by Peter Okafor
“Satisfied?” Dope said.
The group began to leave the tunnel.
Runner stopped suddenly when he saw Sara standing silently and circling her gaze all over the place.
“Stop!” the girl screamed.
“What?” Jonny turned around.
A green vine caught his ankle and threw him off his feet. Jonny landed on the ferns, screaming. Runner ran forward, but the vine dragged him towards a cluster of large weird reddish plant life. Runner jumped and caught his right hand. The force pulling Jonny was too strong, and his screams echoed in the ruins.
His hand was slipping away slowly. Runner tried to hold on, but it slipped, and the vine raised Jonny and threw him in the air. Something pushed through, squeaking loudly as it forced its way through other plants. It was a large plant, pink and onion-shaped.
Jonny was falling. The mouth of the plant opened like a very large jaw. He sank in, and the plant’s jaws snapped shut.
“Oh, fuck!” Dope put his hands over his mouth.
Jonny’s hand forced its way through the plant’s mouth. Runner saw it and charged towards the plant, ignoring the dangers. He caught the boy’s hand and pulled. It was a fight he was losing, so he pulled out a knife with his left hand and stabbed continuously on the soft pink surface of the plant. All that came was sticky goo spilling all over him.
The vines began to crawl towards him. He wouldn’t let go. They wound around his ankle, tightening hard, and pulled him to fall. He stretched his left hand and slashed the vine with his knife, but more crept towards him. Suddenly, someone pulled him backwards as he watched the remaining of Jonny’s hand being swallowed.
“I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean it, I swear,” he muttered.
Legion and Slim Jim pulled him to a safe distance.
“What the fuck was that?” Dope turned to Sara Summers.
All eyes seemed to be upon her.
“Carnivorous plants,” she said. “And there are loads of them down here.”
“What?” Slim Jim folded his arms and pushed his head forward. “I have seen Venus flytraps and pitchers. This doesn’t look like one.”
“No, you haven’t seen anything like this in your life. These plants are mutated in ways you can’t imagine. Everything down here is mutated, and this is nothing compared to what you’re about to see. What? Were you expecting to find milk and honey down here?”
“And then they were eight,” Legion said ruefully.
No word could leave Runner’s tongue. He just sat on the floor hands clasped about his knees, watching silently.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Runner trailed behind the group. His spirit was broken. Even as much as he didn’t want to show it, Jonny’s death hurt him deeply. But what was he to do? Fight a freakishly large carnivorous plant? He had never felt this way before. His legs were heavy. His head ached like there was a drummer in there, pounding continuously.
He felt guilty for urging them to come with him when he was very sure that a good number of them would never see their home again. Sacrifices had to be made. After all, he might be the one to have instigated the plan to go down the ruins, but what guarantee could he give that he too would make it back alive?
Legion turned around. “Are you okay back there?”
Runner nodded as sweat sprinkled off his face.
Everyone stopped suddenly. Runner raised his gaze at them, wondering why they halted.
“Oh my god! You’ve got to see this, Runner. Hurry,” Legion said.
Runner followed quickly and halted as he reached Legion. He craned his neck over her shoulder, and his eyes widened in bewilderment. They were all standing at the foot of a long and mighty bridge, supporting their figures on a handrail that ran horizontally. He shoved through them to see clearly. The bridge ran across a great chasm in the earth and connected to a large city at the other end.
He removed his hand from the handrail that supported him and descended the platform.
“Where are you going?” Dope asked.
Runner turned to him. “You can stay here if you like. I’m going down there.”
Dope ran to catch up with him. “Wait…wait. You don’t really expect anyone to cross this long-ass bridge, do you?”
He ignored Dope and continued towards the bridge. Sara Summers followed as the guide, and soon, the others joined, trailing behind. Runner stopped before something that looked like a tollgate. The bar was blocking him from entering the bridge.
“How do we get past it?” someone asked, and he did not bother to see who.
“Is that a joke or some kind of queer rhetorical question?” Runner said.
He detached his backpack from his back and threw it towards Slim Jim. “I will go with Sara first. If the bridge is safe to cross, we will come back and let you know.”
“I’m coming with you.” Legion chimed in.
“Fine.” Runner sighed.
He walked to the bar, wrapped both hands around its cold round steel, and hopped over. He landed on the other side and looked around.
“My bag, Jimmy,” he said.
Slim Jim threw over his backpack, and Runner caught it on both arms. Sara and Legion jumped over to meet up with him.
“If we are not back in—” Runner gazed at his wristwatch “—twenty minutes, then we are probably dead. Maybe we might get lucky this time and get eaten by some kind of weird spider mutant instead of a carnivorous plant.”
“That’s not funny.” Legion threw a stern gaze at him.
“We best get going.” Sara urged.
Buildings of towering heights loomed in the distance, caught in the great silence that lingered in the ruins. There wasn’t even as much as a squeak, but something else caught Runner’s eyes. There were trails of abandoned cars lined down the bridge. Everything looked as new as the day they were abandoned.
Not a single shattered glass. Not a pile of dirt on the bridge’s road. Not even an ash from a nuclear explosion. Something didn’t seem right.
