by Ann Bakshis
The carriages the Hostem used aren’t big, but there are a lot of them, and they’re in good working order.
I tell Braxton to stop. He is reluctant at first, but does finally comply.
I pick the Levin gun up from the floor and exit. Jagger and Gage join me and we make our way to one of the carriages. We approach cautiously, weapons drawn in case there are any Hostem around. I peer into the window, but no one is inside. Jagger and Gage stand behind me, facing the road as I open the driver’s side door to take a better look inside.
The interior is cramped, loaded down with communication equipment, conflagration slugs, Levin guns, detonators, and a great number of other weapons I don’t recognize. I sit in the driver’s seat and flip on the monitor just above the gearshift. The screen hisses at first, then I hear voices in the background. The screen is damaged so I can’t see who the voices belong to, but it’s just as well, since it might be a two-way screen. I switch it off and exit the vehicle. We examine several other carriages and find the same equipment, along with provisions that should last us a couple of days.
I take a closer look at the crates holding the food and notice a blurry image on the bottom right corner of all the boxes.
“I wish I had a Regulator’s glass.”
Gage reaches into the front pocket of his coat and pulls one out.
“I took this off of the woman you killed before we buried her.”
I take it from him and place it over the image on the top box. The figure solidifies into a bull with a red cape: the Tyre symbol.
“How’d they get a hold of those?” Gage asks, as I hand him back the glass.
“The same way the people in the Wasteland do. They steal them.”
I close the back door of the carriage and head back to tell Braxton about the find. He suggests we take two of the Hostem carriages, partially for the equipment but mainly for camouflage if we encounter any Hostem on our way. As we transfer equipment, Braxton removes a communications receiver from one of the carriages we aren’t taking and installs it into our vehicle. I take note of the frequency numbers of the two vehicles we are taking and give them to Braxton so he can program them into our receiver.
Tobin and Lehen get into the first carriage, Braxton and I take the Morrigan vehicle, and Jagger and Gage follow at the end in the other carriage.
As we begin to move again, I turn on the receiver and call up Tobin and Gage’s vehicles on the screen. I see their faces from the small camera housed in the screen, then move their images to one side to call up the main control insignia. By manipulating the controls, I’m able to block anyone from randomly locating our frequency. I enable the feature and advise Gage and Tobin to do the same as I try to locate other Hostems, so we can have a better idea of where they all are.
Chapter 28
We emerge onto the transport road an hour later and head north, descending the ridge. Snow begins to fall as we make our way down. There hasn’t been much chatter over the receiver, so I haven’t been able to discern anything. I keep the dial on search mode so it will continue to look for any transmissions.
It takes us several hours to reach the bottom of the range.
We ride in silence, taking as few breaks as possible. The sun sets early, so we are forced to stop and make camp for the night. I want to push on, but Braxton advises it would be too dangerous to travel at night since we aren’t driving on Acheron-made roads and it’ll be hard to judge the terrain. We each take a turn patrolling our spot while everyone else rests.
I have a hard time falling asleep on the hard ground, so I go into the Morrigan vehicle to see if I can locate any frequencies. Braxton is sitting on the driver’s side, adjusting one of the controls on the screen. He looks up as I sit down on the passenger side, then goes back to his tasks.
“Find anything?”
“No,” he responds in a frustrated tone.
“Why don’t you try and get some sleep? I’ll check the receiver.”
He looks up at me, contemplating my offer, but declines, so the two of us stay awake all night, locating no transmissions.
“Jagger told me why you let me come along.”
Braxton doesn’t respond.
“Was any of it true?”
He hangs his head down, then looks out the window. “Yes,” his responds in a remorseful tone. “I’m tired of the constant change in power. The High Ruler always threatening the people with persecution or death, even his own citizens, not just the Laics. It doesn’t matter who’s in power, they all act the same. I think the Antaeans are more than soldiers to protect the cities. I’ve always hoped they were to protect the people.”
We sit in silence the rest of the night. Our convoy leaves just as the sun rises.
After two hours, we come across an old set of shuttle rails running along the ground. We change direction and begin to head straight west, using the rails as a guide. I doze off periodically, my head hitting the doorframe every so often as we go over large divots in the ground. My eyes barely open as we come upon a brown, barren field. I notice rocks no bigger than five inches placed on the ground about two feet apart, spreading far back into the field.
“Stop,” I yell to Braxton.
He radios Tobin to stop and places the Morrigan vehicle in park. I open my door, step down, and walk over the rusted tracks, my feet crunching on the hard dry ground. Grasses no taller than half an inch try their best to wave in the slight cold breeze that’s blowing. I proceed down one aisle of rocks. The rows in front of me seem to go one for miles.
“What is this place?” I ask Braxton as he, Lehen, and Jagger join me.
“Asphodel.”
“The tent city?” Lehen inquires.
“What remains of it.”
