We The Forlorn (Book #2) (Completed)

42. Unexpected

"The militia always helped TerraVictoria," a man said.

"That's right. We stayed out of their hair, and they protected us against thieves and raiders," a woman added.

Bo exhaled in disbelief. "They didn't protect you against anything. They made you pay for the pleasure of not being ransacked by their own men."

"Look, girly," the man from before said. "I'm sure in whatever hick dust corner you scraped yourself up from, you all hate the militia. But here in the city, we'd rather have them on our side."

"They were never on your side," Adam said. "As soon as they thought TerraVictoria could no longer be of use to them, you'd be treated the same as all those 'hick dust corners'."

"And that's your opinion. But we don't have to share it," the man said. "We didn't ask you to go out and murder two militia leaders. And we're not going to let you come in here and implicate us in anything we don't want a part of. So kindly pack up your gear and leave our city."

Bo ran a hand through her hair in frustration. "But don't you see? If you refuse to help the militia now, you could break their ranks enough to end them once and for all. These two dying has opened the crack in their armor that we can leverage open. We won't get another chance like this in a while!"

The man snarled. "I said that we didn't want you here. Leave before we throw you out."

Bo looked out at the sea of faces, but none of them looked sympathetic. No one looked like they wanted to disagree with the man, or to stand up for Bo and Adam. The either looked anxious or angry, and neither of those emotions were ones that would help their cause.

Disgusted, Bo spun on her heel and angrily yanked her hopper in place while she climbed on the seat. Adam followed her lead, though less visibly angry, and they cranked their engines into life. The people parted for them, leaving a path to the outskirts of the city open. Bo didn't even look at the people as she zoomed by them, carting Clayton's dead body behind her. She didn't stop until they reached the airship, at which point she came to a jerky stop and yanked the keys out of the ignition.

"Can you believe it?" she demanded, smacking a fist against the fuel tank of her hopper. "They're so stupid! They think they can trust the militia? They're so corrupt that they'd rather risk being backstabbed than losing the comforts they get as militia dogs?"

"There's nothing we can do about it now," Adam said, climbing off his hopper and coming around to lay his hands on Bo's shoulders and calm her down. "We're injured and tired, and the people are still in shock over seeing the end to an entity they'd gotten used to serving."

"We're going to lose our opportunity to take down the militia," Bo said, rubbing her eyes with her hands. Adam sighed and pulled her in for a hug.

"If we lose it, then we lose it. If there's one thing I've learned as the leader of the Forlorn, it's that there's always a next time."

Bo wrapped her arms around Adam's waist, burying her face deeper in his chest as she slouched and tried not to despair over the less-than-friendly reception they'd gotten. But her quiet moment was disrupted a second later when Helga's voice cut in.

"There you are!" she shouted.

Bo pulled away from Adam to see Helga walking around the airship from the other side. Her face was flushed and it almost seemed as if she might have the very beginnings of a smile on her face. But Bo had no idea what could have gotten the queen of sour expressions to be in such a good mood.