by M C Rooney
So satisfying, Rodent thought with a grin and headed straight up the hill. If anybody was going to kill Lord Feral, it would be him, Lord Rodent of the Midlands.
Roland couldn’t believe that Lord Feral was a pretty young girl. Her hair was a bit wild, but she had the most beautiful blue eyes. It just didn’t seem to work out in his mind that one of the fearsome Lightning Lords was named Molly. Remembering his manners, he introduced himself and his companions.
“My name is Roland,” he said. “And this is Edward and Jeremy,” indicating his two tall friends, “and of course, Michelle.”
“His girlfriend,” Michelle said with meaning. This Molly was far too good-looking by her reckoning.
“Ah, yes, of course,” said Roland with a bewildered expression.
“I’m very happy to meet you, Molly,” said Edward with one of his charming smiles.
“Hi,” said Jeremy.
“I am very pleased to meet all of you …” Molly said, but she trailed off as the humming noise had returned. Her face went pale, and she shouted at them to leave before she put her helmet on and ran back to the trees.
“What should we do?” said Jeremy.
“We should help her somehow,” said Edward.
“But it is obviously Lord Buzz or Rodent or both down there,” Michelle protested.
They all looked at Roland, who was the unofficial leader of this travelling group.
“We will help if we can,” was all he said.
“Typical,” Michelle snapped.
Why was she so moody all of a sudden? Roland thought with exasperation.
Molly had been planning another zombie trap when she was interrupted by those four strangers. How nice it was to be able to talk to somebody, as she had felt so alone for so long. She waited at the top of the hill and saw dozens of men with one of the Lightning Lords. He pointed at her and sent a lightning bolt thundering into the tree next to her. He must be half blind or angry to miss at such a small distance. And judging by his size, she knew he must be Lord Rodent.
He was the dumb one, she thought with relief, and she had to fight not to laugh as she saw him struggling to keep up with the half-naked men who accompanied him. In fact, he tried to send off another bolt of lightning at her but hit two of his own men in the back by mistake. Her fights with the larger lord were far more difficult; in fact, she’d had to retreat many a time. He was a dangerous man, or at least had a fair degree of intelligence.
She sent two sprays of lightning at the men running on the outside, killing them instantly.
Keep yourselves bunched together, gentlemen, please, she thought as she watched them run up the hill towards her.
They are so disorganised, she thought. Some of them carried bows, but they didn’t think of firing off some arrows from a hundred metres away, which would be nearly impossible for her to hit in mid-flight; no, just run at the girl fighting with the bolts of lightning as weapons, with knives and swords and … one … two … three.
All of them fell in a large trench, which she had prepared and covered earlier with the help of one of the professor’s inventions.
She listened to the groans of the zombies she had led into the trench earlier—it was a shame that the tall, handsome man with the sword had killed those ten before—but these ones were enjoying the feast as she heard Rodent’s men scream. Lord Rodent himself appeared to be screaming as well and sending off lightning bolts after lightning bolts down in the trench. He must be killing most of his men as well.
She was just about to walk back in search of her new friends when the large lord appeared thirty metres to her right, with about the same amount of men as the dumb lord had led. She quickly sent a bolt towards him, but he answered her fire at the same time. They both took the shock into their suits, but that didn’t stop their bodies from being thrown ten metres backwards. Molly’s last vision was of the cloudy sky as she passed out.
Roland, Michelle, and Jeremy sat high in the trees and watched as Molly trapped a Lightning Lord and his men in a trench that was obviously filled with red zombies.
“He’s going crazy in there,” said Jeremy as he listened to the Lightning Lord’s screams as he sent numerous lightning bolts at the zombies.
“I would be too, if I were him,” replied Roland with a shiver.
“She must have wanted those zombies Edward killed for her trap,” said Michelle, her tone reflecting some respect.
“Shit!” Jeremy cried out suddenly.
Roland looked to their right and saw the other Lightning Lord had appeared and fired a bolt at Molly. She had managed to return fire, but somehow, both were hit, and both flew back twenty paces.
“Is someone going to help me out here?” Edward called up to his companions as he walked towards the twenty or so warriors.
“Yes, we will, Edward,” said Roland. “Just wait a fucking second, all right?” he added as he fumbled for his bow.
“He’s strange,” said Jeremy.
“Yep,” Michelle agreed.
“In your own time,” said Edward, calmly removing his rapier sword.
“So it’s the bloody rapier this time, hey, Edward?” Roland said as he nocked an arrow to his bow. He looked across at his friends and saw they both had their bows ready.
“Which ones?” Michelle asked.
“They’re only thirty metres away,” said Jeremy.
But they were saved from finding which target to aim for as a dozen warriors ran at Edward.
“I’m left,” Roland shouted. “Michelle is middle, Jeremy on the right.” With that, they let fly, and the three leading warriors fell with arrows in their chests.
“Again,” Roland commanded, and three more fell.
Then Edward was in the middle of at least six warriors.
“The back group,” Roland shouted, and another volley was sent into the men who had been standing back to watch the easy fight, but were now in complete disarray.
“They can’t see us up here,” Jeremy said with a laugh as he watched them send responding arrows in all directions.
