Story Market Day

ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Later, Doug and Heidi’s Cabin in the Southern Compound


“I wasn’t sure if you were coming in here or staying over with the others.” Heidi said as Emilia walked into the cabin. Heidi was sitting at the table, a deck of playing cards spread out on it’s surface.

“We got finished studying.” Emilia said as she got a cup from the kitchen.

“How’s Gretchen doing? I know she’s smart and motivated, but you remember how much Garen, Allyson and Kara stress Anatomy and Pathophys.”

“Yeah, and the tests are brutal.” Emilia said as she came over to the table. She picked up the teapot and poured herself a cup. “Red, eight” she said as she sat down at the table.

Heidi moved the card from one stack to the other before she spoke.

“She going to be ready do the teach-backs?”

“I think so. Some of it will be topic and person dependent. Have you and Doug figured out the list for that yet?” Emilia took a sip. “If you pull the stack from the seven…”

Heidi moved the cards again.

“Doug wanted to wait until we could get with Garen before finalizing the list. Oh, fair warning. When it comes to initial trauma, Doug and I figured Derek and Gretchen could practice teaching the basics on Lydia at the cabin. Kinda like you and Angelique did with Olivia and crew up at the farm.”

“Makes sense, I guess.” Emilia took another sip.

“How did the appointment with Hanna go?”

At this offhand sounding question, Emilia started fidgeting.

“All ok.”

“I was thinking of seeing if she would do a class on the Foley.” Heidi paused a few beats while Emilia just nodded. That’s when she continued, having set the hook.

“Don’t worry, that will be a few weeks out, I think. That will give you plenty of time to coordinate with Angelique to see which of you is the demo and which the student practice.”

“Mom!”

Heidi just grinned.
 
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ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Deep In the Night


Garen wasn’t sure what was going on in his head. He just knew things felt…off. Kara was the one on the radio. He wasn’t sure what the implications there were. Did that mean Bekka was sitting in her Subaru, ready to race in to save them? That was his first thought, but he knew Bekka wasn’t healthy enough for that unless they were all out of options, which…

Right now they were out here sneaking along in the dark, hoping to not be seen or followed. The big problem with that was there were few ways out of town and where they went wasn’t a huge secret either. Garen and Bekka’s land was off up a winding side canyon and felt like the middle of nowhere, but wasn’t as hidden as they would want.

The other ways were different versions onto the couple roads along the ridge. These would lead someone either towards Garen and Bekka’s general area if you followed the terrain, or if you went south, it would bring you to the next main pass away from the coast, which would point you into the vicinity of the Southern Camp if you took the right turn or cut. Neither of these were places they wanted people following.

He was racking his brain trying to find a third sort of option. If they went north far enough before turning inland, it would bring them into other options, but those involved either using small sideroads he was unfamiliar with, or main roads with elevated or cliff sections he wasn’t sure survived the quake.

What he did know was he needed to do something different, and although it meant violating the cardinal rule of horror movies, he was going to split the party. He just couldn’t shake the feeling they were being followed. He didn’t want to drag trouble home, but he didn’t have enough to warrant calling for reinforcements. Not when he didn’t know what was going on back home.

His next issue was when he split them, how was he going to send them and where?
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Later, in the Parking Lot of a Burned-Out Shop and Rob


They stopped for all of five minutes. Not long, but long enough. Garen had made the call. It was more in depth than the ‘oh shit’ scatter plan. More deliberate, and with some changes.

Penny was the first one to take off. She still had Nadia and Ian on board and had Alonzo with Mia following them. They were taking to shortest fastest route. They would be the hardest to follow without the followers being spotted themselves . This was a deliberate element to try and confirm the attempt to follow them.

The second to go was Allyson, with Petra and Jonas following her. They had the second and most convoluted route. For this, Allyson would be recreating the strange, twisted route she had created the evening of the first quake. She would be able to navigate better in the forest than she had that night since she was a lot more familiar with it now. This would get the second crew out of sight without a solid destination and would also expose any followers.

As expected, Garen took the hardest version. He knew a couple small side roads he could snake along, and some alleys and electrical access trails he could use to separate him and Ren from anyone trying to hang with them. Because of where it would take them and what they would be able to see happening around and below them, they would be able to see anyone trying to tail the other two groups.

