The Red Nights

"I heard you well but will you tell me what are those preparations you guys keep mentioning? I've been curious ever since Lina's speech at the end of the fight of Carla and Andre" Volga turned to look at Jamal who was still holding Lina in his arms.

The lovers stared at each other as if they were deciding who should be the one to respond, Jamal shook Lina a little, insisting for her to talk and the latter sighed and said, "how to say it... the thing is that for this mission we are sure that at that some point unexpected things will happen, so we have to prepare ourselves to overcome those situations. Some backup plans to make short".

"Can I have an example of the type of situation you have in mind?" Volga wasn't missing any occasion to ask as many questions as she needed, almost as if she was getting a kind of revenge from being kept away all this time.

Lina tilted her head and looked up in a pensive expression, "let's say we fail to hold the enemy's army of undead and some of them managed to slip into the city, we need to set a sort of emergency plan to protect the citizens since there would be no one to properly protect them, right?"

Volga seemed to have suggestions to make but this time Carla had been faster than her to express what she had in mind, the young woman pointed to herself as she proposed, "why not leaving me here to protect everyone, you know, like the last rampart?" She paused to give a thought about what she just said and she immediately felt embarrassed when she realized, "no I don't mean to run away... it's just that Natasha has the greater destructive power between the two of us so she will be more needed than me in the main battlefield".

Lina just waved her hand as to say that it was not a big deal and then proceed to make herself clearer, "we can't do that. We have seen enough evidence to know that our enemy is not to be underestimated, they are strong, smart, and more numerous. We can't afford to divide our forces, Natasha won't be enough to beat them, I don't even think she will be able to hold them off", Carla looked like she had still more to say but Lina had already guessed her argument and thus she added, "Jamal, Volga, and Andre will be just playing the role of support, they can help to lighten the difficulty level of the task but won't be of much use if the person in the frontline is just not enough to deal with the great load of work. That's why we need you both".

"So what exactly have you in mind as a backup plan?" Volga finally got her chance to ask her question profiting from that short moment of silence.

"We are currently preparing a shelter or more like a stronghold where all the citizens can stay safe, a long time enough for this team to finish the job", Lina raised one hand and started counting her fingers while listing the different things needed, "that means the elaboration of strong defenses for that shelter so the undead cannot get through so easily. Reserves of food and the necessary hygiene kit in case we need more than one day to win", she paused after she saw Carla interrogative look and as if she had read in her mind she added, "yes, that includes rations of food for the people involved in the mission".

Volga nodded but she still had a pensive expression stuck on her face. Jamal whispered in Lina's ear to them all about the current preparations so they can save time, the latter nodded and pulled him to go have a seat.

She guessed that Volga's next inquiry would be to know how were they planning to deal with those few undead who slipped through the line to invade the city since no matter how a door was sturdy, under the constant ȧssault of the enemies, it bounded to fall sooner or later. So she began to explain that she had designed a couple of traps and had given Brad and his group the task to set them all, those traps were of course not meant to kill them but rather to immobilize them in a way that they would be of no harm until the team would come back. "They might no more be some brainless zombies like the last time, I don't expect them to be geniuses. We are more than capable to trick them", Lina said cheerfully.

"Do you have any idea of when they will finish?" Volga wondered, she then pointed one finger at Matteo, "that boy said the enemy will soon take action, right? So the time is a crucial element we have to take into consideration".

Lina nodded to show that she agreed with her before she added it was indeed something she was always keeping in mind, however, she admitted that before that information Matteo just told them earlier, she couldn't do much besides making her own ȧssumptions and encouraging the workers to accelerate the pace.

"So we are only waiting for the boy to reveal us the exact date, right?" Volga deduced before.

Natasha turned toward Matteo to ask him directly, "you said having estimated how long it would take for that... huge brėȧsted woman to finish her work, right?"

As soon as she said that, she and Lina started to laugh, following up they had almost the same reactions, they put one hand on their mouth and another on their bellies, trying hard to control their laughter to not be too loud. Jamal, after seeing Matteo's face turning red of embarrassment, pushed Lina with the elbow and lectured her to keep her cool and stay serious.

"It's not even my fault this time, it's Nat' who started it" the woman tried to defend herself.

Jamal moved his sight to Natasha and the young woman immediately calmed down after crossing it, she coughed twice before she repeated her question to Matteo. "Can you tell us more about that?"

He sighed, "yes that's true, as I've said earlier, that black... substance the woman was injecting inside the undead was flowing at a specific rate, keeping in mind how it had to fill their entire bodies, I'm able to roughly estimate how long it would take for her to finish".

Everyone in the room nodded comprehensively except Jamal who had a more skeptical expression on his face, he crossed his arms and clicked his tongue, "no, that won't do".

Everyone turned confused look towards him, wondering what he meant. .

"This time we can't afford to rely on the first ȧssumption, we need to be the most accurate possible", he explained. He stared at Matteo looking particularly serious as he was giving the boy a new task, "I want you to return there and get us a better accurate date".

