Ellia checked on the launderers first. She nodded with approval and felt stress lifting on her shoulders when she saw them performing their duties expertly. They used as little laundry detergent as possible when loading the clothes they had gathered into the washing machines, made sure to only do small loads at a time to minimize wear and tear on the machines (they only had two to begin with), and washed all polymer armor and suits by hand.

Next, she checked on the food supply at the back of the kitchen. Everything was stored beautifully—dated, bagged, and organized—and nobody had been stealing extra rations. Ellia had caught one of her cooks stealing food before, and one of the hardest decisions she had to make was either killing the woman for her crimes or banishing her. She conducted a public hanging for the woman, and every woman in the tribe was forced to watch, including Ellia, herself. The woman’s death still wore on her conscience, but she couldn’t let behavior that could potentially endanger every woman in the tribe slide.

It seemed to have worked. Ever since the woman’s execution, no one had dared steal any food.

Finally, Ellia checked in with their minerals locked away in a vault on the bottom floor of the fortress (to her satisfaction, they still had plenty), and then she checked in with her scientists. They were all sitting in the lab around a white, rectangular, table, tossing around ideas of how to make the most efficient turrets possible.

They were all mutants, some of them were newly recruited, and others had been members of the tribe for a month or longer.

Ellia couldn’t help but harbor distaste for the mutants. They were eyesores, and she couldn’t help the churning of her stomach and the pity she felt for them when they sat in the same room together. Nonetheless, she managed to keep a neutral face as she listened to them tell her where they were at with their plans.

“We have a design that we think will work, and now we’re just trying to come up with a way to keep the turrets from overheating. Honestly, we could use Hilargi’s help.” Danny, one of the newest mutants said.

Ellia looked down at her hands which were folded neatly in her lap. “You’ll have to make do without her. She needs a day off.”

The mutants went quiet, but Ellia knew what they were all thinking. They were thinking how strange it was that Ellia had given Hilargi the day off. After all, Ellia was not known for being kind to mutants, and especially not to Hilargi.

Ellia felt guilty about how she had treated Hilargi from time-to-time. She didn’t know why, but the girl made her blood boil. She was a sniveling, shy, coward who didn’t even appreciate or acknowledge her own talents, and Ellia couldn’t stand women like that. Especially one who happened to look as hideous and pathetic as Hilargi.

Ellia found her fists clenching just thinking about that wet-blanket of a girl.

At the same time, she had always felt strangely protective of her.

When she was twenty and belonged to a different tribe, she had raided a mutant pit with her mother in tow. She had found Hilargi cowering in a corner and made sure that she was one of the ones they kept alive. Young mutants were the most valuable, both because they were malleable and loyal, and because they could spend longer as a tribe scientist. Capturing a mutant in their twenties was often seen as pointless because they only typically lived till thirty.

Ellia had known Hilargi for most of the mutant’s life, and couldn’t help but feel affection for the girl. She rarely showed it, however. She was much more likely to smack Hilargi when the mutant was emotional than she was to tell her, “Good job.” When she had created a brilliant new piece of technology.

The room had become eerily quiet when she told them that Hilargi needed a break. She could tell the mutants were questioning whether Ellia was more lenient than she let on. Because she didn’t want aniy of them to get any ideas of betraying her, she stood up abruptly and said sternly, “Carry on. I expect you all to be done with those plans by the end of the day. I’ll have Hilargi go over them with you tomorrow.”