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

by Peter R Stone

  "I thought..." How could I explain I didn’t tell her because I didn’t want to embarrass her, when she was just gonna tell me off again for not telling her the memory had returned.

  "Just tell me what you remembered," she demanded gruffly.

  I shot a glance in her direction, and quailed when I saw how pale she was. "I remembered being up on your neighbour's roof and watching the ocean, when your two families came out, and then after Ken's parents left, I heard you and Ken talking."

  Nanako turned her head to face me. "How much of the conversation did you remember?"

  "All of it, I think."

  "For example."

  "Such as his lame reasons for wanting to marry you, and your reasons for rejecting him."

  Nanako ran a bloody hand over her face. "Of all the things to remember, couldn't you have found something better than that? That would have to be one of the most embarrassing moments in my life, all the more so 'cause you heard."

  "Really? How so?"

  "'Cause I had the hots for you, you big doofus," she said humourlessly. "Can you imagine how I felt, knowing you'd heard him say he wanted to marry me because he felt sorry for me?"

  "And because you've got a great body, don't forget that one," I added, trying to raise a laugh.

  "How could I?" she moaned, my attempt at humour falling flat.

  I kept trying to engage her in conversation as our three-truck convoy meandered slowly down the Princes Highway, heading for Inverloch. I needed to keep her talking, but she didn't feel like it thanks to the pain, and because she was still mad at me. In the end, I concluded she wasn't going into shock, and abandoned attempts at conversation.

  I couldn't see a great deal of the passing countryside as we drove, since it was so dark and the lone headlight was doing such a poor job, but I kept my wits about me even so, trying to match up the landmarks I could recognise with what I'd learned about the areas we were travelling through. Having a forager background was paying off big time now. I mean, I hadn't been here before, but like all Newhome foragers, had studied maps of Melbourne and its surrounds extensively.

  So I knew when we passed through the centre of Dandenong, a large, sprawling shopping district that had definitely seen better days, and then as we continued east and went past the dark shapes of abandoned car dealerships and empty warehouses, I knew we were close to our turn off. All the same, I almost missed it, driving half way across the intersection with the South Gippsland Freeway before I realised that this was the turnoff I'd been looking for.

  I managed a clumsy right turn, and with Shorty and Leigh following me – their headlights worked, at least – we headed due south. Several minutes later, the South Gippsland Freeway intersected with the Bass Highway, as indicated by an ancient, dirt encrusted sign at the edge of the road. I moved onto the Bass Highway, and drove southeast. We passed through the suburbs of Lyndhurst and Cranbourne, and then finally, we left the houses behind and entered the countryside, with great trees pressing right up to the edges on both sides of the divided road.

  Nanako suddenly cried out in pain and doubled over, clutching her midriff.

  "What's wrong?" I asked hurriedly, using flash sonar to glance at her in the dark. She was even paler than before.

  "Stomach cramps," she said, looking up at me worriedly.

  "Toilet break?" I asked, preparing to stop.

  "No, not like that. It's like..." and her voice trailed off.

  "Yes?"

  "Feels exactly like last time, you know, when I had a miscarriage," she admitted slowly, her voice wavering. She tried to find my eyes in the dark – she knew I could see her – and then reached and gripped my left forearm in a vicelike grip.

  My world came crumbling down about my ears. If she was indeed having a miscarriage, I would have to leave her soon, rather than put her through such misery again. So much for hoping Madison might be wrong. So much for wanting more time with Nanako before I had to make this horrific decision. But maybe, just maybe...

  I turned to her and asked quickly, "What do we do – if we get you to a doctor soon enough, can they prevent the miscarriage?"

  "Won't make any difference," she said, grimacing as another cramp ripped through her.

  I refused to believe that, and besides, she needed to get that bullet taken out. So I pressed down on the accelerator, anxious to get to Inverloch as soon as possible, even though it was still several hours away. Not to mention we'd have to approach Inverloch from the north, for if we used the Bass Highway to get there, we'd pass through Hamamachi lands and the Rangers would be sure to spot us.

