Nyx climbed out of the car at the same time Nero did, and looked back west, in the direction they had just come. Cryptus’ monster truck rolled to a stop a short distance away, and behind it, the sun slid closer to the horizon.
It would be dark soon.
“Let’s camp here,” Nero suggested, looking over at her.
Nyx nodded. “Sounds good,” she said, and stepped away from the car, shutting the door behind her. Nearby, there was a row of mostly demolished beach huts. But Nyx spotted a few of them that were still mostly intact. “How about one of these?” she suggested as the main site for their camp.
“Looks good, let’s set up.”
It didn’t take long to set up camp, and by now, Nyx and Nero had it down to a fine art, pulling things from the back of the car and starting the fire to get some food cooked.
Nyx kept an eye on Kat, and when a suitable opportunity presented itself, asked Kat to help her grab something from the car.
“Just round that side,” Nyx said, hanging back to make sure Kat went first.
She’d been thinking through what she had seen back on the outskirts of Midway City, and during their drive over here, she’d decided that she didn’t want to wait any longer. She wanted to know what Kat was up to. Why was she coming onto her and Nero? What was going through her mind? She wanted to do it alone, though, without any of the others being nearby in case they influenced her answers.
The moment had finally presented itself, so Nyx had taken it.
“Kat?” Nyx asked as they reached the far side of the Charger and were both somewhat hidden from the others, and far enough away that they could talk in private.
“Hmm?” Kat answered.
“What are you doing?”
“What do you mean, you wanted to come over here and…”
“Not that. I mean with Nero and I.”
“Oh…”
“What are you up to?”
Kat didn’t answer, she just cast her eyes down and refused to look Nyx in the eyes.
“Kat, you need to answer me; you can’t do this. You can’t keep coming onto Nero like that; it’s not fair.”
“I’m sorry,” Kat answered, her voice little more than a squeak.
Nyx pressed her lips together in consternation.
“You’re sorry?”
“I am. Honestly. I don’t mean to. I don’t…” she said, looking up, tears in her eyes.
Nyx felt a pang of guilt for asking, but she had to say something; she couldn’t let it go and not confront her. But she did feel bad.
She reached out and put a comforting hand on Kat’s shoulder. “It’s okay, I don’t think you’re trying to cause trouble, I’m just trying to understand why.”
Kat reached out and put her arms around Nyx, pulling her in for a hug as she sniffed by her tears.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“That’s okay,” Nyx answered as Kat pulled back and looked up at her. Kat smiled, and then she leant in and kissed Nyx on the lips again.
Nyx didn’t hesitate in pushing her off again this time. “Kat! God damn it, no. This is what I’m talking about. Why do you keep trying to kiss Nero and me?”
Kat leant back against the Charger, and then sank to the floor, bringing her knees up as she dropped. “I don’t know. I don’t. It just seems like the right thing to do. I’m just so grateful to you, I just want to thank you.”
“Are you sure that’s all?”
“Yes, absolutely. I don’t want you two to break up or anything. Honestly, I don’t. I’m just, I don’t know. I’m all confused. I mean, I like you. You and Nero.”
“You like us?”
“Well, yeah,” Kat answered.
“As friends, or more?”
“I don’t know, both maybe?”
“Okay. Look, take some time, think through what you mean. You might not want to be with us at all. Recent events might be screwing you up a bit. But don’t keep trying to come on to us or trying to kiss Nero or me okay?”
Kat’s tears were falling freely now, and it felt to Nyx like she’d finally broken through some kind of wall. Kat’s time in the queen’s guard, with Tan held captive, had probably warped Kat’s views slightly. It didn’t make her a bad person, but it probably had changed her.
She couldn’t be certain what Kat had been through, although, she could probably guess.
