Shifter's Price

by Jamie K. Schmidt

  “Can anyone hear me?” An anguished voice broke through her dreams.

  Bethany sat up so quickly she almost banged her head on the top of the wagon. “Yes, I can hear you.”

  “You say something, Bethany?” Lem asked, peeking back at her.

  “That woman.”

  He shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

  “Did someone just cry out?”

  “Nah, Jesse here was just singing a pub song. That must have been what you heard.”

  “Didn’t mean to offend,” Jesse said.

  “No, that wasn’t it.”

  “Probably just a dream,” Lem told her. “We’re almost at the train station. We’re going to load up and then get going.”

  “We’re going to travel at night?” Bethany wasn’t sure that was such a good idea. She’d want to use flashlights, but that would be like setting up a target.

  “Word came down that Lewis and Clark have cleared the tracks all the way to the state of Ohio—or what's left of it.”

  Bethany’s head swam. She’s never been that far west. “How long will that take?”

  “Three days?” Jesse said, with a snort. “If we all don’t die in a wreck.”

  “Is that all?” It had taken ten to get down from the Bluffs to the conclave.

  “So we’ve been told,” Lem said.

  “What happens when we get to Ohio?” Bethany closed her eyes, picturing a map of the United States before the meteorite hit. Ohio was in the middle, but she wasn’t sure where.

  “Well, that’s where the last expedition was wiped out. I suspect we’re taking the train into a fight, and then we’re back to riding in the caravan once the tracks run out.” Jesse shrugged.

  “That’s, ah...” Bethany wasn’t sure what it was. Terrifying? A real dumb idea? “Exciting,” Bethany finished.

  “It is what it is,” Lem said.

  “What wiped out the last group?”

  “Thems not really saying,” Jesse said. “But the rumors are all sorts of bizarre. I heard everything from trolls to dragons.”

  “I heard it was crazed Techs inhabitatin’ robots.”

  Bethany rubbed her temples and listened to the radio waves. Had she picked up a ham operator? It wouldn’t be the first time, but there was something so urgent about the tone. She looked around for Lucas, but none of the Shifters were in sight.

  “Where is everyone?” she asked.

  “Shifters were sent on ahead to clear out any ambushes. Do some scouting. Don’t know why for. Lewis and Clark supposedly have a team of engineers taking care of the place.” Jesse offered her a piece of jerky.

  “Thanks,” Bethany said, taking it. “Maybe with the Purebloods bombing the conclave, they don’t want to take any chances.”

  Lem whistled. “I'd almost forgotten about them. Pricks.” He spit over the edge of the wagon.

  They were inside the city limits winding down a narrow path that Lewis and Clark’s engineers had dug out. Bethany remembered seeing a picture of the pyramids being built and slaves dragging large blocks. That was probably how they dug out a route. Finishing the jerky, she wiped her hands on her pants.

  Bethany gasped when a face peeked out of a building. “Did you see that?”

  “First you’re hearing things, now you’re seeing things,” Lem said.

  “Nope,” Jesse said. “She’s right. We’ve been watched for a while now.”

  “Do you think they live in these buildings? Is it safe?” Bethany marveled at the remains of the buildings. They didn’t look secure. Weren’t the people afraid of the walls crushing them if they fell? She shuddered. Give her the wide-open spaces. City life was too confining.

  “If it hasn’t come down by now, it probably isn’t going to.” Jesse clacked the reins when the horses started to dawdle.

  “Do you think they have tribes?” Bethany asked.

  “Have to, I think,” Lem said.

  “Why wouldn’t they come to our conclaves?”

  “I reckon same reason why we’re all leaving it,” Jesse said. “And it just ain’t for fame and fortune.”

  “What do you think they have to trade?” Bethany saw a woman in a doorway before the woman ducked away. She had been wearing a knitted hat that looked very warm.

  “Now see here,” Jesse said. “You don’t want to go flashin’ your stuff. You’ve been with civilized people all your life. It ever occur to you that someone could chain you against a wall and only let you eat and drink if you gave them Tech?”

