Existing (under editing)

Chapter 30*

I was ecstatic when I heard Mitsugi tell me the good news last night. For the hours I had spent waiting patiently in bed I had barely been relaxed enough to sleep. Lucas had prompted for me to get some rest, but my body had been fuelled with the excitement of seeing my old friend so much I could barely lay still. As soon as the sun was up I went out in the morning, calling for Morin. Skipping breakfast entirely, leaving Lucas to sleep. I called to the skies in the direction of the wall, the usual path in which Morin would hear me. My voice carried through the buildings, the eco bouncing up off the concrete into the air. I didn't stop until I saw the little speck in the sky as the sparrow flew through the winds, its beady eyes in search of me and any possible threats in the area. He arrived immediately and I jumped up and down waving my hands in the air as he descended down to join me.

"Morin! They can come in! They can come in!" I said as the bird flew down.

I was at the back of the large building we called our base, the entry they had taken us through to get us in from the break in the wall. Mitsugi had given me the directions last night.

Alma! Calm down! Morin perched on my shoulder.

"They can come in, tell them to get ready, we can let them in when the wall brakes, Mitsugi will meet you both." I flung Morin back into the wind and he glided up and away. "and tell them I will see them soon!"

I had to wait for a couple of hours before I was able to find Mitsugi to arrange what day would be safest. I had to wait for him to get out of a couple of strategically meetings. For the rest of the afternoon I went out and prepared the old shack where Hunter, Pepper and Morin would be staying. It was just around the corner from where our meeting places had been but the roof was half crushed from a fallen wall and it stood leaning onto the side of a small rotunda of sorts. Before entering the open door with blankets and things over my shoulder, I reluctantly shook at the tin walls, testing the structures sturdiness, when it didn't budge for any strength I gave it I deemed it safe and walked in. it was empty and thankfully no holes had been made from the debree plunging through the metal roof. It was snug and big enough that it would fit all three of them, hopefully if Hunter hadn't grown since I had last seen him. I rolled out the old worn down mattress that was too overused for anyone to use it so I had gladly taken it. The width almost spanned the whole concrete floor. I managed to set up the blankets nicely for both Pepper and Hunter like Peppers had set them up for himself at home, in a sort of oval shape. I quickly ran back to get the trolley that held a small water tank, hooking it up to a bucket in the corner of the shack so it would refill the water for them. I also had a bucket of bones the chef had given me from the other night. We had been lucky enough on a raid to find a stock of frozen meet in the cellar of a butchers running off a storage fringes battery. It was most likely stocked only for the people in the higher ups of the enemy. Many had always known they had pigged out on all the really food, not supplying any to the people. And we didn't care were they got it but it managed to feed the people's grimaced as I placed it down, knowing all too well that these remains had once been a live animal but refused to faint like I wanted to. They would need food and this was all I could leave them until we found another stash of tinned meats, most likely further north, we hadn't really moved on from the storage units just yet.

I managed to get back inside before the dark hit. Taking the opportunity to finally have something to eat. It wasn't until I finished I realised how late it had gotten and had to run to catch the briefing before we went out on tonight's raid.

The armoury was already full to capacity with men and women ready for the night's plans. Ember had already started briefing the crowd as I snuck through the heavy door, slipping through silently. The air was restless and people did not move as Ember commanded the room. A hush blanketed the whole group and I crept through behind them along to the wall where I had kept most of my share of the gear. I tried to peer up over the tall men in front of me as I started to slip my knife into my belt, but I struggled even on my toes to see over the tall wall of shoulders, so I gave up, hoping I would see Lucas, or any familiar faces to get filled in on what I had missed.