She wasn’t alone, either. Everyone here had been through a lot. The world wasn’t fair anymore. The strong ruled and the weak served. This, unfortunately, brought back some of the old ways and views about the sexes and led to a thriving slave trade in both men and women. Nyx wasn’t the only person that Rex had held in his thrall. He’d had men work for him, serve in his guard and do countless menial and degrading tasks. They were also used as sex slaves as much as the women were. There were also strong women who served Rex willingly as keen soldiers of his and kept several men as slaves for them to use as they saw fit.
Nero had been clear in his dislike of such practices, which was part of why he’d been keen to rescue Nyx from Rex and then from Latrix’s harem.
Polyamorous relationships were one thing, but slavery was another thing entirely.
Kat had lived with the queen both in her harem, and then later and for a longer time in her guard as a warrior swordswoman, forced to kill for the queen.
It was not surprising that she was grateful to Nero and Nyx for saving her, but coming onto them was not the right way to show her gratitude.
That said, she was an attractive girl, and Nyx had been party to a few encounters with both men and women and wasn’t averse to relationships with either. However, she did have something special going with Nero, something she did not want to end. She found herself a little torn.
It was complicated, and even though she were open to the idea of a relationship of three, it might be that Nero was not. These were strange times, however, and you found love and companionship wherever you could.
“Thank you,” Kat said, as Nyx stood back up.
“Anytime, and that’s all the thanks Nero or I need, alright?”
Kat nodded with a sheepish smile.
Nyx nodded in acknowledgement and continued about her tasks. Kat returned to the camp moments later and joined in with the conversation easily.
Later, Nyx spotted Nero sat on the beach alone, looking out to the landscape beyond. Nyx wandered over.
“Room for one more?”
Nero looked up and smiled. “Sure.”
Nyx sat in the sand beside him and wrapped her hands around his arm. “Penny for your thoughts.”
“I’m just thinking about how things have changed these past few months. It’s crazy. And now we’re on a mission to find a kill a Night Lord.”
“I understand,” Nyx replied. “I had a chat with Kat earlier about her coming onto you and me, trying to kiss us.”
“You saw that, did you?”
Nyx nodded. “I did.”
“So, what’s that all about? What’s going on with her?”
“She’s confused. She’s been through a lot with Latrix and her sister, and, well, I have no idea what she’s been through these past few years, but I think she’s mixing up her feelings a little. She wants to thank us, show us her gratitude, but, actually, I think she likes us,” Nyx explained, hoping she put her thoughts into a coherent explanation.
“You mean, like, like? As in, attracted to us?” Nero asked.
“I think so.”
“Oh. I thought she might have a more nefarious plan in mind,” Nero commented.
“Well, I can’t be totally sure, but I guess that’s possible. I just don’t get that feeling from her, though.”
Nero nodded. “Your feelings are usually on the money. I learnt to trust your gut a while back.”
“I do seem to have an insight into these things.”
“So, what did you tell her?”
“I told her to take her time and think things through,” Nyx explained.
�
��So, you’re open to the idea?” Nero asked.
Nyx shrugged. “Maybe. Aren’t you?”
“Um, I don’t know…”
“Don’t be so straight-laced, choir boy. Live a little. Two girls are better than one.”
Nero laughed. It was a sound that made Nyx smile and reminded her of her love for him. Do I really want to share him with someone else, she thought? Honestly, as much as the idea of nights of passion with Nero and Kat really did arouse her, she needed some time to think through the implications of what a polyamorous relationship would mean for her and her relationship with Nero.
She leant her head on his shoulder. She wouldn’t make that choice tonight.
“What about the Whisperer? Has he spoken to you again?”
“Yes, a few times,” she answered, her mood darkening at the mention of the daemon.
“And? What was it this time?” Nero asked.
“He’s warned us about trying to find him.”
“He knows what we’re doing?”
Nyx felt a flush of heat through her cheeks. “I might have mentioned it.”
“Hmmm,” Nero answered her, keeping quiet for a moment. “Do you think he knows where we are?”
“I don’t know.”
