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

by Peter R Stone

  Silence suddenly descended, even from Madison's side, so I hoped she'd managed to take down all of her adversaries without being hurt. Just to make sure I'd taken out all of my opponents, I stepped back towards the trucks while scanning the immediate area with flash sonar. The sweep came up clean and I was pleased to see that the shooter was lying inert on the ground behind the last truck – Madison must have gotten him.

  I was about to go look for her, when out of the corner of my eye I saw a large, nightmarish shape with ram's horns on its head detach from the gap between two trucks and swing a nail studded club at me. I managed to avoid being struck by the club, but my gun was smashed from my hands and went flying behind me

  "You!" screeched Ram-Horns as he stomped towards me, swinging his club left and right in a rage that had to be bordering on becoming an apoplectic fit. "You're the little runt I caught in Lilydale nigh on two months ago!"

  "Shouldn't have let me go, eh?" I said as I frantically ducked under blows or leaped back from them while fumbling to pull out my pistol. "I'm also the one who stole those three truckloads of slaves out from under your nose last night."

  That incensed him even further. I managed to withdraw my pistol, but a great sweep of his club sent that flying from my hand as well.

  "Stupid little git – I'm gonna break your kneecaps, shatter your elbows, crush your ribs, and then tear off your head. And then I'll skin and gut you, and salvage what bones I didn't break and make a new suit of armour with 'em!"

  Ram-Horns was tall, over six-foot-six to the top of his ram-horn adorned human skull helmet, so I felt like the proverbial David versus Goliath. Yet, like David, I realised I had the advantage of speed and agility.

  So I whipped out my combat knife and dove forward beneath his next swing, doing a tuck roll so that I ended up behind him, facing in the opposite direction. But before Ram-Horns could even begin to turn, I lifted my knife in the air and then plunged it deeply into the back of his unprotected right knee.

  The monstrous Skel bellowed in pain and tried desperately to remain standing. Meanwhile, I sprung to my feet, turned around, and in one smooth motion stabbed the knife into the back of his neck.

  Ram-Horns went down, his reign of terror finally over.

  "Well done," Madison said as she came around from the front of the furthest truck.

  "How much did you see?" I asked, panting as I waited to regain my breath and get my heartbeat back down to somewhere near normal.

  "Just the last few seconds. The brute never stood a chance, did he?"

  "That is the point of our...enhancements," I said, aware that somewhere in the vicinity of seventy civilians slowly got to their feet or came out of hiding around us, most of which were staring at us in awestruck wonder.

  "Thank you, Custodians, thank you," said a middle-aged man wearing a set of flimsy pyjamas and nothing else as he rushed forward to shake my hand.

  Good thing Madison and I were wearing our Custodian uniforms – okay, I stole mine – but I used to have one, so it was the same thing, right?

  "Everyone, listen up!" I shouted, "I want you to get as far away from the entrance as you can and do so in an orderly fashion. Don't run, don't shout, don't draw attention to yourselves, lest any other Skel hear you."

  "I do not believe there are any other Skel," the man said thoughtfully. "Slaves is what they come for, is my guess."

  "All the same, please get as far away from this area as you can," I replied.

  "On it!" said the man, and he began urging the rest to follow him.

  Madison grabbed my arm and pointed to the darkened chancellery. "I have done as you asked; now you honour your side of the bargain."

  I quickly grabbed and holstered my pistol, and then retrieved the assault rifle and slammed home a fresh magazine of ammunition. "Lead on, but quietly – these are Rangers we are dealing with not Skel."

  Madison ran off down the road, sticking to the buildings on the right. And just like I'd taught her, she moved covertly, making almost no detectable noise, and moving from cover to cover to minimize the time she could be spotted. The girl was a quick learner. Just like me.

