“Hello Roy.”

“Welcome back No-name, unless you’ve picked one yet?”

I stared at Roy and thought back to a survivor I had once met before, one who said he was “going to charge into the Ravine and take down as many of those motherfuckers” as he could before dying. He had lost his wife to the bombs and his two kids to the zombies and his heart had bled through his eyes when I looked into them. And I thought of all the people nicknamed “Manning” that Burke had hired and how each one of them was now dead and there would not be another for some time since I had rejected it. The old man pulling me along through the factory, keeping me alive even though he didn’t want to take me in the first place. “Thomas Manning.”

“What?”

“My name is Thomas Manning.”

“You picked one or you remembered?” I shrugged in response since before I could get anything else out Burke stepped forward from beside me.

“If we are on the subject of introductions, I’m Mr. Burke.” He handed Roy another one of his business cards. Roy took it and threw it aside without even looking at it.

“If you’re back for the room you’re going to have to go do us a favour again to get back in. You left, and thus must now re-enter and-”

“Cut the bullshit Roy, you know why I came back.”

“To grovel for my appreciation?”

“For my fucking charger. Battery has run dry. What do you think I’m here for?” I sighed and let my anger go, remembering what Burke and I had discussed. “Look I want...I want to apologize for my brash thinking. I want to work with you to solve our problems.”

“Oh excellent so you can be first to try and dismantle the bomb then. Look I’ll be the first to admit that since you came around here things have gotten quite a bit better. We got rid of our spy, we cleaned the place up, killed the Screamers, and we have a plan. And yes maybe I sat back a bit and let you try your hand at leadership but don’t think I ever let you off the leash. I want you to remember who leads this place and who gets to call the fucking shots.”

“You mean remember how the Pariahs made you the pseudo-leader here?”

Roy threw his fist out, catching me in the jaw and sending me sprawling onto the floor. My teeth had cut up the inside of my cheek a bit as the punch collided and I spat out my blood onto the ground. Not a hard punch, just enough to catch me off guard. “You can charge here. Then you can leave. I don’t want your bullshit around here.”

Burke stepped over me and grabbed at Roy’s shoulder as he turned to leave me behind. “If you’d excuse me sir, but while I may have travelled with this young man here I am by no ways associated to him and I actually wish to move in here and offer my services to this place.”

“Shut up Burke. You’re only here because of me.” I was struggling to stay standing, my legs turning to mush underneath me. The idea of laying down had my exhaustion kicking into high gear. “I brought Burke back because he has connections Roy. Lots of connections. And they’re delivering right here. You wanted to know how we would survive if that bomb was triggered. Well...he’s how.” I smiled and pointed to Burke, who sort of looked between Roy and myself and smiled awkwardly as well, something I never thought a businessman of his nature would ever do.  

Roy looked down at me and then at Burke. He stared with contempt at my smile, knowing that regardless of how hard he hit me I had won this round. “What the fuck are you offering Thomas?”

“Food. Water. Sustainable farming. Radiation suits. All experimental and makeshift grant you but functioning and in use. Ever heard of a place called Opolis?”

“Once. It’s almost as legendary as this place is.”

“Exactly, and how do you think they live out on the empty outskirts of town? They’ve got these machines there Roy. They can farm without sunlight, underground, using water that they purify. It’s all doable. We have the water. We have the space. We could build floating farms, like they had in the days before the war. I’ve seen the pictures Roy, you know you have too. We could set the bomb off, we could set a million bombs off outside and be able to live through it. And get this! Burke knows a guy who can build signs for us, directions, advertise our existence and show people the way to get here. We can get radiation suits circulating throughout LA so that people can get here. Without any zombies nearby it’ll be a breeze for them.”

Roy stood over top of me, the look on his face showing me how he was thinking of some sort of way he could reject this or gain the upper hand. “You’ve put a lot of thought into it Thomas. But why should I take you back in? Mr. Burke here is willing to come in without you. I think I could just take what I want from an immature kid like yourself and leave you out for the Pariahs to pick up-”

“Roy...” Everyone looked over at the monotone of Fiona. She was looking at him with watery eyes. “Roy, you’re not like this. You’re never like this. You were kicked out of the Pariahs. You suffered through massacres and you brought us through to victory as well. And you’ve never been like this.”

