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

by Peter R Stone

  That last comment hurt, like a punch in the gut. And sadly, I had no comeback. Right then, I agreed with her.

  With Madison gone, I rushed through the kitchen and out into the backyard, where I heard Nanako straight away. She was over in the far corner, behind an aluminium garden shed that had been knocked over by the bomb blast.

  I wanted to sprint to her, but forced myself to approach slowly just in case she told me to nick off.

  And then I saw her, leaning back against the decrepit wooden back fence, with her knees drawn to her chest and her arms around them.

  "It's only me," I said as I approached, dragging my feet a little so that she knew I was there.

  She looked up in my general direction – it was very dark thanks to an overcast sky – but then she glanced away quickly. Seemed I was still in her bad books. Her face was tear-streaked, but it was dirt and dust that ran down her cheeks, not mascara, since she wasn't wearing it anymore. Wasn't any point out here.

  "You okay?" I asked, winning points for the second dumbest question I’d asked this year.

  "What do you reckon?" she snapped angrily. "All my hopes and dreams of having kids and raising a family with you have just been dashed to pieces."

  "She could be wrong," I suggested weakly.

  "I went and spoke to her myself half an hour ago. She’s pretty well versed in this whole affair, with a head full of statistics and the geneticists’ findings and conclusions."

  "Still..."

  "Oh come on, Ethan! Between her and the other eleven girls, they had thirty-one miscarriages. Thirty-one. Still think she’s wrong?"

  "I don’t know," I replied, softly as I studied her crestfallen face. She looked more downcast than ever, as yet again an external force had come crashing down upon us, threatening to destroy our future and drive us apart. And maybe this time, the ‘attack’ would be successful.

  "You. Should. Have. Told. Me." She fired off each word like a gunshot.

  "I know, look, I’m sorry; I really am. I guess I didn’t think it through properly."

  "No, you blasted well didn’t." She suddenly lifted her head and locked her gaze with mine. "What other earth shattering secrets are you withholding from me?"

  "There’s nothing else," I said, holding up my hands in surrender.

  "There’d better not be!" she spat, and then turned away from me and laid her head on her knees again.

  I didn’t need to echolocate to feel the waves of anger and resentment she was sending my way. I wanted to reach out and touch her, to take her in my arms and reassure her that we’d get past this obstacle somehow, but would we? If she miscarried and we divorced, any comfort I gave her now would make me seem the ultimate hypocrite. Besides, I’d never seen her so angry, and I was afraid she’d bite my arm off or something.

  * * *

  We’d been sitting in the dark without speaking to one another for nigh on thirty minutes, when a massive KABOOM shook the ground. I leaped to my feet and quickly climbed on top of the garden shed, and then my heart leaped into my throat when I saw a massive fireball lifting into the night sky, originating from the area that contained the Skel warehouses.

  "What is it? What happened?" Nanako asked in concern as she clambered to her feet.

  "Madison," I spat.

  "What?"

  "The stupid fool’s gone and blown the munitions warehouse, I bet ya."

  "Something else you haven’t told me?" she demanded crossly.

  "No! Though a few minutes ago, she tried to talk me into conducting more raids on the Skel."

  "And what did you answer?" Nanako asked – well, more like accused. Woah, she was really, really miffed at me.

  "I told her no."

  "And so she’s gone off and done this by herself?"

  "That’d be my guess."

  "But what about the slaves that were next door to the munitions warehouse?"

  "We’d better go check, and pronto. I wouldn’t put it past Madison to leave ‘em locked up so they’ll burn to death."

  "Okay, stop yakking and let’s go already!" Nanako snapped.

  We bolted into the house and were met by our three comrades.

  "There's been a massive explosion!" Shorty announced as soon as he saw us.

  "I know. It's the munitions warehouse, I think," I replied.

  "But how? Who?" David asked, equally concerned.

  "It's Madison, taking matters into her own hands. Now quick – grab your bows and arrows. We gotta go and check on Jack and Beth and the rest of the slaves, just in case they're still stuck in the warehouse."

