by Vance Huxley
“Your turn now, Ru.” Harold pointed towards Patty. “The squad leaders have been assessing everyone during crossbow practice, and Patty put your name top of the list for a rifle. You’ll train with a little one to start with, then end up with this or Patty’s baby if you do as well as expected.”
Patty nodded at a stunned Ru. “I had to train with a little one first. I promise, it makes a big difference. Kneel down there, use thebedside table as a rest.” Harold stepped back as Ru knelt, letting Emmy and Patty explain the kick and help Ru get the butt tight into her shoulder. The first shot hit at mouth height, well above where she aimed but almost central. Aiming and shooting a heavy crossbow had been good preparation.
Four shots later Harold stopped them, he’d seen enough. “Remember, Ru, nobody knows who the shooters are. Practice with the little one, especially loading. Patty will teach you, then I’ll check on you once you’ve got the basics. Collect the rifle and ammo from my house in an hour or so, and take them home. One of this pair will call by to drop off a cleaning kit, and teach you how to use it.” He watched them leave, chattering and laughing as the usually intense Ru turned downright giggly. Rifles had an odd effect on some people.
Harold stuck a bullet through the fourth target’s head, and one through its groin for Caddi’s watchers to report on. That should stop anyone connecting the three women with the shooting.
*
The following morning Liz kept strictly off the subject of caravansprings around other people, but had a little skip in her step. On the way, sat in the cab with Harold, Casper and Ru, she relaxed and chattered about all the lovely weapons she intended making. Liz quietened again while instructing the scavengers on the type of metal plate and small springs she wanted. She also took the opportunity to stress how much any hammer, axe and pick heads would be appreciated, even if they’d been in a fire.
Once she’d finished her talk, Harold asked Liz to come and look at some possible salvage with him and headedtowards the railway wagons. He swung wide toapproach them without giving her a clear view until the last minute.When the group came round the corner he waved a hand at the derailed vehicles. “See anything you could use?”
“What? The rail wagons?” Liz looked them over.”Those wheels and the ironwork underneath would make all sorts if I could melt them down, but that’s not going to happen. Those posts are iron or steel so we could cut them loose for road blocks, but it will cost in gas. What are the beds made of? Is it plate or plywood?”
“What’s stopping the wheels from banging on the wagon chassis?”
“Suspension of…” The other three knew when Liz realised what sort of suspension, because she took off running towards the nearest one. By the time they reached her, Liz stood tapping the leaf springs with a knife.
“Ooh, listen to that music. It’s all still tempered. I can make all the Rambos you want from this!” Liz stopped a moment as a beautiful smile spread across her face. “I can make a sword that will turn the GOFS green.” She whirled, suddenly looking worried. “We have to get these back to Orchard Close, quickly. If someone else sees them they’ll be gone!”
“They’ve been here four years, Liz. The GOFS scavengers have already seen them, but that can’t have included their smith.” Harold pointed at the wagon with one end up in the air.”I didn’t realise either when I first saw the wagons,because the springs are just a tall stack of flat plates without a curve like the others I’ve seen. If the end of that one hadn’t been up in the air without wheels I might have missed it. The only reason I came here was curiosity over some comments from the Geeks,so they’ve seen them as well and nobody realised.”
Casper quickly filled Liz in on the teasing but Liz didn’t really listen. The smith kept moving from wagon to wagon, tapping and scraping at the springs. There were fifteen plates on each corner, and sixteen sets of them once they’d stripped all four wagons, enough tempered steel to make an armoury. “Yes, yes, but if you realised, Harold, someone else might. Then there’ll be a convoy of pickup trucks in the night and they’ll all be gone! We’ll have to take the weight off them to get the springs loose. How will we get them over the wall?”
“Calm down Liz.” All three of them were chuckling because Liz had been smiling happily and bouncing around for almost two days.That made a welcome contrast to her mood the last year or so, ever since the Hot Rod had threatened to tell Caddi she was the smith. Even killing the scroat hadn’t taken the hunted look from her eyes. This Liz seemed a lot nearer to the one who used to have a few too many beers and bemoan the lack of big sweaty men pounding iron. When that thought occurred, Harold couldn’t resist a chance to tweak her. “Will you want an apprentice, to help with all the heavy metal pounding this lot will need?”
