Black Market Merchant

Chapter 113: ERM Volunteers
Lisa returned to the Smithy home two hours after she had left. Mr. Smithy was sitting in a rocking chair hidden behind the Rose bushes and Lisa waved to him as she opened the fence gate.

”Sorry I left early. I couldn’t sleep in for some reason.” Lisa called out cheerily.

Mr. Smithy grumbled something inaudible and went back to reading a book that he had with him. Lisa came up to stand on the porch with him.

”Is Mrs. Smithy still here?” Lisa asked unworried by his unhappy reply.

”Mmm hmm.” Mr. Smithy replied with a simple nod. Not even sparing a second to look up at Lisa from his yellow paged book.

”Thanks.” Lisa answered and went to go inside.

She found Mrs. Smithy in the kitchen cleaning dishes from dinner and breakfast. Hearing Lisa come in she stopped cleaning to great her.

”Ah, there you are. You missed breakfast. Was there something wrong that you needed to leave so early?” Mrs. Smithy asked while drying her wrinkled hands on a towel.

”Not really. I went check out the underside of the cliffside this morning and I have come up with an idea of what needs to be done. I’ll explain more during the remainder of the meeting.” Lisa replied.

”Well, that’s good to know. Do you want breakfast? I only have a little bit of bread left.” Mrs. Smithy asked.

”If it’s not too much trouble.” Lisa replied and she felt her stomach rumble slightly.

Thinking to herself Lisa wondered, “This town has nothing to eat no matter where I go. Maybe I need to find a solution to this problem too.”

…

It was nearly noon by the time Mrs. Smithy and Lisa returned to the East River Militia’s headquarters. Everyone else had already arrived and were ready to proceed. Miss Havens had prepared her notes and gave everyone the thumbs up to start.

”Let’s get the second half of this meeting underway.” Mr. Flanagan said addressing the room. ”We talked yesterday about bringing the Mechs over to the dam for a recharge. Additionally, we briefly heard about you, Lisa, needing more manpower to get things repaired quicker. So, to satisfy both needs we agreed to send the Mechs around the cliff to get charged. With them we will also give you five volunteers to assist you. That is if you can accommodate them.”

Lisa was delighted and worried hearing these things. The Mechs were definitely going need to be charged up to build the road down the cliff. However, she hadn’t considered if they could actually cross over the dam or would they be too heavy. Yet the risk was necessary, and she might have a plan to work around this issue too.

As for the five volunteers, she could accommodate them. She had the living space for them, but the food required for them would be hard to keep up. Though this was expected and something that she was going to face eventually. As for the Mad Dogs, they probably wouldn’t even notice if she had five more ”employees”, as she mentally called them, working at the dam. As long as no fights were started than things would go just fine. Probably.

The other issue of them being at the dam would likely cause would be how Zane might react around them. They were technically still enemies, the ERM and Black Rats. Would these volunteers or Zane recognize each other and fight, causing a potential rift to be created between Lisa and the ERM? This was going to be another challenge for her to deal with.

”I think I can handle it.” Lisa thought to herself. ”I’ll just have to get Zane to agree with my terms and work with the ERM volunteers.”

After thinking over these thoughts quickly Lisa then gave her answer. ”I can take on the volunteers and have everything ready for when the Mechs arrive. Them being at the dam would also help me get more of the generators and transformers taken apart and checked over. This way I can give Mr. Sellers and McMathers a larger list of needed items.”

”That’s very good to hear.” Mr. Flanagan replied. ”Commander Gillian. You can go ahead and announce the signups for the volunteers. If there are more than five that want to go, pick the five you think are best suited.”

”Alright. I’ll just go do that now.” Gillian replied standing up from his seat. ”After that I’ll notify Mr. Yates to prepare the Mechs for deployment.”

”That’s a good idea.” Mr. Flanagan replied giving a nod.

Next to speak was Mrs. Smithy. ”Lisa, you mentioned that you had an idea where the pathway might be on the cliff. Can you tell us now?”

”Yes. At an area, not far from the dam, the forest growing up there stops and turns into the desert. It’s at this point that I believe should be the best spot. With summer coming up it would be wise to work where shade can be provided to those working.” Lisa explained. ”Also, taking into account that the cliffs height is the nearly the same across its full length, it would be best to build it there and avoid any weakened areas caused by the tree roots.”

”Miss Havens, do you have a map of town in that area? Particularly of who might own that land.” Nathan asked as Lisa finished.

”Let’s see. Ah, yes.” Miss Havens replied picking up a folded map and handed it to him.

Nathan found the spot roughly where Lisa had mentioned. He saw that the area was marked as unowned and could be connected to already existing roads. ”That area looks just fine. As soon as the Mechs are ready go ahead and get started.”

”I will do just that.” Lisa replied. Then she recalled the industrial building that was nearby that location. ”I have a question. I saw an interesting building that was nearby that area. It was called Johnson Concrete Co. Is it owned by anyone?”

Nathan looked back at the map and found the place she mentioned. Areas that were still owned by people or currently inhabited were outlined with red and those that were not had been left blank. Meaning that the unclaimed areas were technically claimed by the ERM, until prove otherwise. The Johnson Concrete Co. had no such labels.

”No, it’s not owned by anyone. Meaning we have control over it. Why do you ask?” Nathan said looking up at Lisa.

