Gene interjected. “Not this one. It has them both. Says Clockwork Orange Julius no longer valid. SC14 complete. Head there.”
Reese tossed out his hands. “I give up. SC14? Clockwork Orange Julius?”
“I don’t give up.” The corner of David’s mouth rose in a pleased smile and he inched by Reese to Lucy. “You wanted hope? Here it is. I may not know where this SC14 is, but I damn know where Clockwork Orange Julius is.” David faced everyone else. “Clockwork Orange Julius is Martin’s code name for his time capsule.”
Reese’s mouth formed a circle as he prepared to say one of those journalistic questions. Who, what, when, or why. But none of those words came from his mouth.
The noise drew all of their attention.
Gene stepped from the board. Slowly turning, he said, “What is that?”
Thaddeus replied, “Sounds like motorcycles.”
“Uh! Dude, we’re in a Mad Max world!” Kip screamed.
On that, the spectacle of three motorcycles, came into view and Reese raised his weapon. Blindly, he reached for Lucy, moving her behind Gene as he stepped forward. “Hawk. Kelly.”
Ken pulled forth his rifle. “Got your back, Commander.” He stepped forward standing by Reese, as did David.
Thaddeus lifted binoculars. “They’re armed.”
“On my call. Ready?” Reese ordered.
All the weapons rang out with a shifting sound.
“Aim.”
They lifted their weapons.
The motorcycles stopped about fifty feet away. The men, covered in from head to toe in clothing, turned off the bikes, and dismounted.
Reese kept them in the scope of his rifle.
“Captain,” Kips said soft. “You’re Mad Max. I see you as Mad Max.”
A single nod and Reese tensed and released his finger.
“Commander,” Gene said. “Look, we need answers. We need answers. They may have them.”
“I know.” Reese stepped forward a little. “Drop your weapons!” he yelled to the men. “Drop them.”
The three men looked at each other, and then each of them lowered their weapons and lifted their hands in surrender as they walked to the crew.
Closer.
Closer.
“Stop there,” Reese said when they were a few feet from them. He walked to the men. They had hoods that covered their entire faces along with sunglasses. “Remove your facial coverings.”
They did— one at a time. They looked normal or as about as normal as a post apocalyptic survivor would look. Somewhat dirty and worn, their hair was long to their shoulders and they had beards.
“Keep your hands in the air.” Reese handed his weapon to Thaddeus, and said to him, “Cover me.”
As Thaddeus took the rifle, he said, “They’re all wearing the same bracelets. Look.”
Reese did. Around the left wrist was a thick black metal band. Reese approached the men, patting them down. He stopped and looked at the bracelets. As he went to examine the band of the center man, he jumped back as if Reese were hurting him.
“Whoa,” Reese said. “We don’t mean harm. We’re just being cautious.” He got an uneasy feeling they way they all kept looking at Lucy.
The Center Man opened his mouth slightly and a groan came from him.
Kip screamed an, ‘uh!” jumping behind Reese. “They’re zombies!”
‘They aren’t zombies!” Reese blasted. “What are your names?”
Center Man inched forward. Again, he paused, his eyes shifted to Lucy, staying there.
“Eyes on me! Don’t look at her! Again, your names!” Reese repeated.
Center Man, the biggest of the three moved even closer. He tilted his head and widened his mouth.
Again, Kip screamed. “Watch out, Captain, he’s gonna bite!”
Reese grunted. “Enough.” He shook his head. “What?” He asked Center Man.
Center Man didn’t reply. He just moved closer to Reese, shaking his head, and opening his mouth wider.
“Jesus,” Reese whispered at what he saw. The other two did the same thing, opened their mouths wide. “They aren’t telling us anything.”
“Why?” David asked.
“They don’t have any tongues.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
They weren’t hungry. They didn’t touch their food. In fact, they seemed uneasy, almost antsy and nervous. They didn’t want to sit. They stayed together and at a distance from the crew.
