by Quil Carter
Then, just faintly, he heard the popping of automatic gunfire.
Well, hopefully the caravan was still in the town. The ravers would have no use for a guitar and money was not their currency. As long as Jade hadn’t taught them how to do drugs perhaps a town taken over by ravers would be a blessing. No one to bother him, and if he got there quick enough perhaps he could secure a house for himself, free of their filthy lifestyle.
Elish found a chair and watched the sun set over the battle going on just several miles from him. The wave of fire quickly closed in on the large gap where the wall hadn’t been built. There was more popping and a series of faint screams, then an explosion that Elish could feel in his feet. He saw a plume of black rise up with flares of fire tucked into the thick billows. Then, as the building that was on fire burned more, flames started to appear.
A rush of adrenaline went through Elish, and he found himself wishing he was down there in that town. Jade had told him his adventure taking over that town with the ravers; how he burned them alive in the hall and shot the ones trying to flee. Oh, how the boy’s eyes had lit up like flares when he spoke of it, it was enough to make Elish wish he’d been right beside Jade. He’d never gotten the chance to kill with Jade, and now he wished they’d been able to do that together.
Then Elish’s thoughts drifted to the adventures he’d had with Reaver. The two of them killing that merchant and the bodyguards had been a highlight in an otherwise stressful excursion. He remembered vividly twisting off the man’s head – and also what happened afterwards.
Chimera engineering for you, Elish told himself. He shook his head and observed, as the darkness of night turned on his night vision, the insects below scurry and scramble. It was like invading army ants attacking a peaceful nest, black, fast moving specks beelining towards slower ones, mobbing them, filling the night with screams, before leaving them splattered like a finger had come down from the heavens to crush them. Then they would move to the next, mob, consume, mob consume, with the gun-wielding ones behind them taking down snipers on the roofs, and hidden gunmen sheltering in buildings and alleyways.
Another pill was crushed and inhaled, followed by a cigarette, and somehow during that time the puppy had braved the glass and had curled up between Elish’s boots for a place of warmth.
When the entire front of the town was glowing with fire, and the stars had been blocked out by smoke, Elish rose and exited the apartment. He walked out and into the night air, his last cigarette from the waterproof tin in his mouth, and headed in the direction of Mantis. He had the shotgun leaning against his chest, and his air-dried jacket closed from the night’s chill. He wasn’t sure what to expect, but he knew what to do when the ravers spotted him.
The closer he got to Mantis, the more he could smell the remnants of the battle. The aroma of charred bodies were now on the air, the smell laced with the sounds of arians dying and wood crackling and burning. His surroundings felt weighted, like they were heavy from the souls of the departed and the agony they’d experienced as they died. If he believed in ghosts, surely this place would become haunted.
Elish saw a dark figure walking against one of the shabby-built walls; then it turned and looked at him before its mouth opened with a hiss.
“Where’s your leader?” Elish asked casually. “I am King Jade’s husband. Take me to the raver that leads you.”
The raver didn’t miss a beat. He immediately charged towards Elish, and as he rapidly approached Elish could see the rotted state the subhuman was in. His scalp was completely peeled back, the piece of skin flapping in the wind with his stringy dark hair the streamers. As he stretched his arms towards Elish in anticipation of eating him, Elish could see calcified fingers and a chest that had bare ribs sticking out like claws protruding through grey soil.
This one was not chipped. Elish pursed his lips and whistled, and like the raver had hit an invisible barrier, he stopped, dirt skidding up underneath his sneakered feet.
As the raver’s hands flew up to his ears, Elish raised the shotgun and shot the mad raver in the head. Like he’d shot a watermelon, the top half of the raver’s skull exploded, then, with a thunk, the creature fell dead onto the ground.
Behind him he could hear small, energetic barks. Elish looked down to see the skinny puppy in a state, barking with vigour behind the protection of Elish’s leg. This got the puppy nothing but an eye roll, and Elish continued on.
He walked underneath the shrouded awning of the building, and then to a single-lane street that held tree-covered greywastes on both sides, a park at one time Elish wagered. Elish scanned the trees, picking up sounds of growling and snapping in the distance, and saw a group of ravers hunched over what smelled like fresh kills, their bodies writhing and moving like a pride of lions. Elish could see fresh body parts hanging from their frames by bits of twine. He knew from Jade’s stories these were trophies that would eventually be made into more complex jewellery. Jade had been upset and put out when Elish had made him abandon his ear necklace in a rusted out car they’d passed, and had described with boasting pride the crown of finger bones he’d been given.
Then Elish heard talking, actual words being spoken instead of grunts and screams. He turned to his right and saw a cluster of five ravers, guns in hand. Past them, Elish could see a group of still alive townspeople.
The survivors were clustered together, huddled like sheep, weeping and whimpering, and most, if not all, of them bleeding from wounds.
“No, smaller knife.” Elish heard the raspy deep voice of a raver. “Bucket for chips. Now.”
Elish understood what he was witnessing just from those few words. These would be the new ravers. Their chips would be removed for a time, enough for their minds to succumb to the maddening yet preserving sestic radiation. And then they’d be put back in to work through the radiation but keep them as the new generation of ravers.