Runner moved stealthily past several cars, being careful to let sleeping dogs lie. He could not tell what was out there nor could he see any daggers in the dark. The seed of fear sowed by Jonny’s demise still lingered in his mind, and he would rather not see another person eaten by a carnivorous plant.
He turned his gaze behind to see Legion and Sara duck as they followed him. “What exactly happened here?” he asked.
Sara exchanged glances with Legion and then turned to Runner. “Are you asking me?” She pointed at herself.
“Who else?” Runner replied.
“I don’t know the details, but the story goes that the foundations of MegaCityTwo have been laid even before the big…boom.” Sara moved her hands in opposite directions to demonstrate.
“You mean they knew what was going to happen?” Legion added.
“It is an underground city. What do you think?” Sara’s voice grew intense. “I could bet you twenty credits that they were somehow involved in the current state of things. Apparently, they basked in their technological advancement. After the fallout, they believed they could reverse the effect. Well, as you can see, it’s obvious how things turned out.”
“I have been hearing a lot of they. Who were they? It still doesn’t explain why the roads and cars look tidy.”
“Look, Runner. I’m just your ill-fated tour guide. Good luck figuring that out.” Sara continued past him.
She walked down to the end of the bridge, and at some point, Runner could barely see her amongst the cars. He glanced at Legion and then sprung to his feet, darting forward. He went past the cars and only stopped when he saw Sara at the end of the bridge.
She raised her hand and waved at him. “Tell the others it’s safe and clear,” she shouted.
Runner turned and waved his right arm at Legion, signalling her, and she, in turn, gestured at the others to follow.
In moments, Dope led the rest of the group onto the bridge. They dawdled
past the cars, looking like labourers who had gone days without food. He could see that there was no more fighting spirit left in them, not Slim Jim, nor the large girl they called Big Sylvia. Even Dope, whose mouth ran like water from a faucet had been silent for long.
Runner stood alongside Sara and Legion, staring at the end of a towering gate that blocked them from entering the city.
“How can they call this a ruin when everything seems to be intact? It looks like its inhabitants just…vanished and left everything.”
Sara’s sharp eyes caught something at the far end of the wall. Runner followed with his gaze, and it settled on a broken wall with bricks scattered at its foot.
“Come on.” Sara pulled down the grey cloak that concealed her face, revealing a lush red hair that fell like a cascade.
She ran down the line of the wall, and Runner followed, keeping up with her swift strides. As she reached the felled bricks, she jumped over a stunted structure that remained of the wall without pausing.
Runner admired her agility and flexibility. She seemed like a true survivor to him. He followed her, jumping over the broken wall to the other side. He unslung his bow and held it on his right hand.
“Careful, Sara. We don’t know much about this place.” He warned.
The cracking sound of stones beneath boots urged him to glance backwards. Dope and the others made their way over. Runner turned his sight to the buildings that stood close to them. They were square, stunted, and paled in comparison to the glass towering buildings that loomed far in the distance. It looked like those that sprawled through a slum.
He walked away from the group, his gaze cast upwards, studying the different structures. He had no need for his torchlight, as light flooded the city from an artificial source that lingered above.
The geothermal generators must still be running, he thought.
Up above, there was no dome like the one that sheltered MegaCityOne. All he could see was a stark darkness that he believed to be raw earth.
He felt a warm breath on his neck and jerked suddenly, turning to see Sara standing behind him.
She raised her brown eyes at him.
“MegaCityTwo ran a caste system unlike your society that is divided mainly between the rich city dwellers and poor slum dwellers. Theirs was divided into four castes, and the lowest dwelled in this ugly buildings standing before us.”
“Doesn’t sound that different to me,” Runner said.
Dope walked past him, accompanied by Marq of Mole Town and the stout boy, Toad Cooper, so named after a childhood disease that left him with an unnatural leathery skin.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Runner strode in front of him.
“Look at this big city, Runner.” Dope opened his arms wide. “The dumb people left everything intact. Can you imagine the loads of credit-chips we could find in drawers and credit safes?”
“So, what? You’re just going to walk in there after you saw what happened to Jonny? We don’t know what’s in there.” Runner pointed down the streets. “It is best if we let sleeping dogs lie.”
Dope turned around to face his company. “Boys, what do you think? Should we make ourselves rich or cower in fear like Runner?”
“I say we loot what we can.” Marq glanced at Toad, who nodded.
Dope moved closer and put his arm over Runner’s shoulder. “You heard that, right? I’m for the goodie-goodies of this city. You can stay, here and…well, you have the company of two pretty girls and a big dumb one.” He glanced at Big Sylvia.
With those words, Dope went down the street holding a wrench knife on one hand and torchlight on the other. His backpack was carried by Toad, while Marq followed, prepared to share the burden when Toad tires. That was the Dope Davies Runner knew. Somehow, he still managed to play the alpha male and had those boys entranced by a symbiotic need.
Slim Jim dashed past Runner.
“Hey,” Runner called. “Where are you going?”
“I’m sorry, Runner, but he has a point,” Slim Jim said.
“What?”
