Warlocks: Part 4 - Crazy Town
Author's note: Unrelated to the story, I'm thinking of switched all of my stories over to my other account and use this one as more of a memes and whatnot account, so for future installments if you are tagged by ClickerFlight that is still me.
No Content Warnings apply
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Tori did not entirely like the look of Inara. She seemed…. Out of place, even when she did put her clothes back on the right way. Maybe it was the way she did it without care for modesty or maybe it was the style of clothing that made her seem outdated. Another question about this weird place. Would they age in here? Or would they be trapped until something killed them. Tori wasn’t sure what was worse. She had always feared growing old, but she was starting to think this place was scarier.
Either way, they couldn’t stay out here much longer without food, and if they had to follow a wannabe zombie apocalypse actress to get there, all Tori could really hope for was that they wouldn’t have to become cannibals.
Keesha led the group, face still ashy from whatever she and Leo had seen at the destroyed encampment but refused to let the rest of them see. That was fair. Tori had never had the toughest stomach and she didn’t want to get any practice in making it tougher for today. She could let Keesha and Leo make the hard decisions. She had other duties to perform in their group.
She put a hand on Eli’s shoulder as he was hunched up, chewing on his thumbnail and watching Inara carefully as they walked.
“You alright, bud?” Tori asked softly.
Eli hunched in a little tighter. “I don’t like this,” he whispered.
“I know, I’m really sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?”
Eli shrugged. “Make it make sense.”
Tori sighed. “I’m not as good at that as you are, but I’ll try watching out for patterns, okay?”
She looked forward again, the shelves seemingly endless in front of them. Was this going to be the rest of their lives? None of this made sense, and she really wasn’t sure she wanted it to.
“My group is just ahead,” Inara called back over her shoulder. “We’ll be there soon. We’ll get you food and spots to sleep tonight and tomorrow you can decide if you want to stay or not. And you will have to help our group, you understand? We have to keep other groups away from our resources, okay? And keep the walls strong so the employees don’t get in.”
“What are those things anyway?” Puck asked, intrigued.
“They’re the fingers of this place,” Inara said seriously, a small smile crossing her thin lips. “Come. That’s not important.”
She turned a corner without warning and the group had to hurry to catch up.
There was a clearing in the shelves, huge walls made of them stacked in the clearing. Tori could hear the chatter of people inside and saw a couple of people sitting on the wall and keeping a lookout.
They pointed and stood up, grabbing a rope ladder and sending it down along the wall.
“Come. Welcome home,” Inara said warmly.
Keesha glanced back at the others before she started up first, Puck climbing so quickly behind her that They nearly began climbing her back as well.
Leo stood, waiting to go last and Tori shook her head, looking up at the swinging ladder. “I can’t get up that,” she said. Not after several nights of sleeping outside of her own bed without her medication.
Leo looked up the ladder and then back at her. “Eli. Go up and stick with Keesha.”
Eli looked between the two of them and nodded. “Okay.”
Once Eli was up far enough, Leo sighed. “Are you sure you can’t get up there?”
“Then I’ll stay with you.”
“No, Leo, you shouldn’t. I can-”
“I’m staying with you,” Leo said more firmly. “I’m not leaving you out here.”
“They can get some food and maybe bring us back some. We should find somewhere to sleep. I-”
The two of them looked up to see Puck peering over the edge. “You two coming? Oh! Right, Tori’s back. Hold on.”
Puck vanished and soon a couple of strangers peered over the edge.
“Back away you two,” one of them called down in a chipper tone.
Tori did so and a sturdy bathtub slid over the edge, landing heavily on the ground.
“Hop into the elevator, miss. We’ll get you up here in no time!” a man with long black hair called down.
“Thank you!” Tori called, relieved. She had been afraid that she would have to be stuck outside without food. If you could really call this outside.
She climbed into the tub with Leo’s help and watched as he made sure all of the lines were secure before stepping back and calling out, “Clear!”
There was a very mechanical sound and the tub lifted into the air with a bit of a wobble. Tori tried to keep her weight distributed evenly, holding onto the edges with a death grip as Leo started coming up the ladder.
The two men at the top of the wall helped maneuver the tup over the lip of the wall and then pushed it to the side until he was set over the other side. The rope had been thrown through a support beam above and was operated through a winch on the ground inside the wall.
