Purpose (The Wanderer Trilogy Book 1)

by B. Buechter

  “I really do not want to do this again,” Eva sighed as she threw the latch open with her handgun over her head. “But it’s for Tommy.”

  Jake was right on her heels as she pushed the door upwards and off to the side. Their eyes adjusted to the flickering light of torches lining a stone hallway. Cell doors, haphazardly built with barbed wire wrapped around iron bars, stood between each torch. And coming from within the cramped, damp rooms were moaning and pained grunts. Some of them called out for food or water, voices echoing down the corridor. When the prisoners heard the latch screech open, a few of them popped their heads through their cell door towards Eva. Jake was still climbing the ladder.

  “What do you see?” he whispered up to her.

  “Prisoners,” she called. “We’re in the Tiger prison. But no sign of Tommy.”

  The tortured souls must have thought Eva to be one of their captors. As she got to her feet and traded her gun for her blades, the sobbing from within lowered to whimpers and their faces disappeared. Jake poked his head out from the sewer and took in a deep breath of fresh air. The ominous glow of the lights greeted him. He scanned the hallway for his brother. Nothing.

  Eva started down the hallway, peering into each cell as she passed. The inhabitants scattered to the corners, shaking and cowering like animals. One after another, they hid from Jake and Eva. Smells of human waste, infected wounds, and rotting food caused their stomach to lurch. They were forced to cover their face with clothing. The only one who did not shy away from them was the last prisoner, an old woman. She sat in complete tranquility, mousey hair in wired strands pointing in all directions. It covered most of her leathery face, but one pale eye shimmered through. She grinned, revealing five large teeth between gaping emptiness.

  She stared blankly at the space between them. “I can tell that you are not one of my captors.” Eva looked back down the hall and noticed the outlines of faces now looking at her and Jake. Whispers amongst themselves about being saved as they tried to grab The Wanderer’s attention.

  “Don’t mind them,” the woman said loudly. “They do not realize that you cannot save us all. Such is the way of survival. But I am sure you did not come here seeking your own deaths.”

  “No.” Eva crouched in front of her. “We are looking for the boy that brings you food. He was taken here fairly recently. Within the last few days. Do you know him?”

  “Ah,” she nodded her head slowly. “He has been sweet to us. Yes.”

  “Do you know when he will be back to bring food?” Jake dropped to his knees. “We are going to take him home.”

  “What about us?” Voices started calling from the other cells. “Save us too.” “We have been here for years. He has only been here for days.”

  A hard lump formed in Jake’s throat that he could not swallow. The pain and the desperation that shook their voices made him sick. Eva turned to him. She shook her head. Countless times before, she had told him how difficult it was to survive in this world. You cannot save everyone. A simple fact that tore his heart wide open. His mother, before she was murdered, had always taught him to care for others, especially those who needed it most. The strong exist to save the weak. Eva had always preached that the strong exist because they were not weak. There was no place for those who cannot fend for themselves. And yet, he could not take his eyes off of the shadows of gaunt prisoners, starving to death in cramped rooms that reeked of waste, left alone in their misery. That was not a way to die. But his mind circled back to Eva’s words. Over and over, the word ‘survival’ ate at his most primal instincts.

  “Do not mind them.” The old woman lifted her skeleton hand. She could sense his urge to help these people. “It is a natural thing to want to live. We all seek it. Life and freedom. However, we were silly to be caught all those years ago. We are lucky they still remember to feed us. And for that much, I am grateful. Please, young man, do not burden yourself with thoughts of us. This is the way of this world. You save your brother. Deep in my bones, I feel like that child is destined to do great things.”

  Eva’s tone was soothing. “When will he return?”

  “Soon,” she replied. “Yes. It would be midday soon. But be wary, my child. Tigers always accompany him. Some of the lower ranked men will be down here with Tommy.”

  “Thank you deeply,” said Eva. “I am sorry that we cannot save you all.”

  Jake clenched his fist. “No. You both are right,” he said. “The only way to save everyone here is to destroy every Tiger in the compound. It would be impossible.”