If he had any better indication of followers, he could have called ahead and set up an ambush down south and eliminated the threat. His biggest problem was he just didn’t know.
 
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ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Training Building


They felt rushed and worried. Penny was driving the truck quick. Not as fast as she could, and not as fast as she had been on board with Allyson driving, but a lot quicker than before.

They slowed down for the gate, but even that was a ‘comparative’ kinda thing. When they made it around the corner and pulled into the back of the Training Building, she wasn’t surprised when the roll up door was open and there were people milling about. One thing she wasn’t necessarily expecting was seeing the little R32 ‘Spyder’ sitting on the ramp, it’s doors open and Angelique standing next to it.

Penny pulled into the normal spot for Allyson’s truck and watched as Alonzo pulled forward into one of the deeper spots in the bay. Even as she stood there, several of the teenagers began unloading the stuff from the Interceptor and the truck onto large rolling tables and furniture dollies turned into flat carts. A voice beside her got her attention.

“Odina promised them a pancake breakfast if they got all the vehicles unloaded quickly and right.” Angelique said as she stood next to Penny.

Penny saw Oskar was at a row of tables along one of the back walls, directing the teens where to stack what. Further into the cavernous space she saw Erich standing by the doorway to the conference room and saw Mia headed that way while Alonzo was headed to the piles of stuff on the tables.

Ian and Nadia came around to stand with Penny and Angelique.

“What now?” Ian asked.

“Right now? You guys get upstairs and get some food and some rest.” Angelique said.

“Sounds good.” Nadia said as she led the way, holding Ian’s hand.

Penny didn’t move from where she stood next to Angelique. She knew better. She turned to face her.

“What’s the plan?” Angelique’s soft smile at Penny’s question didn’t make her feel much better.

“You and me head down the hill in the Spyder to your place so you can get some food and rest. If the radio call comes, you and I run out to try and solve the problem.”


Karl’s Farm, in One of the Barns


Penny parked the Spyder right outside the door to the tack room. Angelique already had her gear onboard, and Penny’s was a quick transfer from Allyson’s truck to the Spyder. The only thing needed was a quick top off of the food and other supplies she had used on this last trip.

When she came back out of the main house with the stuff, Angelique wasn’t at the Spyder. She looked around for a moment before going into the tack room. Not in there. She stepped on through into the barn itself.

There against the tack room wall were several haybales. Stretched out on a couple was Angelique. Her pack was under her head like a pillow. Curled up in the crook of her neck was one of the barn cats, a big orange tomcat who normally ran the place. Both looked to be sleeping peacefully.
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Garen and Bekka’s


“Allyson, Petra and Jonas are deep in the forest, coming through her old original pickup point.” Kara told Bekka.

“And that leaves one set.” Bekka said from where she sat in the recliner in the living room.

“Yup. Angelique and Penny are ready to roll if they need to.”

“Maybe you should go down to the Training Building and see how the kids did at squaring things away.” Bekka said.

Kara thought about it a moment. The handheld would piggyback off the main units up here and down at the Training Building. There was the big map on the wall down there too. Maybe some alone time was what Bekka was asking for.

She was worried about Bekka. The last time she saw her anywhere like this was back in England, but then she was fueled by rage and frustrated by those factors surrounding that whole shit show. Now, it was like she kept waiting for Bekka’s fire, her drive to return but it hadn’t yet. Maybe Garen would know what to do.

Garen. That was the last piece in the problem puzzle for now. He needed to get his ass back so they could start looking at the hospital mission. For that to work, though, they needed their ace planner to pull her head out of her ass.
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
A Couple Days Later


Olivia and Hera were sitting out on the hillside taking a break from their chores. Movement down below caught Olivia’s eye.

“Again?”

Hera looked where Olivia was looking. Down below, two horses were walking, riders on their backs. Both riders were familiar to them.

“Yeah,” Hera looked over at Olivia. “Did your mom ever tell you more about that?”

“No. She just said it was part of Ms Bekka’s physical therapy.”

