Resource Economies

by Traverse Davies

  After Evie left Tyson and Chad had to go. If they took too long they could lose Clyde's trail or be too late to save Tamra. The woods were dark ahead of them, they couldn't see Clyde and his men anymore, even though it had only been a few minutes. They started to walk towards the woods, following the path. Chad was on high alert, convinced that at any moment he would find himself face to face with Clyde, unprepared for what was happening. Of course, the whole thing was a trap. Clyde had almost put up a sign saying "Trap". Didn't matter though, it wasn't like he had another choice.

  Clyde wasn't far up the path. Chad spotted him before he got too far in. He took his bow off his shoulder and knocked an arrow, sighting on the large man. He was moving too much, Chad couldn't get a shot off on target. He had to get closer, and if he did was probably going to be seen. Tamra was lying on the forest floor, writhing in agony. Her small form looked tiny next to the giant cult leader. Then again, Clyde was almost a head taller than the next tallest man with him. He had a long beard, salt and pepper, full and bushy. His hair was down past his shoulder, somewhere between dreads and mats, there was a lot of it. His body was covered in an ankle length oil coat, layers and layers of rags underneath it. He was a messianic figure, and he had Tamra on the end of a hook. The dozen men around him were armed with similar things, improvised weapons, farm and fishing implements. Chad knew his only advantage was range, and that was negated by Tamra's presence. If he fired an arrow one of them might decide to kill her.

  He watched, and then Clyde spoke up. "I know you're there. Come out, face me like a man."

  "Why the hell would I do that?" Tyson replied, from off to Chad's left.

  "I don't mean you. I know about you red man. I mean the other one, the soldier. I want him to see what his interference in God's plan has cost."

  Chad said, "Okay, sure. I'll come out, then you'll kill her, then you'll kill me."

  "No, you come out you get to come back to the village, both of you. What happens from there depends on you. If you can find God you are welcome to stay, to join us. If you are found wanting, well, you join the blessed."

  "You know, that sounds like a shitty deal."

  Clyde twisted the hook. Tamra screamed. Chad stepped out, "Okay, you got me. I'll come quietly."

  "Drop the bow, the machete, any knives you have. We're going to search you. If you have any weapons on you, we'll hurt you a lot more."

  Chad dropped his gear. All of it. After he dropped all of his weapons he stepped forward. He did as Clyde demanded, dropped everything. The big man gestured to two of his men who started to search Chad. They gave him a very, very thorough pat down, basically prison level. Chad couldn't remember the last time he had felt so violated. He didn't fight back. Afterwards, Clyde came over to him. "Good, you did as you were told. Now, where's my daughter in law."

  "You mean the little girl? She jumped in the ocean when she realized you were near."

  Clyde slammed his huge fist into Chad's face. The pain bloomed, filling the entire world. Chad fell to the ground, boneless. It took a few minutes for him to be aware of his surroundings again. Once he rejoined the world he realized that he was stripped naked, tied hand and foot. Clyde stood over him, bloody hook in hand. "Let's try that again. Where's Evie?"

  "Seriously man, I have no... aggh!"

  The hook bit deep into Chad's bicep, separating muscle from bone. Pain, his whole being was consumed with pain. He burned, deep in his soul, the fire tore him to pieces. Then Clyde twisted the hook, pulling tendons and flesh away, the pain was more, greater. He didn't think was possible, but it was. He screamed and screamed. Clyde looked down at him, a slight twist of a smile visible on his lips. The smile reached his eyes, a dark humor twinkled forth, making it clear he found Chad's pain a source of amusement.

  He ground a heel into Chad's thigh, pulling up with the hook at the same time. Chad began to retch, the pain in complete control of him. He knew in that moment that he would do anything, anything at all, to make that feeling stop. "Okay, one more time, where the fuck is Evie?"

  "I don't know. I don't. I wish I did, but she left when she knew you were coming."

  "Okay, I think I believe you. Still, just in case," he twisted the hook again.

