Jack and the riders put their backs into it. The truck rocked forward and back.
Skins hit the backside of the tailgate with his fist. “Give it the gas now, Cookie!”
“Oh, right!” Cookie waved his flabby arm out the window. The truck engine revved. The back tires popped up out of the ditch. The truck churned forward. “Yay! Well done, mates!”
Jack wiped mud from his eye. He’d fought all day to stay dry, but now, he was soaked, and his nose ached. He hustled back into the truck and slammed the door shut.
“Hey, don’t get my vinyl all gritty, little Jack. I just cleaned it.” Cookie turned the wipers on. The worn rubber and metal wipers made an ear-stabbing squeak on the glass. “Heh, that sounds about as bad as listening to you, but better.”
Dino undid the tow straps, rolled them up, and threw them in the back of the truck. On the way back to his four-wheeler, he stuck his head in Cookie’s window. “Watch where you’re going… Say, what’s that?”
“What’s what?” Cookie asked.
Dino stuck his arm in the window. He pointed his sausage finger at the black gearshift on the floorboard. “You don’t have the four-wheel drive engaged, do you?”
The blood ran out of Cookie’s face. “Oops … I was just trying to save some gas. Honest.”
Sticking a knife in Cookie’s face, Dino said, “I am going to filet you if it happens again.” He nicked Cookie’s cheek, drawing blood. “Jack, don’t let me do something so stupid again. It’s raining lizards and frogs out here, you moron!” Dino moved ahead and spoke to Trooper, who waited with Shane in front of the motorcade.
Dabbing a cloth on his bleeding face, Cookie rolled up his window with his free hand. “I think he’s mad at me. What do you think, little Jack?”
“I’m pretty sure everyone is mad at you. You slow things up. We’re supposed to be hunting. Now, we’re waiting.”
“Not anymore.” Cookie put the truck in gear and started driving.
“Stop,” Jack said. “Lock the hubs to engage the four-wheel drive, stupid.”
Cookie shoved him. “Don’t call me stupid. I’ll pop your busted nose. I’m saving gas. You might not get it, but I’m telling you, it’s the right thing. Can’t go anywhere without any gas, you know.” He shoved the four-wheel-drive shifter into place. “There.”
They drove through the drenching rain over sloppy roads with puddles of mud that covered half the wheels. The pace was agonizing. Cookie played music Jack couldn’t stand, but it was better than listening to him talking, at least until the sing-along started.
“Take me home, Broken Roads, to the place, I won’t belong, Best Virginia, mounts my mama, take me home, Broken Roads,” Cookie sang.
“Those aren’t the words,” Jack interrupted.
“Are so.”
“No, I’ve heard that song in Newton. That’s not it. I’m sure of it. Don’t butcher it.”
Cookie resumed his singing with his voice cracking all the way.
Jack covered his ears and curled up into the door. It was hard to see very far ahead, but he could see well enough to catch Shane riding beside Trooper, leading the way with Dino right behind them. He hated Shane. She’d busted his nose for no good reason. He understood the beatdown a little better now. He’d had it coming for attacking Cookie. But Shane, he didn’t like. His hand cradled the gun stuck in the front of his pants. “Gonna shoot her,” he mumbled.
“What was that?” Cookie turned the music off. “Shoot her? Shoot who, Shane?”
Jack nodded.
“She’s a Deathrider, you fool. Touch her—it will be your death. You need to wise up, little Jack. You have a hard head.”
“Yeah, well, I used to ride with Trooper. I had status. Now I have none. I should be there with him.”
“Dino’s riding back too, you know,” Cookie said. “Look, she’s made a move. She has the right assets for it. It’s something none of the rest of us have, including you.”
“What, boobies?”
“Well, yeah, that’s part of it.” Cookie nodded vigorously. “If anything, you should like this coed version of the Deathriders. It could benefit many more of us. You’ll understand one day.”
“I understand plenty. I know how women manipulate men. I have a mother and a father too, you know. My mom kept my dad working making lousy tins so she could smoke the leaf all day. I get it.”
“Then you know that battle is lost. Just follow along until your time comes.”
