F A D E- New Kansas

by Tom Cain

  CHAPTER TEN

  BANDOLEER "THE IVORY CAPTAIN"

  Again the ride was slow paced, rolling up the dirt hills and dusty trails. Afterburn lake was a few hours away, with nothing much else than rocks, and some dead trees to look at, it was hard for the group to stay alert through the boredom.

  "Hey Teige, what's your side like? Anything interesting?" Chrissies asked. Teige turned around.

  "Are you kidding, this shit is like the most dead place I've ever seen, why would anyone choose to live out here in the deadland?" she turned back around to her post and kept her gun pointed out a small gap between steel bars.

  "Don't speak too soon Teige, any number of disgusting assholes could be out here waiting for you to get sloppy" Hatcher warned.

  "I want to see her get sloppy" Sweet said from behind his shotgun.

  "Shut your mouth Sweet, before I come over there and break my foot off in your ass" Teige said assertively.

  "He might enjoy that" Anvil laughed.

  “Just saying Teige, would be nice that’s all” said Sweet pointing his gun out of the grate.

  Lisa, who was sitting next to Sweet kicks him in the back of the knee making him whince.

  “Ah, what the actual fuck?” shouted Sweet in moderate pain.

  “You are such a dick” said Lisa.

  “She’s right you know Sweet” said Anvil chipping in.

  “Shut up dumbass, wasn’t talking to you” Sweet retorted.

  Anvil hoisted his big frame up. Lisas put her hand on Anvils chest.

  “You want some of this Sweet?” Anvil squared up.

  "Guys it’s coming up about a mile or two out" Tuck shouted from up top. Marko opened the doors and took a look out over the quivering horizon.

  Afterburn lake lay up ahead of them, a large sprawling body of water laced with a hue of green. Some marine life survived the flash, but just as the humans some of their DNA was affected, some nasty creatures lived down in the deep areas of water. Oddly, the water at Afterburn Lake was always warm regardless of the seasons, causing the surface to create a fog that hovered eerily on top.

  As they got closer to the lake they noticed a black forty foot fishing boat moored to the bank. The boat had been painted entirely in black; the sides were covered in a mix of steel plates and bullet proof vests seemingly from BCC soldiers. The top of the boat had also been modified, and all the deck cabins where kitted out with extra armour plating and various spikes and barbed wires. The boat's name "BLOODLETTING" was written in large capital letters with blood red paint on each side. Black nets also covered the stern and bow of the ship, and a number of human limbs had been cast into them.

  "I know whose ship this is" Hatcher said looking concerned.

  "Who?" Mia asked as she pulled up within one hundred feet.

  "Bandoleer, the ivory captain, I thought he was killed" Hatcher said.

  "Well we need a boat to get to Station thirteen, so the way I see it, today is our lucky day" Marko said.

  The group got off the roller, Mia, John and Marko took a few steps forward before a booming voice came over a loudspeaker system emanating from the ship.

  "Ok strangers, hold up. You are travelling towards the Bloodletting, this ship is property of the Ivory Captain, rightfully ours and none should say otherwise. Identify yourselves and purpose else be shot in two".

  "Marko Gibbs, we are a group from Little London, under Ron Shaw, heading for Station thirteen and require passage, In short we want use of your ship in return for payment" shouted Marko.

  "Baaaaaaaanndoooollleeeer here" a loud voice came over the speaker. "Marko Gibbs, I've heard that name before, rings many bells with me. Who else is with you there Marko? and I would have you keep those hands up, don’t want any of that Swiss business".

  The group raised their hands.

  "No our business heads us towards Swiss Towers, we would like a word with the man in charge over there" Marko replied.

  "Well no other privately owned ship survives on these waters except the letting and the BCC ships, what can you possibly give me for my assistance?" Bandoleer snarled.

  "We can give you a shot at Ivan Swiss" John said.

  "ha ha ha" a dark laugh came echoing through the sound system. "and who might you be Mr gift giver?" the captain asked.

