“It’s not out of the question,” I said. “We get them to the Society, then we can put out some feelers.”
Looks like they are as ready as they are ever going to be, Gaunt said. Some of those chaps look like they might want to try our patience.
He was right. Several of the men were talking among themselves. Occasionally, one of the men looked hungrily in the direction of the girl and her charges.
I slipped around the corner, rounded a building, and stepped out of the shadows directly behind the man who seemed to be the ringleader. I tapped the knife I had planted in Hart’s brain lightly against the side of his neck, just a fraction of an inch from his jugular.
He froze.
“If you were to try what you’re thinking about, I would let a friend of mine skin you alive. These people have been through enough. You will turn to your right and start walking. If you stop before you are completely out of this Zone, your head will join your former Warlord’s. Do you understand?”
He swallowed and nodded.
“Good. Now walk.” I looked at the four who had been talking with the man. “That is your only warning. If you’re still standing here in five minutes, well, you can figure out from the condition of Hart’s guards what will happen to you. These people are off limits.”
They scattered. They wanted no part of the man who had killed their leader and tossed most of his thugs out of the windows of his Scraper.
Should have killed them, Gaunt said.
“If we kill them, they won’t learn anything.”
I could hear Gaunt chuckling in my head.
As the thugs fled down the alley, I stepped back into the square in front of the Scraper where the girl was gathering her people.
“I wasn’t sure you would come back,” she said.
“Understandable,” I said. “This place hasn’t done much to instill trust, has it?”
“You’ve done more in an hour than anyone has done in the two years I have been away from the island.”
“There are good people left,” I said. “Not as many as there should be, but more than what you might expect. There are probably some right here, in this street, who have been afraid to step forward. A guy like Hart is enhanced and would be hard to take down without special skills.”
“But you did,” she said. “Mister…?”
“Kade,” I said. “Mathew Kade. Most of the time, anyway.”
“I’m Lynx,” she said. “Lynn Xavier. My sister and I called each other Lynx and Jynx. Her name is Jennifer. She started calling herself Jynx after the accident.”
“Accident?” My eyes narrowed.
“She lost an arm and a leg when the boat crashed. Dad was an engineer before the world went crazy, and mom was a surgeon. Between the two, they saved her.”
“This is crazy,” I said. “Teresa has an assistant named Jynx. You say she lost an arm and a leg? Did they build cybernetic prosthetics?”
“What?” She was staring at me with her mouth hanging open. “Yes! They built her an arm and a leg! Is she already there?”
“I doubt there is more than one girl named Jynx with cybernetic prosthetics in the city. I am fairly certain she’s already at the Society. I haven’t talked to her much. I got her some parts to tune up the leg some time back.”
“That has to be her!” The girl was bouncing with excitement. I was amazed she could be as exuberant as she was after the time she had spent in the Scraper. Perhaps it was why her people followed her lead when they were freed. What she had gone through hadn’t destroyed her as it had many.
Her excitement was contagious. I grinned. Sometimes, there is a ray of sunshine in the dark, even in this Fallen World.
* * * * *
Chapter 5
The Zone to the west of Hart was called Gord. The Warlord held his territory through the help of some ex-military types he had pulled together after the fall. He had been in charge of his territory for all the years since. Anyone who had been around for that length of time was there for a reason. Gord wasn’t as bad as some, but his men were standing in the street as my group of refugees entered the Zone.
“I understand there was a ruckus next door,” the leader of the guards said as I approached.
I motioned to Lynx to hold back. “Not particularly happy with the notion of slavery. Seems like this area is a little better than most. But there was this blight to an otherwise decent area.”
“Hart,” the man said. “The man’s an Agent. Not much we can do with him except stay out of his Zone. The guy before him was a little better to deal with.”
“The next guy should be a little better,” I said.
“He’s gone?”
“Yep.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“I’m the guy who removed Hart from his position. I intend to take these folks west to Stiner. They’ve been treated pretty rough by Hart and his men. They’ll be taken care of there. You gonna have a problem with us crossing through here?”
“You took out Hart and his men by yourself, and you’re heading to Stiner. My guess is you’re Mathew Kade. I’d rather wrap myself in razor wire and roll down the street than cause you any problems. My boys will provide you with an escort through our Zone just to be on the safe side. Some people are idiots, and I’d rather make sure none of them interfere.”
“That would be greatly appreciated…?” I let the statement trail off into a question.
“Avery Foiler,” he said. “I’m Gord’s head of security. I’m very familiar with what an Agent can do, and I understand you are one of the best.”
“Maybe,” I said. “It’s hard to say.”
“I’d rather go with it and offer you any help I can.”
“Thank you, Foiler. I’m sure these folks have seen enough violence to last them a while.”
“Undoubtedly.”
I motioned for Lynx to bring her people forward. “If you don’t mind, I would like to get underway.”
“Do you mind if I walk along with you?”
