The boys nodded, though their expressions held wariness rather than welcome.
“We belong to the Vanguard of the Broken. Protectors of the Broken City. It is our duty to defend the walls from the Mad who roam the hills and forests.”
“So what are you wasting your time with us clowns for?” Tom asked. “We haven’t done nothing to you.”
“You expect us to allow strangers to roam unchecked along our perimeter?” Isabella said. “Four unidentified humans, a dog, and a freak who can run faster than any woman I’ve seen in my life?”
“You saw Mary-Anne?” Caitlin asked.
Isabella nodded. “You were hardly secretive in your approach. We saw you running down that hill from miles away. Where the hell did you think you were, in the forest?”
Caitlin blushed. From afar, it had looked as though the city was deserted. She hadn’t once believed that there might be anybody living there, let alone keeping an eye out for them. She had grown used to the protection of the woods. This open land was strange territory for someone who could disappear behind a tree in the snap of a finger.
“Now you know us, tell me who you are,” Isabella demanded.
Caitlin introduced them all. Isabella’s eyebrows raised when Caitlin introduced Joe at the end. She seemed to take great interest in the small man whose legs hovered in the air like a child at the dinner table, unable to touch the floor.
“From the forest, you say?” Isabella looked back at her men. “What brings you all the way out to The Broken City?”
For a moment, Caitlin considered whether to tell the truth that her Were friend had been taken and the trail led there. Would that be a good move on her part? What if Isabella’s friends had been the ones to take Kain? What would happen then?
In the end, she settled on partial truth. “We were tracking a friend. Someone from our party who scouted ahead.”
“What makes you so sure they came here?”
Caitlin nodded at Jaxon clutched in Oscar’s arms. He looked calmly back at her. His tail wagged and he licked the man, forcing him to hold him at arm’s length.
Laurie, who had been looking uncomfortably back and forth at the guns since they had sat down, blurted out, “Look, if you’re going to kill us, then get on with it. Slap us, burn us, do whatever the fuck it is you psychopaths do. But I’m warning you, the minute our friend gets wind of what you’re up to, you’ll lose your neck quicker than you can say ‘Holy-gosh-what-the-fuck-is-happening?’ Have you ever had to fight a—”
Please don’t say it, please don’t say it, Caitlin thought, knowing the protest was futile.
“—vampire before? They’ll fuck you up in a heartbeat.”
A moment of silence passed as Isabella fell into thought. The men behind her looked at each other before they started laughing.
Isabella scoffed. “A vampire, you say?”
Laurie shrunk in her chair when she caught Caitlin’s eyes and the message that she’d said enough.
“Not exactly,” Caitlin hedged.
“Interesting.” Isabella stroked her chin, still thoughtful. “Well, if it’s any consolation for you, Goldilocks, we’re not going to kill you. But I will offer you a choice. We’ve got a bit of a problem in the city. An…infestation, if you will. And we’re in need of some good fighters to join our cause and rid us of the plague. Maybe even your…vampire friend could help?”
“Sounds serious,” Tom said.
“It is,” Isabella replied. “We’ve got a good group of people in the city center. Survivors and defenders. We’re trying to rebuild a utopia here in the middle of this shit-stack of a world, and you could do well to join us and help us.”
Laurie turned up her nose in a disdainful gesture. “We’ve got our own people to look after. Our own town to build. You’re not the only guys out here looking to rebuild life from the shit of the Madness. What can you possibly offer that’ll make us help you?”
Caitlin watched Isabella’s face as she stared impassively at Laurie with a complete poker face. Nothing could be read there, although Caitlin wished Laurie would shut up. An alliance with these guys could mean a stronger bond and a better understanding between Silver Creek and the world outside the forest. It could be their first step in exploring the wilds.
Or it could mean Silver Creek’s downfall. Caitlin couldn’t get a good read on Isabella and her men just yet. And if she judged wrong, who was to say that this Vanguard of the Broken couldn’t find their way to her town and pillage and burn what she was creating?
Isabella continued with a steady tone, unfazed by Laurie’s questions. “I offer you the chance to find your friend. Help us, and you will have the freedom to search for your lost one amongst the rubble of the broken. If you choose not to…well…then I imagine it’ll be much harder to search the city from outside the fences that border our territory, won’t it?”
Laurie scowled. Tom stared unblinkingly at Isabella. Joe turned to Caitlin with a face that read, “What do we do?”
“Very well,” Caitlin acquiesced at last. “We will join you…for now.”
Isabella sneered but let the condition pass. “Excellent. You’ve made a wise choice.” She stood up, clicked her fingers, and her men untied their hands. “Now, follow me.”
They had only started walking when Isabella stopped and turned to face them.
“And if you try any funny business, don’t forget…” She waved the gun in the air. “Now. Come.”
The Sewers, The Broken City, Old Ontario
Kain was asleep when the door to his cell opened. He recognized Howie and Madeline—a woman with long blonde hair tied into a loose ponytail behind her back.
“I was wondering when the entertainment would arrive,” he grumbled sleepily as they each grabbed an arm and led him out of the room. “Howie, give me five, would you, while I grab this bitch’s ponytail and take her for a spin.”
