Station, стр. 88
With that, The Krown turned and exited the Samsaraclearing, heading north back to his newly established stronghold.Slowly, residents also began to withdraw, not waiting for Hadder tolead the way. Hadder and Glen remained behind, staring sadly at theburnt remains of their dear friend who had made a tragicdecision.
Glen spoke without looking over, tears streamingdown his weathered face to find shelter in his thick beard. "Whatthe hell just happened here, Hadder?"
Hadder blinked tears from his own eyes as he triedto make out the enchanting Lilly Sistine from the charred heap nowstuck firmly to the Samsara. Despite his best efforts, he could notsee her, did not want to see her. "Glen, I think I fucked up."
New nightmares joined Hadder's old bad dreams. Atiny hand jutting out from the wreckage and a wife's dead eyes werenow accompanied by Kamaria's innards cascading down her body, alover's face as a knife flashed before her, and a friend burningbright in the darkness of Haela.
Hadder sat up, covered in sweat. Despite therestlessness of his sleep, he looked over at the Moon Clock todiscover that it was well into the Solay. Hadder dressed quicklyinto clean clothes laid out by a manikin and made his way throughthe underbelly of The Royal Jelly. Fleeting nausea came onas he passed the room he once shared with Lilly Sistine. AlthoughHadder wanted to flee this place that held tragedy alongsidebeautiful memories, he had few options. Cranesman was nowtoo close to a Riser stronghold, and The Royal Jelly, withits thick walls and ample acreage, was currently the best choicefor a Setter home base.
As Hadder made his way through the twisting hallwaysof the living quarters and up the stairs leading to the Bar's mainlevel, he commented internally about the lack of residents to beseen meandering around. Coming out onto the ground floor, the Barstill rang empty, with only Glen sitting calmly at the counterclosest to the entrance, the location where Hadder and Royal hadbeen attacked by the treasonous Lilly Sistine. Carpets had beenlaid down where the two men's blood had stained the hardwoodfloor.
Hadder slid in next to his friend, who poured a beerfrom across the counter and passed it over. Both men stared forwardtowards the empty stage. "You're not here to kill me, are you,Glen? I don't think I can survive another betrayal." Hadder wasonly half-kidding.
Glen took a long drink. "Nah, partner, just waitingto talk with you."
"How many?"
Glen looked confused. "Come again?" How manywhat?"
"How many residents left for The Krown's encampment?I imagine a lot after word of last Haela's show got around."
Glen laughed softly into his beer.
Hadder misinterpreted the reaction, grew angry."Look, Glen, I know I fucked up. I'm sure The Krown scared mostresidents into joining him, and those that are left will be shakingtoo badly to even hold a weapon properly. But at least let me knowwhat we're working with here. How bad is it?"
Glen looked over, a twinkle decorated his eyes. "Youdon't get it, Hadder. You didn't fuck up. The Krown fucked up. Youroriginal premonition was correct."
Hadder's face screwed up in confusion. "I don'tunderstand."
"Last Haela's show didn't drive anyone to the Riserside. I mean, sure, maybe a few went in the Haela, but no one ofconsequence and surely no numbers of consequence. In fact, it didquite the opposite. Our people are more determined than ever tofight to the end. Look at what happened to Lilly Sistine. Shekilled a Setter leader in Royal, almost killed another in you."
"She did kill me."
"Even worse. So Lilly killed two Setter leaders, andwhat does she get for it? Burned alive like a fucking Salem witch.The Krown thought this display would give further weight to histhreats while proving him a man of his word. All it really did wasprove that he's a maniac who may kill you even if you do hiswretched bidding. Not only does no one want to join him now, butmost are also willing to die to see that he fails in reaching theBefore. Most of us still have loved ones that we left behind in theworld. If we can protect them from here, it's the least we can dofor abandoning them."
A smile, full and honest, began to form on Hadder'sface. His skin twisted strangely at the long-foreign action. "So,it's just what we needed to unify us?"
"Fucking A."
Hadder's mind whirled with possibility. "With aunified, motivated, pissed-off front, we can hold out for months,maybe even a year, slowly whittling down Riser numbers."
Glen looked down at his now-empty beer. "Yeah, well,that's the other thing I needed to talk to you about, Hadder." Hepeered over at Hadder, a look of Zen crossed over his leatheryface. "The cluster leaders held a meeting first thing thisSolay."
"And?"
"And the consensus was that no one wants to waitaround to die. No one wants to hole up in a Bar, waiting for theRisers to get around to them. No one wants to fight likeguerrillas, hitting and running, hoping to die rather than gettaken alive. Everyone is tired of living in fear, and pretty pissedoff. We gave up on our previous lives. Now our new ones are beingtaken from us. But whether Riser or Setter, we are all part of thesame group. Meaning we did this to ourselves. We were given thekeys to the kingdom and still managed to fuck it up. Wecollectively spilled the milk. Now we collectively have to clean itup. The Before doesn't deserve to deal with the monsters we createdhere in Station."
Hadder turned his stool to fully face his last truefriend. "So, what are you saying, Glen? What did everyone decidewhile I laid in bed, struggling with nightmares?"
"They decided to fight. Head on. No running. Nohiding. No digging in. No cowering behind fortifications. You saidit yourself, we're all dead, anyway. It's just a matter of if we'rewilling to