  Chad screamed more, he screamed until his voice died. After that, he sobbed. The blood leaked from his arm onto the ground mixing with Tamra's. She was lying, eyes closed, just next to him. She was pale, more pale than usual. Despite the pain, he was happy to be lying near her, to have the ability to reach out and touch her, even if his arm couldn't reach her right at that moment.

  His world went black.

  When Chad opened his eyes, he was lying on a threadbare carpet, it was cold and smelled like mildew. Decaying furniture surrounded him furniture. He started shaking, his arms and legs still bound. He needed to move, to bring his shoulders forward, to get his arms out of that position. The pain in his left bicep was all encompassing. It had no respite, no break. He was desperate to move.

  Clyde walked into view. His leather boots scuffed and filthy. "Okay Chinaman, you gonna find God soon. I promise you that. One way or another."

  "Please, please, just let my arms go. I need my arms free."

  "Sure, I'm pretty certain that you can't even swing a punch. I could let you go, but you know what, I don't feel like it."

  Chad strained at his bonds, his left arm was far, far too weak. He didn't know if he was ever going to be able to use that arm again. Tyson was there too, in his view plane, lying on the ground, beaten and bloody. That meant all three of them. All that work was for nothing. They hadn't made it anywhere. He hoped Evie was on her way to Sydney. At least that way there would be one positive thing to come out of all of it.

  "On the other hand, I might just let your pretty friend here out of her bonds. She could use a real man in her life, I'm pretty sure.

  "You touch her, and I will kill you."

  "I thought there might be some life left in you. It's a shame really, you seem like a decent man, at least from the little I've seen. Too bad you had to go and take Evie. I could have just killed you easy and painless if you hadn't done that."

  "I told you, she ran off as soon as she knew you were near."

  "Yes, I know. I believe you completely, but you put her in a position to do that. I can't have that. My flock has to be loyal, or else their souls will be at risk."

  "Wow, I get why Evie ran away."

  Clyde kicked him in the stomach, a short kick, not too much power in it. Chad was pretty sure one of his ribs cracked. The sharp pain in his stomach from the rock was still there too. He was a mass of pain, wounds upon wounds, scars upon scars.

  Chad threw up, his ribs ached so much he couldn't comprehend it. His arm was destroyed. As he vomited Clyde kicked him again, in the head this time. He saw stars.

  "Alright, so Evie took off to visit your buddies in Sydney then. I guess we follow her. Little bitch can't be allowed to think she can just go do whatever she wants, she's going to have to come in line. Sets a bad precedent."

  One of the men untied Chad's ankles. A woman, older, but still showing evidence that she had been pretty in her younger days, walked over to Chad and spat on him. "She was my daughter you monster. She was my daughter and you killed her."

  Right, the little girl. That might have been his biggest regret in this whole thing, but he was pretty sure he would have done the same thing if it came up again. He didn't have a choice, and despite how she haunted him he still had to put his own people first. Not that it mattered. All that pain, all that torment, and he shackled and in the grips of these madmen, along with the few survivors among the people he had set out to save.

  "You get to walk with us. Doesn't sound pleasant? Well, it's walk, or I drag you."

  Chad struggled to stand, despite having his arms bound behind his back. The men laughed as he struggled. He coughed, his mouth filled with liquid. He spat it out, staining the floor crimson. Tried to stand again, unable to care that he was naked, the pain st
ripped even that away from him.

  Eventually, after he fell several times, Clyde pulled him up by his injured arm, causing him to scream again. The pain caught his ribs as he did, and he almost fell again, but Clyde kept him standing. "You go down again I don't pick you up. I just pick a meaty bit and haul you along with my hook."

  Chad did everything he could to stay on his feet, his vision swam, the world going wavy and dark around the edges. He swallowed, again, again, and got the nausea under control. The darkness brightened, his vision clearing, and he stayed on his feet. Tyson came next. Tyson was beaten and bloody, but it didn't look like they'd done as much to him this time around. Chad wasn't fooled that Tyson had gotten off easy though, when they had first found him he was in at least as bad shape as Chad was now. He was also naked, blood providing his only covering.

  Finally, they hauled Tamra out. She had been in a separate room. She was in the same shape as Chad, her shoulder still dripping blood from the hook. She looked at Chad, saw the shape he was in and started to sob. "Shut up bitch," the man holding her said.