“An apprentice?” A sparkle grew in Liz’s eyes. “Mmm, someone big. All muscles and built like a—smith? I could audition. Get them to take off their shirts and pound metal for a while?” She giggled, then stood up straight and visibly calmed herself. “Before any of that, we have to get these safely into Orchard Close. Preferably without anyone realising what we’ve got. After all”—she waved an arm to encompass the whole city—”there may be more out there.”
“This is where a lorry would be handy.” Everyone laughed at Casper because a lorry would cause a gang war. Every warlord would want it. The lack of any big lorries was another of those niggles about the Crash that puzzled Harold whenever he thought about it.
“We will need the pickup, both vans and several runs. The springs can be covered up with some scavenged gear, orwell wrapped up in case anyone gets a glimpse.” Harold pointed back, towards the scavengers in the new housing. “If we throw some of what they’re collecting over the top, nobody will have any idea.” Not for the first time, Harold felt tempted to disappear Caddi’s watchers, because the precautions were mainly because of them.
“We can break them down to move them.” Casper tapped the big band holding the plates together. “Cut through this with a torch and, bingo, a lot of smaller plates.”
“Don’t you dare! Nobody gets any heat near my lovely tempered spring steel. I’ll chisel them off in my lair. Mmm, that might be an apprentice job.” Casper started laughing because Liz tried to get between him and the springs, as if he was going to produce a set of burning gear on the spot.”I can make you a trailer to carry them if you find me a plain axle with decent wheels, but it’ll bounce all over unless you find some coil springs I can fit?”
Harold wasn’t being diverted. “First these springs, then making weapons. Once you’ve got time, any sort of trailer will be handy.”
“These wagonswill take some lifting.” Casper brought them back to the wagon stripping problem.Car jacks, the bigger the better, went onto the scavenge list, or would once Liz had stopped drooling over her prize.
“All finished with drooling for now,but I’m making no promises about what happens when this lot is back in my lair.” Liz looked at the rail wagon reared up almost on end. “We could pull that one over onto its back with the pickup,then the other wheels might fall off as well.”
“We really should get back before someone gets curious.” Casper looked pointedly at Liz and Ru and chuckled. “Otherwise, with Harold’s reputation there’ll be all sorts of rumours. Two women and me?”
After another lecture from Patty, the scavengers extended their lists. Bernie had been on the scavenger gangs from the very beginning, and warned the new recruits they’d end up takingeverything but wallpaper and floorboards. He wasn’t far wrong. To help equip the new refugees from Caddi’s war, the listnow included any electrical equipment, even if it didn’t work. Finn, Charlie or Trev,or their apprentices, were stripping it all down for components.
Even damp bedding, plastic or glass containers without tops, broken kids’ toysand brass ornaments were taken. Useable curtains, carpets and furnishings were moved toweatherproof rooms, to be collected later. The old housing near Orchard Closehad been damaged by shellfire just after the Crash, then scaven
ged in stages to meet different emergencies.Thesehouses had broken windows but mostly intact roofs, and had barely been searched by Orchard Close standards.They were a treasure trove!
*
Some of the salvage went straight to the big houses in the Annex, to furnish them. Once Casper finished the two longconnecting walls to Orchard Close,at least another forty people would move in to join the twenty-five Demons and a dozen other hardy souls.The rest of the work could be finished around the residents.Even when the Annex houses were all occupied, Casper and his assistants would keep raising and thickening the walls until they matched Orchard Close itself.Casper had more help when another rash of refugees turned up, and one claimed to be an apprentice bricky.