The mechanical whirring changed tones and the tub descended on the other side of the wall. There was a set of stairs down the other side, somewhat uneven and dangerous looking. Tori was glad she wouldn’t have to negotiate her way down that.
Keesha, Puck, and Eli were just coming down the last of the stairs as Tori’s tub landed carefully on the other side. She climbed out, tripping only a little, and brushed her short blue hair back into place, clearing her throat.
“Well, I’m glad they have some accessibility options here,” she said as Leo came down the stairs.
Tori jumped as Inara seemed to appear from out of nowhere. Inara gave Tori a somewhat patronizing smile and said, “Sorry. I have to be so quiet out there I forget to be loud in here. The food court is right over there, dears. Go ahead and have some. Especially some of the canned mandarin oranges. I know they’re not great, but scurvy is no joke in a place like this.”
“Right,” Eli muttered, as her sharp eyes landed on him.
Keesha cleared her throat and said, “Thank you, again.”
“Of course. Welcome to Crazy Town.”
Inara turned and moved to go speak with other people who were watching at a distance but with some interest.
“I guess we’d better go have some food,” Keesha said with a little shrug.
The group headed towards the small partitioned part of the settlement. There were tents and little shacks built everywhere. Some of the builds were very clever, while others were nothing more than an open pillow fort with people inside reading or singing together.
Everyone seemed fairly happy here, smiling and waving to the newcomers, though not disengaging from their tasks to come say hi.
Tori looked around as they entered the food court and they saw a cook chatting with a couple of people, working in a sort of kitchen.
She looked up as they approached and grinned, putting down her bowl and making sure her bandana was tied right over her bald head. “Welcome! You’re new.”
“We are,” Keesha said. “And very hungry.”
“Oh of course! There’s plenty of food to go around with Inara here to help keep other groups away, you know. You don’t need to worry about going hungry.”
“That’s a relief,” Leo said warmly, watching intently as she dished up food.
“I’m Hailey, the cook and Inara’s right hand woman,” she said warmly. “How long have you folks been in the IKEA?”
“A few days,” Keesha said, accepting her portion of food. “I’m Keesha. These are my friends, Leo, Tori, Eli, and Puck.”
Puck grinned, taking Their food with a nod. “Thank you! Glad we found this place. We were about to run out of the snacks we had on us. And the one food court we found was empty.”
“Oh, yes, they get emptied pretty quickly if you don’t have someone keeping an eye on them. We have our own food court over here partitioned off,” Hailey said, pointing. “That way no other groups can take it. That’s why we can support so many people here. Not like the roaming bands. You were quite lucky to have Inara find you.”
“Yeah, for sure. How long has Inara been the leader here?” Leo asked, mouth stained with sauce from the remixed food from the food court.
“Oh, it’s hard to tell time in here after a while,” Hailey sighed. “Maybe 2 years? Yes. We have all sorts here, but we all have one thing in common. Inara found us out there and brought us here.”
“And does she always wear her clothing inside out and backwards when she goes out?” Puck asked brightly.
Hailey hesitated, “Sometimes. She says it’s like a good luck charm. That it helps her find people.”
Puck hummed, taking another bite of Their food and shaking Their curls out of Their eyes.
There was an awkward silence for a moment before Keesha cleared her throat. “Once we’re done eating, do you know where we should go to sleep for the night?”
“Oh, yes. Just pick a clear spot and make sure you like your neighbors,” Hailey said warmly. “And since it’s your first day here, feel free to come back for more food, though keep in mind it does need to be rationed a little while you are here.”
“Right,” Keesha said with a nod. “Makes sense when you have to feed this many people.”
“Correct! And they only restock themselves once a week, you know. Oh, one more rule.”
“There are not to be any… intimate pairings, understand? We cannot afford all of the babies that would come into the camp otherwise. Only Inara can choose if a couple can have one.”
“Oh, uh, okay,” Keesha said, weirded out. “Well, none of us are paired up, so that should be fine.”
Hailey nodded, a blinding smile on her face as she said, “Good. Let us know if you need anything then. Go ahead and make yourselves at home.”
They all nodded and as they walked away and Puck shook Their head. “This place is weird.”
“Agreed,” the rest of them said in unison.
Warlocks Taglist: @scatteriskity @percy-frayer
