“Thank you,” she said, getting an up-close view of his body as she grabbed the canteen, nearly dropping it in the process.
He smirked and her admiration continued once he turned around, overflowing once he bent over in the cave to review the provisions.
“In all my days…” she whispered, trying to take a swig and missing at first. “So many ridges…”
Really, Jen? He’s a criminal! her inner voice shouted, trying to overcome this sudden infatuation with men, especially dangerous ones.
It worked, though only just, and she drank the last of the water.
Aftershock worked to set up a hasty camp, hungry and fatigued himself. Jenny was watching him intently, learning from and perhaps still admiring his skills. Soon things were arranged and Aftershock returned to the hollow one more time, bringing with him a stack of firewood tucked under one arm and a few cans of food in the other.
“Hungry?” he asked her, setting the cans on the ground and arranging the wood amongst the stones.
“So much that I could eat my own arm,” she answered, getting up to move closer.
Aftershock laughed.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” he said lightheartedly. “You’d still be hungry afterward.”
“Hey now!” she said, kicking a cloud of dirt his way. “Fine then, I’ll just eat yours…”
Awkwardness fell between them like a sudden wall, but at least the fire had been lit, driving away the shades of blue. Its crackling was the only noise.
Aftershock was the first to do something, snatching one of the cans and using a pocket knife to cut the lid open. Bending it, he made a makeshift scoop, plunged it into the cold meat and beans, then walked it over to Jenny.
She didn’t see him coming, still looking off into the distance quite embarrassed.
“Here you go,” Aftershock said.
“Oh!” Jenny replied with a start. “Sorry, I don’t know what’s come over me. I’m normally not so…”
“Desperate?” Aftershock asked bluntly; Jenny’s mouth fell agape. “I get it, but I think that the fatigue is what’s talking on your behalf. Plus, let’s face it: losing your home and not having a minute to process that? It’d be tough on anyone. I gather you’d been in the Gulch for a while?”
She took the can, getting a pungent whiff.
“Yes,” she coughed, risking a second sniff. It wasn’t nearly as bad, probably because she knew what was coming. “My whole life in fact. I guess all this is tough for me to take in. It doesn’t even seem real.”
Aftershock made his way back over to his side of the fire, dropped down in a heap, and prepared his own frugal dinner. Even though he was stiff, it was good to get some food in, and they both enjoyed what they could under the cool sky full of stars.
“Afraid it doesn’t get much, if any, easier out here,” he said, chewing loudly and messily. “Sometimes I swear I’m still asleep and all this is some kind of bad dream.”
“So… you’ve been out here a while yourself?” she asked, braving dinner. The beef was salty with a vinegary bite, the beans slightly sweet. Overall it was palatable. “Isn’t it rough?”
“Yep, on both counts… like Hell on Eaugen itself. I was wasteland born and raised by the wilds,” he said proudly. “Don’t have any siblings, so it’s tougher when you’re alone out here. But, it forces you to get tough yourself, else get eaten up and shit out by someone or something looking to get ahead of you. Without a choice, I grew up in in a raider gang down south a way, near Seco. Learned how to live real fast and rose quite a way up the ranks. Until…”
Aftershock paused, as if he didn’t want to carry on with that line of conversation. He quickly shifted topics.
“So, um, being stuck in the Gulch, I gather you’ve not seen Seco Basin either?”
Jenny shook her head, her mouth being full.
“I can tell you that you’re not missing a thing; the place is a dump, even more than the Gulch. No offense. Even so, there’d never be a spot for me to live a normal life in those places, all built up and maintained by the more ‘civilized’ of us.”
“I highly doubt that; you’re a man,” she said, “whose opinion counts and whose life matters more than just making dinner and babies.”
Aftershock laughed.
“Well, I can cook for myself,” he said, shaking his can before taking another heaping bite, “and babies, well let’s just say making them isn’t high on my list of interests. As for that manly opinion, I think I cancelled mine with all these.”