Gene had that look. Contemplation, worry, all combined in a soup of expression on his face. One hand in his pocket, he inched Reese aside to talk, rubbing his chin as he glanced back at the newcomers.
“I got a bad feeling about this, Commander.”
“You and me both, Gene.”
“They don’t have any tongues. They all are wearing the same bracelet. They’re all from the same place.”
“I know.”
“Did you see the markings?” Gene asked. “SC19. Not 14, but 19. I’m running it through my mind, what the hell? Are they looking for survivors? If so, then this SC place has to be around here. But I don’t think it is.”
“Me either,” Reese breathed heavily. “Hopefully, they’ll have answers. Here comes Thad.”
Thad was scratching the back of his head as he approached. “They aren’t giving any info. David is trying. It’s like they’re hesitant. They said they have to go and keep moving. Actually, they didn’t say it. They keep indicating back to their bikes.” Thaddeus shrugged.
Gene asked, “What about writing?”
“They wouldn’t take the pen. Maybe you should try, Commander. And . . . They keep staring at Lucy. It’s creepy,” Thaddeus said. “Even though David keeps yelling at them, telling them to stop, they aren’t listening.”
Reese nodded. “I’ll give it a try. At the very least let’s see if we can find this SC place. They must at least know where that is, since they have the bracelets.”
“Speaking of which,” Thaddeus said. “I wanna check out that bracelet, I really do. It might tell me something. The material it’s made of and so forth.”
“Good idea. Mr. Bryk?” Reese posed question in his tone. “Would you like to be the diplomat?”
“You know what? Maybe I’ll give it a try,” Gene stated. “Yeah, let’s go see if I can get them to give up info.”
The three men were even further way. Each step David took to them, they moved back.
“In an awful hurry,” Reese spoke with a little edge as he approached. “Can you give us a minute or two? Please. We have questions.”
Center Man shook his head.
“No?” Reese questioned.
Taking the tablet from David, Gene stood to the right of Reese and peacefully extended it to the men. “Can one of you write an answer or two? Please. We’d really appreciate it.”
Center Man held up a single finger.
“One question. Fair enough. Then you want to go?”
Center Man nodded.
“Ok, one question.” Gene paused in thought. “We looked at that board. It talks about this SC14. Where is this SC place? SC14, 15, 16, 17. . .whatever.” He handed the tablet to Center Guy.
That’s when it stirred something in Gene. Center Man awkwardly took the tablet, using his forehead more than his hand. And when he took the pen, Gene knew.
Holding up one hand and softly stating, “May I?” he showed Center Man his palm, and slowly reached to Center Man’s gloved hand that held the pen between the index and middle finger. Gene felt his hand. He nodded, and then reached to Left Guy. He felt his hands. Gene puckered his lips some, and then gave a ‘go on’ nod to Center Man to write.
Reese whispered, “What is it?”
“They’re reluctant to speak and write. No thumbs or tongues.”
Center Man extended the table to Gene. Gene looked at the one word written there. “Myth? Are you saying SC is a myth?”
Center Man nodded.
Thad stepped forward. “You guys are lying. Thi
s right here says SC.” Thad reached to Right Guy’s wrist, and no sooner did his fingers touch the bracelet, than Right Guy revved back his head, and nailed Thaddeus hard and quick.
Thaddeus didn’t even have time to respond, but Reese did. He was fast. A swoosh around of his weapon, and he nailed Right Guy square in the face with the butt of the rifle.
Right Guy went down and Reese, after aiming his weapon at the others and yelling out, “Stay back!” he pushed Right Guy down with his boot and secured him there. “Go on, Thad, check out the bracelet.”
Thaddeus wiped the blood from his nose, and then crouched down.
He lifted Right Guy’s arm and touched the bracelet. Immediately, Right Guy squirmed, it appeared in fear.
“We’re not hurting you!” Reese shouted. “Easy!”
Thaddeus brought the wrist more to eye level. The bracelet was thick, a metal of sorts, black and solid. It was secure around the wrist; it was a half an inch wide, but almost just as thick.