  As we went, I marvelled over the affluent buildings we passed – even the side streets were paved with red, orange or yellow paving stones. We passed a multistorey school complete with indoor pool and a lavish outdoor playground which included an intriguing obstacle course. We passed nightclubs with flashing lights encompassing their windows, a small cinema advertising 3D-screens and large, reclining chairs. Compared to the rest of Newhome, North End was an entirely different world.

  We slowed our pace as we approached the chancellery, keeping our eyes and ears peeled as we used flash sonar to illuminate every shadow, doorway and window as we checked for Rangers. As we drew closer we realised we could hear frantic exchanges of gunfire coming from within the chancellery, as well as from over near the gates that led from North End into Newhome proper. The Rangers must have taken the gates and were stopping Custodians reinforcements from coming to save their beloved chancellor and councillors. Still, going by the sounds coming from the chancellery, some form of spirited defence was still being offered.

  Thanks to my flash sonar I spotted a Ranger hunkered down at the chancellery's main entrance, using its Corinthian stone columns for cover. And just as I expected, he was wearing light amplification/thermal imaging goggles. Great, there went much of our advantage.

  I motioned for Madison to stop, handed her my gun, and removed my bow and fitted an arrow to the string. I also gave her my torch, a beautiful, powerful beast I'd found in the Bushmaster, and a handful of small stones I plucked from the gutter.

  "You go first, but keep throwing these stones across the road to keep his attention away from us. And when I indicate, shine the torch in his eyes," I whispered below normal human hearing levels.

  Madison slung the rifles over her back and then led the way towards the Ranger, who was still kneeling between two of the stone columns. And just as I'd taught her, she lobbed the stones high into the air, where they arched lazily over to the other side of the street. They clattered to the concrete, making only a small sound, but enough to capture the Ranger's entire attention.

  I waited until we were a stone's throw away and tapped her on the head. Madison immediately aimed the torch at the Ranger and switched it on, illuminating him in its powerful glare. As expected, the Ranger cried out and fell back, struggling to pluck off the goggles so he could see. As he did so, I sprinted to the left, spun to face him and shot my arrow, which sailed straight and true, hitting him in the middle of the chest with such power that the arrowhead protruded out his back. The Ranger fell to his side, his gun clattering on the stone steps beneath him.

  "Good job, Ethan," Madison said as she reached for her rifle.

  "No," I whispered, "get more pebbles. We gotta take 'em out like we did this guy, without making a sound. If we go in there with guns blazing, we're not gonna get far before we get pinned down."

  "And if we encounter a truck load of them?"

  "Then we’ll have to use our guns," I conceded.

  "How many Rangers do you estimate we are up against?"

  "They came in four 4WDs, so twenty at the most, and some of those are over at the gate."

  "Great," Madison commented dryly.

  Madison took point and led us into the chancellery’s impressive foyer, a massive, high ceilinged room with a shining marble tile floor, suede drapes covering the windows, a row of portraits which presented the chancellor and councillors in godlike proportions, and a beautiful receptionist’s desk complete with marble countertop. And as we expected, the room – the entire building – was plunged into darkness thanks to the Rangers having cut the power. The good news was that there were no more Rangers in here.

  There was, however, a Claymore mine set up with a tripwire, which I carefully disabled before we moved on.

  The lifts were inoperable, so Madison led us to the staircase, and as soon as we opened the door
, we heard sporadic gunfire from several floors up, so we hurried up as fast as we dared, echolocating all the while.

  The fifth floor was apparently dedicated to children under twelve, but we couldn't hear any sound coming from there so we carried on. The sixth floor, the teenagers quarters, was similarly quiet.

  When we got to the seventh floor, we opened the door a smidgeon and were rewarded with the sounds of gunfire. Madison closed the door and immediately resumed her ascent up the stairs.

  "Where are you going? There’s Rangers on this level," I said quietly.

  "That’s the adults' quarters – the chancellor lives on the eighth floor," she replied, looking up, her face a masque of deep concern for we could hear gunfire up there too.

  "I didn't just come to save the chancellor – there could be children in here."

