Grayson Ryder: A Thief's Thrill

by M. L. Giles

  Then, after about ten minutes, one of the yellow men drew a knife and started stabbing away at the prisoner who’d refused to answer. The second bound man beside him watched on in horror – as did I.

  I’m guessing the murder wasn’t quite what was meant to happen, since all the people in yellow and orange started arguing amongst themselves right after.

  Now that I had witnessed what these people were capable of, I started second guessing if this was worth it, or if this silly rescue attempt would be the event that finished us off. As sad as it sounds, if things were to go wrong, I would have to leave Wendy and Thomas behind.

  Saving my own skin is top priority, and that wasn’t going to change for anyone.

  As the group continued arguing, I spotted Wendy and Thomas emerge from the trees on the opposite side of the park from where I was, talking loudly to draw attention to themselves. Soon after, the yellows also saw them, causing an abrupt end to their quarrel.

  “Showtime,” I thought, preparing to sprint the second the coast was clear.

  Just as I’d expected, they raced across the grass in the direction of Wendy and Thomas, which immediately gave me a chance to run the shorter distance for the kid’s playground.

  While running, I was super thankful that all the yellows had gone instead of just one or two. I had mentally prepared myself to knock the buggers out from behind if the plan went tits up.

  Glad it didn’t come to that, though! I’d rather avoid conflict.

  The gang were about halfway across the long stretch of grass by the time I’d reached the playground. I jumped over the blue, rusty metal fence, running towards the one bound man who was still alive and tied to the broken swing set.

  “Who the fuck are you?” he said frantically.

  I pulled out my pocket knife and cut the thin washing line they had used as rope on the guy, then helped him up. “Less talky, more walky.”

  We both made a run to the spot I had originally emerged from. Just before we reached the trees, I turned around, put my fingers in my mouth, and gave a sharp whistle.

  “What the fuck are you doing?!” the man asked in what sounded like an American accent.

  “Giving my friends a chance.”

  Once again, I let out another sharp whistle. No one came out from the trees.

  I whistled a third time. This time the woman of the group appeared, saw us, and called her buddies back to give chase for their escaped prisoner.

  “There we go!” I said with a proud smirk on my face.

  The American grabbed my shoulder, yanking me towards him. “Are you crazy?” he shouted right in my face, with a breath so vile my toes curled.

  “Yeah, probably.” I shrugged and made a mad dash into the trees. The American followed closely behind me.

  The chances that the yellows would get us were slim. I had got their attention from the absolute maximum distance before getting out of view in the trees.

  Still, it was best not to dawdle in these picturesque woods.

  “Why are we waiting here?” the American asked me.

  I took a seat in the leather recliner of the study we had originally seen the smoke from and twirled around in it for fun. “This is where I told the others to meet up at afterwards. Plus, I like the view of the park from the window. Very scenic.”

  “Funny guy, huh?” The American looked angry with me – a look I am more than used to.

  “Yup. And this funny guy just saved your butt from the same fate as your friend, so how about dropping the hostilities?”

  “…Fair point. Consider it dropped, for now. What’s your name?” he asked me.

  Internally I debated whether to lie about my real name or be truthful to this stranger. It didn’t make sense to save his life then lie to his face.

  “Grayson Ryder, at your service,” I answered. “You?”

  “Carl.”

  “Got a last name there, Mr Carl?”

  He seemed reluctant at first to tell me, possibly for the same reason I had been. “Sedine. Carl Sedine.”

  The first thing that struck me about Carl was the smell. Just because the end of the world was going on around us is no reason to ignore hygiene. I mean, my clothes are old, but even I didn’t stink that badly! Yuck! Despite the smell, Carl looked ordinary. Dirty black hair, torn, dark blue jeans, green shirt under a crimson padded jacket, and a pair of trainers that looked about ready to fall apart.

  I suppose it is worth noting that the guy seemed… to put it as delicately as I can, well fed. I mean, he wasn’t fat or anything, but he was somewhat on the husky side. The more I looked at him, the more impressed I became that he could even keep up with me when we ran through the trees.

  “You sound American,” I told him.

  “That’s because I am.”

  “Lovely. How is it over there these days?”

  Carl looked unimpressed by my antics, but I wanted to push a few buttons to gauge how unstable this guy was, especially after seeing his friend die.

  “How the fuck would I know?” he snapped. “I was here, in England, when the outbreak started.”

  “Interesting word that is, ‘outbreak’. Why did you use it? Know something?”

  Carl sat down on the floor, resting his greasy back against the wall under the window. “It’s how the doctor described it.”

  My interest was well and truly piqued. “Do go on! Tell me more.”