I take a few steps away from the group, bend down, and touch one of the gray stones. The number 35 carved on top, barely visible from weathering, along with a symbol I haven’t seen; a six-petaled flower, lines radiating from the center of each petal to the tip. I stand back up, surveying the land, mesmerized by the thousands of rocks littering the field.
“Each one symbolizes a person who was killed the night the tent city was destroyed,” Jagger says, as he comes up behind me. “Thomas told me. He survived that night, and managed to escape being captured by the cities, only to be collected a few years later.”
Braxton calls to us. “We need to get going.”
Jagger turns and heads back to the vehicles while I stay a few seconds longer. I can see now how the Hostem came to be, and begin to question my intentions.
“Trea,” Braxton yells, “we need to go now.”
Who would massacre so many people? What was gained from their deaths?
Seeing this sickens me. My heart aches for those lost. Even though I never knew them, I feel connected to them.
We navigate the vehicles directly onto the shuttle rail in order to cross the large river that lies before us. It’s been many hours since we left the ruins of Asphodel and we still have not located any Hostem frequencies. The bridge over the water appears to be rickety, so we cross slowly, one vehicle at a time. It takes over an hour with the sun almost set, but the bridge holds up.
Once it’s too dark to continue, we make camp along the river’s banks. Jagger takes the first watch after we eat a small meal. I decide to sleep in the Morrigan vehicle rather than on the cold hard ground.
My slumber is disturbed by a crackling from the receiver.
“Bevan…are you there?” A very young female voice asks. “Bevan…I need you to respond.”
The line crackles for a few minutes. I turn the volume up just a bit, waiting for a response.
“Grainne, I thought we were on silence until tomorrow?”
“I know, but I haven’t heard from Tak’s group for days. I haven’t been able to raise them in their vehicles and I can’t locate their frequencies.”
“Where were they supposed to be heading to after they picked up their supplies from the Trade Borough?”
�
��Towards one of Acheron’s hatcheries, but that was several days ago.”
I hesitate about whether to chime into the conversation or not, but Jagger knocks on my window so I discretely dial down the volume and open the door.
“Your turn,” he says to me.
I step out of the vehicle, take the Beta rifle and Levin gun that Jagger is holding, and begin my patrol. He goes off and sleeps by the small fire we built earlier that is slowly dying.
As I walk on patrol, about a half mile in all directions away from the river, I think about the conversation I heard, wondering why the Hostem would be getting supplies from the Trade Borough.
I’m relieved four hours later by Gage where I return to the Morrigan vehicle, but the chatter has stopped. I try to locate other frequencies, but all is silent so I lean my head against the door and get some asleep.
I wake up mid-morning, hours away from the river. I ask Braxton if he’s heard anything, but he says it’s been quiet all morning.
“Speaking of quiet, you haven’t had any nightmares in a while,” he comments.
I don’t know why they’ve suddenly stopped, but I’ve slept better since the night I recognized Terrance’s face.
We ride in silence the remainder of the day, taking only occasional breaks.
As the sun begins to set on our third day, we notice thick plumes of smoke in the distance. Braxton indicates it’s coming from the area of the Trade Borough. Ten minutes later we see the elevated rail lines of the defunct shuttle to Nuceira and turn north. Jagger radios us to see if Braxton wants to stop and check for survivors, but Braxton ignores his calls by turning off the receiver.
Since we’re so close to where we think the Hostem are encamped, Braxton decides to push on through the night. Several hours later we all trade spots so that Braxton, Gage, and Tobin can get some rest. I turn the receiver back on, but don’t hear anyone transmitting.
I drive through the night and into most of the morning. We switch again before the afternoon.
“We should reach Oasis One tonight,” Braxton tells everyone over the receiver.
As evening falls around us, the receiver is hot with activity. The Hostem seem to have made Oasis One their base of operations, so we’re forced to change direction, turning and heading west again. At our closest, we’re about a mile from the nearest Hostem, from what I can tell on the receiver. We have to travel several hours out of our way to make sure we’re far enough away from Oasis One to start heading north again.
As the sun begins to rise on our fifth day of travel, Duren transmits a message to the world through a Regulator channel the Hostem know about.
“Regulators, this is Captain Braxton of the Acheron High Ruler guard. We are planning an offensive strike against our enemies, the Hostem. All available units, please take a transport vehicle to the Dormitories where additional weaponry is stored. I will meet you there in two days’ time.”
The transmission ends.
We wait in hushed stillness for the Hostem to begin chattering, but all remains quiet.
“What day do you think it is?” I ask Braxton several hours after the message.
“I think it’s sixty days after the Winter Solstice. Why?”
“I was born in the winter, so I must be nineteen now.”
“You don’t know when you were born?” he asks.
“Do you?” I respond.
“Laics are different. We aren’t told the day of their births. It’s to keep us from determining our age.”
“Why would they not want you to know how old you are?”
“Control, I think.”
I look out the window at the passing trees…snow changing to rain…the grass underneath our wheels coming out of its slumber. The seasons change, but the Laics have no marker to tell the passage of time for them. Somehow that makes their life seem even more dismal to me.
Hours seem to pass like days.