Madeline glared at him.
“Okay, you’re right. Who am I trying to kid? Two minutes will do just fine.”
It was dark inside the sewers. At least Kain’s eyesight was good enough to identify that fact. If it hadn’t been for the moist atmosphere and running water, the smell would have been a dead giveaway. The air was filled with the rank odor of things which had been left to rot and breed fungus down in the tunnels below the city. The decay smelled ancient as if the metropolis had broken and crumbled years ago. His instincts on overdrive, Kain realized that they were now a long way from the forest and somewhere in the city he still remembered from the distant past.
As they passed Weres stationed as sentinels on most corners, Kain felt a small fondness for his old home come over him. At one point in his life, this had been it. His pack had lived and ruled there in the quiet spaces below the surface. If only it hadn’t been for—
“Wahey! He’s back,” a broad man with a face covered in scars exclaimed as they passed. “Been quiet around here without you, buddy.” Though Kain smiled at the sentiment, he knew it wasn’t sincere. Chaz had always hated him and wanted him gone from the start.
He groggily drowned Chaz’s laughter with the opening lines to an old rock hit he couldn’t remember the name of. Something about homes and candy in Alabama. “Lord, I’m coming home to you.” He stopped the slightly out of tune melody when Madeline took great pleasure in slapping his face to keep him quiet.
They took another right-angled turn and came to a tunnel with a thick wooden door at the end. Outside the door stood several brute-like Weres with thick hair across their exposed limbs. Each held a spear or cleaver in their hands and stood to attention as the three of them approached.
The tallest of the group took a step forward to greet Kain. He pulled his chin upwards to look into his face, a wicked grin spreading from ear to ear. “Well, well, well. I wondered if we’d ever see you again, Sudeikis. There ain’t many people fled from the pack and found their way back again in one piece.”
“How did you find me?” Kain asked, studying Bryce’s face.
The Were shrugged. “You’ve never been the most careful, y’know?”
They had been friends once, in a time when being a Were was glorious. Once, they had fought together and hunted together, Kain in his wolf form and Bryce towering over him as the black bear which he became. The almost-giant had been one of the very few lucky enough to have been hidden deep in the depths of a radiation bunker when the world went to shit. Somehow, he and Geralt had escaped the afflictions of the Madness.
Which made him invaluable as Geralt’s number two.
“You’ve gotten fat,” Kain said simply.
Bryce looked down at his stomach. “I wouldn’t say fat. Bulky, perhaps. You, however…you look like shit.”
“Always a pleasure to be welcomed home with a compliment,” Kain retorted equably, hiding his growing anxiety.
“What did you expect?” Bryce continued. “You thought you’d be welcomed home with open arms?”
“Then why am I here?”
Bryce paused a moment, contemplative. “That’s for Geralt to fill you in on.” He stood up to his full height and waved an arm in the direction of the door. “From what I can gather, he’s got a job that’ll be perfect for you.”
“Why would I do anything for that bastard?” Kain snapped, losing his cool for the first time.
Bryce said one word before Kain was hauled inside, feet dragging behind him. “Redemption.”
The Sweet Spot, Silver Creek Forest, Old Ontario
Dylan and his company waited patiently for a decision from The Sweet Spot tribe. There wasn’t a whole lot to do in the village itself, but it was certainly an education touring the reaches of their encampment and seeing how the tribe lived.
The perimeter of the town stretched a good mile or so around the treehouses. Dylan, Ash, and Alice took a fair amount of pleasure in circling the camp, watching out for the traps—which, now that they were aware of them all were actually rather poorly hidden. Not that the Mad would spot them at all with their degenerated minds. They weren’t known for their observation skills.
Huckle, Ben, and Flo remained in the village, taking time to sleep and test the various fruits and foods which the tribe had cured and put aside. It seemed that living in smaller groups created an easier opportunity for an abundance of food. Where Dylan had observed off-and-on-again droughts of foodstuffs as the farmers and gardeners at Silver Creek had attempted to grow and raise livestock and food beyond the city walls, the tribe had perfected the knack of which foods were edible and how to hunt big game.
“They’ve really got it sorted here,” Ash said, walking hand-in-hand with Alice a step behind Dylan. “Do you think they’ll want to connect with the real world?”
Dylan spotted a nearby squirrel and watched as it raced up a tree in panic at their noise. “I don’t know. Who says that we’re even the real world anymore? So much has changed in such a short span of history. Who’s to say what normal is now?”
A short time after noon they had their answer. Dylan, Ash, and Alice had circled back to the village and met with the others who each had their bellies so full that they were bulging.
“You could’ve saved some for us,” Alice said.
“We did,” Ben replied through a mouthful of some kind of fruit which spilled a dark orange liquid down his chin. He pointed to a woven basket still filled with orbs of various colored foods.
The tribe seated on the logs in the center of the village all nodded, murmured something which Dylan couldn’t quite make out in unison, and then turned to face them. Big Chief and Larry walked over to the group, smiling as he saw their faces sticky with juices.
“Your hunger sees no end,” Big Chief said.
