Black Market Merchant

Lisa, Sadie, John and the children all decided to go back home together. The sun was nearly set, leaving an orange yellow glow silhouetting behind the darkening mountains. The light breeze that had been blowing all day had now tapered down to nearly nothing. The temperature had also slowly dropped, and the dry air was oddly chilly.

They soon, however, arrived at a major intersection which lead to the surrounding neighborhoods. Here the children all said their goodbyes and split up to go to their homes.

Clair was the last to leave. "Bye Hanna. I'll see you tomorrow.” Leaning forward she then whispered to Hanna to keep John from overhearing her. “Please try to be more careful! I don't want to find out that you got into more trouble like today. My heart is still pounding."

"I'll try. See you soon." Hanna said giving a small wave. Clair turned to start running home and waved back. She effortlessly jumped over a fallen stoplight pole that had fallen over into the road, before slowly disappearing from sight.

"Seems like you have a good friend." Lisa said giving a smile while looking down at Hanna. Hanna gave a sheepish smile and nodded watching Clair go.

"Will they be alright going home alone?" Sadie asked a bit concerned as they watched Clair disappear around a fence corner. "They don't look to be old enough to be out wandering the streets unsupervised."

"No need to worry." John said turning to go. "This area of town is very relaxed and safe. As I have been doing regular patrols of the area nearly every day, I know most of the residents living around here."

"Is that why you were going to my place?" Lisa asked. "Just going on patrol?"

John nodded. "Yes, for the most part. But ever since I saw that Twisted, I have been feeling quite uneasy. They never travel alone and that is what worries me the most. Where are the rest of the pack?"

"What's a Twisted?" Hanna asked curiously.

"A Twisted is a very scary creature." John said looking over his shoulder at the little girl. "They are mutated creatures that had been affected by the Wasteland Zone’s radiation. They look nothing like dogs or deer, but more like something from a nightmare."

Hanna shuddered. "I don't like the sound of that. My dreams lately have been scary enough."

Hearing this, Lisa felt her heart quake. The loss of Hanna's parents was clearly still etched deep in Hanna's thoughts. She needed to avenge them and help heal the wounded child's heart. "Don't worry Hanna. I beat a Twisted a few days ago, they are not all that tough."

"Easy for you to say." John said shaking his head. "I doubt I could have gotten out of that situation so easily."

"You mean there was one here? In the town!" Sadie said with a look of worry plastered on her face. "I had only seen pictures of those horrible creatures on the news when I lived in Phoenix."

"Oh, so you are not from around here." John said raising an eyebrow.

"No. I just moved here four years ago. I only just started being a Match Fighter Manager for Lisa just this morning. She's my first one." Sadie said with a twinge if pride in her voice.

"Interesting. I wouldn't have expected someone to move to such a remote location just for the MFA jobs." John said.

"It's not all that odd." Sadie said with a shrug. "I just happened to be a bit unlucky and got assigned to a remote town. However, it could have been worse. I could have been sent to a war front location, now that would suck!"

The four had just arrived at this moment on the driveway to John and Mary's home. The sunlight was nearly gone now and the firelight from inside the garage beckoned to them warmly to come out of the cold. The smell of soup being cooked wafted temptingly out to them and it made Hanna's stomach rumble.

"Sounds like someone is hungry." John said patting Hanna's head fondly. "You better hurry on in and see if it's ready."

Hanna nodded and hurried inside. Then John turned to the two ladies. "So, can you stay for dinner or do you need to get back?"

"I think we can stay for dinner." Lisa said happily. She had just realized that she didn't have any food back at the dam. She hadn't even checked her snares yet either. "It's not a very long walk back. Besides, I need to explain some things to Hanna before she gets the wrong idea."

...

That night everyone had a good time and wonderful soup to eat. With the addition of Sadie, they now had much more to talk about and everyone had some stories to tell. They all ended up talking far later into the night than Lisa had expected. Though the dry air coming in through the open garage door was chilly, the fire kept them all warm and cozy. It wasn't until Lisa noticed that Hanna was yawning and could barely keep her eyes open, that she knew she needed to wrap things up.

"Hanna, let's talk some before you go to bed. It's getting late and we all need our rest." Lisa said getting up from the group and held onto Hanna's little hand. The two left the noisy garage and went to sit in the living room.

"So, Hanna, you want to know what I was doing in the gangster’s compound, right?" Lisa asked.

"Yes." Hanna said trying to wake up some. "You promised me that you would help get revenge for my parents. All I saw you do was fight another person. He wasn't there when they were…" Hanna started to choke up and Lisa pulled her closer to herself.

