"As long as you tell us how you got fairly detailed maps of the middle of the country. No one has been there, you know that, right? I mean, no one that I know of. All I've been able to fi-"
"Right, yes, yes, middle of the country got hit the worst, we can get to that." Connor retorted, pointing at the both of them with index and middle fingers, respectively.
"Don't forget, we're the ones that let you stay. Right now we're very suspicious of anyone that isn't working for us. And when I mean suspicious, I mean we normally shoot on sight. Consider us letting you in here a gesture of good faith." Justin wanted to offer some kind of rebuttal, but opted against it. The scout decided he would try to stay in the good graces of a potentially valuable source of intelligence.
"Sorry. We're headed to Portland...well, for reasons that might seem like fictional, but just hear us out."
Justin regaled Connor with the events of the past few days, attempting to include every relevant detail he could think of, which included having Cam chime in to fill in the gaps. He finally ended by telling Connor:
"Avery and her people are going to need that liquid so that they can attempt to build up their settlement, attract all these wandering clans and nomads together and maybe, just maybe, we can build something great." Connor chortled, shaking his head.
"You don't have a friggin clue, do you?" He looked to Cam.
"No, you don't either. Alright, brief history lesson." He walked to the map, pointing at some of the longer lines with arrows at the tips, said lines snaking their way from the area labeled "New York metroplex" to "Portland coast".
"See these? They're supply lines we've been tracking for close to six months now. Had to intercept the lines at various points to figure out what was being transported, but when we did..." He barked out an order to bring in "some of the cargo", a young lady who looked no older than 17 walking into the room, rifle slung over her back. In her hands were two grapefruits the size of softballs. He took them both from her, the woman exiting as he held them up.
"Fruit. Vegetables. Grains. Water. All the stuff that we got told was gone cause of some crazy disease that infected our soil, our water? It's allll here, just not being handed out cause the supplier has an agenda." He placed the fruit on the table before pointing at the coast:
"When we got the drop on the first supply caravan, there were three of them, armed with just pistols. Got one of them to talk briefly, told us that they were contracted by a group called The Harbingers, said they were in Maine before he suddenly grabbed one of our guy's pistols and shot himself in the temple." He circled the Portland Coast with his finger.
"Security on the lines got tighter. Bigger guard presence, heavier weapons, made it almost impossible to take head on. Sent a few of our guys up the coast to scout out, came back with some goods and talk of a walled off complex, thick barriers, guard dogs, patrols, the works. Also said there were settlements south of there that were just...exploding with life. We got excited, made our way up, armed to the teeth, wanting to reason with them, ask them how they were doing this. We got to the first settlement and were greeted with a wall of armed guards, one of them in a steel suit of armor that I've never seen before. High tech stuff for this day and age. Told us that the Harbingers wouldn't have us disrupting their plans any longer, told us that the rest of the nation would 'have it's chance' when it was ready and then tried to shove us off. No dice. We fought hard, but too many casualties, so we fell back." He spit on the ground, slamming his fist against the wall.
"To know that they got everything we need and wouldn't do anything for us, that they were going to decide for the rest of the people out here that are suffering made my blood boil." He approached the table, hands resting on the surface.
"Tried to branch out to the middle of the country. Scouts still out there, some came back, most still there trying to see what's left. Right now, though...right now we want the Harbingers dead."
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TheElvenJedi