"I heard a lot about you being hated around the cities—The Capital, Meridyia, other villages. Why's that?" asked Varryance, as their awful amount of kindness was hard to hate.

  "Short summary? Been like this even before the flash. The nice people always get treated like shit," said Luciano, puffing his cigar, looking at Varryance.

  "I mean, I seek the entire story. I'm technically a Barge, after all, so I gotta know, no?"

  Luciano sighed, taking a deep inhale. "I guess..."

  "It all started around... ack, I don't know, 20 years after the flash hit. We, as a people, everyone recovered rather quickly. Took it in, what happened—kind of that survival instinct, y'know?" explained Luci, Varryance listening.

  "Well, everyone surprisingly got together quickly and pulled our heads together. The Capital was the first one to be built. You may've noticed The Capital is better built and more modern than other villages—it's because WE, The Barge, built it."

  "Not the other villages?"

  "Let me finish."

  Varryance sat down, letting him rant.

  "We built The Capital. I mean, Varryance, think— for the first time, EVERYONE got along. Until they got a hold of information about what could happen with us, The Barge, randomly. They realized that The Barge has a 'percentage of manipulation'—somewhat of a chance for manipulation if the body or the mind is fatigued. So, if you are overworked, stressed, or really in distraught, the parasite gets a hold of you, which turns you insane."

  Varryance kept quiet, already knowing where this was going.

  "And once they overworked us, they had an excuse to throw us off. Some of us were better than others at fighting off the manipulation, but some were just too much. They began to kill us in our sleep, for Christ's sake. Take it as a purge."

  "Didn't you fight back?" said Varryance, Luciano responding with a motivational tone.

  "What is better? Take in your evil nature or overcome it through great effort?"

  Varryance's eyes lit up; that quote would stay with him for a while now.

  "Fight against it..." said Varryance.

  Luciano approved with a relieved exhale. "Exactly. So, what we did was simply leave. We decided to be the better people. We opened up our own settlement—everyone was allowed, no matter who it was. Governments, gutters, stormers, anyone," said Luciano, legs on the coffee table, smoking his cigar, looking at Varryance.

  "Isn't that dangerous?"

  "Well, that's why we are called 'The Barge.' The settlement where everyone could come to was ON the barge itself. The people—we—had our own little island where we resided, where only Barge are. This very island."

  "This... errand you do for us, it means a lot, y'know," said Luciano with a rather timid tone.

  "Why so?"

  "My plan... Varryance, now with your help, we can finally show what we, humans, are capable of if we just stick together! I plan on eradicating I.A.R.O and N.U.R.O for good. Remove this quarantine. With your help, we can do so much, you won't even imagine..."

  "Wait, I.A.R.O still active?" asked Varryance in shock.

  "Trust me, many say they aren't, but they are still alive. Want to know why I have a telescope here?" He pointed out the telescope against the glass behind him.

  Varryance rose, confused. His footing was affected by it. He went up to the telescope and looked through it, seeing... rather nothing.

  "I don't see anything..."

  "Aim higher."

  Varryance looked higher, almost at the sky, and then he saw it. His feet trembled with shock; there was no way.

  "There's no way they reside in the space station."

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "That was their last-ditch effort—throw every government official up there for safety. I.A.R.O takes control of the wasteland, cleans it, then comes back when it's all clean and shiny."

  "How'd you know?"

  "Information was leaked. Someone got blackmailed."

  "That doesn't mean much. I mean, it feels absurd." said Varryance, backing off from the telescope.

  "Well, that's why we need the fort—to find out. That's your answer, there is highly confidential information that those Stormer morons don't even know how to access it." said Luciano with a pointed motion, Varryance sitting back down.

  "I want you with the girls to take a look at the outpost in the town where you got wrecked. Check on my people, see if they are ready once I contact them, which is now. They've begun to slack off." said Luciano, rising from the couch, heading towards his desk, Varryance looking at the window beyond the island.

  ''Outpost at Marrow Bay, this is Luciano from The Barge HQ. I need you to be ready for the raid on the fort nearby. Yes, THE Fort Marrow. I'll send someone today to make sure you don't slack off.''

  "Copy. Uhh, can I ask who the contact is?" said the woman over the radio.

  "That's why I keep it a secret until he arrives. Over and out," Luciano finished, turning off the radio. The timing was perfect; the girls were already back as their helicopter landed on the roof again.

