"It's a game, first one to chicken out has to scrub the latrines. Only the Daddies are in on the joke, otherwise it wouldn't be fun! We were never going to touch her. Callahan was just upset because he's in love with the girl."
"But you said they can't be."
"Yeah, well he was. He was my best friend and he betrayed me in hopes of getting some pussy. Although I don't know why. I took him down to the whore houses two years ago to pop his cherry. He never once complained until that night."
I didn't believe him, but I had a feeling if I didn't pretend to, I'd never get close to finding Eleanor.
"I want to strike a deal," he blurted, pulling me from my thoughts.
"I'm listening."
"Let me write a letter to a girl in the bunker and then let me go on the day she's meant to meet up with me. I'll plan a specific time and day."
"And in return I get?" I leaned against the counter. This didn't seem like a deal I'd be interested in.
A slow grin spread upon Milton's face, sending alarms to my brain that I blissfully ignored.
"You get that letter to my girl, and I'll tell you everything you need to know about bunker 237."
"Haven't you already?" I smirked.
Milton shook his head slowly, and the way his eyes glinted in the dim room sent chills through me.
"I've barely scratched the surface. The bunkers are a lot more fucked up than you realize."
Chapter 27 - Riot
Be approachable.
Istood behind a long-since abandoned farmhouse, watching, waiting, for the bunker doors to open. Milton had given me explicit instructions on when to catch it happening.
"Missions start at 9 a.m. sharp. Which means you'll see a Young Lady pop up about 9:05. Her Daddy will be a second behind."
"How will I know it's who I'm looking for?" I knew where the bunker was. Me, Cherry, and Boone played around it as kids, but we'd never caught anyone coming or leaving.
"The Young Ladies wear cute little dresses that barely cover their asses. I swear, they chose that uniform on purpose just to tease us." Milton laughed. "It's actually kind of fucked up if you think about it too hard. It adds an extra layer to everything, resisting temptation..."
Every once in a while, Milton would go off and talk about things he'd done in the bunker. They were always sexual, and how he talked about the women madeevenmeuncomfortable; and I didn't exactly have a reputation for being innocent.
Milton gave me the rundown, and I followed directions. I hid, waiting to see who came through those doors. I'd seen severalsoldiers, or Daddies, as Milton had clarified, come and go. But I hadn't seen a Young Lady yet, until today.
She was pale, which considering she didn't see the sun often, made sense. She came out first, her Daddy following behind. The girl was tall, with stick legs and a mean face. She glanced around suspiciously and then waved her Daddy forward. Was she the one in charge, or he? How Milton had explained it to me, the girls just followed behind the men, doing as they were told.
Or maybe that's just how he saw the world.
The Young Lady and her Daddy took off in the other direction, and I followed behind, staying a distance away, observing. It was fascinating to me. The Young Lady went around picking up plants, dirt samples, and searching buildings, while her Daddy stood watch, swinging his gun around wildly. It made no sense to me. They stayed so close to their headquarters. Hadn't this area been searched a hundred times over?
It wasn't until after they returned to the bunker, that another group of men came out with large bags on their backs. They went back, and deposited random items all around the buildings that the Young Lady had gone through.
They were staging it.
So what was the point of sending them up here?
This was bonkers, and the more I observed, the more confused I became. Was this some sort of test? How long would it take for the Young Ladies to figure it out? Is this what Myrtle knew, and why she’d run?
On the third day, I grew brave, and decided to approach one. Her Daddy had stayed behind to fight a crawlie that had come upon them. She was running to the bunker doors, and I stepped out from behind a tree and called to her.
"Young Lady?"
