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BREAKING: Vehicular Death Cult Discovered at Australian Nuclear Testing Site
A modified 18-wheeler was discovered outside of city limits on Sunday morning. The driver, whose identity is currently unknown, assaulted the first officers on the scene. Multiple passengers have been reported, one of whom was in critical condition at the time of discovery. Their identities have not been revealed at this time.
A public statement has been made with information on what is now being called “The Cult of the V-8”. While many details are being withheld for the safety of the victims, cult leader Joe Moore has already been charged with murder, kidnapping, child abuse, and sex trafficking.
A police raid was carried out on the cult’s headquarters, referred to as the “Citadel”, leading to the arrest of many key members, including Moore himself.
“There were a lot of kids out here,” said Constable Williams, one of the officers who participated in the raid. “The radiation’s done a number on them.”
(continued on page 8)
‘Blood bag’ is, as it turns out, means something different outside of the wasteland. Hitch hears the word on his first morning out of the citadel, and he’s surprised when a woman in white brings in some kind of apparatus, rather than a chained person.
“Where’d you get that?” he demands, trying to get out of the bed they’ve put him in. Immediately, his head spins and his chest seizes. The woman, who must be a breeder for how shiny she is, catches him before he can fall.
“Sit down, sweetheart. You’ve lost a lot of blood,” the woman says, in a tone the milking mothers sometimes use for the littlest Pups. Hitch wants to protest, because he’s almost 4500 days old and he’s a War Boy, but he’s afraid he might puke if he opens his mouth. That wouldn’t help.
He sits down and allows the woman in white to hook the ‘blood bag’ into his arm. He doesn’t flinch. They might have lost the battle, but he is still a warrior. Warriors don’t cringe away from pain as insignificant as stitching or needles.
“Why’re you fixing me?” Hitch asks, watching the woman as she checks the bandages around his shredded shoulder. It hurts when she touches it, but she’s gentler than the Organic Mechanic ever was. He can’t understand why. Isn’t she the enemy? Or the wife of the enemy, maybe?
“It’s my job to fix people,” the woman explains kindly, which doesn’t really answer Hitch’s question.
“But why’re you fixing me?” he asks again, frustrated.
“Because you’re hurt.”
Okay, it’s clear he isn’t going to get a straight answer out of this woman. Hitch falls silent and lets her change the bandages he’s bled through since they were applied last night. He wonders if they’re doing this for all the captured War Boys, and if they took the Pups too.
Fender was with the Pups. He’s younger than Hitch, and smaller, so he hadn’t yet joined the Boys when the Citadel was taken. It might not matter; maybe he still died gloriously in defense of the Citadel. For Fen’s sake, Hitch hopes so.
But part of him hopes his friend is still alive. He pushes that part down.
”More details have come to light about the disturbing living conditions in Colonel Moore’s cult headquarters. According to this morning’s police press release, children as young as twelve were involved in life-or-death demolition derbies.”
“If the statement from the hospital is anything to go by, it sounds like they’re still trying to get back out on the road, Diane. Extra security has been instituted after a group of boys attempted to break out of their ward, injuring an orderly in the process.”
Capable feels on edge.
For the last three hours, she’s been talking to police and doctors in turns. Furiosa had intervened to get them female officers and medical staff, which had made the process less stressful, but not by enough. The intense novelty of the situation makes everything hard to process.
Some volunteers from a local women’s shelter had brought clothes and books for the wives, and they’re being offered as much food, water and medicine as they needed. Capable’s blood tests came back yesterday and they’re going to start a round of immunization in the morning. She’s free to wander the hospital as she pleases, although she’s been asked not to leave.
Asked. Not told.
She’s read books about these things, but she’d thought of them with the same distant numbness as she thought of all things that were long-gone.
The police let her go for the day, and she decides she wants to visit Nux. He has a room on a different floor, so she needs to go up a flight of stairs. She avoids the elevator, uncomfortable being trapped in a small space with strangers.
