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

by Peter R Stone

  I forced myself to breathe in and out and relax outwardly – and to wait, for if I acted prematurely, all would be lost.

  They led Nanako to the execution chair. She didn’t struggle or complain, but simply sat and stared at the floor while they strapped down her wrists and ankles with leather straps.

  Major Harris stood to one side of the chair and addressed everyone present. "On the charges of carrying out espionage and acts of terrorism against the town of Newhome for the Hamamachi military, the magistrate has found Nanako Jones guilty. The sentence is execution by lethal injection, to be carried out immediately." The major looked to the witness room. "Present to witness the execution are three members of Mrs. Jones husband’s family. Her husband is not present."

  Is that right? I answered the stuck-up major in my mind.

  "Do you have any last words, Mrs. Jones?" the major asked Nanako.

  She didn’t respond, just kept staring at the floor.

  The major turned to the executioner, who stood behind him. "You may proceed."

  My youngest sister began to weep loudly and buried her face in my mother’s arms.

  My heart thumped furiously – where was my distraction? Had David set the timer incorrectly? I watched the executioner remove a syringe from his belt, give it a slight squeeze and tap it to remove any air bubbles. I moved my hand inconspicuously to my pistol. I would shoot the executioner first, then the major, and then I’d die when the rest of the Custodians in the room shot me.

  Suddenly there was a massive BOOM and the entire building, right down to the ground, shook as though hit by an earthquake. The executioner stayed his hand while the major and all the Custodians looked about in concern.

  A second later all of their radios blared to life. "The eastern wall has been breached. All Custodians not on guard tower duty are to report immediately to the eastern wall between Hampden Road and Wolseley Parade, pending imminent Skel attack."

  The major swore. "You heard the order, men, to the barracks and kit up – double time!"

  I felt like a cobra, coiled and ready to strike, but I couldn’t move until the Custodians left the Courthouse. And they were all going, even the one who brought Nanako from her cell.

  The major suddenly realised I hadn’t moved. "Private, you were given an order!"

  The Courthouse door banged shut as the last Custodian left the building.

  "Yes sir!" I shouted, and then I moved, but at a sprint and straight for the major.

  "Jones?" he stammered with disbelief, fumbling to draw his pistol and aim it at me.

  I couldn’t let him fire or the shot would bring the recently departed Custodians running back inside. I executed a jump left-foot roundhouse kick and sent his gun spinning out of his grip. It flew across the wooden barrier and into the Witness Room.

  Having recovered from his surprise at my presence, the major, who was considerably larger than me, punched me squarely in the chest with his left hand. Luckily, I was wearing a bulletproof jacket, but the blow still sent pain shooting through me and caused me to stagger back.

  "Think you can best me, do you, Jones?" the major mocked as he began hammering me with his fists. I blocked and redirected his punches as well as I could, but he was like an iron threshing machine, and the bruises began mounting up.

  "Gotta say, Jones," the major sneered as he continued to attack – no, toy – with me, "Hounding you two from the day you got back has been a blast. Vandalising your flat, calling in a squad to arrest you when you were wining and dining on top of your apartment block that night – these things were all part of a carefully laid out plan. You see, we suspected from the beginning that you lot only came back to spy and carry out acts of sedition or sabotage, so we've been watching you around the clock and pushing you as hard as we could push, trying to goad you into showing your true colours."

  I was shocked at the major's admission, but not overly so – Consultant Singhe told me at the beginning that they suspected we were spies. I'd just never connected the dots.

  "You want to know the truth, Major?" I replied as I tried to block his latest flurry of punches. "We came back here to stop Newhome and Hamamachi from destroying each other. And that's exactly what we've been doing. I'm the one who killed the Rangers last night who David was blackmailed into letting into the town, and David and I are the ones who shot your precious nuke into the middle of the ocean. If you weren't so blind you'd see that I've had the town's best interests at heart all along."

