by B. Buechter
The barkeep opened her mouth to say something else when her eyes jumped over Eva’s shoulder. Jake and Tommy were standing there, waiting impatiently. She sighed loudly and turned around with an exaggerated effort.
“Yeah?”
“Did you get any information from them?”
“Just as I thought - sewers.”
“Well then. We need to go if we are going to do this tonight,” Jake motioned to the door.
Eva shoveled in a few more bites of food, thanked Elaine with a fist closed against her chest. The barkeep with the dark skin touched her palm to her forehead, then a fist to her chest, opening it as she pulled it away. “Fight well. Don’t get yourself killed.” Eva mimicked the gesture. William had been watching the entire time, calling out to them as they stepped into the doorway.
“Remember Wanderer,” he said. “Never ignore who you are. Your past defines what you are today. Do not mask it with pride or fear. Become what you were meant to become. And may your blade always strike true.”
“Yeah,” Eva whispered softly where only Jake and Tommy could hear as she shut the door behind her. “And hopefully no blade or bullet finds its mark on me.”
Chapter 7
When they left the Rover colony, the fear began to sink in, not only for the brothers, but also Eva. The first thing she had promised herself when she escaped the Serpent’s Nest was to never return. In fact, she made a personal rule never to step foot inside the barbed wire fences of any Gang compound. Not for a friend. Not even for a lover. And yet here she was, standing on the cusp of life and death. For the first time in ages, she felt like death was holding her by the throat, ready to dig its claws into her flesh.
The haze from the Warrior’s food hall disappeared from view, and the smell along with it. Three pairs of pounding boots and the thumping of their hearts boomed over the sounds of the evening. Their eyes were fixed on the dark outline of towering metal outposts, held together by strings of jagged wire, awaiting their arrival in an eerie silence. Not a single flicker of a lantern or fire came from that place. The compound seemed to be asleep. But it would take time to reach their destination. A maze of tunnels awaited them first. If they lost themselves underground, they would be exposed to a horde of enemies by dawn. For the moment, time was still on their side.
Eva spotted a cover to the sewers near the shell of a home that burned down long ago. What remained of the brittle exterior creaked in the wind. Bizarre sounds from unknown animals startled them when they tried prying open the manhole cover. Jake and Eva used a piece of hinged metal hidden in the nearby bramble to lift the iron hatch. They lifted it away from the hole. Straining to move it to a soft patch of grass nearby, their rusted metal tools broke, slamming against pavement. The ear-splitting clang rattled their very bones. Hundreds of yards from them, the sound echoed back from the Wolf’s Den. They flinched, pulled out their weapons, and waited for a moment in the darkness, craning for any sound past the edge of hearing.
“I think we’re okay.” Eva’s mouth became dry. She pulled a canteen of water from her bag and took a swig.
Tommy had already jumped inside. Ancient rungs of a ladder descended into the chasm beneath them. Neither of the older two trusted that it would hold their weight on the way down. Eva spotted a nearby tree and fastened one end of her rope around the trunk and the other around Jake.
“Use the ladder cautiously,” she instructed. “Go slowly.”
Jake nodded and Eva slowly began lowering him to the sewers below. Her arms burned instantly. She knew they could give at any moment. I should have tied the rope to something else. But there is nothing else sturdy nearby. Focus damnit. I hope I have enough strength to lift my weapon. My arms are going to fall off before I even get that far. Why in the heck is it taking so long? If he’s taking his time, I’m going to kill him. I. Am. Going. To. Kill. Jake. Finally, her arm was freed of the weight.
Eva exhaled and stretched her arms out. A wave of panic flooded her when she thought they had locked at an angle. Biting her lip to muffle a scream, she took one more look at the surface and warily slid down to the brothers. She alternated between her left and right arm, stretching out the unused one. Each time, her bones creaked and her muscles twitched. She began to get worried.
If I can’t fight. I’m dead. Dread prickled through her body then subsided. Shit. I may die anyway.