  "My name is John Test, I'm a bounty hunter".

  "Now that name rings a mightybell I must say John Test" Bandoleer pauses for a moment to think.

  "What price for the travel Cap…" John is interrupted.

  "I tell you what John, I will give you passage across these waters but for two prices, you and your group help me take out two troublesome BCC boats and you deliver me Ivan Swiss head for my display" the ivory captain bartered.

  John looked at the group, the group nodding in agreement.

  "deal" Marko said loudly.

  "Then hop aboard mates, we got some killing to do". the voice echoed across the smokey dock.

  "That was easier than I thought" Hatcher said to Ruf.

  The group moved awkwardly towards the ship after leaving the stock roller parked next to a cargo container laying on its side. They kept an eye out in all directions for any double crossing from the lake pirates. A gang plank was extended for them from the port side to the dirt covered bank. As they reached the plank several members of the Bloodletting crew appeared from the deck to have a look at the group. A darkened figure was watching from the upper deck, steely eyes scanning each and every one of them. The air was filled with tension as both crew and soldiers met, each member walking single file over the creaky plank onto the main deck, and each member staring into the menacing eyes of the ships inhabitants. A few grumbles and some whispers later the voice of the captain is heard from the upper deck, from around the main cabin and at the top of a flight of stairs appears Bandoleer the Ivory Captain, dressed in dark brown leather from top to bottom, his old leather jacket was patched with random areas of metal plating, some chainmail hung from his belt and around his neck he wore a necklace holding three large canine teeth. His face had seen many winters and many battles both on land and lake, darkened by the world and its horrors, stubble laced his face as did various wounds from various clashes.

  "Welcome to the Bloodletting, of course not its original name but I thought it appropriate considering the shit it has seen. Now I know two of you, and I have heard of those names Marko and John Test, and I know those names have been somewhat naughty in the Zones, so I can trust they aren't Border Control. Border Control get flailed on this ship an none are welcome, which is why you are still alive, I will honour our agreement, and hear this, my crew will not lay a hand on your guys unless otherwise ordered by me, am I clear lads?" Bandoleers face broke through the shadowy overcast and presented a gruff, grim looking stare at his crew.

  "Aye sir" the crew responded accordingly.

  "Be wary though, my female friends, we haven't seen many ladies recently and the crew might be feeling rambunctious, you have my permission to kick them in the tastys if they misbehave. No hand shall be lain on a woman on my ship, you understand me?".

  again the crew replied "aye, sir".

  some looked disappointed.

  "Don't worry about the women in our group, they are more than able to kill most if not all of this crew" John stated.

  "John we got these guys covered" Masie said.

  "It's not you he's worried about, he's more worried all of you will damage the captains crew and ship" Marko said.

  Bandoleer led John, Marko and Mia up some cold, wet iron steps to a top deck cabin. The large white steel door encasing the room was held shut with a thick double jointed locking mechanism; the Ivory captain grabbed either side of a turning wheel and snapped the locks to open position. With a thunk and a creek the door swung open, the captain allowed Mia in first. The room was dark and damp, a main window looked out onto the open lake, and the green glass which covered the front of the cabin has cracks and holes, a reminder of river battles past. The cracks and cre
vasses where lined with mould from too much intake of water over the years. In the centre of the room was an off white table with a solid steel surround. Bandoleer closed the door behind them and invited them to the table, there were no chairs so all four stood around staring in eager anticipation for the captain's speech. A few moments past and Bandoleer spoke.

  “So, John Test and Marko Gibbs, and I am sorry I'm not sure that we have ever met" looking at Mia.

  "I'm Mia Jong, I work with Ron Shaw in Little London" she told him.

  "Ah yeah, I know of Ron Shaw, never met him, but I did some cargo trips for him across the lake a few years ago, he pays on time that's all I can say. Little London, that’s Zone three right?" Bandoleer enquired.

  "Yeah that's it. One of the biggest settlements we have left" Mia replied wiping her finger on the table and discovering thick dust and dirt.