  Nanako squeezed my arm. "Don't drive so fast – if you crash or drive us off the road we ain't gonna get there at all."

  "Okay," I said, easing off the accelerator slightly.

  I gave my attention back to the road, but at that moment, the area directly ahead of us suddenly lit up brighter than day as a whole host of dazzling lights temporarily blinded me. I slammed on the brakes and the rickety old truck juddered and groaned, coming to a stop directly in front of the source of those terribly intense lights.

  "The drivers will step out of the vehicles and lie face down on the ground!" boomed a commanding, rugged voice that seemed to originate from all around us. "Do it now!"

  "Rangers!" Nanako wailed.

  "But how did they find us?" I asked as I frantically tried to see past the blinding lights. I used flash sonar and made out the shapes of three large black 4WDs directly in front of us, as well as the imposing figures of several Rangers surrounding us with assault rifles aimed at us.

  "I don't know, but we'd better do as they say, and quickly," Nanako urged.

  My hand strayed towards my bow, which was propped against the seat between us, as I considered my chances of success if I was to take on the Rangers.

  "No!" Nanako cautioned me as she grabbed my hand and pushed it away from the bow. "They'll kill you."

  I opened the truck door and was in the process of clambering out when a hand grabbed me and flung me to the ground.

  "Face down and put your hands behind your back!"

  I did as instructed, and then stifled a cry when the Ranger placed a knee in the middle of my back while he quickly slapped a set of handcuffs on me. "Lieutenant, it's Jones, I've got him," he hollered once he was done.

  "'Bout time. Cuff him," replied the lieutenant with a voice that had obviously been overused.

  "Already done."

  "Where's Hirano?"

  "In the truck, Sir; looks like she's been injured," the Ranger replied.

  "My name's Jones," I heard Nanako protest weakly from within the truck. I wondered why they were calling her by her maiden name while lamenting I'd never felt so helpless, lying face down on the dusty road with my hands cuffed behind my back.

  "Get her out!" the lieutenant instructed.

  "My wife she needs immediate medical..." I tried to say to my captor as I twisted around in an attempt to see him.

  The Ranger booted me in the ribs, cutting me off mid sentence. "Silence!"

  I heard another Ranger haul Nanako out of the cab, and the blighter was none too gentle about it, going by the way she cried out. She was dropped unceremoniously on the ground beside me, where she whimpered and sobbed.

  "On your stomach and put your hands behind your back, Hirano!" this second Ranger ordered angrily.

  "It's Jones," Nanako objected again.

  "She's been shot in the leg, you stupid losers!" I shouted, incensed at the cruel manner with which they were treating her. All that achieved was another boot to the ribs. And while I writhed about on the ground, I saw the Ranger pull Nanako's arms behind her back and cuff her. He didn't force her onto her stomach though, but left her curled up on her side in a foetal position.

  I heard more shouting from other Rangers as they moved down the line of trucks, and I watched from the corner of my eye as they ordered Shorty, David and Leigh out of the trucks, after which they searched the cabs and confiscated all of our bows
and arrows.

  The slaves were told to remain in the trucks, and it was with some satisfaction I noticed they didn't single out Madison, nor find her rifle. She must have pretended to be a slave. Clever girl. I hoped she would get an opportunity to escape before they get to Skel territory.

  Once the cabs had been cleared of weapons, I heard the Ranger lieutenant order Shorty, David and Leigh back into the trucks, and that they'd be driving the convoy back to Skel country. A Ranger hopped into the truck that I'd been driving. And then, with one black 4WD leading the way, the three trucks turned around and headed back the way we'd come.

  We'd failed.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  I deflated like a popped balloon as I watched the trucks recede into the night. I couldn't even begin to imagine how Jack and Beth and the rest of the slaves must be feeling right now. To have experienced the incomparable elation of escaping the Skel, only to be caught and dragged straight back there, was just too cruel. My heart went out to them and I wished there was something, anything, I could do to save them from this fate. Furthermore, my three fellow foragers, my friends, were being shipped back to become Skel slaves, to be underfed, mistreated, and worked to death. And then there was Nanako and I – what was to become of us? The Ranger colonel was overly keen to get his hands on me alive, which surely couldn't be good. No doubt he wanted to grill me over what had happened two years ago when I wiped out my own Ranger team, and then there was that small matter of me killing the Ranger sniper he'd sent to terrorize Newhome last year.