Hera shrugged. “It doesn’t make sense how horseback riding is supposed to help bullet holes.”

“Well, I was wondering the same thing, but when I asked her, Mom told me in no uncertain terms was I to go poking into it or annoying Ms Bekka about it.” Olivia thought that was the most polite version she would tell Hera. As much as Hera was her best friend, she was embarrassed by the dressing down she got from her mom when she kept asking questions. The part she told Hera was the closing statement in the conversation.

“Whatever. We better get on down to help out at Larrissa’s. They are shorthanded with Brittany and Jonas up helping at the Training building.” Hera said.

“You just want to go down and hang out with Brody.” Olivia said.

“Nooo. He’s busy with the new kids right now lifting and moving a bunch of shit. Weren’t you listening earlier? Ruby wanted us to help her in the lower pasture.”

Olivia saw the blush and heard the too fast denial, but she would let Hera think she got away with it.

“Well, let’s go help Ruby.”
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
At the Pond


Allyson was sitting on Kara’s rock. It was peaceful there. It was still early in the day but she was sipping some Kahlua and Irish Cream, with a touch of heavy cream over ice. She was still trying to settle things in her brain. It’s been a couple days since it happened, but she still felt unhinged.

She had been sitting with Bekka late in the night. Allyson always had issues going from night shift to day shift, even after just one or two days. She wasn’t sure why Bekka was up. They were sitting there only half talking.

She wasn’t sure when the shift happened. Maybe Bekka had been drinking, or pain pills or something, but she started talking about not liking that she was letting people down, about hating being the weak one.

When this happened, Allyson felt herself disconnecting, almost like she was watching someone else sitting there. It wasn’t long before she knew she was an observer since they were talking in a language she didn’t know, but at the time she understood. Even now, she remembered parts of it, parts she wasn’t sure she wanted to remember.

“Damn it! I was always the weak one.” Bekka said in a burst.

Allyson just listened as she heard the words coming out of her own mouth. Words that she didn’t say, but somebody did.

“No, you were the strong one, Rabekka. I was the weak one. I quit, you didn’t. I quit twice, I quit on myself, and worse, I quit on my daughter. You were the strong one, you kept going.”

“You didn’t give me a choice, Kathryn!”

“You had a choice, Rabekka. You had grandpa’s pistol in your pocket when you were at my grave. You were ready to do it and you took the hard choice instead of being weak like me. I wish I was as strong as you.”

Allyson didn’t remember much after that. She was still freaked out about feeling like someone else was driving her body around, something she still didn’t understand. She didn’t remember getting to bed, just remembered waking up in her bedroom in the trailer.

At breakfast the next morning, Bekka didn’t bring up the events the night before. Allyson took that as a clue and didn’t bring it up either. Instead, she threw herself into all the other things she needed to do.

Whatever else went down, Bekka seemed to be more dialed in now, more engaged in the planning for the next couple events coming up. She spent a lot of time sorting all the radio gear they brought back from the upfitters.

While Bekka was doing that, several of the others were working on the other vehicles. Allyson was helping dial in the Interceptors and the other two SUVs they are building out for dedicated medivacs.

The Tahoe was going down to the Southern camp with Ren, along with two of the Interceptors. Allyson had picked out two other SUVs to build out. These were ones they had taken from the badguys at the subdivision.

The badguys had found and were using some seriously high performance SUVs, and Allyson wasn’t going to waste them. It’s a shame the assholes tried to run away in the one they did, forcing Heidi to kill it. Otherwise, they would have a matched pair. As it was, they had one Jeep Trackhawk, and some sort of Dodge Durango with a monster engine and missing badges.

Allyson was supposed to be down at the Training Building doing something, but she was still trying to get her head straight this morning. That’s ok, she thought. They were still building the interiors for them and working on the radio installs. She would just be in the way.

She took another sip of her drink and stared across the pond, searching for that calm reassurance and quiet her mind needed.
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
On Horseback, Out on the Hillside


I know Penny is behind me. I know she thinks I’m a control freak. It’s true, I am. But that’s not why I can’t let her ride in front of me. Not just the two of us. I would ride alone if she would let me, but she won’t. I think that’s the work of the others. Whether it’s Garen or Kara…or Allyson, I don’t know.