  "Fuck you. You don't wanna hear people cry, don't fucking torture them. What is wrong with you?"

  "God has ordained that we and only we are his chosen. You are nothing, grist for the mill, no more," Clyde said.

  "You know, when I was little I read the bible. I don't remember anything about psycho cannibals being the chosen," Tamra said, "In fact, I'm pretty sure that there was a whole said about this kind of shit being bad."

  Clyde backhanded her, sending her naked body tumbling into the wall. It was clear he hadn't put much effort into the blow. Chad was sure it would have knocked him down just as easily. Clyde was a monster, a giant. How the hell was he supposed to fight that?

  "You will shut your mouth whore. Treat me with the respect I deserve, or I will thrash you to the edge of death, and then let the men fuck your whorish parts until you die."

  "Right, it's always rape with you types. Well, if that's what you need to do to get your little pecker hard, that's what you gotta do. I notice you didn't threaten to rape me personally. Bet you can't even get it up for a woman huh? So, is it little boys or little girls? Bet it doesn't matter to you."

  "Gag the slut."

  One of the men stuffed a filthy rag into Tamra's mouth, tying it tight around her head. Clyde lifted her off the ground and set her down on her feet. "You will walk, and you will do so in silence."

  The group started traveling, looking for tracks. They picked up Evie's small feet after a few minutes. Just a single print. A bit further there was a broken stalk of grass that was recent and out of place. It was slow going, and the day was cold. It wasn't long before the pain was only Chad's second highest priority. "Look, if you wanna kill us, just kill us. Otherwise you have to put something on us, because too much more of this and we die of hypothermia."

  "You outsiders are weak. Pathetic."

  "Well, let's trade. You give me the coat and layers of warm clothes, you march down the road naked, we'll see how you stack up," Chad said, teeth chattering.

  To his surprise, Clyde laughed. He took off his coat, then started stripping down until he was naked. "Give them covering, just blankets. Enough to keep them alive. Shoes too. Also, someone carry my things."

  Clyde was huge, muscles on muscles, greying hair covered his body, almost like a pelt. It was more like a bear than a man. Clyde started walking, comfortable and relaxed. Chad regretted his choice to speak to a degree, but the warmth of the blanket on his shoulders made up for a lot.

  They marched on, through the cold. Every time Chad faltered one of the men poked him. Clyde didn't put anything else on, apparently completely unaffected by the weather. After several hours when they finally stopped Clyde said, "Satisfied? God provides all the warmth I need, and no soft mainlander is going to make me believe otherwise.

  Chad took more from that statement than was probably intended. He realized that Clyde didn't know where they were from, that meant there were gaps in his knowledge. Maybe not something he could exploit, but maybe he could as well.

  When they finally settled for the night Chad was placed on the ground between Tyson and Tamra. He looked at the blonde woman and said, "Hey, how are you holding up?"

  They had removed her gag when they set her down, she replied, "Well, that gag tasted like sweat and mold. I think they grabbed it from the dirty laundry basket in the house. I mean, twenty-year-old dirty laundry... I'm probably going to die of some sort of rare disease, if the blood loss and infection don't get me first. Other than that, peachy. How are you?"

  "About the same. At least I didn't have the rag in my mouth. That seems like it might be a fate worse than death."

  "Oh yeah, well it's your fault I had to watch Clyde's hairy ass crack all day. That might be a fate worse than death."

  "Good thing we probably won't live very much longer then."

  Tyson sighed and then said, "Could you two stop being so fucking cute? I mean, I don't mind dying too much at this point, but to have to listen to adorable couple shit? That's too much to ask." Despite the circumstances, his voice had a touch of laughter in it.

  "Okay, so, we're about to be killed by psychotic cannibals in terrible ways. The hell are we all laughing at?" Chad said.

  "Well, not like we can do shit about it, might as well laugh while we still have breath right? I mean, if I die at least I can die smiling. It's the only thing I can do to defy that bible thumping sexist mother fucker." Tamra shuffled closer to Chad, her shoulder rubbing against his."