  Bethany was about to tell Jesse that she wasn’t an idiot, when Clark approached the wagon.

  “Hold up, sweetheart.” He caressed Jesse’s leg in a familiar manner but had eyes only for Bethany. Jesse stopped the team.

  “I was wondering if you would like to join my partner and me in a bit of dinner?” He held his hand out to Bethany.

  Jesse looked like she was going to say something but scanned the sky instead.

  “Uh, sure,” Bethany said and accepted his hand down from the wagon. “I’ll see you guys on the train, I guess.”

  Jesse made a noncommittal snort, and Lem climbed down to join Bethany but was stopped by Clark.

  “There’s only room for three at the table,” he told him.

  “That right?” drawled Jesse.

  “Indeed.” Clark winked. With a gentle hand on Bethany’s elbow, he led her through the wreckage.

  “Get on back up here, Lem,” Jesse said, clicking her teeth to get the horses’ attention.

  The train station was a giant hole in the ground. Bethany could hear the hum of energy and the dim lights that guided them deeper below made her realize she wasn’t the only Tech anymore. They walked along the tracks, trains like rotting corpses sprawled across them. She felt the itch of potential in a few of the engines.

  “We used to have a few Techs running the electrical engines. But we found it more efficient to use steam.”

  “Why?” Bethany asked, although a part of her knew the answer.

  “Wood is easier to find than Techs.”

  “How many Techs died running your trains?”

  “Too many,” Clark said, but it sounded like a canned answer.

  “I’ve never run anything as big as a train.” She felt a thrill of the challenge and a slight prickling of fear.

  “Would you like to try? We’d be in Ohio by morning.”

  “I don’t think I’d survive that speed.” Bethany laughed, hoping he wasn’t serious.

  “Probably not your first time, but we could start you off slow.”

  He made his words an innuendo, stepped a little closer to her.

  “I don’t think that would be very efficient,” Bethany said primly and put some distance between them.

  Clark considered her for a moment. “You’re right, of course. I get so excited about these things.”

  The tracks let to a wide-open area that, while still underground, was lit up like daytime with the fires roaring. It was like stepping into hell. He led her to an alcove where a round table was set up with a white cloth and place settings. Shining silverware adorned the napkins like jewelry. It was like she was going to have tea with the Kings of England, just like Lem had mentioned.

  Lewis was already seated at the table. He was in a red velvet dressing gown and wore a black silk ascot tie. Bethany felt underdressed.

  “I hope you like roast chicken,” Clark said and pulled a chair back for her.

  Lewis regarded her with his reptilian eyes over a silver goblet of wine.

  “Butternut squash and some green beans that were canned a few months ago.”

  “It’s like Thanksgiving,” Bethany said, accepting the large glass of wine Clark offered.

  Once they were seated, a waiter came over and served bread with real butter. Although Bethany knew food and lodgings were provided in the excursions, she was pretty sure everyone else wasn’t eating like this. Bethany took a big gulp of wine and wondered where Lucas was. He was supposed to be her
bodyguard, but she hadn’t seen him in human form since he rescued her from Maya. It was starting to feel like he had gotten what he wanted, her in bed and her agreement to be his Tech in California, so he had no more use for her.

  “Funny you should say Thanksgiving. Most of our crew is very thankful to be here,” Lewis said. Even though he wasn’t slurring his words, Bethany got the impression this wasn’t his first glass of wine.

  Since it wasn’t a question, and he didn’t seem to be waiting for a response, Bethany just chewed the herbed potatoes and wondered what they would ask for in return for the dinner.

  “How long will it be before we can board the train?” Bethany asked. “Where is it, anyway?”

  “It’s on the other side of the station,” Clark said. “We didn’t want to be disturbed during dinner.”

  Bethany felt a flicker of fear and through the loudspeakers lively jazz sprouted out. Clark flinched back, but Lewis looked amused.

  “Dinner music,” he said. “How kind.”

