Page 28 of Max
“Only on the ship and at the bases. We had to improvise when we were on a mission and ran out of meal bars. We hunted for meat and edibles. Sometimes we ate bugs and grubs to survive.”
“I never got a processor while I was on Phantom. I found I liked preparing food from scratch. Some of the other cyborgs liked growing things and raising livestock. I like to fix things, so we traded food for labor.”
“That sounds nice.”
Max shrugged. “We were killing time until we could find our genetic mates. But now that I have, I’m glad I learned to cook so I can cook for you.”
Falyn could see that he meant every word. She didn’t know what to say, so she smiled at him, deeply touched by his thoughtfulness and devotion.
After breakfast, Max got out his spare ion rifle, and took Falyn outside to the field to show her how to use it. He hung some pieces of firewood from tree branches at the edge of the woods to shoot. He went through all the settings and safety procedures and had her repeat it all back to him.
“Now, you don’t have to worry about the kick back. It’s much less than your shotgun,” Max explained and handed her the weapon. “There are your targets.”
Her first try, she only hit two out of six, but took out a couple four-inch trees. Her next attempt took two of four, and another try hit the other two.
“Okay, now set it on repeat and aim at the ground in front of the tree line and use a sweeping motion across your target.”
Following his instructions, the rifle dug a small channel in the dirt without damaging any trees. Next, he went through all the instructions on how to use a blaster, telling her not to let the enemy get that close. After she shot it several times, she holstered it.
“Use the rifle on intruders.” He asserted. “Call me if anyone comes, especially if they say I sent them.”
“Yes, sir,” Falyn teased, giving him an old-fashioned salute.
Max gave her an indulgent smile, shouldered the rifle, and pulled her against him, hugging her. He felt torn between fear for his mate and his duty to his job, then reminded himself that she had survived alone for eight years without anyone to care for her.
Still, leaving her would be so hard.
Chapter Seventeen
Max slowed the sky cycle when they neared his base of operations and retracted the cockpit cover so Falyn could get the full effect of the sky view.
“I found this on a satellite map. It’s just outside the perimeter of the Mesaarkans bomb range. All of the buildings are in good repair, and the complex has its own power plant,” Max explained.
“It’s huge!” Falyn exclaimed. “What is this place?”
“It used to be a prison. I needed a place where people from the ruins could live while Enclave teams clear away the rubble and build new homes for them. Then we have the one-hundred protectors, medical personnel, counselors, and educators. Some of the protectors have mates, and we also have some gangers as prisoners. As we get closer to the overlord’s stronghold, there will be more of those.”
“Wow, this is practically a whole town.”
“That’s what we need. The protectors have found more people than we expected living in the ruins. I’m not sure why.”
“Maybe more people escaped the other megalopolis and went out into the country. Or maybe more died in the initial bombings,” Falyn suggested.
“It’s going to be a month before the first houses are ready for them, and we won’t know how many we need until we evacuate the sites for demolition and reclaiming.”
Max brought the sky cycle to land in front of one of the larger buildings. “We’re using this building for our headquarters and main barracks for our cyborg personnel. Then the building over there is for the rotating Enclave workers.” Max pointed to a building directly across from the barracks.
“The building we need is the next one over.” He gestured toward another large one-story building to the left of the barracks. With his hand at the small of her back, he guided her at his side toward the building.
“This building has the mess hall and the infirmary plus stores.”
In the distance, Falyn could see children playing by the rescue barracks with a few adults watching them. “Max, how will these people function on their own once you’ve put them into new houses?”
“The Enclave sent educators already holding classes for them on their new homes and growing their own food. It’s amazing that so many survived the living conditions.”
The demolitions crew found hundreds of skeletal, human remains in dwellings where they died on the day of the bombings. Falyn had seen vids of Chicago when Vyken Dark and his teams arrived five years before. That was as close as Max wanted Falyn to get to any of it.
Max signed out a case of com-tablets for the people of Marcus Flats. They met Rexas, his second in command, as they were leaving the building. Rexas nodded in salute. They communicated over the cyborg net at least once a day, so there was nothing they needed to discuss. “Rexas, I would like to introduce you to my mate Falyn Wayne. Falyn, my second Rexas Strong.”
