Forager - the Complete Six Book Series (A Post Apocalyptic/Dystopian Series)

by Peter R Stone

  "Oh don't be ridiculous, Father," I'd snapped back. "Who do you think took out the Japanese Ranger squad that broke into Newhome last night? I did."

  "If that was true, why are the Custodians trying to arrest you? Seriously, Son, I don't know you anymore. You're life went to pieces when you met that girl in '20, and within days of her being back in your life, you've become a stranger to me, doing all these absurdly ridiculous things. When are you going to open your eyes and see that she's destroying your life?"

  "This hasn't got anything to do with her!"

  "Really? Then why are the Custodians claiming that both of you are working undercover for Hamamachi?" he'd demanded, eyes wild with rage. "I did everything for you, Son, spared no expense, and this is how you repay me, by becoming a traitor?"

  "I'm not a..."

  "You've become an embarrassment to me! I never want to see or hear from you again - I never even want to hear your name mentioned in my presence - now leave me alone!" and with that he'd hurried away without a backward glance. My own father had denied me, cut me off; chosen to believe Custodians lies rather than the truth from me.

  David's voice suddenly shocked me out of my reverie. "You find out anything about Nanako while you were out?"

  I stopped pacing but only glanced briefly in his direction when I answered. "She's to be executed on the charge of espionage at midday."

  "What?" David said, jumping to his feet in dismay.

  "They can't do that - she's innocent!" Shorty protested.

  "They've been gunning for her since the day we got back," I spat.

  "What are we gonna do?" David said, walking over to me.

  A crazy plan suddenly took shape in my mind, so I picked up the backpack of C4 explosives and detonators I had taken from the Rangers. "What'll happen if we place all the explosives in this bag against Newhome's eastern wall and detonate it?"

  David took the bag from me and examined its contents thoughtfully while Leigh and Shorty edged slowly away. "You want to blow a hole in the wall, Jones?"

  "Yeah, a really big one. Is there enough C4 there to do that?"

  "I reckon so, but why would you do that? Won't that let the Skel into Newhome?"

  "No," I replied. "Well, perhaps a few, but not for long."

  "How do you figure that?"

  "Remember what happened when the Skel blew North End's gates open and came pouring in?" I asked.

  "Every Custodian in Newhome rushed in there and eventually kicked 'em out again," David replied.

  "Exactly."

  "So what exactly are you trying to say?" David demanded.

  "I know how we can rescue Nanako, but we're gonna have to act fast. We've got less than four hours to get everything in place."

  "Okay, tell us what to do," Shorty said, bouncing forward enthusiastically.

  * * *

  It was approaching midday, and as there was no sign of Nanako yet, I was beginning to panic. If there was a delay with the execution, my plan to rescue her was going to come crashing down about my ears.

  I was in the Courthouse's Death Chamber, a square room with walls made of wooden panels, which was in the Courthouse's eastern wing where criminals were executed by lethal injection.

  Having stolen a Custodian private's uniform an hour ago - he'd wake up with a rather massive headache at some stage later today - I'd simply walked into the Courthouse. Thanks to the bulky helmet and dark shades I was wearing, no Custodians on patrol had even glanced at me.

  Half a dozen Custodians were in the Death Chamber with me, standing at attention under the wall opposite the chair. None of them had paid me the slightest bit of attention when I went and stood at attention beside them, either. The Custodians were one big, happy family.

  To the right of the Death Chamber, separated from the room by only a waist high wooden barrier, was the Witness Room. There were five women in the room, including my mother and sisters, come to offer Nanako what little comfort they could before the end. My little sister was weeping forlornly, her eyes bloodshot and red. My mother looked absolutely devastated and her hands were shaking. My older sister was seething with anger at the injustice of this absurd execution.

  Standing on the far side of the witness room were two more women, and their presence almost sent me into a murderous rage. They were Sienna King and her mother. And they weren't distressed like my family, but rather, somewhat satisfied. In fact, Sienna had an ugly, despicable smug look on her face, identical to the expression her brother had worn when he had changed the hydrogen bomb in Hamamachi to go off in five minutes.

