The knight nodded. “If you live.”
One of the smaller conscripts shot back, “That’s not fair. We’re risking our lives. They should get to be citizens either way.”
“Life’s not fair,” Sir Dominic said. “I used to have a pool. And a Porsche, so shut up.”
The crowd began to argue, but a low growl from the black knight stopped the dissension. “The train leaves soon. Be on it or go back to your hole in the ground.”
Sir Dominic looked down on them and laughed as the crowd dispersed.
Jerry lingered and let them move around him as he listened to their conversations. Now that the danger of being selected had passed, some muttered that they should have been chosen. Others sounded relieved to go back to the mine. Those that truly volunteered celebrated. Those that “volunteered” said nothing. They wore the cold pit in their stomach on their faces and stared into the ground.
Jerry made his way back to Erica. The look on her face worried him. She stared through him. He could see her mind working out his gruesome death at the hands of whatever an Aztec was. He smiled anyway, knowing he couldn’t fool her. “It doesn’t sound so bad.”
“Oh, really?” she asked. “What’s an Aztec?”
“It was some kind of SUV, wasn’t it? I think it came with a tent.”
There was no smile. “You’re trying to be funny. We talked about that.”
Jerry shrugged. “It wasn’t that funny.”
“It wasn’t funny at all. I said you were trying. And now they want you to play the hero.”
“Hardly. I’m going to lie low in the group. Hopefully they’ll save the princess and I won’t have to do anything.”
“Sure, because that’s what you do. Lie low.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“You come back alive. That’s what you need to do.”
“I always have.”
Brae had found the man with the sandy blonde hair and thrown her arms around him. They smiled and kissed for a moment before Brae tugged on his hand and directed him towards Jerry and Erica.
Jerry whispered, “Here comes Brae.”
“Oh yeah, by the way, who is Brae?”
“I honestly don’t remember.”
“Well, she seems to remember you two being very close.”
“Where are you getting the ‘very close’ thing? What did she say?”
“What would she say, Mike?”
He didn’t like the way she said his fake name. He already had to worry about whatever the hell an Aztec was and a kingdom full of half crazy cosplayers. He didn’t need this. “I don’t remember her.”
Erica shushed him as the other couple neared.
The girl looked like she was about to squeal. It was boiling behind her grin. “Pretty exciting, huh? This doesn’t happen often. Quests are pretty few and far between.”
Jerry looked at Erica and pointed at the girl. “Brae, right?”
Erica whispered, “Nice try,” just before the squeal erupted.
Brae slapped him on the shoulder. “Of course it is. And, you’re Mike.” She winked. “She’s Jennifer. and this is my husband Shane.”
There was no denying that Shane came from the mines. He looked outlined. Dirt had burrowed under every nail and into every crease it could find giving him the appearance of a living illustration. It was most apparent around his eyes. The man squinted against the light despite a growing overcast. He looked tired, but he shook Jerry’s hand with a grip that could crush rock. “Nice to meet you, Mike. Brae says she knows you from years back.”
Jerry hesitated for a moment before trying to match Brae’s smile. “Yes. She does.”
“That’s great. That seems to happen less and less these days. I’m pretty sure everyone I knew is now dead.” He looked up before adding with certainty, “Or a mutant.”
Brae barreled past the awkward silence that followed. “I wanted to make sure you two met. Shane is going on the quest as well. You two can watch out for one another, Mike.”
“Great. That’s …” Jerry ran out of words. “That’s great.”
“I’ve got you, buddy.” Shane slapped Jerry across the back. “Any friend of Brae’s and all that. Stick with me and we’ll both get back alive. And if we’re lucky, we’ll even save us a princess.”
“Does that sound as weird to you as it does to me?” Jerry asked.
Shane laughed and nodded, “Some things you never get used to. But as far as places to live out the apocalypse, there are weirder and there are worse.”
“Prove it,” Erica said.
Shane laughed. “You’ll probably have to take my word for it. An hour around here isn’t as long as it used to be.”
As if on cue, the town crier rang his bell. A young man not out of his teens, he was tall and frail but his voice boomed and filled the street. He didn’t need the bell but he rang it anyway. “Conscripts, to the train. You have five minutes or you will forfeit in perpitu … in perpetu … oh fuck it, forever your rights to citizenship!”
“Five minutes?” Jerry said. “That’s not much time for good-byes. We still need to find a place for Jennifer to stay.” He looked at Erica. She had missed the use of her alias. The slip up grew into an uncomfortable silence with only one possible end.
“You can stay with me!” Brae clapped her hands, the excited hostess. “I’m sure you have lots of questions and I can tell you all about the kingdom. I can show you around town. We can even go to court and see the king.”
“I can see the king right there,” Erica pointed behind the group as Elias walked by greeting the people on the street.
Brae giggled and took Erica’s hand. “Come on.”
“Thanks,” Erica resisted the tugging at her arm. “I was going to head back to Durango and wait for my brave knight’s triumphant return.”
“What? Oh, they won’t let you do that,” Brae said.
“What do you mean?” Jerry asked.