“Yeah.” Jack sneered. “Cookie, I’m sorry about your face.”
“Because you burned it?”
“No, because it’s so ugly.”
CHAPTER 62
The rain stopped late in the day. The Deathriders camped that night, woke early the next day, and followed the broken roads. After three hours of riding, Trooper stopped on the crumbling asphalt road. From there, he hoofed it into the grasses, up the backside of a ridge filled with briars and bushes. He took Shane, Dino, and Skins with him, leaving the others behind. On the other side of the ridge was a steep decline. Just over a mile away, a wide creek flowed with water that shined against the sun.
Trooper spied through his rifle’s scope. A small settlement of people had begun to thrive in a small industrial park that had turned to waste decades before. He spied men working the land and building small buildings. Outside, a few children played in the creek. The wind carried a few giggling voices his way.
Shane took the scope he handed to her. She looked on with avid interest as she twisted the sight a little. “Who are they?”
“Resistance. That’s all that matters.”
“I can see their teeth from here.” Dino’s brows lifted, showing the deep creases in his forehead. “They might be happy. Just who do they think they are, being happy? The Dominion doesn’t care for that.”
Skins sharpened one of his knives on a flat stone he’d picked up on the climb. “So we kill them?”
“Not all of them. Some of them will pledge their allegiance to the Dominion. I’ll decide whether I believe it’s sincere or not.” Trooper reached over and took the riflescope from Shane. He fixed it back on his M1 Garand rifle. “To many of these new settlements are starting to spread. It’s time to put the fear of the Dominion into them.”
Skins sheathed his knife and spat. “I thought we hunted mutants for the coliseum and such.”
“We hunt whatever the Dominion tells us to hunt. Right now, they want to send a message to people who flee the compounds.” He took aim with his rifle and adjusted the sights. “Some will live, but probably, most will die. We’ll get after the mutants later. This mission is a test for you new guys. It won’t provide much of a test, but I’ll get a feel for how well you can handle people dying… by your hand.” He slung the rifle over his shoulder. “Shane, come with me. Dino and Skins, and round up the others. Catch up with us at the settlement. We’ll be where the women are lamenting their men.”
Trooper led the way down the ridge, angling for the easiest path down the steep incline. The settlers had found a good spot to hide. They crossed rugged terrain over to the water. Where there was water, there was life. Trooper could sniff it out. Everyone traveled the broken roads at one time or another. They couldn’t resist it. It was the path of least resistance where many new paths split off. Sometimes, they were dead ends, but not this one. He spied a dusty path winding up the ridge from the road. Bushes had been cut out and hacked into. The hike could have led to nothing, but it didn’t. It paid off.
Trooper knelt down. In silence, he watched the people go steadily about their daily chores. He handed Shane the rifle. “I take it you’ve never shot anything before.”
The smile formed in the corner of her mouth when she took the wooden stock in her hands. “No.”
“Let me give you a little instruction,” he said. “I like the bare sights, but at long range, the scope makes it easier to hit the target. You want to put the crosshairs on the chest.”
Down on one knee, Shane tucked th
e weapon into her shoulder and aimed like a pro.
“You’ve got good form. Pull the butt of the rifle firmly into your shoulder. Take a breath, let half of it out, and hold it before you fire,” he said. “You’ll see the crosshairs stop bouncing so much then. Use the tip of your finger on the trigger. Pull it back steady. Don’t jerk it or flinch. Got it?”
“Yeah.”
“Find a target that isn’t moving. This first shot, I call the attention getter. You’ll see the body drop like a sack of oats. Then everyone will flinch.” He clicked open a metal lighter and lit his cigar. “You got one?”
“I sure do.”
“Fire when ready, Deathrider.”
Shane squeezed the trigger. The rifle kicked back.
Krackow! A distinctive ping followed.
A woman carrying a pail of water from the creek had stopped to stretch her back. She was chatting with a few others when she fell to the ground. Everyone around her ran.
“Good shot,” Trooper said.
Exhilarated, Shane said, “Please, let me shoot another.”
