Labor Negotiations

I let out a sigh as I realized I was being hit on two fronts here. I could sympathize with both these people. Yuri for his desire to save his brother, and Olga for the love she had for her father. Not that I wanted to trust them at face value, but what good would it have been if they were tricking me? Unless this was some Fed trap to lure in young women with daddy issues to experiment on, it all checked out.

Besides, give Olga a few years and I’m sure she’d fit that bill. Personally, I’d rather her not end up like I did. That thought was my final straw.

“I’ll help, but under two conditions…” I raised up two fingers and motioned them like snipping scissors. This wasn’t going to be charity work. If they wanted me, they’d have to give me something in return. “First, I get dibs on anything interesting we find in that power plant.”

“Fair enough,” Yuri nodded. “And what is second?”

I doubted he expected what was coming next, so I gave a bit of a mischievous grin as I closed my fist.

“Work for me at my scavenge shop. I could use an extra pair of hands.”

I’m sure I could have found some work for these guys to do back home. With how computer savvy Yuri was and the cuteness of Olga, I think there’d be a good chance to increase efficiency pretty well.

“You’re joking!” he announced. “What kind of a condition is that?”

“You want me to help you or not?” I folded my arms. “Listen, it’s not like it's slave labor or anything. I’ll pay you guys and give you time off. Besides, you don’t look like you have much experience dealing with bots if you sit on a computer all day.”

I held the higher ground in these negotiations. If he was so desperate to ask a stranger for aid, he clearly wasn’t going to threaten that same stranger with strength he didn’t have. So I could ask for just about anything and probably get it.

“Don’t forget, I saved you a few moments ago,” Yuri said. “You should be thankful for that.

“Oh, and I saved you too, you know?” I patted the pistol a few times. “This gun looked awfully interested in you. I held it back with all my strength.”

To be fair, we probably could have called the negotiations there. Yuri saved me; Someone he didn’t know… Now he wanted me to save his brother; Someone I didn’t know. But I wasn’t going to be reasonable, especially when he needed me.

“Doesn’t Olga deserve a better life than growing up in some bunker?” I asked, throwing a stick of gum in my mouth and blowing a bubble. “Come back with me, and she’ll at least get a little bit of a normal childhood.”

That would be a soft spot for sure. Sweetening the deal with the promise that his precious little niece could get a taste of life before the war would be hard to reject. Back home, there were schools and kids that Olga could play with and learn the godforsaken Queen’s English. The education system there was ass, but at least it was something.

Maybe a small part of me felt bad for her having to live in this musty roach infested bunker too. That’s no way for a doll like her to grow up.

I could tell by Yuri’s serious brow that he was considering my conditions. When he finally blinked, I knew he’d made a decision.

“Fine. We’ll work for you… But only if my brother is still alive.”

I popped another bubble and gave a thumbs up, sealing our deal.

***

Yuri wanted to get going right away, and I was all for it. The faster we could get there the better. Unfortunately, the safest path to the power plant was far from comfortable…

“This way to the barn.” Yuri said as the two of us crawled through a cramped tunnel vent.

“Alright,” I huffed out from behind Yuri.

This tunnel shaft was dark and muggy. A literal den of rats and spiders. When your hand touched something fuzzy or a web invaded your hair, you shivered and shrugged it off, praying nothing would bite. For the claustrophobic types, this would have been pure terror, but a cynical part of me didn’t hate it.

Spaces like these were so disconnected from society that it almost felt blissfully private. People tended to avoid spots like these for obvious reasons. I could have done anything, said anything, nobody would tell me those things were unacceptable here because nobody would ever know. If Yuri wasn’t here, I’d have probably said some pretty nasty words just to get my fix for the day.

Of course, I only thought that until we got out of there and got to breathe fresh air again. Too bad it smelled like manure…

Like he said, a barn was on the other side. It’d clearly been abandoned for a while, but there were plenty of things laying around like equipment and piles of dirt still awaiting the day they’d get used again by some hillbilly.

The power plant wasn’t far away, but the path wasn’t completely clear. We both decided it would be a good idea to scout things out, but Yuri refused to let me do it.

“No, stay here…” he ordered. “Let me do it.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.” I said, popping a bubble in his face. “I can scout too, you know? I’m probably a lot faster than you.”

“I’m serious,” he glared, challenging my position. “I know this area well, so I can go and come back quickly. Just stay here and wait for me to return.” He was gone before I could even reply.

“Jerk.”

I hated being sidelined, and it was even worse that he was taking the helm. As much as this was his mission and he was requesting my help, not being able to lead the charge was murder. I wanted to be able to control as much of this plan as possible, and relying on him took some of that control away.

To keep myself from dying of literal boredom while I waited, I gazed around the barn, looking for anything remotely interesting. Nothing in here was worth snatching for some cash, but a large square barn quilt caught my attention.

The barn quilt sign looked like a kaleidoscope of triangles. At one point this might have been a source of pride for whatever family operated this farm, but now it was just a dusty heap along with all the other junk left to rust.

Since it was so drab, I whipped out my spray cans and got to work livening it up a bit. Where once were washed out shapes and symmetry, now were colorful bulbs of letters and a big smiley face.

“This is my barn now.” I smirked, proudly holstering the spray cans in my bag.

“What are you doing?” Yuri asked, returning from his scouting.

“Marking my territory, what’s it look like? I had to pass the time doing something. You were taking too long.”

“Forget that.” He gestured for me to follow him. “The coast is clear, so let’s go.”