Chapter 167: 167
I let Kaley come with Tatiana for another run outside while I continued on with my idea.
I grabbed a few tools that my uncle is not using for dismantling on what’s left of the other houses and I brought a few people with me on the covered court. I was with Bon, JP, Robin, Renante and Jomari; the laborers I took from the DDR camp.
“Umm, what do you want us to do?” Bon asked.
“Since most of the metal parts are now on the scrap yard, help me get the solid planks from the pile there. We’ll start on making a few things.” I instructed them.
We made use of the time that’s left to make a few stationary obstructions on what I planned to be an indoor obstacle course/ maze. A few are made to be walls, bridges, small pillars, ladders, and etc. The few barriers that Tatiana brought over helped with making the covered court to be a whole new place. I even welded a few piped to select places to add more variety to the place and strengthen the other bits that needed to stay in place.
It looks like a mix of an indoor airsoft field and a skateboarding park. There’re a few places that we poured cement over to be elevated that is covered by plywood until it dries completely. The other materials that are not used are placed on the bleachers along with the targets that we use for shooting practice.
“We could use this place now after the cement dries and polishing them after. It needs a few sweepings here and there and we might need to paint some of them over to look the part. I may add a few things and we might need to run a few test runs on this first. Also, if we improve on this place a bit, we could place the shooting targets in key locations here so it could double as a shooting range that they use in shooting competitions. We could also make a routine to follow and time it to get some people heated and for some fun. I know a few people that would like that.” I said.
“Uh, Sky. Can I ask you something?” JP chimed.
“Shoot.” I replied.
“I noticed that Mark and the others have weapons of their own and they go outside with you… Can we have our own as well? We’ve had our fair share with them when we go out and I promise we could help you with getting more supplies if we have firearms at hand.” he said.
“Do you know how to shoot?” I asked.
“Well…” he trailed.
“We don’t but a few of the guys said you have classes; can we join in as well?” Robin chimed.
“Sure, if I ever have classes you can join in but you need to perform well in those classes to guarantee yourself a gun. I don’t just hand them away like candies.” I said.
“Russel mentioned that he found a shotgun in a gas station and he exchanged it for a pistol, is that true?” they asked again.
“Yeah, Russel isn’t that good in shooting guns but he knows how to keep it safe. If you ever find a gun outside, you need to surrender it to me when you are inside my compound. I’ll give it back when we go out so you don’t have to worry about it.” I explained to them a few more rules inside this place.
“If I ever got my own, I’ll take revenge on that f.u.c.k.i.n.g baldy.” Bon said.
I looked at him and the others seemed to share the same sentiment.
“Well thinking that way since a gun was pointed at them is reasonable…” I thought to myself.
“Revenge is all good since Rodney did something unforgivable but if you’re gonna do it, remember that your old boss is more trained in using it. I’m not gonna persuade you in doing it or not but remember that he’ll be shooting back as well. The world has no rules now and killing him will not warrant you to be put in jail but all our actions still have consequences and all I’m asking is to remember that.” I said.
“…” the group.
“B-but… what if it was you Sky? You wouldn’t kill him if you were in our shoes?” Bon asked.
“Me? If that was me, I’ll kill him when I got the chance.” I replied.
“…” the group.
“C’mon now, I never said to you guys to never do it. I’ll do the same thing to you all. If you cross me, you’ll be in the pile near my old house burning right now.” I replied with nonchalance.
They were taken aback and they seem to be mulling something in their heads.
“I know you’re good guys. I just think that your boss is afraid of you five that’s why he did that.” I said.
“Afraid? He has a gun! How could he be afraid of us?” they said.
“This is just me imagining what’s going on his head but hear me out. He only has a son and his wife is also old. You five are in his employ for a few years and he has been very strict with you to the point that it’s almost illegal. If you’re familiar with your boss’ personality, he’d think the worst and will make sure that his family is safe from anything. He can’t guard the five of you at all times an-” they cut me off.
“But we would never do such a thing!” they replied.
“Are you sure? You just mentioned you’ll kill him if you ever meet him again.” I asked.
They were silent again.
“Scenarios like this brings out the worst in people, like what happened to your boss. It could happen to anyone. Just a matter of circ.u.mstances.” I said.
“Why did you take us then?” they asked.
“Easy, because I can. This place is slowly turning to something that could survive this thing and you need people you could trust on that to maintain it.” I replied.
“I’m confused. I’m not sure if you trust us or not…” Jomari chimed.
“Me too.” Renante said.
The rest nodded.
I laughed heartily.
“Well, me too.” I replied.
“…” the group is now confused even more.
“In truth, I can’t believe that we’ve been this successful with this place. I thought it would be much harder but we’ve only had a few incidents it’s unbelievable. This place is doing good since we almost have everything and it’s well-stocked, secure and… fun in a sense. Back to the trust thing, let me put it this way, do good and I’ll be good to you, do bad and I’ll be bad to you. Simple as that.” I concluded.
They’re now wearing faint smiles and they raised their fists towards me.
I give each of them a fist bump and they said, “Thanks for taking us in… Boss.”
“Heh. Now that we’re done here, I’ll send you back to the camps now.” I joked.
The group almost lost their footing but we laughed heartily.
“Damn, that hits a few sore spots.” Bon said.
“HAHAHAHA!!! The more we joke about it the less it hurts when we think about it.” I said.
We went back to the compound and a few people have new haircuts. Most of them are guys since some of the ladies want to grow their hair out a bit. All the kids have theirs done first and now the a.d.u.l.ts are just having theirs cut by the two. They have two chairs in place and they have their equipment with them and they’re wearing aprons and a face mask while the person whose hair is being cut has a small cloak that could guard against some of the falling hair.
“I need to get mine bad. It’s been a few days late already and I could almost hear them growing and invading my ears and the back of my head.” I thought to myself as I instinctively scratched my scalp.
Russel was on the other seat but he stood up with his head still half cut that made the kids laugh and his mom annoyed at him at the same time. I got a trim from Josh and his hands worked fluidly. He even used the scissors that has the other side look like a comb to thin out my hair.
“Your hair is naturally spiky and slightly thick but using this texturizing shear could thin them out a bit. You could still raise them up like what you do and it would feel lighter than normal.” he said.
I gave my thanks after and I gave Ken and Kris the files that Jared’s phone received in any chance for them to decode it as well. I still haven’t finished Roi’s message and a few more people that understand a few sequences to solve this thing could lessen the work I’m doing.