  My deliberations were interrupted when two six-foot-tall Custodians entered the Death Chamber from the left. One was the brawny Major Harris, the blond-haired, blue-eyed menace I’d come to despise so much. The other was your typical beef-and-no-brains private. My heart leapt into my throat when I saw Nanako sandwiched between them, looking so small, weak, and dejected.

  The desire to rush over and take her in my arms was so powerful that it literally hurt. She must be going through hell right now - heartbroken over the loss of her baby two years ago and blaming herself for it; believing I'd didn't love her as she'd loved me two years ago; and as if that wasn't more than enough, she thought she was going to be executed like a common criminal in a few minutes.

  After Nanako came the executioner, a slim, small man wearing a black ski mask and baggy black clothes. I wanted to rip the mask off the coward and strangle the life out of him, though to be honest, he wasn’t the problem, but the totalitarian government he represented.

  I forced myself to breathe in and out and relax outwardly - and to wait, for if I acted prematurely, all would be lost.

  They led Nanako to the execution chair. She didn’t struggle or complain, but simply sat in the chair and stared at the floor while they strapped her wrists and ankles to the chair with leather straps.

  Major Harris stood to one side of the chair and addressed everyone present. "On the charges of carrying out espionage and acts of terrorism against the town of Newhome for the Hamamachi military, the magistrate has found Nanako Jones guilty. The sentence is execution by lethal injection, to be carried out immediately." The major looked to the witness room. "Present to witness the execution are three members of Mrs. Jones husband’s family. Her husband is not present."

  Is that right? I answered the stuck-up major in my mind.

  "Do you have any last words, Mrs. Jones?" the major asked Nanako.

  She didn’t respond, just kept staring at the floor.

  The major turned to the executioner, who stood behind him. "You may proceed."

  My youngest sister began to weep loudly and buried her face in my mother’s arms.

  My heart began to thump furiously – where was my distraction? Had David set the timer incorrectly? I watched the executioner remove a syringe from his belt, give it a slight squeeze and tap it to remove any air bubbles. I moved my hand inconspicuously to my pistol. I would shoot the executioner first, then the major, and then I’d die when the rest of the Custodians in the room shot me.

  Suddenly there was a massive BOOM and the entire building, right down to the ground, shook as though hit by a mild earthquake. The executioner stayed his hand while the major and all the Custodians looked about in concern.

  A second later their all of their radios blared to life. "The eastern wall has been breached. All Custodians not on guard tower duty are to report immediately to the eastern wall between Hampden Road and Wolseley Parade, pending imminent Skel attack."

  The major swore. "You heard the order, men, to the barracks and kit up – double time!"

  I felt like a cobra, coiled and ready to strike, but I couldn’t move until the Custodians left the Courthouse. And they were all going, even the one who brought Nanako out from her cell.

  The major suddenly realised I hadn’t moved. "Private, you were given an order!"

  The Courthouse door banged shut as the last Custodian left the building.

  "Yes sir!" I shout
ed, and then I moved, but at a sprint and straight for the major.

  "Jones?" he stammered with disbelief, fumbling to draw his pistol and aim it at me.

  I couldn’t let him fire or the shot would bring the recently departed Custodians running back inside, so I executed a jump left-foot roundhouse kick and sent his gun spinning out of his grip, where it flew across the wooden barrier and into the Witness Room.

  Having recovered from his surprise at my presence, the major, who was considerably larger than me, punched me squarely in the chest with his left hand. Luckily, I was wearing a bulletproof jacket, but the blow still sent pain shooting through my chest and caused me to I stagger back.

  "Think you can best me, do you, Jones?" the major mocked as he began hammering me with his fists. I blocked and redirected his punches as well as I could, but he was like an iron threshing machine, and the bruises began mounting up.

