Forager - the Complete Trilogy (A Post Apocalyptic/Dystopian Trilogy)

by Peter R Stone

  Ken was already behind the steering wheel, so Shorty, David and Nanako quickly clambered into the vehicle. Shorty in the front and the other two in the back. I held back for a moment and reached out to shake Councillor Okada's hand. “Thank you, Sir, I won’t forget this."

  "Take good care of Nanako, young Ethan," he said softly so that only I could hear him. "She is not as tough as she seems."

  The councillor cared for Nanako like a daughter, and obviously knew something from her past I didn’t. The information did not come as a surprise to me though. I had already seen that side of her – and loved her all the more for it.

  "You can count on me, Sir," I assured him as I climbed into the vehicle and sat next to my wife in the back seat.

  The councillor’s nephew took off as soon as I closed the door, accelerating to 80-klicks in an instant. I glanced out the rear window as we set off and saw the councillor hurrying towards his black 4WD.

  "Someone wanna tell me why we’re going back to Newhome?” Shorty asked, as he twisted around in his chair to meet my gaze.

  "Somewhere else you’d rather go?" I asked.

  "Anywhere but there."

  "I wanna go back," David added, earning an evil look from Shorty.

  "Our families are there," I reminded him.

  "Exactly," David agreed.

  "They’ll do just fine without me. No, they’ll be thrilled to bits if I don’t come back," Shorty said. "Why are you so keen to return, Jones?"

  "As I said, my family’s there. More specifically, my little sister needs me. As I told you before, until she returns to full health, leaving Newhome ain’t on my list of things to do. However, there is another reason – one that affects us all."

  "And that is?" Shorty demanded.

  "What do you think the Custodians will do when they find out their attempt to nuke Hamamachi failed?"

  "They’ll try again," Nanako said, joining the conversion.

  "Exactly," I agreed.

  “What’s that got to do with us?" Shorty asked.

  "Excuse me?" Nanako blustered. "That’s my home, my family, my people – possibly the last Japanese on earth."

  "Shorty, don’t you care if the Custodians succeed in nuking Hamamachi – in murdering a whole town of innocent people?" I asked, meeting his gaze.

  "Of course I do, but what can we do about it?"

  "I say we go back to our jobs but keep our eyes and ears open to what’s going on in the town. Besides, as foragers, we should be the first to know if the Custodians are going to mount another attack on Hamamachi. And if they are, we can work out then how to stop it."

  "Still rather we’d go somewhere else," Shorty mumbled.

  "Fine! But tell me this, though – what are we gonna tell the Custodians when we get back?" Shorty asked.

  "We’ll tell them that we got ambushed by Skel on the way back," I replied. "We’ll work out the details later to make sure our stories match."

  "And if they don’t buy it?"

  "They will, don’t worry."

  As darkened houses, buildings, and sheds flashed past in the night, I put my arm around Nanako and she rested her head against my shoulder. I looked down into her lovely round face and at the mixture of determination and concern etched there.

  "We’re gonna get through this, okay? And one day we're gonna live our lives without the worry of our two towns trying to wipe each other out – or of people trying to kill me," I assured her.

  She searched my face for a long moment and said, “I’m going to hold you to that.”

  We sat there in the darkened interior of the 4WD as the councillor’s nephew drove over the weed overgrown freeway through an eerie, nighttime landscape. As we went, I wondered what was in Newhome that was such a threat to the Skel and whoever was backing them – a faction in Hamamachi perhaps? – that they wanted to destroy it.

  Love never gives up. (1 Corinthians 13:7)

  New Living Translation Bible

  Copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, Tyndale House Foundation

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you, Lord Jesus, for always being with me.

  Thanks also to:

  Alice Kurata, the amazing model pictured on the book's cover to represent Nanako.

  Juliet Lauser, for her invaluable critique, suggestions, and editing.

  Ben Hamono, whose enthusiasm to read my work motivates me to write faster, and for his helpful editing.