  “This man speaks the truth,” the elderly woman nodded. “True, it is a difficult decision. But you are beginning to realize.”

  Eva thanked the woman once again and rose to her feet. She tried to hide the guilt that she, too, felt for leaving the prisoners to their inevitable fate. She and Jake silently slipped to a small cutaway in the wall near the stairs. Tommy would arrive to the cellar with both food and enemies at any moment now. They had to remain in the darkness until he returned.

  “I understand how hard it is.” Eva wiped away a tear. “This is the hardest part about being me. I have been on both sides of this.”

  Jake never dwelled on how she dealt with the sins of her past. To think, at one point, she was slaughtering these defenseless servants for sport. And then, years later, she was defending them with her life. Maybe she felt that her own life was so meaningless that it was worth being spent to save others. However, she would not risk her life if it meant a sure death.

  His silence made her stir. “You know, when I was the Mistress of the Serpents, I was colder than I am now, believe it or not. I guess I have always been heartless to some extent.” She let out a nervous laugh.

  “No Eva.” Jake touched her hand. She pulled away. “It takes a lot of courage to do what you do. And yeah, your past was pretty shitty. You massacred a lot of people. But you changed.”

  Jake nearly stopped in mid-sentence. His voice had sounded like Yidi’s for a moment. Back in the Nomad camp, when he was trying to explain The Wanderer’s past, he had spoken the same words. The Elder’s wisdom had been correct. Eva had changed.

  “Thanks Jake,” she said. “Just, please, don’t beat yourself up about this. We are here for Tommy. We cannot save an entire compound with two people.”

  “Hey,” he said. “I get it. It is hard to leave these people to their fate.”

  “To be completely honest.” She lifted her hood over her head. “It never gets any easier. You just have to learn to ignore your emotions. Sad? Yeah. But that’s the only advice I have.” One of her blades was resting on her thigh, loosely grasped by her fingertips.

  Jake nodded and leaned back against the cold stone wall, causing his whole body to shiver. Eva jabbed her blade into the soft moss between the cracks at her feet with her hooded figure hunched over it, like she was ready to pounce. A leak in the roof dripped down onto her hood, rolled off the edge, and saturated the ground. She did not move one muscle or utter a single word. The moaning from the corridor had fallen silent once again. Someone was coming.

  Footsteps descended the concrete steps. Two men and a small boy passed Eva and Jake’s field of view. The boy was dirty and clothed in rags. In his arms was a large pot of sloshing liquid and a stack of bowls that were nearly toppling over. One of his escorts carried a loaf of dry bread. The other had his hands around the barrel and handle of his rifle. He took the metal and slammed it across the bars of the cells, laughing at the screams of agony coming from inside. Eva pulled her blade from the soft earth noiselessly. Remaining crouched, she slid one foot back, ready to sprint towards them.

  “Time’a wake up if ye ain’t dead yet,” said the man with the gun. He was extremely burly and wore a beard of red and gray. Again, he banged on the cells and the howls of pain filled the air. “Time’a eat.”

  “Feed ‘em now.” Jake saw his brother being pushed to his knees, almost dropping the food. The bowls scattered on the ground. “Pick ‘em up, parasite.”


  He almost burst out of the shadows as his heart burned with rage. With a silent scream on his face, he watched his Tommy being tripped, then smacked over the head for dropping the bowls. He stood up and wiped the tears from his face with his oversized tunic. Although he was hurt, he nodded to the Tiger and smiled warmly to each of the prisoners he fed. The two gang members went back to sit at the landing and watched the boy, taunting him every few minutes. For the most part Tommy was able to ignore them and took care to feed each prisoner.

  “Hurry up!” the man with the bread commanded as he threw a chunk of bread onto the moist floor of each stall.

  Tommy must not have served the food quickly enough for the Tiger’s liking. As soon as he had finished spooning the last of the soup to the old woman, the guard stomped over to him, kicked the pot out of his hands, and grabbed him by his wavy hair. An ear shattering crash rang through the corridor as the Tiger forced the boy’s face towards him and cracked him hard in the ribs.

