He leaned in close.
Chewy pulled at her hand. It was all Erica could do to assure the dog she was safe. Was she safe?
The smell of his breath was a combination of things she’d rather not think about. He whispered. “The question is, will I fit in?” He smiled again.
Erica had seen her share of creepiness over the last few years. But nothing had made her skin crawl like this man. But she held her composure and whispered back, “I don’t understand.”
“Oh,” Tommy smiled. “I think you do.”
Erica shook her head. “I really don’t. Are you saying you don’t fit in?”
“What? That’s not …”
She put on her sad eyes. “Tommy, are you worried that people don’t like you?”
“Of course not,” Tommy said, losing his horrid accent. “People love me. They think I’m adorable.”
“Oh, that’s why you put on the simpleton act. Very smart.”
“I’m not a simpleton … no one’s acting around here! People like me for who I am.”
“So why are you wondering if you’ll fit in?”
Watching Tommy try to outthink the booze was almost amusing. The liquor had him outnumbered and more than a decent head start. “I’m not … It’s …” He gave up and growled at the girl.
Chewy growled louder and almost pulled Erica’s shoulder free of the socket.
Tommy fell back against the wall with his hands up by his chest. It took him a moment to find his anger again. “You won’t always have that monster with you. The king is a man of his word, but when your boy fails to deliver the princess, all bets will be off and I’ll be back.”
Erica held Chewy back as Tommy stumbled down the hallway and into the staircase. As soon as he was out of sight, the dog’s hackles settled and the growling stopped.
She pushed the door open and stepped inside. Brae was wrapped in a sheet and sitting on the edge of the bed with her back to the door.
“Really?” Erica asked.
Brae didn’t turn. “You’re early.”
“Sir Thomas the idiot?”
“Don’t judge me,” Brae said. “You have no idea.”
“If you’re going to hook up with a knight, you should at least find one that would win an argument with his own shadow.”
Brae snapped, “It’s not like that.”
“That’s what it looks like to me. What else could it …oh God, you’re a whore.”
Brae burst into tears. Chewy ran to the bed and set her head in the sobbing girl’s lap. Brae jumped at first but soon rested her hand on the large furry head and began to scratch behind her ears.
“I mean, they’re making you be a whore. Aren’t they?”
After a moment of pet therapy, Brae began to explain. “Shane works the mines. I work the beds. That’s the only reason we get to stay. Otherwise, they’d throw us back out into the wild. I can’t live out there, Jen.”
Erica nodded to remind herself that she was also Jen. She hadn’t practiced nicknames.
Brae continued. “I can’t be out there. I guess I’m a city girl. I almost died when we had to leave our home back east.” She stiffened up. “So I do what I have to. I’m a survivor. I didn’t want you to know. I didn’t want Jerry to know. I was hoping that the boys would be back with the princess and we’d all be citizens and all of this would be in the past.”
Chewy whimpered and Brae turned to look Erica in the eye. “But who am I fooling? Even if I was a citizen, I couldn’t stay here. They’d never treat me as anything but a whore. You’ve seen it. I know you have. You’ve seen how the women look at me. They look at me as if I’d slept with their husbands.” Brae hung her head. “And who can blame them. I probably have.”
The tears began to pour as she talked about her husband. She stammered and gasped. What she said barely escaped as words. “And Shane, how could he stay with me? Even now, how can he be with me? It makes no sense.”
“Because he loves you. Men in love act stupid all the time. You know that.”
“He’s such a good man. I don’t deserve him.”
“You’re very lucky.”
Brae nodded. “And you, too. Jerry was always the nicest guy.”
Erica picked up a housecoat and draped it over Brae’s shoulders. “Look. Shane and Mike,” she stressed Mike, “will be back. They’ll have rescued the stupid princess and then we’ll all leave together.”
“But we owe … we can’t just leave without paying back what we owe.”
Erica shook her head. “It won’t be a problem. We’ll have enough to get Shane out of the mines, you out of bed and send you both back east.”
