Chapter 18: Cue and the Strangers pt 3

“You should have thought about that before you all decided to force your way in here and let me be assaulted!” Cue shouted.

The look on Zero’s face was a mixture of anger and self-hate. He turned to Ninja, helped him up off the floor, and they both shambled out of the Dome together.

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!” Trigger laughed and then turned to Cue. “How do I close the door?”

“Headlight on the right,” Cue told her, shoulders slumping. The rat crawled off her shoulder and scampered over to the loaded duffel bags of food and sniffed them. With a sigh of defeat, Cue grabbed one bag and threw it out the door after the men. “Make it last!” Cue shouted at them, right before Trigger slammed her palm into the headlight and the door slid

closed.

“Well…” Trigger dragged out the word, long and exasperated. “That was fun!”

“If that’s what you call fun…” Cue chuckled, walking over to her cot and sitting on it with a sigh. “Thank you for saving me, Trigger. Gunner.”

“Anytime! A woman in need is an instant choice,” Trigger said with a smile. Gunner just grunted. “So, how long have you lived here?”

“A better question would be how long has anyone lived here? The answer would have to be, always. Ever since humans were pushed out of the Underground. My great-great-great-grandpa had this place built back while most machines still worked. The whole park is secured thanks to him.”

“Well…” Trigger dragged the word out.

Cue looked up at her with wide trusting eyes and Trigger crumbled under the stare.

“I kinda blew a hole in the wall?” Trigger shrugged, looking sheepish.

“You did what?!” Cue jumped up from her cot, panic in her eyes. “We’re gonna get swarmed, they’ve been trying to get in here forever!”

“I would like to remind you that we did get swarmed and Gunner and I made them into minced meat…”

Cue didn’t hear Trigger; she was in full-on planning mode.

“There's an escape hatch under the dome; it won’t be hard to get out and get away. Managing the underground will be risky, but we can at least get out of the line of fire—”

“Babe, oh my god, calm your tits!” Trigger yelled.

Cue’s jaw dropped and she froze in place, staring at Trigger as the woman wrapped her arms suggestively around the big man.

“Remember all the bodies outside?” she asked.

“Y-yes,” Cue said, walking a little bit closer and looking back and forth between the two strangers.

“We killed them, a whole horde, just the two of us. And, we have a tank. A tank with bombs? I think you’ll be alright staying here.”

“But the Cretins?” Cue’s voice is small, unsure.

“Dude, speaking of that, have you seen a specific one hanging around?”

“Specific? No, I never look at them long enough to differentiate one from the other. I see a human that isn’t a zombie, so I run. There’s no chance of survival when one of those is around.” Cue said seriously.

“Well, it seems like one of them knows you,” Trigger said, approaching the fire and sitting cross-legged on the ground.

Cue watched as Gunner sat behind her, legs on either side, and Trigger leaned back against his chest. Something in Cue’s chest broke at the sight, and her memories of Raider made her heart squeeze.

“What do you mean?” Cue asked, blinking her memories away as she refocused on what the woman said.

“There was a big one on the wall we blasted, ordering the Zombies in. His eyes were glued on the tank, not the Dome.”

“Probably because it’s a tank? Bombs, as you said?” Cue countered.

“Yeah sure, if bombs can elicit a look of physical pain…”

“Probably because you were killing all his pets?”

“Or maybe because he saw you hurt?” Trigger said, shrugging her shoulders.

“Like a Cretin would care. They only care about making more dead soldiers.” Cue took a deep breath and blew it out slowly as she settled herself to the ground across the fire from the pair. Gunner seemed completely devoted to Trigger; he stroked her arms and shifted her bright red hair away from her face. His head seemed to be constantly moving, constantly watching, and even though Cue couldn’t see his eyes, she could feel his gaze pass her.

“Have you ever met a Cretin, Cue?” Trigger asked.

“No, like I said, see them and run.”

“Well I have, and I can tell you from experience they are as human as you and I.”

“How could you have ever met a Cretin?” Cue asked, her voice laced with obvious disbelief.

“My community would capture them, try to talk to them—”

“Are you crazy? They’re carriers!” Cue shot to her feet, her shock clear on her face.