  “I don’t know the facts. Look, if you want to know more, maybe you could help us out. I’m part of a larger group—”

  “Let me stop you right there! Wendy and Thomas should get back first to hear this too.” I wasn’t getting a psychotic vibe from Carl (unless it was being blocked by the fragrance of Odour-De-Sedine), so I decided to let my guard down and chill out until the others arrived. “What brought you to England, Carl?”

  “Did some bad shit when I was a kid and got locked up for a while. When I was released, I met this girl who was on holiday from here. We hit it off. I came here with her to start again.”

  “Awwww! I do love a good romance story, but I’m more concerned with the here and now. Saying that, who were those people that had you tied up?” I asked.

  “They’re bad people who set up a signal fire to get the attention of more bad—ˮ

  The sound of the front door downstairs slowly opening caused us both to go silent. As footsteps started echoing up the stairs, I tensed up in preparation to defend myself. Carl looked like he was ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. However, once we saw Wendy stroll around the corner, I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “It’s okay, Carl. She’s the one we were waiting for.” Then Thomas also walked in, looking far more out of breath than Wendy. “And here is her kept-tightly-on-a-leash boyfriend.”

  Carl relaxed and stood up, shaking the hands of both of them in turn. “Thanks for your help back there.”

  Wendy smiled at Carl. “You are welcome. But do you mind if we ask you a few questions? Like who those guys were? And why did they have you and your friend tied up? Is there a gang around here we should avoid?”

  “Er, it’s complicated,” Carl sighed. “I’d prefer you speak with my group leader, Colton.”

  Wendy looked around the room. “Where’s the other guy that was tied up?”

  Carl and I glanced at each other. I could tell he didn’t want to say anything.

  “He’s dead. Stabbed to death before you two could emerge from the trees,” I said, perhaps a touch more insensitively than I should have.

  Thomas looked down in disappointment. Wendy covered her mouth in shock.

  The room was quiet and tense, until Carl spoke up. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s go get my car. I’m sure Colton would like to meet you three.”

  “Sure,” I replied.

  Wendy grabbed a hold of my sleeve and gave it a tug. “Uh, before that, can we talk in private, Grayson?”

  Thomas, Wendy, and I were all standing in the small, foul-smelling kitchen of the house we had rendezvou
sed at. Carl was left upstairs in the study.

  “What the heck was that, Grayson?!” Wendy kept her voice low, just in case Carl could hear us. “Why are you agreeing to go to Carl’s place without speaking with us first? We don’t know anything about the guy yet.ˮ

  “He told me they have a doctor. It sounded like they might know something about all the crap that happened last year.”

  Wendy went silent.

  Ever since everyone went berserk and turned on each other, all three of us have been coming up with wild theories as to what happened that night. A couple of those theories included mind control or some kind of virus. Thomas hinted that it might be the devil’s work. Yet these were all just guesses, whereas I wanted answers.

  “This could be a chance to learn the truth, Dee,” I explained. “If we don’t like what we see, or if they turn out to be a gang of psychos, like some of the others have been, we can leave.”

  Thomas stepped forward, adjusting his glasses. In the manliest voice he could fake, he declared, “I’m in.”

  I cringed. Thomas doesn’t do manly very well.

  “Well, er— That just leaves you, Dee. Look at how… ‘brave’ Thomas is being. We’ll be fine.”

  After some thought on her part, she nodded in agreement.

  It took us some time to get to Carl’s car. We would’ve been faster if not for the cautious movements required to navigate through the town. I hate moving slowly, usually. But it was necessary in case any of those yellow wearing fruit loops were out looking for us.

  Night had set in by the time we reached the other side of town. Street lights didn’t seem to work anymore, leaving us in the dark with only the moon and stars to light the way.

  Carl pointed out a house not unlike any other on the street. He led us up the driveway and lifted the hatch to its garage. Parked inside was a compact, dirty, dark green car.

  “This is what we used to get here,” Carl explained while unlocking the two front doors with a key.

  “I call front seat!” I announced.

  Since the car only had two doors, Wendy and Thomas had to climb into the back by sliding the front seats forward.

  “Does this thing get any good radio stations?” I joked as I got into the car, sliding my backpack down by my feet.

  Carl sat next to me in the driver’s seat, dumbfounded by my question. “Are you for real?”

  “Are any of us real, Carl? Or are we all merely characters in some work of fiction?”

  Carl shook his head, clearly not appreciative of my humour.

  “How long will it take us to get to this place?” Wendy asked from the backseat.

  Carl turned the car’s key, starting it up. “Thirty minutes. Maybe forty.”