“Yes,” the raver called. He was a male who looked to be older, though age was always hard to pinpoint with these irradiated creatures. He made the motion to say more before his milky eyes, with only small dots for pupils, shot to Elish. An enthusiastic hiss rumbled in his throat and guns clicked.
Elish gave one short whistle, and the sounds of guns clicking was soon replaced with them falling to the ground.
“I’m not here to hurt anyone,” Elish called. He walked to the older raver and put a hand on top of his stringy grey hair. “Kah!” Elish spat then said calmly, “My husband created all of you. Where is the one who leads you?”
“Husband?” The man put his hand on Elish’s head and said Kah, as well. “King Jade’s husband? You’re Big Shot?”
Elish gave him a flat look. “No. I certainly am not. Big Shot is not Jade’s husband, but the man is safe in Skyfall right now. King Jade is…” The corner of Elish’s mouth twitched. “…currently ill. I will be staying here for the time being. Where is the man who leads you?”
The old raver tipped his chin and made a sound that resembled a hacking cough and a screaming eagle. Elish turned around, and saw a large dark-skinned man who had been walking down the road turn towards the sound. He was tall, taller than Elish was and even Nero, with large muscles and dreadlocks that fell past his shoulders.
The leader of the ravers walked over, blood staining his lips and dripping down his chin. Elish saw that he had a bushmaster in his hand and a decapitated head in the other.
The man looked at Elish and his eyes narrowed, ones completely free of the white film that the radiation-crazed ravers had. “Where’s King Jade? Is he with you?” the man asked.
Every time they mentioned Jade another javelin pierced Elish’s heart. The boy would’ve been hanging off of his arm and running off in all directions like a puppy who just got off of his leash to play in the park. Oh, he would’ve been so pleased with what he was seeing.
Elish swallowed hard and shook his head. “The boy is ill and he wished for me to… check on your progress. What do you call yourself?”
&
nbsp; “My arian name was Trent,” the raver said. “King Jade called me Beast. A strong name. I am Prince Beast now. Who are you, King Jade’s husband?”
Who am I? If only the raver knew just how complicated that question was now. It felt like Elish had died the precise moment that Jade did. Or perhaps the road to Elish’s death had begun the moment Silas had told them Reaver was burning and Killian dead, and the boy was just the final blow… either way he wasn’t Elish, and he no longer felt like James either. Even James the greywaster had more dignity than this vacant shell had.
“Make up something… I no longer have a name,” Elish said dismissively, then he looked around. “You seem to have a good formula here. What is your end goal with this place? Are you taking over the towns to raze them, or are you trying to establish your own community?”
Beast crossed his muscular arms over a chest bare but for a necklace of fingers and… penises from the looks of it. “We want right to live with arians. They don’t let us, we kill them.”
“Fair enough,” Elish replied. “Is this all the people you have, or is this only your army?”
“Our army,” Beast said back. “We have three towns now: Jadetown, New Jadetown and…” As if almost comically, the raver looked around with his face creased in thought, much like the animated facial expressions of Big Shot. Then his dark eyes widened and he nodded. “New New Jadetown.”
If Elish had ever had a sense of humour, or a bone left in his body to feel that emotion, he would’ve laughed, or at least shaken his head in exasperation.
“Why don’t you call this place Shadowtown? That was… is his middle name,” Elish said.
Beast seemed to turn this around in his head before nodding his agreeance. “Yes, that will do. Shadowtown. You will become honoured resident until you leave.” Beast put a burly hand on top of Elish’s head and Kah’d at him before turning and walking towards the huddled mass of arians, spits and snarls falling from his lips making the frightened livestock cower and scream. Most of them held heavy lacerations on their skin, and some were missing limbs or had them reduced to bone. Elish looked over them but from what he could see, none of them were from the caravan he’d been riding with.
“You… what’s your name?” Elish asked the old raver.
“Louis,” the raver replied.
“Did you see a caravan here? A woman was leading it with her son and four mercenaries. Possibly with legion.”
The old raver’s forehead wrinkled as he thought of this. “Ask stock.” He motioned to the herded people.
“I – I saw them… Robyn, right?” a man suddenly spoke up. Elish walked past the old raver and towards the one who had been brave enough to speak up. The man was glancing around terrified as a female raver stood a foot away, with an assault rifle in her hands and a nasty-looking machete on her belt.
“That’s right. Where’s the caravan?” Elish asked coolly.
But to Elish’s dismay, the man’s eyes widened, and when he took a closer look he realized he was the barman who had served him and Reaver. Elish had asked him if they’d seen Jade, and as usual, Elish’s purple eyes were quite memorable.
“They left three hours before the attack. They were going to spend the night but they seemed pretty spooked,” the barman said, then he started to look uncomfortable. “They decided to go with a legion escort while they had the chance.”
“What direction are they going in?” Elish pressed.
“Let me go and…”
“I wasn’t negotiating, greywaster. What fucking direction are they going in?” Elish snapped and he took a step towards the man. The barman held up his hands defensively, the whites of his eyes glowing in the torchlight. The others behind them stood back as well, only to get yelled at and threatened by the other ravers keeping them clustered together.
