Luther put up his fist. “Stop here for a moment,” he instructed. I stopped about fifty meters from their position.
“Did anyone notice their demeanor before we arrived?” Luther asked.
“They weren’t cowering, hiding in fear,” Neona replied immediately.
“Precisely. They weren’t moving from cover to cover. Standing around like that was a death sentence when the Mave occupied these lands,” Luther said. I noticed him gaze ahead. I imagined he was taking in the moment. The Legion had lifted the veil of fear draped over this place, and while the world was still in shambles, we were moving in the right direction.
“Leo,” Luther said, glancing at him.
“On it,” he replied. Leo removed his sword and put it in the floorboard. I assumed this was to conceal who we were. He opened his door and stood on the step rails. He used the thick, armored door to shield most of his body.
“Xena, return fire only if engaged,” Luther ordered.
“Roger that,” she said.
Leo cleared his throat. “We’re just passing through. We don’t mean you any harm,” he said loudly enough that it echoed off the abandoned buildings.
We waited a few moments before one of them stood up slowly. He was a bearded white man in his forties. He was frail with narrow shoulders and a sunken face. “We’re just looking for supplies,” he said with a New Zealand accent. I noticed his lip tremble. He looked down at the other man, who was still hiding behind the car. He mumbled something to him.
“They’re starving,” Luther said, lowering his voice.
I could hear Leo’s fingers tapping on the door. “Sire, your orders?” he asked.
“Knight Leo, tell them that if they want food, they should place all their weapons on the hood of that vehicle and step forward. Otherwise, tell them to move aside and we’ll be on our way,” Luther replied.
I glanced at him as the snow flurries drifted into the cabin. Luther put his hands on the dash and leaned forward. I noticed he’d put on his armor-plated gauntlets to cover them. Now that I looked at them, they reminded me of a reptile’s scales layered over one another.
It seemed Leo was gathering his thoughts for a moment before speaking. “Gentlemen. We can offer food for the both of you. If you accept, slowly place all your weapons on that vehicle, then step forward side by side where we can see your hands. If not, just move out of the street so we can pass by safely,” Leo offered.
“What’s the catch?” the bearded nomad asked.
“There is no catch. We give you the rations and you can be on your way,” Leo replied. The wanderer shifted his eyes down to his comrade. He crouched down behind cover with him. After several seconds, they both stood up.
The man that was hiding behind the car was taller. He had a thick red beard. On top of his head was a wolf’s fur that was snow white in color. The wolf’s mouth acted like a ballcap’s bill. The animal’s gums had been removed, showcasing its massive fangs. The remainder of the fur draped down his back loosely and hung over a worn dark overcoat. He kept his eyes on us as he slowly closed the trunk of the vehicle.
They first put their rifles on the trunk carefully. They opened their overcoats and began to place an assortment of firearms on the vehicle, totaling nine handguns. I noticed one of them appeared to be red in color, possibly a flare gun.
They stood side by side and walked forward nervously. I noticed the smaller man gulp as they reached halfway. “Corporal Dinu, pull a day’s worth of rations for both of them,” Luther ordered.
“Understood,” Dinu replied. I heard some rummaging around behind me.
“Everyone else, watch our surroundings,” Luther said.
Corporal Dinu leaned forward and handed over the rations to Leo as the unknown men approached. Luther leaned back in his seat. I assumed he didn’t want to give away the fact we were from the Legion right away.
Leo reached out and gave each man their rations. “Here you go.” They quickly tore into the plastic-sealed containers and ate in front of us. They sounded like wild animals tearing into the food as they swallowed it after very little chewing.
The man in the wolf fur started coughing. “Water,” Leo said.
Corporal Dinu gave them a small canteen. The man wiped his mouth and took a drink, keeping his eye on us as he guzzled it down. I noticed the smaller man glance back toward his weapons.
“I’m Leo,” he called out.
“I’m Samson, and this is Markos,” the larger man in the wolf pelt said.
