Hash quickly searched the dead soldiers until he found keys for one of the F-150s. “Let’s move!” he shouted at the others, breaking up their victory reunion. After Hash insisted that they take Gibbs’s body with them, Tony and Nine helped him respectfully place the dead private into the back of the truck. The good sergeant then jumped into the driver seat of the large white Ford while Tony sat shotgun. The others piled up into the back, armed with the dead soldiers’ weapons, and watched the surrounding street corners for more of Thompson’s men returning. Fortunately, no one else showed up.
The trucked revved to life and Hash drove west through the barricaded downtown of West Farmington Village. They traveled in silence through each intersection, staring at the makeshift vehicle barricades and improvised fencing that separated the main road from the veins of side streets leading into the most desolate parts of town. The town felt long abandoned the farther away they moved from the hospital. It was as though even the dead could sense the lack of life in West Farmington and had decided to relocate anywhere their might still be a pulse.
Diane and Nine found an old tarp in the back and covered Gibbs’s body as best they could. Alysa, Mark and Wendy kept low, rifles raised at the intersection of each quiet street they passed.
Mark suddenly started laughing as the morning breeze messed up his hair.
Wendy shook her head at him. “What’s so damn funny?”
He looked at her and smiled, pointing beneath him at the flatbed. “Finally, we have wheels!” he said. “I’m so happy I can hardly stand it.” He laughed again, feeling giddy. “If I had to walk one more damn mile in this apocalypse, I think you would’ve seen me break down in the middle of the street back there.”
Wendy laughed and nodded. “This almost feels… normal… if there is such a thing anymore.”
“I don’t care if we’re driving right off a cliff in the next few minutes as long as I can enjoy this a bit longer,” Mark said.
Within the cab of the truck, Tony kept stealing glances at the good sergeant’s emotionless face. “I’m sorry,” he finally said.
Hash looked over.
“I’m sorry you lost your man. I wish we could’ve moved a bit sooner. I know what it feels like to lose people.”
Hash nodded. “Thanks for that. Gibbs wasn’t the best soldier… before… but after this ‘Hell on Earth’ shit started, he really stepped up. He was loyal and had my back… that’s hard to find these days.”
Tony nodded letting a moment of silence pass between them. “What’s the plan?” he asked, shifting away from the heaviness.
“There’s an indiscreet warehouse near the western barricade. That’s where we store our supplies.”
“The spoils of war?” Tony said in jest.
“Something like that. There’s guns, ammo, food, water. Anyway, if we’re quick, we can hitch up a trailer to the back of this thing and be gone before anyone else has to die.”
“And go where?” Tony asked.
“Anywhere outside of this God-forsaken shit-hole town. We’ll put a few miles behind us, find a nice quiet spot to rest and figure it out from there. We’ll exit the west barricade after the warehouse. Should only be one man there.”
Tony sighed. “I was afraid of that. Will he let us leave?”
“I hope so. I’ve had my fill of killing the living for one day, haven’t you?”
Tony shook his head. “The day I don’t have to carry another gun, sleep with one eye open, or stare at another human being, wondering when he or she will stick a knife in my back, can’t come soon enough. There was a time I thought the dead was the real enemy. But now, I see enemies everywhere.”
Hash gave him a sideway glance and said, “You care about your people. I can tell it weighs heavily on you. They’re lucky to have you, Tony.”
“Well… I’ve watched too many of my ‘people’ die. That shit never gets easier.”
“Pray that it never does,” Hash said with a haunted look in his eyes. “We’re here.”
The good sergeant turned right down an alley between two old brick buildings. At the other end of the alley, a large parking lot opened up in front of a tall brick building with four large roll-up doors at the top of four ramps. Hash backed up onto the second ramp and stopped before the door. “This used to be some airplane machine shop. Looked like they built parts and shipped them out from here for smaller fixed-wing crafts. We’ve repurposed it since we got here.”
Everyone got out of the truck as Hash went up to the roll-up door and opened it.
“Shit!” Nine said, staring at the numerous pallets of supplies in shrink wrap. “You’ve all been busy!”
There were twenty-five pallets full of canned goods, bottled water, medical supplies, and weapons.