“I think it would be an idea to find that out. Don’t you?”
“I do,” Nyx agreed, because if the Whisperer did know, then they were screwed.
“Maybe drop some hints or pretend to slip up. Come up with a false lead. See how he reacts. Do you think he can read your mind?”
“I’m not sure. Sometimes I think he can, but maybe I’m letting thoughts leak through?”
“You need to be more careful. Can he hear us now?”
“I don’t feel him. I think I can sense him when he’s there, when he’s listening. I wonder if he can only hear me?”
“Whatever the case, this merits investigation. We need to know what he knows and what he can see and hear.”
Nyx took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Chapter 5
Nero
They’d been driving for nearly two days through the desert, along what had once been the bottom of the ocean. Today, it was just more blasted, dusty desert with the occasional human settlement where the residents struggled to survive in a wasteland of undead monsters and demonic creatures.
As Nero drove in the afternoon of the second day, the faint shape of distant structures faded into view on the horizon. There was a cluster of them straight ahead, and off to their right, another, smaller single structure.
“What am I seeing here?” Nero called into the backseat as the car rumbled forward.
Slick sat forward and peered through the front windscreen at the buildings.
“That’s the Trinity, the three rigs that I’m from,” Slick said.
“And that?” Nero pointed out the other structure off to their right.
“That’s the Daemon Rig,” Slick replied, his voice noticeably darker in tone.
“The Whisperer’s rig,” Nero answered under his breath.
“That’s the one.”
Nero stared at it for a long moment, feeling the pull of destiny as he looked at it. It felt like the next step, the right place to go to find the daemon that was holding Nyx’s mother hostage.
“Right, let’s get you boys back to the Trinity. I don’t want to waste too much time there,” Nero said, and looked over at Nyx, who was still staring at the Whisperer’s rig.
She looked anxious and maybe nervous as well. Like she wanted to get over there, but was also worried about what she would find. Or was that him projecting his own feelings onto her?
He was keen to push on, to head over there and find this driver that delivered the oil and gasoline to the Whisperer’s compound, wherever that might be. But he’d made a deal with Slick to take them to the Trinity, and Slick had spoken of the dangers of going to the Daemon Rig alone several times now.
So, reluctantly, Nero pressed on towards the Trinity, glancing right every so often.
Sometime later, they drove up an incline, losing sight of the rigs for a while until the landscape levelled out and they crested the rise, giving them a better view of the area ahead of them.
The Trinity could be seen much easier in the distance ahead. The rigs were incredibly tall, giving Nero a good idea of where the surface of the ocean once was. The people who lived here, though, had been busy, and built up a living area and what looked like some kind of factory around the bases of the three rigs. Thick black smoke poured from the rigs and the factories at their bases while Nero and the others watched.
“It’s a refinery as well, isn’t it?” Nero guessed.
“That’s right,” Slick said. “It was built soon after the cataclysm and has been running ever since. Everything’s done here. They extract the crude oil from the ground and then refine it, distil it, to make fuel and stuff.”
“I’m glad there are still people around who understand how to do that. Is it the same at the Whisperer’s rig? Do they refine it there, too?”
“They do. We used to control that rig, too, years ago, until the Whisperer’s forces took it from us. Now it only produces gas for the Whisperer.”
Nero saw the huge campsite about half way towards the Daemon Rig, and the massive hoard of ant-like figures around the base of the Whisperer’s rig and frowned.
“What going on?’ Nero asked.
Slick moved to get a better look. “Oooh, looks like the Trinity is massing for an attack on the Daemon Rig.”
“They’ve done this before?”
“Many times. The Trinity has even taken it back a few times over the years, but the Whisperer has always retaliated and kicks us out again.”
Nero turned and looked back at the small army massing halfway between the rigs. “Maybe this time will be different…” he muttered to himself. He looked over to Nyx, who had been quiet for a while. Her gaze was still fixed on the Daemon Rig. Reaching out, Nero placed his hand on Nyx’s thigh.