“You’d do that? For us? But you barely know us.”
“Any friend of Mike’s, right?” Erica winked.
Brae smiled but it faded fast. “What if Tommy’s right? What if they’re not coming back?”
“You’d be surprised at what Mike can do.”
A knock at the door sent Brae hunting for her clothes. She wiped the tears and tried to will away the stammering. “That will be the girls.”
A growl came from the other side of the door—a woman’s voice trying to impersonate a man impersonating a Viking, “FEAST!”
“Let them in,” Brae said as she disappeared into the bathroom. “I’ll be out when I can stop these stupid tears.”
Erica crossed the hotel room and opened the door. The five women flooded in the room as if they had all been leaning on the door. The smell of alcohol followed them like a lost puppy and filled the small room.
“FEAST!” Sandra said again. “Hey, why aren’t you guys ready?”
“Just be a minute,” Brae shouted from behind the bathroom door.
“She’ll just be a minute,” Erica echoed.
The girls spread out around the room. A couple flopped on the bed while exclaiming “Wheee” on the way down. One of them tried to pull Erica with her but was too drunk to grab her wrist and fall at the same time. She landed with a thwump. “You’re going to love tonight, Jennifer. When was the last time you had a girls’ night out?”
“It’s been a long time,” Erica answered.
“Well, this is going to be a good one. I know this guy at the Gallopin’ Stallion. He’s going to hook us all up tonight.”
The bathroom door opened and Brae stepped out in a sleek evening dress. She had managed to wipe the tears away, but her cheeks were still puffy. “Ready to go.”
“What’s wrong, Brae?” one of the girls asked. “Have you been crying?”
“No, it’s nothing,” she said.
“You can’t lie to me,” Sandra said. “I know that look. It’s a look of emotional distress mixed with a lack of fulfillment that only a man with little stamina and less junk can give you. Tommy was here again, wasn’t he? I can tell by how disappointed you look.”
Brae’s mouth dropped open. “You can really tell that by how I look?”
“Yes,” she said. “And I saw him leaving.”
“Two-Minute Tommy?” one of the girls on the bed said. “I’m sorry, Brae.”
The one lying beside her added, “He doesn’t treat you right.”
Sandra laughed. “He doesn’t treat anyone right. He grabbed my ass when I passed him in the hallway.”
“That loser.”
“It’s okay. I grabbed his wallet.” Sandra held up a leather pouch and shook it so it jingled. “Looks like tonight is on Tiny Tommy.”
The girls laughed. Brae laughed and the sadness faded from her eyes.
THIRTEEN
Aside from the nightmare-inducing screams of the eternally tormented filling the brittle air of the dark streets of Aztec, New Mexico, the town was silent.
The cannibalistic creatures had found the conscript that got away. Cody’s screams were different than theirs. They were more human and more horrible. And while they shrieked and wailed, he only screamed in pain and horror as they ate him alive.
The remainder of the group sat by the river listening to th
e pain of every howl. They could almost pick out which limb was being chewed by the sounds Cody made.
There was one final scream of pain and the wails ended. Silence returned to the desert town.
One conscript offered a quick eulogy. “Poor bastards.”
While Jerry recovered, Shane had sent the other bodies and informed the group that all three of the conscripts had deserted the group. It had been Shane’s plan. He felt it best that the rest of the group didn’t know about the attack so he added, “Dumb bastards. That’s what they get for running off. We stick together and we’ll get out of this alive. Wander off and we’re Gravy Train.”
A young conscript named Joshua, not even twenty, asked, “What’s Gravy Train?”
Shane shook his head. “I hate you kids.”
There was a solemn silence as each man pictured themselves in the jaws of the mutants. A conscript named Patrick finally spoke. “What a terrible way to go.”
“The worst,” another agreed.
“I’ve heard of worse,” Joshua argued.
“You’ve heard of a worse death than being eaten alive?” Patrick asked. “Bullshit.”