  "Ethan, you promised!"

  "I promised to come and stop the Rangers from wiping out the Koreans, and that’s what I’m doing. Surely you can see that the families and children are more important than the chancellor?"

  "No, they are not! He is the very heart and soul of this town, its visionary guide – in a sense, he is the town. But they can always have more children."

  "Madison?"

  "What!"

  "Don’t ever have kids, okay?"

  "Whatever – now come on!"

  I held out my hand. "Give me my torch – I’m gonna clear out this floor first. Besides, if I don't the Rangers will just come up after us and we'll be trapped."

  "No wonder they euthanized the males – you are incorrigible and impossible to work with!"

  "My. Torch."

  Madison sneered, but handed me the torch and my assault rifle anyway. That done, she grabbed her assault rifle and resumed her race up the stairs.

  I was impossible to work with? I think she got it the wrong way around.

  Scowling to myself, I slipped through the door into the seventh floor and entered a world unlike anything I’d seen before. Beautiful, plush dark red carpet covered the corridor floor, maroon and beige suede adorned the walls, and the ceiling was at least ten feet high.

  But when I cast my gaze further down the corridor, I gasped in shock at the horrific view that greeted me. Three Custodians and nine Korean men – some of them little more than boys – had been slaughtered by a hail of bullets that had also torn great chunks out of the plaster walls. The Koreans had been armed with a gun I'd only seen in books – the AK-74 – but it hadn't done them the least bit of good.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  With my bow and arrow at the ready, I slipped through the bloody scene without making a noise and then headed off looking for the source of the erratic gunfire that I could hear in the distance. As I went, echolocating all the while, I realised I could distinguish between two different types of guns: the Austeyr assault rifles of the Rangers and Custodians, and what I presumed to be the AK-74.

  The corridor swung to the right and when I turned the corner, I stumbled upon another massacre. The dead included a Ranger, a Custodian, and four Koreans, including a girl who couldn't have been more than ten. To my astonishment, her cold, lifeless fingers still clutched to an AK-74 which was almost as big as she was. From what I could tell, she was the one who'd shot the Ranger.

  I continued and found the corpse of a Ranger lying in front of a dormitory doorway. A quick glance inside the dormitory set my blood boiling, for the bodies of two families, including one baby and two small children, were sprawled against the far wall behind two overturned beds. The wooden bed frames were riddled with bullet holes – the families had made the mistake of thinking the beds were bulletproof and had opened fire on the Ranger when they were walking past.

  Incensed at this senseless slaughter and unjustifiable genocide, I hurried towards the gunfire until I heard something that stopped me in my tracks – a virtual chorus of ultrasonic musical notes sung by children's voices. They made my ultrasonic shouts appear uncouth and vulgar in comparison. I'd never, ever, heard anything so beautiful, even if the children making the flash sonar appeared to be doing so under great stress, almost on the verge of sheer panic.

  I'd found them – the Korean echolocator children that Madison told me about! But they were in trouble, great trouble, so I picked up my pace, passing more dormitories, an entertainment hub, and finally entered a corridor that led to a large, almost industrial sized kitchen.

  It was from the kitchen that the gunfire and flash sonar were coming, but I could also pick out muffled sobs, crying, and a couple of people screaming in agony.

  I crept to the doorway and opened the swinging door just enough to see inside and let rip with flash sonar. Two things happened at once, the children fell instantly silent, no doubt listening to my uncivilized ultrasonic shouts, and the defenders ceased shooting. Although I thought that strange, I focused instead on what I could see, which was three Rangers armed with assault rifles and wearing light amplification/thermal imaging goggles, and using kitchen benches as cover. They stood side on to me, facing an enemy who was off to my left, but out of my field of vision.

  Aware my bow wouldn’t do me much good here; I grabbed my assault rifle, slung the bow over my back, and then couched the rifle and flicked it to full-auto.