  Bethany secured the link, feeling the energy tickle across her nose. That should pay for dinner. She relaxed a bit, now that she didn’t feel like she owed them something.

  “We’re loading up now, so it will take some time,” Clark said.

  “We’ve got all night,” Lewis said. His words were no innuendo. It was a straight-up offer.

  “So what will be my primary duties on the train?” Bethany said. Let’s get this out in the open.

  “I think you can write your own ticket,” Lewis said with another long pull on the wine.

  “We will need you to keep the radios and two-ways fully charged,” Clark added, with a glare to his partner. “You may have heard we’ve experienced some trouble in past expeditions.”

  “I haven’t heard much. Was it the Purebloods?”

  “We’ve had a string of bad luck,” Clark said. “In the beginning, we wanted to take the steam train all the way to California. But the land is too broken, and we don’t have the manpower. It’s not stopping us from trying to lay track, but we’ve met with resistance.”

  “We can’t even keep a bloody team in Bellevue,” Lewis snarled.

  “Bellevue?”

  “Ohio,” Clark clarified. “It’s where we’ll need your skills the most. If everything goes on schedule, we can be there in a day or so. On the train, lights, heat, air, running the ovens for meals are all what’s expected of you. If we get into trouble, we’ll need your help with the firebox, but I don’t foresee that happening on the way to Ohio.”

  “How big is the train?”

  “Big enough for the wagons, the gear, and the people,” Clark said. “An engine, coal car, five coaches for personnel, and ten freight cars.”

  “And our quarters in the caboose, of course,” Lewis said. “If you’d like to see it, I’d enjoy giving you a tour. There are a few devices I’d like charged up.”

  I bet, Bethany thought. It was a lot, what they were asking. But as long as she wasn’t driving the train, she could handle it. “Am I the only Tech?”

  Clark and Lewis exchanged a conversation in the looks they gave each other. “Yes,” Clark said. He reached under the table and handed her a bag of battery chargers for different size batteries. “We can start with this for tonight. Tomorrow morning, I’ll show you the control panel that the previous Techs used.”

  “What happened to them?” Bethany asked.

  “They died or were captured,” Clark said, not meeting her eyes.

  “By what?”

  “Name it,” Lewis said. “Rogue shifters, monsters, automans, or human mobs.”

  “That’s not very comforting.” Bethany wiped her plate clean with a snowflake roll that melted in her mouth. She hadn’t eaten like this since the holidays.

  “You are traveling with some bodyguards, though. That should provide you with more protection.”

  Bethany gave him a slight smile. Yeah, if they showed up.

  “Where are your Shifters?” Lewis said. “You rode with our Jesse and that cook of yours. I saw the leather wench, but not your beasts of burden.”

  “They’re my friends,” she said, tensing.

  “Are they?” Lewis asked. “Don’t you find them primitive?”

  “Don’t tell me you agree with that Pureblood nonsense?”

  He gave a raw laugh and drained his goblet. “I like to know where all my Shifters are. It’s safer that way.”

  “I haven’t had any time to speak with them today.”

  “What are their names?”

  Bethany was stuck. They hadn’t gone over whether they needed a cover. “Lisa and Lucas. She was a hawk, and he was an eagle.”

  When it seemed like they didn’t recognize the names, Bethany slumped in relief. Lewis poured them both more wine.

  “Since you’re already acquainted with Jesse, I’m assigning her to you and Lem. She’ll get you to the kitchens in time and help you be where you need to be.”

  “Am I really the only Tech?” Bethany looked around.

  “Why would you ask that?” Lewis asked. “Have you sensed another?”

  Bethany thought a moment about the voice that woke her. “No,” she said. “But there were lights down here. I figured you’d have a Tech running the train station.”

  “Not anymore,” Lewis said. “The lights are emergency lights that she charged up. They’ll eventually fade.”

  “What happened to her?”

  Lewis leaned in. “She danced with the train.”

  “Tribute!” howled a voice down one of the corridors of the train station.

  “Oh gods, not again,” Lewis said and sedately rose from his chair, dabbing his lips with his napkin.