Hash walked past his stunned guests and pointed toward a small horse trailer in the back. “That’s what we want. The rest of this shit we store up and slowly distribute to those Lunatic assholes when they come through. They get they’re cut, fuck with us a little, but then leave us alone. And that was the deal.” He put his hand on the trailer and finished, “But this here, we kept loaded and ready for that day those crazy bastards turned on us.”
“Bet you didn’t think you’d have to use the emergency escape trailer to get away from your own men, did you?” Diane asked.
Hash frowned. “Me and Gibbs, we talked about that very thing long before you all got here. It was just a matter of time before Thompson or the Lunatics tried to fuck us. Having this here helped us both sleep better each night.”
“What’s in it?” Mark asked.
“A little bit of this and that,” Hash said. “Enough to live on comfortably for a good while.” He was moving again. “All we need to do now is hitch this thing up to that truck and get the hell out of here.”
The others were equally motivated to move.
While Diane, Alysa, Nine and Wendy stood watch over the front, the others worked together to get the truck inside and hitch up the trailer. Within thirty minutes they were ready to go.
After they were back on the main road traveling through downtown, they headed for the western barricade at a much slower speed due to their large load. They all felt exposed, wondering where and when the next sniper would start firing on them.
“It’s just up ahead,” Hash said to Tony as they neared the western barricade. As expected, one armed soldier, surprised by the truck and trailer, stepped out in front of the barricade. Just behind him, beyond the sandbag reinforced chain link fence with razor ribbon spanning the top, were at least twenty deadheads screaming for entry as they pushed against the fence.
“I was afraid of that,” Hash said. “All the gunfire drew them out of the residential areas. They’ll disperse after a while if the men stay out of sight. But those hungry bastards know we’re here now… and they’ll be coming in larger groups before the end of the day. That man there… Private Barry… he’s in over his head on the west side. This is normally a three-person post.”
Tony nodded. “And do you get along with Mr. Barry, or does he have it in for you, too?”
Hash smiled. “We played poker once a week. He’s absolutely useless when it comes to the game, but I let him win enough to keep him happy.”
Tony laughed. “Always working on the moral of your troops. So, what are the odds of us winning this hand without a confrontation?”
Hash put the truck in park, fifty feet from the barricade. “I’m about to find out,” he said, stepping out of the truck. “I’ll explain the situation to him, assuming he lets me get that close.”
“And what situation would that be?’
“I’m going to tell him Thompson’s dead, as well as most of the others. I’m guessing that when he finds out that between the six of them that are left to stand these watches, especially when the rest of the dead show up at nightfall, he might want to visit that warehouse, grab some shit, and split.”
“I’m starting to understand why you liked Gibbs so much,” Tony said. “Seems like all these guys are out for themselves.”
“More or less,” Hash confirmed. “I’m hoping to bank on that now and show Private Barry that it’s in his best interest to let us pass.”
“And if not?”
Hash smiled at him. “Well… then I’ll be too damn dead to worry about it. You’ll have to take care of it the hard way if things go south here.”
“Understood,” Tony said with a sigh.
Hash reached his hand into the window. “If this is the end, it’s been… refreshing… meeting you and your people, Tony. I don’t know if I can believe in the things you still do… but it’s good to know that someone does. Good luck.”
“Same to you, Sergeant Hash. I hope to see you back here in a few minutes.”
Hash laughed. “There you go again. Well, here’s to hoping.” And with that, Hash stepped out toward the armed Private Barry with his hands held up submissively.
Alysa tapped on the sliding rear-window. Tony opened it.
“He takes an unnecessary risk,” Alysa said. “It would be more prudent to just drive up and shoot the man.”
Tony nodded, watching Hash like a hawk. “How’s the arm?”
“Bullet went through clean,” she said. “How’s his chances?”
Tony smiled as he watched the young private lower his weapon, letting his former sergeant speak. “So far, his chances look good at coming out of this one… clean.”
A few minutes later, Private Barry saluted Hash, shouldered his rifle around his back, and started walking briskly away from his post, passing them all in the truck with a cautious glance. The others watched the soldier break out running once he was well clear of the truck.
Hash came back.
“What did you tell him?” Tony asked.
“In so many words, I gave him a choice between looking like a piñata full of bullet holes dangling out in front of the gate or just letting me take over the watch while he got himself cleaned up and rested before his next patrol.” The sergeant smiled. “He seemed real receptive to my second option, especially when I told him how silly he’d look tomorrow morning hanging out here, especially since he probably wasn’t going to get relieved for a long time.”
