"Louie!"

Louie ignored the call, sinking deeper into her blankets.

"Louie! Louie, wake up!"

The caller had moved closer and was now at the side of her bunk. When Louie refused to stir, the caller resorted to nudging, pulling, anything to try and wake her up.

Louie fought hard to suppress the urge to roll over and punch whoever was trying to wake her right in the jaw, just so she could get back to sleep. But she was awake enough now, she could hear the urgency in the caller's voice.

Louie rolled over to face Abbie. She was dressed in full nurses garb with her emergency kit slung around her shoulders. She stopped shaking Louie when she saw that she had finally woken up and held onto the bunk's ladder.

"Louie, you have to come. Now! Outlanders. At the front gate."

The words were like a jolt of electricity. Louie grabbed her own emergency kit, stowed at the end of her bed and crawled out her bunk. She hustled down the tall ladder. After throwing on her boots and her rain jacket, she followed Abbie as they ran out of The Cage, towards the front gates.

"How many? Any injured? Any bites?" Louie asked.

"I know just as much as you," Abbie said, through her labored breathing.

Louie rushed over to the man standing guard when they reached their destination. He unlatched the locks and pulled open the gates. Louie tried to talk to the man, but the grating metal drowned out her words. She resigned her attempt to garner any information from him and took a step back. She stood tall, crossed her arms in front of her chest and bent her knees ever so slightly, preparing herself for what was about to enter through the gate.

The guard had only opened the gate halfway when the Searchers rushed in, bringing in the raging storm with them. Their boots squeaked against the floor, their jackets dripping rainwater everywhere. With them, they helped lead in a group of wounded from their nightly rounds.

Some of the people were barely walking, holding on to the guards' shoulders. Others were completely unconscious, hunched over the shoulders of some of the guards. It looked like ten Outlanders total. Louie rushed to the head Searcher, falling in step with him as they hurried towards the Med Wing.

"Marc, How many are there? Any badly hurt? Any bites or scratches?" Louie asked, looking behind her at the crowd of newcomers.

"There's ten of them. We found them just a few miles south of here. Three unconscious, most nearly starved. No bites."

Louie's shoulders relaxed just a bit at that last part, but only for a millisecond. They had reached the Med Wing and there was already beds and cots ready to go. The head doctor stood waiting. Louie reached the first bed and helped lift one of the unconscious off of Marc's shoulders.

"Teresa, Abbie, and Louie, get water boiling and start mending all cuts and bruises. We can't risk infection," the head doctor said, already moving to one of the patients.

"Marc, make sure all ten are accounted for, and then go let Chief know we've got newcomers," Louie said.

Everyone fell into line and did as they were told. Louie turned to the patient in front of her and started checking his arms, legs and face for any cuts or scratches. When she went to lift his left arm, his dislocated shoulder sent a stab of pain through him and he jerked awake, sitting up straight. In his startled state, he grabbed Louie's wrist and held it tight. Louie barely winced at the pain and just tried to focus on calming him down.

"Sir, sir! You're okay! You're safe now!"

"Where am I?" His deep voice rang out in fear and anger, his grip on Louie's wrist only tightening.

"You're safe. But you're badly injured. I need to pop your shoulder back into place. I can't do that without my wrist. I'm going to need you to let go now." Her voice remained steady and firm.

He stared at her, eyes wide and bright, the blue brilliant against his black hair and dirty deeply tanned skin. He paused before he gave any response, looking her up and down, trying to decide whether or not to trust her. He finally relaxed his grip on her wrist.

"Now, this is going to hurt. Brace yourself."

Louie walked over and stood at his side. She raised his arm and thrust his shoulder back into place. The pain overwhelmed him and he passed out, his head falling back down onto the bed.

*****************

Finally, after a few very long and intense hours, all newcomers were accounted for and taken care of. Louie headed towards the back of the wing to wash up and change out of her scrubs. She stared covetously at the empty shower stall. She was dying for a chance to rinse off the blood and sweat she had accumulated over the last several hours. But she knew that it wasn't her time slot. She could only break the shower schedule in times of emergency. In a place with only 6 showers and over 150 occupants, breaking the shower schedule might as well have been an act of treason.

Louie sighed longingly, but turned back towards the sink and washed up as much as she could. She quickly changed in her nicest set of extra clothes kept in her locker. Once dressed, she swept her long brown hair into as neat a bun as she could muster, threw on her black boots and headed out.

Once out of the Med Wing and in the main thoroughfare, Louie started back towards the Cage. She took two steps into the mass of moving people when suddenly a tall, young man showed up at her side.

"Hey, Lou!" His dark eyes laughed, waiting for Louie to react.

She didn't have the energy to react today, even at the mention of her most hated nickname. Ryland only did it because he knew it bugged her. Having been up since four that morning, worked tirelessly since then Louie was saving up all the energy she could.

"Good morning, Ryland. I assume you're heading towards the Cage." Louie said, keeping her focus straight, only glancing up at her companion once in recognition of his approach.

"Well, good morning to you too! It seems we're all business today. Good to know. And of course I'm headed to the cage. You can't really think I'd miss out of this meeting."

Louie didn't respond knowing Ryland lived for any new developments in the life of the Compound.

As they wound their way through the crowds, Ryland did his best to try and pry any information Louie had on the newcomers. When she refused to divulge the small info that she herself had, he ran his hand through his long brown hair and started to beg, apparently desperate for the inside scoop.