The second Thaddeus moved the bracelet, two things occurred. Right Guy Screamed in horror, and the bracelet beeped.
Two small lights blinked, and Thaddeus raised his eyes to Reese. The beeping grew faster, until Thad released the wrist.
Thaddeus backed up.
Reese nodded, swung his weapon behind him, lifted his foot, then reached down to Right Guy and snatched him from the ground.
“What’s going on?” David asked. “Do you two have some sort of telekinesis thing?”
“Commander?” Gene questioned.
Holding him by the scruff of the neck, Reese did something, no on expected. He reached down to the man’s groin and grabbed between his legs. “Just as I thought.” Letting him go, not-so-gently, Reese shoved Right Guy back toward the others. “Join your buddies.”
Right Guy stepped back to his cohorts.
Reese raised his weapon and shifted the chamber.
David shouted. “Reese! What are you doing?”
“Killing them!”
David rushed to Reese, almost blocking the way. “You can’t do that.”
“Bullshit. I don’t want them on our trail. No tongue, no thumbs, castrated? They’re fucking rapists. And this SC place dealt with them. Tell him Thad, what’s the bracelet.”
“A tracking device, I would guess. It also, my guess, if they remove the bracelet, they die. I think they escaped SC.”
“We don’t know this,” David argued. “We can only guess why they have no tongues or thumbs. You can’t kill them. Let them go.”
Reese kept his aim, in his mind, one move from them and he was going to shoot.
David, evidently getting angrier, argued fervently, “You can’t do this. You understand. These men were obviously punished. They were probably sent out in this world to die.”
“Then they die. I’ll do the honors.”
“You can’t play judge, jury and executioner.”
“What were you a bleeding heart liberal?”
“This isn’t a joke!”
“No it’s not!” Reese blasted. “I’m not playing around with any of your lives.”
‘Then let it be our decision, because you shoot, Reese, it’s our conscious, too.”
“Fine,” Reese blasted. “Take a vote. There are seven of us, Majority rules. I say they die. You say they live. We’re even. Kelly?”
Ken was nervous, it was apparent by his soft spoken nature at that moment. “Commander, you know, I love and respect you. But . . . this wrong, sir. Wrong. You can’t do this. You want to shoot these men in cold blood? They haven’t done anything to us. We can take care of our own. I’m sorry. I’m with Hawk.”
A simple nod. “Kip?”
No hesitation. Nothing. Kip answered without skipping a beat, “Shoot them.”
Another nod from Reese. “Even again. Mr. Bryk?”
“I agree that they were probably sent to this world to die. No tongue to eat, no hands to hunt. It’s not our call Commander to kill them. They were sent into this world to die. Let the world kill them. Not us. I’m sorry, I have to side with David.”
Before he was called upon, Thad spoke up. “Not me. No way. If they were castrated, they raped. I’ll take the chance with killing them on my soul, because I’d rather take the chance with that on me, then them getting a hold of Lucy. Castrated or not, rape isn’t sexual, it’s violent. I won’t gamble. I say test the bracelets first. Remove them, see what happens. If they don’t die, then kill them.”
“Even.” Reese said. “Lucy.”
Silence.
“Lucy.”
Reese could hear her foots steps, soft, and approaching.
She whispered, “Reese,” as she stood next to him.
“No,” he groaned. “Don’t Lucy.”
“Reese, listen to me.” She laid her hand over his. “Please. I know where your heart is. I know you want to protect us. You will. You have. I have faith in you. But, it is not our call to kill these men. It isn’t.”
“Lucy, no. Give me the call.”
“I’m sorry, Reese.” Her fingers slid from his hand, trailing down. “I just can’t.”
David spoke up, “There’s your answer.”
“Shut up.”
“Put down the gun, Reese. Lower your aim.”
“Shut up!” Reese blasted louder, keeping his focus on the three men. His gut wrenched and screamed about it all. It took all he had not to depress the trigger.
“Reese!” David yelled his loudest.