"It's ok." Lisa said in a whisper. "I know it's been hard, but it's all part of my plan. I needed to get into the gang without raising suspicion and it just so happened to work out that joining the Match Fighter Association was the way to do it. You see, I still have not found the men responsible. What I do know is that the man in the yellow shirt is the leader of the gang and in order to fight him I need to get him into the ring by getting his attention. That's where you come in."

Hanna looked up at Lisa with a tear in her eye. "How?"

"I need you to identify everyone that was in that room and you just helped me figure out how. They all know what you look like, but thanks to you and your friends finding that hole in the wall, you can watch everyone inside through the window. Or perhaps some other way that I can think of. Leaving you exposed outside might not be the best choice." Lisa said giving a smile.

"All I did was what you told me, find intelligence. I just wanted to see what was inside." Hanna replied.

"Well it was dangerous. You need to be more careful. Luckily, things worked out." Lisa said with a sigh. "When the time comes, I'll tell you more about the plan. But until then, please stay away from there. It's more dangerous than you realize."

"Ok." Hanna said before giving a big yawn. "I'll stay away."

Lisa chuckled. "Good girl, now go to bed. I'll see you some time soon."

Hanna sleepily got up to go for the dark stairwell and headed for her bedroom. After she left, Lisa got up to let Sadie know it was time to go. Then she realized that there was not much at her place for Sadie to sleep on. Sadie also appeared to haven’t brought anything to sleep on either.

"She is not going to like sharing my two couches. It's going to be a rugged night." Lisa thought to herself.

…

Some time ago, out to the north east of the town on the empty Interstate 70, an elderly couple was driving an old electric powered pickup truck. They had been traveling for quite some time after leaving Grand Junction City and the vehicle had become quite dirty. It's blue paint was splattered with insects and layered in a thin dusting of dust.

The sun was getting low now. The bright orange glow to the west illuminated the Rocky Mountains looming far ahead. Though they were on the interstate, they couldn't risk driving very fast. Years of road maintenance neglect had done its toll on the road. Potholes and washed out sections of the road were everywhere, and sandy dirt had piled up over time covering large swaths of it. Tracks from other vehicles were often the only things that let them know that they were still on the right path.

The elderly woman was driving slowly while her husband took a nap in the back seat. He would be driving for them that night and needed to be prepared. She saw a sign up ahead and carefully steered around a large set of potholes in the road to get a better look at it. Rolling down the smudged passenger window, she pulled up to the sign to read it.

"Twenty Kilometers to Highway 191."

"Three hundred and Twenty Kilometers to Salt Lake City."

The old lady sighed and then spoke in a cracked voice. "Honey! Your turn to drive. My old eyes can't stand looking at this bleak scenery."

The old man stirred in the back seat. "It's still daylight. Keep driving." He then rolled over to face away from the light peering in through the front window.

"Ah, quit your complaining and switch with me." She grumbled and turned around to spank his leg.

"Stop hitting me!" The old man said swatting at her hand.

"I'll stop when you get up here and switch." The old lady continued her attack.

The old man sat up muttering. "Fine, lets switch." He grumpily opened the back door of the truck and the old lady got out as well.

The old man shuffled around the front of the truck and leaned backwards with an arching motion to stretch his achy back. His wife brushed past him to climb into the back seat. He was about to get in himself to start driving when he heard something.

There was a long warbling howl faintly coming from the north. It sounded nearby, but out here on the open plains of Utah sound could travel from quite a far off. He turned to look in that direction and he was worried by what he saw.

He then called to his wife. "Dear. Did you not see that earlier while driving?"

She poked her head out from the trucks backdoor. "See what?"

The old man raised a wrinkled finger in the direction of where the noise came from. She looked that way and her eyes widened.

"No, I didn't. Honey are we going to be in trouble?" She asked sounding worried.

"Maybe. That dust rising from the north and that sound we hear; it could only mean one thing. There's a Twisted Hoard coming this way." The old man said in a stern voice. "We might have to go south somewhere to wait for them to pass. If they smell us, we are doomed."

"Let me look at the map." She called out while ducking back inside.

The old man quickly got into the driver’s seat and buckled up. Leaning forward the old lady held up a tabloid with a map on its display. Pointing at an area to the south, she started to speak while he put the truck into drive.

"There is not all that much if we keep going west, and north is the same way. If we go down highway 191 South, we can try and wait them out in Moab. They should have protection there." She said before leaning back into her seat.

"Sounds good to me." The old man said not taking his eyes off the dangerous road.

Little did they know that the hoard was going south as well. The Twisted were going to cause trouble for many people in the days to come.