She had not realized that she had completely frozen. One foot was still on the ladder, and the other, hanging freely. Jake’s voice echoed up to her, snapping her out of the daze.
“Come on Eva,” he called. “We are losing time.”
“Sorry,” she replied and leapt the final few feet to the ground, crouching to cushion her fall.
“You didn’t bring a light did you?”
“Damnit. No. You rushed me out, remember? And Elaine, the barkeeper, didn’t really give me directions either. Sorry.”
“We just have to keep going as straight as possible, right? The compound is in this direction.”
“I can’t see you pointing Jake. It’s dark in here remember?”
“Tommy? Did you get ahead of us again?”
Tommy tugged on both of their pants.
“I know you don’t talk,” Eva said. “But you need to make some sort of noise or I am tying you to me.” He tapped his weapon softly on the damp ground. Eva sighed. “I guess that will work.”
There was really no turning back. Now, they stood on the edge of something they could no longer escape - the darkness of these ancient underground tunnels and the uncertainty of the surface above. And still, they pressed on. Eva had to be sure they weren’t being followed. Every few minutes, she counted three pairs of footsteps. Tommy was so quiet that she had to pay an exhausting amount of attention to him while also attempting to navigate a place she had never been in a darkness she seldom experienced.
“Do you think the Gangs use this tunnel?” Jake whispered softly.
“Not often,” Eva replied unsure. “Elaine said that the tunnels were built in the Beforetimes and at risk of collapse. But they still use them for trade sometimes. I don’t think they would risk their men when they have a gate in and out on the surface.”
“Collapse? Oh great, another way to die down here.”
“Well, on the bright side, being crushed by thousands of pounds of rock and rubble would kill you instantly. Torture from a Gang like the Wolves. Not such a merciful death.”
“Bright side? You’re joking.”
Eva shushed him. She flung her hand backwards towards a sound, hitting Jake in the chest. Maybe a whole tunnel collapse would kill them. That was the bright side of current circumstances. One, two, three, four, five, six footsteps. Still there. Then they ran into a wall. A dead end.
Smooth, circular walls around them. She could rule out a collapsed wall. A cold metal ladder upwards, but it was made of a newer steel. No rust. Perhaps this is the way out. Even though it did not feel like they had gone far, Eva had navigated as straight of a route as possible. There was only one way to find out.
“I’m going up there,” she declared. “I won’t open the latch for a few moments. But I will call down to you when I know it is safe.”
She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Jake’s hand. “Be careful.”
“Yeah.”
Eva took a deep breath, gripped the cold sides of the ladder tightly, and began the ascent. Suddenly, her chest began to tighten again. The air in the cramped room became dense and difficult to inhale. She was sweating. Flashbacks started materializing in front of her eyes, taking over reality. Be careful. She repeated the words in Jake’s voice over and over in her mind until it was maddening. It kept the demons at bay. With each rung, she repeated it. Be careful. Be careful. Her head was swimming in a struggle for control and she almost collapsed. Then she reached up and touched the cold latch and everything stopped.
“A handle,” she whispered back to them loudly. “There is a handle here. I’m going to open it.”
The moonlight was enough for Jake and Tommy to see Eva’s silhouette motion to them from above, beckoning for them to climb. Tommy scurried up the ladder while his brother tarried out of reluctance. In the tunnels, they were safe. On the surface, they were vulnerable. Elaine was correct. The tunnels had opened up right into the center of the compound - a large common area with various stations for making leather armor. Corpses of animals were strung the length of one side. Tanning racks dotted between the long workstations for cutting and sewing the hides. All was desolate. That was, until they looked above them at the outpost towers.
Jake and Tommy felt their clothing being grabbed and yanked to the wall. Eva pulled them into the shadow of the wall. Eva scoured the perimeter, trying to calm herself. From a distance, she was able to make out a couple dark figures marching back and forth above them. Two heavily armed guards at each of the four towers.