“Oh yeah,” he defended himself. “How about Slow Worms? Being eaten alive—but for weeks. At least this is over in a matter of minutes.”
“But they’re slow worms,” Patrick said.
“So?”
“They’re even slower than normal worms. So if you get caught by slow worms you kind of deserve a horrible death. Now if you get caught in a Hellburst, no one could say you were too slow. Those things come out of nowhere.”
A grey-haired conscript named Ken let out a laugh. “Those aren’t real, you moron.”
“Of course they are!” Patrick said. “You’re standing there one second all fine and then the ground opens up and the fires of hell consume you in a split second of intense pain and probably a lot of blistering.”
“No,” Ken said. “Your dumb ass just stepped on a land mine.”
“They’re not land mines,” Patrick said, but clearly wasn’t sure.
“Of course it is.”
“It’s a geyser.” Jerry spoke quietly in hopes it would inspire the others to keep their voices down. They were getting too loud. “Hellbursts are geysers that were brought close to the surface during the bombing. Sometimes it only takes the weight of a small dog to break through. The steam will kill you before you fall through the hole.”
Patrick and Ken both turned silent. Joshua spoke up. “Sounds like you’ve been around, new guy.”
Jerry shrugged.
“Have you ever seen Heaven’s Vengeance?” the young conscript asked.
“It’s a lightning storm. Just without the rain,” Jerry said. “They were around before, but less of us saw them because we didn’t live in the desert. There was a lot less desert back then.”
“Have you ever seen a Giant?” The conscript, Colin, had stayed out of the arguments, seemingly afraid to say anything. “I saw one once. But no one believes me.”
“That’s because you’re an idiot, Colin.”
“And you’re an ass, Ken!”
They were getting louder again so Jerry spoke low. “I’ve seen them. Big, hairy mutants. Whatever made them grow also made them assholes. But if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you. For the most part.”
“Like the wolf men of the northwest. I heard they were mutated men as well.”
“Close,” Jerry said. “They were hit by a weapon they called Moreau—meant to turn animals into monsters. They were plain old wolves. And you’re definitely more afraid of them than they are of you.”
“What’s the most dangerous thing you’ve seen?” Joshua asked.
“Why do you want to play that game, Josh?” Shane asked.
“I want to know. I want to know that working in the mines is as bad as it gets.”
Jerry shook his head. “The world is full of terrible things. Giants, wolf men, mutant plants. Rumors can kill a person as easily as any creature or Hellburst. I’ve seen many die pursuing a paradise that doesn’t exist. I’ve seen others die waiting for the government to come back like they promised. We’re our own fatal flaw. Even after all that happened, we still believe in our own humanity. But that’s where the truest evil dwells. That’s why so many are willing to live under the rule of tyrants. Despite every reason they give, we want to believe they have our best interests at heart.
“This world is ruled by warlords, barons, presidents and kings. But they’re all the same. Striking at others in the name of their own. The most horrific things I’ve seen have been performed in the name of good. And, even when good men stand against evil, the result is the same—people die. Some good. Some bad. But either way, they are just as dead and then there’s one less person alive to make a difference.”
Jerry looked at Joshua. “Nothing’s changed. You want to know what the most dangerous creature is? Man is the most dangerous thing out there. We’ll be our own downfall over and over again for as long as we are willing to look the other way when a tyrant acts. And we’ll do it willingly so long as it’s our tyrant.”
The room was quiet. The wails had stopped. The men looked at one another with nothing to say.
Jerry smiled. “I’m just kidding. It’s bears.”
The men chuckled more from relief than humor. Jerry wasn’t trying to make them laugh, he was trying to shut them up until the princess arrived. He put a finger to his lips and walked to the edge of the river. A whitewater raft—bright yellow and hardly subtle—approached from upstream.