“And that’s that,” Tony said, shaking his head. He looked toward the slowly building horde at the front gate. “What about them?”
“Oh… well… we’re gonna have to be a little more persuasive with them, I think. We’ll just take the diplomatic approach and let the front end of this truck do the talking. But I believe they’ll let us pass, too, especially after I invite them all inside by leaving that gate open.”
“Your men won’t like that.”
“Yeah,” Hash said with a devilish gleam in his eye. “But they all have it coming.”
~~~
After the breakfast-ruining crunching sounds beneath the F-150, when the small gathering of the reanimated refused to yield just outside the western gate, Hash pushed the truck with the trailer in tow another three miles down Route 88 before turning right off the two-lane highway and onto a long private drive. He’d spotted a fenced-in open field, hidden behind the tree line, and hoped the temporary detour would sufficiently hide them in case anyone from his former unit decided to pursue them.
The long narrow drive curved to the left and opened up before a burnt down farmhouse to the right. There was nothing living or dead in the immediate area, so they decided to stop at the edge of the large field and gather their bearings.
Mark and Wendy were the first to exit the back of the truck. Mark looked like he was going to throw up.
“Are you alright?” Wendy asked.
Mark laughed at himself. “Between sharing that flatbed with a corpse and counting the bumps beneath it when we slammed into those deadheads, I’m already sick of driving.”
She patted his shoulder with a nod, trying not to show her amusement.
“I thought the crunching bone sounds and that black blood splattering up over the grill really brought the experience home for me,” Nine said, poking fun at the young man while jumping down from the truck.
Mark shook his head at him. “You are an asshole.”
He smiled. “I try.”
Diane was the last to get down, finding it frustratingly difficult to climb out of the flatbed with one arm. Alysa offered her a hand, but she refused to accept it, choosing to jump down awkwardly and landing on her ass.
Nine couldn’t resist. “Plus two cool points for the attempt… but minus five for the landing.”
Diane glared at him. “Yeah… but look who’s sleeping alone tonight.”
“Ouch,” he said, helping her up. “Minus ten for my big damn mouth.”
Alysa ignored them. She was examining the condition of the trailer while stealing glances over at the good sergeant and Tony who had departed the truck and were staring off into the field.
Tony waited patiently while Hash seemed intent on studying the field. Finally, he asked, “Having second thoughts about this place? Want to keep moving?”
“No. I think we’re good here,” Hash said. “We’ll be able to spot anything coming at us. I just need a moment to get used to the idea again.”
“And what would that be?” Tony asked.
Hash turned and let out an exhausted smile. “The thought of being out here… exposed… to whatever this shit-hole world throws at us next to try and kill us. It’s been a while.”
Tony laughed. “Yeah. That feeling never really goes away, but it is nice to pretend when you’ve got a few walls up and some people to watch them. We had that illusion for a little while, hiding in an underground facility that turned into a tomb.” Tony quickly changed the subject. “What’s on your mind, Sergeant.”
Hash pointed toward the field. “I’m going to bury Private Gibbs over there, say a few words that don’t really matter anymore, and then see if there’s a bottle of anything hard to drink in that damn trailer. After that… well… I haven’t thought that far yet. Maybe I’ll just get drunk and set this world on fire. Want to help?”
Tony shrugged his shoulders. “Too tired for the fire, but I’ll help you bury your friend.”
“Appreciate that,” the good sergeant said, trying hard to fight back the sorrow that was finally catching up to him. “That’s the hard part anyway.” Hash turned and started for the truck to retrieve a couple of shovels from the assortment of tools laying in the flatbed.
The others quickly caught on and offered to help move Gibbs from the truck while Hash and Tony went on ahead to start digging.
Alysa grabbed a rifle, wanting to distance herself from the improvised funeral, and told the others she was going to set and guard a small perimeter around them.
The others, sensing her discomfort, let her be. Mark and Nine carefully brought Private Gibbs down from the flatbed, while Wendy and Diane shook out the old tarp, laying it on the ground, to wrap him up better.
“We never had a chance to… you know… properly say goodbye to Beverly or Matthew,” Wendy said, after they finished the unfortunate task of preparing the soldier’s body. “Never had time to bury them.” She wiped tears from her face.
