Tabs turned to Kyto, “What now?”
“Well, first, we need to distance ourselves, and then we can decide what to do next,” he said.
Crystal turned to Lars and indicated for him to pass her the shotgun, which had been left in the vehicle under the rear seat. Lars picked it up and handed it to her. She pumped the gun, startling TJ, who turned around to see the barrel of the shotgun aimed directly at his face.
“What the hell, Crystal?” TJ replied.
“I need to know if you are with or against us?” she said, resting her finger on the trigger.
“With or against what?” he said, staring at her in disbelief.
“It is simple: You are either with us or against us. If with, then fine, but if against, then you may as well say now, and I will make it quick and painless,” she said.
“I have no idea what you are referring to,” he shouted at her angrily.
“So, who is the contact?” she said.
“What contact?” he said with a confused expression.
“I do not think it was TJ,” she said.
“Maybe not,” said Tabs, “but someone must have passed details to other groups.”
Lars reached and tapped Crystal on the shoulder. She turned, glancing at him, and he signed a message.
“It is fine, Lars, do not worry.” She replied.
“Will someone tell me what is going on?” TJ blurted out.
“I am just making sure you are not the one who was passing details of our raids to other groups,” Crystal said.
“What on earth gave you that idea?” he said.
“Someone has to have been. There is no way the townships we would hit were so nicely picked before we arrived without someone telling the other group.” She said.
“Shit, I hadn’t even thought of that,” TJ said, his reply sounding genuine.
“Ok, well, that is question one, now for question two. Are you with or against us?” Crystal said again.
“What now?” he said, exasperation evident in his face. Though his pistol was at his side, he had not attempted to draw it, completely befuddled by the scenario.
"It is pretty obvious if you think about it,” she said.
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TJ sat there for a long minute until realising what Crystal meant. “That was you back there?” he asked in shock.
“Well, not just me,” she said, smiling at him.
Lars was as dumbstruck as TJ by the expression he now also had on his face.
“You know that I have always been after a way to leave the group. I have spoken to you enough times about it previously. I even asked if I could challenge you on one occasion, which you refused. I can’t take the credit. To be honest, it was Kyto’s idea,” Crystal added.
Eventually, TJ responded. “There will be some mad raiding groups when they realise.”
“If they ever realise the chaos that was caused back at the site and the number of dead that were already present before we left. Anyone in their right mind would have tried to get away, especially with the poisoning as well. Kyto, how many were affected by the venom in the end?” she asked.
Kyto was silent for a few moments before he replied. “I have not been through all the notifications yet, but the count seems to drop off at around two hundred and thirty-seven. I have had several death messages since then, so I would need to spend time looking through them properly.”
Tabs replied, “Death messages?” as TJ replied, “Venom.”
“Yeah, it appears that once poisoned, a victim then dies; I have also received a message even if the poison was not responsible,” he replied. “When we stop, I will go through them properly and can confirm the exact numbers.”
“What venom?” TJ stated again.
“That’s a longer story than I am willing to go into now,” she said. “Back to the question, are you in or out?”
“What does ‘in’ mean?” he asked.
“A new life, no more raiding, no more raiders and a fresh start,” she said.
“And out?” he said.
Crystal twitched the barrel of the shotgun towards him, shrugging.
“Well, what do you think my answer will be? You always have been good at persuading people,” he laughed.
“I will take that as ‘in’ then,” she replied, lowering the shotgun.
Tabs asked Crystal, “How do you know we can trust him?”
"I just know.” She replied, remembering the day she was made lead and TJ defending her.
Crystal looked back at Lars. “Are you ok with this?” she asked him.
Lars looked at her, smiling broadly, and nodded his head.
“Great.” She said, smiling back.
“Tabs, grab the radio from my pack, and we can check to see if any messages get sent from Scarshot,” Kyto said.
Lars reached through the truck's rear sliding window, grabbed Kyto’s backpack, pulled it through, and passed it over to Tabs.
Tabs dug out his radio and wound it up; it emitted a crackling sound, but no conversations were to be heard. “Let’s keep it running for a while at least.” Tabs said.
“So where are we heading?” Kyto said.
“This was your bright idea. Where do you think we should head?” Crystal said.
“New Talisia, perhaps?” Kyto said. “It is the largest town in the East, and it will be much easier to get lost there than anywhere else. I was even thinking we could cross the lakes into the North. I had heard previously that they are always short of good people in their region.”
“It is going to take a while to get there,” Crystal said, “And we will have to find food and fuel on route. Without the spare fuel supply from the trucks, this thing won’t go forever.”
“Good job. I brought all the maps in my pack then. There are a couple of fuel stashes on the route. We can check if we are heading there.” TJ stated.
“We can always go foraging for food, just like we used to.” Tabs said, turning to Crystal.
"We could even stop off at a township if any are on the route," Kyto added.
“That would be nice. I could do with different clothes.” Crystal said, smiling.
Crystal suddenly sat forward and started to remove her jacket. Once she had, she removed her knife and cut off the raider's tag. She then opened the window and let go. “Good riddance,” she said, turning and smiling at Tabs.
Tabs watched as the wind carried the raider's flash down the road until it settled. Crystal took one final look back at it, put her jacket back on, and cried. It was the first time she had been free in an exceedingly long time.