  I glanced at Nanako, strapped in the chair and unable to move. She was frowning in confusion as she watched the major and me fight, as though she couldn't quite register what was going on. And seeing her innocent, agonised expression, I was galvanised into action to save her. I stepped into the major’s next punch, drove my knee into his groin and then sent him reeling back with a flurry of jabs to the face. After that, I delivered a palm strike to his jaw, putting my entire body behind the blow.

  Caught by surprise, the major lost his balance and fell backwards towards the wall beside the chair.

  The executioner stepped quickly out of the major's path, but at the same time, he placed the syringe against the wall so that the major fell against it, driving the plunger all the way home. The major bellowed in pain and bounced away from the syringe and the wall, and then turned to stare at the man in confusion. He struggled to remain standing, but then his knees gave way and he crumpled to the floor, where he fell still.

  Convinced the executioner had stuck the syringe in the major's path deliberately, I examined him more closely and was surprised to see Bhagya Singhe's eyes staring back at me from within the ski mask. This girl was quite the master of deception.

  "He will wake in a few hours, it was only an anaesthetic," Bhagya whispered.

  "Anaesthetic?" I whispered back, surprised.

  "I wasn't sure if you were going to make it," she explained, "So this was my attempt to save Nanako – I drugged the real executioner to oblivion this morning."

  "Thank you," I said, touched that I'd found such an ally, and then rushed over to Nanako, knelt in front of her, and began to undo the leather straps that tied her down.

  "I didn't think you'd come," Nanako said slowly, as though the very act of speaking pained her.

  "Well of course I was going to come, Silly."

  "But you were so angry with me," she said, searching out my eyes.

  "I was angry at first because you didn't trust me enough to tell me what happened to you after you were sent back to Hamamachi. I was angry because you didn't believe I'd stick by your side regardless of what had happened," I said as I loosened the straps at her ankles.

  "But I thought you'd blame me for losing the baby too, and as you already tried to leave me once by attempting suicide, I was sure you'd leave me if you found out about the baby and my months in that hospital."

  I had untied her wrists and ankles, so I took her small hands in mine. "You can stop worrying that I may have attempted suicide two years ago, because I've remembered what happened now, and I didn't."

  A spark of life returned to her eyes. "What?"

  "I remember why I joined the Rangers now. A man, I don't recall who yet, asked me to infiltrate them and find out what they had done to stop the Skel attacking Hamamachi lands. It turned out the Rangers were rounding up refugees coming to Hamamachi looking for shelter and were handing them over to the Skel to be their slaves. In return, the Skel left Hamamachi lands and citizens alone. But when my Ranger squad tried to hand over a group of refugees, I attempted to stop them by attacking the Skel. The Rangers then tried to kill me, so I shot them in self-defence. The next thing I recall is waiting for the person who asked me to infiltrate the Rangers. But when he came, he pretended to help me but then shot me instead, saying he had no choice. He must have staged it to look like a suicide."

  "Are you sure this is what really happened?" The tortured expression that had taken over her face for the past few days began to soften.

  "Positive," I ans
wered, "In fact, the answer has been staring us in the face the whole time. I'm right handed, but I was shot in the left side of the head, so I couldn't have done it myself. And the Ranger colonel must have figured that out. Didn't he keep asking you if I'd mentioned who'd shot me?"

  Nanako nodded slowly as her exhausted mind processed this information.

  I lifted her chin so that our eyes met, and spoke softly, for her ears alone. "I want you to listen to me now, and listen good. I told you I must have loved you back then as much as I do now, and I was right – I did. There was one thought and one thought only in my mind when this mystery person put the gun to my head to shoot me, and that thought was you."

  "Really?" Her eyes grew moist with tears.