  Faith Blum, for her editing, and comments that had me in stitches.

  Hannah Stone, for all the priceless chats we had while reading the book to her.

  Tim Steen, for his amazing eye for spotting so many errors while editing the book.

  Infiltrator

  Forager Series, Book Two

  Copyright © 2014 Peter R Stone

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Chapter One

  Ken, Councillor Okada’s nephew, didn’t say a word as he drove us back towards Newhome. Sullen to the point of being discourteous, he just stared ahead as he navigated what was once a major highway. A hundred years of neglect had left it in a serious state of disrepair. The surface was cracked, pitted and overgrown with weeds and wild grass.

  Considering he couldn’t see a thing beyond the range of the headlights, I wished Ken’d slow down a bit. Once he’d almost blindsided the rusting wreck of a truck abandoned on the side of the road, and another time he came close to trashing the car’s suspension thanks to a large dip in the road. I got the impression he hadn’t exactly signed up to take us back home.

  I was sitting in the back left passenger seat with my right arm around Nanako, who was sleeping soundly with her head on my shoulder. Seriously, it was so not fair that she could sleep anywhere, at anytime.

  I’d spent the first few hours of the drive alternating between looking out the driver’s window, squeezing my eyes shut and grimacing from the throbbing pain in my head.

  Getting shot in the head, even if only a glancing blow, can do that to you. I had the late Lieutenant King to thank for that. All I tried to do was stop him from blowing us all sky high with a hydrogen bomb he’d smuggled into Hamamachi, and then he went and shot me. He’d have killed me, too, if Michal hadn’t attacked him and thrown off his aim.

  That thought sent pangs of heart-rending sorrow sweeping through me. Michal had saved my life, but at the cost of his own. I wondered how I’d survive in Newhome without him. His friendship and wisdom had been a beacon of light in that oppressive, dark place.

  Another wave of stabbing pain shot through my head and brought my thoughts back to the present. The Hamamachi paramedics had given me only minimal medical attention, and I was paying for that now, but the thumping headaches were the least of my problems. The wound had started to burn terribly a while ago, and not long after that came the fever. For the past hour, I alternated between chills and a feverish sleep filled with nightmares.

  The car suddenly bounced over a particularly large pothole, slamming me into my seatbelt and waking Nanako.

  “What time is it?” she asked sleepily as she stifled a graceful yawn.

  “Almost six,” I replied through clattering teeth.

  “Ethan, you’re shivering!” she exclaimed, coming fully awake. She placed a small, warm hand gently on my head. “And your wound’s on fire – how do you feel?”

  “Never felt better,” I assured her.

  “Doofus – you probably feel like death warmed up, yeah? When are you ever gonna tell me the truth when I ask you how you are?” she scolded me, though her expression showed nothing but loving concern.

  Ken interrupted our conversation when he unexpectedly brought the battered old 4WD to a complete stop. "This is as far as I take you," he announced gruffly.

  "What are you talking about, Ken-san? We haven't even reached Melbourne's outer suburbs yet," Nanako sa
id.

  A glance out the window confirmed Nanako spoke the truth. We were on a road winding through fields of gumtrees, untamed bushes and wild grass. Not far ahead, the road ended at an intersection with what was once a major thoroughfare, by the look of it.

  "Ahead is the Maroondah Highway. Follow it left and you'll be in Lilydale." Ken turned towards Nanako and me, his face partially visible in the light given off by the glowing dashboard.

  "Councillor Okada said you'd take us close to Newhome. You can't drop us off here!" Nanako protested.

  "There's no way I'm driving through Skel infested ruins. So get out! All of you."

  "Ethan's wound is infected and requires medical attention. You have to get us to Newhome!"

  "Not my responsibility," Ken replied, his tone acerbic. "Now get out of my car."

  "That's absolutely out of the question. We can’t walk fifty-plus kilometres to Newhome with Ethan in this condition!" Nanako pulled out her phone and thumbed it unlocked. "Let's see what Councillor Okada has to say about this."