“Again,” said Roland as another volley was sent.
“They are dragging the big silver guy away,” said Michelle.
“Just hit what you can,” Roland replied. And very quickly, the warriors at the back were either gone or dead.
Roland quickly looked down at Edward and saw him sheathing his sword. Six bodies lay on the ground around his feet.
“Any older men down there, Edward?” asked Jeremy. “You know, zombie reanimation and all.”
“No, just young men like us,” replied Edward. “One of them managed to nick my jacket,” he finished with distaste.
Oh dear, oh dear, how dreadful for you, Roland thought. But he looked at the six bodies and once again stood in awe of this odd man’s swordsmanship.
“C’mon, let’s go see if Molly is alive,” he said to the others.
Once on the ground, they ran over to her prone body. Roland gently took off her helmet, leaving her internal goggles on, and felt for a pulse.
“Is she alive?” Jeremy asked.
“Yes,” Roland told him and sighed in relief.
“We need to get her out of here,” said Edward, “and ourselves as well. They could come back and …” He looked over at the now-silent trench. “No zombies,” he whispered.
All four of them looked over at the trench. No zombies groaning meant that one of the attackers was alive. And no guessing as to whom it was. They could kill him with bows, but no doubt, the first person to put their head over the trench would die.
“All right,” Roland said in a normal voice, as he pointed east, “we’re heading back north.”
“North it is,” replied Jeremy as he turned east.
“Here, Michelle,” Roland said as he handed her Molly’s helmet and hefted Molly over his shoulder.
“It’s a nice helmet,” Michelle said, and Roland gave a start when he saw her holding and stroking the curved helmet over her stomach.
What is wrong with her? he wondered in amazement.
Sam lay on the bottom of the strangely smooth-looking trench and pretended to be dead with about ten permanently dead zombies and twenty of his dead friends. He heard the people above him talk about heading north, and so did that empty-headed piece of shit Rodent, who was crouched up against the side of this hole.
What an idiot that man was, and what an idiot Sam was for following him. He could follow the orders of his brother, Buzz, who was someone Sam would follow quite willingly. But following the Rodent in battle was a fucking nightmare. Just go to the right flank, Buzz ordered, and wait for a coordinated attack, a simple fucking request. But no, Rodent had to run headlong uphill into another of the traps this Lord Feral had prepared for them.
Don’t fire any arrows at her from a safe distance, Rodent, you dumb prick; just run at her and get killed, he thought angrily as he tried to control his breathing so as not to be heard.
He had just watched a few of his friends fall dead from lightning bolts on both of their flanks as they attacked, then he had seen two men die in front of him, and realised with a shock that Rodent had killed them accidentally from behind. Then they all fell into a carefully camouflaged ditch with red zombies in it. The panic he felt as he saw them biting into his fellow warriors almost overwhelmed him, but he managed to eye stab a few of them before he saw flashes of lightning from the corner of his eye.
Good, he thought, Rodent was going to kill them all, but a few seconds later, he realised that the screaming coward was killing everybody in sight, so he had no choice other than to hit the ground. And now he watched, as about ten minutes after the people above had left, Lord Rodent the Dumb Arse scramble out of the trench.
Should I kill him? he wondered as the little shit lifted his body up and over the edge of the pit and onto the flat ground.
But no, the little bastard had that suit on, and with it, Rodent would kill him easily. He also thought the bumbling idiot would kill him for being a witness to what had happened and for knowing that he had disobeyed a direct order. Plus, Rodent did like to kill just for the pleasure of killing. He was a twisted individual.
Sam waited a few minutes, until he heard the noise the Lightning Lord suit made fade into the distance, and then he lifted himself out of the pack of dead bodies and climbed out of the trench himself. He looked to the east and west and saw no movement. He then looked over to the south and saw a silver image walking away.
He wasn’t following them! He wasn’t going back to his father either. Why was he going south?
He realised this was the perfect time for him to find his brother, Alex, and disappear back home to the west like so many others had done. But with a sigh, he knew he had to tell Hockey what had happened. At least that way he would get some sort of revenge on Rodent. He had seen his father beat him bloody a few times, and Sam didn’t think Rodent would survive his father’s wrath after his latest failure.
Rodent strode southwards in a panic. He had really fucked up this time. He had killed all of his men, and from what he had overheard the unknown people say, Lord Feral was injured but still alive. This meant his brother, Buzz, was either injured or dead. He couldn’t take the chance of returning to the camp to find out. If Buzz was injured, his father would beat him bloody and take away the suit. If Buzz was dead, his father would kill him, of that he had no doubt. The strangers were heading north they said, his father was west, he didn’t know what was east, so he took a chance and decided to head south. He didn’t think he had much to lose anymore, as he never had that much to begin with. But now he knew he had truly lost everything.
Grovetown, South of Hobart
The Mayor Jesse Dayton sent the rider back to Kingston with a message of thanks. How was he to break the news to Rachael?
Six months since their boy Jack had died, and it was only in recent weeks that his wife had begun to smile again. How was he to tell her that their youngest was now in danger?