Even with the detour, we should reach the Dormitories by early morning at the latest, but the isolation and inactivity is making me anxious and agitated.
“I think I’m thirty-eight,” Braxton whispers from a faraway daydream.
We stop for a final break when it’s close to dark.
Our stomachs are growling, so we set up a small fire to heat up some of the provisions. Gage patrols, allowing the rest of us to eat. The food is only lukewarm, but we eat it all the same. We save Gage some, which he eats while Jagger drives.
The sun begins to rise as we find the transport road. We wind up and down several small hills before coming upon a shattered watchtower. Rusty metal pilings stick out from the earth; razor wire lays snarled across the entrance, as the fence it had been attached to has disintegrated. Lehen steps out and removes a swath of the razor wire so the vehicles can pass.
This place is very unpleasant for me. I can hear muffled screams and smell acrid smoke, though I know it’s just my memories.
The road winds for another ten minutes before we stop at to the top of a rise that overlooks the complex. I’m the first to step out of the vehicles, walk a few feet to my right, and look down into the gorge.
Blackened and cracked granite walls lay scattered across a blasted landscape. The concrete sidewalks lay broken in large pieces, some with small trees breaking through, others with patches of grass peeking through the upturned edges. It’s hard to tell how many buildings once stood, but I close my eyes and see the image from the tablet Devlan left me. The fountain in the center is the only discernable landmark; the manmade pool it sits in has long since dried up.
“It’s amazing any of you survived,” Braxton says, as he joins me.
The rest of the group stands along the ridge with us, surveying the destruction below.
“Let’s prepare,” I say and head back to the Morrigan vehicle.
Chapter 29
Once we reach the ruins, Lehen sets out to try and locate Vier, who I’m hoping is still close by. The rest of us remove the weapons from the vehicles and create a perimeter around the complex. Gage and Tobin plant detonators wherever they can find an open piece of land, synching them to a master control recovered from one of the Hostem carriages back at the hatchery. Jagger hides several conflagration cannons under the rubble of two of the housing buildings, leaving enough room for him and Keller to squeeze under so they can operate them. Keller and Braxton are working on our defensive and escape plans if something goes wrong.
I hunt through the remains, looking for anything, not even knowing what I’m looking for…but find nothing.
I crawl in and out of small dark spaces, my mind going back in time. I wander around the property, not quite going as far as the forest, my feet remaining on the cracked concrete. After some time, I head back to the pool in the center where Keller and Braxton are waiting. We’re joined an hour later by Gage and Tobin as Jagger goes off to look for Lehen, who hasn’t returned. I grow concerned and restless as another two hours pass before Jagger finally returns, Lehen trailing behind him.
“Did you find Vier?” I ask Lehen, as he sits down on the rim of the pool.
“Yes, but he won’t come out. He’s just on the other side of the tree line, but he won’t move.”
I strain my eyes to see if I can pick him out amongst the trees, but with the sun setting it’s getting harder to see.
We eat a small meal, then make our preparations before the sun fully sets.
As Braxton walks Lehen back to the forest, Gage, Keller, and Tobin take off in the vehicles to hide them. Gage and Tobin are to remain by the vehicles and operate the detonators using the master control once the Hostem begin their approach. They’re also to radio us at the first sign of movement. Keller walks back to us along the forest line, taking his place at his conflagration canon. Jagger mans the other one.
I voice my worries to Braxton about the possibility of the Hostem approaching from the forest.
“Lehen and Vier have it covered,” he assures me.
The two of us lay low in the pool, which is on
ly two feet deep. The pale blue tile is cracked, with tufts of grass peeking out from the deteriorated grout. We each have a Levin gun in hand, and lie in wait as the sun sets.
Hours tick by as the temperature slowly drops, the dampness from a light rain earlier seeping into our clothes. I lay on my back, looking up at the stars that have decided to grace the sky this evening, and think back to my favorite time of night out in the Wasteland, when the stars would start to sparkle before we had to hide inside our home.
Those moments of peace seem like centuries ago.
I roll back over and notice Braxton has nodded off, so I nudge him in the ribs with my elbow. He is startled awake, almost firing his Levin gun. I shake my head in amusement and survey the area, which is quiet, then roll back over.
“Why do we have to stay awake when you had Duren announce that the Regulators will be here in two days’ time?” I ask some time later.
“Strategy. If the Hostem believe the Regulators will be here tomorrow, then wouldn’t you want to arrive before they do, to prepare…like we did?”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
I could sense the smile on his face without having to turn and look at him.
“Captain Braxton of Acheron?” A heavy voice blasts through the silence. “Captain Braxton, come out please.”
Braxton raises his head above the rim of the pool, just enough to see who’s calling his name.
“Looks like they’ve arrived. Stay here,” he whispers to me, placing a hand on my shoulder.
I grab his right arm, just as he begins to stand.
“Be careful.”
He smiles, stands, and climbs over the small lip of the pool. I turn over, prop myself up on my elbows, and strain my neck to see.