Chapter 2: Meet The Lions.

It didn't take him long to get up and ready it was still a bit dark outside. "Come on boys, we gotta get the lead out." Tobi said with a small cup of coffee. "You guys better make sure to use the head now it'd be a while before we're able to get to one." Tony added. "Do we always start this early?" Vince asked making sure he had his ID badge attached to his pants with his elastic retractable string. "No. Boss goes by weather. If it is going to be a hot day we start earlier to beat the heat. Basically if it's below a 10o we start later. If it's over we start pretty early." Daxton told him as they were gathering around.

"Hey does anyone by any chance know the time difference from here to China?" Vincent asked looking at his watch. "Two and a half hours with China being ahead." Ana said popping up out of no where. "Thanks boss." "Alright we got about thirty vehicles heading out and we got about fifty workers with us today. We are trenching out and doing concrete. Ryder, Vincent, Dallas, Dylan and Killian you will be welding for me later. I will send you some helpers as the days go. Each of you can have about three alright?" They all nodded.

"Alright load up and lets shove off." "Is Lions going to be there today Vee?" "Nope they better not be they supposed to be starting on another side to meet up with us by about tomorrow or the next day." She told Eli with a silent warning not to bring it up yet. After getting in the car he had to ask. "Is there a problem with the Lion team?" Vincent asked in the truck that had a few people in it. "Well you know how that's the Jamison crew. Turns out Ana and the Jamison line are very close like they go way back." Andrew told him. "Yeah but not all in good ways apparently they clash a lot it's like watching siblings tare each other to shreds." Jaxon added with a shiver.

"Although Jordon is older. Avianna is actually the one with a good head on her shoulders she ends up saving their ass a lot. Always pulling their ass out of the fire." Dallas said shaking his head slightly. "It's just gonna be awkward and uncomfortable all the way around all the time just roll with it." Dylan told hi flatly with a sad smile. Nodding his head. They truck soon stopped and every one hopped out.

"Alright you all know the drill these men will be over all of you if you need anything you come to them. We are trenching this whole line it is marked on the flags read the flags and you will be fine. We are all on this together today. Water trucks will be by every hour and a half until lunch than they will be by every forty minutes until we leave. We leave when this is done up to the that red flag that says stop. The medic truck will come every two and half hours if you will need bandages."

"If your diabetic the glucose meter and insulin. Hypoglycemic a small snack. Asthma will have inhalers you know how this works. If you start to feel odd you go and get vitals read. Understood?" "YES BOSS!" They said in unison there was more than fifty other people here. The lot of them started to wait until the back hoes were done getting started than they all grabbed ropes and shovels.

"Vincent!" She called to him. Walking over to her. "Can you understand what's written on these flags?" Looking down he nodded. "Good I made you this list to keep on you." She handed him the small list of what the colors of the flags meant on the back was the list of phone numbers to every place in the sight. "OK so here's the quick version. Green is where we start. Red is where we stop. Yellow is caution there are dangerous pipes like gas in the ground or other dangerous things while we dig."

"Orange is weather related caution like potential mudslides, sink holes things like that. Brown is possible old land mines or bomby things even possible military parts. Black is possible predator territory for wild or dangerous animals or reptiles. Blue is where you need medic team to come to. Say you fall and need help to get down you leave a blue flag with type of situation on flag." She told hi as he nodded.

"Here is a walkie. You need anything were channel eleven for our group. Channel three back to base office. Channel four is the medic unit and channel six is the Lions. You won't need that as much it's also on the card. Channel seven if you need a ride back from a job site. Also Channel eight is for canteen if you need them to send out more meals or something for the restricted workers. Some have allergies, diabetes, low iron, low sugar. You just call them up and tell them what letter you are at see the flags they say G today. So you would say site G. Got it?" "Yes ma'am." Ok after lunch you guys get to that tent over there and all you need including the welding orders will be there. Get on it." He watched as Ana went for a shovel and got in and started digging with the rest of the workers.

As the day went on he noticed a lot of people would come and ask him thing about the math of how far to go. If they could rest. He would give them ten minutes each time they asked. The heat crept up fast on them. Ana and Knox were checking on everyone every hour making sure everyone was fine even the ones resting she never hurried them. They never took advantage of the time either. It was clear everyone wanted to hurry and go home. He was amazed at how far they came after lunch they were well over half way.

Avianna was handing out all the lunches and drinks and when she finished she went to the concrete trucks and was instructing them on what the new team will be doing. He was amazed at how much they accomplished in one day. Normally it would take city workers to do this in like a week trenching and placing concrete, welding and getting the pipes down. She was doing all as she went with permits. Taking a look at the progress everyone has made.