Spanning the length of the compound were the slave tents. They were haphazardly built. Wet leathers as roofing and warped, soaking wooden boards as walls. The Doxies and Bondsmen were separated, but all slept on cold, hard floors. Jake and Tommy split from Eva and started searching for their father, making a point to stay close to the walls and with weapons at the ready.
“He looks like me,” is all that Jake whispered before they parted.
Not one of the slaves stirred in their sleep as Eva passed them. Her footsteps were nearly inaudible, just the occasional crunching of gravel digging into the earth. Children were huddled together closely in one tent, men spread out in the next. Each servant, clad in rags stained with blood. Their skin was covered in scars. When she finally reached the other side of the compound, someone caught her attention.
This man, unlike his roommates, was not asleep. He was sitting straight up, wide awake. At first, it caught Eva off guard. She brandished her weapon at him, but he recognized that she was not a Wolf. Through the starlight, she could make out a beard, faint strands of silver weaving through clumps of deep brown or black. He slowly stood up and tiptoed over his sleeping kin, allowing a better look at his face.
While his skin was wrinkled with age, he did not look worn with work. Compared to the others, he was better kept. His tunic was not quite as torn and no blood stained its fabric. Some scars were visible over his shoulders, but they were old. It was the color of his eyes that grabbed Eva’s attention, a honey brown, the same shade as the McAvoy brothers.
“Do you know Jake and Tommy McAvoy?” she whispered as softly as she could.
“Yes,” he replied anxiously. “How do you know them? Are they here? Can I see them?”
Eva shushed him and took handfuls of his clothing. “We don’t have much time. You have to come with me.”
Jake and Tommy had seen the exchange from the opposite end of the compound. Jake squinted and saw the silhouette step out of the tent towards The Wanderer. As soon as the man came into view, they heard yelling from the nearest outpost. We are dead.
Someone had seen them from a tower near the gate. A bright beam shone upon them - a torch with a mirror. Eva’s heart dropped like a boulder, Jake and Tommy gasped, and their father disappeared back into his tent. She looked around, but it was too late. Bound arms, shoved to their knees, and cocked guns in their ears. The cold, thin barrel of a rifle jabbed her head, but she kept her hood masking her face. A pair of boots and the warmth of torches appeared in her limited field of view. Eva choked on the nauseating smell of body odor. She coughed softly.
“Well, well, well,” a scratchy voice heckled. “What have we here?”
“Looks like intruders Chief,” a woman’s voice replied. “They have some nice weapons. And that one has a gun.”
Eva felt her handgun being ripped off its holster. She stayed motionless. Jake and Tommy were whimpering at either side of her, but she remained calm. Her demons were smothered for the moment, but she was sure they would overtake her without warning. A kick in her side knocked her to the ground.
“One keeps their eyes downcast for two reasons,” the Chief used his mud-caked boot to lift her head to meet his gaze. He towered over her prone body. “To show fear or to hide something. And I see no Gang symbol on your person. Yet, you have a firearm. A nice one. Very well kept. So tell me, bitch, what are you hiding?”
He dropped to a squat. Jake, who was on his knees right behind him, was watching in complete horror. Eva turned to the Chief with a cold glare. Insulted by the lack of fear, he reached down and grabbed her face, squeezing hard and forcing it closer to his. Pulling out a knife and pressing it against her cheek, he smiled fiendishly, exposing rotted teeth and an indescribable smell.
Trickles of blood ran from her cheek down to her neck as the blade pierced deeper into her flesh. The unwelcoming feeling of dread was starting to swell, and with significant effort, Eva forced it back to the depths. The Chief must have caught a glimpse of her blades at that moment because his eyes sparkled over her shoulder. He sheathed his knife and ripped the short swords from their sheathes. Rage shot through Eva’s body like lightning. She felt as though her very identity was being torn off. He noticed the look on her face because a glint of fear dropped his smile for a split second. And then, his lips curled to a sinister smile.
“Well my brothers and sisters,” he boomed. “Anyone fancy a guess as to who this bitch is? I’ve only heard of her from across the region. She’s a nobody here.”