Mark frowned, watching Tony and Hash dig the grave. “Never had much of a chance for anything since we fled the compound. Seems like living and dying are equally inconvenient these days.” The young man was surprisingly somber. “All there’s time for is… survival... whatever the fuck that means.”
Diane, Nine and Wendy stared at him, feeling the heavy silence-inducing moment wrap them up in their own death shrouds, each wondering when it would be their turn to either bury the other, or become one with the earth beneath them.
“They know we miss them,” Nine said, all joking aside. “Every one of them we’ve lost, we carry them around, every day, and hope we give their deaths meaning by making it through all this… somehow. We go on for their sake, to remember them, talk about them, laugh fondly at those awesome memories with them, and cry for the shitty ones, too. They continue to live for as long as we do. When it’s all said and done, that has to be enough.”
Diane gave him a surprised look, causing Nine to look away with a half-hearted smile. She wrapped her arm around him and hugged him fiercely, feeling her own emotions needing somewhere safe to hide.
“I like that,” Wendy said, freely crying now. “It’s… comforting to think that they’re still with us.”
“Sometimes you say something really profound, when the rest of what you’re saying shuts the hell up,” Mark said with a smile.
This made them all laugh, freeing them of the heaviness.
Thirty minutes later, Hash and Tony returned.
The good sergeant saw Private Gibbs’s modified shroud and said through choked up words, “Thank you all for… allowing me this. I won’t forget it.”
They all nodded sheepishly.
“Let’s go take care of your friend, Sergeant,” Tony said, putting a hand on the man’s shoulder. “It’s not often we get a chance to do this the right way.”
Hash nodded appreciatively.
Tony looked around for Alysa.
“She’s watching our backs,” Nine quickly said. “I don’t think she’s the funeral type.”
Tony nodded at him, then turned back to Hash. “Okay then. You ready?”
“No… but let’s do this anyway, before I forget how sober I am and how shitty that feels right now.”
Without another word, they carried the dead soldier into the field and laid him to rest. Hash spoke a few words about the young man’s short life.
The others listened intently and added the memory of Private Andy Gibbs to their necessary survival baggage.
And that had to be enough.
~~~
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
When the funeral was finished, Alysa returned and told them that the farmstead, as well as the highway, appeared quiet. She found no evidence of recent activity, living or dead, and they decided to risk a fire and stay the night while they decided what to do next.
Hash brought out some canned goods from the trailer, which they ate cold, as they sat huddled around their small fire, armed… and a little more at ease.
“Now that you’re all free again, and I’m now unemployed,” Hash started, “I was hoping to talk you all out of that suicide mission you told me about back at the hospital.”
Tony shook his head. “If you mean tucking tail and running, well, we can’t do that. Our people are still out there and we mean to find them. Nothing’s changed in that regard.”
Hash kept trying. “So, if I reminded you all that there’s enough supplies in that trailer for all of us to live comfortably for a good while, and that I was willing to share it with you, as well as sharing a secure route south out of the Territories, you’d still not be interested?”
“We’re decided, Sergeant,” Wendy said. “We’ve been through this, we know the risks, and we’re prepared to face whatever’s waiting if there’s a chance to find our friends.”
Hash shook his head in frustration. “Look. I get what you’re trying to do. Really, I do. But I’m telling you, if you’re friends are still alive there’s only one place they could be. And New Cleveland is a dangerous place where good people like yourselves have no business being.”
“If that’s where they are, then that’s where we’re going,” Tony said. “If you could just point the way, we’ll part ways in the morning and-”
“It’s about twenty miles west of here.” Hash was clearly irritated. “It won’t be hard to find, trust me. Chances are, you’ll be stopped long before you reach it anyway, by some Lunatic patrol that will probably gun you down for just saying ‘hello’. Don’t you get it? When I say ‘dangerous’, I mean, imagine a town where every kind of criminal left in this God-forsaken world has a place to thrive unchecked. That’s what you’ll find there. Murderers, rapists, drug dealers, human traffickers, pedophiles, hate gangs… are you hearing what I’m saying yet? It’s a thriving black-market where the most heinous activities and perverse dealings are conducted out in the open! New Cleveland is a place where the kind of shit that never made the six-o’clock news because it would make your skin crawl and your stomach turn, happens on a regular basis. Fucking makes Sodom and Gomorrah look like a damn Bible camp!”