It doesn’t matter. They are still worried about me. It’s fair. I was and still am worried about myself.

I have no idea what happened the other night. It might have been the drugs, the alcohol, the worry, the fatigue, or any one of a hundred other things. It might have been my mind making shit up, a hallucination, or….And there it is, the or.

If it was real. Wait. If it wasn’t real, then they couldn’t have known things she said. They sure as hell wouldn’t have know what her voice sounded like, how her accent was, especially since it was something both of us had worked so hard to lose even way back then. The pitch, the pace, the sprinkling of Japanese from our shared year of it in school and Anime, none of it was something Kara or Garen knew.

As for what she said to me? She considered me the strong one? How much she hated herself for letting me down? She called herself weak and cowardly. Cowardly for abandoning all of us. Cowardly for killing herself instead of facing down her rapist. A monster for killing herself and her baby before it could even been born.

She told me she was sorry for all the things she left undone, and how proud she was of how strong I had become. She told me she knew I was the strong one the day I turned back from her grave, Grandpa’s pistol still unfired in my pocket instead of using it on myself that day like I planned.

No one knew about that. I had even blocked it from myself. It had to be her.

I still had others I needed to help. I still had people who I love and who love me. That was the lesson she forgot, and that was why she’s gone and I’m still here.

Doesn’t mean her absence doesn’t hurt.

When Penny’s riding in front of me, when I see her turn to look at me, I half expect it to be Kathryn’s face looking back at me.

The riding helps me still feel her here, but I can’t afford to lose myself into it. Not right now. Right now I have things to do here to help others. It’s something I have to do, since I’m supposed to be the strong one.
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
At the Training Building


Garen had Brice with him going through the initial mounting elements.

“Yeah, Kara was joking during our trip south to get you guys, but damned if she didn’t come up with it after all.”

Brice had a notepad and a tape measure as she looked between the stack of gear on the table and the big black trucks.

“Since you want to keep the rooftop tents and the rack you had me make, I can just tie into it. Big question will be do you want it on the left or the right?”

“Probably better to put the one with the camera on the left and the other extendable mast on the right for the antennae stuff Bekka has in mind.” He thought a moment. “Did Kara tell you where she got them? All she would tell me was ‘magic’”

“She was out running around somewhere and saw one n a supermarket parking lot. The one there was trashed to hell, but that got her thinking and she put the word out to the other scroungers. Parking lot security trailers aren’t the first thing people think to loot. She turned the computers and transmitters over to Bron who’s supposed to be putting together some packages to send this way for controlling them from inside the trucks. I’m the ‘mount and power’ girl part of this project.” Brice said as she took some measurements and notes.

“How solid are the poles?” Garen asked.

“Don’t try to drive with them extended, if that’s what you are thinking.”

“OK.” He looked at the camera bubble and back at the truck.

“Do you think Bron could flip the signal so we could mount the bubble upright instead of hanging from the J mount? That would let it be more stable when it’s down and less likely to get hung up.”

Brice looked at it again. “I can mount it on the end of the stick like that, and worst case, just flip the monitor upside-down and add labels for the controller.”

Garen felt like an idiot for not thinking of that simple solution.
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
In Another Part of the Building


Kara, Hanna and Rahel were going through their gear one last time. They were headed out this evening for a quiet survey of the hospital. The whole idea was they would get dropped off nearby, scope it out, go inside and look for the stuff she needed.

They would also do a hefty amount of work on the pre-plan for getting the stuff out of there. This would involve all kinds of things, ranging from quantities, locations, whether the bed slides were still there, where the elevators were stopped, how accessible the shafts were, loading dock access, staging areas both inside and outside the structure, hazards, and so on and so on.

And this list didn’t even include the added factors of squatters or badguys.

They were taking enough supplies to be in the building three to five days. They had a lot of info to gather, lots of ground to cover and lots of things to send back to the others to prepare for. Several others were converging soon on the Training Building in preparation for the scavenging mission.

