Chapter 53: Jeed Clean Up
Meanwhile, that evening, in the Southern Agriculture Zone, Mikayla was living off the land. She was eating fruit and drinking fruit juice. She had almost made it to the next region. She was oblivious to Darius’ capture as well as the train crash. She could see, in the distance, a parked vehicle from Jeed. She approached it with caution. As she got nearer, she recognised it as a rented vehicle from ‘Rent-a-Buggy’. She peered through the window. She could see some snack wrappers on the floor and a few guns on the back seat.
Mikayla opened the door. She had a look at the guns. There were two tranquillizer guns and a hunting rifle. She picked up the hunting rifle and placed ammunition and tranquillizer darts in her bag. As she walked a bit further, she could see a pitched tent. As she got closer to the tent, she could hear voices from inside. She recognised the voices. It was Jed and Nate, two of the guys from paintball.
She pulled the zip of the tent down, poked her head inside the tent, and said, ‘Hello, guys.’
Jed and Nate were sitting on the floor of the tent, looking at the photographs they had taken that day.
‘Wooh Grandma, what brings you all the way out here?’ Jed said as he gazed up in slight astonishment.
‘I decided to go for a nice long hike,’ replied Mikayla. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Funny thing, really,’ replied Nate. ‘We planned to go on a Sape hunt. Once we got here, we realised they were too awesome to shoot with a gun, so we shot them with our cameras.’
Mikayla entered the tent. She put the gun down on the ground and sat down next to them.
‘Do you mind sharing some food and drink?’ she asked.
‘Help yourself,’ replied Jed.
Mikayla tucked into the food.
‘What’s really going on?’ asked Jed.
‘Serious work issue,’ replied Mikayla. ‘I was going to be forced to fail Darius and pretty much every other case from here onwards.’
‘Seriously, that’s insane!’ exclaimed Jed.
‘According to them, our community has grown too large,’ said Mikayla. ‘They blame me for getting my patients to apply for residency instead of failing them.’
‘Well, you passed us,’ said Nate.
‘I admit, in hindsight, both those decisions could be seen as ill-advised,’ said Mikayla with a giggle.
‘We are completely grateful for your lack of good judgement,’ said Jed.
‘This is bad news for you, but was it necessary to just run off into the Agriculture Zone?’ asked Nate.
‘I put Darius on a train back to Adoy,’ said Mikayla. ‘After that, they were coming after me. I presumed I was going to be failed.’
‘They would have taken her away, and we would have never seen her again, and none of us would have known why,’ explained Jed to Nate.
‘You risked everything for that guy,’ said Nate.
‘I suppose I did,’ said Mikayla. ‘I have no regrets. He’s worth it.’
‘We can help you,’ said Nate. ‘We will rally our friends, and we will stand up against Ripe Company.’
‘They are very powerful,’ said Mikayla. ‘They also have the enforcers working very closely with them.’
‘There are lots of us,’ said Nate. ‘We have strength in numbers.’
‘Are you really willing to fight for me?’ asked Mikayla as she grinned slightly.
‘Absolutely,’ said Jed. ‘You are worth it.’
He leaned over to give Mikayla a hug, and so did Nate.
‘Do you mind if I sleep in the tent tonight?’ asked Mikayla. ‘It has been tough sleeping out in the open.’
‘Here you can have my sleeping bag,’ said Jed. Mikayla climbed into the sleeping bag.
Jed and Nate sat in silence as they waited for her to go to sleep. They did not have to wait long. Jed grabbed the gun and left the tent. Nate followed him. They walked a short distance away from the tent.
‘So, what’s the plan?’ whispered Nate.
‘We take the bitch back to Jeed and turn her in,’ whispered Jed. ‘That will give us protection if they decide they need to start reducing the number of permanent residents.’
‘Do you think it’d be better if we brought her back alive?’ asked Nate.
‘Ideally,’ replied Jeb. ‘Tranqing is the best option. We need her to be subdued. We can’t risk her fighting back before we hand her over.’
‘Killing her removes that risk,’ said Nate.
‘No,’ said Jed sternly, ‘she is worth much more alive.’
