Chapter 15: Storm Clouds

"Mmmhh.. Yer getting the hang of this thing I'll give ya that." Frederick was closely observing and monitoring Gregory's attempts in blacksmithing. They were making more armor plates from scrap metal.
"I'm glad to hear that!" Gregory was pleased with the acknowledgement.
"I didn't say yer doing a  good job now you youngin, I just said yer improving."  Frederick raised his voice to emphasize that last part.

Gregory and Frederick continued working in the workshop, until;
"Who are you?!" One of the guards on the tower shouted, with a heavy commanding voice, while pointing his rifle at something outside the walls.
"Please! Just let us come in, we have nowhere else to go!" The distressed voice of a mother could be heard in the far distance. 
Gregory could not see the person that was talking, but just hearing her voice made him feel empathetic towards her, a weird phenomenon. So he started heading to one of the towers to see what was happening.
"Come closer, slowly! We need to inspect you!" The guard responded to the woman's cry for help in a harsh manner. That's how things worked in these lands though.
You couldn't trust people easily, especially when resources are scarce and survival isn't guaranteed for everyone. it is in these kinds of situations where people show their true nature, willing to do anything to survive, no matter how underhanded or immoral. Tricking the emotions of people, like empathy, was quite a common tactic.
"Okay! Just please don't shoot, I have children!"
"Yeah yeah, I can see them..." One of the guards muttered to himself.
"Hey, what are you here for?" The same guard was surprised when he witnessed Gregory climb the tower.
"Who is this?" Gregory saw a middle aged woman with 3 young children around her. Their cloths were dirty and poor, and even burned at some spots.
"We don't know, she just started coming here from the direction of the oasis."
"Alright, we'll let them in, right?" That was Gregory's first instinct. In his previous life maybe he wouldn't care about something like this, but now he had to make sure that he did enough good in this world.
"Hell no! We at least need to inspect them first. This woman could be strapped with explosives under those clothes for all I know..." The guard looked disgusted at Gregory's idea.
Trust was a resource just as rare as water in this world it seems.
"But-"
"Stand still there! Take off your clothes! And the kids too!" As Gregory was about to start arguing with the guard next to him, the guard on the other tower shouted this at this small group of survivors.
"What?! No! We just need a place to stay, just for a couple of days at least. We have our own food and water, you don't need to give us anything!"
"I said, take off your clothes!"
"Hey! You can't tell'em to do that, just let them in! Can't you see it's just a mother with her children?" Gregory was furious at this sight. 
"I don't care about that, the safety of the people in here comes first. We can't just let anyone in willy-nilly.
"Just let them in! I can tell they are safe. I'll take full responsibility if they aren't!"
"There's no responsibility here kid, human lives are at stake!"
"They are human lives as well! Are you just gonna let them out here to become insect food?"
The kids outside were starting to look more and more scared, while their mother was hugging them, trying to calm them down.
"If they want in, they need to take off their clothes, so we can see if they have bombs under there or not!"
"If you're not gonna let them in, I'm leaving!"
"Good, less mouths to feed." The guard was as sure as a monolith. He prioritized the safety of the existing, trusted inhabitants of the settlement. Letting more people in might seem like a good thing, but to the guard it was only an unnecessary risk with no payoff. A woman and young kids wouldn't be able to provide anything productive.

"Shut it you two." A loud but monotone voice was heard.
Astrea emerged from the main building, along with some other people. Everyone was starting to get worried while hearing the fuss that was taking place. She quickly climbed up the tower and turned her attention to the people outside.
"Let them in. I'll be observing them. There is no need to worry."
"Fine. If something goes wrong though I'm gonna kill you..." The guard had to accept, though not happily.
"Thank you..." The woman was relieved, and as the gates opened she started making her way  inside of the walls, along with her kids.

***

"Where did you come from?"
Astrea brought them to the main building for an interrogation of sorts.
"We lived in a community like yours for a while... until they came."
"Who's they?
"A bunch of lunatics... they barely resembled humans anymore, they looked more like neanderthals. Their eyes were red and they were so dirty and unclean."
"Right, I see. What did they do?"
The woman clearly wasn't in a mood to talk about that right now but Astrea couldn't see that. And even if she could she wouldn't care. Information is power.
"They set everything they could on fire... They had spears and knives made from wood and stone. They killed everyone."
"Did you see them gathering the corpses?"
The woman sighed heavily at this question and got up from her seat. Her expression was angry and she looked at Astrea with piercing eyes.
"Can you not see the situation that I'm in?! Do you seriously think I am comfortable answering that right now?"
"If you feel uncomfortable talking to me you could have just told me earlier and I wouldn't have questioned you, instead of shouting at me for no reason..." Astrea's voice was as machine-like as ever, and she sounded bored. This must be a common occurrence for her.
"Let's go." The woman called to her kids and they went up, to the sleeping quarters, and Astrea followed. She had to be monitoring them for a while.
I hope this counts as a good deed at least...

***

Night time.

The guard team, along with Joshua, Astrea, and Gregory, were sitting around a table, discussing a pressing matter.
"The junkies are coming closer." Astrea got straight to the point, as always.
"And how'd you figure that out, missy?" Joshua had a troubled look on his face.
"They tried to ambushe me and Gregory at the oasis, they tried to attack us last night, and now the woman that came in today with her kids told me that she was from a nearby settlement that was ravaged by them."
"Mmhh, I see. Should we try to push them back then?" One of the guards suggested a solution.
"That'd take a lot of time and energy. Also it's too risky. I say we wait and see." Astrea had a more passive solution.
"Well... do we even know where their base is?" Gregory proposed a good point.
"Right. We can't really do anything right now."