"Seatbelts."
Ugh, the seatbelt thing again! This guy is obsessed with safety.
"You know I don't like them."
"Too bad." He reaches over to fasten my seatbelt for me, then grabs his from across his own shoulder and buckles himself in. "Unless you want to stay cooped up in the palace, you'll wear your seatbelt."
His tone of voice is oddly familiar. Stern, but caring about my safety. Like my parents, and my grandparents. Even my sister is motherly, always worrying over the well-being of others.
I can't think of Wolfe that way though. He's too dangerous, too bloodthirsty. He's nothing like my family.
Wolfe takes me on a tour of the city and I get to see first-hand the damage caused by the Primitive hordes when the city fell. It's not as extensive as I had originally thought, but it’s still heartbreaking. Many buildings and homes that had been standing just over a year ago are now razed to the ground. Burnt out shells of what they used to be. I wonder if the families that once lived inside managed to escape or if they perished. Maybe they still live in the city.
As always, Wolfe is able to see my thoughts. "Most were killed. Some stayed to rebuild, others showed up from Sanctuaries that are now unlivable."
"Like the doctor," I murmur.
He nods. "Yes. Her and others."
I turn and look at him curiously. "You allow a female doctor to work within the walls of Sanctuary."
He glances at me. "I don't hear a question."
I sigh deeply. This man can be so aggravatingly difficult sometimes. He knows exactly what I want, but he's going to make me dig for the information.
"I want to know why you allow a woman to work as a doctor in a Sanctuary. The practice is pretty much unheard of. She's young and she's pretty, and she'd make a good wife for someone. She could have strong, intelligent babies. Why hasn't she been married off to one of your soldiers?" My words come out in an angry rush. I'm not exactly angry at Wolfe, but I am angry at the situation. I hate that this is what women have become.
He doesn't look at me but continues to drive. "She's a good doctor. We have need of a doctor more than we have need of more mouths to feed."
It's not exactly what I want to hear. I want him to tell me that women are capable of doing whatever men are. That he appreciates the doctor’s tenacity in learning her profession and practicing it in a world that doesn't accept female doctors. I want to hear these things, because then I’ll know for sure he appreciates me for who I am; a female warrior determined to make a better world.
Instead, he's told me the truth as he sees it. Where there's a need he'll fill it. If they did need more babies in the Santa Fe Sanctuary, Dr. Summers probably would've been married off. A depressing thought. All that talent going to waste.
I fall silent as we continue our tour of the city. Most of the industrial section has remained untouched and is now a busy hive of activity. Wolfe tells me this is where they’re keeping the city supplies, including food, building materials, clothes and seeds.
I watch in fascination as someone leaves with several bars of twisted metal under his arm. He throws them into an old rusty truck, climbs in the back and is driven away. Another person leaves a warehouse with a couple of sacks under his arms, likely food supplies.
Next, Wolfe takes me to the big gates of the city and waves for them to be opened. I'm growing more curious by the minute. It's rare to leave a Sanctuary city, unless a person is going on a hunting trip. Wolfe is acting as though this is an everyday occurrence. Maybe it is for him. He doesn't even speak to his men as they open the gate.
Instead of taking me for another tour, he drives straight to the water refinery plant. I see immediately why he's brought me here. Half of the plant has collapsed into a heap of rubble, probably taken out during the zombie attacks, since it was mostly intact a year ago when we fled the city. When we arrive, he parks as close to the gates as he can get and we walk the rest of the way toward the ruins. He cocks his rifle, which he pulled from the back of the vehicle.
Taking his lead, I pull my gun with one hand and my knife in the other. Wolfe taught me this strategy. Shoot the zombie, take it down to the ground, cut its head off.
He doesn't say a word as we walk. He doesn't need to. There could easily still be zombies in the area, hiding out in these buildings. Not all of them would've been able to keep up with their horde. Newer zombies would've taken a few days to finish their Turn and figure out their new state of being. They might've gotten left behind when the hordes moved on.
We move safely through the building until we reach the control center. I gasp in dismay as I see the disaster left behind. All of the computer equipment has been taken out. I'm not sure exactly how it worked to begin with, but I remember Silas telling me that we were lucky to have this plant. It was the sole reason why our Sanctuary was as successful as it was. Our ability to maintain a steady supply of clean water for the city.
"We don't have any water, do we?" I ask, fear creeping into my voice.
A society can't survive without water. The entire city will have to migrate to another. What kind of Sanctuary will accept that many thousands of people? Some of them elderly.
"We have what's being pulled up from the river. A tedious, tiring task that some citizens are unable to complete without help. I have soldiers pumping water when they should be protecting the city. For many weeks, our main focus has been on keeping enough water in the city. We have to boil it, which means we need fuel for the heat. As you know, it’s not easy to come by."
He runs a hand over his hair and for the first time I can see his frustration. This is a problem he doesn't know how to deal with. Probably doesn't want to deal with it either.
"What are you going to do about it?" I ask softly.
I don't like that look of frustration on his face. Wolfe is always so controlled, so confident, that any other expression feels like a punch to my gut. It means that things must be dire.
"Not me.” He looks at me. “You. What are you going to do about it?"
“What am I going to do about it?" I ask incredulously. "What can I do about it?"
He turns to give me his full attention, his arms crossed over his chest. "When Silas’s health began to decline, you were there. You picked up the slack and you ran the city. Every part of it, including the water. You tell me what we should do."
I want to argue with him, tell him that this isn't my problem. My mission was to spread the vaccine as far and wide as I could get it. He interrupted that mission and now he’s demanding that I solve his problems? I open my mouth to tell him all this, but then the truth hits me. This was my Sanctuary… is my Sanctuary. I care about the people here. If I can do something to help, then I should.
I bite my lip and pace away from him, the gears of my brain turning as I try to figure out a solution. Most cities are able to get water in one of two ways; a well, or a river and treatment plant. Our treatment plant is now off-line, which leaves us with one other option until we’re able to fix the damage, which could take years.
"Dig a well." I turn to look at him, to see if he's considering my words.
He nods slowly. "It's a solution we thought of, but it comes with its own set of problems. We've had one well collapse and another dry out almost as soon as it was dug up."