  "Right," boomed the lieutenant after the trucks had disappeared from view, "bag these two; the Colonel wants to see 'em."

  A Ranger stomped over to me, pulled a black bag over my head – which had absolutely no effect if I echolocated – and dragged me roughly to my feet.

  They bagged Nanako too, but they abandoned their attempt to pull her to her feet when she cried out in agony, clutching at her leg and stomach.

  "Go easy on her, you heartless morons – she needs a doctor!" I cried out.

  "Just stick her on the back seat," the lieutenant growled.

  So while I was manhandled forcefully into one of two remaining 4WD's front passenger seats, two Rangers picked up Nanako and dumped her on her side in the back seat behind me, where she curled into a ball, moaning softly. One Ranger sat beside her while another climbed into the driver's seat.

  "Lieutenant," I called out before the Ranger closed his door. "I demand you take Nanako to a hospital immediately."

  The lieutenant stuck his head in the door. "You ain't in no position to demand anything, Jones."

  "There's..." I hesitated, for I didn't want to shout Nanako's condition out to the world, but I didn't have a choice. "She's pregnant, but something's wrong. Please, you gotta take her to a hospital."

  "We're taking you two to see the Colonel, end of conversation," the lieutenant snapped, and he slammed the car door shut and strode to the other 4WD with the five Rangers.

  "How are you, Nana-chan?" I asked as the drivers started up the cars and did a one-eighty before speeding down the Bass Highway, presumably heading for Hamamachi.

  "It hurts," she replied.

  "No talking," growled the Ranger driver beside me.

  I looked at him with flash sonar, wondering if I'd met him before. He was a clean-shaven, totally bald Japanese man in his early thirties. Slim, but muscular. And with an aura that radiated a callous disposition.

  "What have you got against me?" I snapped.

  "You killed Sergeant Tamura," he hissed.

  "That was in self-defence – he was trying to kill me," I replied, which was true. We'd taken Tamura and Reina prisoner and were taking them back to Newhome when he'd attacked us. If I hadn't thrown my knife at him, he would have shot me.

  "You broke the Ranger code, Jones – we never turn on our own."

  "In case you don't remember, I was discharged from the Rangers on medical grounds. You know, after I was shot in the head and suffered from amnesia as a result."

  "Bullocks, Jones. You were never discharged. Besides, everyone knows you tried to pop yourself after your team was wiped out, so your injuries are your own fault. Or have you forgotten you did that too?"

  This was a conversation I wasn't gonna have, for if I admitted to the Ranger that I hadn't attempted suicide, he'd start putting together the pieces that I'd shot my own team, and that'd really land me in hot water. So I answered, "I've got no memories of the time I spent in Hamamachi."

  "Convenient."

  "You call having a hole in my head convenient?"

  "I call you a stinking traitor and a murderer; that's what I call you. Now shut up."

  "Private, can you at least get Colonel Yamada on the phone and report Nanako's condition to him? She's got nothing to do with any of this and she desperately needs medical attention," I pleaded.

  "Really? Nothing to do with all this? Then explain to me where you lot were going with three truckloads full of Skel slaves."

  "We were rescuing them."

  "And taking them where?"

  "To the hospital in Inverloch."

  "Jones – you are so full of it, you know that? Now shut up or I'll get Private Akiyama back there to shut you up. Got it?"

  I dropped all attempts at conversation then, and hoped against hope these Rangers were not animals and would get Nanako the medical assistance she needed when we got to wherever they were taking us. All the same, I was on the edge of my seat with worry for her, and every time I heard her moan, I felt a horrid sense of panic rise up within me – was she gonna be okay, what if her leg wound got infected, what if something was seriously wrong with the miscarriage that required immediate medical attention? All throughout all these tortuous 'what if' thoughts, was the knowledge that Madison was right, that we couldn't have kids, and that I'd have to leave her soon.