  By the time Jake had said “That’s enough,” Eva was already upon them. She had been watching over his shoulder the entire time, gritting her teeth and clenching the grip on her blade. When the Tiger had kicked the pan out of Tommy’s hands, she had already started racing towards him. She knew what he was going to do next and she scolded herself for not getting to him sooner.

  Tommy was doubled over in a heap, gasping for air and sobbing. Eva was now standing over the corpse of a Tiger. That was when she and Jake realized that they had made one miscalculation. The other Tiger was still in the room and he was the one with the gun. The second mistake came from his reaction to Eva’s swiftness and deadly accuracy. He ran. An alarm had been tripped.

  The floor seemed to sway underneath Jake as the sound of guns being loaded grew louder and closer. Eva started to panic. She tossed her sword back in its sheath and rushed over to Tommy, dropping to her knees and reaching underneath his neck. His dirty face, stained with rivers of tears, turned to her.

  “Everything is going to be okay,” she said. “Your brother and I are here now. You’re safe now.”

  Jake ran to his brother’s side, dropped his weapon, and lifted the boy into his arms. Tommy buried his head in Jake’s chest, still breathing heavily but starting to fall into unconscious exhaustion. The Wanderer spun on her heels to face the onslaught of enemies heading for them. Her gun was loaded and pointed at the stairway. Vision was narrowing, and the only sound was the rush of blood in her ears.

  “Go! Jake,” she demanded.

  “But Eva,” he called. “You cannot take them all. There are -”

  “Too many.” She tilted her head back to him. “I know. But I can hold them off until you make your way down the ladder. I will be right behind you.”

  “Promise?” Jake called to her just as he pulled the latch to the sewer below. She said nothing more to him. He bit his lip and glanced up at her one more time.

  “Prisoners of these kitty cats,” she boomed. “Back against the far wall of your cell. No innocent blood will be spilled by my hands.”

  Truthfully, Eva was more terrified than she could ever remember. However, her voice did not waver, but her legs felt like they were losing stability. She was forced to use both hands on her gun to keep it from shaking as Tigers began storming into the room. Bang. One down. Bang Bang. Two dead. Must be lethal shots. I cannot miss. Please do not let me miss.

  Shit, I missed. A bullet whizzed past the face of one enemy and hit the wall at his back. There was a deafening echo in the passageway. Eva knew that Jake had at least gone two thirds of the way down the ladder if he was hurrying. She needed more time, but they were gaining on her fast. The man she missed shot back and missed. Others stepped over the bodies of their comrades, fumbling to get to her.

  One of them recognized her. “It’s The Wanderer,” he shouted. “Get her!”

  She took two steps back. A few more rounds. They did not all have firearms, thankfully. One was bolting right at Eva. Five more steps backwards. Her heel hit something. Turn to the exit for one second. Even if Jake was yelling up to her to say it was safe, she could not hear him. The Tigers were too close. They were starting to surround her. Ten feet, maybe, between them and their prey. Screw it.

  Eva threw her handgun back into its holster and grabbed the lever on the trapdoor, swinging it closed while jumping into the darkness below. Gunshots still rung out through the prison as reinforcements entered the corridor above.

  “They are coming,” she yelped out to Jake and Tommy as she crumpled to the ground. An excruciating pain shot up her leg from the ankle. She had almost cleared the ladder, but her foot had caught the final rung, twisting it at an uncomfortable angle before she landed on the ground. She screamed. The latch above them exploded open and Eva crawled away just before a hail of bullets showered them. Jake almost dropped his brother to grab her. But she scrambled to her feet and limped as fast as she could.

  “I will be okay,” she breathed as they ran through the tunnels. “They are right behind us.”

  “Where do we go?” Jake heaved his brother back up to his arms.

  “Back to the Rover colony,” she winced. “We will gain some ground if we hurry. They will not know where we will be.”

  “It’s a two-day journey.”

  “Yes. But we must make it. We have to survive this.”

  “We will follow you anywhere Eva. No matter what happens.”

  “Keep moving. I am right behind you.”