  "I think you forgot racist. Seems like his followers all share a skin color with you."

  "He might be, but he did try to convert me, and I ain't exactly white either. Thought that shit died with most of humanity."

  "Yeah, back home I'm not Asian, I'm just breathing, seems like they didn't get the message that it's just dead or living here in Meat Cove."

  "Yeah. It's weird, I hear old people talk about it all the time, how there used to be different races, how unfair the world was. Until this group I hadn't seen it though, just us and the dead."

  Tamra said, "I was ten when it hit. I saw a bit of racism before. Hell, my own family were pretty terrible. Thing is, once everyone died there was no point in it. We couldn't be so damned stupid anymore, the few of us still alive had to pull together, didn't matter race. Dad went and married a native woman after mom turned. Took a while, but hey."

  "This shit is so stupid. There's what, a few hundred million of us worldwide, at the most, and we're fighting over scraps of land. There's enough space for everyone. Hell, it takes a week to get from Meat Cove to Sydney. Not like we wouldn't share." Chad said this last loud enough to make sure that everyone could hear him.

  "So, the Chinaman wants to share our land, does he? Well, it's our land and the Godless don't get to share."

  Tyson said, "It was my people's land before it was yours, so why don't you just give it back? I mean, not like you are making use of most of it anyway."

  "How did I get saddled with fools like you? Don't you understand that you are my prisoners, that if you provoke me I might just torture you to death?"

  "Yeah, we get it. Thing is, we don't really give a shit. With what you've done to us you might as well. It's not like we have any reason to hope for nice treatment."

  "Oh, you still have something. You don't know how much pain a man can endure. I may teach you if you insist on this insolence though."

  Chad decided not to provoke the big man anymore, so he shut his mouth and sat, observing. It was the same strategy he had employed at the village, provoke, create chaos, hope that led to mistakes, slip ups. Chaos in your enemy was opportunity for you.

  Sometime after he had fallen asleep he woke to feel a tugging at his wrist, then a sharp dig. He suppressed the outcry that was on the tip of his tongue as he heard a young voice say "Shh".

  In a moment his wrists were free, a shape flitted to Tamra and started working on her wrists. Evie said, "Go, get Tyson free. If we m
ove fast they might not wake up." Her voice was quiet, soft, the kind of voice that didn't carry in the night.

  Chad started working to free Tyson's wrists, pulling apart the knots. In a minute he had him untied and ready to move.

  Evie led them into the trees, they followed her as quietly as possible.

  She led them to an old cabin, about an hour away. It was a simple log building, no lock on the door. Evie took them inside.

  Once they closed the door behind them she said, "I got a little ways then I realized I didn't want to leave you. You risked a lot to let me come with you. It would make me like him, a monster. So, I came back. I've been following you all day. I never heard anyone talk to him like you guys did. I'm surprised he didn't just kill you."

  "Nah, he needed to break us in front of his men. Killing us wouldn't do it. I've met lots of men like him. They don't think, not really."

  "Wait," said Tamra, "You were goading him on purpose?"

  "Yeah, I figured he would hurt me for it, but he would make sure to keep us alive. He couldn't kill us while we were still defying him. I thought you were doing the same."

  "No, he just pissed me off."

  The cabin had been occupied somewhat recently, and the original occupant was still there, a skeleton lying on a lone bunk bed, the flesh rotted almost totally off its bones. There was a clean hole in the center of the skull. Whoever it was had made sure they wouldn't be coming back.

  The cabin was rough, clearly made by hand. It contained a few meager supplies, mostly in the form of old cans. Nothing that seemed appetizing right away, but it was something and at this point calories were calories. They opened one of the tins and discovered a thick, grey mush. Chad didn't recognize it, but he took a tiny bit on his finger and tasted it. It was salty and rich, thick. It tasted vaguely like mushrooms. He decided it was good and they shared it between the four of them, not talking as they ate.

  The food left them thirsty, so Chad took a pair of threadbare overalls from the cabin, threw them on, and took a pot to see if he could find water. He also took a small hatchet that was there. It was the kind of tool that would be used for splitting small logs. Still, at least he had some sort of weapon.