  We reached Hamamachi in the small hours of the morning and were taken directly to the Rangers' headquarters, a functional looking one-storey building set back from the main road not far from the Hamamachi township. I echolocated the whole time so that I could see what was happening, which was rather tiring, but it sure beat not being able to see 'cause of the stupid black bag they'd stuffed over my head.

  I was taken straight to a Spartan interrogation room near the back of the primary structure and shoved unceremoniously into a wooden chair in front of a plastic table with metal legs. A one-way glass viewing-window took up much of the right wall, but as it was soundproofed, I couldn't see through it to see if anyone was in the observation room beyond.

  "What have you done with Nanako?" I demanded as soon as the private pulled off my hood.

  "Don't know, don't care," he snarled.

  The lieutenant strolled into the interrogation room, closed the door behind him, and sat in the chair opposite me. "Okay Jones, it's question and answer time. Cooperate, and this'll go smoothly. Don't cooperate, and it won't."

  "Where's my wife?"

  "Medic's digging the bullet out of her leg..."

  "What? I told you there are complications with her pregnancy – she needs a doctor, a hospital!"

  "That's none of my concern. Now, to my questions. Where's Reina Sato?"

  "You're not getting anything out of me until Nanako's been seen to by a suitable doctor."

  The lieutenant nodded, and the private beside me smashed his fist into the side of my jaw, sending waves of pain shooting through my head and blood into my mouth.

  The lieutenant leaned forward. "What happened to the team we sent into Newhome to retrieve the second nuke – Lieutenant Nakano, Corporal Sato, and privates Maeda, Miyazaki, and Kimura."

  "My wife, the hospital," I said, glaring defiantly up at him.

  He nodded, and the muscular private beside me struck me across the face. I tried to ride the blow, but the pain was immense all the same.

  "Corporal Sato sent us a text message saying that the nuke was to be fired into the ocean – and we saw it go – but that was the last time
we heard from her or any member of her team. What happened to them?"

  "My wife."

  Another nod, another punch in the face.

  "Do you even know?" the lieutenant demanded, becoming frustrated.

  "Hospital."

  Another blow to my jaw. I doubled over, and spat a mouthful of blood onto the table.

  The door was suddenly wrenched open and the powerfully built Colonel Yamada strode in.

  "You'll never get him to talk like that," he said to the lieutenant.

  "Then how do we, Sir?"

  "Like this," he replied as he turned to the still open door, and added, "Bring her in."

  A Ranger dragged Nanako in and dumped her on the floor, where she immediately curled into a ball and held her stomach. I'd never seen her so pale, but somehow, she found the strength to look up at me, and her eyes widened in shock when she saw my bloody and bruised face. I tried to leap from my chair to go to her, but the private grabbed my shoulders and slammed me back down. I saw that Nanako's left over-knee sock was rolled down below her knee and that a thick white bandage was wrapped about her thigh. At least that wound had been properly treated.

  "What kind of heartless monster are you, Colonel – she needs to see a doctor right now!" I demanded as I tried to stand up from my chair again.

  The Colonel strode forward, grabbed me by the hair, and tilted my head back so that our eyes met. "You want me to send her to the hospital? Then start talking."

  "Okay, I'll tell you anything you want to know!" I replied frantically.

  The Colonel relinquished his grip on me and took a step back. "That's more like it." And then he just stood there with his fists on his hips, staring – or rather – glaring, at me. "Do you remember me?" he asked at last.

  I shook my head. "No, I don't."

  "What about all the training sessions I did with you?"

  "Sorry, no."

  That clearly wasn't the answer the Colonel had been looking for, for what little light had been in his eyes at the prospect of talking to me, faded away, and then the real questions came.

  "What happened to Reina Sato and her team? Your man, David Chen, assured us we'd be able to get in, grab the nuke, and get out before the Custodians were any the wiser."