Gary ‘Gearhead’'s Arc

Chapter 10 of 15

Gary watched the dust settle on the eastern road long after the Ravens' engines faded. His crew waited for him to say something, but he turned back to the foundation stakes without a word. They'd lost cargo but kept their walls—that was the trade he'd made, and it held. The radio crackle came two days later while Gary was welding support brackets to the east gate. Static, then a voice he recognized—Sherrie. The transmission was clipped and urgent, breaking through the usual trade channel chatter. The Rusty Creek Trade Post was surrounded. Ravens had blockaded the roads with bikes positioned in a wide perimeter, and she needed anyone with fortified walls to respond. Gary killed the torch and looked at his scrapyard. His walls were half-finished, his crew barely armed, and his gate wouldn't hold against a sustained push. But Sherrie's organization had brought him the case that started all this, and her supply routes fed the traders who might one day fill his marketplace. He picked up his radio and told her he'd send what he could spare—two people and a truck loaded with scrap metal barriers. It wasn't much, but it was something. The woman looked at him when he relayed the plan, her expression unreadable. She nodded once and picked two others to go. Gary watched the truck roll out carrying a third of his best salvage and two of his most reliable workers. The old radio tower near the trade post was visible in the distance, its rusted frame leaning like a broken spine against the sky. That's where Sherrie would be broadcasting from, coordinating whatever defense she could muster. He'd committed resources he couldn't afford to lose, but staying neutral wasn't an option anymore—not after the Ravens had come to his gate, not after he'd seen how they operated. His scrapyard was stronger for it. He'd chosen a side, and that meant his marketplace would either grow with allies or fall with them. Either way, he wasn't building alone anymore.