“Not at all,” I said. I looked at Lynx. “Lynx, this is Avery Foiler. He’s decided he is going to escort us through this Zone so there won’t be any trouble.”
“Thank you, Mister Foiler.” She went over to help one of the kids that followed.
“She’s pretty young.”
“Hart was a right bastard,” I said.
“He was that,” Foiler said. “Saw him take apart a whole squad of men about five years ago. We’ve stayed out of his Zone since then. I had my suspicions about what was going on, but what could we do?”
“It’s not my place to say, but a sniper shot to the brain would have ended it.”
“And if the sniper missed, he’d have signed the death warrant for a whole Zone. You know what an Agent can do.”
“You’re right. He deserved an Agent. And he got a bunch.”
“What?”
“Inside joke,” I said. “Sometimes, I wish all of the enhanced had died with the Corporations.”
“That would include you, Mister Kade.”
“Yep.”
“I see.”
“World would be a better place without the nanites, the genetic mutations, and the damned imprint tech. Teledyne, Obsidian…they were two sides of the same coin.”
“Agreed. I worked for Obsidian, but they weren’t any better than Teledyne. Ran into a squad of Teledyne guys just before the end and took them prisoner. They were just guys like us, and the time we spent guarding them was more of an eye opener than any other part of the war. Guess you didn’t spend much time talking to anyone else. Agents always seemed to be on a mission.”
“You’d be surprised how many.”
“Really? I didn’t think they let you guys out unless you were on a mission.”
“They kept more than the Agent programs in the database,” I said.
“That makes sense,” he said. “Guess you got one of those.”
“You could say that.”
“We’re getting
close to Fandi,” he said. “I sent word ahead. You should be clear for the next two Zones, and the Farmers are in Jeffrey, so there shouldn’t be any trouble. Just leaves a few Zones between them and Jeffrey.”
“Normally, I would go around Jeffrey but, with the Farmers there, I agree. He shouldn’t cause trouble. Antilles and Payne shouldn’t be too bad. They know me. Thanks for sending word. It was good to meet you, Foiler.”
“Good to actually meet you, too, Kade. My boss might be interested in this thing you’ve got going with the Society and a certain group of Warlords. If you think your people might have an interest, I can talk to him and see what we can work out.”
“There would definitely be interest,” I said. “And there will be a Society presence right next door in the near future.”
“I’m glad.” He slowed his pace as we neared the boundary of his Zone. “Be nice to see some stability in that area.”
I nodded as he raised his hand, and the guards dropped back from the flanks of our group.
“He seems to be a lot better than the guys who worked for Hart,” Lynx said as she walked over.
I saw how she kept a wary eye on the man as he walked away. She was a strong girl, but I knew she had been treated badly by most of the men she had met in the last year. How badly, I might never know, and I’m not sure I wanted to. Most of those who had been behind the mistreatment had taken a dive from various floors of the Scraper.
We walked down the street toward the Scraper Seamus Fandi held. He was somewhat new to his position since Darvis had crossed someone he shouldn’t have. You didn’t try to screw over the Circus. I heard three Clowns had walked into Darvis and had left the Zone freshly renamed Fandi. Kelly Darvis has never been seen again that I am aware of.
Gaunt chuckled inside my head. It doesn’t pay to make that kind of enemy.
“True.”
“What?” Lynx asked.
“Nothin, just talking to myselves.”
“You are a strange man, Mister Kade.”
“It’s not like we haven’t heard that before,” I said, with a grin.
“We?”
“A little schizophrenic humor.” I laughed. “There is a good side to my situation. I may be a schizophrenic, but I’ll always have each other.”
She shook her head and walked silently beside me as I chuckled.
That was rather horrid, Mathew, Gaunt said.
“It wasn’t that bad,” I muttered.
Lynx glanced at me sideways, with a raised eyebrow.
“Hmpf,” I grunted.
Everyone seems to be a critic in this Fallen World.
* * * * *
Chapter 6
“I thought there would be more people here,” Lynx said. “I haven’t been out of the Scraper in close to a year, but there were more people around when they brought me in from the waterfront.”
“Waterfront is the other direction,” I said. “But I think Fandi took Foiler’s warning to heart.”
“Does he have that much power?” she asked. “I admit, I don’t know a lot about the city.”
A man who wore makeshift armor darted into an alley, muttering, “It’s him…”
“Or is it you they’re afraid of?”
“Maybe.”
“I think it is,” she said. “I saw you throw men around as if they weighed nothing.”
“They deserved what they got,” I said. “You can’t deny that.”
“Considering where you found me,” she said, “I don’t deny it at all.”
I remained silent.
“I just wonder who you are,” she said. “You showed up like some hero of old.”
“I’m no hero,” I said.
“Then why did you do it? You had no reason to save us. Even if you had reason to kill Hart, you had no reason to save us. No reason to be leading us through several Zones where we would have been taken as soon as we crossed into them. That hungry look I see on those men over there is one I know quite well. If you aren’t a hero, you would have left us behind and gone about your business. We would be back there in a Scraper serving someone else. Maybe someone that isn’t as bad as Hart was, but there is always someone.”