This time Susan and June, two of the Coven, smelled real trouble brewingwhen they vetted the incoming.Among the latest nine were six attractive young women in a group. All six were dressed in the gangster idea of women’s clothing, short and tight, and all lookedpale and still in shock. The girls turned up with coupons, three belts with knives, two baseball bats and a machete, not that unusual now Mercedes had become careless with weaponry. What put the Coven on alert were a small calibre single-barrelled shotgun with a dozen rounds, and a crossbow with a full quiver.
June quickly gave Harold the story. The six had been collected from their homes by the street fighters of the Murphies and put in a house with a guard. All of them were in a terrible state over what had happened next. They were told that they’d got a new job, because that bastard Caddi had taken the brothel and the usual whores. The place became the gangster brothel, even if the whore part didn’t applybecause the girls weren’t voluntary, orpaid.
They’d had five bad days and nights. On the sixth day, a woman dressed for sexarrived just as it was getting dark, and knifed the guard on the front door. She’d dragged the body inside, told the girls to keep quiet and asked where any other Murphies were. Afterknifingthe gangsterwho’d gone upstairswith one of the girls, she slit the throat of the guard at the back door. The girls gave vague descriptions, but they came down toa scary woman with long red hair anda big, bloody knife. None looked too closely, because she kept cutting bits off the bodies even while telling them to take the weapons and coupons from the dead. The instructions on how to get to Orchard Close and safety were precise.
Harold met the girls briefly to assure them this really was Orchard Close, he really was Soldier Boy, and he’d shoot any scroat who came after them.Their liberation happened as they’d said,because from their state of mind the girls weren’t up to killing their captors themselves. After what had happenedto them the previous five days, Harold didn’t think the girls would have even thought of robbing the bodies without instructions.He told them to never, ever, mention the woman, or they’d be putting her in danger, then left the girl club to supply clothes and sympathy, and get them settled in.
Susan, Rob’s missus, carried out a bit more quiet investigation. Several of the young women refugees over the last month had been told about Orchard Close by a single young woman. Mercedes must be using wigs as the reported hair varied in length and colour, but in all cases the mystery woman sounded about the right size. Susan agreed that the identity of the woman must be kept a secret. Those in the know didn’t mention Mercedes’ name to the girls, or anyone else.
Sooner or later Caddi would find out and kill Mercedes, or she would get him first. The warlord would do it for letting the weapons go, even if the women weren’t considered important. Harold stopped further questioning about the woman in case people came to conclusions, but other refugees mentioned getting instructions fromher. Others were told by a neighbour who’d heard about Orchard Close from someone else. Mercedes was, as Harold had said, getting reckless.
*
A message from Caddi asking Harold to visit worried him, but when Harold asked about Mercedes,ETjust laughed. The Hot Rods hardly saw her at the Mansion, but rumour said she’d gone on a rampage. All the Hot Rods thought that once the war ended Harold had best brace himself.According to ET, Caddi wouldn’t let Mercedes come for Soldier Boy until he’d won, so she’d decided to finish the Murphies on her own.
That sounded like Caddi using the public displays to help spread rumours, and probably encourage his troops. Still, if Mercedes would be out somewhere killing Murphies, that wasn’t why Caddi wanted Harold. A casual request for Harold to bring a mace, and one of those new knives, actually reassured Harold. Caddi must have heard about the new goodies.Even so, Harold still felt himself tense upas he started the drive to the Hot Rod stronghold.
Novelty Heavy Metal
When Harold arrived, Mack waved the pickup through the gates and inside the Mansion, the first time that had ever happened. Caddi waited to greet them, only the second time he’d done that,which racked up Harold’s anxiety.”Lovely to see you Harry. I thought you might be too busy with all those new people.” That told Harold one reason for the visit.Caddi considered the Murphy civvies his property, even if he hadn’t captured their streets yet, and hated the idea of any escaping.
He smiled quietly, because Caddi couldn’t argue with the answer. “They’re all from the Murphies, Caddi, and I’ve got no treaty with them so they aren’t runners.” Harold offered his weapons to Mack, who only took the pistol and mace and didn’t put either in a locker.