“Whenever a party goes out, they close the gates. We would never do it, but some of the women might take the chance to run off and meet their husbands on the outside. By keeping everyone here, they think everyone will come back to work out their contract. Everyone stays inside the walls.”
Erica looked to Jerry. “They can’t do that.”
“Sure they can,” Brae said. “Kings can do anything. But don’t worry. You can stay with me.”
“I really …”
“No, it’ll be fun. Like a slumber party. It’s been years since I’ve had a girlfriend stay over.”
Chewy barked.
“Your lion can come, too. Come on. We’ll drop the boys off and then I’ll show you the place.” Brae took her by the hand and the four new friends started towards the rising black soot of the train’s engine.
“This just keeps getting worse,” Erica said too low for Jerry to hear, but she knew he agreed.
NINE
So much had been lost in the devastation of the earth that one could hardly keep a list. It ended many cities, countless lives and more than a few famous landmarks. Some of those targeted had made sense. Symbolic targets like the Statue of Liberty, Mount Vernon and the St. Louis arch were obvious attacks at the American psyche and the St. Louis psyche. But others were obviously targeted out of spite. What other purpose would there be to fire ten nuclear missiles in to the Grand Canyon other than someone just looking to be a dick about things?
In addition to wiping out the population and many great attractions, it was generally believed that small talk had also been obliterated. At the very least it was a lost art that most agreed should stay lost. All talk, especially chitchat, had a purpose. Banter was used to determine if a stranger was a threat. However, this posed a problem for the survivors. There were no sports left to discuss and the weather was almost always hot and miserable or cold and miserable and it shifted so quickly between the two that no one felt comfortable commenting on the day without having any kind of idea what tomorrow was going to be like. There was no TV to di
scuss. No movies to hate. No NPR. Once the feed of information had stopped, people found it difficult to sound informed. And since no one ever wanted to sound stupid, breeze shooting stopped.
Small talk had been replaced by a general reminiscence that people called “remember when.” “Remember when there was electricity?” “Remember when we could crap indoors?” “Remember when mutants didn’t roam the land trying to eat your face off?”
Shane had been playing this game for the better part of an hour and had covered everything from appliances to favorite desserts. Jerry did his best to pass his turns and get some rest as the train lumbered on to Durango.
The ten conscripts were ushered into a single car and they milled about as the train rolled south. They weren’t alone. Sir Dominic and three other knights sat along the bench refusing to share the seat with the men from the mines. They cited smell as the main reason for not wanting them near. When that failed, they pulled class into the argument.
“Sitting is for citizens,” they laughed. “If you’re lucky, maybe you can sit on the ride back.”
The knights weren’t there to guard him this time. The only passenger they were concerned with rode at the end of the train in a private car. The prince and the man in black had not said a thing to the conscripts at the station. They had passed by without a word, stepped in the private car and slammed the door behind them.
It seemed fitting. The day had been nothing but assholes and train rides, so Jerry sat on the floor with his head against the wall and did his best to rest.
Shane wouldn’t let him.
“So, Brae says she knows you from before the world went to hell.”
“It’s been a long time,” was the best noncommittal answer he could give. Jerry didn’t recognize the girl, but that didn’t mean anything. He was bad with faces and worse with names. He figured once everything blew up he was off the hook for remembering anybody and purged the faces and names that he could remember from his mind. He had always remembered best how people treated him, and if he had known Brae before everything fell apart, she must have been fairly indifferent to him. He couldn’t remember any specific incident, good or bad, that involved the woman.
Just before the world burned it had gone stupid with networking tools and social media. Jerry remembered getting updates from people he was never sure he knew. And if he did know them, he couldn’t remember how. In the end he accepted everyone because it was easier than trying to figure out exactly who they were. Perhaps Brae was a coworker from a job he didn’t like or a classmate of a friend or a cousin of a roommate. Everyone had been so eager to stay connected that many had forgone the formality of connecting in real life and skipped to being best pals online. The world had gotten smaller but cloudier before it blew up. Maybe his past with Brae was in one of those clouds.
“I wish I had known her before,” Shane said. “Can you imagine being able to love somebody with your full attention again? Remember when we could do that? Remember what that was like? The biggest problem use to be remembering to send flowers for no reason. Now, it’s mutants, marauders and monsters—then, if there’s time left over, love.”
Jerry nodded with an emphasis on the down-stroke, hoping that Shane would take the hint and leave him to rest. The man prattled on.
“But this could change everything. Being a citizen in Five Peaks is almost as good as it gets nowadays,” Shane said. “There aren’t many places where you can live without constantly watching your back.”
“It’s that nice?” Jerry asked.
Shane ticked off the first few reasons that came to mind. “Plenty of food. Clean water. Clothes. Real clothes—I’m still not so sure why those are hard to come by. Why does everyone dress in rags?”
“They may not be much for looks, but rags are good and broken in. You can’t put a price on comfort.”
Shane didn’t acknowledge the answer. He continued with his list. “Safety. Civility. The people are really nice.”
“Yeah, that giant dressed in black seems like a peach,” Jerry said.
“Who? The prince’s Dog?” Shane asked. “Sure, there are exceptions.”
