They'd come back in the early morning hours, directed this time to a new cave again with a large enough cavern filled with old mattresses. Cage saw food in a bag left on one of the beds. It wasn’t enough, but it was better than nothing.
One of the kids started to reach for it, but Cage put a hand on his shoulder, using a firm enough squeezed to make him stop. If he ruled the room, he had to rule the room. He opened the bag with a hard look around and no audible protests.
He found an assortment of fruit. His captors weren't as dumb as he thought. Or the possibility that one of them was psychic crossed Cage’s mind, giving him pause. That would make escaping very hard. Luckily, he didn't give it much credence.
More likely they needed to keep the people in enough health that it didn’t cause problems. Every body in the desert could bring another pair of official eyes aimed at them. That would be the last thing they would want. Fruit was cheaper.
Opening the bag, Cage rummaged through. He found apples, a few pears—two of them dented—some not great bananas and a few oranges. But not enough for everyone.
There was nowhere safe or clean to set it out and sort it. Nothing to do but hand it out in some honest reasonable fashion. He hadn’t been here when Terrence had been handed anything good, but Cage couldn’t imagine it had gone fairly. Now, he was in charge. Time to get to business. His people were hungry.
He peeled the bananas, breaking them in half and handing a half to each person. He didn't want to handle all the food, but he didn't want to get into any shit in which he gave bruised fruit out and it was interpreted as more. Or, that it was unfair.
The halves made it around the room, and after a quick count he broke the remaining bananas into smaller pieces and handed those out, too.
“Hey, why is mine smaller?” one of the youngest protested quickly. Of course, he’d seen the difference.
“Because you're smaller and I gave you a lighter bag. If you'd like to bump up and carry one of the heavier bags next time, I'll give you one of the bigger pieces,” Cage told the kid with a confidence that he didn’t really feel.
The boy quickly popped the smaller chunk of banana into his mouth and didn’t say anything else. The heavier bags were heavy. It was a burden to carry them through the desert.
Cage went after the oranges next, using the knife he’d taken from the fight with Terrence—confident it wasn’t clean, but it would have to do. He managed to hand a quarter to each person. He divvied the apples and pears giving more to the bigger guys again. He checked for dead spots and knew that had he not been in charge no one else would have done this for them. Cage tried not to let that get to him.
He was handing out the wide slices when he noticed two of the younger boys lingered in the corner looking awkwardly at the food that they held. He didn't know how he figured it out, but he caught on quickly. He offered a pointed nod to them.
The look alone seemed to work, and the two boys moved around quietly asking until they found someone willing to trade. One of them had given away his banana and the other his oranges. It wasn't great for nutrition, but there was nothing great here. Cage wasn't going to force them to eat food they didn't want.
He made himself the last one in each round of food delivery. When he turned up one apple slice short, he went without. One of the kids came closer and silently tried to hand his own apple piece off. Though Cage refused at first, until the kid pointed out that he didn't like apples anyway. Cage traded one of his remaining pear slices and hopefully made a friend.
He needed loyalty. First, he had to figure out how to do it.
Cage thought about Sarah's note that Aurora had passed him. She was full of good information—on how the room ran, who was in charge, when the bosses slept.
Between the three of them, Cage had no doubt that they could get out. But he was curious how long it would take and what shape they would be in when it happened. Also, he knew some of them here would likely die in the process.
It wasn’t a decision he was willing to make. He reminded himself that he wasn’t making it. If they didn’t get out, some of them would die here. There wasn’t enough food. Hell, he had been the one to provide Terrence’s medical care, even if he’d been the cause for needing it.
There was more than enough alcohol and guns in the living room that, if nothing else, someone would get shot.
Connor didn’t have a conscience, so his threats would likely come to fruition sooner rather than later. Faster if Cage couldn’t keep them all together.
He sat on the mattress and watched as they each moved to a separate spot in the room. They curled into a mattress or tucked themselves against a dry wall that formed a corner, getting ready to sleep.
“No,” he said. “No sleep yet.”
Several looked at him oddly, a few who hadn’t spoken to him. But he spoke to them.
He asked, “Have any of you heard of Night Hunters?”