  "Yeah, yeah, quite big place down there, anyways it's nice to meet you urgh..." the captain said looking blank.

  "Mia, it’s Mia" Mia said rolling her eyes.

  "Yes of course, Mia. Nice to have you on board" the captain smiled.

  He turned to look at John and Marko for a moment then wiped some saliva from his lips.

  “She's not fast but she is one strong son of a bitch" he stated, they looked at each other a little confused.

  "The boat I mean, she's not fast, but she's strong" the captain smirked to himself.

  "It's going to take a couple of hours to get to the other side, but we have to take a quick detour, but don't worry where I want to take you is right near station thirteen".

  "Ok, so gives us the skinny on the BCC ships you want sunk" Marko asked.

  Bandoleer locked eyes with Marko and backed off slowly into a darkened corner of the room maintaining eye contact, swiftly he turned around and banged his hands on top of a filing cabinet sitting in that same darkened corner, he returned with a scrunched up piece of paper which he slammed down on the table in front of everyone.

  “So this is where we are right now, and that's where we last saw those two ships. I don't think they know we are over this side, either way they are going to be docked and they will see us from a mile off. They are never unmanned" Bandoleer looked serious.

  "Ok, so two ships, what size are we talking?" John asks.

  "Ah they are pretty sizable, but not dreadnaughts or anything, they are old converted car ferries that used to go across the lake, but they are pretty kitted out" the captain answered succinctly.

  "Ok so can we take them by brute strength, or do we need to go in quiet?" Marko asked staring at the map.

  "Well, I don't tend to go in quiet if I'm honest it ain't the way of Bandoleer, my crew may think less of me if I teetered in there" the captain proclaimed.

  John walked up to the window to look out over the lake, and pondered a few different approaches to attacking the boats.

  "John, we can't go straight at them, not only are they going to be fully loaded they are docked up, and there will be defences set up at the dock surely?" said Marko.

  "Oh hell yeah there are dock defences that why we aint charged straight in there already guns a blazing" said Bandoleer.

  "We could moor up down river an attack them from the land and sea, perhaps get some explosives on board, we got a guy who's good at that" Mia suggested.

  "We go in from below" John said at low volume.

  "I'm sorry?" Bandoleer leaned in to get a better listen.

  "I said we go in from below, Ruf can work some explosives from underneath I'm sure, the Captain and his crew can take the frontal approach. But we go in from below. I'm not losing any more guys for this pointless exercise".

  John turns around to stare Bandoleer down who is looking both hurt and confused, eyes twitching. The captain stares and thinks for a moment, tapping his hand angrily on the table.

  ‘hmm’ he makes an audible sound as he thinks.

  "Ok, that's sounds Ok John, so what, you guys jump overboard a ways out an we attack them head on while you go through underneath? Is that the plan".

  "Yeah something like that. I want Ruf and Valeria with me, we go as a three, break through the hull, we will bring one ship down in no time, hopefully have time to fire at the second ship and take out the dock defence" said John. He continues, "It's a ridiculous long shot, but it's either that or get blown up taking them head on".

  "Hey, the head on approach has served me well so far" Bandoleer claimed.

  "Yeah but I doubt any of those times you were against two kitted out BCC ships and dock defences" Marko replied.

  "You got me there Mr Gibbs, You got me there" Bandoleer admitted calming down and putting the map back on the cabinet.

  "Right let's get this done" said John.

  The group looked convinced this was the only way; John again looked out onto the lake and nodded in agreement with the plan.

  "I will need your crew to step aside and let us do our work, we will be arriving near the BCC dock point in about three hours maybe two if we pull our weight" Bandoleer ordered in his gruff voice.

  John stepped outside; the group were talking amongst themselves.

  "Burke!" John shouted from the bottom of the white steel steps.

  Burke turned around to meet John’s gaze, and made his way through loitering crew members.

  "What can I do you for John?" enquired Burke enthusiastically.

