I watch the two leaders decide my fate. Like I’m some dog they found on the side of the road and now bicker as to who keeps and feeds the flea-bitten mongrel.

I look around the dark underground carpark. There was nowhere to go. No escape, not even a hiding spot. Too many eyes watching me. I sigh. This is taking forever.

I could even overhear some of their squabbling. Not like they were trying to keep it hush-hush to begin with.

“He was found in our territory,” Bass grumbles.

“Skull,” Moon tries to keep her voice quiet and for the most part I had to guess what she was saying but I got the gist of, “you don’t have enough resources to support another person, right? Let alone a prisoner. You’re going to have to set guards. Watchers. Can you really afford to be like that?”

Skull’s eyes narrow, “She has a point. However, our pact still stands, he was found in our territory first. He was stealing from Necrosis and therefore is our problem.”

“…could just kill him,” Bass quietly reasons.

“No. We are not barbarians,” Moon hisses back.

They have been doing this circular argument for a while.

There was silence between them until Moon sighs. “We can take him. For now, it’s not like he isn’t useful. How many people have we come across that knows anything about medicine?”

Bass frowns, “Shouldn’t you be asking your tribe? After all, ‘they have a right to speak’.” Obviously an old quip from the sarcasm and the way Moon looks as though she wants to sock him one in the teeth.

Moon turns to Skull, obviously trying to rein in her temper, “Skull, we have…”

Skull looks over in my direction and for some reason, decided to come closer. Pretty much abandoning Moon mid-way through the conversation, which made her huff and pout at his back. I’d find this all very amusing if it weren’t for my current predicament.

“What’s your name?” He asks, using his height to ‘intimidate’ me.

“Why do you want to know?” I spat back. What good does telling someone who calls himself ‘Skull’ my name?

“What did Horror call you…?” he looks like he was mulling it over. “Kitty?”

I let out a sigh, “Luke.”

He grins, obviously enjoying winning. “Luke. You aren’t part of any tribes?”

I almost scoff, “No. I’m just a wanderer who ended up in the wrong spot at the right time.”

“That’s a very strange way to live considering how the world is.” He was finding me amusing. “Wouldn’t you find safety in numbers?”

“I do not make friends easily.” That much was true. Something about being half-decently smart and stubborn about being right seems to rub people the wrong way. Also, I didn’t exactly have the luxury of making friends when I arrived on this rock.

“You are also fast.”

Having cannibalistic children on your ass does that to you. I did not respond. I did however take pride in the fact that I am fast. It’s probably what’s kept me alive for so long, since I am at a slight disadvantage than most other people on this goddamn moon. I am probably the only Earthborn left for starters.

“Moon.” He states her name without turning back. “We can let you have him for now.” He saw Bass about to protest but continues on, “We are too wrapped up in our current issues, Bass.”

“But we still need judgement!” Bass hisses, “If you let him go, what do you think will start happening the next few times something like this happens? If any of our tribe takes to any of the random wanderers that steal from us, they will demand we take every single one of them in. This will only be the start. Worse, the code we’ve created and lived by will be for nothing if we are going to undermine it all the time. Also, he seems to be friends with Horror.”

“So melodramatic.” Moon sighs.

“You haven’t gone through what we have, Moon. I’d suggest you shut up. Know you place.”

“If you want to talk about ‘places’, let me put this up. You are Skull’s second. I am the leader of Dark Sol. This is my territory. It was my tribe that caught him. If anything you should shut up. Or maybe you forgot?”

“We could just as easily take you on-”

“Enough,” Skull snaps at the both of them. “We are leaving him here.” He sees Bass opening his mouth and quickly continues, his voice hard and cold, “For now. We will talk about this later. When we come back.” He sighs, looking almost tired. “…Let’s look at it this way. If he is so talented, then you wouldn’t mind making a bet on him. If the patient dies, Lukey-boy here joins him.”

Moon stares at him and I along with her. If we are talking about that guy I just stitched up, I was literally being gambled on. I can’t see the future. He could go into shock. The wound may become infected and result in blood poisoning…The list of what could go wrong was endless. Especially in our currently unsanitary and hospital-lacking world. Run by cannibalistic kids!

“What right do you have to be making bets and deals with another’s life?” A girl calls, parting the group.

“Meifeng,” Moon blinks in surprise.

The girl walks in like some graceful shaman-priestess, everyone’s eyes were basically glued on her. I half expected her to start singing and birds and squirrels would flitter in, holding her gypsy skirt for her as she walked in a field of venomous flowers. Her dark, clear eyes looked as though she could rip out your soul and read every hidden secret you’ve buried deep. I grimaced at the thought.

“It’s simply business.” Skull simply responds.

“He is not cattle to be bought and sold as you please. We all have our rights.”

“Rights? There is no such thing anymore. In this world there is only survive or literally turn into dust. I am only trying to keep everyone safe.”