This was going to be one of the largest things they have done, if there’s enough stuff to warrant it, but one of the biggest things everyone was reminded of time and time again, was the prime focus and target was the neonatal supplies. That was the very first thing that was slated to be extracted and moved back to safety. Not waiting with other piles of ‘loot’.

That was the whole reason Hanna was going on the initial reconnaissance, over the objections of several of the leaders. She was the one who not only knew what she needed, but also knew of things she could use instead, and what was enough, and what was too much. She was driving the whole mission focus. Anything else they were able to salvage after the initial stuff was a bonus.

One of the first things they had on their ‘to do’ list was find a floor diagram or fire evacuation map. As soon as they found one, they were to shoot a picture of it and send it back to the planners. They had a transparent sheet of plastic with a number and letter grid written on it. This would let them send back simple data reports like ‘four A-bags needed for room at L-6, priority 3’. This would let the planners project volume and locations along with which things needed out how soon after they started.
 
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ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
At Garen and Bekka’s in the Garage


Allyson stepped out of the Airstream in the Garage that was her room and looked for the sound. She found Bekka at the back of the garage working on a tangle of wires and electronic components next to several sawhorses with sheets of plywood.

“Do I want to know what the squealing sound is?” She asked Bekka as she walked up.

“Just some basic power and routing checks before I mount these up.” Bekka waved over to another stack of stuff.

Allyson looked at the stack. It was several rooftop cargo pods. She looked back at the plywood. There were circles drawn on each sheet. She recognized the shapes now. It looked like each sheet held at least two outlines of the perimeter of a cargo pod.

“So…the idea is…?”

Bekka looked up from the equipment in front of her and back to Allyson.

“With all the shit you guys brought back from the upfitter, and some other stuff Ivar has been scrounging, we’re going to be adding some better electronic capability to a few of the vehicles. Once I get the layout right, we bolt the pods directly to the roof to both hide and protect the antennae array.”

Allyson looked at them, then the pods, then back at Bekka.

“Do I want to know what all it’s going to do?”

“Probably not, but if I get it right, then we can hear and talk more, on more channels, potentially receive drone feed, even though we won’t be able to control it, and maybe do some jamming as well.”

Allyson looked at the smile on Bekka’s face when she said that. She got the video blurb playing in her head from the first John Wick movie. The one where he loudly proclaims ‘he’s back’. It made Allyson feel better. She missed Bekka and didn’t like the wishy-washy version that had been here the last couple weeks as she was trying to heal up.

“OK, Bekka, but here’s the next couple questions. With all those high-powered antennae on the roof, how do we keep the driver from being cooked with all that shit going off overhead?”

“When we pull the headliners to route the cables, we use the rolls of Dynamat and the rolls of copper mesh the Upfitters had for that very purpose. We build a shield into the roof and the doors like a Faraday cage to keep us ok inside.”

“How long is all that going to take?”

Bekka smiled again as she answered.

“Fast, effective, easy. Pick any two. That’s why I’m fabing all this out on the boards first. When we peel them open to install, they mesh should be the longest part. The Interceptors you found already have a ton of pre-built power points to tap into and channels built into the headliner for the cables. If they are already Dynalined, then it’s bolt the pods on top, mesh, run cables, then put the liners back up. I have the extra blanks for the center consoles and will have all that shit built so it’s plop it il like a unit, plug the plugs, and we are up and running. It’s just going to take some time to get it all built before we pull any of the vehicles in for the upgrade.”

“Which ones are you juicing?”

“Right now, I’m working the three Interceptor packages and setting aside the radio sets for the other two casualty evac SUVs.”

Allyson noticed Bekka paused at this, but let her restart what she was saying in her own time.

“I’m trying to make them match the radios we have in the Tahoe, but we don’t have as much room since they are civi vehicles not cop cars. Ivar had the idea of using some of the cheaper broad frequency ones and running separate boosters and attenuators and such to feed into them, kinda like a cheap stereo with an awesome amp.”

“Depending on what all we have, that might be a good way to stretch things.” Allyson said. She looked around the garage again, then back to Bekka.

“When do you want me to bring the one I kept here inside for it’s fitting?”

Bekka glared at her. “Is the paint dry enough that it won’t stink to high heaven?”

