by Aline Riva
“You trying to kill us?” he yelled up to the driver's end.
Lynch gave in reply, looking to the passengers behind him, Joy looked slightly breathless and Jekel was clutching at the seat with one hand as he used the other to wipe sweat from his face, then he looked to Lynch with fear in his eyes.
“What's going on?” he said nervously.
“That,” Lynch said, looking back to the road, where just up ahead, the back end of a sheep lie mutilated as guts and entrails trailed out like pretty ribbons that gleamed silken in the daylight. Beside the road was a noticeable eruption in the ground where the earth had been split as if a giant had arisen from the depths.
“Howlers,” Lynch added, “And recently, too...”
Chapter 7 : Howlerland
A short while later as the motor home was parked at the roadside and Spike and Ruby looked on as Joy and Elise watched with interest as Lynch swung the axe and brought it down, slicing through flesh and bone and hitting the road surface with a sharp crack as the clean end of the mutilated remains now lay with legs severed from what had been left of the torn carcass.
Jekel looked away, towards fields where murk and mist swirled and rose, and just past it, there was glimpse of more clear, lush fields.
Lynch wiped the axe on the grass at the roadside and handed it to Elise, who took it back into the vehicle.
“What's wrong with you now?” he demanded, as the tall, slender former illusionist stood looking very out of place on this hillside in his fine suit. Jekel looked back at Lynch with disgust reflected in his eyes.
“I can't believe you just did that!” he exclaimed.
Lynch looked down at the carcass and chuckled.
“I do believe it was dead before we found it!”
Jekel glanced down at the lamb legs, now severed from the mauled remains of the half body the mutants had left behind, then looked wide eyed at Lynch.
“You can't eat that!”
“No not until it's been roasted,” Lynch replied.
“But its...” Jekel pointed to the carcass, “It's been shredded by those things! It's got howler touch all over it...”
Behind him, Ruby giggled as she and Spike headed back to the vehicle. Joy looked on, watching Jekel become more worked up as amusement danced in the eyes of Felix Lynch.
“Howler Touch?” Lynch repeated, “What's that, some kind of new marinade?”
“It's not funny!” Jekel said sharply, “It could be full of disease!”
“And cooking will destroy any risk,” Lynch replied.
“I'm not eating it,” Jekel insisted, “No, not touching it.”
Lynch turned back towards the motor home as the breeze caught on the tails of his long leather coat and he smiled.
“Oh great, more for me!” he said, and then he went back inside.
Joy picked up the severed legs and looked to Jekel sympathetically. At that moment she was sure he was doing all he could not to throw up.
“He's right,” she told him as she walked back to the vehicle and Jekel followed, “Heat will make it edible.”
“I don't care,” Jekel replied,“I'm not touching it.”
“You'll be hungry later.”
“Joy, I'm not eating it!” he said firmly, “No way am I touching that lamb!” And then he followed her into the motor home, looking away from the blood that dripped from the meat and splashed to the floor of the walkway.
They journeyed on for another hour, until the motor home came to a stop on a rocky hillside as Lynch laughed, looking to the terrain as he said, “Let's see the burrowing bastards try and get through that!”
Then they had opened up the door and Jekel had helped Spike set up the fencing as a precaution, and then Jekel had looked to Ruby and Joy as they built a campfire and shook his head.
“I'm not eating it!” he said again, and went back inside.
Soon the smell of roasting lamb filled the air, and as the sun rose higher on the skyline, they were gathered by the fire and sharing a meal that all were looking forward to – except for Jekel, who was absent. Joy ate with the others, now and then glancing back towards the vehicle, but still there was no sign of the former illusionist.
When the meal was over Joy walked away from the vehicle, far from the camp fire as Elise got up and followed. She looked back once to see Felix had gone into the driving area of the motor home, he was checking the radar and looking down at the controls as he studied them, every line on his face seeming deeper as he frowned, no doubt wondering again why his lousy wiring had fogged up his mind. Then he smacked the radar.
“Fucking work!” he snapped in frustration.