“I just want to be let go,” the barman said. “Just–”
“You’re a fucking coward, Aiden,” a woman with tied back dark hair suddenly snapped. “Saving your own fucking ass. What about the kids? What about our old? Fuck you, Aiden.”
The barman, obviously named Aiden, ignored her and took a step towards Elish. “They’re heading back towards Mariano. Come on, I did my best to help you and the other guy when you were here a few months ago. Let me go.”
Here with the other guy… Well, his fate was sealed then. Elish turned away from the barman and made eye contact with the female raver. “Kill him. I need to catch up with that caravan. I’ll be back.” The female raver nodded and said something to him, but it was drowned out by the shouting and cursing of the barman. Elish didn’t turn around, but could hear the barman’s terror-laced screams rise, before they stopped as if someone had pressed mute on a remote.
Elish stepped out of the town and looked to find the North Star, with that as his compass he started jogging towards the direction of Mariano, his gun still in hand.
All of the noises inside of the town fell to silence as he sprinted along the newly paved road, a road that he had travelled down many months before with Reaver by his side. With everything that had happened with Jade, his thoughts hadn’t been with the man, but now he found himself almost smiling while he relived the adventures that they’d had. He had praised himself many times over for breaking through Reaver’s shell, and had been looking forward to moulding that boy to be the king of the greywastes. He had always assumed he’d need to force himself to be civil to the boy who’d been such a disobedient little shit in his youth, but in all honestly… he’d enjoyed Reaver’s company, and had been close to considering him a dear friend. It took a lot for Elish to allow someone into his small circle of true friends, and that boy had surprised him enough to warrant receiving the gift of trust.
It would’ve been perfect, everything had been coming together. Reaver would rule the greywastes and Killian would be his voice of reason. Caligula and Nico would have the Legion, and he himself would have Skyfall with Jade as a husband by his side. All of his seeds had been sprouting and flowering, the chess pieces positioning themselves nicely.
And then, one after another, everything caught on fire and burned to cinders right in front of him.
Fire had always been his enemy. And now the flames had not only symbolically burned his seeds and carefully laid out plans… but it had taken Jade from him, and Reaver and Killian too.
Elish felt his jaw tighten, and he realized the hand that was holding the gun was clenched. The more steps he took into the darkness, the more he found his anger bubbling to the surface. It wasn’t fair and it wasn’t right. He was close to having everything and now look at where he was.
He was in the company of filthy ravers, a drug addicted, alcoholic mess that couldn’t make it one day sober without falling apart. What had once been a life of luxury, of control and comfort in his thick shell, had been shattered; one hammer blow after another. The world in which he had lived for over ninety years had been destroyed.
And what was worse? There was no one to blame this time.
No one but himself.
Elish picked up his pace, the sounds of screaming behind him rising like someone had poured gasoline on an already out of control fire. He hoped the people who were making those screams were in great amounts of pain. Elish’s mind may be ablaze, but if there was one thing he knew he wanted, it was for the world to burn with him. Everyone should suffer; everyone should feel what he was going through in this moment. Why should they be left to live their lives as normal when his had been dismantled piece by piece? He was above every single one of them and they didn’t have the right to be content when he was so miserable.
If I could release sestic radiation I swear I would find a laboratory and I would end this dead world again. I would take back two hundred years of healing, and rain pesticides down to kill the insects that crawl upon this necrotic flesh. I would rip their children from their arms. I would kill their lovers as they lay intertwined. I would show the world what happens when it dares not give me what I want.
Fuck them. Fuck every person who dares draw breath when my husband is forever silenced. It’s not fair. It’s not fair that I have to live for the rest of eternity when he’s…
When he’s…
Elish stopped and stared forward. For a moment he stood there in stunned silence, unable to accept what realization awaited him at the end of that train of thought.
Surely no… I’m different.
I loved Jade more than…
… more than Silas loved Sky.
I’m… different than Silas. It’s not the same at all.
DON’T COMPARE ME TO HIM!
Elish let out an angry snarl, feeling disgusted and furious at himself for even daring suggest that what he was going through was anything compared to what Silas went through. It was different, entirely different. Silas was a mad man; Silas was insane. Silas enjoyed seeing those he loved hurt. He thrived on taking their loved ones away from them just because of his own… his own…
“You sound like Silas, you know.” Garrett’s faint voice weaved around his taunting thoughts.
“NO!” Elish suddenly bellowed. He whirled around to see Garrett staring at him, an expression of deep sadness creasing his face. “Don’t you fucking say it!”
Garrett’s thin lips raised in a smile, one that seeped pity. Elish kept shaking his head but no matter how much he tried to purge himself of the memory, of Garrett’s voice, he heard it loud and clear.
“I bet you don’t even see it, do you? You’re becoming the very thing you’re trying to convince us to kill. You give us our lovers… and if we don’t do what you want… you take them back.”
“Enough!” Elish roared. He turned from Garrett’s image and walked down the road, but every time his boots hit the pavement he found his pace quickening, and soon he was running. Anything he could do to keep the realizations from mercilessly attacking his mind.