  "Yes. And Nanako, I don't care that you spent a year without stepping a foot outside your bedroom. I don't care that you have lapses into anxiety or depression. I don't care that you spent three months in a mental hospital. And I don't blame you in the slightest little bit that you had a miscarriage. Because when I look at you, I see a girl who has had the odds stacked against her, who has suffered more than anyone should ever have to suffer, and yet with courage and determination, has clawed herself out of that miry pit, got her life back together, and then came to Newhome to get back with her husband. So from now on, don’t be so hard on yourself and stop looking at yourself through the distorted glasses of how you view your past. Start looking at yourself through my eyes – and when I see you I see the most amazing person I've ever met. Okay?"

  She rewarded me with one of her beautiful upside down smiles and put her arms around my neck. "Okay."

  "And now," I said, smiling because of the oppressive load that was finally lifted from our backs, I stood and pulled her to her feet. "We gotta go before someone comes looking for the major."

  I put my arm around her narrow waist to support her, as her legs were still a little wobbly after her near death experience, and we headed for the exit. We didn't get very far, though, because my mother and sisters hopped over the wooden barrier and rushed over to us.

  "I'm so glad you're okay, Sister-in-Law," my younger sister said through sobs of joy.

  "You did well, Son," my mother said, though she was still very worried, "But what will you do now? Once that crisis over at the wall is over, they won't stop looking until they find you."

  I gave my mother's hand a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry, Mother, we're gonna leave town."

  "What? No!" Younger Sister complained.

  "It's the only way," I said.

  "But will we ever see you again?" she pressed, crying again.

  "I don't know when, or how, but yes, most definitely," I replied with far more confidence that I felt. As long as the Council and Custodians were in power, there was no way we five could ever return here.

  "Hey, did you know Elder Sister’s getting married?" she added quickly.

  "Really?" I asked, delighted. "To Trajan, right?"

  My mother and sister nodded. "Congratulations, Elder Sister," I said. I wanted to give her a hug or squeeze her hand, but I could tell this topic was causing her discomfort, so I let it go at that.

  My mother pulled Younger Sister back. "You need to go, Son."

  Nanako and I gave quick hugs to my mother and sisters and turned to leave. But I fell back a step because Sienna King stood between us and the exit. And she was pointing Major Harris' gun at Nanako.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  "What are you doing, Sienna?" I snarled angrily as I quickly stepped in front of Nanako.

  "Nanako is a Hamamachi spy and terrorist – she's been convicted! There is no way I am going to let you simply walk her out of here!" she hissed.

  "Oh don't be stupid, they trumped up those charges just to get at me," I spat.

  Sienna tightened her grip on the pistol, which was now aimed at my heart. "She has been given the death sentence, and I am going to make sure she gets it!"

  My mother and sisters held tightly to each other, watching this new altercation with renewed concern.

  "How can your heart be so black and full of murderous intent, Sienna? This has nothing to do with Nanako's phony death sentence. This is you wanting her dead because she slighted you, nothing more."

  Sienna glared at me, her beautiful face still marred by hatred and resentment. "She didn’t slight me, Ethan, she completely humiliated me!"

  "Don't you think you've already done enough to us in your quest for revenge?" I demanded. "You stopped people serving Nanako in the market, you spread malicious rumours, you put racist insults on our door and dumped bags of garbage on our doorstop."

  Sienna still didn't budge. "So what – she destroyed my life, don't you get it?"

  "I do get it, and I've apologised to you for that, remember?" I replied in mounting frustration. I had to find a way to get her to lower the gun and let us go. And then I had it. "By the way, there's something I need to tell you and your mother about your brother."

  "What?"

  "Your brother wasn't killed by the Skel."

  "Wh-what?" she stuttered, the gun dipping slightly.

  "The Skel did not kill your brother," I repeated.

  "But you said…" Sienna was beginning to panic. The gun dipped even further.

  "I told you what Custodian Command ordered me to tell you, nothing more."

  Mrs. King had been standing to the side, but on hearing this she came forward in alarm. "If that story you told us was just lies, then what really happened to my son?"

  The gun was almost falling from Sienna's fingers now, so I snatched it from her hands and pushed her roughly aside. We didn't have time for this. But as we walked past her, Sienna caught my arm and pulled me around to face her.

