Master looked at Hugo, then looked away, “Come on, we got to prepare for our new guests.” He started to walk to the elevator. The man who carried Hugo when he was tied up looked at Hugo, expecting him to walk.

“Leave him Charlie,” Master called to the man. Master was at the door of the elevator looking back at Hugo and the man. “He can walk.” The doors of the elevator opened and Master entered. “Hurry up! We don't got all day.”

The man, Charlie, slowly glanced at Hugo with an unamused face. Hugo returned the glance. His face was almost pulsing from his injuries that have not had proper time to heal. Charlie left Hugo and walked to the elevator. He and Master waited as Hugo shambled over and he leaned on the elevator wall. The doors closed and they began going down.

“What about my friend?” said Hugo, tiredly.

“What about him?” Master answered, sternly. He stood with a straight posture. His hands were together and his feet somewhat apart. His head was held high.

“You’re gonna let him go,” said Hugo.

Master chuckled at the thought. A smile grew on his face. “What gives you that idea?”

Hugo glared at Master with a mix of coldness and anger, but Master looked forward to the elevator doors in his stance.

At the bottom when the elevator opened, they followed Master to some “jail cells,” in one of the hallways of the building. It seemed like an office department, but a lot of the desks were stolen or shoved to the side.

One jail cell was a janitor’s closet. Charlie took a key from his pocket and handed it to Master. He opened the door to find a frail old man inside. His arm was bruised from numerous needle injections. The room was completely empty aside from some red and brown stains on the wall.

The old man was curled in the fetal position. His hair was like a shaggy old dog, and dark spots all around his skin.

“Huh?” the man said weakly. “Do you have any jet?” His eyes seemed jaded and thoughtless.

Master shut the door. 

“This man tried stealing from me,” said Master. “Looks like he’s not ready to apologize. Hugo, punish him.” From around a nearby corner into a separate room, Master took a bat and handed it to Hugo.

—

Carmen and Dylan were in a truck borrowed from the Spine. Driving up the 99 freeway from Tipton to Tulare. Watching the road for a little girl.

“You sure she’s out here?” said Dylan.

“If she’s not here then she better be with David,” said Carmen. She was watching the side of the road. Occasionally there would be a few footprints in the dirt that could be Lila’s, but they were few and far between. 

“This David guy, he just lives by himself out here?” asked Dylan.

“Yes. I met him when I was coming back from Tulare. He let me stay there and he fed the kids,” said Carmen.

“How old is he?” Dylan asked.

“I don't know. Old like you,” said Carmen.

“Hey,” Dylan smirked.

“Stop, stop, stop,” Carmen waved her hand at Dylan, and he slammed the breaks. On the side of the road were two corpses.

Carmen got out of the truck and stepped closer. 

“Careful!” said Dylan, he struggled taking off his seatbelt.

Carmen kneeled down at the corpses. Both were adults in regular clothing, both their heads had bullet holes, and some more holes in their chest region. They laid on their stomachs, seemingly with their hands out, reaching for something. Carmen looked at where they were reaching, and found smaller footprints in the dirt, as well as a pistol.

“That’s one of your guns,” said Dylan as he walked up beside Carmen.

He picked it up. Noticing another wanderer in the distance, he aimed the gun and pulled the trigger, but nothing fired. “Empty,” said Dylan.

“She was here,” Carmen said as she stood up.

“How do you know?” Dylan asked.

“Only kid I know that can use a gun,” Carmen answered.

“Wow,” said Dylan. “Some kid.”

They got into the truck and continued driving up the road.

—

“No! Please!” cried the old man.

WAM went the bat to the man’s side.

“AH!” he cried. “Stop!” WAM “AH!” WAM “AK!”

Master banged on the door. “Okay, that’s enough.” The wam’s stopped. Master opened the door to find the old man almost lifeless on the floor and Hugo holding the bat above him. “Get out,” said Master to Hugo. Hugo stepped out, tossing the bat away from him into the hallway.

Master knelt down to the old man and listened.

The old man spoke with a soft and shivering voice. “S- sorry.”

Master smiled, “Good. I'll send someone to come get you,” he said. He stood up, shut the door, and walked, but he stopped when he passed Hugo. “See? It’s not so bad.”

Hugo only had a cold and tired stare to return.

“Charlie, put Hugo to work but don't inject him. I have private stuff to do,” said Master. He left them in the hallway and walked the opposite direction. Charlie shoved Hugo into the elevator, and they went to the ground floor.

Walking out into the streets where most of the slaves were, Charlie led Hugo to a group of people who were building some wooden holding cells. He passed by Jacob whose arm was bruised in the same way as everyone else’s. Hugo ground his teeth, and the hairs on the back of his neck raised.

“Work here,” said Charlie. He left Hugo and stood with some other tough guys.

The people building the cell were all weak, no one spoke. With each glancing over to Hugo from time to time.

The youngest seemed to be a ten-year old. Raggedy clothes and missing hair seemed to be a theme among these people.

One adult woman handed Hugo a hammer and pointed at a row of nails. Her finger was like a stereotypical witch’s finger, and her thumb seemed almost flattened.

Hugo began hammering. DING went the hammer to the nail. The noise could be heard across the area. Presumably because he was the most able among everyone there. 

An hour goes by, and Hugo is only hammering nails.

“Where is that wrench?” said another worker. They glanced across their station but found nothing. Hugo eyed them without being obvious.