“True, but so many of them are young women. Mercedes will be getting very jealous, even if it might be her fault. Considering how many young men she’s killing, there can’t be enough Spudsleft to keep the women warm at night. Maybe that’s why they’re leaving?” Caddi sounded relaxed, but that didn’t fool Harold. The warlord could switch moods in a heartbeat. Caddi waved a hand, directing Harold between two housesthen walking beside him. “Such careful young women, coming over all that rubble instead of up the neutral road.”
Harold kept his smile, with an effort because they’d moved out of sight of anyone else. He couldn’t work out why Caddi needed privacy.”Yes, I’ve put people on the border to tell them where the boundary runs. They all seem to prefer to play safe, so we’ve cut them a path through the brambles out past the fields.”
“Why Harry, don’t they trust my lads to respect the neutral zone?” That was a joke, Caddi’s watchers were installed in houses that were technically Harold’s. “Whoever you’ve got spreading the instructions is very good, because Mercedes hasn’t found them. The runners all disappear into Barbie territory where we can’t follow.”
“They aren’t runners, justpeople who have had a bad time lately. Refugees tend to play safe and after all, misunderstandings over an exact border are fairly common.” Harold relaxed again, a little. He could play these games all day and Caddi’s tone said it was just that, a game. Harold certainly wasn’t telling the nasty sod he hadn’t sent anyone to spread rumours. “I understand you have some new refugees of your own, young women.”
That brought a genuine laugh from Caddi. “True, so true.We captured the Murphy whorehouse so all their whores are refugees. Not that you’ll be seeing any of them, they’ve got a new employer.” All the humour left Caddi’s face and both he and Mack put hands on their weapons. “Now I’ve caught you playing away Harry. I know there’s no agreement who you repair weapons for, but I’d rather you stopped helping the Spuds.”
The tone of voice warned Harold as much as the way Caddi and Mack braced ready for trouble. Caddi had wanted privacy in case this turned violent. “Quite seriously, Caddi, I have never knowingly repaired a weapon for the Murphies. There’s been a few from the Barbies, and the Geeks and Barbies passed a few through, but that’s it. The rest are the usual.” Harold put his hand on his knife and gripped his stick as Caddi started taking a pistol from his belt.
“Calm down Harry, I just want to show you. Tell me you didn’t fix this, because the Murphies know fuck all about how to treat guns.” Caddi handed Harold the pistol so he relaxed, but not much.
Harold took the weapon,unloaded of course, checked the action and inspected the clip. “Not guilty, b
ut someone who knows his weapons did this. He’s used different oil to me, but decent stuff. Unless the Murphies have attracted someone new, unlikely given their situation, they’ve found a repairer in a neighbouring gang. There have to be others in the city.”
Caddi scowled at that, and the gun, but accepted the answer. “I’ll pass the news to Mercedes. This time I’ll want the bloke still attached to his ears, and preferably still breathing.” Volatile as ever, the warlord grinned. “That’ll be cheaper than dealing with you.” He took the weapon back and put it in his belt. “Have you scored a blacksmith, Harry?”
“What? Why?” That baffled Harold again,because Caddi had obviously expected to catch him out a second time. No wonder the suspicious git had got Harold on his own.
“I went to visit the neighbours, the GOFS.” Caddi had his half-smile so Harold braced for the punch line. “I wanted to buy one of these maces I’d heard about. Imagine my surprise when they didn’t recognise what I described.” He glanced at the mace Mack carried, the one Harold had brought with him.
Harold’s little smile didn’t look at all innocent. He wasn’t worried now so he didn’t mind playing Caddi’s games. “Fancy that, how strange.”
Caddi laughed at him. “So then I went to ask the Freeks.” He glanced at Mack, who smiled back. “Guess what, they’d got some, and some local, friendly Soldier Boy had sold them. Better still, they were bragging about their Rambo knives. They’d won some in exchange for cement and steel bars and radio components.” Caddi looked pointedly at Harold’s belt.”The size of thatsheath looks about right, Harry.”
“That’s because it’s for a Rambo.” Harold wasn’t too worried now because Rambos weren’t a secret,even if the smith assumption stillseemed odd.