Getting The Camp Running

Marcus and Amy made their way over to the west wall; nestled in the far corner was an expansive generator. A set of solar panels rested on the top, it had multiple panels of access, and more than a dozen of thick cables ran out of the ends of each of them. Marcus sighed, setting his rifle down, and ran a hand along his chin as he looked it over, "That's...a pretty fucking big generator." Amy remarked, "I thought it'd be like...you know, out of gas, or we just needed to give the cord a few pulls."

"This thing is supposed to power all the trailers, lights, and gates. It's not a simple piece of equipment," Marcus explained before smirking, "But that sure as shit doesn't mean the bastard works right. The military loves to cut corners where they can."

Amy planted a hand on her hip, letting out a short laugh, "If you know that, does that mean you know how to fix it?"

"I've already had a few run-ins with this piece of crap, so...maybe," Marcus stepped towards the first panel and gave the master switch a few flips, "Huh...stone cold dead. Usually, it tries to give me a little something." Marcus looked over to the blonde, "You do me a favor and check the cables? See if any of them are fried. If this thing had a total burnout...we're fucked."

"You're a real optimistic fella, huh?" Amy headed over to the end of the generator a crouched down, looking over the cables while Marcus began to look over some of the common issues he'd run into with the generator in the past. "So, you're in the military, huh?"

"Uh-huh," Marcus hummed back, "Twenty years so far. I want to go at least for another ten if I'm able."

"You seen a lot of action?"

"Did two tours; they weren't quiet." Marcus replied before glancing over to Amy, "What about you? The way you handled that gun outside showed some skill and training."

"I've been a cop for five years now." Amy proudly replied, "Trained to uphold law and order, and I've been working overtime on that..."

"Nothing compares to these last few months. I'd rather just be dealing with a group of guys shooting at me than...whatever the hell you'd call this."

"The collapse of humankind?" Amy suggested, and the pair shared a short laugh that all too quickly faded off, leaving both of them thinking that comment over. "Sorry."

"Forget it," Marcus extended the hand to the Chicago skyline just over their walls, "This shit is screwed up. You either got to laugh, or you gotta cry."

"Yeah..." Amy murmured back, and the duo was silent.

A few minutes passed, and Marcus moved over to the right and squatted down, pulling open a small door and shining a light inside. "Oh, you little bastard..." Amy peeked around the side, looking at the red-haired man curiously. "Fucker threw the belt, and it's all snarled up inside! Damn piece of shit..." Marcus groaned with frustration, "You do me a favor, darlin', hold my light?"

"Darlin'?" Amy repeated, her face a mix of emotions as she tried to settle on feeling either insulted by the nickname or tickled by it. The detective got up, snatching the flashlight out of Marcus's hand, he looked up at her with a raised brow, and she pressed her tongue against her inner cheek, "It's not darlin', musclehead." She fired back before kneeling down, shining the light into the generator.

"Apologizes," Marcus grunted as he began to tug on the wrapped-up belt, "Didn't mean anything by it."

"I know; that's the only reason I'm still helping you," Amy's lip's curled into a smirk, "You didn't work with many women, did you?"

"No, ma'am," Marcus respectfully answered, "I'm afraid I...lack a bit of tact on that end."

"What speaking to us in general, or just speaking to the ones you clearly like?" Marcus's eyebrow raised, and Amy grinned, "You're not obvious about it, but I...notice where your eyes go."

"That so?" Marcus cleared his throat, "You telling me to keep them off you then?"

"Behave, soldier. Even at the end of the world, it doesn't come that easy." Marcus let out a small chuckle, and Amy turned her head back towards the generator, focusing on the belt, "But looking is just fine in my book; I'm enjoying the sights too."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the camp, Ivey, James, and Noah were at the main communication tent. Noah was fast at work, having taken the case off the radio and was making a few minor adjustments to the electronics inside. James was in the midst of starting to make some manual adjustments to the satellite outside the tent, and Ivey took a few moments to inspect the maps and communication logs inside. "Kinda strange, right?" Ivey hummed to Noah as she moved from a desk to a bulletin board.

"Strange?" Noah asked back.

"Barker and Marcus said that things were running perfectly normal when they left this morning, and when they came back, the whole place was just empty. Not even ransacked, just picked up and left."

"I suppose yes, that is rather strange, though even if it was entirely planned and expected, that doesn't change our current predicament." Noah shrugged, "Either way, I'd still be here fixing this radio."

Ivey let out an exhaling laugh through her nose, "I suppose that's true, but...none of this makes you curious? The fact that..." Ivey tapped her finger on the board a few times, "This name was repeated for the last three hours of communications; Lab Forty-One. That doesn't make you wonder what that could mean?"

"If I spent time to think on it, sure, I suppose it could, but I'd prefer not to ask." Noah finally looked away from the radio, his head lifting in thought, "Though perhaps that's where they were heading. They might have brought everyone over to this lab, and everyone is just waiting this all out. Hmm, no," Noah shook his head and got back to work, "I'd rather focus on what I can see and do directly in front of me."

"That's fair, honestly, I kinda envy that," Ivey lamented as the redhead continued to search around without a care, "I've always ended up looking into things. I couldn't just...not think about the big picture. Doing nothing but the little things would make my head explode. There always is a story, and I love to find them."

"Speaking that way, I suspect you're a writer?"

"Journalist." Ivey clarified, "I've covered stories from the worst kinds of murders and corporate espionage to feel-good city festivals that bring people together."

"I take it more of the former than the latter, hmm?" Noah smirked,

"I'm sure you can guess which stories sold more copies and brought in more readers." A disappointed expression spread over Noah's face, and he nodded, "Not a big fan of that, huh?"

"Yeah...I always figured that the world was dark enough already, so I tried to look for the happier things that could make life better." Noah lightly shook his head, "Not many happy stories these days."

"I'm sorry, you're right; I don't want to bring up things to make matters worse." Ivey moved to the opposite side of the radio desk, "So what did you do before all this? You own a tech shop or something like that?"

"Um...no, actually, before this, I was...unemployed." Noah admitted, "I was an engineer for a few years, and I liked it, but...eventually, it became much more about cutting corners than doing things properly, so I quit. I wanted to find something I could do that felt fulfilling and where I didn't need to bend the rules for someone else." Noah then let out a small laugh, "Funny enough; I did pick up some small part-time work for electronic repair. It wasn't an official business or anything, but who knows, maybe one day I would have opened up my own shop."

"Hey, maybe you still will, hmm?" Ivey suggested, sounding genuinely hopeful, and she could see it truly did resonate with the geeky man.

Just then, James came back in through the tent's entrance, wiping his brow, "Now I think I got that adjusted properly, but we won't know until the radio is back on and the satellite is powered up. Ivey, did you notice anything in the communication notes left behind?"

"Nothing too telling besides a few mentions of some place called Lab Forty-One towards the end."

"Huh, never heard of that before." James pursed his lips as he thought, "Maybe once the radio is back up, we can get back in touch with the central command, and they can direct us from there."

Just then, Ivey's ears perked to the sound of a trailer door flying open. She turned and looked out of the tent and across the camp. She could see Alice rushing out of the infirmary trailer, and moments later, Barker stepped out behind her. She squinted her eyes, and the man cupped a hand over his eyes, rubbing his temples slowly before making his way back into the infirmary. "I'll...be right back." Ivey murmured out to the men and made her way out of the communications tent, "Now, what just happened there?"