Rest.

(Knacker Wagon Chronicles - XV)

Lenny escorted Baye back to the barracks. Quietly, Lenny spoke to Baye, "After the witching hour, there's no more talking and no more lights in the barracks. Speak and you will made made speechless. That includes crying to your mommy. Light anything up and you will be blinded. You defecate in the bathroom, you will eat it. Clear?"
"Crystal," replied Baye. Bug was still outside the front door. Instead of greeting them, Bug was transfixed by his finger. With a confounded expression creased in his forehead, he was staring at his index finger, pointing straight up out of his fist and mere inches in front of his face. Baye hesitated before entering the barracks and looked at Bug, trying to discern this weird fascination.
"If you survive the night, I'll see you tomorrow in the kitchen." Lenny leaned toward Baye, "Remember, stay on Sarge's good side and getting through the night gets a lot easier - got it?"
"Got it."

Baye entered the barracks. The building was dimly lit from the inside and not at all from the outside, as the sun had dropped well below the horizon. He could barely see. He trudged forward, counting the cots until he reached the one where Rev had left the nice picture of his dead predecessor. He was relieved to see it unoccupied and hoped he would be left alone throughout the night. Reaching down, he rummaged across the cot and located a pillow and blanket. He tugged them off and bundled them up. He knelt down and scooted himself under the cot. There was enough clearance for his body, as well as some extra clearance in case the cot sagged with a body on top of it. Better to sleep with potential rats and roaches than face getting assaulted, he thought. Besides, with clean bathrooms, and no food around, he figured the only varmints around would be the human variety.

He lay on the ground, tired but not relaxed. Baye could hear breathing, deep and rhythmic, so he was not alone but probably was the only conscious person in the room. The day had been one of the weirdest he ever experienced. He thought of Sarge, truly as Lenny said, and as he experienced firsthand, a man not to mess with. Sarge wanted him around, for who knows what purpose, but as long as the man everyone else seemed to fear was not an enemy, that was good. He didn't know what to make of Rev or Lenny. Either one could turn out to be the true 'first-mate' of the crew. Baye knew he could not afford to make the wrong guess on this fact. Both were sadistic, and given they were knackers, both had violent histories. Pudgi was in a category all his own. Baye had never met someone who dined on roadkill - and enjoyed it.

The interior lights shut off. A dimness remained and Baye could see small shafts of lights stream inside near the ceiling of the barracks. He hadn't noticed them before, but there were small rectangular windows high above the cots. Perhaps the witching hour had come.

Baye's mind was drifting. In time with the breathing, he envisioned a swarm of rats, advancing with each exhale. Pudgi was standing in the middle of them, gleefully picking them up and biting off their heads. More rats poured in. Lenny appeared in full chef regalia with a large bowl of food in one arm as he stirred its contents with the other. Pudgi steadily plopped the headless corpses into the bowl. Rev entered and glared at Baye. "Will you EAT it?", he demanded. The entire scene exploded as he heard the cot creak under a strain. He could see boots by his head and a glimmer of metal as it receeded up through the bottom of the mattress, the cot springs groaning under released pressure.

Kitchen.

(knacker wagon chronicles - XIV)

Lenny escorted Baye outside the barracks. The complimentary fellow outside the door when Rev brought Baye to the barracks was still sitting on the front porch. "Hello Bug," said Lenny.
"'lo Lenny," replied Bug. "Hey, did the newbie get any smarter inside?"
"Well, Bug, he knew how to go inside, and I guess we've just confirmed he knows how to go outside."
Bug cackled gleefully. "If he knows how to eat, maybe he even knows which end to crap out of!" Baye was mildly put off by the exchange. He thought Lenny may be a crackpot but Bug was looking like a simple idiot. Maybe Bug was like Pudgi, nothing much to look at but somehow commanded a lot of respect. He doubted this, from what Baye saw, Bug was aptly named, and really, not much to look at.

They crossed a street running directly in front of the barracks. The ground was parched with weedy yellow-greenish scrubgrass interspersed among dusty pockets of dirt. The air felt cooler to Baye as the sun hung low near the horizon. Lenny marched up a short flight of stairs and yanked open a door to another building with similar frontage to the barracks. Pleasant smells wafted outside and Baye realized how hungry he was. If he didn't imagine where the food originated, he figured he could even eat. The entered a what appeared to be something like a diner. There were a few tables and chairs haphazardly strewn about and a counter at one end of the room. Behind the counter was a crew of men bustling to and fro, sliding plates of food onto the counter. Lenny grabbed a tray and set a plate of food upon it. Baye followed suit. He saw a tuft of hair on the edge of his plate and decided not to examine any closer.

Lenny took his place at a table. As Baye moved to sit, Lenny grunted out an "Ahem."
"Pardon?" asked Baye.
"That seat is taken," said Lenny. Baye shuffled to the next seat at the table. "Ahem"
"Taken too?" asked an incredulous Baye.
"Yes, they're all taken," said Lenny. Baye rolled his eyes and walked to another table.
"Dude, they're ALL taken," said Lenny.
"What do you mean ALL?" asked Baye.
"I mean, every seat in here is not for you. Go outside if you wanna sit. Or else stand and eat, I don't care." Baye was hungry enough to not want to fight. He stood and manage the best he could to hold his tray and eat with utensils in a dignified manner. He didn't bother looking over at Lenny for he didn't really want to start any trouble.

Pudgi swung the kitchen door open and held it wide, announcing "Stand UP!" On cue, Lenny stood and looked at Baye, presumably to make sure he was still standing. Sarge marched through the kitchen door and headed straight to the food counter. Hamm entered behind Sarge. All three newcomers loaded up with trays of food and found seats and the same table as Lenny. Only after Sarge seated himself did the others also sit. Nobody paid Baye any attention and left him standing in place, struggling with his dinnerware.

There was no conversation at the table. Forks clinked against plates and drinks were supped but no words uttered. Baye wondered if his presence prevented discussions he was not privy to hear. He would have appreciated the distraction, as he was not fond of looking too closely at his food. It resembled a coagulated stew, pureed to an indiscernable clump. The tuft of hair was itself disconcerting, but not exclusively. Some of the darkened splotches on the brownish matter had the distinct outline of legs - cricket or roach maybe. The overall coarse and gritty texture of the food denied tactile confirmation of his suspicions. So much the better. Finally, Sarge broke the silence.
"Vengeance put on a show today." He paused for another bite. "They're due for a beat down. If they were in this camp we'd ambush them just outside the walls. Fortunately for them they're not in Nowhere. Tomorrow we need to run a patrol along the northern boundary and I'll take the van south - maybe we can provide some push against the other Nowhere crews. Lenny, take Baye with you and run the northern patrol. I'll cover the night calls."
"That's the newbie, right? Baye's his name?" asked Lenny. Sarge didn't answer. He merely looked at Lenny and nodded slightly.
"He's not a moron so try not to get him killed." Sarge pushed his chair from the table and stood up. Everyone else moved to stand up as well. Sarge turned and left the kitchen. After he exited, everyone remaining at the table sat down again to finish eating.

After he was done, Lenny got up and motioned for Baye to follow. They headed out of the kitchen. The sun had fallen below the horizon. "Dude, you're not allowed to used the barrack bathrooms yet, so relieve yourself outside. Get some sleep. Since I need to TRY to keep you alive tomorrow, I need you fresh."