C13 Gain Day 3
July 18th
At 5:15 AM
Sunrise...
"Ugh... I'm so tired..."
As the sun began to rise in the east, the soldiers guarding the water tower breathed a sigh of relief. Only 20 more minutes until the end of their shift. Just a little longer and they could clock out.
It seems to be a common human trait; when you know you're only minutes away from finishing work and taking a break, you suddenly don't feel like doing anything at all.
The guards were no exception.
Meanwhile, Payson and Ashes, accompanied by Meow, had taken up their positions in hiding. After careful consideration, they decided Moorer wasn't cut out for this stealth mission and had him stay behind in the grass hut to watch the car.
"Oh... let's see... these guys are really slack..." chuckled Ashes.
The water treatment plant was enclosed by a simple five-meter-high wall, with two 20-meter-tall watchtowers at the entrance, each topped with a large searchlight – the main obstacle for their infiltration.
But now, with the sun up, these lazy bones had switched off the searchlights and were huddled by the gate in small groups, waiting for the morning shift to take over.
"There's a crowd at the gate... How are we supposed to get in?" Payson inquired.
"Who said anything about going through the gate?" Ashes pointed to a section of the wall away from the gate. "Why not go over there?"
"...I'm just a regular guy, not like you, able to scale walls with ease."
"Don't worry," Meow soothed, nuzzling Payson's face, "We'll help you up..."
...
The team reached the base of the wall, far from the gate. Ashes surveyed the terrain, then swiftly climbed up and lowered a rope.
"This... This is your plan?" Payson questioned.
As they spoke, Ashes had already secured the rope to the wall with a climbing pick, while Meow had scaled the wall to scout the interior.
"Enough talk, just climb up the rope!"
"You... I... Alright, I'm all in!"
With Ashes' coaching, Payson wrapped the rope around himself and shakily began to ascend the wall.
"If I had known I'd have to endure this, I would've stayed behind to watch the car..." Payson grumbled to himself.
It took Payson nearly a minute to finally scale the wall. Once Ashes was sure Payson was safe, he leapt onto the wall and landed smoothly inside, without making a sound.
Ashes, having been trained, calculated his landing perfectly after scaling the wall, positioning himself right between two large sheds. It appeared to be an open-air warehouse for storing plastic containers.
"Take off the rope... and jump down like I did," Ashes instructed in a low voice.
Clumsily, Payson untied the rope, but lost his balance and nearly tumbled into the wall. Luckily, Ashes was quick to react and caught him, preventing what could have been months of caring for an injured comrade.
"That scared me to death..." Payson said, patting his chest. "I'm not going through this again..."
Suddenly, Ashes, noticing Payson was still catching his breath, pulled him into the shadows to hide inside the shed.
They saw a soldier in desert camouflage with a homemade bulletproof vest and a dirty red beret, suggesting he was an officer of some sort.
But what really caught Ashes and Payson's attention wasn't his attire; it was the military canteen and the pistol on the soldier's belt.
The soldier hummed a tune as he approached the wall, and finally stopped at the junction behind the shed to relieve himself.
"So, after all that, the guy just came here to pee..."
Ashes, utilizing his skills, silently approached the unsuspecting soldier from behind.
"Hmm?" The soldier felt the warmth behind him but before he could turn around, he felt a hand clamp down on his neck and another cover his mouth.
"Snap!" In a swift motion, the soldier's neck was broken.
Ashes silently took him down and dragged his body into the shadows.
Payson searched the body and found a relatively new M1911 pistol, loaded with .45 caliber bullets, three magazines, and a military knife.
Ashes found a 900ml military canteen, a pack of compressed biscuits, and about twenty various beverage bottle caps.
"Bottle caps?" Payson asked, confused. "Why would they collect those? They don't seem to have any practical value..."
"Useless? These are currency!" Ashes exclaimed, surprised. "Twenty or so caps! That's two days' wages for an average person!"
"Do you guys really use bottle caps as money?"
"Absolutely. Besides, cigarettes and jewelry can also serve as currency..."
After scavenging and dealing with the bodies, Ashes and Payson pressed on. At the end of the shed, they were reunited with Meow, whom they hadn't seen in a while.
Meow was perched atop a half-meter-tall plastic blue transparent container, keeping watch. It only noticed them when it caught their scent.
"Comrade Meow Meow, it feels like an eternity since we last saw each other," Ashes joked.
"Uh-huh... You finally made it. Look over there..."
Meow Meow gestured, and they spotted their objective across the greenhouse—the central number one water tower.