“Pretty young to be that cynical,” I said.
“From the moment my parents were slaughtered, all I have seen is one evil person after another. There weren’t any good among them. The only good people I found were those who were being held in that Scraper, just like me. Then you arrived like one of the old Greek heroes my father used to tell me about. Whether you want me to or not, I see you as a hero, just like these people who are following us do.”
Never been called a bloody hero, Mathew. She doesn’t know me very well.
I chuckled. More of a hero than you think, Stephen. We all saw your moment back at the Bastion. Unexpected, but welcome.
Momentary lapse, I assure you, he said.
I could hear the others snickering in my mind.
Have your fun, Gaunt said.
I chuckled again and walked onward through Fandi’s Zone. The street was fairly clean, which spoke well of Fandi on some level. Many of the Zones throughout the city were piled with refuse. It was kept to a certain level, though, or the Farmers would bypass the Zone. Even the savages throughout the city were on their best behavior when the Farmers came through.
The next Zone was Rollins, and the people there were preparing for the arrival of the Farmers. They were three Zones away, in Jeffrey, but they would be in Rollins in the next few days. The Farmers tended to stay in a Zone for a day and then move to the next. In the early days, they ran through many Zones each day, but they were working to save a city.
Sometimes, I wondered if it had been worth it. There were days I wanted to walk away and leave the city behind. Then I would think about Teresa and the Society trying to make a difference and know that I couldn’t leave. I owed too much for the things I had done.
“Oh…Hello,” I said as my eyes were drawn to a vendor on the left side of the street. “I haven’t seen that in a long time.”
“What?” Lynx asked.
“That’s denim.” I approached the vendor who was a woman of about fifty years or so. “I haven’t seen that in some time.”
“You like what you see?” the lady asked with an accent I’d heard somewhere before.
Romanian, Angela said.
“I do. If you have some of those pants in my size, I’d like to buy some.”
“You look like about a thirty-four-inch waist.”
“Yes, and a thirty-two inseam.”
“I have four pairs that would fit you, sir.”
“I’ll take them.”
“You didn’t ask for the price,” she said.
“I think this will cover it.” I laid a coin on her table that she quickly covered with her hand.
“Not many of these around,” she said. “Amazing what you can buy with a silver dollar. I remember when you could buy a drink with it. Now, there are places where you could buy a person for this coin. I don’t have enough scrip to give you the necessary change.”
“The coin is yours.” I pointed to the pants. “Consider it an order for some more if you still have access to denim. I would like ten more pairs. Have them delivered to the Society in Stiner. If you agree to the delivery, I’ll add another coin.”
“Placing a lot of trust in a stranger,” she said.
“I know where to find you if you don’t follow through,” I said, and she recoiled just a little as she detected the change in my demeanor.
“Not many would cross you,” she said. “The coat, the blades, and I believe there is a certain straight razor in one of your pockets. You are known, Mister Kade. There are stories of Warlords who fear your coming. Conveniently, our own brave Warlord, Rollins, is up in his tower with the majority of his men. I like thinking of him up there, quaking in his boots, as Mathew Kade walks down his street. Your pants will arrive within two weeks, Mister Kade.”
I smiled and drew another coin fro
m my pocket and placed it near her hand where she could easily cover it.
“If you would step around here, I will get a few measurements, and I can make them to fit you precisely. I was a tailor before the fall and managed to acquire the denim from the Farmers this year.”
“That would be great,” I said. “What other sorts of fabric do you have? You see, I need a new coat. This one is taking a beating.”
“Perhaps a darker color?”
“Dark colors make me look pale. Better stick with light.”
“As you wish.” She smiled. “It takes all kinds to make a world, Mister Kade.”
I nodded. “Even in this Fallen World.”
* * * * *
Chapter 7
Antilles’ Zone was much like Rollins’. People were preparing for the Farmers to come their way.
“Who are the Farmers?” Lynx asked.
“I don’t hear that question very often,” I said.
“I never saw them when they came through Hart,” she said. “We were always locked in our rooms when they came through. They were the only people I ever saw who frightened Hart.”
“They’re a force no one wants to be on the wrong side of,” I said. “Pretty sure they are the reason this city survived right after the Fall, not that it deserved to.”
“What did they do? Hart forbade us to even speak about them. There were whispers, but most of us were terrified of him.”
“When the bombs fell, farms to our west banded together and sent Caravans of food into the city. They brought some order with them, and they were well on the way to dragging this place back into the light. Then something happened, and they changed. I’m not sure what it was, but I have my suspicions after I met some Clowns last year. The Accords were signed, and the Farmers became merchants instead of benefactors.”
“Clowns? I love the books my mother gave me about them.”
“These Clowns are different. You definitely don’t want to contemplate ending up at the Circus.”
“I like the tigers.”
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