A whirlwind of mechanical noises exploded the moment they stepped through the door. Pistons were firing into engines, and steam was bursting from pipes. A number of drums lined the walls, each with a different colored slurry boiling in between. Some scarlet, others brown, others black.

Vaughn turned to Liam. “Ever see larding done before?”

Liam made the mistake of saying “No” before considering the ramifications. Vaughn’s eyes lit up, and he grabbed Liam by the shoulder, his bony fingers rough against his overcoat.

“It’s a shame that you hadn’t come here a few weeks ago. Herd activity spikes during summer, and slows once fall hits. At peak capacity, this facility can process upto twelve-hundred stock a day.”

He led them through a catwalk and into the factory floor. There were a dozen of his people scattered throughout, each wearing the reflective construction uniforms and hardhats as they monitored the equipment. A series of caged ramps led from the exterior to the drums, with hollows crammed inside. Mannequins dangled above, just out of view for the hollows.

“The trick is to let them do the work for you,” Vaughn explained as they drew near. “Hollow psychology is simple enough that they only care about attacking the closest thing in sight, even if it’ll get them killed. Like this.”

He grabbed a wheel in front of one of the drums and started twisting. Pulleys squeaked and the gate began to rise, but no sooner was it up that the mannequin lowered itself, shrouded in red lights. The hollows roared at the sight of the mannequin and marched forth, each tumbling into the drum before they could reach their targets.

Vaughn grinned. “Pretty cool, huh? Like how they used to cook lobster. Once we get them in the boilers, it’s all a matter of routin’ materials from one drum to another.” He waved them forth. “Come on! I almost forgot about the new distiller we installed. Gotta crack those hydrocarbons somehow!”

The group was led around the Larder, with Vaughn showing off all in sight with glee. Here was where they turned marrow into food. There was the spot where fat got rendered into biofuel. That was the grinder that turned Hollowing pseudo-cells into fertilizer. On and on and on he went, explaining everything from the mechanics to the science behind each aspect of hollow larding.

Back in the good old days, Liam had known his fair share of craftsmen. There was one type of the laborer that he appreciated most: the ones who devoted themselves to a single art. The moment they sunk their teeth into a new inductee, they wouldn’t let go until they had injected every ounce of their fervor into them. Not even Liam had found he could hold a candle to this breed of craftsman, and he was a man who had built his reputation by teaching survivalism to the masses. Whether it was an auto mechanic or a woodworker, there were some artisans who could never contain their zeal, no matter how hard they tried. The passion they felt for their craft was that significant, and was only rivaled by the delight they experienced when explaining all the subtle nuances of their work to anyone willing to listen.

Vaughn was very much one of those, except that his craft involved turning zombies into paste.

And boy, did he love every second of it. As it turned out, most of the trucks in Pandemonium had electric engines that ran off the solar grid, but because of that, they could never travel farther than a hundred kilometers from the city for fear of losing all charge and burning out. That meant that all longer expeditions required vehicles that used combustion engines, and if Vaughn was to be believed, his processed biofuel was a superior alternative to refined crude oil, though Liam suspected this was prideful bluster. That was how Vaughn described all his products, anyway. The grease that the Larder produced could keep a machine lubricated longer than most pre-outbreak brands, their fertilizer grew stock faster than GMOs, and the gum they produced was a viable alternative to living flesh for rezzers, and could be stored for far longer. Vaughn treated hollows as the Navajo did for buffalo, and left no part as waste. Even dregs were filtered out by design, and released back into the wilds where they were given a chance to find their own intelligence. Liam was impressed by their ingenuity, even if it nearly destroyed his throat through the sheer weight of having to shout while also keeping it gruff to maintain his cover.

The tour ended as Vaughn dragged them into his office, out of sight from the rest of his people.

He sat across them and steepled his hands. “As fun as it’s been to see you again Leah, I know that you didn’t come all this way to see a couple new furnaces.”

“I need to smuggle my friend here,” Leah said.

“How far we talking?”

“Far enough to justify taking one of your long-range trucks. Electric won’t cut it. We’re talking more than a thousand miles of distance to cover.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

He stroked his chin. “Figured as much. Mother has had me get her the same deal plenty of times before. I thought that’s what she was thinking last she was here, but she only wanted enough fuel to keep her people’s bikes going, and said I should save the car for you. We’ve got a long-ranger sitting at our forward operating base downtown.”

“You know what she’s up to out there?” Leah asked.

“Not my place to ask. Half my guys owe her for one reason or other. Hell, I’d still have a limp if she hadn’t patched me up herself. Mother is the only doctor willing to make the trip out to see us, and all she’s ever asked in return is our discretion. If I have to turn a blind eye to a group of her soldiers rolling through, that’s a small price to pay compared to what she’s given back.”

“Can we expect similar discretion?”

“Won’t lie to you, Leah. Hades has an axe to grind on this one. His goons pop by every couple days, and the reward for your head is steep. I can keep my guys under control for a while, but it’d go a long way if you could give us somethin’ we can use.”

