We The Forlorn (Book #2) (Completed)

3. Base Sweet Base

Once they'd reached the hopper they'd had to wait a few hours for the dust storm to pass before they could leave. Afterward, Khan had wound through the streets, Bo sitting behind him and holding onto his waist as he dodged the people now spilling back into the streets. They weaved toward the center of the city, where the buildings were thick and filled every inch that wasn't a road. Khan only began to slow down once they reached an area that looked more like industrial factories than homes.

"I'm not gonna blindfold you," he said suddenly, slowing his hopper to a stop and putting his feet down to balance them. "But know that if you leak the information of where this place is, our leader isn't your normal kind of gang leader. They say even the aliens feared him. And he won't take too kindly to loose lips spilling secrets all over the place."

Bo gave a salute. "Sure thing, sir."

Khan rolled his eyes and lifted his legs again to set the hopper into motion. He didn't go beyond a crawl, and aimed for what looked like a ratty blanket hanging against a brick wall. However, he lifted his arm and swept it to the side as they drove close. Beyond looked like a brick wall, and Bo gasped. Was he going to crash head-on into a wall? Was he insane? She gripped his shirt, pulling back, but he kept going.

And then they breezed through the bricks as if they were mist and fog. Bo felt a familiar breeze brush her cheeks, and a small chill. A forcefield. Only this one had upgrades to make it appear to be something it wasn't. She spun in her seat to look at the other side as they came out into a wide alley, and saw nothing but a seemingly solid brick wall. She shook her head, grinning. Alien technology was really amazing.

The alley was mostly clean and spilled out into a larger area surrounded by abandoned factories. Bo assumed that any view out the windows would have the same forcefield tricking an observer's eyes into thinking they saw something other than what was really there. At any rate, the buildings reached high into the sky, creating what felt like a cage in the center.

The centerpiece of the clearing was a building built with trash and spare parts. It was massive for what it was, with two levels, and it sprawled nearly entirely throughout the clearing. Bo recognized the work of scavengers. It was what her town had once looked like. Walls made of sheet metal and corrugated roofing welded together. Sheets hung over doors, and old road signs made up the roof. It was a collection of trash, but put together sturdy enough to survive the conditions of the city. Bo even saw electricity wires running into the building, which meant they at least had power. Impressive, for a gang hunted by the militia. She'd half expected them to be living off cold beans in a sewer somewhere. She should have known not to underestimate Adam.

Khan drove his hopper to a spot along one of the buildings where other hoppers were parked. While he kicked down the stand, Bo slid off and turned to shade her eyes and survey the roofs of the buildings around them. If the forcefield ever went down, and they were ambushed from above, they'd be as good as fish in a barrel. She frowned. Even if the gang was confident in their technology, she didn't like such a glaring weak point.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone," Khan said, passing by her on the way to the building.

She jogged to keep up with him. "They're not going to throw knives at me for being an intruder, are they?"

"Ahhh, I don't know. We're a pretty volatile group. You know, Horace and Jasper are pretty much always on edge. They might like to throw a knife or two at your face."

Bo rolled her eyes. "Just please alert them to my presence so it doesn't get awkward."

"Sure, sure," Khan said.

Khan swept away the curtain that acted as a doorway and they walked into the building. It was lit with bare electric bulbs that hung from wires all across the ceiling. The main room looked to be some sort of common area, with furniture made of trash and scavenged items just like the main building. It was a mess as well, like no one ever bothered to clean the place. Bo supposed that was normal for a gang of thieves and cutthroats.

Khan stopped in the middle of the room, rotating to take in the whole view. His brow furrowed and he frowned. "Where is everyone?"

"How would I know?" Bo asked, brushing past him to sit with a flop on one of the chairs. It was padded with pillows and felt like heaven after a long hopper ride.

"They're usually all here at this time of day..." He trailed off as he walked to one of the doorways that led into different parts of the building.

He leaned through to whatever room was behind the curtain that hung over the doorway. "Hey! Is anyone here?" He waited for a moment, but when no answer came he shrugged and came back to where Bo had stretched out her legs and rested them on a small table that stood in front of her chair.

Bo looked up at him with her arms crossed over her chest. "Did they leave you here all alone? You scared?"

Khan growled at her, but just flopped onto the chair next to her. "It's just weird that no one is here. They better not have gone on a mission without me."

Bo didn't have time to answer him before the sound of boots pounded in a room above them. A moment later, one of the curtains over a doorway flipped back to reveal a woman with stormy eyes and blonde hair in a long braid stomp into the room.

"Where have you been?" she demanded, stalking right up to Khan. Bo watched her with wide eyes, and Khan glanced at Bo with an embarrassed look. He swallowed and tried to look as if he wasn't bothered at all by the blue-eyed glare that still pinned him to his seat.

"What do you mean? I went out to recruit like I'm supposed to do."

"Oh really? Seems to me like you were supposed to be here today to help me with repairing the broken equipment. Instead, I spent all morning doing it myself, and when Adam and the rest went out they left me behind because the work wasn't done yet."

Khan's mouth popped open. "So everyone really did go on a mission without me?"

"Yeah, idiot. If you'd just done what you were supposed to do, then both of us could have gone too."

Bo surged out of her seat. "You're saying Adam's not here?"