Chapter 42: Unveiling the Truth

Chapter 42: Unveiling the Truth

Braedon went around the house, surveying the damage. Most of it was from the passage of time, which was a relief, as it meant the house was still structurally sound. However, he couldn't help but feel upset about the stolen generator, the wrecked state of his room, and the missing computer along with his precious noodle supply and other stored provisions. He did find a USB and its phone adapter behind a cupboard, which was a small relief.

"Good, and with the changes Fae made to the phone, John should still be able to watch his anime. It's not the library his PC had, but it will be good enough. Plus, the drives from the PC seem intact, so it could still be salvageable, I hope," Braedon muttered to himself.

Just as he was examining the recovered items, Alice burst into the room.

"We're back! Wow, they really did a number on this place. Also, water is still running, but no power, so no hot water. We're in for lots of cold showers, it seems. Oh, but I cleaned the girl up all nice and clean and made sure to explain everything to her, isn't that right?" Alice said, her tone shifting from playful to hard as she gave Rebecca a stern look.

Rebecca, wearing leather armor that barely contained her assets now, instead of the steel armor from before, eep'd a quiet but high-toned "Yes!" while looking down.

"How in the hell did someone like you manage to survive till now? What, did you just fight beasts and bend over for any human you found?" Alice taunted, her tone smug and clearly trying to provoke a reaction from the other woman. It worked, as Rebecca gave her a fierce glare.

"I tried to avoid human contact as best I could, but I'm like this with him because every single cell and instinct in me is telling me he can kill me easily, maybe not now, but if I'm not on his good side, I can meet my end eventually by his hand. Besides, if he's the owner of that greenhouse, it means I have a better chance of getting the herb this way than risking its destruction by the owner of the greenhouse and ending up hurt in the process," Rebecca explained, her tone heated before slowly calming down at the end.

"Uh huh, you do know this guy isn't even that strong. I mean, the strongest thing he has is those chains of his, and that's about it. The one you should be worried about is me. He belongs to me, and I sure as hell don't mind cutting you down if you try interfering with that or doing anything to him," Alice said, her tone practically dripping with bloodlust, sending a chill down Rebecca's spine. But Rebecca stared back at her, refusing to back down.

"The 'he' and 'him' you're talking about is right here, and we would like to focus on more important things than a catfight. As much as it greatly boosts an ego, now is not the time for it," Braedon said, breaking the tense atmosphere.

"First, I want you to tell me all you know about the Chaos Marauders or whatever they're called. What weapons do they use, their numbers, do they keep slaves or prisoners? I want you to tell me everything you know," Braedon said as he sat on the remains of what was once a bed, with Alice rushing over to sit in front of him. He noticed her putting his hand on her head for head pats and rubbing, confused but not complaining, taking it as Alice being Alice. He turned his focus back to Rebecca.

"Uhm, well, from what I know, they're one of the small subordinate groups belonging to the Warlord's Dominion and are in charge of the surrounding four-block area, this place being at the edge of it, touching upon one of their rivals, the Nightshade Syndicate, who no one really knows much about, just that they're also a subordinate group under Warlord's Domination with unknown numbers and really strange. They're like assassins and thieves, all dark and mysterious, and so cool, even if they're strange," Rebecca explained calmly before slowly growing excited, which garnered confused looks from Braedon and Alice.

"Okay, try to explain things to us then; I'll try to keep it simpler so you can't change the subject so fast like that. Let's start with these groups that have popped up. Who is Warlord's Dominion, and are there others we should be aware of?" Braedon said, trying to make sense of the information.

"Right, Warlord's Dominion is one of the five groups that have the most control currently and the ones in charge of most of the city but reaching far out to here. They have four subordinate groups consisting of the Chaos Marauders, Shadow Reavers, Crimson Legionnaires, and lastly, Nightshade Syndicate. The other big groups I don't know much about, only that they exist, and only The Radiant Crusaders because they're batshit crazy about 'cleansing' anyone and everything that doesn't conform to their 'lord of light', trying to create what they call a holy land, which has caused fights against Warlords Dominion. The other big groups seem to keep to themselves," she told them, sharing all she knew with the pair.

"Okay, this is progress. Unfortunately, I think I know that light group. Their leader wouldn't happen to be a woman with a weird gold staff, would it?" Braedon said, processing what he just heard.

"I'm not sure; they just refer to her as the grand priestess, sorry," Rebecca told them apologetically.

"It's fine, just knowing that is enough for now. Next question: you said this area falls under the control of the Chaos Marauders. What are they like number-wise and in general?" Braedon continued, trying to get more information about the immediate group that could possibly be causing trouble.

"They're raiders and pillagers, brutal rapists and slaughterers who just feed off destruction and chaos. They're the Warlord Dominion's attack dogs. Recently, they had a conflict with the other factions for overstepping their boundaries, but their numbers operating here are upwards of twenty from what is publicly known. My friend is in one of their controlled settlements, and she has it rough. That herb would help her lover, and then we would be under their protection again. The settlement is about half a day's walk, and I was only given till sunset to find what I was looking for around here. As for weapons, it's mostly scrap metal shaped into swords or knives. I think maybe a gun or two, but I can't say for sure. The ones here are mostly the castaways or those who can't be trusted for actual jobs and are dumped here in the four-block radius area to manage, since there isn't much here other than beasts and everything else has been looted. The real ones with positions and the sort are kept closer to their base. I think the Nightshade Syndicate is also kept close to keep them in line and in case these trouble elements need to be taken out, but that's just my guess," Rebecca explained, trying to provide as much information as best she could.

"And how many settlement places have popped up that you know of? Do the ones here have one?" Braedon continued, trying to gather more information.

"Uhm, I know of three of them; they're pretty spread out and far apart. One belongs to the crazies. Then there's the one under the main branch of the Chaos Marauders, and the last one is a few days away, but I haven't gone there yet. It's apparently a paradise and well-protected, where everyone is well looked after, and anyone is welcome," she finished, giving Braedon a good idea of how things have become.

"And the government hasn't tried anything? I mean, I'm pretty sure they would have done something by now," Alice piped up, getting a nod from Braedon as he looked at Rebecca, waiting for her answer.

"They set up a few refugee camps, but that was within the first month or so, and most of them fell apart due to their leaders' greed. If there are still some, I, unfortunately, haven't heard of them," Rebecca told them, getting a slow nod from Braedon. The new information was helping him mentally plan out their next steps.