Chapter 6 – Taking Precaution

Liz turned the corner and took a deep breath, returning to a regular walk. Okay, she was done playing. They had their fun, and she got to joke around a little bit with Douglas. So far, her day was coming out to be a win. Now just to ensure that the rest of the day goes as planned.

Scratch that, the plans for the day have already gone to hell. Running in to her brother this morning had gotten her thrown back in to the fray two days early. They were going to be pissed at her and she already knew it. She was angry too, but less so since this gave her the opportunity to keep Glen safe.

Liz made great time collecting the rest of her team. Bryan and Jordan had been found where they always were this time in the morning, sitting on an old metal blue bench sharing a meal in the communal cafeteria. Sure, they had access to the cooks upstairs, but there was just something about being amongst the people.

“Alright you two, finish up your food and meet upstairs. Bring your gear with you. We're getting the boot, our asses are heading back out In to the field.” She said, already ready for the backlash.

“You've gotta be kidding us Liz, we just finished our rotation. You know damn well we've earned the next couple days off.” Jordan said with just a bit of whine creeping in to her voice.

“Oh, none of that.” Bryan cut in, “I'm sure if we're getting pulled in there is a good reason. So, what's the deal Cap?” The last part directed to their team captain.

“As you all already know we’ve been seeing more rampant and aberrant recently. The Commander has decided that teams will be working in pairs going forward for safety in numbers. We’ll be joining Team Artemis later today.”

“Aaaaaaand there it is!” Jordan exclaimed the outright annoyance now clearly evident. “That's why we’re stuck on babysitting duty.”

“It isn't babysitting duty. There is real danger out there, and I expect you to act like it. Now finish your food and report to staging. That's an order.” With that done Liz stormed off in a much worse mood. That had gone exactly as well as she knew it would.

“What an asshole. I'm not happy about it either, but there was no reason to take it out on me.” she muttered to herself as she made her way to the sleeping quarters on floor fifty one.

Almost out of the mess hall Liz tried to squeeze through two groups of people blocking the exit to the main corridor and stairs. Right as she turned her body to slide through the gap behind the larger man, he took a step back. Their collision caused his food to spill from his tray, and all over the floor.

“Hey bitch watch where you're going!” The civilian had already begun yelling before he realized who he had bumped in to. The room went dead still as people locked eyes on them. A grim expression crossed his face as his mind caught up to who he was looking at.

Before Liz could say anything, Bryan and Jordan were already up and across the room ready to intervene. She just put up her hands to stop their approach. They saw this and returned to a more relax posture. They shared a glance before Liz nodded back to the table there they had been eating. They returned to their seats, ready to jump back up at a moment's notice.

“Now, I think we got off to a bad start here. I'm sure that's not what you meant to say. Would you like to rephrase what came out of your mouth.” She said to him with a friendly smile that fell just a bit short of her eyes.

“Yes ma’am. Sorry ma’am. I'm sorry I bumped into you. It was my fault entirely. Please forgive my outburst.” He said bowing low. The room waited to see what would happen next.

Liz just looked around before saying coldly, “I'm sure it is an accident you will be mindful not to make in the future. You can carry on.”

Everyone watching collectively let out a breath they didn't realize they had been holding. Scouts were not known for being aggressive, they were however known for being unusually tough and much stronger than you would expect for their size. There was plenty of speculation about why, but nothing has ever been confirmed to the residents.

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With this little conflict ended, Liz turned and finished leaving the mess hall. This day just kept getting better and better. The cafeteria area was on the fifty fourth floor, so she found herself descending down a couple flights of stairs.

For the second time today, she took a moment to breathe and center herself. Liz had to admit to herself she was much more on edge lately and had been looking forward to the time to rest. It was just really eating away at her that more and more often these days scouts were going out and not coming back in.

There was a time just a couple years ago when they had close to sixty Greenmen. Now her count had them sitting at about two thirds that number. Rarely did a team ever get wiped out entirely, but parties coming back a man short happened once or twice a month.

They were losing people too quickly, and with the casualties ever increasing the number of new recruits had dwindled. The perks of being a member of The Greenmen no longer outweighed the risk. What was worse, many of the new recruits washed out before finishing training.

