Rosie ‘Rustbucket’'s Arc

Chapter 14 of 16

Rosie crossed the lot toward the strip of buildings, carrying the substation parts in the canvas bag. The storefronts ahead marked the edge of Ravens territory — a jewelry store with broken windows, a pawn shop with boarded doors, and a restaurant with faded paint peeling from its walls. She'd never been this far east, but the man had told her Sherrie's access point was through the second door on the right. When she reached the strip, she found the door unlocked and a set of stairs leading down to a tunnel that ran beneath the Ravens' patrols. The passage was narrow, lit by battery lamps every twenty feet, and it smelled like damp concrete and rust. She followed the tunnel for half a mile until it opened into a basement beneath what looked like an old spray-painted shop. The walls were covered in bright graffiti, layers of color stacked so thick the original brick didn't show through. In the center of the room sat a second substation unit, identical to the one she'd just dismantled. This one was still connected to the grid, its pressure gauge holding steady, but the Ravens would reach it within hours once they cleared the rubble from their tunnel. Rosie set down her bag and pulled out her notebook. She had the sequence memorized now, but she checked it anyway — housing bracket first, regulator second, stabilizer third. She worked fast, disconnecting each part and packing them into the bag alongside the components from the first unit. When she climbed back up the stairs and stepped outside, she found herself on the other side of Ravens territory with a bag full of parts that could power an entire settlement. She'd spent six years collecting fragments without understanding what they built. Now she had two complete substation units, and she finally knew how they fit together. The lockdown would hold until midnight, and by then she'd have the deed from the vault and a system the Ravens couldn't strip for scrap. She turned east and headed back toward the tunnel, knowing that tomorrow she'd start assembling the power station she'd been searching for all along.