  "Do I have to come?" Leigh asked, troubled.

  "Yes, you do," I replied firmly.

  "But..."

  "Just do it!"

  Leigh rushed off, grumbling and complaining, but he returned only moments after David and Shorty.

  "Right, follow me. And we're after speed over stealth here, but keep your wits about you all the same," I said, and then I raced out the door and into the street, with Nanako on my heels. Shorty, David, and then Leigh came next, though Leigh was hanging back as far as he could and get away with it.

  We tore through the market gardens and out into the streets beyond, and finally, to the large industrial complex with the charnel house and Skel storage warehouses. We quickly scaled the fence into the complex, and hurriedly made our way towards the resins warehouse.

  The sight that met us as we crossed the yard was quite a fearsome one. The munitions warehouse had indeed been blown up and was still on fire, but it was the resins warehouse that caught our attention. It was blazing away like a bonfire, with thick black, acrid smoke pouring skyward.

  The fire was spreading to the adjoining buildings too, including the one on the southeastern corner; the one with all the motorcycles, and the one with the food stores. If all the food was lost, I shuddered to think what would become of the slaves who depended on it.

  "Is there any point in going on?" David asked when we stopped and stared wide-eyed at the horrifying scene. "There's no way anyone could be alive in there."

  "We go on, just to be sure," I said, and we carefully skirted around the burning warehouses and headed for the driveway that lead into the internal car park.

  But when we finally turned the last corner to the driveway, our mouths dropped open in shock at the sight that met us.

  The slaves from the resins warehouse were gathered together in the driveway. Madison must have let them out before she torched the munitions warehouse, but they weren't alone. Two dozen furious Skel had just come bolting around the far corner, and upon seeing the slaves standing out here they responded in true form – by attacking them.

  And as the slaves' ankles were shackled by irons and chains, they could do nothing but scream in fear as they tried to hobble away from the maddened Skel, who with the blazing firelight reflecting from their pale skin and black leather clothes, hewed them down with clubs, pick axes, and iron bars.

  "No!" I screamed in horror, and quickly turned to my wife and comrades, well, David and Shorty. There was no sign of Leigh. "Take out the Skel – all of them!"

  And then I was off, running right into the midst of the fearsome scene of wanton slaughter. I pulled out my pistol first and without slowing my pace, put four bullets through the throats of the four closest Skel, who hadn't even noticed we were here yet.

  My gun empty, I discarded it without a second thought and tore my bow from my back. I notched an arrow and fired. I smiled with grim satisfaction when the arrow hit a six-foot tall, brutish Skel warrior in the chest with such power that the arrowhead protruded out his back. They weren't so tough without their armour, were they?

  The Skel finally realised they weren't surrounded by a bunch of slaves whom they assumed had escaped and torched the munitions warehouse, but by actual enemies who were armed and no doubt the perpetrators of the attack.

  While the remaining slaves tried to scatter or throw themselves to the ground, the last nineteen Skel charged us while brandishi
ng their dreadful close-quarters weapons.

  "Fall back!" I shouted, but my voice went largely unheard thanks to the combined efforts of the blazing inferno and the shouting Skel. All the same, Nanako and Shorty saw me walking backwards, and immediately followed suit, firing our bows at the charging Skel as we went.

  But David, however, hadn't heard my instructions nor noticed us pulling back, and stood there over near the corner warehouse, firing his bow again and again. One, and then another Skel fell as they charged him, but then three of the brutes, two obese males and one lithe female, reached him and swung their clubs at him. David tried to block their attacks with his bow, but they smashed it from his hands. Stumbling backwards in fear, he raised his left arm in an attempt to ward off the blows, but the Skel hewed his outstretched arm first with a baseball bat, and then a steel rod, breaking it in I don't know how many places. And then David was down, his face contorted in agony.

  All of this happened so quickly, leaving me no chance to react. And though I turned and sighted an arrow at David's three attackers, I knew I'd be too late. Suddenly, an arrow struck one Skel in the collarbone, sending him tumbling back. Another arrow hit the Skel female in the stomach, putting her down.