“I didn’t bring us through to victory. He did!” Roy yelled back. “It was him who brought us everything good that has ever happened here, but not anymore. This time I’m in the right and I will not let him take everything we have earned only to have him blow it all up in our faces!”

“So it is jealousy and revenge that corrupts our leader now!” I had never heard Fiona raise her voice, nor had I seen tears roll down her cheeks. “You fear him and his ideas and so you’re willing to hold your ground, even if it sets us back? Roy I thought you had learned about the errors of your conservatism already when he came and changed this place. He changed you. We laughed. We were happy. And now look at us.”

“I don’t hate him Fiona...I love him. I love him like a brother, like I love everyone who lives here and everyone who ever has. He is me and I am him, but I had to go through the terrors of reckless change. I...I don’t want him...to fall to the same fate.” Roy collapsed to his knees as my legs gave out beneath me. I ended up lying on my stomach, my exhaustion completely taking over. And I looked up to see Roy crying too, and Fiona kneeling and wrapping her arms around him. “I...I killed all those people Fiona. I led everyone in here and promised them a future and instead I lead them...to a...to a slaughter.”

“And yet you still live Roy. You’re still the leader here and none of us will challenge that, not even Thomas. He is not becoming another you Roy; he is giving you another chance. As am I, as we all have, all of us who have lived under you. You need to let someone try to change this place again and see if our gamble pays off one more time. And if it doesn’t then we will pay and we will learn. And if it does then we will all live happier. Do not stop him because you are afraid. I’m afraid too Roy. I don’t want that bomb to go off. I don’t want any bomb to ever go off again. I remember when those bombs first dropped. They’re my first memory. It’s hard for me to want to try and recreate my first memory now. But we will Roy, and you will lead us into it. And we will all benefit from all of our gains.”

Roy kissed Fiona, and lingered on her lips for a moment before pushing away from her grasp and crawling on his hands and knees over to me. “My boy, Thomas, how you have grown so much. And yet as the gardener who helped to cultivate you I am afraid to let you blossom, too scared to see how beautiful that flower might just be.” He grasped my head between his hands and wiped my tears away with his thumbs, tears I didn’t even know I had been shedding. He bowed his forehead down to touch my own and we stayed there, our thoughts connected and our hearts all as one, the three of us together. Roy kissed my forehead and lifted himself back up off the ground. “Mr. Burke?”

Burke, who had been watching with fascination and curiosity, was caught off guard by the sudden shift in focus and bumbled through his answer. “Uh, yes?” I burst out laughing on the floor at the idea of the perfectly coifed Mr. Burke broken down by us three foolish kids. I rolled over onto my back in laughter, clutching my stomach and crying again, this time for different reasons, and saw through watery eyes that Fiona was laughing with me. I looked up and could see Roy smiling down on me.

“How long until those supplies arrive?”

“Oh, well three days and they should all be here by then.”

“Good, then we have some spare rooms here. Take whichever one you want.”

“Ah well thank you then my good man.”

As Burke started to leave Roy placed his hand on Burke’s chest to keep him from moving. “You have lots of contacts correct?”

“Yes indeed.”

“Got anyone who knows how to rewire a bomb?” Roy winked at me and I heard Fiona squeal for excitement in an act completely out of character for her.

She came over to me and bent down so that she could whisper to me. “Thank you so much, Thomas, No-name, Manning, whoever you are.” She kissed me on the forehead, the same place Roy had moments ago and got up to follow Roy and Mr. Burke as they all walked away. I finally managed to get back on my feet and started to wobble back to my old room, opening the door and being comforted with the glow of my charger. On top of it there was a piece of paper with some writing on it that read “Don’t touch this Giacomo.” I took the note and crumpled in my hand, laughing and crying again until I fell asleep.