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

by Peter R Stone

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  With my bow and arrow at the ready, I slipped through the bloody scene without making a sound and then headed off looking for the source of the erratic gunfire I could hear. As I went, echolocating all the while, I realised I could distinguish between two different types of guns: the Austeyr assault rifles of the Rangers and Custodians, and what I presumed to be the AK-74.

  The corridor swung to the right and when I round the corner, I stumbled upon another massacre. There were bodies of a Ranger, a Custodian, and four Koreans, including a girl who couldn't have been more than ten. To my astonishment, her cold, lifeless fingers still clutched an AK-74 almost as big as she was. From what I could tell, she was the one who'd shot the Ranger.

  I continued and found the corpse of a Ranger lying in front of a dormitory doorway. A quick glance inside set my blood boiling. The bodies of two families, including one baby and two small children, were sprawled against the far wall behind two overturned beds. The wooden bed frames were riddled with bullet holes. The families had made the mistake of thinking the beds were bulletproof and had opened fire on the Ranger when they were walking past.

  Incensed at this senseless slaughter and unjustifiable genocide, I hurried towards the gunfire until I heard something that stopped me in my tracks. It was a virtual chorus of ultrasonic musical notes sung by children's voices. They made my ultrasonic shouts appear uncouth and vulgar in comparison. I'd never, ever, heard anything so beautiful, even if the children making the flash sonar appeared to be doing so under great stress, almost on the verge of sheer panic.

  I'd found them – the Korean echolocater children that Madison told me about! But they were in trouble, great trouble. I picked up my pace, passing more dormitories, an entertainment hub, and finally entered a corridor that led to a large, almost industrial sized kitchen.

  It was from the kitchen that the gunfire and flash sonar were coming, but I could also pick out muffled sobs, crying, and a couple of people screaming in agony.

  I crept to the doorway and opened the swinging door just enough to see inside and let rip with flash sonar. Two things happened at once, the children fell instantly silent, no doubt listening to my uncivilized ultrasonic shouts, and the defenders ceased shooting. Although I thought that strange, I focused instead on what I could see, which was three Rangers armed with assault rifles and wearing light amplification/thermal imaging goggles, and using kitchen benches as cover. They stood side on to me, facing an enemy who was off to my left, but out of my field of vision.

  Aware my bow wouldn’t do me much good here; I grabbed my assault rifle, slung the bow over my back, and then couched the rifle and flicked it to full-auto.

  Now, my normal practice in such situations was to give my opponents the option of surrendering before I fired at them, but not with these guys, these murderers and child killers. So I counted to three and wrenched the door open, and while practically screaming at them with flash sonar because I was so angry, I let them have it, cutting down one, two, and then the third Ranger before they even had a chance to react.

  After that, I gave the kitchen a quick once-over and ducked back into the doorway, just in case the panicky defenders took a shot at me. What I saw with that quick glance though, was both amazing and tragic. Amazing in that the dozen defenders were Korean children aged no more than ten, both boys and girls. They were all armed, with either AK-74s or pistols, and they were the ones who were echolocating. And tragic in that several more children were slumped on the ceramic floor tiles, staining them red with their blood. I figured the children had been fighting the Rangers because they were the only ones who could see with the power was out.

  Behind these children was a large walk-in pantry, which by the sounds of the breathing, crying, sobbing and whispering coming from it, contained upwards of thirty people of all ages. Looks like I'd found the families.

  "Do you kids speak English?" I called out.

  "Of course, but who are you?" a young boy shouted back.

  "I'm Custodian Sergeant Jones."

  "You're a Custodian?" asked a similarly aged girl.

  "That's right."

  "You're a liar!" the boy shouted back.

  "No, I'm telling you the truth. The Rangers who were attacking you are dead."

  "But we heard you – you were echolocating!" the boy exclaimed.

  "And that’s not possible," squeaked the girl.

  "Which means you're a liar," said the boy.

  "And not a Custodian," added the girl.

  "The fact that I can echolocate proves it is possible. Now tell me – quickly – are there any other children or families on this floor?"

  "No, there aren't. And Sir, you can't echolocate, because we're the only ones," the boy said emphatically.

  "The only ones what?" I was desperate to finish this conversation and get out of there. Madison needed me.

  "The only ones to have evolved with this ability. We are the first of the next stage of human evolution," the girl explained.

  "Is that what they told you?"

  "It is the truth!" the boy squeaked.

  "Then how do you explain me and the others like me?"

  "You lie!"

  "Did you hear me echolocate?"

  "Yes, but–"

  "Look, kids, I'm sorry, but I really have to go."

  But before I could move, I heard two pairs of light footsteps approach. I kept my gun aimed at the floor so I wouldn't appear threatening, and waited for them to come into view. The boy came close enough to see me first, then the girl. 'See' as in they were both echolocating with musical notes while I was using my shouting technique.

  "You are a Custodian," the boy said, lowering his gun.

  "Yep."

  "And you’re not Korean."

  "Nope."

  "And you can echolocate."

  "Most definitely, and look, I'm delighted to meet you kids, but I have to go and help my partner now. Stay here and keep everyone quiet until more Custodians come, okay?"