Allyson had to laugh. The Interceptor she culled for up here was wearing a fresh coat of paint. All three of them were. Allyson knew about the paint they had brought back from Oskar’s Grandfather’s place and they had set up a makeshift paintbooth to get the Interceptors a better color.

It was Petra who was the expert. It was part of her training or experience at upkeep of military vehicles. She stopped them from ****ing things up. She could still hear Petra’s adamite tone about this not being an overpass mural. She got them to gather the right stuff for her to use the CARC paint. Between the sandblasting to the primer to the actual paint, it took a lot longer than Allyson had expected, but she couldn’t complain about the results. Hers was the Guinea Pig, the first one done.

Right now, it was outside the garage under the carport. Petra was working on the other two slated for down at the Southern Camp. It was going to take longer for those since Veronica wanted multi-color finishes with tan, brown and green. Allyson’s was flat black, the baby sister to the Inkspot twins. True, the CARC paint wasn’t quite as light absorbing at the two trucks, but it was darn close.

“It should be cured enough, Bekka. Otherwise Petra wouldn’t have let me have it back.”

Bekka stared at her a moment, then at the stuff around her, then back at Allyson.

“Do you already have all the lights and shit on it, or do you need to run that stuff too?”

“Lights are already done. You just need to transfer the switch panel over to the new console you are putting in.”

“Tell you what. You are dropping off Kara and the rest tonight, right?”

“Yeah. It’s Angelique and me, in the truck. Kara, Hanna and Rahel are riding in the bed so they can hop out quickly without slamming doors and shit.”

“OK, bring it in. I’ll see if I can get Evelyn to help me and maybe find some more hands to help us work on this jigsaw puzzle while you’re gone. We still have your truck and the spyder for quick response. The rest will start trickling in tomorrow morning so we can build the team and the plan for the hospital.”
 
ComCamGuy

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
In Town, Deep in the Night


The truck slipped along as quiet as it could, it’s engine barely above an idle, the double muffler system dampening it’s presence as much as it could. It wasn’t exactly the same sort of quiet as the Big Black Trucks, but in many ways it was quieter.

Up front, the two women were working hard. The driver was piloting by feel and what her goggles were showing her, while her copilot was matching street signs and terrain to the maps in her lap. This process was hindered by the mounds of debris and broken buildings still clouding and clogging the whole town.

In the bed, the three women were sitting on the tailgate, legs dangling over. Each were clipped to a strap attached to the vehicle so a sudden burst of speed or swerve wouldn’t dump them to the pavement. Each had a small pack and a weapon beside them. Each hoped the weapons would remain unfired. Their job was to look, investigate, seek out, not attack, assault or destroy. Not to say they weren’t capable if the need arose.

After a dizzying series of alleyways and roads and water-carved channels through debris, the truck slowed, then stopped.

One of the women from the tailgate unclipped and stepped around to the front passenger-side door and leaned in.

“This close enough?” Allyson asked from the driver’s seat.

Kara looked out through the windshield, then down at the map in Angelique’s lap, where she was pointing to their current location. She looked back at Allyson.

“This should do it. We’ll still try to work around to the parking structure on the seaward side and scope it out from there first. If it looks ok, we’ll try to get inside before dawn. That will give us all day to wander around without needing lights or goggles to find shit.”

“You three watch your asses. If anything is screwed up, give a shout. Most of the others will be at the Training Building in the morning and we can swoop in. Angelique and I will be hanging out at the Center until the others are ready.” Allyson said quietly. Her voice might have been quiet, but it wasn’t soft. It was serious and iron-filled.

“We’ll be careful.”

“SAR Dots?” Angelique asked.

“No change. Primary’s the theater, secondary the mortuary, extended or comm out options are Oskar’s Grandfather’s and the Center.” Kara said.

“Be careful.” Angelique said.

Kara just grinned and walked to the back of the truck.

“Ready?” Rahel asked her when she got there.

“Yup, time to play cat burglar.”

Hanna and Rahel unclipped and stood up. Moments later, the truck slowly rolled away from them, leaving the three together listening for the sounds of the town. Listening to see if the town heard them.

After a few hand signals, the three moved out silently on the pavement.
 
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