  A gun suddenly appeared in Ken's hand. "He's not going to say anything because he's never going to hear about it. Now hand over the phone."

  "How can you do this to me, Ken?" Nanako asked, clearly shocked. She glanced at me, hesitated, and then added, "we've known each other since we were kids."

  Ken pointed the gun at my leg and cocked the trigger. "Give me the phone and get out or so help me, I'll put a hole in your husband's leg. Let's see how well he can walk then."

  Even in my feverish state, I could tell Ken wasn't kidding. I had no desire to have a hole in my leg as well as my chest and my head, so I opened the car door and stumbled outside. The early morning air was crisp and cold, causing me to shiver more violently.

  I saw Nanako hand over her phone and then she, David and Shorty, hopped out of the car as well.

  "I don't care how long it takes, Ken, but I will find a way to tell Councillor Okada what you've done to us tonight," Nanako said before she slammed the door shut.

  "I need a translation, what’s that guy’s problem?" Shorty asked as Ken did a U-turn and sped back the way we'd come. "Did one of you guys fart?"

  "Shorty," I groaned.

  "'Cause if David let one rip, I wouldn't blame him."

  I'd forgotten my friends couldn't understand Japanese and hence didn't know what had just gone down. "He didn't want to drive through Skel-infested ruins," I said through clattering teeth.

  "Well, look at that, he's got more brains than we have."

  "So he just dumps us here?" David exclaimed as he took off his jacket and draped it around my shoulders. "Good grief, Jones, you're shivering like a leaf."

  My strength gone, I sat on the road and wished the nightmare was over.

  "His wound's infected," Nanako explained as she tugged on my right arm. "Come on Ethan, you can't sit there."

  "I need to lie down."

  "Just a little longer and you can. Now come on! Back on your feet!" She pulled me up and helped me get my arms into David's jacket. I wondered how long before this chest wound would heal. Of course, King thumping the fresh wound with his pistol didn't exactly advance the healing process.

  "So what do we do now? We're not going to travel far with Ethan like this," David said as he wrapped his arms around his body in a vain attempt to get warm. A hundred years ago, before the world was virtually obliterated by nuclear weapons, this time of year was called summer in Australia. Not sure what season you'd call it now, or if we even had recognisable seasons anymore.

  "We need to wash his wound and change the bandages so he can beat the infection," Nanako said as she peered into the surrounding darkness. "Let's head into Lilydale to look for something we can boil water in, and for something we can use as clean bandages."

  "Finding some old kettles or saucepans shouldn't be too hard, but clean bandages? In one hundred year old ruins?" David asked.

  "We can tear our jackets into strips and boil them if necessary," my wife suggested.

  "And where's the water coming from?" Shorty asked.

  "There's a stream about three kilometres from here, running through the middle of Lilydale," Nanako answered.

  "You've been here before?" David asked.

  "This is where I met Ethan, actually," she said, smiling wistfully.

  "Is that where we are?" I asked between clattering teeth. I could remember meeting Nanako, but thanks to this blasted amnesia, the details were still somewhat sketchy.

  "Sure is," she said.

  I noticed the eastern horizon was slowly brightening. Dawn had come. "We need to get going. We don't want to be traipsing about in the open during daylight."

  "Okay, let's go." Nanako put an arm around my waist to support me. I draped my right arm around her shoulders, but as I was a full head taller, the height differential did make it a tad difficult to walk in sync.

  Shorty led the way and David brought up the rear, still trying to warm himself. I wondered if I should give him back his jacket.

  Since it was still too dark to see clearly, we kept tripping and stumbling over the cracked and pitted road, which soon veered to the left and merged with a divided road, the Maroondah Highway. We kept on going.

  As was my habit when in unfamiliar or dangerous situations, I began to shout in an ultrasonic pitch to check our surroundings with echolocation. That I could create and use ultrasonic echolocation in the same way that bats did was an ability given to me through illegal genetic engineering. What I didn’t count on, though, was that each shout magnified my piercing headache tenfold, causing me to give up straight away.