But the presence of four fully-armed guards at the gate posed a challenge. These guards, unlike the lax soldiers they had encountered before, were on high alert, wielding single-shot crossbows and homemade rifles without a hint of relaxation.
"This... This is going to be tough," Payson remarked.
"I've been crawling around here for so long... I think we'll need a diversion to draw them away so we can sneak in and get the water," Meow Meow suggested.
"So... where should we create the diversion?"
Ashes chuckled, shaking his head. He pulled a handful of bottle caps from his pocket and tossed them near a metal can not far from the guards.
"What the heck was that noise?" The guards heard the clatter and instinctively aimed their weapons.
"Smith! Yue! Go check it out."
The two guards approached the can, crossbows at the ready. In the sunlight, the bottle caps on the ground sparkled enticingly.
"Wow! Boss! It's money! And quite a bit of it!" Smith exclaimed with glee.
"Money? But who threw it?" the boss mused, deep in thought.
"Come on... who complains about finding money?" the boss's companion said, lowering his rifle and slapping his shoulder. "Let's grab a few and get some drinks after our shift!"
As the two turned to leave, Meow Meow and Ashes slipped by like silent shadows, darting into the greenhouse beneath the central water tower.
The shed was snug against the water tap to the left, with a table on the right. On it were three military canteens identical to the earlier ones and a small box of water purification tablets. Ashes packed all these items into his bag without exception.
"Meow... I'm heading to the central water tower to fill up. Keep watch for me. If those four come back, distract them by any means necessary, but don't speak in front of them!"
Meow nodded knowingly.
"Wow, this is quite the unexpected windfall, huh?"
"Darn, the jig is up!" Meow thought, realizing those guys had come back.
Meow glanced back and saw Ashes crouched down; he had only managed to fill two canteens, with two still unfilled.
"I'm going for it!"
Meow sprang into action, landing squarely in front of the group.
"Oh my, what an adorable little creature..." Smith was captivated by the sight of Meow, unable to resist setting down his crossbow and squatting to pet the little animal.
"Smith! Stay back! It could be dangerous!" the leader warned.
Meow, ever so compliant, nuzzled into Smith's rough hands, purring contentedly.
"Oh, come on, Boss, don't be so tense... Look how cute this little guy is. How could it possibly be dangerous?"
Unable to resist, Yu Le also set down his crossbow and moved in to pet Meow. Once the leader and another soldier were convinced Meow posed no threat, they too lowered their weapons and joined in on the cat-petting session.
"Boss, what's the name of this adorable animal? I've never seen one before..."
Finally, Ashes finished filling the water bottles. Laden with the heavy load, he staggered across to the opposite shed to rendezvous with Payson.
Once Meow made sure Ashes and the others were safe, he seized the moment to leap onto the leader's head, giving his hat a symbolic rub before lightly bounding out of the encirclement and fleeing the scene before they could react.
"Oh, what a darling little thing... Make sure to come visit us again!" Smith called out with a smile as Meow scampered away.
"Whoa, these water bottles are seriously heavy... Here, take these! Help me carry a couple." Without waiting for a response, Ashes unhooked two canteens from his waist and shoved them into Payson's backpack.
"We've only got this much... It's hardly enough to drink..." Payson mused, head bowed in thought.
"Isn't this enough? If I get you any more, you won't even be able to walk out of here!" Ashes retorted, clearly annoyed. He pulled a small box from his robe and continued, "I'm not sure what this is, looks like some kind of test paper... It's probably for checking if water is safe to drink. I noticed a small stream by Vage Village; we could use this to test if the water there is potable..."
"If it's safe, we won't have to risk our necks stealing water like we did today..." Meow interjected, having just returned.
"You're right... Oh my goodness, what happened to you!"
Meow was visibly upset, its fur in disarray after being handled by the four inexperienced strongmen. It spoke with a hint of bitterness, "It's all your fault... sending me out to charm and distract... Look what they've done to me..."
"Let's drop it..." Payson suddenly cut in, "We need to make a quick exit! It'll get complicated if we try to leave during the patrol switch."
Within three minutes, they had all safely evacuated the bottled water facility.
About half an hour later, the body of the soldier in the red beret was found, and the facility went into immediate lockdown, alarms blaring and red lights flashing. By then, Moorer and the group had already driven to the opposite side of the city.
"This place is really something!" Moorer, sitting in the backseat with a water bottle, couldn't help but smile. "Let's do this: we'll stick around for another couple of days, do some thorough scavenging, and then head out."
