Teams

After Soren gave his speech and had the demonstration with Mason he pulled out Jordan to introduce to everyone. Jordan's family stood with him. Soren was satisfied with the acceptance of the crowd, no one would have trouble with Jordan's presence.

Soren made certain to take a moment to talk with everyone there. He wanted to know each human, to get a feel for them. Soon, he would be assigning them jobs to do. It was important for him to know who would do well as part of a team that would be sent out and who would do better staying there to build houses, cut down trees and help with all the mundane things that needed to be done before they could truly call their home a functioning sanctuary.

He planned to give Mason a couple days to settle into his new life as an evolved. After that a team would be created for Mason to lead into Culton. Soren had decided to send the mercenaries with the team. He would give them food and enough gear to survive on the condition that they work with the team. Once the team was ready to head back they could go their separate ways.

Soren knew that he could save himself a lot of trouble if he just killed them. Four humans would go a long way to restocking the cooler. But, long term wise it was a bad choice. They knew that he had a vaccine for the virus and eventually that would mean human's outside his reach would come to him for it.

If he was going to stop the complete annihilation of humans more people would need to be vaccinated. The inability to mutate would not guarantee their survival, but it would slow or potentially stop the spread. Trying to brand out beyond the country would be difficult at the moment.

At this point in the game Soren was satisfied with saving a few thousand humans. He knew that there was a lot in the way of saving even a few hundred, his father at the top of the list. The personal attack had been a surprise. Soren had never expected his father to do something so straightforward and aggressive.

It was two days after the gathering in the yard and Mason's transition from human to evolved when the team had been put together. Mason's friend, Gabriel, was one of the members. Soren had gone down to the dungeon followed closely by Avery, a fact that he was surprised about. He had intended for Avery to take a longer break after everything, but Avery had refused to stay in bed, insisting on resuming his duties as Soren's assistant.

So, notebook in hand, Avery followed Soren. Ethan was with them as well, laden down with bulletproof vests and gear. Soren did not plan on sending the four out without proper protection. Avery unlocked the doors and Soren addressed them as they stepped out.

"I have a job for the four of you."

"Do we have a choice?"

Vaughan took the initiative to speak up, though he did not dare look Soren in the eyes.

"There are always choices. We need meat for the cooler, after all."

That took away the color of all four.

"What are we to do?"

"I have a team heading to Culton that will be led by a fledgling evolved. They are tasked with securing supplies and helping any humans they find. With a secondary order to kill any mutated that come within sight.

"I want the four of you to accompany them. You will be going as support and offer any suggestions when you deem it necessary. No one in the team has any experience and I would rather keep all of them alive."

Ethan stepped forward and dropped the vest and gear on the floor. Amongst the gear were guns.

"Once the mission is complete, you will be allowed to go your separate way when they head back. Give them any trouble, try to sabotage the mission in any way and they have orders to kill you. Even inexperienced, my evolved will be able to take out the four of you."

Vaughan felt his heartbeat speed up as a sliver of hope appeared.

"We will be free to go? Anywhere we want?"

Soren nodded, "So long as you do your part during the mission. I have no need of you here and you will find that none of the humans here will be friendly toward you."

"What about Wells?"

Vaughan glanced over at Avery where he stood just behind Soren. Soren's first response was to laugh.

"What say you, Avery?"

Avery locked eyes with Vaughan, his expression cold. "My place is here. What Soren has offered you will settle all debts."

Vaughan nodded, though his hand clenched in a fist. "We will take the job."

His hand unclenched as he looked down at the gear. Vaughan knew that he had failed Wells, there was nothing left that he could do. He recognized that Soren had complete control over his friend. The only thing left for him was to save the rest of his team. He was willing to join Soren's team and help train them if it meant his men would be free at the end.

*******

Mason looked over to see Soren approaching. With him was Avery and four men he did not recognize, though he was expecting them. When Soren had discussed the details of their trip he had mentioned bringing him temporary helpers.

His core team members included Gabriel, Darcy and Ashton. Grady and Joel rounded out the team with Mason as the leader. Mason was nervous about it and not just because of the circumstances with the four extra members. He had had two days to adjust to his new state. Being out, surrounded by humans, was going to test him. He was determined to succeed, to prove they had chosen correctly.

Mason had failed Issac, failed Carol. To him this was his last chance. The pain of losing Carol was still there, still sharp, but he knew that if Issac could continue then he could. He would save as many people as he could to make up for losing her.

"How goes the preparations?"

"We're almost done."

"Good. This is Vaughan, Moss, Saunders, and Bates. Like we discussed, they'll be lending a hand while you're out."

Mason nodded in their direction as Soren was introducing them. They were wearing what he assumed were bulletproof vests and were well armed. Mason himself was not armed with a gun, his physical strength was more than enough, but the rest of his team each had a gun.

He's not certain he trusts any of them with a gun. Only Grady had used a gun before and when they were practicing the day before their ability to hit a target was lacking. Most of their practice would happen while out. That's partly why they were getting help from Vaughan's group. Hopefully to keep them from killing themselves and each other.

"You can go ahead and get on the bus, we won't be much longer."

Vaughan nodded in acknowledgement and the four went in.

"How are you doing?"

Mason turned back to Soren and gave a half-hearted smile.

"Well as can be expected, I guess. I'm giving this my all, sir, I will make sure it goes well."

"I have faith in you. Avery."

Avery stepped forward and held out a page from his notebook. Mason took the paper and looked it over; it was a list of items.

"These are the items that we need the most. If there is not a quantity by it then grab as many as you can. Of course, when it comes to food, grab as much as you can."

Mason took another look at the list then folded it and put it in his pants pocket.

"Everything is packed and ready to go."

Gabriel said, coming over to stand next to Mason.

"I will leave you guys to it. Good luck."

Soren turned away and left, keeping the farewells short. Mason stood there for a moment as he watched them walk away then turned to Gabriel.

"You get to drive."

"Why me?"

Mason laughed as he climbed onto the bus, "Because I'm the boss."