Chapter 42: Cue and the Bellview pt 2

The hospital was so close, and not only that, it had power. Cue could see people moving all around it, some bringing crates in, some guarding the entrance. She grinned from ear to ear. The doctor was right! This was the place they would find help! They were established and organised, and best of all, as far as she could tell, there were no dead bodies anywhere to be seen.

Cue had never seen power before, only Gunner’s sort of power, and she took it as a sign of hope. She crawled down the side of the building until she got to the floor. The rock fell through, and then she ran to the safe room, almost laughing.

“I found it!” she declared, throwing the door open with a strained grunt. “I found the hospital! It has power!”

Gunner sat up straight, gently pulling Trigger’s mouth off his shaft, and stood up immediately. “Where? Show me,” he demanded.

Cue blushed at the sight and walked over to Trigger to help her up. She kissed her passionately on the mouth before telling Gunner anything. Had they had time…but no, they were so close now.

“On the right corner of the building, if you look down, you can see the glow of power and people moving about Bellview Hospital.” She smiled, hugging Trigger close. “They look organised, they look safe. I think the doctor really knew what she was talking about, sending us here.”

“Then why did she leave it?” Gunner asked, gathering their items and putting the sling back on for Trigger.

She took one look at it and winced. “Just until we hit the ground!” she said, pointing at the sling with dismay.

They descended the building a lot slower than they came up, keeping their eyes on the dim red glow as well as their handholds. When they finally hit the ground, Trigger couldn’t wait to get out of the sling and fell headfirst, but caught herself. She was hanging upside down with her hands on the ground before she asked for help.

Cue laughed as she helped her untangle her legs and get back to her feet.

“I may be pregnant,” she said with a huff, swinging her long red hair out of her face, “but I’m not the baby itself. No more sling!”

“As long as there’s no more sandstorms,” Gunner said, his mechanical voice almost sounding like he was making a joke.

Trigger rolled her eyes and tried to push him, but he didn't budge. He only grinned down on her like she was some sort of mischievous child.

“Let’s just get where we’re going,” she said with a huff, straightening her sandy pincho over her shoulders so she could hide her baby. “Guns blazing?”

“Guns blazing,” Gunner and Cue said in unison, cocking their weapons.

They would take no more bullshit from women stealing strangers; it was kill on site for any man who looked at them sideways. They walked forward cautiously from then on, stalking in the shadows and creeping around corners until the hospital was in view.

Cue could see hundreds of people working in and around the hospital; it looked like men and women together. It became clear why their women were safe with just one look at the barricades around the hospital. Armed guards stood at each corner, their weapons pointed and their eyes focused on their scopes and nothing else.

Nothing was getting past these people.

“How do we want to play this?” Cue asked. She turned to find Trigger taking off her poncho and unbuttoning her shorts at the bottom, so her distended belly could clearly be seen.

“I got first. If they go crazy, kill them.”

“Not without me!” Cue shrieked, taking off layers to reveal her femininity, too.

“I don’t like this,” Gunner said.

“It's the only way we get in safely. Baby?” She turned to Gunner and kissed him gently. “I need you to stay out here, just in case we can't get out and need to be rescued.”

“I don’t like this,” he repeated again, softer.

“We will be okay, remember, the doctor recommended this place. And it doesn’t look like we will need to fight them at all. There are women there.”

“Yes,” he said, with his face twisted in what clearly looked like a no.

Cue and Trigger walked away from him reluctantly, hand in hand.

“I know it’s not guns blazing,” Cue started.

“But it sure as hell feels like it,” Trigger finished, giving her hand a squeeze before stepping into one of the large spotlights.

They shielded their eyes as the spotlights all swung and centered on them, making their shadows look like there were hundreds of them instead of just two.

“Stop right there!” a man shouted. “I have a .5007 w magnum revolver pointed directly at your pretty little faces.”

They froze, heads held high, as the man walked out of the shadows with two revolvers pointed at each of their heads. He rounded them, taking in the guns and knives they chose not to wield, and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at them.

“Where are your men?” he demanded, eyes flicking the buildings around them.

“We have no men,” Trigger answered. Not completely a lie because Gunner was an EHEC and not technically a man anymore. More dangerous, but that wasn’t what the man asked.

“You mean to tell me that there are two, not one but two, beautiful women walking around post-apocalyptic Seattle and they haven’t been caught by the cults yet?” He said snidely, not believing them.

“They sure as fuck tried,” Cue said, giving him a lethal glare.

The man let out a chuckle and lowered the guns an inch.

“Is that what you are?” Trigger said snidely, nodding her head at the hospital. “Another sex crazed cult bent on procreation? We saw your women!” Her tone was accusatory, but for a purpose. If she could force his true colors out now, it wouldn't be a surprise later.

“I prefer to call it a refuge,” He said, taking his fingers off the triggers and spinning the guns before slipping them back into the holsters at his side. “I take it you’re the reason for the building collapse? That dust storm it raised was something else. But we knew the Vertical Village never had a tank.”

“That's what caused it?” Cue asked, lowering her hands an inch.

Trigger elbowed her and shushed her, trying to get her to stop giving away too much information.

“We were planning to raze the place to the ground as it were, but they kidnapped one of our doctors. Tell me, did you see a female doctor there? We would have very much preferred to have rescued her ourselves.”

Cue’s face dropped, and she winced. “She told us to come here…before she…”

“I was afraid of that,” the man said, looking them over again and this time taking a good look at Trigger’s middle. “I guess this is why she told you to find us?”

“Yes, it is.” Trigger said coldly, lowering her hands to her hips, “Now, can you help us, or do we need to move on?”

He smiled and ran a hand through salt and pepper hair as he finally turned so they could see his face. It was weathered and covered in scars, but he had kind eyes that a tear for the doctor had just escaped.

“You are more than welcome at Bellview. We’d be happy to help you through these terrifying times,” he smiled, waving them toward the gates. “Welcome to safety, ladies.”