"Oh, come on, Lou! You've got to give me something. How many are there? What's the emergency meeting for?"

They had reached the entrance to the Cage, but Louie paused before entering. She turned to face him, having to look up at him since he stood at least one head taller than her. The height difference made no mark on the authority she held over him.

"Ryland, I can't tell you. I don't even know that much. What you will need to know, you will find out in there. Chief will make sure of that. Besides, it's not an emergency council meeting, it's simply mandatory. We have to have one every time we let in any newcomers. Now come on. It's about to start."

Louie barely had time to see Ryland's shoulders slump before she was off, headed towards the back of the Cage to take her spot.

She climbed up on the small wooden stage and took her seat, the folding chair placed to the right of the chair sitting dead center. At the front of the stage stood a tall, makeshift podium, only a few feet in front of Louie.

Once she was seated she could see out to the rest of the room and saw the council members start to trickle in. Each member, 20 in all, grabbed a folding chair off the wall of the Cage, a tall chain-link fence encompassing the entire room. The fence separated it from the rest of the open compound. Louie watched the members set up their neat rows and sit, curious at the sight of how small every one looked in the large room.

The ceiling rose almost two stories high and on every wall stood tall bunk cases, large storage shelves made into living spaces. The tall iron-wrought cases stood menacingly along the walls, their dark, now empty, compartments staring down at the gathering crowd.

Louie looked over as Mr. Andrews climbed up on the stage and took his seat across from Louie, on the opposite side of the central seat. He bowed slightly when he passed her but made no effort of conversation.

He contrasted his son immensely in that respect. They might look the same, but Mr. Andrews and Ryland seemed almost polar opposites. Louie found it hard to get Ryland to shut up, but his father hardly ever spoke to Louis. Louie didn't mind the silent respect they held for each other. She had known Mr. Andrews her whole life and appreciated all his hard work as assistant chairman.

Chief made his way down the side of the room toward the stage. He was tall, man with black hair heavily coated with gray. He gave Louie a warm smile and winked when he passed her, claiming his spot to her right. She saw him wince slightly when climbing up on stage and nearly leapt out of her seat to help him up.

She fought the urge as she had so many times before. Since they were in view of the entire council, such a move would not instill confidence among the crowd. Remaining in her seat, she merely gave the Chief a small smile in return.

The Chief took his spot next to her and took a moment to glance through the papers in his folder. The old leather bound folder was starting to fade, looking as wrinkled and dry as the hands that held it. Once the room had quieted down and everyone was settled in their seat, Chief closed up his folder. He stood and walked over toward the podium, ready to speak.

The Chief wasted no time and immediately jumped into the subject that he knew was on everyone's mind. As a hush settled over the crowd as he opened his mouth to speak.

"As you all know by now, the Searchers brought in a group of newcomers early this morning. They were found in a ditch trying to brave out the storm about a mile or so south of the compound. Their leader and guide is currently unconscious and therefore unavailable for comment. But we have come to believe that they were indeed making their way to seek refuge here. All have been checked thoroughly for any scratches, cuts or bites and found healthy and sanitary. The nurses did a thorough job making sure we remain safe from an infection outbreak."

A collective sigh went through the crowd, completely inaudible, but visible in the relaxing shoulders.

"There are ten new comers in all. Four women and six men, varying in ages. The oldest seems to be in his late 30's, the youngest a girl of maybe 13. All seem to be nearly starved and were on point of death when discovered. As always, we will vote to see whether we allow them to reside here with us.

"I have talked to the various heads of our different wings and all say we have plenty of supplies and plenty of jobs to be filled and that they would all fit in nicely."

Letting in newcomers was a rarity, the Compound so far removed from what was left of civilization that few ever knocked on their gates. Louie could only remember maybe two or three groups being received into the community in the last ten years. Every time the Council opened up the gates of the Compound and welcomed the newcomers in with open arms.

The Chief sat back down in his chair, allowing Mr. Andrews to take the podium. Out of the corner of her eye, Louie saw Teresa at the entrance to the Cage trying to wave her down. Louie nodded in recognition and turned towards Chief. While they exchanged quiet words, Mr. Andrews facilitated the vote.

"I have to go, Chief. The leader of the newcomers just woke up."

"Come see me once you're done. I need to know any new information you can get out of him." He spoke softly into her ear, barely a whisper as to not disturb the proceedings.

"Will do."

With a nod of her head, Louie stood up and walked down the side of the Cage and towards Teresa. She gave one glance back at the group and was glad to see most hands raised to a vote to let the newcomers stay.

"Is he up?' Louie asked, heading towards the Med Wing, without even pausing.

Teresa had to run a few steps to catch up with Louie's fast pace, only answering once she was in stride.

"Yes. He's up. And he's asking for the man in charge."

"Good. Let's just hope he doesn't mind that it's me."

*****************

Hi!

You read my first chapter! This amazes me! Thank you! ☺️

Now what I'm about to say will sound kind of strange so hang in there with me. Okay, here goes.

Read to chapter 3.

Yes, yes I know it's an odd request but hear me out. For some reason I hit a flow by the third chapter and if you read till there I don't think you'll be disappointed. If you are I give you complete permission to comment and throw tomato emojis at me, I'll take it. But if you give this book a shot I think you'll be surprised. Or I hope so.

Okay that was long winded, I won't bother you anymore until the end! Thanks again! Cheers!

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