No one said anything for a minute as they let Hash’s strong warning sink in.
Nine clapped his hands together and said, “So, what are we waiting for? Let’s go! I’ll finally get to go somewhere and rip those tempting little labels off mattresses without anyone giving me shit about it. Hell… sounds like they’d encourage it in New Cleveland!”
Diane hid her face in her hands and shook her head.
Hash looked to Tony. “Is there something… wrong with him? He can’t be serious, right?”
Mark laughed.
“Yes and no,” Tony said, frowning at Nine. “But don’t worry, he’ll grow on you.”
“Like a damn wart,” Mark said.
“Actually,” Wendy chimed in. “It’s only illegal for a seller to rip the label off. Once you buy a mattress, you can do what you want.”
Nine smiled at her. “And I bet you ripped the hell out of those tags, didn’t you?”
Wendy let out a guilty smile. “Of course.”
“None of this is helping,” Alysa chimed in, looking like she wanted to kill everyone. She gave Tony a pleading look.
“Alright,” he said. “Let’s stay on track here.” Tony looked to Hash. “I think you’ve made it clear what we’re getting into. But I’m telling you, Sergeant, we’re not giving up.”
“Yeah!” Nine said. “So, go on! Tell is more about this evil town full of devils and debauchery! Death and destruction promised! Minimal chance of making it inside without a good ass-raping!”
“Nine!” Diane yelled, hitting him hard in the shoulder.
By now, Mark was rolling with laughter.
The good sergeant raised his hands. “You’ve all lost your fucking minds! I’m already talking to dead people!” He was about to get up.
“Sergeant,” Tony said. “Please sit back down. They’re not making light of what you’re saying. They’re just… processing it. Each in their own way. You’ve just told us that we’re going to die if we enter this place, and probably in the worst ways imaginable. And I’m telling you, we’re going to do it anyway.”
Hash sat back down and sighed heavily. He looked hard into each of their faces and shook his head. “Damn fools, the whole lot of you.”
“Agreed,” Alysa said, dramatically rolling her eyes.
This unexpected display of frustration made Tony laugh which made the warrior laugh, followed by Nine, Mark, Wendy, and even Diane.
“Maybe I was wrong,” Hash said, raising an eyebrow at their odd behavior. “You might just get inside New Cleveland by just painting your damn faces, ‘cause no one would ever know you weren’t LUNATICS!”
This just made them all laugh harder.
Even Hash started to give in to their infectious behavior, then stopped, scolding himself for snickering with these death-wish driven idiots. But then again, how long had it been since he’d laughed like this? With real people who genuinely cared about each other? They’ve been wound up so tight, for so long, nothing can scare them anymore, he thought. Death comes delivering another sweet promise… and they respond with a little madness driven laughter, even when there’s nothing to laugh about. They’ll happily dive off the cliff come morning… as long as they can do it together.
Considering the morally depraved people he’d surrounded himself with since the world turned to shit, Hash began to wonder who the real idiot truly was.
If Gibbs were here, he’d be laughing, too. This thought made him smile briefly, before the bitterness set in. “Ah, hell!” he blurted out, finally getting them to calm down. “I suppose letting off a little steam is expected. I can tell you’ve all been living on edge for some time now. But, if you’re all determined to jump into the flames, well, then you need to know that even if you manage to make it there unharmed, there’s no way you’re getting in the front door empty handed. They’ll take one look at all of you and think you’re as mad as I do.”
“Okay,” Tony said. “Explain?”
“No one gets into New Cleveland without paying the admission price. Hell, it used to be a damn amusement park for Christ’s sake.”
“And what price might that be?” Alysa asked.
Hash shook his head at them as if dealing with children. “That place may be a den of darkness, but it’s still run like a business venture. I’ve never met the man in charge personally, but his reputation precedes him. He goes by the name Candyman… hell if I know why.”
“‘Candyman’ like Willy Wonka, or, like the horror movie?” Nine asked.
The good sergeant ignored him. “From what I’ve gathered, he’s ruthless, a fucking sadist, but above all, he’s still a businessman and that means he’s about profits. Candyman’s the one who hired me and my men and sent us out here.”
“But you’ve never met him?” Diane said.