The ward they’re holding the War Boys in is riddled with guards. Capable pulls the hooded jacket she’d picked out of the donations closer around herself instinctively, but walks right past them without a word. They know her, just like everyone else in the hospital seems to know her.
There’s noise from Nux’s room, which surprises her. He’s been asleep for most of the past couple weeks, pumped full of drugs and in and out of surgery. The last one was yesterday, so she’d been expecting to spend some time sitting with him while he slept.
She walks inside to find him staring at the television on the wall, which is showing a film of some kind of huge bird. His roommate, a younger War Boy named Hitch with a heavily bandaged shoulder, is sitting on Nux’s bed, eating jello with his fingers.
The sound of the door gets Nux’s attention, and he beams at Capable as she walks into the room.
“Capable!! Come see this! Hitch figured out how to make the box work!”
The younger boy slurps down his current mouthful.
“You could’a done it too, if you wasn’t attached to that thing,” Hitch says, tilting his head towards Nux’s IV. He’s smiling in spite of his modesty, clearly proud of himself. “How you feeling, Miss Capable?” he adds, remembering his splintered manners.
“I’m alright,” Capable says, smiling back at the child. Without their makeup, all the War Boys look younger, but Hitch is barely more than a Pup.
“Chrome! I’ll get outta your spot, then,” Hitch says, scrambling gracelessly off the bed and taking his jello cup with him. Capable wonders when the free space on Nux’s bed became hers, but sits down anyway.
“Thank you, Hitch.”
The little War Boy flushes with pride and nearly trips over his feet getting back into his own bed. Capable pretends she doesn’t see it and turns her attention back to Nux.
“I didn’t think you’d be awake,” she admits, eyeing the fresh gauze around his neck.
"They just finished filling me up!" Nux explains cheerfully. Capable gives him a puzzled look, and he continues without further prompting. "The mechanic--"
"Doctor!" Hitch corrects from across the room. Capable suspects he's showing off.
"Shut it, Hitch." There's no bite to Nux's scolding. "So, Doctor says they gave me 'steroids' with the chemo, and it woke me right up."
"How'd you get that deal, whatever they been giving me just knocks me out," Hitch complains.
"You're probably too little for 'em," Nux says, prompting an outraged yelp.
"Am not!"
"Boys," Capable says, cutting them off before they can start bickering in earnest. Some of the other War Boys have been isolated to keep them from hurting each other, but she doesn't think these two need it.
"Sorry," Nux says, and Hitch echoes him. Capable relaxes marginally and swings her legs up onto the bed so she can lay down next to Nux. His IV is on the other side, so he's free to put an arm around her. He smells like antiseptic and stale sweat, but he used to smell like gasoline and dirt. She doesn't mind the switch.
On television, the bird dives to capture a mouse. Hitch cheers, but Nux isn't watching the screen anymore.
He's looking at her.
morgan85 posted at 21:34 on January 18th
those poor babies!! moore better fry for this
bluebirdie posted at 21:50 on January 18th
Christ. They didn't show these pictures on the news where I am. Thank god, my kids were watching.
yates1 posted at 21:52 on January 18th
we're holding a fundraiser at my church this saturday to buy books for the kids. sounds like most of them never learned to read!!!
The doctors aren't letting Hitch eat today. They're going to cut something out of him in the morning, but he doesn't know what his rusted out kidney has to do with food. The Organic Mechanic never kept you from eating, unless your injury made you dead weight and they were done feeding you for good.
The television is showing a recording of a 'fish school', which Hitch would have appreciated any other time. Animals that live in water still feel mythical, but he's irritable from hunger and pain. To make matters worse, Nux has been sleeping all day and Capable hasn't come to visit. Hitch is used to the barely controlled chaos of the Citadel bunks, so the quiet is almost unbearable.
When a nurse walks in, Hitch is actually eager to see her, just for the company.
"You have a visitor, dear."
Hitch blinks at her. Nux is the one who gets visitors, in the form of the wives and whatever a 'lawyer' is.
