“That might work. Get them in a confined space, take them by surprise; sounds like a good plan.”
“We’ve done crazier shit,” Nyx agreed.
“So, we’re doing this?” Nero asked.
“Yeah, let’s do it,” Nyx answered him.
Nero turned to Kat. “Any objections?”
“Not really, but I’m just along for the ride. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I want to see the Whisperer bite it as much as you do, but…”
“Surely, this is a little personal for you as well?” Nyx asked. “Latrix enslaved you, and she was in thrall to the Whisperer.”
“I guess, but I think Latrix would have been there, doing her thing even without the Whisperer. My issue was with Latrix more than the Whisperer.”
“Fair enough,” Nyx answered.
“Alright, let’s head out. Cryptus, do you want to lead the way?”
“Will do,” he said and climbed back into this truck.
Nero did the same, listening to the whoops of Runt, who had been in the back of the monster truck the whole time.
Gunning the engine, the noise it made drowned out all other extraneous sounds, and they were soon on their way.
The going was relatively easy, and Cryptus seemed to know where he was driving. Eventually, as night fell, they stopped and had some food, only for Cryptus to suggest they continue on through the night and arrive at the tunnel in the morning. Nero was happy to do it, and after they’d eaten, they set off once more, their lights ablaze in the azure night.
They took turns to drive, occasionally stopping for brief rests until the sun finally began to rise and off in the distance. Nero spotted the first signs of a settlement. They’d made it, but that was the easy part. Now, the fun would really begin.
Chapter 8
Nyx
“Remember, we’re just travellers looking to use the tunnel and head south,” Nero said.
Nyx nodded to herself as she watched the main entrance to the settlement draw nearer. They were surrounded by buildings now, most of which had been thoroughly ransacked, including many that were little more than shells. Nyx guessed that the people in the settlement had been tearing down the surrounding buildings and using the materials they got from them to build up their settlement and its defences. It also made it easier to see incoming visitors or attackers, she supposed.
Looking up at the perimeter wall and the main gate, she started to get a feel for the place right away, and she wasn’t sure she liked it.
Above the main gate, a huge rusted metal sign arced over the top of the gate, with rough metal letters attached to it. It read “Storm Home”, and around it, there were cut outs of naked women in sexy poses.
“I already don’t like this place,” Nyx commented.
“They seem a little full of themselves, putting a sign up like that,” Nero agreed with her.
Nyx grumbled something to herself and could feel her guard going up as the Charger rolled up towards the gate.
“Who goes there?” a man called out from the wall.
Nero looked at her. “You ready?”
Nyx took a breath. “Sure am,” she answered.
“Let’s do this, then,” Nero said and stepped out of the car.
Nyx followed suit and opened her door as well. Kat did the same. Behind them, Cryptus and Runt made themselves visible as well.
“We’re travellers from the west, and we wish to use the tunnel and head south. We have wares to barter,” Nero answered.
The guard seemed to look them over, and then scanned the area around them, including the buildings, before returning his gaze to them. “Very well. We’ll guide you in. Prepare for inspection and leave your firearms in the car.”
Nero nodded. “Thanks,” he called and motioned to Nyx to climb back into the car.
“Two vehicles coming in,” the guard shouted into the settlement, and a moment later, the gates levered open, revealing a small crowd of men inside, all of them armed with guns, daggers, or other improvised weapons.
“Um, are we sure this is a good idea?” Nyx asked. It wasn’t uncommon for them to receive a cautious welcome from a camp or settlement, and they were frequently met with loaded guns pointed at them, but there were so many more people in here, and they all looked ready for a fight.
“I hear ya,” Nero answered, and for a moment, he hesitated as a couple of the armed guards walked out. One of them stepped forward, gun ready.
“Don’t be afraid. You do as we ask, and we won’t hurt ya. Them’s people is just a precaution is all. Nothing to be scared of, like,” he said.