“Greetings to you both, what are you two doing way out here?” he asked.
“Working, just like you,” Samson said, pointing at Xena. Leo glanced back at her without saying a word.
“You’re one of the new crews he hired, I see. Did Sylass send you to check up on us or bring us back?” Samson asked Leo.
Leo paused briefly. “Uh, yeah. What’s the status?” he said, playing along.
“I don’t know how many more times we’ll need to do this for Sylass, but the job is getting more dangerous. We kidnapped almost a dozen three days ago, but we were forced to kill three of them. Luckily, they were mostly elderly people, but they were armed,” Samson explained.
“Elderly people?” Leo asked.
“We tracked them underground. They called themselves the People of the Boar,” Samson said. I gulped, gripping the steering wheel tight as Luther and I met eyes. Samson was referring to the elders that chose to stay underground instead of coming to the Legion with the rest of the group. I thought about the old man that asked us to stay behind because he didn’t want to slow us down.
“But Sylass doesn’t like when humans are killed,” Leo said.
“Fuck him, and I hope your android back there relays the message, or you can tell him yourself. He wants us out here begging people for blood samples? That rarely works, no matter the incentive. We’re getting shot at while starving half to death. We’re forced to take blood samples instead. That’s how we survive; we kill. And Sylass doesn’t ask any questions. If you do this job long enough, you’ll soon understand what I mean,” Samson warned.
“Does it bother you Sylass doesn’t question you about the killings?” Leo asked.
“No. He just can’t do it himself. It bothers me more that he has new crews like you out here believing in his bullshit. You think you’re helping humanity? You think our numbers will multiply because of him? Doubtful. All those androids care about is their former masters. Sylass acts like he gives a fuck about creating stronger humans to repopulate the Earth, but that research is for his owner. He’s gathering all this genetic code to rebuild his master in a body that will have a long life expectancy. Once they die, they have to start all over again with new memories. You ever wonder why the clones are dying?” Samson asked.
“It crossed my mind, yeah,” Leo replied.
“Because of experimentation. They’re trying to make them ultra-resilient, perfect humans so they can freeze them in cryosleep. Once the androids’ owners eventually get sick and need a kidney or liver, they’ll just use the clones’ bodies like an organ bank. I’ve seen and heard enough to know. It’s fucked up and a lot of the clones are dying and suffering because—”
“Of you!” Luther shouted, flinging open his door. There was a moment of silence before Luther’s boots crunched on the icy ground. I tapped my finger nervously on the steering wheel as my heart raced. Everyone watched Luther storm around to the front of the Mauler. Samson’s and Markos’s eyes widened as Luther towered in front of them. Markos’ jaw dropped. Chewed up food fell out of his mouth, splattering on his coat. Luther stabbed his finger at Samson. “People like you enable Sylass!” he roared.
Samson took a step back, glancing at Luther’s sword.
“Hold on. They... they don’t work for Sylass?” Markos stuttered, staring at his partner.
“No, and neither should you, but it’s too late for that now,” Luther said.
“You’re the Engineer. That means... the Legion.” Samson
and Markos met eyes.
“We are. And part of our mission is to destroy machines that alter human beings in any way. Despite your grumbling and complaining about your android employers, you’re assisting them by collecting blood samples. We knew the people you killed beneath this town! We liberated them from another radicalized android tyrant. They were free, until you murdered them!” Luther shouted. Leo jumped down from the Mauler as both knights yanked out their swords and ignited them.
Markos put his hands. I noticed them shaking as Samson glared at Luther. He exhaled slowly, looking up at the clouds. “No one is free. You can paint whatever illusion you like, but out here, we do what takes to survive,” Samson said.
Luther and Leo lunged forward. Samson flinched before Luther cut him in half vertically from this neck all the way down to his crotch. The two ends of his corpse folded toward one another, crumpling to the ground as gray ash filled the air.