Elise stopped just short of the protective fence and as she turned back, she spoke up.
“It never gets any easier,” she admitted, and then she sat down on the grass and Joy sat beside her, looking beyond the kinked mesh of fencing and to open fields beyond' through it ran a long, winding road that seemed to vanish into the rising green hillside far off in the distance.
“No one said it would be,” Joy replied, “You know that more than most – I've seen it enough times, but I still can't imagine how hard it must be to live with Felix and the way he is sometimes.”
As the breeze blew gently Elise brushed her dark hair off her face and the look in her eyes softened.
“It's not so hard,”she replied, “Painful sometimes, yes – but I regret nothing. I love him. I've been there to see him go through so much I understand why he gets the way he does sometimes. And I tolerate it because I love him. And he's going to be a good father. This baby will be the best thing that ever happened to him – and to us.”
“But he'll still be Lynch,” Joy reminded her.
Elise fell silent for a moment, sliding her hand down to her belly, where, as she pressed it against her clothing, Joy was surprised to see a visible bump starting to show.
“Acceleration of growth,” Elise told her, “It's been waiting five years – can't put it off much longer. I won't get much bigger than this – I'm designed to accommodate most of the growth within rather than outwardly.”
“I can't imagine what its been like for you,” Joy said, “Seeing Lynch go through so much pain, seeing him change. I don't mean physically, I mean the way he is... I've heard he was no angel before he became a cyborg but I don't know how any woman could put up with his moods.”
Amusement sparkled in her eyes as Elise gave her reply.
“But I'm not human,” she reminded her, and Joy laughed, but then her smile faded as she thought again on her question.
“But seriously, Elise – he's got so much anger in him...I can't imagine what its like to live with that.”
Elise paused for thought as her part human, part android mind considered the best explanation.
“If you want to know what its like just imagine if it happened to someone you love – wouldn't you take it all, the trauma, the consequences of the aftermath, just to stand by them?”
Joy thought on her question, recalling how Murdock had been close to death on their first meeting, she thought on his courage and how he had fought back and recovered – without the need of cybernetic intervention. Then as she thought on it some more, and it occurred to her that Murdock might well have ended up needing cybernetic treatment had it not been for the agents she had been able to administer at the time, she felt a sharp pain in her heart:
If Murdock had not had those agents, if he had lived without those remarkable drugs, he would have needed extensive cybernetic work... She recalled his long list of injuries and thought on the repair work he would have needed to his upper body...It would have been extensive, but she was sure he would have faced it all with the same courage as he had showed on the day he had looked into the mirror and seen his terrible scars. As she met her gaze, Joy knew the answer to her question in a heartbeat.
“If it had happened differently with Captain Murdock, of course I would have been there for him,” she replied.
Elise looked at her intently, and sud
denly that gaze from her big, dark eyes, a gaze that had always struck her as pretty, registered as something else – of course, she wasn't human, not quite...those eyes of hers were ever so slightly unearthly...
“Did you love him?” Elise asked.
Joy swore at that moment she felt the stillness of the countryside wrap around her as sure as the sky above seemed endless, and as she thought of him she felt its depth.
“I think I always will,” she told her, “He's impossible to forget. We could have had more, but he had his love – she was there before me so I stood no chance. But as I said, he's hard to forget. It doesn't mean I can't love again. I know that I can...but yes, I loved Murdock – we just never had a chance to take it anywhere, to see what might have been...”
For a brief moment the chaos that still existed out in the wilds, in the lost land beyond the rebuilt cities, seemed to melt away into a window of time that seemed almost preserved in a past that seemed too painful to look back on – this could have been a normal conversation, just two women talking about life and love as they shared the beauty of the forest.
The silence that passed between them broke sharply as a thought came to mind that pained her as tears stung at her eyes and Elise spoke up again.
“You're not with him...I can't imagine how that must feel...if I didn't have Felix I don't think I could carry on!”
Joy took in a sharp breath and got up from the grass.