CHAPTER 63
“I can’t stay here all of the time without you, Gabe,” Rann said. It was midday in the flats. She was bent over tying her bootlaces. “It’s not fair. I want to be there too. Why can’t I be there?”
“I don’t know,” he fired back. She’d been badgering him since he returned, as if he had control over it. “It’s the Dominion. They are very particular, I guess. Look, it will pass. Once these games are over, I’m pretty sure we’ll be back to normal. It’s a couple more days, and it’s not like I’m gone that long anyway. Just stay in your cove until I return, I guess.”
“Stewart and his nitwit friends hounded me the entire time you were gone. I had no choice but to barricade myself in the cove.” She faced him with her arms crossed over her chest. “They offered me cookies, cigarettes, and something called Mad Dog Twenty-Twenty. They practically beat their knuckles bloody on the door. It doesn’t help that Blue Guards won’t let me leave, and I’m not comfortable staying near their guard shack.”
“I thought you taught them a lesson.”
“It’s not the same without you around. I got a lick in, but that won’t hold. They are ornery men. I’m can’t fight off all of them.”
Gabe sat just inside his cove, absentmindedly playing with his dragonry glove. Once again, the stakes had changed. Now, it didn’t really seem like the Count cared about Squawk or his powers. They liked the control Gabe had over the dragon. They wanted to rig the games. He reached for a canister of water and drank.
I hate the Dominion. I am going to get far, far away from them.
“Gabe, are you listening to me? I’m not safe without you. It gets creepy. These people care about you, not me. To them, I’m just another piece of flesh that needs feeding. And I hate going to the lectures. It’s so stupid. The Dominion this and the Dominion that. They keep saying everyone will live like the Dominion, but it won’t ever happen. They lie.”
Gabe stood up. “I’ll be back.”
“Wait, you’re just leaving me again?”
“No, I’m going to find Stewart and tell him to leave you alone.”
Rann hurried up behind him. “No, Gabe, I don’t want you to get hurt. You have important matters to tend to.” She stood in front of him, pushing him back at the shoulders. “Don’t do this, Gabe. Please. They’ll hurt you.”
Gabe gently moved her hands. “There are too many things I can’t control, but I can control this.” He marched on with his fists swinging at his sides. He found Stewart, Clancy, and Earl outside their coves, bouncing a ball back and forth. “We need to talk, Stewart.”
“Nope.” Stewart spun the ball on his finger. “I do the talking here, not you.”
“I need your word that you, Earl, and Clancy will leave Rann alone when I’m gone.”
Stewart tucked the ball underneath his arm, looked behind Gabe’s shoulders at Rann, and said, “Or what, Gabe?”
Gabe’s eyes sharpened on the bigger young man. “Or else.”
“No can do, Gabe. I would have considered it if you would have cooperated with our arrangement earlier, but you chose to make my life more difficult. Besides, we’re keeping an eye on her.”
Gabe punched Stewart in the nose. He followed with a hard uppercut to the gut. Stewart doubled over. Clancy and Earl zeroed in on Gabe. He tagged Clancy’s chubby lips. He kicked Earl in the shin with the toe of his boot. All three of them reeled. Stewart was doubled over, groaning. Gabe hit him in the side of the head so hard that the bigger boy fell over.
“Aw!” Stewart moaned. He was flat on his back, holding his gut.
Gabe stepped on Stewart’s neck. “You are going to leave her alone from now on, aren’t you?” He nodded.
“Yeah, yeah, Gabe.” Stewart coughed. “What’s with all of the heat, man? We was just messing with her.”
“Next time, I break something.” His angry eyes slid over Clancy and Earl. “On all of you.” He took Rann by the wrist and walked away. He felt strong. The release did him some good—a lot of good. As soon as they got back to his cove, Rann pinned him up against the wall and kissed him with unbridled passion that carried them down to the mattress.
Finally, Rann lay on his chest with her sweaty jumper clinging to her body. “I never thought I could trust another man again, but I know I can trust you, Gabe. You are true.”
He nodded as he languished in the moment. Being with Rann was elating.