”Well, I was considering buying it.” Lisa replied. Though she didn’t show it, Lisa was actually very excited to find out that it was unclaimed. ”In the future, I think I can get it running again as well and expand my income pool. The electricity is important, but I can only make so much from it. I likely won’t stop with buying the Johnson Concrete Co. either and might buy others, if everything works out.”

”That may be an option.” Mrs. Smithy remarked looking over the papers. ”The town would need both funds and concrete. We will have to discuss the idea after we get the electricity running. That is what all our focus should be on.”

”I can understand that.” Said Lisa giving a light sigh. ”May I at least inspect it a little?”

”I see no reason why not.” Nathan replied. ”Is there anything else that needs to be discussed?” He asked looking around at everyone in attendance.

”I think all that’s left is to read over the contracts once more and sign them.” Mr. Flanagan answered.

”Alright then, let’s do that now.” Nathan replied.

After two hours the two parties finished reading over the contents of the contracts and adjusted them accordingly. Seeing that everything was in order, Lisa and Nathan signed them. The first major contract of Lisa’s career had been made!

…

When the meeting was finalized and everyone was leaving to go back to their duties, Gillian returned inside. He found Lisa and Nathan still speaking together about the contracts. They appeared to be getting along nicely.

”I really can’t express my thanks to you for helping the ERM out.” Nathan said looking rather relieved. ”Things were really starting to get a bit tough to handle. The people needed hope and you providing electricity is just the thing for now.”

”I wouldn’t think too much on it and I wouldn’t call this a sign of hope. I am just exploiting an opportunity and it just so happens to be a good one.” Lisa replied as if waving off the importance.

”Of course it is important! Mrs. Smithy was in a real bind until you found her. Now we have a chance to get by in this hostile life we live.” Nathan remarked sincerely.

”Excuse me you two.” Gillian said coming up to them. ”I hope I am not interrupting, but I have picked out volunteers to go with you Lisa.”

”Oh, well that was fast.” Nathan said with genuine surprise. He really didn’t think that people would be that willing to go somewhere that might be dangerous. ”Let’s go meet them. Shall we?”

”I don’t see why not.” Lisa replied. ”Lead the way Commander.”

Gillian gave a light chuckle and turned to lead the way. ”Please don’t be so formal. Just call me Gillian. Only the militia troops are supposed to call me that.”

”If you insist, I will.” Lisa replied cheerily.

Waiting outside were the five that had volunteered. Lisa noticed right away that one of them was Wayne, but the other four she knew not their names.

”The one I am promoting as the leader of these ragtag troops is Wayne.” Gillian said pointing to the scrawny man. ”He’s young and still needs training, but he is reliable. Then from right to left is Tayvon, Ava, Henry, and Willis. They are also just as dependable. I already told them that they are to assist with everything to do with the dam and building projects. However, if the Mad Dogs or others try to attack and they can’t defend the dam, they are to retreat right back to the ERM. I’ll leave that up to Wayne, or if he’s unable, Tayvon will make that choice. They don’t work for you, Lisa, but for the people of the ERM.”

”That is completely understandable. I wouldn’t expect them to do more than they are able either. I promise that I won’t let such an unfortunate event happen anyway. Strictly business ordeals only.” Lisa said looking the five young volunteers over. All five of them looked around her own age or younger.

”Glad to help out where we can.” Wayne called out. The other four nodded together in agreement. Though they were a militia they still didn’t know what kind of a salute to give, or if they even had too. This, however, didn’t bother Lisa, as she didn’t expect them too.

”It’s nice to have you help. Don’t expect too much to do at first. However, I want you all to be sincere and learn what I teach you as fast as you can. Electricity is not something to be taken lightly and I don’t want anyone hurt or things broken.” Lisa said crossing her arms across her chest.

”We understand.” Tayvon replied. ”I once saw lightning hit a house and burn it down. So, we will definitely be careful.”

”That’s good to hear, I think.” Lisa said light heartedly.

Everyone chuckled at her lame joke. So far everyone seemed to be getting along just fine.

“For now, even though you are with the ERM, I’ll consider you volunteer employees. I will be expecting you all to do well.” Lisa added and everyone nodded in agreement.

”So, what’s the next move?” Wayne asked Lisa.

”We are going to leave here and go back to the dam in the morning. So, if you have anything to bring in a backpack or a weapon other than a gun, get it ready to go.” Lisa said to them. Then she turned to Gillian and Nathan. ”Do you have any thick strong ropes and two small flag poles? We are going to need them.”

”I think we can find some.” Nathan replied. ”The flag poles I know are in a create inside, but what do you need them and ropes for?”

”The flags are for marking the spot to build the pathway up the cliff. Also, we won’t be going back the way I came or by the river. We are going to use the rope and climb the cliff.”

Gillian raises his eyebrow. ”Are you sure that a good idea?”

”It will be fine. I think it will be a good team building experience for these guys here.” Lisa said motioning to the five now nervous looking volunteers. ”Don’t worry, if they fall, I will catch them. After all, you both know I am strong and fast enough.” She then patted the coffin on her back to further emphasize her point.

”I hope so.” Nathan replied. He was trying to imagine how Lisa was going to try catching a falling person.

”Me too.” Wayne murmured to the others with him.

Inwardly the volunteers all agreed on one thing with certainty. Climbing the impassable cliffside, that they all had seen since childhood, was definitely going to be a new experience.