Two months later, Vulay and her team of Downs enforcers had visited several regions. They managed to salvage many things. This included various types of equipment, generators, medication, spare parts, fuel, chemicals, and even a few Sentray body parts.
They had managed to rescue a handful of Sapiens. A large majority of the residents from other regions had died. All the regions they had visited were damaged beyond repair with the resources available to them. The train tracks had collapsed around all the regions. Travelling could only be done using ground vehicles. They had yet to find a salvageable flying vehicle.
Denise, Scott, Hamlet, and Lily, the goat Sape, had broken into many industrial slaughterhouses. Sadly, many of the Sapes inside were already dead when they arrived. The loss of power had cut off their food and water supply. The Sentray had attacked three of the slaughterhouses further north. It appeared they had chosen to kill Sape from only one of these slaughterhouses; the rest walked free.
Despite the losses, with Hamlet’s power and strength, they still managed to free over 100,000 Sapes from twelve different industrial slaughterhouses. This time, there was no chance of them being recaptured.
The large Central Agriculture Zone provided sufficient resources for all these Sapes, as well as the residents of Downs. Denise also continued her search for her father but had no success. She was beginning to question whether she even saw him at all. It might have just been wishful thinking at the time.
While travelling between slaughterhouses, Denise wrote about the events of the past nine months. It was intended as a warning for future generations. She considered such a document to be important. The chances of these events becoming lost in history were high.
Denise and her team, and Vulay and her team, arrived back in Downs on the same day. They both went to visit Orcilla in the laboratory.
‘Wow, what have you done with Orcilla?’ asked Vulay. ‘You look amazing. Are you shapeshifting?’
‘No, this is the new me,’ said Orcilla. ‘I need to thank these two geniuses.’ Orcilla pointed to the twins, who were hard at work on the other side of the room. ‘They have developed a wonder cream that has healed much of my scar tissue.’
‘That’s quite an accomplishment in such a short time,’ said Denise.
‘Even more impressive, it is made entirely out of fruit. The key ingredient is coconut,’ said Orcilla. ‘I think this is a great first step for developing our cure for the others.’
Orcilla took Vulay and Denise to a small cafeteria on a lower floor. They drank pineapple juice and had a friendly chitchat for about half an hour.
‘It is time we make that trip to the Central Region,’ said Vulay.
‘I know,’ said Orcilla, nodding slightly. ‘I’ve pressured you to procrastinate for too long.’
‘I want you to take a full team with you,’ said Orcilla as she placed her hand on Vulay’s shoulder. ‘It could still be dangerous.’
‘It shouldn’t be too bad,’ said Vulay. ‘I have yet to find any surviving Linap.’
‘If you did, would you help them?’ asked Denise.
Vulay paused before responding. ‘Yeah, we all need each other now,’ she said hesitantly.
‘Is that a promise?’ asked Denise firmly.
‘That’s a promise,’ replied Vulay.
After Orcilla had returned to the laboratory, Vulay and Denise continued to chat.
‘I found something in West that you might find useful,’ said Vulay to Denise as she pulled out a map displaying hidden ancient House of Divine Knowledge locations.
‘Where did you find this?’ said Denise in amazement.
‘It was in a vault under the House of Divine Knowledge,’ replied Vulay.
Denise studied the locations. ‘They numbered the locations. Over here is ‘L3’, down there is ‘L6’, and ‘L1’ is not far from here.’
‘I suppose “L” is for location,’ said Vulay.
‘I guess, but it seems a little redundant,’ said Denise.
‘I’ll let you take one of our rugged enforcer vehicles,’ said Vulay.
‘I don’t need any convincing,’ said Denise. ‘These could be perfect places for me to leave a copy of this document.’
‘As most places probably will be,’ said Vulay in a slightly snarky tone.
Denise chuckled. The two chatted for a while longer.
Meanwhile, in the laboratory, Daily had just walked in.
‘Where have you been?’ asked Orcilla, who was looking through a microscope.
‘I was at the food truck making pancakes,’ said Daily. ‘We had a very large order to fill.’
‘Was it Hamlet?’ asked Orcilla as she glanced up from the microscope.
‘Yes, and a few others,’ said Daily.
‘You are going to make her fat,’ said Orcilla as she looked back into the microscope.
‘She has been gone for months,’ said Daily. ‘I’m sure several dozen pancakes won’t make a difference.’
Orcilla looked up at Daily. ‘When I first met you, I would never have guessed you were really this sweet,’ she said with a slight grin.
‘You kidnapped me and stole my identity,’ said Daily.
‘That was a stressful time in my life,’ chuckled Orcilla.
‘I thought you were beautiful then, but that version of you can’t compare to your real self,’ said Daily.
Orcilla looked over at the twins, who were pulling faces and pretending to vomit. ‘Okay, let’s get back to work,’ said Orcilla. ‘We’re still trying to save our species.’
Orcilla watched Daily walk back to his station. Once he got there, he glanced across at Orcilla. She winked at him. Daily smiled as he got back to work.
Near the gates of the region, Vulay had gathered her team. Denise was with her.
Vulay asked Denise, ‘Are you sure you want to go alone?’
‘This is something I need to do by myself,’ replied Denise.
‘Okay,’ said Vulay. ‘Your vehicle is well supplied with everything you’ll need.’
‘Yeah, I noticed,’ chuckled Denise.
‘Not a laughing matter,’ said Vulay. ‘You never know when certain items will become essential.’
‘I’ll see you when I get back,’ said Denise. ‘Oh, I put a little something in your vehicle too.’
Both Denise and Vulay smiled at each other.
They all got into their vehicles. Vulay and her team headed north-west to the Capital Region. Denise headed east towards the hidden location ‘L1’.