And then Fender bursts into the room from behind the nurse, practically vibrating with excitement. He hasn't shaved his head in a while, and there's a wad of gauze over his right eye. The last time Hitch saw him, that eye had been little more than a twist of sick flesh.
"Fen?!" Hitch blurts out, just before his friend launches himself at his bed.
"Hitch! Hitch! You're alright!" Fender cheers, pawing at Hitch's chest like he's trying to start a play fight. Hitch grabs him by the wrists and pulls forward, unbalancing him so he tips into hugging range. Hitch's shoulder burns, but Fender is laughing and Hitch missed him.
"What'd they do to your face, mate?" Hitch asks, breathless with laughter as he nudges his knuckles against Fender's cheek in a mock punch. Fender rears up on his knees and grins broadly.
"Doctors took that rusted eye right out! I'm gonna get a glass one to put in there, it'll look super chrome," Fender brags.
"Hell yeah, it will," Hitch agrees readily.
"Ey, what'd they cut outta you, then?" Fender asks, tugging on the edge of the bandages on Hitch's shoulder.
"Please don't touch those," the nurse scolds gently, and Fender stops.
"Sorry, ma'am! But you still got that arm, Hitch, what'd they take?"
"Nothin' yet, but they're taking a kidney in the morning," Hitch says, which prompts a look of confusion from his friend.
"The hell's a kidney?"
"Something in your guts, I think," Hitch says, shrugging. "Probably won't be as chrome as your new eye."
"Nobody's gonna have nothing as chrome as my new eye, so that ain't hard."
"They show you the part they're putting in there yet?"
"Nah, but Gearbox got to pick the color for that cast thing he got on his arm, so they'll probably let me pick too!"
"Maybe you can pick chrome for real!"
"Shit, mate, that's a great idea!”
The Trial of Cult Leader Joe Moore Begins
Joe Moore, once a decorated Colonel, was discovered to be running a suicide cult in the ruins of a nuclear test site late last year. The first day of the trial revealed new information to the public, including the number of victims and more details on the conditions inside the compound.
68 children and teenagers were extracted from the “Citadel”, as well as numerous adults. More details on the accusations of sex trafficking are expected to come to light tomorrow when a witness known only as "Furiosa" will be giving testimony.
Someone from one of the news stations sends the wives a big basket of chocolates. It makes Max angry for some reason, but without words, he can't explain. Furiosa gives the okay to eat them, so Cheedo distributes the sweets before settling in with the Dag to open a big box of chocolate truffles.
"Are you going to take some to your War Boy?" Dag asks, and Capable thinks about it a moment before nodding.
"He doesn't have any surgeries coming up, so I think he's allowed to eat whatever he wants."
"You don't have to justify it to us," Toast says, sorting through her share of the chocolates. Capable sighs and tucks her own share into her jacket pockets. The War Boy ward has gotten less chaotic as everyone has started adjusting to their new lot in life, but it's still tempting fate to wave a prize in front of them.
A few of the guards nod to her in greeting, but Capable is mostly ignored as she walks to Nux's room. She's more confident making the trip now that she's done it dozens of times.
The nature channel is on as always, but for the first time in a while, Nux is alone. Hitch must still be recovering in the ICU after yesterday's surgery.
"Nux?"
Nux, who had been watching the television with intense focus, jumps a little and then hurries to sit up.
"Capable! Hello!"
Capable smiles. His enthusiasm for her visits never flags.
"How are you feeling today?" she asks, sitting towards the head of the bed so she can touch his cheek. He leans into the touch.
"I haven't thrown up all day!" he tells her with pride. Honestly, given how he's been reacting to the most recent round of chemotherapy, that's actually pretty impressive.
"Good job," she says, ducking her head to kiss him. When she comes back up, she finds his expression flooded with so much raw happiness that it almost hurts to look at him.
"Glory, Capable," he sighs, his smile pulling at the scars around his mouth.