She turned to him. “Hmm?”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, just, you know, keen to keep going.”
Nero nodded and turned to look out the windscreen again. “Alright, let’s get down there,” he said, and poured on the power once again, making the Charger’s engine roar as it made its way down the slope towards the forward camp.
As they approached, Nero saw a guard team move out to meet them. Nero slowed as the guard team approached and then came to a stop.
“Let’s be sure this doesn’t go badly for us,” Nero said before he climbed out the car. Nyx and the others followed suit. Behind them, Cryptus’ monster truck also rolled to a stop a few meters away. Nero left his shotgun in the car as three vehicles and several bikes approached. The Trinity’s buggies and trucks stopped a short distance away while the bikes stayed mobile, riding around the edges of Nero’s group.
Guns were levelled at them by the Trinity guards, but one man stepped forward, openly armed and ready to use it.
“Who goes there?” he called out.
“I’m Nero, this is Nyx, Kat, Cryptus, Runt, Chain, and Slick. He’s a resident of the Trinity,” Nero explained.
“Is he, now? Never met him.”
“We’re not here to cause trouble, we’re fulfilling a deal we had with Slick to bring him and his friend back to the Trinity.”
“Is that all?”
Nero glanced over at the Daemon Rig off to his right, and then back to the guard. “We want to help,” Nero said.
“Help? Help how?”
“You’re going to attack that rig, right? We want in,” Nero demanded.
“Do you?”
“Let me speak to your leader. The Whisperer has been a constant thorn in our side, and we’ve had enough. We want to destroy him.”
“Lofty goals…” the guard commented.
Nero shrugged.
“Alright, you and one other can come and speak to the lord, the re
st of you wait here. Leave your weapons here, too.”
Nero turned to Slick as he walked back to his car and dropped his pistol and dagger inside. “Can I trust him?” he hissed at Slick.
“I’ve never met his guy, but the leadership at Trinity is honourable.”
“You’re sure?” Nero asked. Although the thought passed through his mind that Slick could possibly tell him anything at this point.
“The Trinity is led by Lord Kero and Lady Sene. They’re husband and wife, and they’re fair leaders.”
“Alright, Nyx, you wait here…”
“No way in hell am I waiting here. I’m going with you.”
“But if it’s a…”
“A trap? Then you’ll need my help,” she said, pulling her coat out of the car and putting it on.
Nero nodded. He knew better than to argue with her. He turned to Kat and Cryptus, who had stepped down from his truck. “Wait here, we’ll be back in a bit.”
“Will do,” Cryptus said.
Nero walked with Nyx over towards the guard. “You sure about this?” he muttered to her.
“Of course,” she said, a wicked grin on her face and a twinkle in her eye. Her look made Nero smile and reminded him of how much he loved this whirling dervish of a woman. Not that he needed reminding, but there were times when she did or said something that just pulled on his heartstrings.
They reached the guard, who looked them both up and down. “We gotta check you,” he warned them.
Nero nodded, and so did Nyx as two guards stepped forward, a man and a woman, and patted them down quickly before confirming they were unarmed.
“Alright, into the truck; let’s go,” the guard said.
The ride into the camp didn’t take long. There were tents and vehicles spread throughout, and countless people dressed in all manner of salvaged clothing.
Towards the centre of the camp, there were a few more robust looking structures made from a mix of metal sheeting and canvas that flapped in the wind. The truck pulled to a stop outside one of them, and they were urged to disembark.
“What do you think?” Nero whispered to Nyx under his breath.
“It’s impressive, there’s a lot of firepower on show here,” Nyx answered. She’d lost that far away look she’d had in the car and seemed more focused on the here and now again as the guardsmen ushered them towards the nearest of the larger tents. They weren't gentle about it, but they weren’t violent, either. Just unsympathetic.
Wasteland Road Knights Trilogy Page 36