"Incredible isn't it. How fast everything actually is here. Working under her. She gets things done. It's actually a good day no one has passed out. No heat stroke. We going to be done early too." Killian told him as he handed him a fresh bottle of Gatorade. "You'll need this where we going." He added. "Are the Lion team the same way?" Vincent asked. "They do the same thing we doing except they are much slower than we are I bet right now they are almost half way. They will trench everything out and probably only get half of the concrete done. They will all leave at four. They also didn't start until seven this morning." Killian said shaking his head.

"They are not as lucky as we are they already down twelve workers from the heat." Ryder told them. "How do you know." "Medic unit told us son the last check through." He added. Shaking their heads. "How many people did Jordon take?" Dylan asked worried. "About sixty-five." Killian added. "Guess he Vee going to have to send some more out tomorrow. Just for them to play catch up." Dallas added. "How many people actually work out here like where they coming from." Vincent asked knowing there isn't that many bunk houses.

"Oh the same day workers. The come work for the day and go home. They come and after they complete all the days we need them they get paid at the end of the day or week depending on how long they are used for. They sign day worker waivers and agreement forms. It helps a lot of the young men help support their families and lets the go to school at the same time." Killian told him. Vincent respect was starting to grow for the boss lady. He wished he had someone who would have given him that chance when he was some of these peoples ages. Who knows where he could be by now.

After long day the welders gathered together as another man tested their work and after they past inspection they noticed they were the last ones to leave. "Don't' worry man we always the last ones out." Andrew told him as they all walked back to the two SUVs. "Where's Vee?" Killian asked looking around. "She already head back. She said go back and wash up give her an hour and head to the canteen." Tobi told them as he pulled out. "YEAH!!" Dallas said bouncing gin his seat.

"What are you so wound up for?" Vincent asked with a smile. "Avianna making dinner." Eli told him with a smile as they all perked up a little bit. "Everyone else would have already eaten so at least it will be chill." Daxton said with a slight smile. Getting out and cleaning up they noticed she had place a ton of food on the long tables that could easily fit all of them comfortably just on one side.

Taking a deeper look he was over whelmed by the smell. It called out to the nose and you can feast on it with your eyes. In front of them was bowls of salad, coleslaw, fruit salad, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and gravy, dinner rolls, and the best part fried chicken. There was even some hamburger buns so you could turn into a friend chicken sandwich. "Come in my loves and get it while it's hot." Ana told them as she put out pitchers of Iced water, iced tea and strawberry lemonade.

As the sat down before they got comfortable they heard them. "DAMN it smells so good in here." One man said. "Guess boss lady is at it again." Another called out. "Smells like she put her foot in it." Another hollered making everyone smile. "Evening Ms. Ana. Do you think you got room for twelve more hungry souls." The tallest one asked as they all removed their hats. "I figured y'all be crawling in here I made plenty. Sit down." She motioned to the tables.

"Wait. Looks like their little pack expanded." One said. "Yeah don't know this one." Another said looking him up and down. "Well introduce yourself and you may have a plate." Killian told them with a look. They all nodded. "We the Lion Group under Jordon Jamison. I'm Levi Walters it's nice to meet you." He stuck out his hand. "Vincent Cheng." He said loudly to the rest. One by one they quickly shook his hand in a hurry to eat. "Gregory or Greg Becker." "Riley Hernandez." "Lucas Briggs." "Eric Goodman."

"Aaron Malone." "Noah Miller." "Owen Gomez." "Nathan or Nate Lopez." "Roman Rivers." "Declan Kingston." "I'm Jeremy Bowen." "Nice to meet you all." Vincent said as they all took their seats. "Well most." Damien mumbled to him. Making a couple of the other guys smirk. Damien was on his left and Jaxon to his right. "So how far did you guys make it today?" Andrew asked them as he passed some of the drinks down to the others. "We got up to half way with concrete. We should be meeting you down by trench tomorrow." Greg spoke up.

"Let's make sure we do." Ana said in a tone that left no room for argument. "This is so good Avianna. Wish you let me snatch you up." Lucas spoke up. "Please bro she's way out of your league." Riley spoke over hi before anyone else could say anything. "She probably could catch a third world herpie from you from here bro." Levi added on making everyone laugh hard. They all enjoyed their meals talking about their days and things they heard or enjoyed doing. Some talked about a movie or book they read. Some spoke of some issues from the places they call home.

Some even argued about books, movies, or super heroes. It was nice getting to know so many people at once. It just felt like there was a wall between the twelve lions and them. Maybe the guys were right it will always be a little odd. If he was to listen to Killian they don't like to work as hard as our group does and they get themselves into more trouble in town than we do. "You know it's been awhile since we had a pick up game now that you got yourself a twelfth what do you say we have a game Saturday?" Nate spoke up. "That sounds fun." Noah added.

