“I think that’s the soda machine, over there.” Cassie was pointing across the room. Sure enough, there was a wide vending machine with a line of taps.
“Okay, great,” Annaliese said. “Cassie, is it? Do you want to start filling up all the cups with soft drinks and water? That’s unless you can find a way into the back of the machine. I imagine it’s locked, though.”
Cassie headed off, seemingly glad for something to do.
“I’ll help her,” said Pauline, heading off after her.
“And what are we going to be doing?” Dave asked. There was an irritated tone to his voice that suggested he wanted to be the one giving orders.
Annaliese sighed. “I don’t know, Dave. What would you like to do?”
“How bouts me and Nick go take a root around the kitchen? See what food we can rustle up.”
Nick shrugged. It seemed like a reasonable idea. He turned to Annaliese. “Would that be okay, Anna?”
“I suppose so.”
“Great. I’ll get to work then.”
Nick and Dave slid through a hinged entryway cut into the bar and headed through a staff door at the back. Inside was a woefully-kept kitchen that had grime on the floor and grease on the walls.”
“Glad I never ate here,” said Nick.
“Nothing wrong with it,” Dave argued. “Dirtier the kitchen, the better it is. Bit of grease never hurt nobody.”
“Think we’ll have to just disagree there.”
Dave laughed and trotted forward. He reached out and grabbed a long bread knife from a wall hook. He let out a whistle. “Think I just found my weapon for the time being. You should grab something, too.”
“Maybe later. I’m more interested in settling in with the new group first. I don’t think arming ourselves to the teeth is going to put them at ease.”
“Arming ourselves is exactly what we need to do. That ginger tosser and the mouthy vet are going to be on our balls about everything, if we let them. I’m not going to spend the whole time here being treated like a guest. This place doesn’t belong to them, so why are they acting like it does?”
“Because they were here first, and we would be dead if they hadn’t brought us up. I think we just need to take it easy and get along. They seem like nice people.”
“Yeah, maybe. I just don’t fancy being defenceless if they decide to lock us up with the convicts. What the hell happened to Dash by the way?”
“Long story. Now’s not the time.”
“Well, like I said. I want to be ready if these new people start trying to strong-arm us. We’re outnumbered once they lock up Jan and Renee.”
“I’m sure that won’t happen,” said Nick, still hoping that Jan and Renee would only be locked up temporarily. “They’re just being sensible until they know us better.”
Dave huffed. “You sure ‘bout that? Because all I know is that the world has changed. It’s every man for himself now and I see a return to tribalism.”
“Tribalism?”
“Yeah, tribalism. People are going to start looking out for their own. The strong will take what the weak have. The only question is, which side you going to be on when the tribes begin to form?”
Nick didn’t like the sound of it. He didn’t like the thought of people turning on one another after so much had happened. But maybe that was the exact type of scenario when people were the most likely to stand for themselves.
“I’m not picking sides,” he said. “I think we should all just stick together. If we don’t then we may as well feed ourselves to those monsters at the bottom of the hill.”
“Those monsters at the bottom of the hill are the reason why I’m right about us turning on each other. What are we going to do if there’s a falling out or a disagreement, or frustration when we all begin to starve? Nobody can go anywhere, so the only option left is to fight for your point of view. We’re all going to be stuck on this hill together and there’s no longer the option for disagreement.”