  "I am going to be going underwater with Valeria and Ruf, I need some ideas on how they are going to breathe underwater for that long, particularly Ruf" said John trying to get his words in around the loutish crew members.

  "Alright lads! That's enough bullshitting, we got work to do, we are going to be taking two ships from those bastards down river and across the lake. So make ready the harpoons and guns an set for full speed" Bandoleer shouting above and beyond everyone else.

  John sighed. "Burke, also if you can modify this ship to take less damage that would be great" John said.

  "Sure I will have a look into it" Burke replied. "Captain, this is Burke, he makes things better, he is going to have a look into your ship and upgrade if he can" John told Bandoleer.

  "Sure thing, Mr Burke here is going to be making us unsinkable lads" the captain shouted. The crew cheered.

  Burke got to work on any upgrades to the ship that he could find at short notice, with Grip, Hatcher, Winslow and Jacks help he re-enforced some of the weaker areas of the ship with some of the Kevlar side protection. The plan was to charge at the ship front on and then turn at the last minute and board. Unlike ships of old, the new world boats didn't have broadside cannons, and most military ships were destroyed, seized or stolen so no large artillery.

  Hatcher came up to help Burke fix a large light machine gun to one of the supporting rigs set up at the front.

  "So what's our chances on this one you think Burke?" Hatcher asked securing one of the latches.

  "I don't think good, but then saying that, I never think good of these kinda things. I used to work for a guy named Farrow back in Three, doing repairs and what not you know?, he treated me like shit but saying that we never had to fight BCC, Greeners, mutants or pirates" Burke replied looking up and the green sky.

  "You know the BCC aren't the be all and end all of it" Hatcher said in passing.

  Clicking another latch in place Burke asks.

  "What do you mean?"

  Hatcher now picking up one of the light machine guns.

  "Well they don't have a monopoly on all the weapons, ships, tanks whatever everywhere. They are only the dominant force in this state. I don't know what deals Swiss has with the outside world but whatever it is, it's stopping them coming in". Hatcher continued after securing the gun on a gyro. "I heard that the BCC trade with the outside states, maybe countries but we never get outsiders coming in. weird right?".

  Burke checks one of the gun coils and starts to load up another gun.

  "Yeah it is weird, so why does Swiss answer to that Katsu guy then?" Burke asks.

  "Can't
answer that question, all I know is that Ivan Swiss is the man with the cash, the trades and trade routes, the men and the connections, don't know how Ahiro fits in to all this if I am honest" Hatcher replies.

  Grip comes over to assist with the guns.

  "Ahiro can change shapes I heard" Grip said grabbing an ammo box from the wet deck and placing it next to the mount.

  "Yeah that's a load of old bullshit if ever I did hear some, ain't never seen a shapeshifter in all my years of this horrid world" Hatcher replied sharply.

  "Just saying that's what I heard, crazy powerful they said back in Little London" Grip replied smiling and feeding the bullet belt in the gun.

  “I know the north is a dark place, and i never hear any good coming from there when scavengers go out for tins or supplies.” Hatcher added, now adjusting some of the bullet proofing from the deck.

  “You guys just eat tins in little London then?” Burke asked curiously.

  “Naw, we got hydroponics, UV lights down there and such, I’m not a green finger type so couldn’t answer it all, but stuff grows down there. potatoes, carrots, hops, hell we even got chickens. It ain’t easy, especially with a growing population. But we get by. Hell, we eat, that’s the important part.” Hatcher answered.

  “Plus, we got all that gummy shit they make in the labs” added Grip.

  “Urgh, don’t remind me” Hatcher winced.

  “It’s full of nutritional goodness” Maisie said checking one of the mounted assault rifles for blockages.

  “Yeah that’s what the labs tell you Mais, I don’t believe that shit at all” said Grip.

  "Ok, I think we are done with this one, let's get the second one up and running and we can patch up a few of those holes below deck I saw and then we can give the signal to get going" Burke said.

  There was a cold snap to the wind which flickered over the river water.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN