There she was, trying to find a way to keep herself and Elsie safe, but it felt wrong to stay and let Tom run off on his own. What Stuart said echoed in her mind; he said it was best for Tom to run, but if Stuart thought that, who else did? Would they be prepared for him to run, or would he be able to escape without incident? None of it made sense anymore, and she thought in circles. There wasn't a right or wrong answer anymore, just shades of gray like the ones that existed in this strange new world that Branch had created.
Trying to fall back asleep was difficult for her. That had been one of the most difficult and long days in her already long life. The worse thing was that the day had refused to end. Instead, it was limping along as a knot balled up inside of her stomach thinking about Tom making his run from the compound. She pulled one of the chairs over towards the window that looked out over the vast nothingness of the wasteland, noting a few stray campfires off in the distance, but mostly it was drowned out by the giant, neon BRANCH sign that hung from the top of the building like a great beaming lighthouse alerting the wasteland they were there and it was looking for new victims to suck into its vortex.
Before long the red lights flashing below caught her eye, rousing her from her thoughts and into the scene happening below. There, a lone red light darted off towards the horizon, kicking up dust in its wake. It could have been loud, but she couldn't tell thanks to the soundproof windows that helped to encapsulate the entirety of Branch Tower. Those windows were strong enough to have kept the building from toppling like the rest did when the bombs had dropped and was strong enough to keep the radiation out, making them modern marvels of engineering in a world that barely remembered the very concept of engineering.
It wasn't more than five minutes later when more sets of red lights emerged from beneath the building, this time numerous and in a hurry. Vehicles, at least a dozen of them were charging out from Branch Tower at escape velocity, kicking up dust and kipple in their wake, furiously heading towards the direction that the other red light had headed off in. Her stomach dropped when she realized what was happening; Tom had made his great escape, and this was Branch's goons hot on his tail.
"Run, Tom," she muttered under her breath, knowing that he couldn't hear her, but saying it for her own sense of sanity. "Run."
After what felt like an eternity, she saw the return of the lights from Branch's convoy. They were all larger vehicles, although she couldn't make out much about them. She had to know what had happened out there, and she wasn't about to sit around and wait to find out. There were a few of the more banged-up combatants down at Handsome Bill's still, while she had left specific instructions with the few men that were looking after them, she could have an excuse to go down to the basement and see what more she could find out.
The ride in the elevator down to the basement dragged on like the rest of the day had. Luckily for her, the hallways were empty, not even the guards were around. That was a good thing. Stuart had told her that he'd try to keep anything from blowing back against her and Elsie, and thus far it seemed that he had kept his word. She was able to come and go as she pleased, it seemed, she just had to try to not get in the way. The basement was still outside of the occasional guard or two that was milling around. They paid her no mind, though, instead they were engaged in heated conversations that she was unable to eavesdrop on for too long before rousing suspicions.
Carefully she walked through the hallway towards the garage, only to see a woman emerging from one of the many doors, letting out a big yawn while locking the door behind her. She was average height with a bit darker skin and disheveled brown hair. She was a bit curvier than the average woman, but not heavy. What did Dr. Faraday know, anyway? She was essentially skin-and-bones now, but she was prior to the fall as well. She gave the woman a warm smile, which she returned only to pause.
"Hi," the woman said, looking tired.
"Hi," Dr. Faraday returned, stopping herself and offering her hand. "I'm Ruth, Ruth Faraday."
"Oh, the new doctor?"
"Yes, that's me, Dr. Ruth Faraday. I was just heading over to check on a few of the patients over at what's his name's, Bill?"
"Uh huh, Handsome Bill he calls himself, but he looks more like an overripe tomato about ready to pop."
"Oh my," Dr. Faraday caught herself laughing. "That's too much. And you are?"
"Ugh, I'm sorry, I'm so tired, was just working on a project in there, I'm Vera Maia."
"So nice to meet you, Vera. I just couldn't sleep, such a strange day and all, so I decided to check on my patients."
"You definitely are new here," she smiled.
"Why do you say that?"
"This day isn't unlike any of the rest here at Branch Tower. Madness, megalomania and giant monsters rampaging through the arena are all a part of this place's charm, I suppose."
"You don't say."
"Let me walk with you over to Bill's. Some of these guards can be kind of a pain in the ass sometimes."
"I appreciate that," she said, "I've only been through here twice now, still don't really know my way."
"Yeah, trust me, you'll get used to it in a hurry. I didn't think I would, but here I am, with my workshop down here and I spend a lot of my nights here, avoiding Will."
"Will, you don't mean Bill, do you?"
"Oh god no," she chuckled. "No, no, no. I mean Will Farrington."
"The brute with the exploding punch?"
"That's my Will."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know that you were... with him?"
"I don't know that I am, really. He and his brother helped me out of a jam out in the wasteland and we ended up here. I guess that I'm sort of with him, sort of not, I don't know. He has a girlfriend, but we all live together. Yeah, it's weird."
"Whatever comfort you can find out here."
"I guess so," she said while they approached a throng of guards standing by the entrance to the parking structure.
"What's going on here?" Dr. Faraday asked. "I saw a bunch of vehicles dart out earlier, then saw them return. What happened?"
"I don't know, but we can find out," Vera replied, "hey, guys, what's the big deal?"
"That asshole Gabriel darted off, but Branch sent the Road Hoggs after him. They messed him up reaaal good," one of the guards said. "They're dragging him from the truck now."
Dr. Faraday pushed forward, Vera trying to tug her back, "No, don't get too close."
"I know him," she whispered. "He's my friend, he saved me."
"You can't do anything for him right now."
So there they stood, at the chain-link fence that looked out into the structure among the group of heavily armed guards, watching as TK Gabriel was dragged from the souped up, derelict truck by two men in spiked leather armor, spilling him onto the concrete like he was a sack of dirt, blood spilling from his mouth.
"Fuck you," Tom spat up at one of them, only for the man to wipe his face off and plant the toe of his boot into Tom's ribs, knocking the air out of him.
"Think that yer real tough, don't ya?"
A mighty roar emerged from the vehicle behind it, the huge doors swinging open while men led the beast that was the Crusher out from the vehicle. Dr. Faraday felt the breath evacuate her body while she stood just mere feet away from the giant thing. He was bigger than she expected him to be, much more imposing, yet the look on his face was placid and docile.
Vera turned away, a look of disgust on her face. But Dr. Faraday was so mesmerized by the whole scene while poor Tom lay on the ground, spitting up blood and grunting in his leathers. A hush came over the chatty guards when the clicking of heels bounced off of the concrete walls. There was Jordan Branch, in his neatly tailored suit with his immaculate hair waltzing towards the scene. He pat the man with the spiked armor on one of the few safe spots on his back gently with a gloved hand, looking like he was concerned about catching whatever germs the man could be carrying.
"Bravo, Edward. You and your boys handled this all splendidly."
"It was that damned Crusher that nailed 'em. I lost five of my men and one of my pursuit vehicles to this fucker," he spat on Tom. "Whatever you done to this big fucker, it worked. He obeyed, just like you said."
"Quite so," Branch grinned, watching while they led Crusher away. "Oh, what my friend has become."
"Fuck you," Tom managed again, this time towards Branch who tsked and crouched down, cradling Tom's head in his gloved-hand like a disappointed father.
"Oh Mr. Gabriel," he shook his head. "Foolishly, you made a gamble with your life; that gamble was that you could escape from Branch Tower after insulting me, your patient host. All of that after you thought that you had defeated the Crusher? We have plans for you, Mr. Gabriel. We have plans indeed. Do you have anything to say for yourself, leaving without even telling me? Raiding my armory without my permission. You came to me," he was seething, the calm veneer wearing off momentarily before he caught himself, took a deep breath and continued. "You came to me and now you've taken advantage of my hospitality. You aren't going to like what happens next, oh no, you will not."
Tom spat in Branch's face, a smattering of red adorning Branch's pristine smile. Branch picked himself up and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, unfurling it theatrically before wiping off his face. He turned to the man that he had called Edward and nodded down at Tom. "Take him to the lockup, he can rot alongside the Crusher until we decide what to do with him. Stuart?"
"Ya boss?" Stuart's familiar, frog-like voice came from off to the side, him emerging with a gun slung over his shoulder.
"Have them incinerate this suit and have a new one prepared, won't you?"
"Right away," Stuart strode towards the hallway, his face going pale white when he saw Dr. Faraday. They made quick eye contact before she looked away in shame, knowing that she was somewhere that she probably wasn't supposed to see and had witnessed something unfit for her eyes. "Doc, what the rotting hell are ya doing here. Vera—you shoulda known better."
"Sorry, Stu, she was just going to check on her patients and..."
"No sorries," he ushered them back towards the hallway. "You two need to get out of here. Vera, get her back to her room before Branch sees her and remembers who the fuck she is."
"I'm so sorry, Stuart," Dr. Faraday said. "I just..."
"Go!"
Thirteen
The Brawler
The world was on fire, Will's head feeling like someone had struck him with an axe and cleaved him in half. The lone act of picking up his head from the pillow felt like the greatest accomplishment known to man. There was a very good chance that Will had drank not only a bit too much, but a lot of too much the prior night, to the point where he couldn't even remember what had happened. He peeled himself up off of his sheets slowly, making sure not to move too quickly while it felt like there were a ton of loose nails rattling around inside of his skull. There was an argument, he remembered that much. Vera was pissed off with him and Jenna, poor Jenna, she was... Much to his astonishment when he turned around he found Jenna laying sprawled out on the bed.
How much of the previous night had he imagined? Will reached out and shook her gently. "Jenna," he said. "Jenna wake up."
"Whaa?" she yawned.
"You buggered off last night, or am I crazy?"
"I was just talking," she rolled onto her back. "We just talked about my singing is all. They told me I should go back home later on and here I am."
"Fuckin' hell," he said. "So they weren't.... trying to steal you away?"
"From you? Of course not. Can I go back to sleep, Will? I'm tired."
"Course, darling," he said. "Imma go scare up some caf."
She sunk back down into the sea of pillows and blankets, her hair flowing down over her face while William stumbled out the door of their suite. There should be coffee brewing down the hall somewhere, at least in the lounge. Might even be able to scare up some pain killers as well, hopefully. He wasn't overly hungry, but he knew that some greasy food would do him well after such a mind fuck of a night. The bright lights of the hallway were blinding, Will stumbling past different groups of people and groaning an incoherent greeting towards them whenever they stared at him. They knew who the fuck he was. Fuck whatever TK Gabriel did in the arena, William Farrington would show him up and he'd do it soon.
"Christ, you look awful," Vera's voice greeted him along with the aroma of coffee and eggs.
"Fuckin' hell," he grumbled. "I need some caf."
"You need a lot more than that," Vera said. She poured some coffee into a mug and presented it to him, then helping him into a chair before grabbing a plate and slopping a few spoonfuls of eggs and hash browns onto it.
"Thanks, doll," he grumbled.
"Want to talk about last night?"
"No," he said in between heaping mouthfuls. They sat quietly while Will continued to shovel eggs and hash into his mouth, taking big gulps of coffee. Vera was staring out the window, looking more distracted than he had seen her in a long time. He had said some things to her last night that he shouldn't have. She made a lot of sense sometimes, but then again, Jenna came back. He had his suspicions about Branch, but he continued to be on Branch's good side and was still the champion of the arena. "I'm still the champion, you know. No poofter can take that yet."
"I guess not, Will."
"Jenna came back."
"I saw," she said.
"So, Branch didn't steal nothing away, nothing to worry about, innit?"
"Not really."
"What now?"
"C'mon, Will, wake up," she slapped him on the head, the impact from the blow shaking loose what felt like tiny glass shards to rattle around inside of his skull. "Branch and his two henchmen found me out last night after I left the suite, cornered me and Branch did his whole creepy 'oh you are special' act to me."
"Cocksucker."
"Yeah. He gave me the whole pitch, how brilliant and underutilized I was. Luckily midway through the sales pitch he got called away, some sort of emergency, an escape or something."
"But Jenna was in this morning, I don't get it..."
"Maybe he changed his mind? Maybe he's just trying to scare you? But Will, I wouldn't trust him. Neither of us are safe."
"Aye, I hear ya, alright," he said.
"Brother," Stuart was standing in the doorway.
"Fuckin' hell, ya botherin' my Vera last night?"
"Yeah, yeah," Stuart said. "Branch wants to see you."
"After trying to poach both my women?"
"Shit went down," Stuart said. "His office, c'mon."
"Pain in my arse."
There was only a one level disparity between William and Branch's penthouse, but the few times that he had been up there had always blown him away. Branch made sure that everyone on the floor beneath him—the best of the best—were taken care of. I mean, waking up, sauntering down the hall and getting some quality grub was a sweet deal, as were his suite and all the other perks that came with it. The thing is, Branch lived like a king up on the top floor of the Tower. They restricted elevator access to that penthouse to only those with the key for it, Stuart of course being one of the few to have it. Upon entering his realm there were all sorts of plants all around, the sun beaming down through the skylights and even the smell differed from the rest of the Tower.
Everything about it screamed lavish, but Will couldn't help but always feel blown away by it. He wasn't jealous of it, he just wanted to find himself in that position someday, to be the guy at the top of the tall tower with access to any and everything. Two drop-dead gorgeous women in neon bikinis walked by, leaving behind a trail of petite, wet footprints, tracking them from the pool behind them. They stopped at a few of the lounge chairs that had direct sunlight and Will had to pry himself away from the sight, Stuart grumbling to him to not keep Branch waiting. This was how Branch lived his life; it was like nothing had ever happened, or even yet, something happened but Branch grew more powerful from it. The thought had crossed his mind before that
Branch did sort of benefit from the known world ending, but it was an unthinkable thought that someone would unleash this sort of hell on humanity for personal gain.
"Well, if it isn't my old friend, Will," Branch said, hand outstretched.
"Sorry, boss," Will said. "I'm a little worse for wear, hair o' the dog an' all that."
"I understand, don't you fret, my friend."
"So what's so urgent?"
"I'm sure that you saw what unfolded last night. Quite an event, wasn't it? TK Gabriel using your ring and in a way overcoming the Crusher. Everyone is talking about it."
"Yeah, that cunt."
"As I'm sure you are aware, the Crusher survived, though. TK Gabriel really didn't quite win then, did he? In fact, that is how the arena works, is it not? You fight for your life and you win by taking life, correct?"
"Yessim," he was wondering where this was going.
"There was only really one fight left for you out there before Gabriel arrived, I think that we'd both agree on that."
"I guess so," Will said. "Crusher seemed a bit outta reach to me, innit?"
"Yes, and no. Come come, Will, you are the Champion of the Arena! You are the man who helped to bring order to the wasteland! Don't doubt yourself so. Oh, silly me, Stuart, get your brother a drink."
"Aight boss," Stuart rummaged through the liquor cabinet in Branch's wood-and-golden decorated office.
"So you think that I can beat him?"
"I don't think," Branch said. "I know that you can defeat the Crusher."
"Well fuck. I dunno about all that."
"No, see, you don't understand what I'm saying. You go out there and fight the Crusher and I'll assure you that you'll be the victor in that fight."
"You think that I can kill the Crusher?"
"You won't have to. If TK Gabriel has become this benevolent figure by sparing—or at least trying to spare lives—then you, my friend, can have the Crusher on the brink of destruction only to let him live."
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