  And then, out of the darkness came Leigh, running full bore towards the final Skel who stood over David, intent on crushing his skull with his pickaxe.

  "Get away from him!" Leigh shrieked with animal-like fury as he slashed away at the Skel with his bow.

  I knew Leigh wouldn't last more than a heartbeat against the Skel, so I fired my arrow at the barbarian. I missed his neck, but it hit him in the shoulder and penetrated so deeply that the Skel fell back screaming in pain as he tried ineffectually to pluck it out with his other hand.

  Leigh, meanwhile, slung his bow, took David by the armpits and quickly dragged him away from the warehouses and the swirling melee.

  Touched to see Leigh going to such lengths to save and care for David, I turned back to the rest of the Skel, and then watched in stunned amazement as Nanako calmly shot them down one after the other. Shorty was helping too, but with nowhere near the accuracy or speed.

  All the same, there were still too many of them, and I reckoned several would reach Nanako before she could shoot them.

  Terrified for her safety, I fired the arrow notched to my bowstring, dropping one of the charging Skel, and then whipped out my combat knife and yelling at the top of my lungs, charged straight at them. Fighting Skel in hand-to-hand combat was something I'd vowed I'd never do, but if I was to have even the slightest chance of saving Nanako, it was the only way.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The Skel noticed me charging at them from the side, so the three closest to me turned from Nanako and came at me instead.

  The first swung a nail-studded iron bar at me, but I jumped forward into the blow, striking his left wrist with an open-handed block. I followed this up by plunging my knife to the hilt in his chest, marvelling how much easier it was to kill them when they weren’t encased in their bulletproof suits of bone armour.

  The next two Skel came at me then, but I skipped around them to my right, so that one blocked the other’s access to me. But I ignored them both, choosing instead to leap backwards and land behind the pair of Skel who were trying to take down Nanako, who had only one arrow left.

  "Run!" I yelled at her as I slashed my knife across the back of the neck of a short but extremely muscular Skel who was trying to hit Nanako with great swings of a rusty, two-handed axe. He collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

  "Look out!" Nanako cried out in alarm, pointing behind me.

  Aware of movement behind, I ducked down, and just in time too. A pickaxe swung right through the space my head had occupied only a moment before. But before I could strike back, his buddy booted me in the chest and sent me flying backwards to land on my butt. Smelling success, those two monsters cursed like troopers and moved in to finish me off.

  "No!" Nanako screamed when she saw my predicament. She was safe now, having managed to put down the last of the Skel trying to catch her.

  I rolled to my right, and back to my left, in frantic attempts to dodge the duo of weapons arching towards my head. As I blocked the next blow with my knife, I knew I had only seconds left before they took me out. Nanako was running towards us, ready to use her bow as a club now that she was out of arrows. But she wouldn’t be able to save me.

  As I kept trying to dodge and avoid the rain of blows, I reflected joyously on the fact that Nanako was watching over me and still cared for me. In a stupid, moronic kind of way, I kinda feared that she hated me now. How dumb was that? I mean, she’d told me before that it was normal for husbands and wives to fight. It’s just that my parents never did

  Returning my focus back to the fight, I glanced frantically about for Shorty, wondering if he’d be able to help, but no, he’d fled to the top of a large stack of pallets and was shooting arrow after arrow at two burly Skel who, lacking his dexterity, were finding it rather difficult to climb up after him.

  A baseball bat struck my left shoulder. I twisted around and tried to ride the blow, but waves of intense pain shot through my arm nonetheless, and I collapsed on the concrete, no longer able to dodge their attacks.

  That would’ve been the end of me, except a gunshot rang out and the closest Skel keeled over with a hole in his forehead. The second Skel looked around in surprise, but then collapsed when another bullet hit him in the chest.

  I rolled over and regained my feet just in time to see Madison coming down the driveway that led into the warehouses, armed with a Skel bolt-action rifle and wearing two ammo belts full of bullets crossed over her chest. I wanted to both throttle and thank her, but concluded I’d better thank her first, then throttle her.