With a hard grunt of frustration, Reese lowered his weapon and spun to David with a glare. “Send them on their way. Tell them if I see them again, I shoot.” Another step and Reese lowered his head and face close to David. “But I swear to fucking God, if something happens to anyone, if they come back, I’m coming after you. Got that?” He brushed his towering body by David and stormed off.
“If they do come back, it’s only because you tried to handle this shit in an Imperialistic Rambo manner. It’ll be your fault!”
Reese stopped, turned, and without missing a beat, walked right up to Hawk and decked him square in the jaw.
The hit sent him spinning fast to the ground.
Reese stormed away.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
He wanted a drink but declined to socialize, instead, Reese opted, after everyone was situated, to take watch.
They set up a mini tent city just outside the front doors to Wal-Mart. He found a roll ladder and planned on sitting on the roof.
The generator buzzed, but not as loud as the sounds of Thaddeus and Kip playing a video game. It sounded like fun, but Reese passed.
He placed Ken on watch, just outside the van where Lucy slept. The side door was open and a tent protruded out making it a little home.
Reese did think it was ridiculous to go through all that trouble with the tents and all. But they wanted it, and the tents were available.
Toting a bottle of Jack, his rifle, and a notebook, Reese, made a visual check. Ken was seated in the chair; he could see his shadow, a fire ignited in front of him.
Hawk was in another tent; Mr. Bryk seemed in route to talk to him.
Final stop was Thaddeus and Kip. Maybe one game wouldn’t hurt.
<><><><>
“How’s the jaw?” Gene asked, entering the tent lit by a lantern.
“Ah.” David rubbed his jaw. “Broken.”
Gene scoffed with a chuckle. “Nah. It’s not broken. Probably feels it though.”
“Then I’m surprised it isn’t broken, the way he nailed me with everything he had.”
“Well doc, I’m gonna correct you again.” Gene walked in further. “He didn’t nail you with everything he had. Reese is a big guy. If he did, you wouldn’t have gotten back up.” He held up a bottle. “Want a drink?”
“Yes. Freakin nailed by Rambo.” David shook his head. “He carries a machete.”
Chuckling, Gene responded. “We all should carry one after seeing those tentacle things.”
“True” Pause.
“Gene . . . let me ask you a question. Did I deserve it?” David asked. “Seriously, did I? I mean if I did, then let me know.”
“It probably what we were all thinking, you just said it.”
David nodded.
“But . . . after realistic thought, you and I both know that if those men come back, they aren’t coming back because Reese was gonna kill them, they’ll come back because he didn’t and they’ll figure us to be pussies.”
David coughed a choke. “It sounds funny coming from you.”
“Yeah, well, you’ll have that.”
“Should we have let Reese kill them?”
“Wasn’t our call, was it? We made the humane decision. Reese was going with the survival decision.”
“They seemed to want to go,” David commented. “They’re probably on their way to where ever all bad people kicked from SC go.”
“Wonder what it means?” Gene asked. “SC. What do you think?”
“I haven’t a clue, but I do know when we get to Martin’s lab, if it’s still there, answers will be there.”
“If he didn’t clear them out.”
“Nah.” David shook his head. “He promised he’d leave a message. We just need to find it, and I’m certain he’ll tell us all we need to know.”
“It’s been five years. Hopefully that message is still there.”
“It will be,” David said, and then cocked his head to the sound of laughter, loud and enjoyable. “If video games are still on the shelf at Walmart, the message will be there.” He raised his mouth in a crooked smile. “Now, how about that drink?”
<><><><>
Okay, that was enough. And that was what Reese told Kip and Thad. He had enough games, and really wanted to take watch. It wasn’t that Kelly couldn’t handle it, but Reese felt better if he were the one out there.
Three tents were set up. One for David and Gene, another for Thad and Kip, and the third for Lucy, set a small distance away for her privacy. Reese thought about going there, saying good night and telling her if she needed anything, call. After all, the lantern was still on and her tent had a glow. He actually could see the shadow of Kelly who sat in a chair on watch outside her tent.
The Last Mile Trilogy Page 45