Dominion of King Edward, Vermont, After the Great Collapse

"You look like you've seen a ghost Archie." Claire remarks as she heaves her considerable weight of the chair and waddles towards a crate lying by the side of the office.

"And you look like shit." Archie remarks, his nerves on edge, "What in the world are you doing here anyway, Claire?"

"Lost your nerve already Archie?" Claire laughs as she begins poking through the crate's contents, "Scared that the great King Edward's going to have you punished for providing refuge to the disgraced Queen?"

"Its a reasonable concern." Archie replies with a level tone, "No one survives this long in the virus waste by being stupid."

"No one survives by being a pussy either." Claire sniggers to herself as she pulls out a bottle of genuine single malt scotch from the crate, "Ah! There we are. I'm going to borrow a glass, Archie. You don't mind do you?"

"Language, Claire." Archie frowns disapprovingly as Claire pours herself a generous measure of the premium stuff, "Did you come here just to get drunk?"

"Give me a break." Claire grumbles, "I just escaped from the dungeons. Indulging in potty mouth is the least I could do to let off some steam." And with that Claire slams down the shot of whiskey in a single gulp. Archie winces as the former Queen pours out another oversize dram. This whiskey was the real thing, not the garbage that Archie cut with ethanol and sold to wanderers who did not know any better. Claire was chugging down liquid gold.

"I'm here to talk to you Archie." Claire sighs in satisfaction before turning to the majorette, "And Marco as well of course. Go bring him here will you?" The majorette salutes and rushes out of the office, towards the sounds of the executions taking place at the center of the market.

"How in the world are you sitting here anyway?" Archie demands as he settles back into his usual chair, "You were under house arrest the last I recall."

"This Kingdom? It was my idea, not Eddie's." Claire growls as she grips the neck of the bottle so tightly she might as well be strangling it, "If it wasn't for me, Eddie would still be scratching a living as a trucker. The vision was mine Archie. Everything here, in this settlement, I'm the foundation of it all, not Eddie. King Edward may have his suck ups, but the old timers still remember me."

"And those old timers don't mind risking painful torture and execution?" Archie asks skeptically.

"Gratitude still exists in this world." Claire crows triumphantly, "I walked right out of the dungeon without any problems. And with everyone distracted by the Infected running about in the settlement, visiting you wasn't a problem."

"I see." Archie answers cautiously, unsure of the reason for Claire's visit. He was half expecting the whole event to be a setup with Edward bursting through the door at any moment. Smile, you're on candid camera.

"Anyway, you don't need to worry about Eddie." Claire scoffs as she makes herself comfortable, "He's too busy right now to worry about what little old me is up to."

"Busy with what?" Archie questions before remembering just what caused this entire crisis in the first place, "Romancing his new concubine?"

"No." Claire smirks bitterly, "Running away and leaving us all to die."

"WHAT?" an explosive bellow tears through the entire office as Marco strides in with a shocked expression on his face.

"Oh its true." Claire hums, "Ever wanted why Eddie's been holed up in the manor all week, never coming out? He's drafted all the servants and guards to dig a tunnel from the basement, bypassing the Herd waiting outside. That's all anyone has been doing the last few days."

"I don't believe it." Marco snaps furiously, "I know him. We go way, way back. Even before the virus hit."

"You know Eddie." Claire snorts at Marco, "Not King Edward. Guess how I heard about what Eddie's been planning behind our backs?"

Archie hazards a guess, "Edward is not planning on taking everyone inside the manor with him and that information leaked out?"

"Not bad. Not bad." Claire nods, "Of course Eddie told the servants that everyone was going to escape together, but he really only intended to bring his bodyguards as well as that Immune mother and baby pair."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Escaping quietly in the night I suppose." Archie muses as he observes Marco's increasingly distressed countenance.

"Well, that woman, Carol's her name I think, raised a big stink about abandoning the baby's nursemaid." Claire smiles nastily, "That's how the word got out. Eddie eventually decided to bring that girl along as well to keep Carol quiet, but by then the servants had already let me go."

"To rally support." Archie concludes flatly. So that whole line about loyalty Claire had been feeding him was bullshit. The servants released her because they did not want to die. As always, the immutable nature of humanity shines through.

"Are you saying Eddie's running away right now?" Marco demands, fury oozing out of every single pore of his face.

"He should have begun his journey through the tunnel." Claire confirms, "Marco, I need you to rally all the knights you can spare. Archie, gather your men as well. We can catch up with Eddie if we hurry."

"And what will you be doing?" Marco snaps, his eyes bulging from rage, "Sitting pretty while we kill the original King? Then declare yourself Queen again?"

"Of course not." Claire sniffs in a rather offended fashion, "The servants are on my side Marco. We will be joining the two of you in the pursuit."

"No." Archie's voice is like a razor, slashing across the room.

"What?" Claire and Marco blurt out at the same time.

"You heard me, no." Archie insists, "This is complete foolishness. There's no point in pursuing Edward. We should be more concerned about our own escape."

"But ..." Claire mumbles before Archie cuts her off again.

"What good will catching Edward do?" Archie begins making his case, "Between the three of us, we have enough men to break through the Herd. We can then find a new place to start anew. But we need to work together to accomplish this."

"That makes sense." Marco mutters, "The Immune baby is the cause of all the trouble anyway. Further we are from it, the better."

"And as long as Edward has the baby, the Herd will pursue him to the ends of the earth, leaving us in peace." Archie concludes affirmatively, "Escaping now is really the best choice."

"But the tunnel is the safest way to escape." Claire suddenly pipes up, "Edward would not have bothering digging it otherwise. Chasing after him will save lives as well since we will be able to bypass the siege."

"That's true." Marco considers with a hand to his chin.

But I can't bring my merchandise with me through that blasted tunnel! I need the trucks to carry everything! Archie wanted to scream at the top of his voice. He needed to get Claire and Marco back on track fast, or everything would be literally lost.

"The Herd would home in on the baby." Archie rebuts, the gears of his mind turning so rapidly that they were drawing sparks, "We should be fleeing in the opposite direction. Preferably using vehicles. The Herd wouldn't be able to catch up with us that way."

"Not possible." Marco quickly denies, causing Archie's heart to sink.

"Why?" Archie almost wails in despair, but manages to get a hold of himself at the last minute.

"There's only one way to leave the settlement in a car. The main gate." Marco explains, "We would get swarmed the moment a convoy got underway."

"We could push through?" Archie asks hopefully.

"We wouldn't have the advantage of walls." Marco shakes his head, "Most of the convoy would be slaughtered by the time we managed to fight our way past the Herd."

That's the whole point, your lives for mine and my merchandise. Goddammit!

"I see." Archie sighs, his voice utterly defeated.

"Chin up." Marco claps Archie hard on the back, "We're far from doomed. And we won't go down without a fight."

"So you'll do it then?" Claire pipes up happily, "You'll pursue Eddie with me?"

"Only as far as it is convenient for us." Marco says sternly, "If the Herd begins tracking the baby again, we're gone. Clear?"

"I couldn't ask for more." Claire smiles brightly as she begins to leave the office, "I'll see you both in the manor then."

"Gather your people Archie." Marco orders, "We've got no time to lose."

"Uh huh." Archie affirms, his eyes dead to the world, "No time to lose at all."