The Animas ran shallow beneath the bridge and it had only taken one red Volvo to pinch the river in their favor and narrow the passageway beneath the bridge. The conscripts lay in wait behind rusted hulks on either side of the Animas clutching their rusted weaponry with fierce grips. They expected an army. Their enemies had penetrated the kingdom’s walls and abducted one of its most guarded citizens. Bare minimum, they would be facing an elite group of fighters and the group prepared themselves for a savage battle.
There were two of them. Even Jerry was surprised to see the boat so empty. It floated up to the shoreline with only a man and a princess inside.
The conscripts rushed the boat from all sides. Patrick tackled the man from the boat before he could react. The two splashed into the river and came up gasping for breath almost instantly, gasping and trying to climb out of the freezing water.
Jerry and Shane pulled the woman ashore and put themselves between her and her abductor as they watched Patrick and the kidnapper take shiver-driven high steps to escape the cold river. The kidnapper got there first and put a foot in Patrick’s chest. He kicked the conscript back into the water.
Ken rushed in to attack the kidnapper. A wet hand struck him across the face and knocked him to the ground as the kidnapper jumped to his feet.
Colin stepped in to fight and backed away a moment later gripping his stomach. The conscript fell to the ground. His gasps turned to cries as he discovered the blood flowing from his gut.
The kidnapper held a bloody knife in his hand and turned towards the girl.
Ken scrambled back as the kidnapper turned on him with the knife.
Josh struck from behind. The young conscript brought the kidnapper to the ground and began punching the man in the back of the head.
The girl screamed, not in horror but fear. She darted between the two men and rushed to the fallen kidnapper.
Josh rolled the man over, drew his own blade and raised the knife above his head to strike.
The princess kicked Josh in the face and sent him rolling toward the water. She stood between the conscripts and the man on the ground as he got to his feet.
Joshua sprang back on to the shore. He still had the knife in his hand.
The princess leapt between her kidnapper and the boy with a short rapier in hand. She whipped the blade through the air. It whistled.
Joshua tried to step beside her to get the man but she mirrored his every move. “Mo
ve, lady!”
Jerry stepped in between the princess and the conscript. “Stop it, Josh.”
“What the hell are you doing?” the young conscript asked.
“Look at her,” Jerry said.
Anna, princess of the Kingdom of the Five Peaks, wore perfectly the look of a pissed off princess. Golden hair raged across her face. Anger had forced a sweat in the cold night and the beads ran over skin that had never known the merciless sun of the wasteland. With her brow furrowed and her teeth bared, she all but growled, daring any man to move against her or the man behind her.
Jerry pulled the knife from Joshua’s hand. “She’s not being kidnapped. She’s being rescued.”
The men on the shore weren’t sure how to react. No one moved in. Most lowered their weapons. Patrick splashed from the river and froze at the edge of the bank shivering. Colin moaned about the stab wound in his stomach.
“Who cares?” Patrick asked. “I don’t care what she’s doing here. I wasn’t sent here to solve a mystery. I was told to bring back a princess. Period.”
She did not have the timid voice of a fairy book princess. It was fierce. “I’m never going back.”
“Sure you are, princess,” Patrick said, before taking one too many steps towards her.
The slash caught him across the face and he stumbled back to the shoreline.
Pulling his hand from his cheek revealed a four-inch trail of blood. Rage flashed across the conscript’s face, but he hesitated to make another move. He stood there shivering and bleeding.
The kidnapper was a young man no older than the princess herself. He got to his feet wielding a second sword and stood beside the princess.
Princess Anna continued. “I’m not going back to that bastard. I won’t spend another day with him. Not another moment. I’m going home or I’m going to hell, but I’m not going back.”
Shane lowered the sword. “I think she means it, guys.”
“Have it your way, Princess,” Patrick said. “But first you’re going back to the prince.” He rushed towards the girl.
Jerry stepped in and kicked him in the chest. This sent him back into the river. “Let’s think this through.”
Knights of the Apocalypse (A Duck & Cover Adventure Post-Apocalyptic Series Book 2) Page 12