Nyx’s eye flicked to Nero, who looked back at her for a second. “Let’s see, shall we?”
Nyx took a moment and thought about finding her mother. This was a good plan, so, as much as this place made her nervous, she knew she had to be strong. She looked back up at Nero and nodded.
He nodded back, and they moved slowly forward, rolling into this outer area of their settlement.
With the Charger and truck inside, the gates were closed behind them. It was difficult to get a good look at the settlement itself, as there were just too many people around them. For a moment, Nyx sat there, feeling more than a little vulnerable, when on Nero’s side, the crowd parted as a man made his way forward towards the car.
The man stopped a short distance away and motioned for someone beside him to approach Nero.
A man nodded and walked forward.
“Welcome to Storm Home. Please, leave your guns in the car and step out,” the man asked.
Nero didn’t hesitate and left his shotgun and pistol in the Charger. They hadn’t said anything about swords, though, so Nyx stepped out and withdrew her sword from the inside of her door as she did so. Her actions caused a few of the men on her side of the vehicle to look a little nervous, but none of them attacked her, which she guessed was a bonus.
She stood there, eyeing them for a moment as Kat climbed out beside her, until one of them waved his gun at them, urging them to walk around the Charger to join Nero.
“Go on, join your man,” he said.
Nyx glanced at Kat, who looked similarly on guard with her sheathed katana in hand. Slowly, Nyx walked around the car, scanning the faces of the assembled crowd, and noted that, from what she could see, there wasn’t a single female face amongst them, which struck Nyx as both odd and ominous.
“So, you wanna use the tunnel?” said the man that seemed to be the leader. He was talking to Nero as Nyx stepped up beside him. She noticed Cryptus and Runt climbing down off their truck as well beyond Nero.
“We do,” Nero answered.
“We’ve got stuff to trade,” Nyx added.
The man glanced at her once, and then looked back to Nero. “You’ve got stuff to trade?”
“Like Nyx said, yes…”
“I was talking to you, not her,” the man answered. The way he said “her” was filled with derision.
“Very well,” Nero answered. He glanced once at her, a look that didn’t go unnoticed by the man.
“So, you’ve got stuff to trade?”
“We have,” Nero answered. “Fuel, food, water, medical supplies, various bits of gear. What are you interested in?”
“Some of it, all of it. I’ll need to see it to know.”
“It’s around the ba…” Nyx began.
“Shut up, Thunder Boi is speaking to your man,” said one of the men standing beside the man he’d referred to as Thunder Boi.
Nyx turned her head slightly to look at the man who had addressed her. He was staring right at her; his gun pointed her way.
Nyx wanted to punch the man in the face right there and then, but she knew that would be dangerous, to say the least. Instead, she stood there, silently seething, her fists clenched as she controlled her anger and frustration.
Nero touched her arm. “It’s okay, I’ve got this.”
She looked up at him and smiled, letting some of her anger drain away.
She looked over
the top of the heads of the surrounding men to see that it looked like they were in just one area—an entrance area maybe—of a larger structure. She could see other vehicles in here, parked a short distance away, and beyond them, a garage.
She looked back at Nero, who was still talking to this Thunder Boi.
“We want to use the tunnel, just a single trip to the other side, and we want one, maybe two nights stay with food,” Nero explained.
“Alright, let’s see your stuff,” Thunder Boi asked. Nero led him around to the rear of the Charger and began showing him some of the things they could offer this settlement as payment.
“I’ve got a jerry can of fuel you can have. Just one, mind; we need the rest. We do have some military rations we can give you, too, that we found out east. They’re still good. Especially the puddings.”
“Puddings are good. Been a long time since I’ve had me some chocolate.”
“Alright, let me grab you some of them, they’re in the back…”
“No, no, get your girl here to fetch them,” Thunder Boi suggested. Nyx raised an eyebrow and understood ever more clearly the kind of camp this was. The absence of girls out here was starting to make more sense to her. She glanced at Nero, who shrugged.