Nate and Jed walked over to the vehicle to collect the tranquilizers. They looked in the back, but they could not find the tranquillizer darts.
‘Seriously, where are they?’ grumbled Jed. ‘Did you forget to bring them?’
‘They were here. I swear,’ replied Nate.
They continued searching but could not find any.
‘Damn, we’ll just have to kill her,’ said Jeb in frustration.
‘Sure,’ smiled Nate.
Jeb peeked into the tent. Mikayla was still asleep.
‘Okay, shoot her,’ Jed said to Nate.
Nate raised the gun and poked it through the opening in the tent. He aimed it at Mikayla’s head. He then slowly pulled the trigger. The gun just went ‘click’. He tried again. It still went ‘click’.
‘What’s wrong?’ asked Jed.
‘This stupid thing is not working,’ Nate replied angrily.
‘Give it here,’ demanded Jed.
He had a brief inspection of the gun. He pulled out the magazine.
‘No bullets, dummy!’ exclaimed Jed.
Nate sighed. Jed began feeling his pockets. ‘Found one. I knew I took one out early to look at.’
Jed loaded the bullet into the magazine. ‘I’ll make the kill shot this time,’ said Jed as he cocked the rifle.
‘Sure, you will. You couldn’t even shoot a Sape early today,’ said Nate as he tried to wrestle the gun off Jed.
Jed pushed Nate to the ground in anger.
‘Stop the crap or I’ll shoot you,’ said Jed angrily.
Jed took a deep breath. He was about to raise the gun to poke through the opening in the tent. Before he could do so, Mikayla reached through the opening and jabbed him in the neck with a tranquillizer dart.
Jed fell backwards, shrieked in pain, and dropped the gun. Nate lunged forward to grab the gun. Mikayla jabbed him in the back of the neck as he attempted to pick up the gun. He shrieked as well. Jeb got back up. Mikayla punched him in the face. She turned around and kicked Nate in the head. Jeb lunged forward towards Mikayla. She kicked him hard between the legs, causing him to fall over. She picked up the gun. She hit both of them hard with the butt of the gun.
‘You’re both so hopeless,’ said Mikayla as she shook her head. She threatened them with the gun as she ushered them to the vehicle. She forced them onto the backseat.
At this point, they were both very drowsy but still conscious. She found some rope in the buggy. She tied them together at both the hands and feet.
‘Change of plan,’ said Mikayla to both of them. ‘You are still going to help me, but in a different way.’
She got in the front of the buggy and drove the buggy in the general direction of Jeed.
The next day, Mikayla arrived back in Jeed. She drove the buggy to the Ripe regional office. Dr. Crane and several security guards were there to meet her. Once she stopped the vehicle, the guards pulled her from the buggy.
‘I want to make a deal with you?’ she asked Dr. Crane.
‘You have greatly disappointed me,’ said Dr. Crane. ‘You were our star psychology specialist. Now, all you seem to want to do is fill this town with degenerates.’
‘I’m willing to make a change,’ said Mikayla. ‘I have these two as proof.’
‘Proof of what?’ asked Dr. Crane.
‘I performed a rapid reassessment of these two,’ said Mikayla. ‘I determined they no longer pass.’
‘On what basis?’ asked Dr. Crane.
‘They tried to kill me,’ replied Mikayla.
‘You made the right move,’ said Dr. Crane, sounding a little impressed. ‘Attempted murder is an immediate fail.’
‘In return, I want my old job back and for you not to pursue Darius,’ insisted Mikayla.
‘You are very talented. Having you back works well for us,’ replied Dr. Crane. ‘For us to leave Darius alone, we will need much more from you.’
‘Name it. I’ll do it,’ replied Mikayla.
‘The new Government has greatly cut funding for our rehabilitation programme,’ said Dr. Crane. ‘I want you to trim the community with some reassessments.’
‘No problem,’ replied Mikayla. ‘How many do you need done?’
‘A hundred in the next month,’ replied Dr. Crane. ‘I expect only failures. You’re very creative. I’m sure you’ll sink them all somehow.’
‘I agree,’ replied Mikayla.
‘Great, you can begin by processing these two,’ said Dr. Crane as he walked away.
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