Something had to change, in the tower or in the field, she didn't care which. Liz just knew the course they were on wasn’t sustainable for much longer. If the rampant kept increasing in the ruins, Skytop would no longer be viable. They would have to abandon their homes and start over.

Liz had become lost in her thoughts but never stopped moving, and now she found herself in front of the door to her last team members room. Forgoing formality she knocked loudly on his door while yelling, “Wake up Miles! Breakfast is almost done being served, and vacation is over. We're heading in to the field today! Eat up, gear up, and head up. We're meeting in our normal staging area. See you there in one hour!”

She waited just long enough to confirm movement inside before heading further down the hall to her own. Stepping inside she grabbed what she needed and began strapping her leathers on. “Why do I feel like it's going to be a long day…”

Team Artemis had nothing to do but wait in their assigned staging area, it would be at least an hour until Specter joined them. Pirah had already eaten, while Glen and Douglas were content to eat travel rations. The rations consisted of mostly dried meat from the animals the scouts brought down. Meat was a bit of a rarity these days, most of the city’s diet being largely plant based.

It was just another perk of the job. You got to eat what you killed when out scouring the ruins. Scouts had first rights to everything they hunted, with any extra being donated to the civilians at their discretion. It made sense in a way, if scouts were weak, they wouldn't be able to provide for Skytop.

While they waited, they each made themselves comfortable sitting around their staging room. Douglas had his legs propped up on the planning table, across the room Pirah and Glen shared a couch that had gone out of style decades before the fall. Glen wanted to strike up a conversation with Pirah, but he wasn't sure where to begin.

After nearly an hour of each of them passing the time in their own way, Glen decided this wasn't what he wanted to become the norm for his team. He had to speak up.

“So, how are your carrots growing?” he directed towards her, knowing it was a lame opening line even before he finished saying it.

Pirah did her best to keep the amusement off her face, “Carrots? That's really what you decided to go with… You can do better than that. How long have we known each other now?”

“Going on fifteen years, but I just don't want our new roles to change things. You know relationships between team leaders and the people they’re in charge of is frowned upon.”

“Lucky for us then that we’re not in a relationship anymore.” Only a slightly bitter edge creeped in to Pirah's tone.

Trying to keep from sounding defensive Glen asked, “How many times am I going to have to apologize? When I applied for the team leader, I didn't know you would be assigned to me…” his voice trailing off a bit before coming back, “My judgment can't be clouded out there. You know that. I had to do what's best for the team, and the tower. I can't let the emotions we have compromise my decisions in the field.”

“Its just business, I get it. No hard feelings. But when it is just us, we don't have to talk. I'm fine waiting in silence.” When Pirah said this the bitterness was gone, she really did understand. In a way she hoped to save Glen from making the situation more awkward by shutting the conversation down now.

Douglas chose this moment to throw in, “Well I mean technically you aren’t alone. If you two are done with your little lover’s spat, can we get to the actual planning part of this little get together?”

“We’re just waiting for Team Specter to show up so we can discuss our roles.” Glen remarked to Douglas waving him off.

“It should be pretty straightforward. We've never worked with them on a joint mission, but we all know each other. They specialize in stealth, while we bring brutal combat efficiency to the table.” Glen summarized shortly.

“Oh, stealth is the only thing we add by accompanying you, is it?” Jordan cut in as the other team strode in to the room in full gear.

“That's funny, because I'm pretty sure our team has the highest confirmed rampant kill count.” Bryan followed directly after.

Liz put her hands to her head as if suppressing a headache already setting in upon entering the room. Miles walking in right behind her contributed, “Come on guys, let's not make it a competition. We're all on the same team today. Besides with Liz leading us, what could go wrong?”

As one everyone groaned and rolled their eyes at Miles before speaking all at once.

“Why would you say that??” Jordan shouted.

“Dear lord we’re dead.” Glen mumbled.

“What could go wrong he says.” Followed by the flick of the wrist while Pirah gestures at the sky.

Bryan just raised one hand and flipped Miles off.

Douglas used this opportunity while everyone was distracted to blow a kiss at Liz.

To her credit Liz hid the fact that her heart stopped beating in her chest for a moment. Absent mindedly she let out “I called it. Today is going to be a fucking day…”