Page 21 of The Outsider
“That’s far enough, Wastelander,” she said, but her voice shook. “Hands where I can see them.”
Wastelander. Only compound people used that word.
“A-Asha?” Claire stammered from behind me, stepping forward.
The woman’s eyes went wide, looking from Claire to me, and then to Holly on the floor, who suddenly groaned and rubbed her head.
“Claire?” she replied, slowly lowering her weapon.
“Oh my God,” Claire cried, and before I could object, she’d hurled herself at Asha, grabbing her in a crushing hug.
Asha didn’t hug back. She looked stunned.
“I thought you were dead,” she said. “How the hell did you get here?”
“It’s a long story,” Claire said, sighing as she set the PNC boxes on the floor. “We found Holly.”
“I see that,” Asha said with a snort, gesturing at the dazed woman on the floor. “What are you doing with her?”
“Haven’t gotten that far yet,” Claire admitted. “We were looking for something, and she was there. Didn’t want her to raise the alarm. The place is crawling with cultists.”
Asha suddenly remembered I was there and looked me up and down.
“Who exactly is ‘we’?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. I didn’t love her tone.
“This is John,” Claire answered, putting a hand on my shoulder and squeezing lightly. “He’s my…well, my boyfriend.”
The word didn’t totally fit somehow, but it made me feel a little warm inside anyway. It was the first time she’d introduced me to anyone.
Asha reacted like someone had slapped her. Her expression changed and she took a step back. I raised my gun instinctively, and we stared each other down. There was a long moment of tense silence, broken by Holly groaning again and sitting up.
I pointed my pistol at the woman on the floor.
“Don’t move,” I growled. “Don’t scream. Don’t do anything that’s gonna make me kill you.”
Holly looked up at me, wide-eyed. “Who the fuck are you, Wastelander? How dare you touch me! How dare you even look at me! Filthy scum, I—”
“Oh, shut up, Holly,” Asha interrupted, her weapon also pointed at Holly now. “I know they’ve ramped up that whole cult bullshit to eleven here, but to me, you’ll always be my best friend’s dipshit little sister.”
Holly opened and closed her mouth over and over, like she wasn’t sure what to be more outraged and surprised by—me or Asha. Her weird, cropped hair looked even stupider after being mussed up. Even so, she also had that ethereal, perfect vibe that Claire and Asha both had from their implants. Seeing the three women side-by-side made the whole effect even stranger, like meeting a group of mythical elves or some shit.
Holly tensed, then sprang up and lunged for Asha, but never made it. I caught her upper arm with my free hand and threw her down onto the concrete floor, making her moan with pain.
“Try that bullshit again,” I said, “and I won’t be so gentle next time.”
“This what you’ve hitched yourself to, Claire?” Holly spat, though she stayed on the floor. “A Wastelander with even worse manners than your degenerate best friend? Who’d hit your sister?”
Frankly, I was surprised she’d have the balls to say that to the guy who literally had a gun to her head, but I guessed she didn’t join a cult because she was smart.
Claire looked a little lost, like she didn’t know what to do.
“Claire,” I said, exhaling slowly. “What is this place, and how safe is it?”
She cleared her throat. “It’s the staff panic room. Only teachers knew the door code. We were told to come here in case of a Wastelander attack. Never happened, of course, but we did a few drills.”
She exchanged a look with Asha, who gave a nod of acknowledgement.
“I’ve been hiding out here for a few days,” Asha said. “It seemed like the safest spot, given that the place is fortified and locked. I snuck in on one of their supply trucks. I haven’t seen any other teachers among the cult.”