“You don't have to worry about that,” she said, “And I'm used to this life...though not used to talking about it.... and besides, something is growing between me and Ash. He's very precious to me. As I said, I can love again. Maybe this time, I might even get to be happy.” Then she smiled reassuringly to Elise before walking back in the direction of the motor home.
As she walked away, Elise watched her leave as she thoughtfully turned over all she had told her, and then she silently thought on the fact that Joy had to live without the man she loved, as she wondered how much pain Joy would always feel on thinking of Captain Murdock, even though she now had Jekel in her life. Elise could not imagine loving anyone other than Felix, and to imagine his loss was something she had already painfully touched upon in the days after his serious wounding in battle – a time she never wanted to relive even in passing thought. Humans bore loss so well and yet that loss cut deeply and it seemed to scar them forever, she concluded, thinking that life could be damned unfair sometimes...
“We should get going soon!”Lynch called out from the drivers seat, “Spike, Ruby...take down that fencing...” then he turned to see Elise had joined him.
“What's this about?” she asked, and noticed the radar was now functional again as Lynch explained.
“I saw a brief something on the radar just now...few miles east of here...underground. I think we're safe up here for now, but I wouldn't gamble on it for too long just in case I'm wrong.”
Elise took her seat beside him, turned her head and watched as Spike and Ruby began to dismantle the protective barrier.
“You've got a point,” she murmured, “If they came up from below and had us trapped up here, we wouldn't stand a chance...”
Lynch impatiently gripped at the wheel with studded fingerless gloves as he turned to the open window.
“Move your arses!” he barked to Spike and Ruby, “We need to move out – now!”
As Joy opened up the door, Jekel, who had been sitting on the edge of his bed, jumped up nervously.
“What's the rush? Why are we leaving? I thought Lynch said -”
“Something on the radar,” Joy replied as she closed the door behind her, “Possibly Howlers... several miles back, but we need to get a distance between them and us, just in case.”
Jekel shivered at the memory of the Howlers piling on top of him years before.
“I never want to encounter those things again! First time I got covered in them they ripped me to shreds and you and Murdock rescued me...next time was a few months back when I had to use my stealth mode to escape...not that it did me much good, I slipped over a barrier and fell down a hillside and cracked my main cable! I'm sure one day those monsters will finish me off!”
“They won't get a chance,” she assured him, and then she stepped closer to the willowy man in the fine suit, pausing to push a stray lock of hair out of his eyes, then she kissed him and pulled away again.
“Nothing bad will happen,” she promised him, “Now sit down – or lie down, save your power.”
“My battery is fine,” he said as his voice shook and fear reflected in his eyes.
“Just lie down, Jekel,” she said again, “We're on the move soon. You need to take it easy for a while, okay?”
He nodded, knowing she was right – his power was lasting well on the half charge, and he didn't want it to suddenly drop.
“I'll try and get some rest.”
“Good,” she replied, then Joy opened up the door and glanced back at him, “If you do as I say and take it easy, I might even come and check up on you tonight.”
As he laid back on the bed and stretched out his long legs, a sparkle came to his eyes.
“I was hoping you would do that anyway!”
“You bet I will,” she said warmly, then Joy left the room and closed the door behind her, secretly feeling thankful that Jekel had a valid excuse to rest and stay as clear from risk as he could at the present time.
There was a loud clang as the fencing was loaded on to the back of the motor home, then Ruby dashed past her and dumped the battery in the medical area.
“Are we all set to go?” Lynch called out.
As he looked back, Ruby nodded. Spike jumped in and closed the door, looking down the walkway.
“We're all in,” he confirmed.
“It's about bloody time!” Lynch said sharply, then he turned the key in the ignition and the motor home 's engines fired into life, and they pulled away sharply from the former camp site and turned back on to the open road.
The vehicle sped like a bluer down a road where the tarmac was cracked and here and there the surface had become uneven. Lynch avoided the worst of it, weaving about the road, then the took a sharp turn to avoid a burned out car and continued on a straight run, where head, the road was clear and fields stretched on for miles, as he glanced to the radar, then to the petrol gage.