He raised his arms high so the firelight could illuminate them, showing off the inside and outside. He was absolutely covered in intricate ink that flowed around his body like rivers of blue and green.
“For what it’s worth,” she said taking another look, “I think they’re gorgeous.”
“Thank you; that is actually worth a lot to me. You’d be surprised how often complements don’t come out here. Or anywhere for that matter. It’s the pieces each of us brings that makes up the whole picture, but people just focus on what makes them unique, and sadly that gets twisted into what makes them better than all the rest.”
Breaking into a small smile, he scraped the last capful of beans from the bottom of the can. She looked at him through the light smoke, and sparks kicked up when he tossed the can into the fire. He was such a walking contradiction: an admitted criminal with an appearance that matched who spoke better and more politely than the authorities in her former town. There was certainly more to him, but having just met she knew she would just have to wait. That assumed she was around long enough to find out.
Jenny continued to eat slowly when they heard distant neighs riding a low rumble. Aftershock looked out over the plains to see if it was trouble, but it was just a herd of wild sleipnir that was galloping across the land.
“Thought we might have had some visitors,” he said, relaxing again.
From his pocket, Aftershock took out a crumpled roll of thin paper stuffed with dried leaves. Lighting one end with the campfire he put the other side in his mouth and took a draw, blowing a couple smoke rings.
“Your folks back in the Gulch?” he asked.
“Luckily, no,” she answered, her grandfather’s face flashing briefly in her mind. “My brother died before he was born and my parents and grandmother had, um, died from external causes. My grandfather had only just passed on from a Deathneedle sting when the attack happened.”
She continued to recount her woes in town, from the decline of the farm all the way up to Jebidiah’s death.
“Damn, my condolences,” Aftershock said somberly. “Going back to your grandpa: a deathneedle you say? That is certainly not how I would like to go. If you don’t mind me asking, how long did he…”
“A couple of months,” Jenny stated, handing her can to Aftershock. “You want what’s left? I’m full.”
He took it gladly and polished off three more capfuls, tossing her can into the fire when done.
“A couple of months is a long time for a sting from that critter. Sounds like he had a fighting spirit.”
“He certainly did,” she said, morose. Her face became a grimace as recent events started to sink in.
“It’s all right,” Aftershock said. “Tears aren’t a weakness. Goodness knows I’ve shed so many over time they could’ve filled that dry lake we walked across.”
Jenny started to let them flow but took a deep breath and stopped.
“Maybe later,” she told him, and they enjoyed some peace and quiet.
Off far to the north a storm brewed, little pricks of lightning dotting the horizon, while overhead a few clouds started to form.
“It’s going to be a pale morning,” Aftershock said in a low voice.
“I haven’t heard that before; what do you mean?”
“It’s the wasteland’s way of teasing those who live here. A pale morning’s one that has water everywhere: up in the overcast clouds refusing to fall, a gray mist that’ll hang low on the
ground, yet not a but a few drops of clinging to surfaces to drink.”
“I see what you mean,” Jenny said. “Kind of makes you thankful for water towers and rain catches… when it rains of course.”
“Or plumbing for the city folk,” Aftershock added. “Though when you don’t have a stream to clean yourself, you come up with ingenuous ways out here.”
“I don’t even want to know!” Jenny said, trying not to laugh at Aftershock’s crudeness. She did so anyway; it was liberating.
“So, I’ve been meaning to ask,” Jenny said cautiously as the laughter died down. “Were you… involved with the attack?”
Aftershock took a very long draw, expecting to be asked that at some point. He blew out a large cloud of formless smoke.
“The short answer: no, I didn’t.”
“And the long answer?”
“Way too much to tell.”
Jenny’s features scrunched up tight.
“Oh no, you’re not going to suddenly give me one word answers. I saw you there pretty much in the Gulch the day before. Were you spying? Why did your gang decide to attack the Gulch?”