“A future Doxie,” one man licked his lips, looking her up and down. “I’d like to get my hands on her first.”
“She’s your next victim,” a woman offered. Other guesses bellowed from the crowd. The Chief then raised his hand to silence them.
“No,” he laughed to himself. “This woman is the famed Wanderer. I can tell by her blades. It has to be her.”
The Wolves chanted, “Kill her!” Eva stayed on the ground.
“Not this one,” he shouted over them. “A Gang in the East is paying a heavy price for her… alive. Now the other two…”
“At least torture her,” a voice called out from the center of the crowd. “She has Wolf blood on her hands. Our kin.”
The Chief shrugged and grabbed Eva by the jacket and dragged her across the dirt and jagged rocks to the center of the courtyard. Her legs were tearing up underneath her pants but her eyes did not waver from the swords in this man’s hand. Her blades. He would be her first victim. All she had to do was free herself from these bonds.
“My brothers and sisters.” The crowd quieted. “What does this woman have to say for herself? Infiltrating a compound to steal our weapons? Perhaps to break someone out?”
Eva scoured the crowd. She could make out the figures of Tommy and Jake, shaking with fear. In the back of the mob stood the boys’ father, watching silently with his arms crossed.
I cannot die in here, she vowed. I. Will. Not. Die. Here.
Eva’s words shattered through the murmurs of the Wolves. “I challenge the Chief to battle.” The Chief dropped his arms and turned to her in shock.
“You challenge me,” he repeated. “You are unarmed.”
“If you truly knew who I was, you would know that didn’t stop me before.” Eva now wore a menacing grin. An old and familiar feeling started to seep into her.
“I would never pass up a challenge from someone so famed,” he teased.
“Eva, no!” Jake called from the crowd. She spotted him just as the Wolf nearest to him punched him in face, knocking him over. Tommy sobbed silently.
“I want that boy to watch his girlfriend take her final breath,” he jabbed his finger at Jake.
Eva’s bonds were cut and the crowd created a large space around the two combatants. Although she was exhausted by the journey to the Wolf’s Den, she prep
ared to wring out every ounce of endurance she had left for this fight. She hoped that she could either defeat him swiftly or that he would kill her quickly. If Eva was victorious, she could plan their escape. Her eyes darted towards the front gate. It was now completely unguarded. Even the Doxies and Bondsmen were permitted to watch the battle from the outer ring.
The Gang jeered as Eva and The Chief circled each other. He toyed with her swords, one in each hand. Two pistols stuck out of pockets near his belt. One of them was hers. Instead of charging, he decided to provoke her.
“I won’t kill you right away,” he toyed. “I mean - I could shoot you. It would be over in an instant. But I want to have some fun before you bleed out.”
“You are just another tick on my victim list,” she sneered. “No one will remember your name. They’ve already remembered mine, you insignificant piece of shit.”
With a twitch of rage, the Chief charged with her blades flying in all directions. She almost tripped while dodging the first flurry of blows. The second, she was not so fortunate. While the blade had missed her torso and arm, the Chief’s elbow bore down on her back. She dropped to the ground on all fours, gasping for air. Glancing up to see the Chief barreling towards her, she was able to roll away to avoid another blow. She was losing the upper hand in an already unfair fight.
Eva jumped to her feet and sprinted to the other side of the makeshift arena. Turning on her heels, she had a split second to access his stance. Perfect, high bearing. His arms were above his head, leaving his guns, free for her to swipe. Right behind the raging man knelt Jake, now boasting a black eye. There was no time to tarry on the rage that continued to boil inside her. She leaned forward, pushing the ground with all her might.
Bam, contact. It felt like she collided with a brick wall. Her boots dug into the soft earth and reached around, locking her arms behind him, twisting him over her leg, throwing him off balance. Frantically grabbing at anything she could get from his pockets, the hilt of a knife found her palm. The Chief’s back hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of him. He pointed Eva’s blades toward her face, coughing and wheezing for air.