Chapter 17  The grumpy puma

The North Block flourished and the residents became more settled, but with every new refugee and every new piece of information they got, Alex roamed more actively. Min and Gitte felt the effects of this, as they always had something to do. Although care was taken to ensure that everyone got their rest, they were still often on the move to rescue survivors, provide supplies or scout out areas. 

The fact that it was slowly but surely getting colder helped them against the infected. These now formed more and more groups. This made it easier to hunt them down. The Netherlands was recaptured in no time, followed by Belgium, then France, Spain and Portugal. Contacts were established with Switzerland, which had survived, and with the Vatican. Italy was added to the list. 

At the same time, parts of Germany were reconquered, first the Hanseatic cities, then the territories on the Rhine side. Towards France, all the way down to Switzerland. This is where the second contact was established. With the former government of Germany. Many wondered why the whole of Germany had not been reconquered. 

Min wondered that too. Gitte told him that huge swarms were on the move there. Alex opened army bunkers, got the resource, the soldiers there joined him and he used the government's underground network. Which had secured itself with Austria and Bavaria. He blocked the gate that came from Bavaria. Alex left the diplomatic tasks to the Council, even if he now had to attend meetings in Kiel more often. 

Lost in thought, Bettina looked down from the wall of the citadel at the lifeless city, snorting lifelessly at the thought. Scattered survivors and otherwise only infected people wandered through the alleyways and lamented their suffering. Her thoughts should be in the here and now, that she had been idiotically lucky back then, but at the same time she was depressed. She couldn't forgive herself for leaving Alex there back then. 

Sighing, she continued to look out over the city, hurried footsteps approaching behind her.

"Bettina, the radios, they're picking up something."

She looked at the voice, it was Egon, a cathedral priest, he raised an eyebrow.

"We've been hearing ghost signals for weeks Egon."

Egon was 1.70 tall and approaching 80, he was still wearing his priest's robes.

"That's different Bettina, it sounds like the military."

Bettina spat over the wall at the infected loitering at the bottom of the wall. 

"And what do they say?"

" Well... my English is rusty, but Rita said it's situation reports and target coordinates... From here..."

"Here? Egon, the Americans from the other side are long gone and what used to be here is down there. Even the bandits don't dare enter the city anymore."

A gust of wind came up and blew in her face. She wished that Egon was right, that someone somewhere had survived, that there had been an army. That this big turd would pass.

"Egon we need to plan the next supply run..." she paused, she thought she heard gunfire, which was rare.

Egon looked at her. 

" What's wrong?"

" I thought I had..."

Helicopters thundered overhead towards the city and she covered her ears in reflex. She was stunned. The helicopters opened fire on the infected and circled over the buildings. She saw armored vehicles driving through the streets and shooting at the infected.

She looked at Egon, who had fallen to his knees and was praying. 

"Egon, run to the radio and report in!"

He looked at her, stood up and hurried away. She was about to follow him when she saw several soldiers walking past on the sidewalk below her, having shot the infected. They were escorting Mike and John.

"There are fewer infected than expected," Mike commented.

"That's because we've smoked out most of them in the Ruhr and because several of Uther's hunting squads are with us by popular demand. " John interjected, looking out over the city.

Mike laughed. "Yes, the boys are fast and brutal."

Bettina wanted to say something, but several laser dots flashed across her. She raised her hands.

"See, I told you there were people in there," came from Mike. 

John nodded and looked up at her.

"They're in the north block now." 

Mike smiled, Bettina stared at Mike. 

"Ey... you're Alex's bowling pin... I mean... not like that anymore ... but ..." 

Mike looked at her and laughed. 

"Yes, that's me, so you're Bettinch then."

"Bettinch..." John looked at him. 

Mike laughed.

"Bettina, open the door, now this shit is over for you."

A world collapsed for her. 

"But ... there are still people out there ..."

"Give us the position, we'll send people," came from Mike.

Egon came running.

"Bettina... they're not responding!" 

He stopped, startled, and looked at the soldiers.

John held his cell phone to his ear.

"Where the hell are you ... you said you were going to your old place for a bit ... no, what do you mean you're still showing him around town ... No, you're waiting until I get there ...". John hung up. 

"I'm telling you, he just set this up to get his stuff out of the pad."

Mike laughed. 

"You take care of this one, I'll make sure the cat doesn't run away." John trudged off with several soldiers in tow. Bettina looked after him in amazement, then at Mike. 

"Will you open the gate? Then we can have a better chat."

Bettina nodded and left. Egon followed her.

"Can we trust them? What if they're bandits?" 

Bettina bit her lip. 

"I don't think so, Egon, they've got too much equipment with them. And that man there..."

There was a great deal of commotion in the citadel; she had managed to save almost a hundred people, who were now gathered uneasily at the gate and staring at Bettina. She hated being the center of attention. 

She walked quietly to the gate and opened it. Mike stood in front of it with four soldiers. He was smiling. 

Egon looked at them and at the people behind them.

Mike cleared his throat and pulled a piece of paper out of his protective vest. 

"On behalf of the North Block, may I welcome you. You will be evacuated to the safe area and given medical attention. " He folded up the note and pocketed it. 

"Well, the official business is over. We'll clear the city and head further south along the Rhine and secure the area. The survivors will go to reception camps where you will be taken care of and then, depending on how you decide, you will stay in the northern block or be free to go to the new FRG or Switzerland. "

Bettina came closer.

"You're not bandits, are you? We've had a few here who've made a big show of themselves."

Some of the people nodded.

"No, we're not bandits. We are refugees who have founded a new state."

"But how is that possible?" asked a woman behind Bettina.

Mike thought about it.

" I'll put it this way, our commander is very thorough in his planning."