“First off,” Aftershock said sternly with two thick fingers pointed right at her, “the Vipers are NOT my gang. So, let’s get that idea out of your head.”
Jenny became tense; she obviously struck a nerve.
“Second,” he continued, “yes, I was spying… but for myself. Was looking for some provisions for camp. In fact, what we just got done eating came from there.”
“Sorry,” she said, “we tend to place all raiders in the same basket.”
“Don’t blame you, I certainly would. The Vipers may be a lot of things,” he muttered, “but honorable isn’t one of them. The Skinners can’t stand them, nor the Devil Dogs.”
“Dishonorable for sure,” Jenny said. “Perhaps I’m naïve, too, but I was always led to believe raiders weren’t organized into such large groups. The Vipers seemed to toss that theory out like garbage, didn’t they? Any idea why they would suddenly attack?”
Aftershock finished his smoke, flicking the butt into the waiting flames.
“Yeah that’s been gnawing at my gut, too. Raiders across the Barrens have been acting like their balls are big as boulders. You’re right though, raiders – especially the Vipers – always ride in small groups. That reduces the risk of being tracked back to base camps where the biggest gatherings are.” Aftershock sputtered his lips. “As for why now? I wish I knew. The timing is nothing important, so I’m at a loss.”
“Well, whatever it is, us not knowing doesn’t change the outcome,” Jenny said, discouraged. “The Gulch and its people are still gone.”
“Sadly, no it doesn’t,” Aftershock confirmed, “but I would still like to know what happened. I’m thinking of heading up north to talk with some of my contacts out near Bala; see if they’ve heard anything. An attack like this is going to send some pretty big ripples throughout both the wasteland and other settlements.”
“Sounds like a great plan,” Jenny said excitedly. “Do we set off in the morning?”
“We do,” Aftershock said straightaway, “but westward. I’m taking you to Diablo.”
Jenny sat up straight, listening to him with puzzlement. Turning his words in her mind, she was having difficulty understanding them, even though they could not be plainer.
“I can’t help but notice you seem shocked,” he said.
“Truth be known: yes.”
Jenny started swaying slightly.
“Look, I’m not saying you couldn’t hold your own, but the wastes aren’t a place someone like you should be.” Aftershock looked around the camp, panning his hand as he went. “Trust me, this isn’t a life you want to live.”
“But you brought me out here …”
“Yes, otherwise you’d be dead, unburied, and the worms would nonetheless be feasting. As crazy as it sounds – and trust me I wonder what the hell I was thinking myself – I brought you out here to save you.”
“But why…”
“Listen, call it karma or whatever you want, Jenny Boone, I just want to do the right thing and get your ass to a safer place.”
Jenny was persistent, the argument continuing back and forth with elevated voices for a good twenty minutes. Jenny realized toward the end that Aftershock was just as if not more stubborn than she was. No matter what she said, it wasn’t going to convince him to keep her around.
She ended with a frustrated groan and a maroon face. He was probably right after all. Not that she wasn’t appreciative, but the thought of why he did any of this instead of letting her die with the others still plagued her.
“Okay fine,” she yielded. “Fine.”
Aftershock sat back on the ground, having worked himself up to standing during their volleys. He laid back on one arm and stretched out a leg.
“You sure are annoyingly persistent,” he said before rattling off a list of settlements in the region. “I can get you whichever one you want, but if I had my say it would be Diablo. It’s the closest and probably has the most opportunities.”
“It’s also the one that’s easiest to get lost in. What am I going to do there?”
“Live better than you would out here, with me,” he said, stomach flexing as he spoke. “I know that you’re looking for something like that; something more. But, we already touched on that.”
“Oh… no, it’s nothing,” she said, though her lingering eyes betrayed her words.
“People like me are the nothing, Jenny,” he said warmly. “On the other hand, it – love – is everything. Those that are genuinely able to find what you’re looking for and hold onto it are truly blessed.”