“Nope. But I’ve met plenty of his damn Lunatics when we first stumbled across the place. They may appear to run the show, but’s it’s Candyman who pulls the strings. He sent Briana to deal with us after we arrived and told her to offer us West Farmington Village. If we hadn’t agreed to the deal, we’d be dead already. Initially, we thought, ‘Just tell these freaks what they want to hear. Then after, we could split’. But that guy knew how to make the deal profitable on both ends, and we went for the carrot. That’s what guys like that do. They see potential and capitalize upon it. Candyman saw that we were ex-military, which translated into hired muscle, and he’d dealt with our kind before, so he knew how to speak our language.”
“So, he essentially made you rulers of West Farmington Village, assuming you could claim it and clear it out, in exchange for a percentage of anything in the town,” Tony said. “And by the time you all arrived there, after all the shit you and your men went through, how could refuse such a sweet deal, right?”
“Exactly,” he said. “The man knew what buttons to push and we became his damn dogs. But as for all of you, showing up and looking like you do now, he’d let you in just long enough to feed the dead, or just string your corpses outside the main gate to discourage others like you from just showing up with nothing to offer. There’s no such thing as a ‘free lunch’ in New Cleveland.”
“‘Pay the Lunatics, or feed the dead’,” Wendy said.
“Yes,” Hash said. “And you aren’t getting in that town without paying a high price. Believe me, I know all about it.” He refused to elaborate.
Tony looked discouraged. “Well… we will find a way, Sergeant. We have to.”
Hash nodded at the big man. “Of course, you’ll try. It’s a good thing I’m coming with you.”
They all looked confused.
Hash laughed and pointed back toward the trailer. “That there was my ‘carrot’ to try to change your minds, but if you didn’t, and I suspected you wouldn’t if you were the decent but very stupid people I thought you might be, then there was always ‘Plan B’.
Tony smiled. “And what is ‘Plan B’?”
“I know what’s valuable in New Cleveland, and what’s not,” Hash said. “I made sure to load up that trailer with enough prescription drugs to keep the locals in that place high as kites for a good long time.”
“Of course,” Alysa said, standing up. “And is it any wonder why your world goes extinct when it’s people still crave the same shit that helped kill it to begin with?” She looked at Tony. “I’ll do whatever you all decide. But I’ll hear no more of this ‘deal’. Excuse me.” She stormed off.
“That one’s got a fire that won’t be easily extinguished,” Hash said.
“You got that right,” Tony said, watching Alysa leave. He turned back to Hash. “So, you’re willing to come with us and give up the contents of your trailer to help get our friends back?”
“That trailer will get us inside, if we’re lucky. The rest is on us, ‘when’ and ‘if’ we get in.”
“Fair enough,” Tony said. “Why the change of heart?”
Hash laughed. “Let’s just say you all won me over. It’s been a long time since a cause worth a damn meant anything to me. Even a cause as reckless as this one. Besides, if I go back out there alone, chances are I’ll just stumble across all the wrong people again, and without Gibbs this time to keep me in check… who knows how far down the next hole I’ll descend into. Maybe one too deep to climb out of.”
“Then we do this,” Tony said, rising to his feet. He looked at the others. “But only if the rest of you still believe we should.”
Nine, Diane, Wendy and Mark all exchanged glances, then stared up at Tony.
“Nothing’s changed,” Mark said. “We all want this, more than we wanted it before. Our lives mean shit if we can’t push back against the darkness… and hell, I just love the sound of that.”
Wendy gave him an approving glance. “Agreed.”
Diane looked to Nine and they both nodded. “We’re still in,” she said.
Tony looked to Hash. “I need to hear you say it with us, Sergeant.”
Hash shook his head. “I’m with you. But we’ve a lot to discuss before the fire dies out if we want to survive New Cleveland.”
Tony nodded.
Alysa returned.
Tony looked at her.
“You don’t even have to ask,” she said with a smile.
Tony nodded and stared at all of them with a hint of pride behind his eyes. “We’re about to put ourselves in over our heads again,” he said. “We may not have much of value to these assholes, apart from what’s in the trailer. But we have something far more valuable to us. We have heart… and we have each other. When we get inside that lion’s den, we’ll find our friends.” He turned to Hash and finished, “And if necessary, we will set this world on fire, to get them out of there. That’s a promise.”
~~~