Okay, geez, calm down! Look,
whoever
you are, I know your manager personally
,
so if you could just let me through–”

“Yeah, like I've never heard
that
before.” The girl put her free hand on her hip and glared at Alexa. Alexa got the distinct impression that she was now on her hit list, and also that the girl was trying way too hard to do her job right. Definitely a newbie.

“I don't even know how you got down here. What were those others idiots thinking? Listen up, turn around and walk away now, and I won't have you reported to island security for trespassing and have you thrown on the ban-list.”

“
What?
” Alexa repeated, angrier this time. She was starting to get ticked now. “That's a ridiculous punishment just for walking up a path!”

Casey made that barely-audible growl next to her, and Alexa slid between him and the bow girl hastily before he did anything stupid, trying to force her own anger down. “Look,” she grated, “There's obviously a misunderstanding here, so just call your superior and
I
won't report
you
for being an obstinate–”

“Don't even think of finishing that sentence!” the girl snapped at her, glaring furiously. “If you don't like the rules, you can turn around and–”

“
Joanne!
”

The girl jumped with a start, looking alarmed, and glanced over her shoulder into the compound. Alexa jumped too, but a moment later a smug smile grew on her face as she spotted the person approaching, and she crossed her arms.

There was a young man, in his early twenties, stepping out of the gate. He was dressed practically in a hunting uniform and boots, complete with jacket even if the heat was still sweltering, and there was a bow and a quiver of arrows slung over his shoulder. What little skin that was visible was tanned, but his most notable features were his reddish hair and blue eyes, which were currently narrowed at the female guard.

“Enough,” he snapped. “Winters is good. Remember that! And let her pass.”

Alexa's smug grin grew wider at the girl–Joanne–and her incredulous look as it began to dawn on her that Alexa really hadn't been lying. “Thanks, Lewis,” Alexa drawled, with deliberate casualness. “I really didn't want to be out here all night.”

Lewis merely snorted in response.

Joanne looked displeased, but also determined to do her job right in front of her superior, because she asked sharply, “What about her friend here?” She glared at Casey next, who scowled and stared back stonily. Alexa could see him tensing under the scrutiny.

Please don't do anything stupid just for a few seconds,
Alexa pleaded internally. Out loud, she said, “
Casey,
here, is also fine.”

Joanne gave her a skeptical look and glanced over at Lewis, as if waiting for orders. Lewis ignored her, and turned his attention to Casey, studying him intently. Alexa felt like sweating bullets–Lewis was, and had always been for as long as Alexa had known him, security-paranoid.

It made him a formidable opponent and a great head of security, but it also meant he might not take kindly to Casey being here.

Lewis didn't say anything at all now as he studied Casey, and Casey grew, if possible, even more tense under the scrutiny, glaring back defiantly and nearly baring his teeth in a grimace. He did not like being sized up like this, and he did not like the implications that he couldn't be trusted; that much was obvious.

It was clearly taking him everything he had to remain quiet and not react violently, and even then that was probably in a large part because Alexa was still strategically situated between the clone and Lewis.

But after a very long and tense moment, Lewis said, “Are you sure you trust him?”

Casey actually growled at this, and the way he shifted suggested he dearly wanted to start something now. Alexa intervened as fast as she could, but even so when she spoke it was full of absolute confidence and not a shred of hesitation. “I trust him with my back.”

Lewis shifted his gaze away from Casey for the first time, glancing down at Alexa. He understood what Alexa had really said:
I literally trust him with my life, and have done so in the past. And he trusts me the same.
Casey seemed to get it as well, because he quieted down and relaxed just slightly, and at the very least he didn't look like he was about to jump the head of security anymore.