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Garden City, assuming no major roadblocks or detours. The terrain should be open except for when we travel through Sterling City. The town clusters around the road so we need to be prepared to repel anyone who tries to get on the trucks. Other than that, we don’t anticipate any problems until we get to Garden City itself.”
    “What’s the read on GC?” Nicole, one of the members of his Gathering Squad, asked. She was one of Aeric’s most trusted subordinates; if there were room for her as a lieutenant, he would have promoted her months ago, but those positions had already been filled by his predecessor. Since none of them were incompetent, he didn’t feel right demoting them to make room for her. Nicole didn’t seem to mind though; the job only came with more headaches, it wasn’t like they were getting paid any more to put their lives on the line than the guys working over at the lake. Everybody got paid in rations, and no one got any more or less than their neighbor.
    “We don’t have any updates to our brief from yesterday,” Aeric replied with a shrug to Nicole’s question. “As of three months ago, there was an entire warehouse full of foodstuff without anyone guarding it.”
    “Why did the guys who found it come here instead of just staying there and keeping all that food for themselves?” someone yelled from the back of the crowd.
    “I’ve talked to them on several occasions about that. Apparently, life in Midland-Odessa is violent and short-lived. They were afraid to take up residence so close to the city for fear that the people in Midland would find out about it and sweep in to kill everyone inside.”
    “How do we know that hasn’t already happened?” Nicole asked.
    Aeric sighed. It was a valid question; however, it should have been asked yesterday during the briefing, not today as they were getting ready to leave. “We don’t know if all that food is still there. But the fact of the matter is that we need more food here. Until the weather stabilizes, trying to grow any crops is pointless. That means we’re reliant on processed food that was made before the war. We’ve searched everywhere around San Angelo and have run into a few similar search parties to the east, likely from Austin. So far, we’ve had limited contact to the west, so we’re hopeful that the Midland-Odessa survivors haven’t found the supplies yet.”
    Tyler stepped in to help control the situation, “Alright, no more questions. You heard Traxx, this is our mission. If you don’t like it, get the fuck out of San Angelo, I’m sure your collecting experience will be appreciated by the Vultures—that is, if they don’t kill you first.”
    “Aw, come on, Tyler,” Nicole said as she stepped closer and put a hand on the big man’s arm. “We’re trying to get as much info as possible before we go out and put our lives on the line. You know, it’s like having sex one last time with your ex before they leave. You know what to expect, but you’re still gonna try and knock their socks off.”
    Tyler’s face turned red around the eye patch. “Uh, yeah. Let’s get loaded up in the trucks.”
    Aeric laughed out loud at his friend’s obviously uncomfortable response. Let him get a little of his own medicine. Nicole had been hitting on him since they arrived in San Angelo. It didn’t matter to her that he was homosexual and wasn’t interested in her physically. She made sure to let him—and everyone else—know that if Tyler ever came over to the other side of the fence, she got first dibs.
    “Alright, you heard him. We’re leaving as soon as I get a head count,” Aeric yelled while Tyler began counting men and women as they got in the trucks.
    Within minutes, they were headed towards the Western Gate. The city’s naming convention for the gates was a little confusing since the Western Gate shot off to the northwest, while the Southern Gate allowed access to the countryside southwest of the city. The only gate