“The prince’s Dog?”
“That’s what they call him.”
“How’d he get that nickname? Did he pee on the prince’s rug?”
Shane scowled at him and cast a quick glance to the knights. The rattle of the train kept their voices close, but Shane moved closer and spoke quieter nonetheless. “No, because he’s loyal. Get it? He’s the prince’s personal knight. His bodyguard. He’s brutal.”
“The prince must be a hell of guy to need that kind of protection.”
“Yeah. He’s …” Shane picked at the dirt under his fingernails. Clumps of the mine fell to the floor. “Mostly, the people are nice.”
“And it’s worth working in the mines?”
Shane laughed and turned his head. “We do what we have to, right? It beats wandering the wasteland. If I can give Brae a better life, then I’ll do it. I’ll do anything for her.”
Jerry smiled and thought of Erica. “It’s almost worth living through all this, isn’t it?”
Shane smiled and nodded. “It is.”
Jerry felt something strike his cheek. He turned to see one of the other conscripts with his hands raised above his head. Two others were laughing while looking for something else to throw.
“What’s their problem?” Jerry asked, picking up the small stone that had stung his face.
Shane looked at the men. “Them? Oh, nothing. They just hate you.”
“I’m glad it’s nothing then.” He tossed the stone through the open side of the car.
“Don’t take it personal. They’ve spent years in the mine waiting for their chance at citizenship. The way they see it, they’ve paid their dues.”
“And I just waltz in off the track?”
“Exactly. So it’s not you they hate. It’s just everything about you.”
“As long as it’s not personal.”
“Nah, I wouldn’t worry about it,” Shane said. “It won’t come to much. Some light ribbing. One or two may try to kill you. But it’s not really you they hate.”
The brakes whined and the train began to slow. The knights stood from the bench and moved to the edge of the car, kicking the conscripts aside as they took up their positions.
“Well, we must be at the High Line.” Jerry moved aside to let one of the knights near the window and caught a boot in the ribs for his effort.
The four knights posted themselves at the corners of the car giving them a view of the approaching ridge as the train curved on the rail. The pink rock face ran close to the right side of the car. The knights watched.
A knight the others had called Carter shouted across the car. “See anything?”
Dominic hung out the left side of the car and searched the High Line ahead.” I don’t see anything. The bastards have gotten pretty good at hiding though.”
Jerry elbowed Shane. “You want to tell me what they’re looking for?”
“The mountain men.”
“Naturally. I figured if it wasn’t Big Foot it was mountain men.”
“They live somewhere in the forest. We’ve searched the area a hundred times. I’ve been on several parties looking for them trying to earn my citizenship. We never find them. They raid the trains from time to time looking for supplies. But I don’t understand why the knights are so jumpy. They only hit the northbound runs. Those have all the food on it.”
“So they’re just hungry people?”
“No. It’s worse than that. If they can’t get the food, they start taking people.”
“Kidnappers?”
Shane shook his head. “Cannibals. The king’s been trying to rout them since he got here. But they’re impossible to find. They disappear into the woods.”
“So the big bad sheriff has his own personal Robin Hood? How poetic.”
“If Robin Hood ate people.” Shane looked out the window. “I don’t get why th
ey’re so nervous. South bound is the milk run.”
Jerry laid his head back against the wall. “It’s the prince. I imagine a hostage like that is worth a winter’s worth of food and the knights know it.”
The train straightened around the curve and the knights lost their view. They crouched low to see as high up as possible. They drew their swords slowly and realized they had to stand back up to get their weapons free. They were just beginning to squat again when the train’s bell began to sound. It wasn’t the steady peel of a toy. It was hectic and without rhythm. The engineer was pulling the cord as fast as he could.
The knights began shouting, “Where are they?”
Another knight, Jerry hadn’t caught his name, answered with the unhelpful, “I can’t see them.”
“Of course you can’t see them, there’s a fucking cliff in our way,” one called Sir Erik barked like he was in charge of the unit. Jerry wasn’t sure if knights had rank. He always assumed they answered only to the king. But there was a lot he didn’t know about how a kingdom based on shoddy Renaissance fair history was run. Even now he wasn’t sure if it was official or if Erik happened to be the brightest of the four.
Several thumps sounded on the car’s roof followed by footsteps racing to the rear of the train. The knights stared at the roof and followed the sound, unable to do anything but shout at it.
Sir Dominic screamed the obvious, “They’re going for the prince!”
“How did they know he was here?” asked Carter.
“They must have a spy in the kingdom,” said the unnamed knight. “How else could they know?”
Sir Erik slapped Sir Nameless on the head. “Because the dumbass puts a giant flag on his damn private car.”
“I can’t even hear them now.” Dom was hanging out the window over the edge of the High Line straining to see. “We’ve got to stop them.”
Sir Nameless backed away from the window. “I really hate this part. Why can’t they attack when we’re not moving? Or so high up?”
“We’ve got to do it.” Dominic struggled to put his sword in the scabbard to prepare for the climb to the roof.
Knights of the Apocalypse (A Duck & Cover Adventure Post-Apocalyptic Series Book 2) Page 8