She cursed to herself under her breath, knowing that she would need to put up with this for a day or so. Rolling her eyes, she opened the rear door on this side of the car and leaned in to open up the large bag with the rations in it.
The moment she did it, she regretted doing it as she had.
“Whoop!”
“There you go, look at that.”
“Now, that’s an ass.”
There were a few wolf whistles to go along with the comments as well, and Nyx suddenly felt like a piece of meat. She gathered the deserts and stood back up, glaring at the men behind her.
“Oooh, she didn’t like that,” one of them commented, much to the amusement of his mates.
“Nyx,” Nero said, his voice low and with a note of warning in it.
Nyx concentrated on her breathing and suppressed the desire to break some faces before turning to Nero and handing over a handful of rations to Thunder Boi.
“Give ‘em to D.J.,” Thunder Boi said. He was probably the biggest man here. Well-muscled with long sandy blonde hair. He wasn’t bad looking, either, but his attitude and personality were, Nyx thought, about as ugly as they came.
Looking at him, she found herself reminded of Rex, her former captor at the Watchtower, and it felt like there were more than a few similarities between them. Nyx pushed her lips together into a thin line with the memories of her time at the Watchtower fresh in her mind, and wondered how many girls these men kept here to use as they wanted.
~You know how worthless you are, don’t you? You know that you won’t find me and it’s pointless to try. Why don’t you give up and just go around saving the weak and feeble? You’re better at that, aren’t you?~
Nyx sighed. She’d felt her emotions rise up again moments before the Whisperer spoke to her. She wondered which thoughts of hers he’d heard. She silently chastised herself for getting careless. If this were going to become a thing, if the Whisperer was going to be in her head, she’d need to get a tight reign on her thoughts and make sure they didn’t leak out to the daemon, which they obviously just had.
She’d turned away from the crowd when the Whisperer spoke to her and leant against the car with her hand, looking at the floor as she attempted to force the Night Lord from her head.
“You know what would look good?” said a voice from behind her in the crowd of men.
“No, what?” another asked.
“That ass on the end of my cock,” the first finished.
Nyx breathed in deeply as she felt the hot anger rise up within her, but there was no pushing it down with a simple breathing trick this time, and before she really knew what she was doing, she’d spun around to punch the closest man she could find in that crowd.
Nero caught her arm in his hand.
He’d moved around from the back of the car, probably because he’d seen how she was behaving, and it wasn’t a moment too soon.
“Don’t,” Nero hissed at her.
Her anger flowed out of her, draining from her body as she brought herself under control. “Sorry, it’s just…”
“I know, they’re dicks,” Nero whispered.
“Okay, I think we’re good,” Thunder Boi said, walking over. “Move your car’s down into the garage. There’s an entrance into the main area down there, and I’ll have D.J. here show you to your rooms. Food’s served in the mess later on. You each get a share at each meal, but only one. Oh, and the spastic needs to stay in your truck,” he finished, pointing to Runt.
Yep, Nyx thought. She hated him and made a promise to herself to bring Runt some food later on.
“Alright, boys, off you go; the show’s over,” Thunder Boi said, and walked off. The crowd around the cars dispersed, with only the man clad in dirty leathers and combat pants left standing nearby.
“Take your vehicles down there into the garage and find a space to park up,” D.J. said, and then started to make his own way down.
“I already hate it here,” Nyx said to Nero when D.J. was far enough away.
“Me, too,” Kat agreed.
“Runt three,” he added.
“I think we all do, but, Cryptus’ plan is a good one, so we just need to put up with it for a bit, alright? Can you do that?”
“Sure,” Nyx answered while Kat nodded.
“Good. Now, come on, let’s get parked up.”
Nyx moved around the back end of the Charger and quickly caught up with Runt as he made his way back towards Cryptus’ truck.
“Hey, I’ll bring you some food later, okay?”
“Oh, thank you, friend Nyx. Runt very grateful, yes? Very grateful.”
