All the new gear was stowed in their packs and they set off. When they found Fingers she was with about twenty other people who were packed up and waiting. All of them had heavy packs. Most shocking of all were the three large carts with two wheels and hitched up to fidgety brown lizards that stood four feet at the shoulder and were at least twenty feet long.

Fingers smiled when she saw them staring. “Watch out for their heads, they do bite sometimes. However, we are able to move a lot more stuff this way than on our backs.”

Gomez shuddered, eyes glued to the beast closest to them. “Looks like two bites and they would finish off a person, pack and all.”

“Naw, they’re fairly dainty eaters,” the man standing next to one of them said. “It takes about twenty minutes. They do like to be fed every day though, keeps ‘em from eating too many of us,”

Lewis was looking at the loads on the wagons, ten feet high with bags, boxes, and barrels. “Did you get this all from the ruins here?”

“Yes,” Fingers looked very pleased at his interest. “I wanted to show these guys that even a nearby ruin that had been supposedly picked clean could still produce a yield. I think we out did ourselves.”

As they headed east the sea was on their right and open land was on the left. Lewis’ team was spread out along the outsides of the group, watching for trouble. Over the next few days the team marched, asked questions and exchanged information. Fingers explained that she had a warehouse in Ladzoo that contained living quarters, workshops, and storage facilities. There they sorted, stored and sold the salvage that was brought in.

During a break, Lewis gathered his team and instructed them to become friendly with whoever they could. He wanted a variety of perspectives, not only facts but also attitudes. By the time they reached Ladzoo they were beginning to feel like part of Fingers’ organization.

Ladzoo looked like a total ruin as they moved closer to it. To their right was a veritable ships’ graveyard that stretched into the bay for a mile or more. Tankers, cargo ships and all different types of boats looked like they had been pushed into a pile, which had collapsed into the harbor. Here and there a tree grew tall above one of the wrecks, attesting to the age of the wreckage.

At the inland end of the city a few broken smoke stacks spewed smoke into the sky above. They followed the highway directly toward the center of the city. Lewis could see that Ladzoo at one time had been centered on a grand downtown. Currently, thirty or more skyscrapers stood in excess of twenty-five stories tall. Most of them looked like they had been sheared off by something at two hundred fifty feet above the ground; a few buildings rose above the rest. The highway passed through a pair of massive gates with gun towers on each side. The towers were approximately fifty feet tall and twenty feet across, and looked as if they were built using fairly crude stone masonry. On either side a wall extended along the edge of the city that was constructed of heavy sheet metal buried in the ground and spot welded together. Each tower sported a machine gun and two men with rocket-propelled grenades. One gate extended straight across half of the opening and the other gate stood ajar, allowing one person at a time to pass.

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Four men were busy questioning everyone who came through the gate. There was a group of about twenty people ahead of them. Some had wheelbarrows, one had a bird that resembled an emu wearing a muzzle and tethered and many of the people had large bundles on their backs. The guards questioned everyone. A few people were pulled off to the side and made to stand by the tower.

Lewis was thinking about how familiar this scenario was, except now they were seeing it from the opposite side. The guards suddenly ushered everyone off to the side and a dozen heavily armed soldiers marched through the gate in ragged formation. Lewis saw battle rifles and a couple of large automatic weapons. All of them had swords or axes hanging from their belts and a big knife sheathed to their left boots. Two of them in the rear pushed wheelbarrows and had their rifles laying across the handles.

Fingers leaned toward Lewis and whispered. “This is a disarming crew. Don’t worry, they will return the weapons in a few hours. Tell your people to submit or there will be serious trouble.”

The soldiers stopped and spread out, weapons at the ready, but not directly threatening anyone. One of them walked up to Fingers saying. “Welcome to Ladzoo, please state your business.”

Fingers looked exasperated. “Get off it, Rison, you know my business. Why don’t you take your goons back to the barracks and leave us alone.”

Rison laughed. “You think I’d get away with that? You know the routine. And I don’t know your new friends. They don’t look a bit like knights, so they must be mercenaries. I’ve always done what I can to make your life easier, but you have to play your part.”

Lewis glanced up and saw that the soldiers up in the towers looked tense and ready. He decided to keep things moving, so he stepped up to Rison and stood at attention. “What do you require of us?” he asked quietly.

Rison looked like he was surprised and then he swung his rifle around toward Lewis. “We need to take possession of your weapons temporarily. Please step over here,” he said, motioning toward the tower on the right. “Fingers, you take the others over by the tower and I’ll deal with the lieutenant.”

When Lewis had his people reassured, Rison explained that all of the weapons needed to be put in the wheelbarrows and would be returned to them when they filled out the proper paperwork. “Since Fingers is sponsoring you, the process will be expedited,” he added when he saw the reluctance in their faces.

Lewis had to use some stern words to get the last of the weapons into the wheelbarrow. Rison produced a notebook in which he wrote down everyone’s name and they all signed it.

Rison pulled Lewis aside and quietly said. “I will personally watch over your things, most of us here are quite fond of Fingers. She hands out big favors like candy. If she were ever in trouble, lots of people would come to her aid.”

When they returned to the wagons Fingers and her people were waiting for them. Inside the gates Fingers led the group a hundred yards and turned left into a small alley. Lewis asked her. “What did that guy mean when he said that you hand out favors like candy?”