  "Gotta say, Jones," the major sneered as he continued to attack - no, toy - with me, "Hounding you two from the day you got back has been a blast. Vandalising your flat, calling in a squad to arrest you when you were wining and dining on top of your apartment block that night - these things were all part of a carefully laid out plan. You see, we suspected from the beginning that you lot only came back to spy and carry out acts of sedition or sabotage, so we've been watching you around the clock and pushing you as hard as we could push, trying to goad you into showing your true colours."

  I was shocked at the major's admission, but not overly so - Consultant Singhe told me at the beginning that they suspected we were spies. I'd just never connected the dots.

  "You want to know the truth, Major?" I replied as I tried to block his latest flurry of punches. "We came back here to stop Newhome and Hamamachi from destroying each other. And that's exactly what we've been doing. I'm the one who killed the Rangers last night who David was blackmailed into letting into the town, and David and I are the ones who shot your precious nuke into the middle of the ocean. If you weren't so blind you'd see that I've had the town's best interests at heart all along."

  I glanced at Nanako, strapped in the execution chair and unable to move. She was frowning in confusion as she watched the major and me fight, as though she couldn't quite register what was going on. And seeing her innocent, agonised expression, I was galvanised into action to save her. I stepped into the major’s next punch, drove my knee into his groin and then sent him reeling back with a flurry of jabs to the face. After that I delivered a palm strike to his jaw, putting my entire body behind the blow.

  Caught by surprise, the major lost his balance and fell backwards towards the wall beside the execution chair.

  The executioner stepped quickly out of the major's path, but at the same time, he placed the syringe against the wall so that the major fell against it, driving the plunger all the way home. The major bellowed in pain and bounced away from the syringe and the wall, and then turned to stare at the executioner in confusion. He struggled to remain standing, but then his knees gave way and he crumpled to the floor, where he fell still.

  Convinced the executioner had stuck the syringe in the major's path deliberately, I examined him more closely and was surprised to see Bhagya Singhe's eyes staring back at me from within the ski mask. This girl was quite the master of deception.

  "He will wake in a few hours, it was only an anaesthetic," Bhagya whispered.

  "Anaesthetic?" I whispered back, surprised.

  "I wasn't sure if you were going to make it," she explained, "So this was my attempt to save Nanako – I drugged the real executioner to oblivion this morning."

  "Thank you," I said, touched that I'd found such an ally, and then rushed over to Nanako, knelt in front of her, and began to undo the leather straps that tied her to the chair.

  "I didn't think you'd come," Nanako said slowly, as though the very act of speaking pained her.

  "Well of course I was going to come, Silly."

  "But you were so angry with me," she said, searching out my eyes.

  "I was angry at first because you didn't trust me enough to tell me what happened to you after you were sent back to Hamamachi. I was angry because you didn't believe I'd stick by your side regardless of what had happened," I said as I began loosening the straps at her ankles.

  "But I thought you'd blame me for losing the baby too, and as you already tried to leave me once by attempting suicide, I was sure you'd leave me if you found out about the baby and my months in that hospital."

  I had untied her wrists and ankles, so I took her small hands in mine. "You can stop worrying that I may have attempted suicide two years ago, because I've remembered what happened now, and I didn't."

  A spark of life returned to her eyes. "What?"

  "I remember why I joined the Rangers now. A man, I don't recall who yet, asked me to infiltrate them and find out what they had done to stop the Skel attacking Hamamachi lands. It turned out the Rangers were rounding up refugees coming to Hamamachi looking for shelter and were handing them over to the Skel to be their slaves. In return, the Skel left Hamamachi lands and citizens alone. But when my Ranger squad tried to hand over a group of refugees, I attempted to stop them by attacking the Skel. The Rangers then tried to kill me, so I shot them in self-defence. The next thing I recall is waiting for the person who asked me to infiltrate the Rangers. But when he came, he pretended to help me but then shot me instead, saying he had no choice. He must have staged it to look like a suicide."