He pondered this as he walked home down that main street of Grovetown and nodded his head in greeting to the well-wishers. Grovetown was starting to prosper. The population was building, the township was expanding, but yes, Lily was right, they needed to find an electricity source. Forty-five years since that energy had disappeared. Jesse’s father had said he was born in the last year of electricity, so he didn’t know what that energy system was like, but the stories he heard from the elders in the community were incredible.
He reached his house and took a deep breath as he walked in the front door.
“Rachael,” he called out and tried to calm his nerves.
“I’m in here,” she called back, and he entered the kitchen and saw her preparing that night’s meal.
“You’re home early,” she said with a smile.
“Yes, I received some news from Hobart,” he replied.
“About Tom,” she said as she slowly looked up at his face, concerned.
“Yes, he’s a ranger now,” he said, avoiding the main topic of conversation. “Apparently, he beat Lily in a sword fight in front of all the rangers and is now considered the best swordsman in town.”
“Really!” she said with a proud smile. “That’s wonderful news. The way you walked in here, I thought there was some kind of trouble.”
Jesse let out a worried sigh. Rachael saw this straightaway.
“He is all right, Jesse?” she said in a panic. “You just told me he is a ranger now.”
“He is, Rachael, and he is a grown man now,” he said, in an attempt to convince her that their youngest son was now old enough to make his own decisions. And also trying to convince himself, he thought ruefully. “But a messenger arrived from Billy in Kingston. Hobart is under quarantine, as they believe there may be a flu epidemic of some sort. Many people have died.”
“A flu epidemic!” Rachael said in alarm. “How do they know it’s the flu?”
“They don’t,” he replied in desperation, “and we don’t know either. The flu is just an old word from a bygone era. We are struggling to understand the health issues we face today, and we have no way of preventing them, apart from the natural remedies we use, which, to be honest, I’m not sure even work.”
People had started carrying onions around with them, of all things. It was an old wives’ tale that onions and garlic could attract bacteria away from the body, another thing he didn’t understand fully or know whether it was true or not. But Nick Fields, who was one of the few remaining people from the old world, believed that some cures could be attributed to the placebo effect, meaning that the person’s belief in the treatment was more powerful than the actual physical treatment itself. So carrying an onion or garlic with you was encouraged.
“Well, quarantine or no quarantine, my boy is coming home right now,” replied Rachael in a firm voice as she marched out of the room.
“Where are you going?” Jesse said in puzzlement as he walked after her.
“To find my horse,” she replied as she continued out the back door.
“Rachael, the place is under quarantine; you can’t get in,” he said pleadingly.
“Just watch me,” she snapped back.
“You could well bring the disease back with you,” he replied.
She stopped and looked back at him in distress.
“I can’t lose another child, Jesse. I can’t,” she said as tears started rolling down her cheeks.
Jesse wanted to hold her in his arms and tell her everything would be all right, but she needed to know the truth.
“He’s not in Hobart anyway,” he said.
“What do you mean, he isn’t in Hobart?”
“Lily sent him on a mission to the Midlands.”
“She did what!” Rachael shouted as tears were replaced by anger, and again, she started walking towards her horse.
Rachael was always a bit jealous of Lily. Since Tom had moved to Hobart and had been under Lily’s care, Rachael thought that she was being replaced as Tom’s mother. Rachael, in
her jealousy, had lost sight of the fact that Tom loved his mother to bits, as the old saying went.
“Rachael, please listen to me,” Jesse said, following her. “Lily has sent him on a fact-finding mission with his best friend and her partner, an experienced ranger by the name of Locke.”
“The Breaker?” she said, stopping again. His father would say she was going back and forth like a yo-yo, whatever that was.
“Yes, do you know him?”
“I have heard of him. Uncle Billy speaks very highly of him,” she said as her temper began to recede.
“Tom is a man now, Rachael,” Jesse said again. “You can’t protect him all the time.”
“Well, I can bloody well try,” she said and then looked sharply at Jesse. “So why the Midlands?”
“There is a tower there that emits lightning into the sky,” he said as he watched her face. “There is danger there, Rachael, I won’t lie to you. But Lily thinks the tower could provide us with electricity to use the hospital equipment.”
“What danger?” she replied.
“A hostile tribe of thousands, zombies, and three people who can throw lightning out of their hands.”
“You’re kidding me?” she said as her face blanched.
“No, Rachael,” Jesse said. “The message from Lily was that, as crazy as it sounds, this may be our only hope of survival.”
“So I have to just sit here and worry about my youngest child?”
“It’s what parents do,” Jesse replied sadly.
“Indeed,” said Rachael with a sigh.
And Jesse finally held her in his arms, and after a while, guided her back into their home and watched her all night like a hawk to make sure she didn’t go looking for her son. If she did, Jesse thought he may just go with her.
Tasmanian Lower Midlands
Tom was riding his horse, whom he called Pips, and was wondering what his mother would be up to right at this moment. He hadn’t seen her in months, not since just after his brother Jack had died, and he missed her terribly.
“Tom, it’s time to check the horizon,” Locke said. He was riding in his usual relaxed way, wearing his green jacket and Akubra hat.