  "I'm coming with you," the boy declared nervously.

  "Me too," the girl said.

  "Thanks for the offer, kids, but I need you to stay here and protect your families just in case anymore Rangers come looking for you, okay?"

  They hesitated, so I added, "And that, is an order."

  They looked both crestfallen and relieved at the same time. "Yes, Sir!" the boy said without hesitation.

  I gave them a mock salute and then turned and sprinted back the way I'd come, trying not to look at the bodies of the slain Rangers, children, and Custodians on the way. I reached the staircase and rushed to the eighth floor.

  I stole quietly from the stairwell and into the foyer, a once beautiful room that contained the elevator’s gold-plated doors, polished marble floor, suede walls, and what I presumed to have been porcelain busts of the current and previous chancellors. They, along with the foyer, the living room beyond, and everything in them, had been shot up pretty badly. It must have been a last ditch, desperate attempt to stop the Rangers getting to the chancellor. There were bodies everywhere, including four Rangers, a dozen Custodians including General Lee and Colonel Kim, and three of Newhome’s venerated councillors.

  I observed all this in less than a heartbeat, and then I was on the move again for I could hear two people in another room locked in furious combat: Colonel Yamada and Madison.

  With my gun at the ready, I hurried into the living room and darted through the open doorway into the small lounge room beyond. But before I could even take in the scene, Madison came barrelling backwards into me, knocking the gun from my hands and smashing me to the ground with her.

  Madison rolled to the side, clutching her ribs and stomach, her face contorted in agony. "Save the chancellor, Jones!" she croaked between gasps for breath.

  I extricated myself from her and sprang to my feet, and just in time too. The Ranger colonel was suddenly in my face and trying to take me out with a knife-edge hand strike to the neck.
I stepped back, blocked the blow, and snapped out a front kick. However, the Colonel hooked my kick aside and then stepped in to deliver a punch to my ribs.

  I rode the blow, danced away from him and moved deeper into the room, and received something of a shock when I saw the chancellor himself lying on the floor near a wine and spirits cabinet, struggling to regain his feet.

  I’d seen the chancellor a couple of times during the town’s Solidarity Festivals when he’d come to address the people, and although he was old, he’d always seemed so powerful, so larger than life. But lying on the floor now, in silk pyjamas and a long robe, and pawing at the cabinet in a feeble attempt to regain his feet, he just looked old and frail.

  Colonel Yamada, on the other hand, was built like a tank and as strong as one too. Like the other Rangers, he too was wearing light amplification/thermal imaging goggles and was glaring at me as though I was an abomination.

  "You can see in the dark, Jones, just like she can," he growled in Japanese as he indicated Madison’s writhing form with a flick of his head. "I always wondered about your uncanny ability to spot Skel ambushes and sneak up on anyone in the dark. You two have confirmed my fears that Newhome's geneticists were doing more than tinkering with the genetic makeup of plants and chickens."

  I drew my pistol and aimed it at him. "It’s over, Colonel. Kneel on the floor and put your hands on your head."

  "Don’t be daft, Jones. I’m not going to let you come between me and honour’s dictates. Now back off and let me finish what I came here to do. We’re on the same side, remember?"

  "Same side? I don't think so. You’re a monster, Colonel. You're worse than the Skel, because you should know better than them," I spat back angrily. "Now kneel and put your hands on your head!"

  I thought I had him covered, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. In a flash he was on me, snapping out a front kick at my wrist. I fired, but by then it was too late. He’d already kicked my hand up and the bullet which should have ended his life hit the ceiling instead. A knife-hand strike to my right forearm sent the pistol flying from my grip and then I was fighting for my life against someone who was like a threshing machine in a field of hay. I did my best to block, redirect, duck and dodge the Colonel’s kicks and punches – and I was doing relatively well, since he was the one who'd trained me – but some blows were getting through and they were like getting hit by pile drivers.

  I managed to get a couple of punches and kicks through to his person, but they no more slowed him down than potato gun pellets would slow a tank.

  The Colonel landed a roundhouse on my ribs that sent me reeling off to the side with my eyes smarting. I had to end this, and end it now; otherwise it would end badly for Madison, the chancellor, and me.

  So I feinted with a right punch and then snapped my foot into his chest, knocking him back a step. After that, I turned and made a dive for my pistol over near the door, grabbing it as I rolled. I came up and onto my feet to spin around and bring the gun to bear on the Colonel. At the same time I pulled the torch from my belt and cast the bright light full in his face.

  And just in time too. While I was diving across the room to grab my pistol, the Colonel had used that lull to do the same, retrieved his own gun from the floor over near the wall. I guess Madison had disarmed him before I got here.

  The colonel was blinded and in pain from the torch beam, which was so powerful it would've felt like a knife being driven through his eyes into his brain. Yet he refused to be daunted and still fired his gun, and at the exact same moment that I did.

  My bullet hit the Colonel square in the chest, causing him to collapse against the wall and slide to the floor, his mouth hanging open in disbelief as he died.

  The Colonel's bullet had hit the wall where I had been standing, because as soon as the torch beam hit his face I had quietly dropped to the floor.