  With every other foot drop, Eva cried out in pain. Her ankle was starting to swell, but the laces on her boots were tied tight enough to ease the pain somewhat. Jake wanted to act as a crutch, but with Tommy bundled in his arms, he was useless to her. Light from the Tigers’ torches was distant, but bright enough for the three to make out the “Ts” on the concrete walls. If they made it out of the sewers, they could slow their pace.

  Jake tried reassuring Eva and Tommy. “We can do this. Almost there.”

  She tripped. Yelling in anger and agony as Jake turned to go back for her. The sound of footsteps was getting louder. With the remaining strength he had in one arm, he lifted her back to her feet, carrying his brother over his other shoulder. She was sweating profusely. Turning to run the last few hundred yards, he called back to her again.

  “I am fine,” she reassured and pointed ahead of them. “Look! The way out.”

  They reached the bottom of the ladder and the cool breeze drifted downwards from the opening. It was a welcoming sight. Eva looked at Jake who was struggling to carry the limp body of his brother. She could tell Tommy was still breathing. His chest rose and fell softly. Jake turned back and saw how much pain she was in. All of the color had drained from her face and she was covered in a layer of sweat. Breathing was becoming more difficult by the moment. Neither of them were able to determine the extent and severity of her injuries.

  “Go Eva,” he motioned his head upwards.

  “No.” She used the ladder for support on her good side and winced in pain. “No. You have no weapon. You have Tommy. Get up there.”

  “You are wounded,” he called over the rising volume of voices. “Hurry. Go first.”

  “I am not asking you Jake,” she spat. “Get your ass up there.”

  He let out a roar of frustration and started up towards the surface. She looked up at him for a moment and wrapped her other arm around a rung. She clung to it with most of her weight. Her swollen ankle was shaking, the rest of her body ached, and left arm began to sting. Dreams of torture from long ago bubbled to the surface and the Hooded Man appeared on the other side of the ladder. But this time, he was more transparent than before.

  Jake surfaced carrying Tommy and laid his brother against a tree before diving back for Eva. He leaned down and grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to climb. The dreams and images faded. At first, she thought Jake was part of her dream. Light beams shone from behind his head like a crown. He looked similar to the deities that she had seen in the city.

  His voi
ce echoed through her daze. “Come on. They’re gaining on us.”

  Once again, she snapped back into her own body. It was a battle, but Eva forced herself up that ladder with one good leg and one good arm. Jake, who was pouring sweat, pushed the door to the sewers shut. The sound of distant voices silenced and the bright and silent sunlight greeted them.

  “We cannot stay here,” Eva gasped.

  Jake agreed and lifted Tommy back into his arms. When Eva had made it to the surface, his eyes were instantly drawn to a hole in her jacket. For the time being, he chose not to mention the bullet wound in her arm. He was focused on getting her and Tommy back to the Rover colony.

  Lucky for them, the Tigers lost their trail as they exited the tunnels. They believed that the three were still zigzagging through the maze of sewers. However, both Eva and Jake knew that there were only a few hours between them and a brigade of Gang members. The Tigers would be searching for them. Eva’s home, at least, could keep them safe.

  Eva was losing more energy and blood with each labored step. Her panting had progressed to gasping. By the time they had made it to the Post, her vision was hazy and her muscles were beginning to shut down. Fortunately, she had only been grazed by the bullet that struck her arm. Jake choked back tears, as he could only watch her struggle back to the town. He was physically useless as long as Tommy remained unconscious.

  Come on Tommy, he pleaded to himself. You were just punched in the chest. There is no way you are still knocked out of breath. Eva is dying right in front of me and I can’t do anything because you are too busy sleeping.

  He hated himself for the way he was thinking, but couldn't keep the thoughts from pervading his mind. The only thing he was able to do was offer a shoulder to Eva. When she fell to her knees, he was stern, almost rude to her. A few times, she begged him to let her die in her weakened state. He refused.

  He forced her hands on his arm and pulled her up again. “We have to survive. All of us. Get up. You aren’t weak.”