“Gabe, what did Stewart mean when he said you refused his arrangement?”
“I, uh, well… You know he’s always angling for something. He’d offered me protection before, but I refused. And he wanted my mom’s locket.” He lied. It felt awful. Mabel made him be hush-hush about their plans for escape and wanted Rann kept out of it. It left a gnawing in his gut. But if he told Rann, she might try to escape or do something else desperate. He was protecting her.
“Okay, well, you did the right thing. Stewart’s dangerous. All men are in this depraved world. Not that women can’t be just as bad, but mostly, it’s the men who made the world so rotten.”
“You’re probably right.”
Rann held his hand. She had her hand on his chest, and her head rested on his arm. “I’m sorry, Gabe. I got really freaked out when you went to the coliseum without me. I didn’t even think to ask you how it went. Tell me what happened. I want all of the details.”
“Well, we started early. I was the first one there, but before long, the gamers came with their Blue Guards. There were four of them. Blue, Gold, Silver, and Black. We took the dragons into the arena and let them chase rabbits. They were amazing.”
She propped herself on her side and looked at him. “And what did you do?”
“Well, I’m an assistant to one of the gamers who uses Squawk. Me and another Blue Guard, that is. We guard the gamers’ platform. It’s all ceremonial.”
“Very interesting.” She sounded delighted. “Which gamer are you working with? Are they all as nasty as I’ve heard?”
Gabe swallowed the lump in his throat. He wanted to lie, but he’d lied enough to Rann. “There’s Stewart, real nasty, Roger and Sylvia, twins, and…Mandy.”
Rann’s eyes turned to flames. “You’re working with her again?”
He cringed and nodded.
“Damn, Gabe.”
He could see the hurt from the betrayal in her soft eyes.
“Do what you must Gabe.” Without another word, she left.
Gabe felt hollow. He leaned back with a sigh. “What have I got myself into?”
CHAPTER 64
The Deathriders rounded up all of the settlement men, women, and children they could find. The hapless peaceful folk’s faces were wet with tears. They sat on the ground with their hands on their heads. The women tried to stop the small children from crying. Two dead bodies lay in front of their eyes. One was the first woman Shane had shot. The bullet had taken off half of the woman’s face. The other was a man Skin
s dragged to the center. He’d killed the fleeing man with a knife.
Trooper held his rifle over his head. Still toking on his cigar, he shouted, “Are there any more of you?” His voice carried through the grounds of the old industrial complex. Stiff wind rustled the loosening tin roofs on the buildings. “If you don’t come out, we’ll find you!”
Most of the riders were there, except for Cookie and a handful of others, who were still searching the settlement grounds. Jack was delighted to be there. At first, he’d thought Trooper wouldn’t take him. But the big man had called him out of the truck. He watched the sad faces of the people with his gun in his hand. They were harmless, like most of the people in Newton. They reminded him of the farmers who worked the oat and rice fields—dirty folk with backs that ached all day. These people were different, though. They’d built something that the farmers of Newton never had: a home that had freedom with it.
Sticking the barrel of his rifle in a man’s face, Trooper said, “We’ve been at this over an hour. I know this isn’t all of you. Where are the rest? You’ve seen what happens when you don’t cooperate.”
“Yes.” The rawboned man sputtered the word past a split lip. He had coal-black hair and broad shoulders. “You kill us. You torment us. It’s the same in the compounds where you herd us. Every day, we live serving the Dominion as slaves so they can live in the comfort of their lofts. At least we have tasted freedom here. At least we can live from the work of our own two hands. Once you’ve tasted freedom, you’d rather die than be a slave again. I plead with you, Deathrider, go, and let’s have peace until the next great wind takes us.”
“No.” Trooper pulled the trigger. The blast echoed. The brass shell hit a woman in the face. The settlers wailed and trembled as the man fell, missing the back of his head. “Does anyone else care to make a rousing speech? Does anyone else want to talk about freedom? How about New America? Care to chatter about that?”
The women huffed and puffed with tears. Men’s hands trembled.
Flight from the Dominion (The Gamma Earth Cycle Book 2) Page 19