#hubevent01

The Hub had been full of life and civilians demanding answers, most all civilians had finally dispersed and headed off to sleep.The last of the stragglers had finally turned in and Raquel decided now was the best time to get some fresh air and leave her office for a little while. Raquel liked Frank Scotsman, as well as she could have given how most of the conversations she’d ever had with him involved trading and trying to get as much out of him as she could, but now he was dead and she dreaded what that meant for their food supplies.

She makes her way towards the medical building and decides to simply hang out outside the door, leaving those inside to some peace if they have it, not interested in bothering Dee unless she comes outside. Leaning against the side of a building across from the medical doors. Raquel is lost in her own thoughts, making mental notes of more she needs to do, try and figure out a backup plan if shit goes to hell with Bridgwater, the murder happened in the Hub and she hopes things can get settled before any more tension comes to the front.

The morgue smells awful. There’s something about death that you can never scrub clean no matter how many cold showers you take. Pierce feels it crawl down his spine and he shivers as he walks into the operating room and dons a surgical mask and gloves. There is only one person assisting Dee, one of her most trusted medical supervisors that Pierce can never seem to remember the name of. This whole ‘dead guy’ thing really sucks. Pierce has never to been to Bridgewater, and he doesn’t care too much about it. But now one of their five council members is dead, on Pierce’s turf, and he has to figure it all out.

The body looks worse than it smells. There are giant stitches in the man’s chest in a giant Y’ and Pierce’s eyes narrow in on the portion of his skull that’s been sawed through. Dee looks so small standing next to the tall man on the makeshift operating table. They aren’t going to give the good operating tables to dead guys. But Pierce knows how deceiving that looks can be when it comes to the head of Medical.

A dead body is literally the last thing Pierce could want. He had doubts, of the meeting, doubts he did not voice to Commander Wilson. Now, Pierce is wishing he did, because this sucks. Someone dying within the Hub’s wall really sucks. He’s already swung by medical and they aren’t ready for him, so Pierce can do just about nothing until thy get results. Every available guard is posted on duty, and Pierce has recruited a crack investigation team. They’re out surveying the death scene, trying to put the pieces together. Pierce wishes there was just a goddamn bullet in his skull. It’d make things easy.

It’s not the first dead body Pierce has seen. He’s killed people before, point blank range. It is, however, the most troublesome dead body he’s seen. Frank Harold Scotsman seems like he was an okay guy. Probably. But now he’s a real pain in Pierce’s neck. His lips were blue, the foam was dried and crusted, and man, did he smell bad. Pierce had him delivered to the medical wing for whatever they do with dead bodies. Pierce doesn’t think about it.

Early in the evening, representatives from all of the major settlements in the area. The leaders from Suncove Springs, Bridgewater, The Hub, Graceland, and Fort Hope all congregate in the most secure building on the premises. What happens behind the meetings doors are confidential affairs, but the departments are debriefed by their Council heads.

The meeting runs for three and a half hours. No formal conclusions are made. Clearance level one employees are told that peace negotiations are ongoing. Clearance level two are told that peace negotiations are stalled and the leaders cannot agree to the same terms. Clearance level three members are alerted to the tensions of the area and advised to keep an ear out for any rumors heard. They are told not to explain the details of the meeting. Clearance level four employees were present at the meeting.

Early the next morning, the caravans gather to leave. At nealy ten in the morning, the Bridgewater official has not shown up with this caravan. At ten thirty in the morning, his body is found outside of a housing unit, half buried in a shrubbery on the south end of the settlement. Investigations are being launched by specific members of the guard.

Levels of the death are kept confidential and only people with Clearance level three and higher are given any details of the deceased. Frank Harold Scotsman was an influential farmer that had been there at the beginning of the founding of Bridgewater. A sixth of the farmland that is currently Bridgewater belonged to his family. The medical office is currently doing an examination of the body to find cause of death. Poison is expected, by his blue lips and the dried foam at the corners of his mouth.