The group looked around the table all reading each other silently. "What game you looking for?" "We can do baseball or basket ball? Think we maybe too sore for football." Declan told them. "Alright we can have two pick up games of basket ball. There's still two full courts in town in the park. We can do six and six just pull names out of a hat." Dax spoke up. "Sounds good." Roman nodded. "What does the loser have to do?" Eric spoke up. Everyone stood straight up. "If both sides of a team loses than loser has two scrub and clean the canteen, gym, shower house and bathrooms. Top to bottom. In French maid costumes the whole set." Ryder spoke up.

"Deal if a team wins both times loser will do that. But they also need to stand for group picture and it the costume can't be so short that our junk hangs out." Greg said as everyone quickly agreed to that. Avi anna shaking her head. "You all need to let me know when you plan on cleaning." She spoke up. "Why is that darling you want to be around to take a good look" Owen asked her with a wink.

"First off I didn't think you would already think of losing. Second I just don't want to be around aint no body want to see any of that." Avianna told him loudly using her hand to wave down at them making everyone on her side laugh hard. "Fine see you guys this Saturday ten in the morning." Aaron told them as they got up. Thanking Avianna for the food. The guys all helped bring the dishes to the sink. Cleaning off the tables and Kissing her on the forehead thanking her for the food they left to their beds.

Vincent being the last to be in there heard noises coming from the kitchen. Walking back he looked and saw Avianna cleaning the dishes. Dropping on of the pots on the floor he quickly went to pick it up for her. "Oh didn't think you was still here. Thank you." Smiling taking the pot from him. "Let me help." "Nope. I'm good I got this you just go rest up." She cut him off. "You made food for twenty five people after working ten hours in the heat. Yes I noticed you didn't stop for a break either. The least I can do is help with a few dishes. Come on I feel bad if I leave you in here. Please." Vincent asked her with a sad voice.

"FINE. I'll wash all the pots and pans and you use that dish washer over there for all the other stuff I got everything loaded on the trays you just have to push them in and out. You can put them away as you go. It's all pretty straight forward you can see where they are labeled." He nodded and started to get to work. She had her phone out playing some oldies and she was singing getting really into it. He noticed how different the playlist was. Laughing to himself.

"Problem?" She asked him with her soapy hand on her hip. "I like your taste in music. You like literally everything. I mean you going from Rescue me to DMX back to country to Hells Bells. I like it. You don't get that many people who are open to everything like that." "Thanks. I try. I just really love music. I use it as focal point. Only one thing I learned for sure in life. There is nothing that music, good food or a drink with a good friend can't fix." " I agree with you. How about those nights where you just crank up the radio roll all windows down and drive to nowhere?" He asked her crossing his arms waiting for the next load to get done.

"Touché. Especially on those summer nights. Yeah I miss that sometimes. I drive out here sometimes I worry I may never come back." "Why you get lost easy?" He laughed hard at her. "No. You ass. You drive to think out your problems to release them. Let them go. There's just some days where no matter how far you go they like to find their way back into that dark place of your mind. Seep it's ugly way back into your heart. To the point where hitting an old appliance." Both of them smiling to each other turning back to their tasks.

They both started to sing the last few songs as they finished up. Walking out of the canteen. "Thanks for the help Vinny." Looking at her with an amused look. "Thanks for feeding us. See you in the morning boss." Vincent told her as she waved walking off to the bunks. He took out his phone to see his cousin video calling him. He answered only to see the four faces he missed at the moment.

"Hey fam. How you doing?" Ethan asked with a big smile. Ethan was always life of the party type of guy and more like a best friend than family. "I'm doing good. Just cleaned up and walking around for a bit. How you guys doing. Hi nǎinai. (grandma)." He waved through the phone with a huge smile. "There's my handsome boy." She said waving back to him. "Did you eat? Are you keeping cool?" "Yes shūshū (uncle) I am fine. It's not as bad as it could be. I ate well. My boss made us dinner tonight." Vincent said with much respect.

"Well he sounds very nice to do that." His grandma praised. "She nǎinai. My boss is a woman. She is very nice. Well she's good to us anyways." Vincent shrugged. "Is she hot?" Ethan asked as Vincent sacked him in the back of his head. "Show some respect you damn horn dog. Show us around you sight son let's see what your day looks like." His dad asked looking around. Vincent was quiet but laughed and enjoyed his time on the phone with his family he showed them the bunk house last and all the guys got in on the call smiling waving and talking to them too. It was like being away with friends.