Jenny sighed, feeling as though she was up on a grand stage with all eyes on her.
“I can tell you that you’re not going to find that out here, Jenny, especially with me,” Aftershock said, pointing a thumb west. “I just have a feeling something better for you waits over there in the city, where you belong and it will strike at your heart in all the good ways when you least expect it.”
She looked at the horizon, already hazy as predicted.
“Why do I have the feeling there’s more to what you’re saying than you’re letting on?” she asked.
“Because there is, Sam,” he muttered.
“I… I beg your pardon? Sam?” Jenny asked. “Who is he?”
“He is a she,” he clarified. “Samantha, in fact. She… she was my sister and she happened to look remarkably like you.”
Jenny was speechless for a moment, the air in her lungs pushed out in one fell swoop. Regaining composure, she began to understand.
“So that’s why you rescued me during the attack?” Jenny asked, flattered yet also extremely sad.
Aftershock nodded gently.
“It was more than I could do for her after she was taken, abused, and…”
“By the Vipers?”
“No!” he snapped. “By my own gang… my own damn people.”
A sparkle formed in his eyes, catching the firelight.
“Why would they betray you like that?” Jenny asked.
“In their mind, I was the one who betrayed them,” Aftershock said. “I mentioned before that I rose in the ranks, so high I became the leader. Was there for a good while, too. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that I did a damn sight more for the Skinners than any of those fuckers ever did, more than ten of them combined. Yet, my entire world came crashing down when the one person I trusted betrayed me. Someone I told a secret to that then wanted to bring about my downfall so they could put themselves in the same place.”
Jenny stayed silent, listening intently.
“After he told everyone, they couldn’t have such a mockery as the pinnacle of their group: a raider in charge that liked the company of other men. Seth Colton was cut down from his position in the Skinners like a diseased stalk of wheat, Samantha Colton was taken away… and raped for their own sick pleasure, then killed so they wouldn’t risk nor would she b
ear any queer children, and at the end of all that pain, I was sentenced to death. Of course me being here meant I got out of there…” he cracked his knuckles, “with a little persuading.”
Jenny was horrified.
“So now you see why I rescued you and want to see you safe in the walls of a city. No matter how shitty a life it may be in there, it’s a damn sight better than the lawlessness you’d find out here. And with you looking the way you do, trouble will be out to get you with its slobbering jaws.”
Jenny didn’t know what to say. She agreed with Aftershock but wanted to hug him, yet knew she couldn’t.
“Seth?” she wound up saying. “So that’s your given name?”
“It sure was. Now it’s worth about as much as dirt,” he replied, “but since my ass was knocked all the way down into it, I had nothing else to lose. Hitting the ground as hard as I did, I was shook up by the quake. But, I stood back up and became something everyone fears just as much: the aftershock.”
Jenny smiled, thinking on what her grandfather had told her about hitting rock bottom.
“And the gas mask?”
“Serves no practical purpose; I’m not gonna shave this beard off anytime soon. However, I found it on a dead ranger, up north a way after my escape from the Skinners. Unsure why he had it on him, but didn’t need it anymore and I needed something to disguise myself – borrowing his duster while I was at it. Had it ever since then, sort of like a wall against my past.”
“It’s an honor to have heard about Seth and learn a little more about you, Aftershock. Thank you.”
He smirked, then sniffled for a little while before he continued, “We’ll head out for Diablo in the morning. It’s still quite a way off and the way isn’t going to be anything less than full of trouble and danger. But, it will be worth the risk to get you out of my hair.”
Jenny smiled, picking up a handful of dirt before tossing it in his direction. It didn’t get far at all before the wind scattered it.
“In case you haven’t noticed,” she said, “you actually have no hair.”
“Well gosh, I had forgotten; thanks for the reminder,” Aftershock grunted, grabbing his own fistful of dirt and lobbing it at her.
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