“She's doing well,” he said to Elise, “And we have two barrels of fuel stored onboard should we need to refill...”
Elise thought about the petrol stored in a low compartment just under the mid section of the vehicle where the main door opened up, and she frowned.
“I've never liked us carrying that much combustible material...”
“What's the other option, pull over at a garage?” he said sarcastically, “You think I'd carry that much with us if I had a choice?”
“I never said that.”
He stepped on the accelerator, picking the speed up as his jaw tightened and his temper began to fray.
“I'm doing my fucking best here, Frankie! What more do you expect me to do? It's not a perfect world any more...”
“Oh here we go,” Elise said with a weary sigh as fields flashed by and Lynch gripped at that wheel like he was trying to crush it.
“It's far from perfect,” Lynch continued as he ranted, “Like me, it's as fucked as I am! It's all broken...”
She looked over her shoulder and caught sight of Joy heading for the medical area.
Jekel was in his room and Spike had joined Ruby in the living space they both shared and she was thankful none of them had been up front to witness her lover's outburst.
“Say something,” he said to her, glancing at her then looking back to the road.
“No...”
His hands gripped the wheel in a squeezing motion as his jaw tightened again.
“Nothing to say at all?”
“Nope,” she replied, “I'm not rising to it...”
“So I'm supposed to rant all by myself?”
“You c
ould give it a go...”
He glanced at her again, and saw not a trace of anger in her eyes, instead all that reflected there was love.
“You really are a grumpy old bastard sometimes,” Elise said warmly, “Smile, Felix... you're going to be father...”
He blinked, and then he remembered, and his anger slipped away. He looked back to the road, easing slightly on the speed as he handled the wheel with more care and tried not to smile but failed as warmth filled his once angry expression.
“Oh yes,”he said, “So I am...”
He was still looking at the road, not wanting to turn and look at her because he couldn't hide the way that reminder had brightened his mood. He was smiling now. That was quite a achievement, and Elise knew it. She also knew he didn't want her to know he was now happy, so she turned away and smiled discreetly as she watched the fields flash by, feeling a sweet sense of victory – her grumpy old bastard had lightened up for once in his life...
The vehicle carried on its way, through another light shower of rain and then the skies cleared in time for the sun to start to dip below the cover of thickening clouds that brought a faint chill to the air. Jekel had rested for long enough and he got up, paused to carefully smooth the creased from his jacket, then he left his room and made his way towards the front of the vehicle, where Joy was sat behind Lynch and Elise.
“Where are were heading?” he asked.
“For the coast, in the hope that you won't let us down!” Lynch snapped as he kept his eyes on the road.
“Felix...”Elise said, lightly warning him to keep his mood in check, and then he said no more.
Joy glanced at Jekel.
“How's the power supply?”
“Very good,” he assured her, “I'm still lasting out well – no warnings yet.”
“So Jekel,” Lynch added as he drove on, “You don't know where this place is – just on the coast? We have to travel the whole of the Welsh coastline in the hope of finding this place?”
“Sorry but there wasn't time,” he replied, “It was the day of the last show, Margo was setting up and I got a call from Riley. He said there was some trouble and I had to drive down to the school and get his boy out. So I did – and his other kid too...at least, I thought she was his other kid. Turned out she was his best friend. But when they showed up, I'd met them out in the middle of nowhere and in the distance I could see a fire burning..he was agitated, told me to get in the car, it was armoured, it was built to withstand explosions...” Jekel shook his head, “But there was no room for me because his boy Max had brought his friend along so she went with them. I couldn't have taken a spare seat and left a child on the roadside with some kind of fire in the distance... also I had to get back to Margo, and the show. I didn't know how close we were to the end...I mean, Blake Riley used to go on about a lot of crazy stuff sometimes, he said he believed aliens would end the world, he thought there was a plot to destroy everything...I never really believed any of it until it happened...” Then he fell silent, a haunted look in his eyes that reminded Joy of their first meeting in the ruined town.