  "Are you sure this is what really happened?" she asked, the tortured expression that had taken over her face for the past few days beginning to soften.

  "Positive," I answered, "In fact, the answer had been staring us in the face the whole time. I'm right handed, but I was shot in the left side of the head, so I couldn't have done it myself. And the Ranger corporal must have figured that out, for didn't he keep asking you if I'd mentioned who'd shot me?"

  Nanako nodded slowly as her exhausted mind processed this liberating information.

  I lifted her chin so that our eyes met, and spoke softly so that only she could hear me. "I want you to listen to me now, and listen good. I told you I must have loved you back then as much as I do now, and I was right - I did. There was one thought and one thought only in my mind when this mystery person put the gun to my head to shoot me, and that thought was you."

  "Really?" she asked, her eyes becoming moist with tears.

  "Yes. And Nanako, I don't care that you spent a year without stepping a foot outside your bedroom, I don't care that you have lapses into anxiety attacks or depression, I don't care that you spent three months in a mental hospital, and I don't blame you in the slightest little bit that you had a miscarriage. Because when I look at you, I see a girl who has had the odds stacked against her, who has suffered more than anyone should ever have to suffer, and yet with courage and determination, has clawed herself out of that miry pit, got her life back together, and then came to Newhome to get back with her husband. So from now on, stop being so hard on yourself and stop looking at yourself through the distorted glasses of how you view your past. Start looking at yourself through my eyes - and when I see you I see the most amazing person I've ever met. Okay?"

  She rewarded me with one of her beautiful upside down smiles and put her arms around my neck. "Okay."

  "And now," I said, smiling because of the oppressive load that was finally lifted from our backs, I stood and pulled her to her feet. "We gotta go before someone comes looking for the major."

  I put my arm around her narrow waist to support her, as her legs were still a little wobbly after her near death experience, and we headed for the exit. We didn't get very far, though, because my mother and sisters hopped over the Waiting Room's wooden barrier and rushed over to us.

  "I'm so glad you're okay, Sister-in-Law," my younger sister said through sobs of joy.

  "You did well, Son," my mother said, though she was still very worried, "But what will you do now? Once that crisis over at the wall is over, they won't
stop looking until they find you."

  I gave my mother's hand a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry, Mother, we're gonna leave the town."

  "What? No!" Younger Sister complained.

  "It's the only way," I said.

  "But will we ever see you again?" she pressed, crying again.

  "I don't know when, or how, but yes, most definitely," I replied with far more confidence that I felt. For as long as the Council and Custodians were in power, there was no way we four could ever return here.

  "Hey, did you know Elder Sister’s getting married?" she added quickly.

  "Really?" I asked, delighted. "To Trajan, right?"

  My mother and younger sister nodded. "Congratulations, Elder Sister," I said. I wanted to give her a hug or squeeze her hand, but I could tell this topic was causing her discomfort, so I let it go at that.

  My mother pulled Younger Sister back from us. "You need to go, Son."

  Nanako and I gave quick hugs to my mother and sisters and turned to leave, but then fell back a step, for Sienna King stood between us and the exit, and was pointing Major Harris' gun at Nanako.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  "What are you doing, Sienna?" I snarled angrily as I quickly stepped in front of Nanako.

  "Nanako is a Hamamachi spy and terrorist - she's been convicted! There is no way I am going to let you simply walk her out of here," she hissed.

  "Oh don't be stupid, they trumped up those charges just to get at me," I spat.

  Sienna tightened her grip on the pistol, which was now aimed at my heart. "She has been given the death sentence, and I am going to make sure she gets it!"

  My mother and sisters held tightly to each other, watching this new altercation with renewed concern.

  "How can your heart be so black and full of murderous intent, Sienna? This has nothing to do with Nanako's phony death sentence; this is you wanting her dead because she slighted you, nothing more."

  Sienna glared at me, her beautiful face still marred by hatred and resentment. "She didn’t slight me, Ethan, she completely humiliated me, she destroyed my life!"