“Look, man. I’m for finding the water and all those shit. But a boy got to be prepared that things ain’t gonna turn out great. I gotta stuff my bag with enough valuables as I can manage, and you should come too.”
For a moment, Runner thought of joining him. He might be right. Being an experienced looter himself, he could tell that there are a lot of valuable things to find in the city. Just like he had a good mind for looting, so did he have one that could tell when things didn’t feel right, and that feeling had clouded his mind since he stepped upon the bridge.
“I can’t stop you,” he said.
Slim Jim tucked his fingers beneath the straps of his backpack and dashed onwards.
Runner turned around and began to walk back to the wall. He saw a fire burning, and from the smoke, he could tell it was quickly lit from papers and carbon materials. Sara and Big Sylvia sat around it, eating their canned meals.
He turned away and made for an abandoned shed that looked like a workshop. Slowly, he opened the door to a dark room and proceeded to remove his backpack. His back ached, and he frowned, pulling off the trench coat he had retrieved from a Ranger’s corpse.
He held each end of his grey t-shirt and pulled it off his body. The cool air rubbed upon his naked torso, and it felt good. Runner stretched one arm and hit a switch on the wall. The lights turned on, and someone screamed.
His eyes fell upon a girl, naked, and clutching to her clothes that had been drawn quickly to cover her breasts and groin.
“Ariel…sorry. Legion, what…what are you doing here?” Runner hung his head to stare downwards.
“What does it look like?” She raised her voice.
“I didn’t see anything,” he said solemnly and turned around, hurrying to the exit.
“Come on, Runner. Don’t be a stranger,” she said and allowed her clothing to fall down freely.
Runner turned around and faced her. He took gentle steps backwards. “You are not wearing anything.”
“It’s obvious. So, what do you think?” Legion put her hands on her waist.
Runner almost choked from the air that he sucked into his lungs. His blood was boiling in his veins, and a weird feeling grew in his stomach and struck him mute. He took time to calm himself; his eyes set upon Legion’s naked figure. She was offering him something that could be the best night of his life, and as much as he wanted to hold on to his sense of morality and decline, it was just too difficult to refuse.
“Nice tits,” he muttered.
Legion frowned and picked her clothes to cover her body. She walked towards Runner and slapped him on the cheek.
“A girl takes her clothes off for you, and all you say is nice tits?”
“Well, what do want me to say? It is nothing I haven’t seen before.” Runner protested.
Her gaze narrowed as she threw a look of disappointment. “Thanks for making me look like a slut,” she said.
“Quiet!” Runner put his hand over her lips. He wrapped his hand around her waist and drew her to one end of the wall.
“You are such a tease, Runner.” She smiled in anticipation of something good.
Runner put a finger over his lips. “Shhh!” He glanced outside. “Did you see that?”
“What?” Legion said.
He directed her gaze with his finger, pointing outside the door. There, a man dressed in a workshop overall wandered aimlessly, staggering here and there. He was severely disfigured with an uncanny large head that looked too big to be supported by his neck.
The man staggered to a turn and faced Runner without seeing him. His face revealed a severe mutation that was the merging of two heads on one body. He looked like conjoined twins but deadly with the kitchen knife on his hand.
“Mutant,” Legion said.
“Don’t make a sound. Just let him pass,” Runner whispered. “And put on your clothes slowly. We are going to be fine as long as we don’t make any noise.”
>
Runner gently reached for his bow at the side of his backpack. He was about to draw out an arrow from the quiver when he heard someone yelling.
“Run! Run! Run!” He recognized Dope’s voice.
The mutated man followed the sound, staggering like a demented bull. Runner reached towards the door and peeped outside. Hundreds of mutated men and women trooped out of different buildings. Their numbers grew continuously, and all staggered towards Dope’s voice.
“Dope has killed us all.” Runner put his hands on his head.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Garden of Traitors
Legion’s hands were shaking.
“Legion, Legion…Ariel!” Runner shouted.
She snapped back to reality, and her vivid brown eyes went up, staring at him. Runner placed his compound bow before her and set the quiver at its side.
“Listen, I need you to cover me. I will make my way across the street to warn Sara and Big Sylvia. Don’t shoot unless they start coming after me, okay?”
Legion nodded, but her expression was blank like an empty page. It was obvious that her mind had strayed to thoughts unknown to him. Runner felt her face with his hands.
“We’re gonna be fine, alright?”
She jerked backwards, pulling her face from the soft touch of his hands. “Do you seriously believe that? There are freaking…hundreds of them, Runner.”
“I know.” Runner nodded. “We will get the others and go back through the bridge.”
Runner brought his gaze down to her fingers that were shaking nervously. He grasped them together and raised his gaze to lock with hers.
“I have never been scared of anything in my life”—Legion began—“except for mutants. You don’t know them like I do, Runner. I’m sure most folks in MegaCityOne have never seen a mutant before, but I will tell you something. Mutants don’t bite and eat your flesh, no…” She laughed wearily.
“What then?” Runner seemed curious.
“They like their victims alive. They chop off the parts they like while their victim screams, and then cook them like civilized people. That’s exactly what they did to my parents. I know I should be screaming for vengeance and all that shit, but I don’t fancy getting cooked, do I?”