Leo slashed his sword at Markos, but he missed. The frail wanderer rolled on the ground, darting toward his weapons. Xena’s chain gun spooled up as Luther raised his hand and clenched his fist in the air, stopping her. “No,” he ordered. Luther looked at me through the front glass, stabbing his finger at the fleeing murderer.
“Everyone, hold on!” I yelled.
The knights moved aside as I throttled forward, pinning us back in our seats. Markos looked over his shoulder as my headlights beamed down on him. As I approached, he leaped to the side, but it wasn’t enough. It felt like a small speed bump as I ran over him over with the Mauler’s tank tracks. He screamed just before the tracks crushed him and muted his voice as his bones snapped and popped. I braked hard, stopping just before running into an abandoned car on the side of the road.
I closed my eyes for a moment. “I’ve heard some pretty horrific sounds in my day, but that has to be one of the worst,” Dinu said casually.
I panted heavily, glancing behind me. “Everyone alright?” I asked.
“I’m gonna take a wild guess and say the guy you just ran over with a tank isn’t,” Neona said. I could see Luther and Leo bringing up the rear. The doors opened on both sides of me as Luther and Leo climbed inside.
“Corporal Dinu, you and your men collect the weapons and ammo they left behind,” Luther ordered.
“Roger that, sire.”
Luther looked at me as I gazed forward. “Considering what we just learned about Sylass, he could have more men in the area. I didn’t want any gunfire,” he explained, lowering his voice. I knew he had a reason for ordering Xena not to fire the turret, but I didn’t have time to question his motives anyway.
“I understand,” I replied, panting. I noticed my fingers shaking as the snow picked up again.
Leo held his hand in front of the heater vent on the dash, glancing at me. “Markos got away from me. I’m sorry you had to do that,” he said.
“It’s not your fault,” I said. He cupped his hand, absorbing the heat as we waited for Dinu and his men to collect the weapons.
“Let’s go. Hurry it up,” Luther ordered, opening his door.
The soldiers loaded the weapons into the rear storage and got inside. I shifted into reverse and eased away from the car in front of me. I could hear Markos’s bones crunching under the tank again as I moved away. We saw his crumpled, bloody body in front of us. He was flattened like a pancake. “Ugh.”
I stared at it for a moment before moving forward.
“Vic. Go straight down this road until I tell you to turn. See that?” Luther asked, pointing at something in the distance to our left. There was a snow-covered mountain that ascended into the clouds. Hundreds of pine trees surrounded the base of it. I got the feeling Luther was trying to distract me from thinking about killing Markos.
“That’s where we’re going to recruit the Warden’s nomads to help us against Sylass. Everyone, listen up. I know it goes without saying, but don’t mention anything about the Warden. We know nothing of his death. Is that understood?” he asked.
“Yes, sire,” everyone replied in unison.
After a few minutes of travel, we were on the outskirts of the town and on a rural country road. Trees had sprouted up on the road, forcing me to drive around them. There was a service station on the side of the street. The east side wall had collapsed, allowing me a view inside. It was filled with snow, but I could see a few metal chairs turned upside down and a table. There were several cars on the lot and two parked inside the bay doors.
A tall sign with faded text was in front of the business. A rope hung from the top of the pole. A large brown boot was tied into the knot as it swung back and forth. As I looked closer, a leg bone from the knee down was inside the boot.
“Sire, isn’t this where we turn, just past the petrol station?” Leo asked.
“Yes, here.” Luther pointed. I cut across an open field full of ruts as the snow began to fall right toward us. We were headed directly to the mountain now. I kept the Mauler in low gear as we dipped through dozens of trenches.
“There was a battle in this field many years ago. My father told me about it,” Leo said as he rocked back and forth on the bumpy ride.
“Between who?” Torres asked.
“Not long after the nuclear war, local militants and remnants of the Russian army collided here. My father didn’t know much about it, but he said the Russian army barely won the battle. It crippled their forces enough that they dispersed, leaving behind their equipment all over the town. Tanks, guns, ammo, MREs. That’s one reason why this town was a hotspot for travelers and looters. People found weapons in this field for years,” he explained.
