Moon waved a quick uncaring hand at each person, “River. Reaper. Jaguar.” Then a, “…and Luke,” as an afterthought. I guess she was deliberating about whether or not to include me in the list…though it felt more like, ‘one of these things is not like the others’. But I’ll stand corrected if “River” is his actual name. But I don’t like him, or care enough, to ask.

“Well, love to see how this is gonna progress now that we’ve effectively ruined their trust in us. Good job team,” Silver went sarcastic with a slow clap.

Rose glares at her before quickly scooping up the bullets I dropped on the grounds before handing them to Ghost. She looked like she wanted to full throttle the girl but, for some reason, was stone cold silent.

“What? No come back? Wow…are you sick?”

“Doc, you’re being mean,” the giant, Bulldog, shyly tried to stop her.

That peaked my interest.

“Oh, am I? Might be good for her. Peg her down a rung or two on her ego ladder for a change.”

“Silver,” Ghost sighs her name as he cleans and reloads the bullets back into the barrel, without looking up. Clearly, she ruffles feathers on a continual basis in his group. He then looks over at Moon, “How do you want to do this?”

Silver clears her throat, putting her hands deep into her jacket’s pockets and took a step forward; addressing us more directly. “The ball is in your court, after all. If you don’t wanna deal with us, that’s fine. We won’t attack you again if you want to leave. I’ll vouch for it.”

“Silver!” Cat hisses at her.

“It’s fair,” Silver glares back but then looks over at us with a smile, waiting for Moon to respond.

“…What exactly are you after?” Moon was sharp and to the point.

“We are not after your territory or your group,” Ghost states while putting the gun back in its hidden spot at the back of his jeans and under the hoodie and jacket combo he’s wearing. “Simply information on the place and any locations that we can raid ourselves…even better if there is any way for you to assist... If you wanted to trade some provisions, we won’t say no. I want to build up enough resources to start becoming self-sustainable. My end goal is to disappear into the mountains. Permanently.”

Well someone’s running away from something.

“Right,” Moon didn’t give anything away. She also let the conversation die into silence. From a normal viewpoint, she was completely guarded and not willing to continue for much longer. But after coming to know her over the last few weeks, I knew the first bit is true, but her motivations were different. She was stuck, unsure of how this was going to go. Well most wouldn’t in her shoes, especially since he just reloaded the fucking gun right in front of her. The rude awakening wasn’t easy to shake off and probably pushed her into realising she should have brought more people or handled the situation differently. She is probably feeling a lot of guilt for exposing the people she picked to this experience…and possibly starting to question a lot of her choices as a leader…and comparing herself to the ideal in her head and coming up short. …She’s on the verge of a panic attack. But she’s doing a damn good job of hiding it. Her composure is…almost flawless. Save for the slight twitch in her fingers.

“And what would you want in return?” Ghost tried to prompt.

Shadow cuts in, “You know exactly what I’m after.”

Ghost just lets out a breath, “And you already know my answer. The last time I’ve seen Jewels was with you when everything went wrong and I haven’t heard anything in the last few months.”

Shadow tries to press in. “That’s bullshit. You know they have her-’

“I don’t know where she is. I don’t know if she’s still alive after the bridge went down. The best I can do right now, is to protect my group and hide them from all of this,” He motions towards the city beyond the look-out below us. “They come first. I’m not out for revenge. What little time I have left, I’d rather use it to build up a safe space for the rest of my group so that they aren’t exposed to the effects of the Tribunal should they be coming after us.”

I felt that it was more specifically ‘him’ by the sounds of it. ‘Tribunal’ …also probably means that it was a council of leaders…and because no one is imaginative, there were most likely three of them.

“You’re not giving me a proper answer,” Shadow tried to bring back the focus. “I know you like to spy and have secret information links and…have spies everywhere…and know people…and…” he was getting lost in his own ideas.

“And for you to be this wound up about secrecy…means that they have followed you across.” I finished for him.

The other side looks uncomfortable at my connect-the-dots of information that they’ve accidentally hanged loose. I nailed it on the head by the looks of it. Well except Silver, who just shrugs.

I’m getting a headache from all from all of this, “Is there any way to guarantee that if Moon’s group were to help you, that this ‘Tribunal’ wouldn’t be coming after them as well?” I frown, thinking about just what he was implying about wanting to ‘disappear’. Even if it meant without a cure to the Bonedust that we could all potentially die from in the next two to seven years. If we’re lucky.

This 'Tribunal' sounded too dangerous to face if they managed to blow up a major bridge and have one of their former leaders turning tail and running for the literal mountains…

“That’s…” Ghost starts.

Silver quickly intervenes, “Unfortunately, ’no’ is the answer. There is no perfect guarantee. But, Ghost shouldn’t be at the forefront of any of the city raids that we do…with your help…It will mostly be Dragon, Envy and me who leads them.”

Dragon did a small salute when Moon looks over at him while Envy just sniffs, not paying attention to the conversation, keeping his eyes on the surroundings.

“That’s not what we agreed on-” Ghost snaps.

“Aww, am I huwting yaw widdle fweewings?”

“Silver, you of all people know-”

“That none of you know what I want to look for. I’d rather look for the meds and plants myself than leave it to you lot. You'll come back with exactly the opposite of what I ask because none of you read the labels.”

