CHAPTER 84: A CAT IN A BOX.

A small convoy of four modified vehicles left Fortress Four. One tank led the way infront and another at the back. Sunshine had one good drone that she had repaired and coated in anti-corrosion paint. It was flying ahead, sending back footage of what lay ahead.

No surprise, the further down the mountain they went, the more bones they saw swimming in the running water. All the trees outside the bubble covering the forest had wilted. The cars they met had rusted and the rain had eaten away at everything. Only shells remained.

The group had masks over their faces so they could not smell the earth. If they could, they would not miss the metallic whiff in the air.

"Holy shit! Everything is dead out here." Major Elio’s voice came through the interior comm of the vehicle in which Sunshine was sitting. "I would hate to be one of the people caught out in this rain."

"You are one of those people Major. You just happen to be inside a vehicle." Nimo answered.

Steam evaporated from all the cars as the anti-corrosion paint and weather absorbent material fought back against the acid rain.

"What do we do if we meet someone out here" Major Elio asked.

"Run them over." O’Toole answered.

Sunshine spoke into a walkie-talkie. "We are approaching the first base. Everyone keep your masks on, keep in mind that the mist is more deadly than acid rain and we don’t know if there is some out here."

They came up on Jon’s base and the drone flew to the camera. Sunshine communicated with the men on the wall through the drone.

"This is Sunshine Quinn from Fortress four or the bigger and better base. We brought gel for the bubble. I am sure that some of you have noticed that it is thinning. You only have a minute to open your gates receive the package and then we will be on our way."

"That’s right, we are the bigger and better base." Major Elio bragged.

In thirty seconds, the gates were opened, and the packages were delivered. Jon came down in person to supervise because the bubble was very important to him.

The first two cars entered a small part of the base near the gate. Since they were inside the bubble, they climbed out of the vehicles and handed over the packages.

He had a megaphone in hand through which he said, "We have a passage that connects the rest of our bases. We can deliver the other packages to the rest of the bases."

Sunshine was pleased to hear this and she gave her permission. More boxes were handed off.

"Tell Hades that I want my paintings back." Jon said.

Sunshine lowered the window of the vehicle and answered through a megaphone, "Sure. If you can pay for the bubbles and gel. And it reminds me; your rich friends have not paid. Collect the protection fee Jon, this babysitter will be by to pick it up after the acid rain stops. If they don’t pay, they won’t get any gel when the next disaster comes."

"Send this to your husband, it is a gift from me." Jon replied.

Trevor walked up to the car and handed Sunshine a box. She received it and put it in the back. The convoy retreated, dropping off noisy whines from the tires. The journey back was smooth; no dangers were encountered.

Back at the base, the vehicles parked in a containment zone in the first wall and engineers in hazard suits started the decontamination process which Sunshine had taught them.

The team that had gone outside also went through decontamination and left all their clothes in an isolation area. They stepped out in weather absorbent under suits and changed into normal clothes before rejoining the rest of the residents.

Sunshine looked up and noticed that the bubble had changed. It was still pink, just more vibrant and with patterns of what looked like flowers.

"I told you it was a girl bubble." Major Elio muttered.

Sunshine grunted as she entered a car with Nimo, and they drove back to the inner wall.

Hades and the boys had not left the information center. When they saw her, they rushed up to her and went in for hugs.

She placed the box on the ground and hugged them.

"Damn, I won’t get to spank your ghost." Hades said.

She laughed. "I brought you a gift."

He backed off and so did the boys. "What gift?" he asked.

"It is a gift from Jon." she replied, squatting down to open the package. "Also your billionaire friends have some kind of passage or tunnel that connects their bases. Before you pout because you were left out. I am glad we were not included. If one of their bases is infiltrated, the rest will be compromised."

The box was opened completely and a head popped up. It was one confused spotted cat in an oxygen mask.

"What the hell?" Sunshine mumbled.

Hades was also confused. Why would Jon send him a cat?

"We better scan this thing before it kills us somehow." Hades backed away from the cat and pulled his children away as well.

"System scan."

[A cat with a listening device in the collar.]

Sunshine ripped off the diamond cat collar and said into it, "Nice try Jon."

She threw it on the ground and smashed it with her hammer.

****

At his base, Jon hissed at Trevor. "You said this would work."

Trevor shook his head and shrugged. "We have been outsmarted by Hades’s wife sir."

Jon dismissed Trevor and poured himself some wine. The wolf had married a fox. Who could have known that Hades’s wife would be a bigger nut to crack than him?

He was pissed because he had lost to Hades and Sunshine again. He also wanted his cat back. It was actually his wife’s cat, a rare Asian leopard cat she had acquired at 120,000 dollars.

She was going to throw a fit when she found out that it was gone.

****

Meanwhile at the Rain hound’s mountain, the promised land that was built on broken faith and lies, Pastor Salem had just sacrificed another bunch of believers. One tried to run away but she was shot to death, apparently, she had lost faith was not fit to live among the other believers.

Pastor Salem had planted spies among the believers that reported back to him on those that were scorners of the divine prophet. They were the ones being forced out as sacrifices.

Moon was on her best behavior. She could not afford to get on Pastor Salem’s bad side during the acid rain. Her biggest problem now was Cassius. He had been missing for three days now.

Despite all that had happened and the fact that he slapped her, she was still planning to stick with him. He was the Eighth king. How could she let him go easily? She could not depend on Pastor Salem; Cassius was her only hope now.

"Can you blame him for running away?" Rowena draped a woolen scarf over her shoulders. "You chose him to die in the yellow rain. You poured hot water on him. Anyway, we are better off without him."

Moon’s fingers brushed over the bracelet. "Mother I still have some use of that fool, and he run away with the gold we brought over. All of it."

"Our gold?" Rowena stumbled backwards. "The one we exchanged for the money in his cards that we took from the Quinn estate. That gold!!"

"Yes, that gold, Cassius disappeared with it all." Moon sneered, "But not to worry, I have a secret stash inside my bunker in Crosstown. After the acid rain stops, we can go there. Salem is a lost cause, and he can do nothing without my prophesies. When he realizes that he will come looking for me to join forces with him and I will give him death."

Moon laughed as she thought about the gruesome way in which she would murder him. She had not decided how, but she knew it would be painful, slow and bloody.