  “Tribute!”

  “You think they would at least try to be subtle,” Lewis said and walked to the center of the terminal surrounded by the blazing light.

  Bethany could hear the crowd and didn’t know whether to crawl under the table or make a run for it. Clark pulled her inside an alcove of steel and pulverized stones. He copped a feel while he positioned them behind a pillar.

  “Hey!”

  “Sorry, force of habit,” he said. “Be quiet and watch.” Clark pulled a pistol out of his jacket and flicked the safety off.

  An emaciated, rag-clad mob clambered into the room only to recoil from the heat and light of the fires. Lewis slid off his dinner jacket and folded it neatly over one arm as he began to unbutton his shirt.

  “What’s he doing?”

  “If he ruins his suit, there will be hell to pay.”

  The mob carried nets and clubs. They slowly came forward.

  “Tribute,” the biggest of the men demanded.

  “You offer yourself to me as a tribute? How kind. I accept. After you’ve bathed, of course.” Lewis eased off the shirt and began to unbuckle his pants.

  The rabble sniffed the air and narrowed their eyes on the food. The discipline broke down as they rushed the table, leaving the big man in the center of the room. They fell on the table, on one another, grabbing the bread and the chicken bones, stuffing what they could in their mouths.

  “It’s so hard to find good help these days,” Lewis said. “I speak from experience. My Shifters were supposed to let me eat my dinner in peace.”

  “They’re being kept busy running after my men.” From another corridor, a willowy woman dressed in an evening gown and heels entered the room. She tilted her face toward the light and heat.

  “Misha, what a lovely surprise.”

  “Is it?” She stalked closer and Lewis drew off his belt with a snap and held it like a whip.

  He turned his back completely on the ragged man with the club, who snarled “Tribute!” again.

  “Misha, if you wanted an invitation to dinner, you must let my secretary know.”

  “He’s not one of mine. He’s Garegoth’s minion.”

  Lewis made a moue of distaste and snapped his fingers.

  Clark shot the man in the back. Bethany clamped her hands over her
ears. They rang from the close shot.

  The rabble scattered like mice but wasn’t frightened enough to leave the food and silver.

  Misha shifted into a creature of scales and teeth, her evening gown shredding into silk confetti. Lewis dodged her snapping teeth, and cracked the belt into her side. On four legs, she resembled a scorpion, and she lashed and missed with her tail.

  “Who is she?” Bethany asked.

  “A former partner,” Clark said. “Hell hath no fury, and all that.”

  “How did you scorn her?”

  Clark didn’t answer.

  It looked like Misha and Lewis were going to dance all night when a troll barreled into the room. It was the same color as the rubble, and if it had been still, Bethany would have mistaken it for a boulder. This boulder careened into the center to join the battle.

  “It’s like Grand Central station tonight,” Lewis said, then laughed at his own joke.

  The troll grabbed Misha by the tail and swung her across the room where she hit the wall and lay dazed and twitching.

  “Garegoth, you party crasher you.” Lewis laughed.

  Clark emptied the pistol into it. Garegoth staggered back and then turned to face Clark. The troll’s smile featured sharp, pointed teeth covered in moss. The only thing that stopped Bethany from running was that with her luck she’d run into Misha’s or Garegoth’s followers.

  Garegoth chortled. It sounded like thunder. He took a step toward them.

  “Stop screwing around, Lewis,” Clark yelled.

  “I haven’t had this much fun in ages. I would have stopped sending you kids long ago if I knew you’d come out yourself to play.”

  “Kids?” Bethany cried.

  “Relax. Baby goats,” Clark said.

  Bethany reached out and sounded every train whistle in the station. What the heck, she was half-deaf from the gunshots anyway.

  The troll clutched his elephantine ears. The scorpion writhed. Lewis raised an eyebrow.

  “Lewis, this has been a lovely experience, but I’m afraid I have a busy day ahead of me, and I should get to bed... Alone,” Bethany added as an afterthought.