  The two men heard the footsteps of the girls as they walked down the stairs and entered the hallway. The door opened, followed by a greeting.

  "Hey, you two! What did you talk about?" said Vanesa. Luciano responded quickly to make sure Varryance didn't spoil any of his plans.

  "Ack, mostly about the purge thing. He had to know."

  "Oh, I was almost about to tell him that, what's next?"

  "Well, you're going to the outpost to check on the team with the convoy. See if they're ready for tomorrow. After that, the actual raid, right?" Luciano asked. Vanesa nodded.

  "Well, get a move on. I've got stuff to do as well." Luciano said with a wave of his hand, shooing everyone off his office.

  "Alright... alright, see ya, Luci!" said Vanesa, as everyone else followed. Luciano waved them off as the trio walked up the stairs to the rooftop where the helicopter was stationed.

  As the trio climbed into the helicopter, Varryance took the co-pilot seat. Vanesa asked yet again.

  "Hey, what did you and Luci talk about?"

  Varryance glanced at her, deciding to keep it vague.

  "Oh, just about the purge and all. Stuff like that, mostly." His blunt tone caught Vanesa's attention, but she didn't press him.

  "Sure..." she said, Isabel growing more suspicious as well.

  Vanesa powered up the engines, which roared to life violently. The building shook as the helicopter ascended, heading towards the town where Varryance and Isabel had been ambushed—the coastal town of Marrow Bay.

  As they flew over, Varryance looked closer at the town. It seemed like a fishery town before the flash. Numerous boat docks lined the coast, stretching the length of the town. Seagulls circled above the buildings, and the overwhelming smell of fish filled the air. The town was eerily quiet and abandoned, safe for a few people hiding in buildings. Varryance noticed movement through the windows.

  "Marrow Bay was a black market town before the flash. A trading town. I know you're not from here, and you didn't exactly have a good impression of it when you got ambushed."

  Vanesa spoke through the headset, her words cutting through the hum of the helicopter. Both Varryance and Isabel watched below.

  "We plan to take this town over eventually—a better way for our business to send people to The Barge more easily. Or maybe make it our trading sector entirely."

  "That actually sounds better." Isabel said, glancing at Vanesa.

  "That's what I thought, too! But the constant Stormers roaming around, especially at night or during storms, makes it difficult for us to fully take control. For now, we just hold the bay."

  "Are they actually that hard to defeat?" Isabel asked. A back-and-forth conversation started between them, while Varryance listened and watched, still unconvinced.

  Above the town, the small helicopter buzzed around and spite the distance, it still caused the semi-ruined buildings below to tremble.

  "The Stormers? Oh yeah, they're dangerous. Their tactics are brutal, as their name suggests. They storm in with no initial plan. They're heavy hitters, but they do have some planning—it just looks like they don't."

  "Unidentified aircraft, you are passing through restricted airspace. Identify yourself or you will be shot down!" came the voice from the comms. The helicopter's alarms blared loudly, and the windshield turned a tinted red, warning the pilot that they were being locked on by a surface-to-air missile turret. Varryance's heart raced, and Isabel's anxiety matched his.

  "This is Vanesa from The Barge. We were sent by Luciano a few minutes ago to discuss the raid," Vanesa spoke calmly, masking her panic. If she'd shown fear, they would've suspected hijacking.

  "Then who are the two others in there?" the voice asked. Varryance looked around but saw no one watching them. Isabel had tucked herself further into the helicopter, sitting at the edge.

  "The contacts Luci told you about." Vanesa finished, and the beeping stopped. The helicopter's windshield returned to normal.

  "Contacts with an S? Alright well that was a test. You're all clear!" said the voice, and both Varryance and Isabel sighed in relief.

  "You could've warned us, Vanesa. Scared the hell out of me!" Isabel said, clearly annoyed. Vanesa laughed it off, while Varryance nodded in agreement.

  "Hey, I forgot! I'm sorry! They're usually milder with this stuff."

  "Hmph." Isabel huffed, clearly still irritated.

  Vanesa flew lower, approaching a group of buildings surrounded by walls. The fortified premises still had access to the ocean, with their own dock. The outpost was heavily fortified with several surface-to-air missiles, turrets, and guards armed with military-grade weapons patrolling the perimeter. The helipad was right next to the command center, where a group of people waited beside it.

  "Varryance Preez... no shit." said a woman standing with four others, awaiting the trio's arrival. As the helicopter landed, Varryance exited first, moving around the aircraft to face the crowd.