Zek

I should have pushed. Damnit I should have pushed! Fuck! Why did I mention Shanzi? That made it personal. That's what did it!

It's not even about the fucking tank! We need the food, the water, the medicine! All of it.

Damnit, Zek. Of course it's about the tank.

But it's about the supplies too. Stuff we need. Things that will help us.

I scoffed. "Take inventory" I murmured to myself as I climbed down the latter past multiple different stories in the main superstructure of the cruiser, passing levels that contained the dormitories, the mess hall, the armory, and the like.

Sure. I'll take inventory. And when you realize that we have no food. No water. No medicine for Gordez, you'll realize. You'll see that I was right.

"Shit!" I grunted to myself as I slammed pen the door on the first floor of the superstructure, leading to the open deck of the ship.

I headed across the deck, taking in the midafternoon air, the smell of the sea, all of it. Sensations I was bound to become dumb to in all due time should things go according to plan. "Life at sea". I sounded the words out in my word. Not great. Not terrible, but it was our plan. The one we had made, all 15 of us, back in the Dragon's Camp, overlooking the great city of Ba Sing Se.

And quite the great city it was. The city that killed half of everybody I ever knew.

I made a turn, going down into the bowels of the ship, passing the lower level dormitories for high ranking maintenance staff, deeper down to the motor pool/docking bay, where Gordez lay on a bench, sprawled out.

Hizo lied there again, throat slit, in the middle of Citadel. I held his body, begging for him to wake up. Of course, he never did, but I didn't know that at the time. I held him and begged him to wake up. That he'd go back to Shanzi. That they'd get married and have kids, but he never did. He was dead. And he stayed that way.

But Gordez wasn't dead. He shifted, grunted, and fell asleep again.

I breathed out, thanking whatever master of karma was listening. I forced myself to smile then, wondering if Gordez had slept through the entire series of event leading up to our presence at sea.

I decided to find out, approaching Gordez, shaking him at first, knowing full well I wouldn't be able to bring the big guy somewhere more comfortable without his cooperation.

I shook his shoulder, and all at once, he shot awake. "I'm awake! I'm awake! He yelled. Let's do this!"

I smiled. I was going to enjoy this. "Do what exactly, Gordez?"

"We have to go!" he said, stumbling off of the bench where he was lying, clutching his injured side as he attempted to stand. I helped him up. It was the least I could do as I made fun of him for missing the events. "The Fire Nation. They'll be waking up soon!"

"It's a bit late for that, Gordez."

"Wh-What do you mean?"

"They got us. They're keeping us down here until they know what to do with us."

"N-No. Wait. What? No. No we have to get out-we. Why the heck are you laughing?!"

I couldn't hold it in anymore. I burst out, reveling in Gordez's suffering as he looked at me, still drowning in confusion, asking "What's going on?"

It took me a while to catch a breath, but I did soon enough, saying, "You're good, Gordez. We made it."

"We made it? You mean I-"

"Slept right through it. Like a baby. Don't worry," I said, slapping him on the back. "We did the heavy lifting for you. Now come on, let's find somewhere for you to evade your duties in better comfort. How you feeling?"

"Like somebody through a ball of fire right between my rib cage," he said as I helped him move.

"Would you like some medicine to help you out?"

"Do you have medicine?"

"No."

"Why d'you gotta get my hopes up?"

"Well. Luke, if I can find him, and I, are about to check out this ship for anything useful. Food, medicine, I don't know."

"You won't find shit, Zek. Sorry to say. They stripped these things dry. Only difference between this and a husk is that this baby has a working engine."

"Well shit. That complicates things. Still doesn't mean we won't find anything."

"Yeah. Guess not. Who knows? One of those soldiers coulda been storing some vintage porno here."

"Hey who knows?" This room like good?" I asked as we got up the stairs to the maintenance dormitories, referring to the first one on the right.

"Yeah. This should be good. If anything, I'll look for a nicer one later and-. Oh what the hell?!"

The room was empty. And no. Not empty in terms of abandoned. The furniture had been stripped off the ground. No bed. No desk. No banners. Nothing.

I chuckled. "Damn, Gordez. You were right. They really did fuck you over."

"Oh you're laughing now. Won't be so funny tonight when you're sleeping on the floor."

"Nah. I'll be fine. I'll just sleep on top of you, big guy. Want me to set you down in a corner somewhere?"

"No. I'm good. Just let me go. Might do me some good to get some walking done."

"Alright. Your choice, and before I go. Know where Luke is?"

"Yeah. Engine room's where he headed before I, yeah. Never mind. He'll be there."

"Cool. Thanks, Gordez. See you!"

And another reason we need Shanzi. We have sleeping bags in the tank.

I went back down to the motor pool, heading sternwards to the engine room, passing the individual boilers as they grew in size and quality, travelling under steam pipes, gas lines, all of it.

Unlike Boss and Gordez, I'd never been on one of these before. Never been out at sea as a matter of fact. Oh boy. The seasickness was going to be great.

I found Luke at the end of the engine room, leaning against the wall, directly in front a boiler, the one I presumed he had been putting his effort into keeping this thing moving. All on his own.

More people too. We need that more than anything. Don't think I have any in the tank, though.

All the same, Luke just sat there, sharpening his knife, in an image that didn't exactly convey comfort.

"Hey Luke," I said, rather too casually in an effort to not sound the least bit disconcerted. "You good?"

He nodded.

This silent Luke stuff was really going to get old soon.

"Great. Wonderful. Hey, look. Boss was wondering if we could take inventory on the ship. Se if we have anything useful on board. Sound good?" Mind taking the upstairs. Like the command structure and-. Yeah. You know what I mean. See ya."

I left before it was too late. Holy shit, I knew he'd done something bad, but shit, what he told us. How he killed an entire town? Fucking hell. Not that we haven't done worse, but shit. He's 12. Fucking 12! Shit ain't right when a 12-year-old commits more war crimes than an average army does on a whole campaign.

I knew where to check first. 1 motor pool may have been empty, but the other may have given me more luck.

So I was there, at the stern of the boat, a level above the engine room, where I realized that such was the case.

In the middle of it, mounted on its deployment rails, in perfect condition was-

"A patrol boat," said Gordez who had snuck up behind me. "Nice find."

"Think it works?" I asked as I approached it, checking it for any exterior damage that might explain what it was doing on a soon to be demolished cruiser.

"No idea. No harm checking it out."

"Yeah. You check to see if there's any damage. Ima check it inside." I vaulted over the side of the patrol boat, not even budging it given its construction of solid steel that somehow still enabled it speed and agility. And buoyancy of course.

Everything inside seemed to be in working order and Gordez calling "Looks good to me" from outside was beginning to get my hopes up. It was all coming together. Except, shit. No way.

I jumped off of the boat a few feet to the metallic surface, scanning the side for, there! I rushed to it, opening the latch, taking a whiff and, I recoiled. Yeah. It's ready to go.

And so my questions were answered. I had been asking myself for an answer. And here it was. Undamaged, fueled, and ready to go. If it worked, we'd have a functioning tank, medicine, food, and water. If I was lucky, Boss would catch news of this soon enough and wait up for me. If I wasn't, well, best not to think that way.