“Most of the hospitals and pharmacies have been raided by now,” Moon quickly corrects Silver.

Silver just smiles back, “True, but I’m quite sure that there are bound to be untouched areas in small pockets around the place. Besides, I’ll be more interested in the plants and herbs on my trips. There is a unique botanical garden on the other side of town that I wanna take a look at.”

…That’s on the university campus that I wanted to go to if the harbour didn’t pan out…which it didn’t. I’m still here with this lot for starters. Holding a grudge against Blondie’s putting it mildly.

“Was that all you came up here for? Shadow’s false hope?” Cat just stops herself from scoffing.

“That hope was not ‘false’.” Moon snaps back. “And yes, that was my main reason for agreeing to all of this in the first place.”

“Hopefully not the only one, otherwise, this feels really empty,” Ghost almost smirks, himself.

I frown, “Any locations or maps of the north.” I’m almost fed up with this whole thing. I’m beginning to remember the reason why I hate dealing with people.

“What are you looking for?”

“Anything. Everything.”

Silver actually laughs, “That awfully broad. How are you going to find anything if you’re focused on such an abstract construct?”

“…I’ll survive. I just need the maps of the North Island. More detail, the better.”

“For?” Ghost decided to butt back in…with a stupid question.

“Navigating my way around,” the stupid answer. Then I went serious, “All knowledge on things is valuable to me. Just having medical supplies, or chemicals for that matter, without understanding their use is redundant -and dangerous. Also, I want to understand this fucking mess,” and hopefully lengthen my lifespan and find out where the fuck this disease even came from in the first place.

Ghost stares at me, a bit dumbfounded before letting it go, “We have some things that we can give up. If Silver is willing.”

Silver nods, “Definitely.”

“You can’t be serious,” Cat cuts in again. “The exchange isn’t worth letting a stranger into the camp just for some maps-”

“Quite sure their friend over there,” Silver nods towards Jaguar, who just looks spooked at Silver's returned all-knowing grin, “busted where our camp is long ago. It’s literally the ‘cat out of the bag’, ah gotta love the corny puns...cos your name...and her name.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Aw, stick in the mud…reckon Echo would have enjoyed it, too. She seems like fun…just your type, eh Cat?”

“She’s not! She was loud, annoying and waltz on into the camp like she owned the damn place and messed up everything. It took me hours -literal fucking hours- to recheck all of the supplies and their locations.”

“…That does sound like Echo,” Moon sighs. “I’m sorry about her.”

Shadow muttered under his breath, “I’m not.”

“Who said we’re bringing him in? Besides, it’s not a permanent camp…and it’s Silver’s decision in the end. In reality, we only need the things that Silver finds useful. That is our priority.” Ghost tries to bring back the derailed conversation. ...This seems to happen a lot with this lot.

“Aw, for once, I feel all special,” Silver chuckles before moving over to me with a giant grin on her face. “You’re their medic, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m just looking after someone as a favour.”

She chuckles, “I don’t think it would really matter if he were to come back with us. But I think the best compromise would be to give the maps to you when we meet again.” She then looked over at Moon, “That’s if you’re ok with it.”

“That’s a matter between you and him.”

“So what’s your decision?” Ghost folded his arms.

“I know you have small children with you. It won’t sit well with me knowing that I could’ve done something if I didn’t.”

“You’re a fool,” Reaper finally voices in a tone that just about encompasses ‘giving-in’ to something tedious. “Val would be crying right now…”

“…She’s not here anymore…” Moon lets out a deep breath.

“I’ll go with whatever you want to do, Moon. Same with everyone back home.”

“So you’ll help us?’ Rose perks up, genuinely surprised.

“Not so fast,” Moon cuts in. “I won’t do this completely for free.”

“I’m well aware of that…if you have any ideas, tell me,” Ghost smiles with relief, his maroon eyes almost clearing into a dusky red-purple…it was definitely a unique eye colour.

“You will meet with Necrosis and explain the situation with them, as well. Directly.” She threw in a curve-ball completely out of the blue. It actually got me by surprise and it was quite the clever move.

Ghost stares at her, “Sorry?”

“Skull. You are going to have to explain the situation to him as well. If you’re going to be lurking around in our city, he’s someone you wouldn’t want on your bad side…Luke knows that from personal experience.”

“I was not on his bad side, Blondie-boy was…and with Bass by the way. I was simply trapped. By you might I add,” I quickly defend back at her.

“Lucky for you that he found you so amusing,” Reaper voices.

Yeah…lucky me.

“Wait till you meet his brother,” she grins at me.

“There’s two of him?”

She simply smirks back.

Oh great.

“That is one part of the deal,” Moon continues, ignoring us. “And it will have to be you,” she refers to Ghost, “because he’s much harder to deal with if he feels like you’re not meeting him on the same level. Until then, you’re free to move around my territory as you please but I can’t defend you if you go over his side.”

“He’s in charge, is he?” Ghost raises an eyebrow.

“He owns more than any other territory I’ve ever dealt with and very good at keeping it.”

“So a heavy-weight?” Silver asks, amused.

“You have no idea.”

“Sounds fun.”

Yep. Fun. Just give me the fucking maps and a boat already.