  Now, my normal practice in such situations was to give my opponents the option of surrendering before I fired at them, but not with these guys, these murderers and child killers. So I counted to three and wrenched the door open, and while practically screaming at them with flash sonar because I was so angry, I let them have it, cutting down one, two, and then the third Ranger before they even had a chance to react.

  After that, I gave the kitchen a quick once-over and ducked back into the doorway, just in case the panicky defenders took a shot at me. What I saw with that quick glance though, was both amazing and tragic. Amazing in that the dozen defenders were Korean children aged no more than ten, both boys and girls. They were all armed, with either AK-74s or pistols, and they were the ones who were echolocating. And tragic in that several more children were slumped on the ceramic floor tiles, staining them red with their blood. I figured the children had been fighting the Rangers because they were the only ones who could see since the power was out.

  Behind these children was a large walk-in pantry, which by the sounds of the breathing, crying, sobbing and whispering coming from it, there was upwards of thirty people of all ages crammed in there. Looks like I'd found the families.

  "Do you kids speak English?" I called out.

  "Of course, but who are you?" a young boy shouted back.

  "I'm Custodian Sergeant Jones."

  "You're a Custodian?" asked a similarly aged girl.

  "That's right."

  "You're a liar!" the boy shouted back.

  "No, I'm telling you the truth. The Rangers who were attacking you are dead."

  "But we heard you – you were echolocating!" the boy exclaimed.

  "And that’s not possible," squeaked the girl.

  "Which means you're a liar," said the boy.

  "And not a Custodian," added the girl.

  "The fact that I can echolocate proves it is possible. Now tell me – quickly – are there any other children or families on this floor?"

  "No, there aren't. And Sir, you can't echolocate, because we're the only ones," the boy said emphatically.

  "The only ones what?" I asked, desperate to finish this conversation and get out of here, since Madison needed me.

  "The only ones to have evolved with this ability – the first of the next stage of human evolution," the girl explained.

  "Is that what they told you?"

  "It is the truth!" the boy squeaked.

  "Then how do you explain me and the others like me?"

  "You lie!"

  "Did you hear me echolocate?"

  "Yes, but..."

  "Look, kids, I'm sorry, but I really have to go."

  But before I could move, I heard two pairs of light footsteps approach. I kept my gun aimed
at the floor so I wouldn't appear threatening, and waited for them to come into view. The boy came close enough to see me first, then the girl. 'See' as in they were both echolocating with musical notes while I was using my shouting technique.

  "You are a Custodian," the boy said, lowering his gun.

  "Yep."

  "And you’re not Korean."

  "Nope."

  "And you can echolocate."

  "Most definitely, and look, I'm delighted to meet you kids, but I have to go and help my partner now. Stay here and keep everyone quiet until more Custodians come, okay?"

  "I'm coming with you," the boy declared nervously.

  "Me too," the girl said.

  "Thanks for the offer, kids, but I need you to stay here and protect your families just in case anymore Rangers come looking for you, okay?"

  They hesitated, so I added, "And that, is an order."

  They looked both crestfallen and relieved at the same time. "Yes, Sir!" the boy said without hesitation.

  I gave them a mock salute and then turned and sprinted back the way I'd come, trying not to look at the bodies of the slain Rangers, children, and Custodians on the way. I reached the staircase and rushed to the eighth floor.

  I stole quietly from the stairwell and into the foyer, a once beautiful room that contained the elevator’s gold-plated doors, polished marble floor, suede walls, and what I presumed to have been porcelain busts of the current and previous chancellors, for they, along with the foyer, the living room beyond, and everything in them, had been shot up pretty badly in what had clearly been a last ditch, desperate attempt to stop the Rangers getting to the chancellor. There were bodies everywhere, including four Rangers, a dozen Custodians including General Lee and Colonel Kim, and three of Newhome’s venerated councillors.

  I observed all this in less than a heartbeat, and then I was on the move for I could hear two people in another room locked in furious combat: Colonel Yamada and Madison.