  All the same, those few shouts had given me a surreal, eerie glimpse of our surroundings. Of a steep bank to the left of the road completely overgrown with trees, shrubs and ferns, of a median strip between the opposing lanes of the highway overrun by waist high wild grass. And of weathered rooftops of decrepit suburban houses perhaps two hundred meters further down the road.

  "How you doing?" Nanako asked.

  "Super."

  "Just hang in there, okay?" She caressed the side of my face affectionately.

  "I really, really need to lie down."

  "We’ll bed you down in the first house we come to and then scout around for what we need."

  I nodded. Encouraged by the thought of lying down, I concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. "Nanako?"

  "Yeah?"

  "This so isn't how I envisioned spending our first week back together," I said.

  "I know, right? But don't worry, we'll get you right as rain and then we can get back to Newhome," she promised.

  As we walked, I became aware of the occasional odd sound coming from the other side of the highway. A twig snapping, branches forced aside, and furtive footfalls. Thinking I might be imagining the noises thanks to my fevered state, I didn't say anything at first but willed the noises to go away.

  However, as we continued, the sounds of movement in the bush on the other side of the road became unmistakable. Someone was definitely shadowing us. The possibility that this person could be a degenerate Skel filled me with dread, and caused me to fear that every dark shape could be another one of the savages, waiting in ambush to spring out and nab us.

  "We're being followed," I announced.

  Shorty spun about, eyes wide with fear. "You sure?"

  "They're on the other side of the road."

  "I can't hear anything," Shorty said, confused. He didn't know about my biologically engineered enhanced hearing.

  "Yes, I'm sure."

  "Is it Skel?" Nanako asked, her voice wavering as she tried in vain to see in the poor light.

  I grimaced and shouted ultrasonically, but the pain knifed through my head with such intensity that I almost blacked out. All the same, my ability let me 'see' what was on the other side of the road. And what I saw made me blanch with fear as waves of anxiety coursed through me.

  Forcing its way quietly through the bush on the other side of the road was a nightmar
ish apparition straight from the depths of hell. It was six-foot tall, carried a wicked rusted metal club, and was decked out head-to-foot in a suit of armour made from hardened human bones, which were joined together with resin and wires.

  "Yes," I whispered, feeling suddenly helpless. We had no weapons, were in an unfamiliar place in the near dark, and I was in no condition to run let alone fight. What I would’ve given to have Michal with us right now.

  Chapter Two

  "We've got to get out of here!" Nanako panicked. To be captured alive by Skel was a fate worse than death. "Ethan, which way do we go? They could have set an ambush anywhere."

  Skel never travelled alone, so I tried to echolocate again to search our surroundings for the others, but the pain from the headache was so intense now that I just couldn’t make the attempt. "I'm sorry, my head hurts too much, I can't..."

  Nanako peered up into my eyes in the pale dawn light, worried over my condition, and for our collective safety. She knew I could echolocate and was aware of the edge it could give us in this situation. Always knowing the location of your enemy lets you stay a step ahead of them.

  "Let's get to the houses so we can lose them in there," David suggested. "We've got no chance out here."

  "Okay, let's go," Nanako agreed.

  Shorty darted ahead of us and disappeared into the trees and bushes that had taken over the nature strip.

  With Nanako's arm around my waist and David's around my shoulder, they helped me through the overgrown nature strip and onto the sidewalk beyond, where a whole street of darkened, hauntingly quiet, rundown suburban houses lay before us.

  I felt a sense of relief. If we could lose ourselves in the rabbit warren of Lilydale's houses, the Skel would hopefully never find us.

  But I’d hoped too soon. In that same instant, Shorty's small figure came flailing backwards into us, knocking us to the ground like bowling pins. And in his wake, three spectral forms materialised out of the early morning fog. More hulking Skel followed, armed with crossbows and ugly clubs. They grabbed David, who had already gained his feet, and struck him back to the ground.