“No problem,” Nyx answered and jumped into the car.
They drove down into the garage and parked up, the two vehicles next to each other. Climbing out, Nyx looked up to see Runt in the back of the truck looking out at the garage.
“Wow,” he whispered, his eyes wide with wonder.
Nyx followed his gaze. The garage was huge. Basically, a big converted warehouse, and there were rows of shelving with all kinds of bits of machinery and scrap metal on them. Runt loved scavenging, and this place was clearly a gold mine for him. Looking to see where the man called D.J. was and making sure he was far enough away for her to speak privately, she moved closer to Runt.
“If you can do it quietly, and without being seen, take what you can and what you need,” she whispered up to him.
Runt looked down at her and processed her words, his eyes flicking this way and that, and glancing up at the warehouse they were in. He looked back at her then and nodded, before retreating into the truck and closing the door.
“Watch the cars, Runt,” Cryptus called out to him.
Feeling pleased with herself that she could get one over on the idiots who ran this place, she followed Nero over to D.J., who led them to a reinforced door. There was an armed guard stationed here, who nodded to D.J. as he led them through into a small corridor, and then through another reinforced door that was guarded on the far side. They were in another warehouse, but this one was filled with shacks and rooms made from sheet metal, reclaimed bricks, wood, and canvas. It was like some kind of shanty town inside the warehouse. They were shown to two small shanties a short distance apart, that were not far from the door to the garage.
“These two are yours; make yourself at home. You can visit your vehicles at any time, but leave your guns in them. Your blades are fine, though. The communal mess is over there. They’ll have something for lunch at midday; just head on over,” he explained, and then walked off without another word.
Nyx watched him go, shaking her head at him. Showing them to their rooms was apparently too much of a chore for him to be polite as well. “Fucker,” she said under her breath.
“You two ta
ke that one,” Kat said. “I’ll be in here with Cryptus.”
Nyx looked into both shacks. One had a double mattress that was stained and dirty. The other hut had two singles in a similar state to the double.
Kat had offered the double to her and Nero.
“Sure thing,” Nyx answered.
Nero wandered into the shack and lay on the mattress. “At least, we’ll get a good night’s rest tonight.”
Nyx followed him in. “This place reminds me of the Watchtower. Too many guys in positions of power, lording it over the women.”
Nero pushed himself up on his elbows as Nyx sat on the single wooden chair. “Sorry,” he said.
Nyx smiled. “Nah, you’re all right. It’s not your fault. They’re just idiots.”
“You’ll get no argument from me there,” Nero sympathised with her. “It should just be for one night. You heard Cryptus earlier today. He doubt’s the convoy will stay long at Latrix’s place when they find it destroyed.
“Let’s hope so. If I stay here too long, I’m liable to kill someone.”
Nero laughed. “Me, too.”
Nyx smiled and got out of the chair. “Why are you so lovely?” she asked as she climbed onto the bed with him and hugged him.
“We’re not all pricks,” he answered.
“I know,” she said.
***
Nyx stood at a railing beside the communal mess, which was basically a fancy name for a bunch of tables with a canvas roof over the top. To one side, several tables were lined up with the food for the midday meal.
Nyx had to admit, they had quite the operation going on here, and the selection of food was excellent. She guessed they had to have quite a sizable area dedicated to food and farming.
The mess was on the same level as the warehouse and located just outside it. To her left, behind the mess, was a large building that she guessed might have once been offices or something but had long since been modified and built upon. It seemed to be the central living area for Thunder Boi and his crew. To her right was a large, solid gate that led to the entrance area they had come through earlier that day. Leading from that gate and descending down a ramp was a road that cut into the earth below her before disappearing into a tunnel off to her left. Nyx stood at a railing, maybe fifteen feet above the road, looking over it. Guards were stationed down there, milling about with guns in hand. There were several vehicles parked around the entrance to the tunnel as well.
Wasteland Road Knights Trilogy Page 39