" Aha, and we're supposed to believe that?"

Mike grinned.

" Yep."

Bettina sighed, she was tired of hiding.

"Come in, I'll show you on the map where the last survivors are, at least as far as we know from a week ago."

She turned to the people.

"I'll take them up on their offer, we're short of everything anyway and we need to think about the old ones too."

Egon continued to look at Mike, who rummaged in his pockets and found a letter, which he handed to Egon.

"The Pope is asking all the clergy to come to the Vatican to save themselves. They're trying to find out how many are still there."

Egon's eyes widened. 

"So the fascists are in power now?" asked a youngster who looked pretty run-down.

"No. The northern block is run by a council sitting in Koppenhagen. I think the Pope was at a meeting once..." Mike thought about it and then looked at the soldiers. 

" Once, but then he assigned the bishop and the nun to it," said one of the soldiers. 

" I see." 

"And where are the civilians? What about other religions?" the teenager continued to ask. 

"When it comes to religion, there's one from every religion on the council. In the current phase, the focus is on the north. The infrastructure has to be rebuilt first and that can't be done overnight. "

Bettina looked at the teenager. 

"That's enough, you've been nagging since you got here. Now that the people are here to get us to safety, you don't like it. "

"They're ..."

Mike looked at him.

" Good. Then we'll let you out in the new FRG or you can try your luck on the other side of the Rhine." 

Bettina's mind drifted off, it seemed like a dream to her now, she showed Mike the map. The people were loaded onto buses and taken away. To her own relief, they only drove to an airport, where they were put on a cargo plane and flown to Kiel, where they were all taken to a reception camp. 

Mike hadn't lied, there were people living here and they met civilians and other survivors who all told similar stories. 

She herself was examined from head to toe, no spot on her was overlooked. She was on a drip for days because she was malnourished. She had to talk to people to tell them what she had experienced. At some point it became too much for her, she had given up her beloved vegan diet on the run and ate everything to survive. 

With an infusion in tow, she came back into the conversation, they said she had traumas etc., which was true.

Bettina came into the usual room and instead of the doctor, Babsi was sitting at the table, radiating warmth. 

"Hello, come and sit down."

She grumbled. 

"Where's the other Quaksalber?"

Babsi looked at her. 

"Dr. Ottowan has been assigned another patient. He's classified her as a serious case. He says they're blaming themselves for losing their partner?" 

Bettina groaned and sat down at the table.

"Yes. No." She breathed out heavily. 

"I told him partner like work partner, you see. I left him at a sausage stand when it started because I'd found an injured person who turned out to be infected. I heard the control center tell him to go to Bingen and then all hell broke loose."

She looked at Babsi. 

"If I hadn't left, he would still be here..."

Babsi looked at her scrutinizingly, pulled a tablet out of her bag and called up Bettina's file. 

"Ah, I see, the service partner. What was your relationship with him?"

Bettina looked at her in confusion. 

"So nothing sexual, you understand? He was assigned to me as my first service partner back then. I had my spurs behind me and no longer needed supervision. He came to us fresh from the station. Only briefly with the police."

Babsi continued to look at her. 

"Go on, it says here that they kept having different partners."

Bettina leaned back and sighed.

"Yes, he did further training, so pointless, and then he was so often on call for demonstrations and so on. There was hardly ever a demonstration anywhere. There he was, doing courses for this nonsense, but he never got promoted. I mean, he had so many qualifications. More than me and I had a higher rank." 

"Then why did they ask for him as a partner so often?"

Bettina looked at her. 

"I felt safe, even if it sounds stupid. I did karate, but being called out on a mission in the middle of the night as a woman. People fawned over him, he was a giant too."

Babsi scrolled through the file. She clicked on a link, looked at the photo and turned the tablet over. It showed Bettina and Alex, when they were still a mountain of meat, at a vehicle inspection.

"Yeah, that's him, that's the crazy thing. He never approached."

"Hhmmm." Babsi mused.

Bettina looked at her.

"I know I can't turn back time, but I don't feel like rotting here forever either ..."

Babsi looked at her.

"Have you seen this before?" 

She called up the picture of John, who had just stepped out of an airplane.

"Yes, he was here with his bowling buddy, seemed to be in a hurry. Said something about a cat."

"Hm." She looked at Bettina.

"Well, I've got good news and bad news for you."

"Uh-huh..." 

" Your former partner survived. "

She called up a photo of Alex standing atop a Humvee in full gear, turned it around and showed it to her. Bettina's eyes grew wide. 

"Can I see him?"

"That's the bad news. He looks like a stray cat."

Bettina stared at the picture, it really was him. Babsi put the tablet down in front of her, reached for her cell phone and dialed a number.

"Hello John, where are you right now?"

Bettina looked at Babsi, but didn't hear what came in reply.

" I see ... and approximately when? ... 6 days? Okay, I see, but are you sure?"

The door opened behind Bettina and she saw Gitte come in, she was amazed at how similar she looked to Babsi.

Babsi hung up and looked at Gitte.

"You can't always come in when I have a patient." 

"A patient?" Gitte looked at Bettina and then at Tablet. 

"Looks more like looking at pictures when Alex was in Rome."

Bettina continued to look at her. Babsi sighed.

"And how do you know that?" 

Gitte pointed to a masked soldier in front of the car.

"That's me and that's Min and John was standing behind the one who took the photo."

Bettina didn't follow. 

" So what do you want Gitte? "

Gitte smiled.

" To pick you up for dinner and" she pointed to a ring on her hand. 

Babsi looked at her. 

" A ring? "

Gitte grinned. 

Bettina continued to look at her, Babsi looked at her. 

"They have to wait six days, then there's a window of time when they can meet him. They have to hold out that long."

"Six days..."