Everyone almost gasped in surprise. Lina, Natasha, and Matteo looked the most astonished by Jamal's request, even Lina shouted an objection, "Jamie!"

But she then noticed how hard he was clenching his fist when staring at Matteo, revealing that he too was more than reluctant to do this, he was just bearing with it and forcing himself to propose that idea since he believed it was necessary.

"I don't think I'm wrong for saying that yesterday was your first time using your power that way, you weren't expecting what happened and thus you were careless. But that's fine", he started to say to the young boy, trying to build some confidence in him, "this time you will go more prepared, knowing exactly the mission you have to accomplish. Be and act as discreet as possible, don't try to do anything to the other two women that would make them detect you, for example applying your powers directly onto them to spy on them like you did last time. Just do what you have to do and run away back here to our reality and if they still somehow manage to sense you, flee anyway, got it?"

He paused for a moment to soften his expression and asked for Matteo's consent, "will you do it?"

Before revealing to them about his dream the latter thought that Jamal would be angry at him for having taken such a reckless risk, so he was quite surprised that he was the one to take the initiative.

He nodded while stroking timidly his arm, "yeah. I wouldn't mind doing it again".

Natasha leaned toward him looking a bit concerned, her voice was soft when she asked him if he was honestly fine returning there again, she was obviously referring to the trauma he was still carrying from his first interaction with the other hooded woman.

Everyone turned worried eyes toward him and though no one spoke a word, the latter could clearly guess what they were thinking.

To be honest, it was true that Matteo was still afraid of facing that woman again, the souvenirs of the torture she made him go through were still fresh in his mind, but he also thought for himself that the situation was too crucial to play the card of the scared boy. For the sake of everyone, he had to get the job done.

"You don't have to worry" he responded to Natasha, he didn't try to hide his feelings behind a fake reassuring smile as the people around him were sharp and knew him too well to be convinced by such a cheap trick so he just spoke out his mind while trying to sound as brave as he could, "I will be fine. The task is simple, I just have to sneak in, get the information I want, and leave the place as soon as I came. Even if they find about me I'm still faster than they are, running away would not be a problem..." he paused, stopped stroking his arm as he said, "moreover, I have already won against her once if it's in that dream dimension of mine I will not lose".

"That's a way to talk like a man", Lina patted his back before she paused, "have some good rest to build up as much energy as you will need, and more importantly, do mind telling us when you leave for the dream world, we need to watch over you, got it?"

"She's right" Jamal commented, "so far you tend to put an excessive charge of stress on yourself, so we have to keep an eye on you to make sure you won't do anything reckless".

It was like not the first time hearing that, and though Jamal's comment had a goal of making him relax, seeing how everyone was in high spirit for what was about to come, made him feel too fired up to fulfill his part of the job. He even started thinking about eventual plans he could put in use once he would return to that weird dimension.

That part of the time management being settled, Lina went on telling them, while specifically looking at Volga, since she seemed to be the most interested in the preparations, that uniforms were being designed for them. She turned toward Natasha and Carla, "That reminds me that you have an appointment today in the workshop to take your measurements", then she said to Volga, "you can go as well to have a look and see if they have enough fabrics to make yours or if it will take some more time".

"Wait what?" Volga and Carla exclaimed at the same time, looking surprised while staring at Lina, "you have a sewing workshop here?"

"You don't have to be so surprised" Lina waved her hand as she found their reaction a bit much exaggerated, "I have already told you that our city was still pretty functional and that we only needed some more people to expand the activities and cover some few areas left".

Natasha then took over and explained more on the matter, "until here we had only two tailors in the city and since they were not professionals they could only fix ripped clothes and stuff like that but since the arrival of the new citizens the field expanded a bit and we are now capable of producing new clothes from old worn-out clothes and other recycled materials".

Volga thought that Lina didn't stop impressing her since they met, at first sight, she would seem like the arrogant and boaster type of person, always praising herself but the more one knew about her the more they would come to realize how that image of her couldn't be less false as a description of her. She was doing an incredibly good job at incorporating the new citizens, making sure that every single one of them would find their places where they would be needed and she took great attention to make them feel comfortable in here despite missing their old homes, however, Volga never heard her showing off about that.

She couldn't but smiling for that reason.

"So what about those... uniforms?" She wondered.

Lina's corner of her lips extended in a naughty smile and she winked at her, "to look cute of course, how you expect to fight super murderous zombies and overpowered hooded women with huge bȯȯbs without your sėxiest outfit".

There was a blank moment where no one knew what to say, they just kept staring at Lina who was harboring a nice smile, obviously enjoying their reaction.

Volga turned a confused face toward Jamal, seeking some answers, the latter pushed lightly Lina with the elbow before waving lazily his hand as to tell Volga to not mind Lina's... weird comments.