“Nor does your generosity,” Huckle replied.
The chief smiled.
“Have you come to a consensus?” Dylan asked, a hopeful look in his eye. This had been his first encounter with life on his own and without his sister present, and he wanted it to go well. “What’s the decision?”
Big Chief turned to Larry, who took a deep breath before speaking. “We will not come.”
A wave of confusion swept across the Revolutionaries’ faces.
“I’m sorry?” Dylan asked, voicing the general bewilderment.
“Our village is too precious. For the first time in our living memory, we are all happy. We are a band of people who have found our Sweet Spot and live together in a harmony that we could never have imagined possible. Though you say you can offer us protection and community, there are those within our own community who ask who will protect us from you?”
Dylan’s face fell.
Larry continued. “We do not doubt that you have something special in your village of Silver Creek and, Lord knows, the winds of change are due to blow. But the people are happy. We have found our formula for happiness, and we intend to keep it.”
There was a short pause before Dylan said, “I understand.” He looked at his own company and saw his feelings reflected in their own faces. “It is a shame, but we understand. We shall gather our things and leave you to your virtues.”
They all stood, then, turning to re-enter the houses until Big Chief cleared his throat and elbowed Larry.
“However…” Larry said, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“Yes?”
Larry approached Dylan and suddenly, fell to one knee, bowing his head. “It would be my honor if I could join you, Dylan Harrison of Silver Creek, and see what has happened to the world beyond our borders. Though my village deems their lives full, I believe an opportunity to see the outside with my own eyes is one that I cannot miss. And, who knows, maybe one day, I can return with news which will change the opinion of the tribe.”
Dylan turned to Big Chief, who nodded.
“Your request is more than acceptable.” Dylan pulled Larry back to his feet and embraced him tightly.
The others followed suit. Ash, Alice, Huckle, Ben, Flo, and even the rest of the Sweet Spot tribe—besides from the three women who simply sat and smiled—hugged, celebrated, kissed, and exchanged smiles until there was no more laughter or emotion to be shared.
“Just one thing, though,” Dylan said at last when they all pulled away and broke free.
Larry wiped a tear from his eye. “What’s that?”
“We have to find you some clothes.”
Chapter Eleven
The Broken City, Old Ontario
She could smell them everywhere. Their earthy musk bounced off every wall and crevice down in the tunnels beneath the city.
Weres…
Mary-Anne had to admit that she had been surprised to find the others gone after she had finished her lap of the city’s perimeter.
Well, it hadn’t been a lap, per se. From where she had left them, she had skirted the fences as far clockwise as she could until she found herself at a huge lake which bordered the northern part of the city. Not really one to fuck about with water and swimming—particularly in the oh-so-fine garments Mabel had given her to block out the sun—she had turned tail and sprinted back the way she had come.
Her first thought at the disappearance of the others had not been a kind one—she had actually fumed at the idea that they would leave her behind. But that was only until she caught the faint scent of other humans in the air and noticed the way the circular tuft of grass had been clumsily replaced. She climbed down after them, not quite believing the several discoveries she made as she navigated the tunnels and pulled down her hood to allow some air to touch her face once she was out of the sunlight.
The first discovery had been the fact that her senses were fading again. She struggled to remember the last time she had ingested human blood. Now, the effects of abstinence were showing. Had she been at full power, she was confident she could have navigated the perimeter and been back in less time than it would have taken for Joe to breathe his next breath.
As it was, that didn’t happen. And even now, she found it harder to trace the smell of her crew and follo
w them through the labyrinthian sewers—particularly when the smell of Were was so dense in the air.
That was discovery number two.
Mary-Anne took note of several off-tunnels dotted along the way and which led to unknown destinations. She had explored a few briefly out of nothing more than pure curiosity, finding each end either obstructed by piles of rubble and rock where the ceiling had caved in, or blocked with circular wooden doors chained and padlocked to an extreme degree. The only entrance in or out of the doorway was a small cutout at the bottom to allow for the flow of thick brown water to trickle through.
Mary-Anne pressed her ears to several of the doors, taking note of the sound of murmurs and footsteps on the other side.
Who the fuck are these tunnel-dwellers, and why are they trapped down here?
Taking a mental note to tug at that particular thread later, Mary-Anne continued in pursuit of her company. When she reached the tunnel’s end and heard voices, she waited patiently in the dark as the woman had pronounced herself as Isabella. Then, Laurie struggled to hold her tongue and revealed Mary-Anne’s true identity. Finally, the strangers had untied the Revolutionaries’ and led them through the city.
Now, Mary-Anne trailed them from building to building on the surface, hiding in the shadows and moving as silently as possible behind the others. She could see Caitlin and Isabella at the forefront of the group, some distance ahead.
The Vanguard of the Broken led her group over stacks of broken cars piled up as high as walls and through shortcuts in buildings where great holes were blasted into the sides. They skirted dense areas of flat concrete which had split and broken and now succumbed to greenery and life which had persisted and won the battle for survival over the years.
Where are they taking them? From what she could see, the entire town was desolate. The only sign of life was the birds and scurrying critters which looked markedly scraggly and malnourished.
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