He overheard another conversation behind him. “You took my file!” said one angry worker.

“So what if I did?” the other responded. They got into a fight that was broken up by the overseers.

“My screwdriver! I can't find my screwdriver!” said another worker. A brawl began to break out for the missing tools. No one touched Hugo. He didn't know why. Maybe because he was quiet, or probably stronger than most of them. 

“Hey!” screamed one of Charlie’s cohorts. The brawl slowed to a stop as they drew closer, now with knives and bats.

But Hugo kept hammering. DING.

—

Carmen and Dylan pulled up to David’s house and parked on the dirt beside the road in front of the house.

Getting out of the truck, Carmen noticed footprints in the dirt. A set of smaller prints along with some larger prints. They led to the house on one end, but the other end was another collection of corpses. One set of footprints were large, like giant pairs of shoes stomped by. The patterns within the prints were consistent, with a metallic pattern in them. Those prints led around back to one of David’s storage units.

Carmen and Dylan walked up to the front door and knocked.

“David?” said Carmen out loud. “Are you home?”

The door clicked and unlocked, it was David, happy to see Carmen.

“Giby Gabrel!” he said. He stepped aside to welcome them in.

“What?” Dylan responded.

“Oh, he can't really talk,” said Carmen. She entered the house.

“Huh,” Dylan answered. He entered as well, with David closing the door being him. Stepping into the living room, they saw Lila at the table eating a bowl of banana chips.

“Lila!” said Carmen. 

Lila turned to Carmen, nervous to see her.

“What are you doing here? You need to stay with us,” said Carmen.

“But I like it here,” Lila answered shyly.

“Okay, but we’re going-” Carmen stopped. Her mouth was open, and her eyes were still. Everyone looked at her, expecting her to finish her sentence. She looked down at her shoes, wiggling them slightly over the hardwood floors. She turned around to Dylan and David. “Can we stay here?” said Carmen to David.

David took out his notepad and began writing.

“Wait, hold on,” said Dylan. He put up his hands out to Carmen and David.

“Dad. It’s not safe there anymore,” said Carmen, shaking her head.

David held his notepad to Carmen, “What’s going on?”

—

Into the late evening, Hugo was still working on the wooden holding cell. He sat on the concrete as he hammered. 

Hugo looked back and happened to see Jacob walking across the street towards him. 

“Get back to work!” shouted Charlie. Jacob flinched and scurried back to his station. But the two exchanged glances.

Hugo kept hammering. DING He swung the hammer harder. DINK He swung harder. CLINK

“Hey,” said another worker. “Stop doing it so loud!” They looked coldly at Hugo.

“Hugo! Come here!” Master shouted. Hugo looked back to see Master on a balcony. Charlie stood at the door and held it open. Hugo got up and walked as everyone watched. He gave Master a stare with subtle upset eyebrows, clearly visible to Master. Master’s casual face dimmed to match Hugo’s energy.

Entering the building, Charlie led Hugo to the elevator and they rode to Master’s floor. At Master’s balcony, he was leaning against the rail with his back to Hugo. Hugo’s walk sped up to a sprint.

“Hey!” said Charlie. He tried to grab Hugo but missed. Hiding in one of the belt loops of his pants, Hugo pulled a wrench half the size of his arm. Master turned around and Hugo swung the wrench at his head.

FWOP

Master’s head tilted slightly on impact. He grabbed the wrench and kicked Hugo in the chest with almost lightning speed. He flew back again into Charlie, who held him down. Master rubbed the side of his head with two fingers. Blood dripped at where Hugo hit. His movements were slow and calm.

“Take him to his cell. Get his friend too,” Master said.

—

David listened to Carmen and Dylan who sat at the other end of the dining room table. Lila was on the couch taking a nap. 

“Because of the horde, now everyone is forced to shelter in that gang’s base.”

David nodded, having listened to the whole story. He wrote on his notepad and passed it to Carmen and Dylan.

“Trojan Horse?” was written on the pad.

Dylan shook his head. “Risky. Even if they were to take an idea from us, we don't have the manpower,” he said.

David wrote on his pad, “You're welcome to stay here.”

“Thank you,” said Carmen.

“But…we have a truck to return,” said Dylan, nodding his head to Carmen. Her eyes looked down at the table where her hands were together. She twiddled her thumbs in thought.

David nodded, ‘okay.’

“We’ll consider your offer though,” said Dylan to save face.

“Lila stays here, for now,” said Carmen. Her eyes went from her fingers to David, who nodded acceptingly.

David had walked them out to the truck. Passing over the footprints once more, Dylan traced the tracks with his eyes. They led to a shed beside the house.

“Hey David, what's with the tracks?” Dylan asked.

David glanced over with Carmen right after. Dylan looked to David for a response, but David shook his head as if he didn't want to think about it.

“Okay, no worries. See ya Dave,” Dylan said. He tapped David's arm and walked to the truck.

David watched as they drove away into the distance, back to Tipton. Lila watched from the living room window.

—

“Tough guy,” said Charlie. He tossed Hugo into his cell.

THUD went Hugo’s body as he hit the ground.

Charlie shut the door and locked it. The sun illuminated the room with a scarlet glow through the barred egress window. It was the late evening, yet Hugo could still hear people outside. Though, not a person could be heard behind the locked door.

He sat up and took a breath. Feeling uncomfortable, he reached into his pants and felt the belt rings. He pulled out a screwdriver and a metal file and waited for night to come.