I plowed through the thick snow for four hundred meters until we approached the base of the mountain. “See that path to the right beyond the trees?” Luther pointed. There was a twisting trail that wrapped around the mountain.
“On the way,” I replied. We pushed through the small forest at the bottom of the mountain. The density of the trees was high, forcing me to navigate slowly and run over logs and down tree climbs.
We began our climb upward, snaking around the bend. As we proceeded, the path narrowed. The Mauler was just over a meter too wide, forcing me to drive on an incline with one tank track on the mountain and the other on the path. As we approached a hundred meters above the base of the mountain, I could sense the energy inside the Mauler change.
Neona, Dinu, and Leo were gawking over the edge. “It’s better if you don’t look,” I said as the wind picked up. The slanted motion gave them an even better view of certain death below. For me, it was an even mix of focus, caution, and excitement. It was like flying a new aircraft for the first time. Part of me wanted to push the envelope and see what it could do.
Despite the circumstances, I was beginning to feel a connection with the vehicle’s slow crawl capabilities. I was learning how to maintain the slightest bit of throttle in low gear and use a fluttering technique to keep it moving when it drifted too far off course or hit a stretch of solid ice. It was a three-way battle between me, the narrow path, and my new beast.
“I guess this is what it feels like to be a mountain goat,” I said.
“A what?” Leo said.
“You don’t know what a goat is?” I asked.
“Never heard of that—”
“Shit,” I muttered. Then I felt the tank tracks slip as a cluster of rocks gave way beneath us. I noticed Dinu’s eyes widen in the rearview as he braced his hands on the ceiling.
I let off the throttle and applied the brake as we slid sideways. The Mauler’s tail end swung around, and we faced the path directly, sliding down the hill as I hit the gas pedal. We were spinning in place. “Give it more power!” Neona shouted, looking out of a small port in the back door’s armor. Rocks, ice, and dirt scattered down the mountain beneath us as the Mauler’s tracks ejected a cloud of debris.
“Come on!” I shouted, gripping the steering wheel. Luther casually opened his door to have a better look down as we continued spinning.
“We�
�re not moving forward much,” he said.
“I know that. Now could you please close that door?” I asked. He slammed it shut. We slowly inched up the fifty-degree incline toward the path. I could see the terrain changing just ahead.
I let off the throttle, but it was too late. The Mauler tracks gripped and launched forward. The momentum was so great that we jumped clear over the path and slammed into the incline above as we romped up the mountain like an ascending rocket.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Dina shouted.
The steepness of the mountain increased to the point that we were looking up at the thick snow clouds.
“Hold on!” I yelled.
“Oh no,” Leo shouted. I backed off the throttle as we approached the next section of the trail above. The front half of the vehicle was completely suspended in the air before it dipped downward and slammed into the snow as I cut the steering wheel up the mountain. We landed on the path almost perfectly. I stopped, looking over my shoulder at our crew.
“I hope no one had any objections. I was too busy keeping us from dying a horrible death,” I said, smiling.
Neona sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. “You’re fucking dangerous,” she said.
The door behind me flung open as Private Torres leaned out and vomited again. “Geez,” Dinu said, patting him on the shoulder.
“Remind me not to fly with that guy if we recover our aircraft,” Leo mumbled.
“Excellent driving, Captain. As I suspected, it seems your gut instinct translates well to ground vehicles. There were only a few instances I suspected death would result to you and the crew,” Xena said.
“Thanks,” I said.
I stared ahead at the path. We were getting close to the top. Through the thick snow I could see a statue next to a cave entrance. “What’s that?” I asked.
Luther held his stare at the statue without saying a word.
“Torres, you alright?” I asked.
“Yeah. I think so,” he said, coughing.
The Reclamation and the Lioness Page 19