  "Tell us – what happened to my brother?"

  I was so tempted to walk away without saying another word, but I saw the anguish on her face and I realised I couldn't leave them with just that little bit of knowledge. "He wasn’t sent to Hamamachi to deliver trade goods, he was sent there on a suicide mission – a mission that failed and yet still cost him his life."

  Sienna stood stock still, unable to believe what she was hearing.

  "Were you there...when he died?" Mrs. King asked anxiously.

  How was I going to answer that? Yeah, I was there. Having been shot a half-dozen times (by Nanako), Liam King died clutching my foot while telling me he'd won. That he had succeeded in his assignment to destroy Hamamachi with the hydrogen bomb he had smuggled into the town.

  "I was there, yeah. He died a Custodian, brave and true to the end," I said, and then with a nod to Bhagya Singhe and another to my mother and sisters, hurried Nanako out of the Courthouse and into the sunny street outside. Where we ran right into a Custodian standing on the Courthouse steps. I had the major's pistol trained on him in less than a heartbeat, but then instantly lowered it when I realised it was Sergeant Xiao.

  "You sure let that go right down to the wire," he said, smiling broadly.

  "Only way I could think of getting the Custodians away from her," I replied.

  "So that hole in the wall is courtesy of you, eh? Yeah, I wondered about that," he laughed. "Before you trot off, though, Captain Smithson told me to tell you that a couple of squads from Delta Company is manning the Western wall's gatehouse and guard towers right now, if you get his meaning."

  "I do," I replied.

  The sergeant picked up a six-foot long, narrow black bag that was on the ground beside him. "Here, take this."

  "What's in it?" I asked, curious.

  "Run now, look later," he replied.

  "Sergeant?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Take care of yourself."

  "Will do," he laughed. "Oh, one more thing, the captain asked me to give you a message. He said, ''Don't forget us, Jones.'"

  "I won't."

  "Good. Now scram."

  Nanako had regained some of her strength now, so we quickly descended the Courthouse steps and made our way across town to meet up with the others. I held her ha
nd as we ran, though we had to take frequent rests. She was still emotionally, mentally, and physically weakened by her ordeal. I didn't know how long it would take her to return to normal, but I could tell that she was no longer in that terrible, horrible place.

  My heart overflowed with joy that we were together again. Our gamble to get her out of the Custodian's clutches had worked!

  Now all we had to do was get out of the town alive, but thanks to Captain Smithson, I believe we had that covered.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Getting out of town turned out to be an easier task than I anticipated. Even anti-climatic, after the happenings of the past few days. But that was cool. Give me anti-climactic any day.

  The bag Sergeant Xiao gave was a treasure trove. It had the three bows and quivers full of arrows that belonged to Nanako, David and Shorty, a magnetic key, and best of all, Nanako's 3D photo-viewer, with a note saying it'd been found in Custodian Command's property and evidence room. No doubt put there by Major Harris after he trashed our flat. I wonder how many hours he'd spent going through the photos, trying to find evidence against us but finding nothing incriminating.

  After leaving town through the secret entrance in the western wall, we crossed over the Maribyrnong River using Lynches Bridge and passed into Footscray. There had been only two small parties of Skel near the bridge facing the town, but by using echolocation and stealth we were able to sneak past them unnoticed.

  It was dusk now. We'd decided to hole up for the night in an old Asian grocery store, taking refuge in its back corner.

  As to be expected, the store was a mess. The shelves crowding the aisles were stripped bare decades ago, and were covered with dirt, dust, and rot. Several commercial refrigerators stood ominously silent against the wall on our right, their glass doors smashed and in some cases hanging off at the hinges. A number of plaster ceiling panels had collapsed; air conditioning ducting following them to the floor. I don’t know what colour the walls used to be – they were caked with dirt and filth now. Mildew grew on the floor and the walls, creating an unpleasant, rank odour.