Leah crossed her legs. “Had a feeling you were going somewhere with this. We’ve been traveling light, and are lacking in ammo and food.”

“That’s fine. We’ve got plenty of both.”

“Then what do you need?”

Vaughn leaned forward. “I need a book. You know how it is in the outposts. Traders know that we can’t access the bank, so they gouge us when it comes time to pay. Most of my stock is instruction manuals and address books, and we can’t do anything with them, other than toss ‘em in storage and hope.

“Gettin’ supplies is the easy part. We have more food and tools than we know what to do with. Giving ourselves meaning is the real challenge, and nothin’ keeps back hollowing like a good book. You give us that, free of charge, and I guarantee that you’ll have not just my loyalty, but everyone else’s.”

“We’re still light on that front. This whole mess started in a flash.”

“I’m sure you have somethin’ we can use.”

Leah sighed. “Kurt always has a bunch of Vonneguts on hand. That’s where he named himself. I’m sure he can spare one.”

Kurt looked like he’d been stabbed. “You can’t be serious!” He clutched his backpack as if it was made of gold.

Vaughn waved a hand. “Relax. Science fiction is too heavy for most of the guys here. We need something lighter.”

“I’ve got a couple guys keeping watch outside,” Leah said. “One has a textbook about some kind of mathematics, and the other has a copy of Ulysses that he’ll never read. I think he might have picked up a spy novel somewhere else too.”

He smiled. “Come on, Leah. You’re not listening to me. I’m looking for a good story. We both know that you wouldn’t wander out without somethin’ of your own. Well? What is it?”

Leah paused, her eyes locked with his. For a moment, the two sat in silence, but then she glanced Liam’s way and begrudgingly fished into her own backpack. Her hands quaked as she handed over the book.

Liam nudged an inch forward. It was difficult to make out anything with the fog on his goggles, but he could almost read the title. Is that what I think it is?

“What’s this about?” Vaughn asked.

“It’s about a teenage girl who falls in love with a vampire,” Leah said. “It’s my favorite novel, and I managed to find a signed copy from the author.”

Vaughn sat unconvinced. “Wasn’t this the one that everyone used to make fun of in the old world?”

Liam had learned that rezzers were incapable of blushing. The heart seldom beat and the blood flowed even less, meaning that normal emotions didn’t present themselves as they would for living humans.

So when Leah averted her gaze and twiddled her fingers in silence, her face might as well have gone bright red.

Liam snickered.

Leah furrowed her brow. “It isn’t like that! Humans were idiots. This story transcends the ages. There isn’t mere imagery. Every scene is a tapestry of raw expression that you won’t be able to put down. The love, the hatred, the beauty. It’s a roller-coaster of ineffable experience. I’ve read thousands of books, and I’ve never found any that was half as captivating as this series.” Her voice rose as she slammed her fists on the table. “And I’ll cut out the tongue of anyone who speaks poorly of it!”

Oh, this is too much. Liam slapped his knees as he guffawed, and almost lost track of the forced gruffness of his voice. Beneath the psychopathic killer was a bleeding-heart romantic, and she was doing everything in her power to pretend otherwise.

Vaughn smiled in shared amusement. “Relax, Leah. Now that you mention it, I think I saw the movie last time I was in Pandemonium, and I gotta say, it wasn’t half bad.”

“The book’s better,” she snapped, watching Liam laugh from the corner of her eyes with an acid gaze.

“If you say so.”

“I know so.” She stood up. “But so help me, Vaughn. I’m not fucking around when I say that this is my favorite book. Take good care of it while I’m gone, or I’ll–”

“Yeah, yeah,” Vaughn said with a yawn. “Hack off a limb, take out an eye. I know the routine. I’ll make sure this gets treated like royalty.”

She relaxed. “Thank you.”

Just as the exchange was made and everyone settled down, Buttercup burst through the door, with one of Vaughn’s men chasing after.

“Sorry, sir,” the worker said. “He scaled the fence before we could stop him.”

“Couldn’t wait,” Buttercup said. “This is important.”

Leah nodded to Vaughn, and he waved his worker off, leaving them back alone.

“What is it?” Leah asked.

Buttercup grit his teeth. “Dust on the horizon. Trucks. I’d say six to eight. We’ve got to leave this place, yesterday!”

“How the hell did they get here so fast?” Liam asked.

“Can’t worry about that now,” Leah said. “Is your car charged yet, Vaughn?”

He shook his head. “Can’t be more than halfway full.”

“That’ll have to do. We’ll take it to your forward operating base and get the ranger. Add the repayment to my tab.”

“You don’t get it. Our FOB is a maze and I hid it in one of the garages nearby. You’ll never find it without me.”

“Vaughn, if Hades finds out you helped us…”

“It’s done. I owe you both way more than him. All Hades has ever done is sit on the throne that we built.”

He grabbed car keys. “About time the rest of us stood up.”