Meifeng comes over to me, raising a hand, just stopping in front of my chest as if she felt an invisible barrier. “His energy is intriguing. I don’t feel anything remotely unsafe about him.”

…My…energy…?

“The way he was eyeing the scalpel wasn’t exactly ‘unsafe’.” Bass scoffs.

So he was watching me. At least his head isn’t completely filled with doggy tricks to please his master.

She frowns, looking into my eyes before looking over to Skull. “But he did not act. Did he?” She sighs, as if she was reprimanding them like little kids, “Everything happens for a reason. Everything flows the way it’s supposed to, no matter how hard we try to fight it’s current. He was lead here and he helped us. Or are you forgetting that?”

Right. I’ve now experienced new age spiritualism, and my opinion is; I’ll pass.

“Then more of a reason not to let him go,” Skull growls back at her.

I look back at him. I knew that it was pointless but I’d rather it out, “Why not let me go on my merry way and pretend this never happened? That way neither side is expending resources and I can leave both your territories.” Even promise never to come back. I can move on, it’s not that much of a loss if I do not find any of the research the might be here. For a while, anyway.

“What? Scared you’ll lose the bet?” Bass tries to mock me like I was a coward.

“I don’t make a habit of pointless gambling. I gain nothing from this.”

“You’re life for starters.”

“Servitude, more like it,” I mutter under my breath.

Moon decided to try a different tactic on me, “Instead of a bet, could you please oversee him until we know if he’ll survive? I really don’t want to lose him…and you are our best bet right now.”

I mentally groan as she was trying to play me.

“We can give you a room.”

“He’s not a guest!” Bass snaps.

“Stop your incessant barking,” Meifeng snaps back at him. “I believe we’ve reached an accord. Your “master” has agreed that we will take him. It’s now up to us how we treat our “guest”.”

Free will is obviously off the table for the “guest” though. I sigh, letting my shoulders relax, I did feel a little bit of responsibility for the guy I just helped. Especially after the way they looked at me when I said a word like ‘haemorrhagic ’. Here I thought I killed my humanity, fuck. “Fine. But I am not a prisoner.” I glare at all these so-called head honchos of the room. “I can come and go as I like. Once I make certain whether or not that guy lives or dies, I can make my decision to leave.”

“That’s not what we agreed on.” Bass snarls out first before anyone else could.

“Tough. That’s my offer,” I snap back just as harsh, I won’t be meek and mild for his need to be dominant over something since he’s obviously losing to two girls. He can go fuck something else.

“How do we know you won’t lie about it?” Bass wasn’t backing down.

But all I had back for him was a smirk, “You don’t.”

Which just enraged him all the more. “Can I kill him?”

I’m actually enjoying stirring this bastard up but I knew when to draw the line, he would easily overpower me in a fight, and in the situation I’m currently facing; enraged brawn will win.

Skull watches me in amusement, “I can see why Horror had taken to you.”

“That is not a compliment,” I grunt before looking over at Moon. “If you want my help with your patient, I suggest you lead me to where you’ve chucked him and show me your medical supplies.”

Moon took a few seconds to understand what I just said but then nodded, “Right. I’ll show you.” She began walking away and I didn’t hesitate from following her.

“Are we seriously going to leave it like this!?” Bass’s voice carried behind me.

“You are too dependent on your emotions, Bass,” Meifeng states.

Skull’s voice strongly hit us, stopping Moon in her tracks, “Keep your end of the bargain.”

She looked about ready to bite, but instead she sighs, “Whatever.”

I follow her through the kitchen doors, back into the deafening rain still heavily thudding on the roof. She weaved back through their barricade and into the foyer. In the silence, I could see that despite all the mess on this floor, there was an order to it. She headed towards a lounging area that would have over looked a huge water feature and on one of the day beds was the guy who’s leg I stitched up. I walked over to him immediately, checking his temperature. Fever. His skin was a lot paler than I wanted and too clammy. As I check his pulse, I stare back at Moon, who was going into shock herself, watching him.

“Friend of yours?” I ask over the rain, it seems that the roof on this side wasn’t damaged and I could actually think.

“You could say that…” Moon mumbles.

“He needs warmth. His body is trying to expend more energy than what he has, to fight off infection. Hot water bottles, blankets -anything and I’m going to have to set up an IV.” He’s lost too much fluid and because of his boy’s defence response with fever, he will sweat what little water he has left. Worse, his fever might spike further and start damaging his cells. “Do you have somewhere where you stash your medical supplies?”

She nods and looks at one of the boys that was still shirtless and staring over at us. “River can show you.”

I nod, “Yell if there’s any change.”

The shirtless guy, River didn’t even look at me as he walked off into a side hallway and showed me through to a storage room that was stocked with medical shit they must have scavenged from various locations. Luckily amongst their plunder was the saline drips, tubes and needles, even a stand or two. Everything I needed, I collected into a tray and rolled the stand back with me.

Wonder if this guy will even make it.