The week flew by it was now Saturday. He noticed Avianna was on the phone arguing A LOT lately with the main boss of the Lion team. They failed to meet the daily sections and slowed production down for our end while doing so. It was not a good day for the Lion Group once Ana roasted their ass for not getting the job done. They not only failed to meet the daily tasks they failed to keep their workers hydrated a lot of them had to get sent out for poor care. They even forgot to get the water truck to come hourly. Thinking someone else in their group was calling them out. They were poorly guided all week.

His team was sore for picking up the slack. It's a good thing all of them have a small hand in basic first aide to help those around them. Avianna showed Vincent how to use the glucose meter. How the insulin works and where to stick the needles. Just in case. She showed him how to do a torniquet and other life saving little hacks just in case. She made sure everyone on her team knew all the little things that could possible save a life. Since they were so far in the dessert it wasn't like help would get to them right away.

It was amazing she even showed him how to get to water through the dirt. Where to really look for it. The guys were all stretching now waiting on the court ready to pull teams. "OK so court one we have Lions Owen, Eric. Declan, Aaron, Noah and Lucas. The rest of us get to the other court." Riley said as the men all nodded and headed to where they were picked to go. "Wolves on Court one we got Killian, Drew, Tobi, Damien, Ry, and Dylan. The rest of you with me on the second court." Daxton told them as they all nodded.

"Who's the guy talking to Ana?" Vincent asked as Avianna looked pist and was talking to him a bit aggressively. "Oh shit. That's Jordon Jamison. Guess he's finally back." Dallas said scratching the back of his head. "Well let's just play on. We'll deal with them after." Roman said with a sigh. Over the last week Vincent had it narrowed down to only Roman, Levi, Jeremy, Riley, and Declan to be decent human beings as they are the only ones who try and actually know what they're doing on the job. Owen was a bit of a gamble it all depend on how he felt that day he could be a hero or a villain. The rest of the Lions weren't worth a damn and his whole crew warned him.

The games were going great. Killian's team on court one played so hard that they had a thirty point lead before the others got tired and called it quits. However on court two it wasn't the same. There was a five point difference between the two and now it was tied up. Both sides were playing hard. Until they decided to play dirty and tripped up both Jaxon and Dax. Vincent got slammed hard into the side out of no where. Letting it go until he noticed Nathan tripped him intentionally again.

"Do we have a problem bro? That's the third time you using unnecessary force with me. It's a game dude. Calm down a bit." Vincent told him calling him out. Jaxon and Dax had scratches on their knees and arms from Greg and Nathan both. "Sorry man guess I got a little to into the game. My bad." He told him back with no emotion. Damn psycho ass is asking for it. Lost in his thoughts he told the guys quietly to give him the ball as they were tied. They agreed.

Once Vincent got the ball he got to the half court line and caught on to Nathan as he slammed and tripped him mid air shooting the ball. Nathan slammed hard on the ground as the ball made it in leaving Wolves for the win. "Well the hell man." Nathan roared. "My bad guess I got to caught up in the game." Vincent said in the same attitude he received. "Levi pushing Nathan back as he went to move forward. "You had that coming." He heard roman tell him. As they all backed off.

"Well I guess I need spa day next weekend to avoid all the new maids coming to scrub top to bottom next Saturday." Ana told them walking up with a smile. "Your guy hurt mine." Jordon called Vince out. "Really I watched two of your little boys do multiple personal fouls on more than three of my men. Didn't see you so pipe up one word then did you Jordi?" She told him crossing her arms looking at Jordon with her head tilted to the side. "Now tell me if one of your guys happens to actually hurt them where I couldn't use them Monday how do you plan to compensate me? It's not like I can have them do any more of your men's jobs now can I? Keep your boys in check Jordi." Avianna told him in a tone that was begging him to argue.

Watching him just grunt his teeth and look over as the guys just looked down at the ground. Walking over taking three fresh water bottles and three clean rags. Coming up looking at each guy giving them the bottle and rag to clean the bloody scratches. "How's your ankle and your side?" Avi asked Vincent. "Little sore nothing too bad. Dude needs to cut back though he a heavy for his size." He told making them laugh. "You did good today. Pushing back. You going to need a lot more of that nerve so make sure to keep it strong. It only gets worse with them from here minus a couple."

"Well at least we got that to look forward to." "How about we all go grab lunch and chill at the pool hall." Looking around they all lit up. "Yes ma'am." Eli was the first to jump in the car. Come on y'all I can here the pizza calling." He added making them all smile. After a long day of gaining money off billiards just to lose half to Ana. He had a really great time his first full week away from his home and family. First full week of work. It is as bad as they said it would be but looking down at his phone and his family and the group around him. It was worth it.