  "Good job, Jones," Madison said as she used the doorframe to pull herself to her feet.

  Madison didn't look too good. She'd turned a shade paler than white paper, was grimacing in pain, and held a hand over her ribs.

  A massive sense of relief suddenly flooded through me when I realised the Ranger threat was finally over. Newhome, and our families, were safe.

  That thought reminded me of the chancellor. I turned to look for him and saw him sitting on the floor beside the wine and spirits' cabinet.

  Returning my pistol to its holster, I hurried over to him and carefully helped him to his feet. I wondered how old he was. I mean, his hair was jet black – dyed, presumably – and his muscles were firm, but his skin was wrinkled and covered with age spots. Seventy? Eighty? More?

  "Are you okay, Sir? " I asked with respect, though I wasn't sure why. This guy was no doubt the one who'd passed the order for all the male echolocaters to be euthanized. And for what? So that he could control who did and didn't have the genetically engineered ability?

  But instead of answering me, the chancellor spoke to Madison in Korean.

  "What did he say?" I asked her, but then froze. She had retrieved my assault rifle from the floor and was aiming it at me.

  "The chancellor has instructed me to place you under arrest on the charges of treason, terrorism, and being an illegally biologically modified male."

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  "Say what? But I just saved his life!"

  "Take out your gun – slowly – and place it on the floor. And then put your combat knife and bow and arrows beside it." Her tone as cold as ice. Gone were any traces of the girl who'd called me 'Ethan.'

  "But Madison..."

  "Now!" she snapped impatiently, her finger tightening on the trigger.

  "But on the way here you said..."

  "I said whatever I needed to say to get you to come back with me," she said smugly.

  I hated her then, and with a passion. She'd played me, and I fell for it. I considered trying to draw and shoot before she fired, but I abandoned the idea immediately, since her reflexes were as good as mine.

  I slowly drew my gun and laid it on the floor. My combat knife, bow, and arrows joined it.

  And then, desperate to save my life in any way possible, I tried another tactic. "Were you lying about the breeding program offer too?"

  She hesitated for a moment, and then spoke at length and deferentially to the chancellor, who had walked over to a single-seat recliner and seated himself down with a deep sigh.

  The chancellor made a brief comment and waved his hand.

  "The Chancellor has agreed to my suggestion that you be used in the geneticists' breeding program," Madison said. "Now, if you do not mind, make your way to the door. He has instructed me to take you there immediately."

  "What guarantees will you give..."

  "Move!"

  The trip down eight flights of stairs was a long one. Madison stayed several steps behind me so I couldn't try to jump her. She steadfastly refused all attempts at conversation, though she had to stop on numerous occasions to get her breath back, thanks to her fractured ribs.

  I kept looking for an opportunity to attack her, but there were none.

  We exited the stairwell on the ground floor, passed through the darkened marble tiled foyer, and hurried outside. The Ranger I'd shot with my bow was still lying between the Corinthian columns and had stained the cobblestones with his blood.

  The early-morning air was crisp, and I noticed that the sounds of combat near the gates leading from North End to the rest of the town were absent. I wondered who'd won? The Custodians trying to get into North End or the Rangers who were trying to keep them out.

  I took another step, but then suddenly froze when I noticed Bhagya Singhe standing there beside one of the columns. She wore dark clothes, which, when combined with her jet-black hair and dark skin, made her very hard to see her except when I echolocated.

  I didn't want Madison to see Bhagya, so I made sure I stood directly between them and then turned around.

  "What are you doing, Jones?" Madison sighed.


  "You haven't met the Korean children echolocaters have you," I asked her.

  "No."

  "They've been kept up there in the chancellery for their whole lives, yeah? Hidden away from the rest of the world."

  "I do not have time for this, Jones. My chest hurts, I need painkillers – a lot of painkillers – and I need to rest. So shut up and get moving."

  "It won't hurt you to answer the question."

  "Okay, fine. You are correct; the children have not yet ventured out of the chancellery – so what."

  "Did you know they believe their ability to echolocate is the result of natural human evolution?"

  The icy veneer fell from Madison's face. "What? Who told you that?"

  “They did.”

  “The children?”

  “That’s right. That’s what they told me a few minutes ago when I rescued them from the Rangers. They heard me echolocating but then said I couldn’t possibly be able to because they – the Korean children – were the first and only ones to have evolved with the ability. They sing when they echolocate, just like you do, by the way.”

  Madison just stared at me.

  "You know what that means, right?" I asked her.

  I saw genuine fear in Madison's eyes, then, the first time I'd ever seen it there.

  "It means they're gonna euthanize you girls. All of you, and quite soon," I said, spelling it out for her.

  "You do not know that," Madison said, but her voice was pleading, almost begging me to be wrong.

  "Yes, I do. Because they can't leave those kids locked up forever. Sooner or later they're going to have to let them out into the real world. And if those children bump into you lot, they’ll realise they’ve been lied to. That their ability to echolocate is not the result of evolution but merely biological engineering. All the Korean’s efforts to convince their children that they are the master race will have been for nothing." As for the few children who heard me using flash sonar earlier, I’m sure the chancellor would find a way to explain it away.