  Madison, however, completely ignored me and with two more precision shots, put down the Skel who were trying to catch Shorty.

  Everything was still after that. Not quiet, though. The resins warehouse was blazing out of control, and the fire was continuing to spread to the neighbouring buildings.

  "Are you hurt?" Nanako asked as she hurried towards me.

  "I'm fine," I lied – well – exaggerated. My shoulder and ribs throbbed unmercifully, but nothing was broken.

  "We have to get out of here – more Skel could arrive at any moment," Nanako said as she joined me, but then she caught sight of the slaves surrounding us, and her voice caught in her throat.

  The slaves, who'd presumably been turned out of their nightly quarters by Madison, were a sorry sight. There were several dozen of them and they looked even more sickly than usual in the yellow fire light. Worse, some had been killed and a further dozen wounded by the Skel. And now that the battle was over, those who'd been crouching or lying down regained their feet to check on their fallen comrades, while those who'd attempted to get away from the conflict were slowly making their way back.

  I heard Shorty jump down from the stack of pallets, so I turned to him. "Check on David and Leigh, can ya?"

  "On it." He rushed off in the direction we’d last seen them.

  "Job well done, I’d say," Madison said cockily as she sauntered over to us.

  "Job well done? Can't you see what you've done, Madison?" I hissed.

  "I did what had to be done."

  "You got a bunch of slaves killed, and almost all of us as well, you stupid moron!" I growled, looking down into her smug, smoke smudged face.

  "The Skel won't be able to set any more booby traps or make their bullet-proof armour. That's worth any price, don't you think?"

  I wanted to refute her comment, but it made sense at an ugly, truth-laden level.

  But a voice far angrier than mine suddenly rang out, louder even than the crackling, voracious fire. "You fools – do you know what you've done?"

  I turned and saw Beth hobbling towards us, and to say that she was livid was putting it mildly. Jack, her brother, was sitting on the road several paces behind her, cradling a broken arm. I wanted to t
ell her that this was all Madison's doing, but as far as they were concerned, she was one of us. And they'd be right.

  "You've gone and killed us all! That's what," she continued. "The Skel will blame us for this and will kill us all!"

  I looked at her furious, dirty face, then at Jack, staring at us through pain filled eyes, and an idea sprang unbidden to my mind.

  "Hey," I asked as I took a step closer to Beth. "Some of you guys were brought here by the Rangers, yeah?"

  Beth just stared at me, as though unable to comprehend what I was saying. I stepped past her and hurried over to kneel down beside Jack, and asked him the same question. "Did you say that some of you were brought here by the Rangers?"

  "'Bout half of us, including me and my sister," he replied.

  I glanced up at Nanako and then turned back to Jack. "Do any of those trucks work and if so, are they fuelled up?" I pointed to the rows of beat up trucks lined up in the area between the warehouses.

  "Yes and yes. Why? What are you getting at?"

  "If we were to take all you guys to Inverloch, would you be willing to testify against the Rangers?"

  "Just so they can kill us instead of the Skel? No thanks!" Beth spat.

  "Pipe down, Beth," Jack said, and then to me, "Yes, a most definite yes. But you gotta take all of us here. You understand me? You can't take some and leave the rest."

  "Can you drive a truck, Nana-chan?" I asked.

  She shook her head.

  "Okay, that leaves only me, Shorty and Leigh. Right, let's get everybody here loaded up into three trucks and then get the blazes out of here and go straight to Inverloch."

  "Okay, but we gotta do it quickly!" Nanako agreed.

  And with that, we fell into a flurry of frantic activity. First, I found Leigh and Shorty. They’d just finished making a splint and sling for David's badly broken arm, using a stick they’d found and Leigh’s jacket. I brought them back with me and then Shorty, Leigh and I went through the trucks and selected three that were fully fuelled up. I determined this by physically knocking on their fuel tanks and listening to the sound. I also slashed one front tire on the rest of the trucks, and then with much grinding of gears and backfiring, we drove out of the yard and into the street outside. That done, we helped David into the cab of the second truck, where he sank into the seat moaning in pain as held to his broken arm.