"It's not weird, I'm just stating facts." Lina refuted Jamal while taking a particular tone, as it was the most important topic. She pointed to the three women, one by one, to finally finish on Jamal, "Every single one of you wants to look sėxy when going on that mission, don't even try lying to me".

"Anyway," Jamal just straight up ignored her, "those uniforms will be made on the sole purpose of providing you the utmost protection to withstand shocks better while ensuring a total good and easy mobility." Jamal revealed to them before adding some more details about how the fabric was mainly taken from the special forces units' uniforms and ȧssociated with other materials, "I think it will take some time though, some of those materials are not easy to manipulate, let alone combining them".

"We are also trying to prepare some more gadgets for... well initially they were for Andre but since you've joined the team I guess they are for you too", Lina paused and after letting out a sigh, she shrugged, "I have to admit that it's more reassuring now, I had a doubt that he might use them recklessly, but relying on your experience, things may work better".

"Gadgets?" Volga repeated looking curious and particularly excited.

Jamal nodded, he mentioned about first aid kit for each of them and explained to her that in case they would face situations where normal bullets would be ineffective they would surely need different additional gadgets to solve the problem.

"Don't worry I will make sure to tell you more about that later" Jamal paused, looked around as he realized that something was missing, "by the way, where is Andre?" He asked the woman in front of him.

"When we left, I told him to bring your motorcycle back to your home, but since then he should have already come here a while now, I don't know where he might be".

Lina clapped her hands as she declared, "alright, I propose that we stop from here. I will return to my office", she looked at Jamal while pointing to the young boy, "Matteo will go inform your students that today's training session is canceled and meanwhile he will try to look for Andre. The rest of you can go back home, get rid of the dirt and sweat, and meet me in the city hall in an hour, we will go together to see the tailor and take the measurements for your suits", she moved the head a bit to look at Matteo and she asked him if he knew the address so he could join them once he would find Andre.

"Yes" Matteo's tone of voice implied that he was a bit irritated, "but don't give me orders like that, you make it sounds like-"

"Okay, that's settled" she exclaimed completely ignoring him. She stood up, went to grab Natasha's arm, and after she pulled her from the couch she started to walk with her toward the kitchen.

When the two of them were far enough, safe from the other people's eyes, Lina clung to her friend more, got her face closer to hers, and after a quick sneak glance behind, as to check that no one was following them, Lina started begging Natasha to cook her something.

"I'm starving, I don't think I can continue my work if I don't eat something soon" she muttered at Natasha's ear.

"Why don't you just cook for yourself?" Natasha replied, keeping her voice as low tone as Lina's.

"Don't make me say it, you know I'm as good as you", Lina pulled her arm lightly to make it more insisting, "please. I will do anything. If you want I flash you my bȯȯbs or let you fondle my buŧŧ".

"Okay okay I will make you something before you go. Why do you always have to come up with weird propositions".

Lina suddenly put her arms around her neck and put a big and loud kiss on her cheek, "I love you".

Natasha pushed her away, however, she had put too much strength and Lina almost fall hard on the floor, the good thing was the latter had the reflex to hold onto something, but the problem was that that something was actually Natasha's t-shirt, on the force of the motion Lina unintentionally ripped it off, revealing completely her top half which had only a bra covering her brėȧsts. Lina looked at the piece of clothing in her hand and Natasha immediately put her arms around her body by reflex, trying to cover herself.

"Girls! Are you alright?" They heard Jamal shouting from the living room, surely alerted by the noises they caused.

"Yes!" They both shouted at the same time.

When they heard him coming they started to panic a bit. Lina quickly stood up, she took off her jacket and gave it to Natasha and while the latter was putting it on as fast she could, the former quickly hid the torn T-shirt behind and they both turned at the same to see to face Jamal who just arrived in the kitchen.

"Is there any problem? It sounded like you were fighting".

"Hmm? no, not at all," the two women said at the same time while shaking their heads.

Jamal stared at them with a suspicious look but mostly at Natasha, clearly intrigued by why was she wearing Lina's. Even they both noticed it, Lina was the first one to take action, she quickly find an excuse that Natasha found her jacket really nice and wanted to try it, they bickered with each other a moment before Lina finally accepted to lend it to her.

She, then, coughed twice, took a step toward him and put delicately one hand on his ċhėst, "I just remembered that I have some few things to discuss with Nat' so you can go ahead and will meet later in my office".

Jamal took a look at Natasha and the latter nodded at him while tightly holding the jacket in a way that it was covering entirely her upper body so that Jamal would not notice that she had nothing under it. It worked as in his mind it didn't look to be a big deal, the man just shrugged before he turned around and went back to the living room to ask Volga to give him a ride home and Matteo left with them.

As they were watching them passing the door Natasha sighed and said to Lina, "you better give me a good look at your bȯȯbs AND let me squeeze your buŧŧ later".

"All you want baby, as long as I can get something to fill my belly".