Return to Liberty Pack
Even though I've started work on a new series, I still love Poppy and my other friends from Liberty Pack. (Because I totally think of them as my friends, rather than fictional characters.)
I sometimes think about what they're up to now that Poppy has set things to rights in Goodland and returned to her new family in Denver. I hope you've wondered about them, too. So from time to time I'll share snippets of life in Liberty Pack here on the blog.
Poppy
I prodded the rubble with a long stick, trying to test its stability before I stepped onto the heap of crumbling concrete and rebar. A few pieces tumbled down the sides, but for the most part the creeping vegetation that had grown over the old wreckage seemed to be holding everything in place.
I stepped up cautiously and the mound held, allowing me to scramble up a few more feet to reach the section of the old department store that was still fairly intact. There was even glass remaining in many of the windows. Following the directions I’d been given, I inched along the side of the building until I reached a large window blocked by a sheet of wood. This was the entrance Mac had told me about.
I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted for my companions, “Hey, I found it! On the north side.”
My voice echoed and bounced in the shadowed canyons created by the shattered buildings that hulked around me. I was used spending time in the deserted remains of Denver; after all, as one of the Liberty Pack scouts it was my job to patrol our territory to find and eliminate threats to our safety. Still, it could be unnerving to feel so alone, surrounded only by the reminders that once this had been a thriving city home to millions of people. Now the population consisted of those few of us who preferred to live rough in the remnants of this old city rather than seeking a more comfortable but more regimented and boring existence in one of the rebuilt and modern cities around the country.
Only a few beams of sunlight reached the ground in my vicinity, leaving plenty of shadows that could hide potential danger. I heard rustling among the leaves behind me and turned to peer into the dim tangle of vines. The leaves swayed, but that might have been due to the light breeze that swept across my cheeks. It was about even odds whether something would be frightened away or attracted to human voices; I hoped my shouting hadn’t caught the attention of one of the predators that would be interested in hunting the humans.
A soft thud directly behind me sent me spinning around, heart pounding as I grabbed for the long knife sheathed at my hip. I blew out a relieved breath and released my grip on the hilt as I saw that the noise was just my cat Roomie leaping up to join me. He rubbed his head against my leg in greeting, generously leaving a healthy coating of his soft gray fur to cling to my pant leg. Roomie was so large that his affectionate but forceful bump against the back of my knee threatened to knock me over and I had to catch myself with my stick. The big cat couldn’t laugh, but I swore that his whiskers quivered in amusement as he looked away.
I followed his gaze to the heap of rubble on the right. I heard the scrape of boots against stone a moment before the tousled brown beehive of Marcii’s latest hairstyle appeared above the crest of the hill. A moment later Sharra’s explosive blue and pink ponytail bounced into view as well. Both were wearing tough black leathers, as I was, to protect against cuts and scrapes from the tumbled debris and thorny plants we were likely to encounter when on patrol.
Marcii stood a head taller than Sharra, meaning she was more than a foot taller than me. That height, along with her impressively muscled physique and numerous facial piercings could have made her an intimidating figure if it weren’t for the warm and cheerful grin that lit up her whole face. Marcii loved adventure, and exploring a newly opened building definitely hit the mark.
She rolled her shoulders in anticipation as they stopped in front of the makeshift entrance. “This is going to be fun,” she said gleefully. “I love doing a first sweep and clear.”
“I haven’t actually done one yet,” I admitted. “We’re just checking out the building to be sure that nothing dangerous is nesting here, right? Then Mac will send a team to clear out everything we can use or sell?”
“Right,” Sharra confirmed. “We’re just making sure it’s safe to send them in, since we’re trained to fight and they’re not. Once we give the okay, Mac’s team will take care of the rest.”
Marcii pulled the heavy board away from the window with an impressive lack of effort; she handled the thick wood slab like it was nothing. With it out of the way, I stepped up and tapped the activation panel on my shoulder-mounted illuminator. The tiny floodlight lit up the room in front of us. The corners were thick with dust and cobwebs, but it seemed otherwise empty.
Marcii swung her legs through the window and dropped lightly to the floor inside, then motioned for us to follow. She and Sharra activated her own shoulder lights and the sudden flare of brightness sent black spiders the size of my fist scurrying for cover. I shuddered and watched my step as we made our way across the room. The last thing I wanted to do was step on one of the nasty creatures. The spiders were not usually aggressive, but we had all learned the hard way that killing one released a burst of pheromones that brought the rest of the nest swarming to defend their territory. Luckily the big arachnids weren’t poisonous, but the painful bites were definitely something we wanted to avoid.
Marcii carefully cleared a thick layer of web from the doorway without angering the spiders and I followed her quickly out of the storeroom, hoping that we wouldn’t find more spider nests … or anything worse.
What will they find inside the old store? Keep following the blog for the next piece of the story. =)