  “…Going places that I’ve never been. Seeing things that I may never see again. And I can’t wait to get on the road again! On the road again—ˮ

  “Do you ever shut up?” Carl mumbled, interrupting my perfect musical flow.

  “Of course not!” I happily replied.

  He grumbled something under his breath that was too quiet for me to hear.

  We had been driving down an unused motorway for about fifteen minutes now. The roads were quiet, with only the odd abandoned car parked up, but the roads were not entirely lifeless. Wildlife now roamed the lands more freely then they used to in the past. It was nice to see a deer here or a rabbit there as we rode along.

  Wendy sat in the back with her head resting on Thomas’ shoulder, both sleeping peacefully. This left Carl and me alone together in the front of the car.

  It also left me utterly, utterly bored.

  I made a popping noise with my mouth. Then another. Then another. Then one more, this time nice and loud.

  “Oh my God, you’re annoying…” Carl finally spoke up.

  “I’m bored. What else am I supposed to do?”

  “How about you get some sleep, like your friends back there? The time will pass by quicker if you do – for the both of us.”

  I gave Carl a reassuring squeeze on his forearm, telling him lovingly, “And leave you all on your lonesome? That would be so rude.”

  The real reason for my lack of sleep was because I wanted to monitor the trip very carefully, and be on alert in case Carl was pulling any tricks on us.

  He gave a long, slow, very audible moan. “Starting to regret inviting you along now.”

  “Yeah, about that: why did you invite us in the first place? Seems kind of weird to invite people if you don’t know them.”

  “Colton wants us to bring back any survivors that show signs of being useful, and who aren’t part of that crazy fire cult.”

  I popped open the glovebox and started rummaging around inside, trying to give a casual appearance while prodding for information. “Fire cult, huh? Do they have get-togethers where they toast marshmallows over an open flame? Or do they run around with their arms raised up to the big ball of fire in the sky, shouting ‘PRAISE THE SUN!’?”

  “Did it look like they were toasting marshmallows when they were stabbing my friend?” Carl asked in a very serious tone. “…What are you doing in that glovebox anyway?”

  “Looking for chewing gum, obviously.”

  “There’s nothing like that in there.”

  “Awww, shame. I love that stuff.”

  I closed the glovebox and leaned back in my seat. What Carl didn’t know was I had already taken a lighter, half a pack of painkillers, and what appeared to be a slim, black torch out from the glovebox, hiding them all up the sleeves of my hoodie.

  “Tell me more about this cult, then. Unless you’d rather I go back to singing.”

  Carl shrugged. “Not much to tell. They’re a gang following orders given.”

  “How might one spot a cult member?” I was genuinely curious about this question. They sounded like something to watch out for.

  “All of them wear yellow or orange gear and shave their hair to look the same. I noticed a few of them spray paint their clothes in gold, yellow, or orange if they aren’t wearing anything with the colour of fire on already.”

  “Why fire?” I asked.

  “You’ll have to ask Colton.”

  Carl’s words troubled me. All we wanted was a safe place to stay and answers to what happened last year. Being dragged into some conflict between two groups wasn’t on my to-do list for the day.

  I don’t blame the survivors of this supposed outbreak who went crazy. Hell, even I came close to going nuts before bumping into Wendy. I would just walk down street after street, seeing decomposing bodies lying everywhere, enduring the stench of death with every house or apartment I went into to scavenge for food like an animal. The sound of flies buzzing around rotting flesh and maggots wriggling around everywhere… It was horrifying.

  When you endure that for days, wondering if you are the only one left alive, you do start to go a bit funny in the head.

  Which got me wondering: if I had been alone and some cult had found me, would I have joined them?

  Probably, yeah.

  Would I have done what they’d asked of me, believing whatever they’d told me, just to feel like I belonged somewhere?

  Maybe.

  The world can be a lonely place when your only company is yourself, the memories of others long gone, and an endless tide of bodies.

  “Almost there,” Carl said, disrupting my trail of thought. “First thing you’ll need to do is see Colton. He runs everything.”

  “Sounds like I’d better be on my best behaviour with him,” I said, silently transferring the lighter, torch, and painkillers into my pockets.

  “That another one of your jokes?”

  “Could be, Carl,” I grinned innocently. “Could be.”

  “Try dropping the jokes while in there,” he humbly requested. “Might help you out a bit.”

  “Aye-aye, captain.” I turned around to check on the sleeping couple. Wendy was still resting on Thomas’ shoulder. The two looked so adorable.

  “You should wa
ke them,” Carl told me.

  “Yeah, I should… OI!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. “WAKE UP, SLEEPING BEAUTY! YOU TOO, WENDY!”

  The snoozing couple woke with a start. Wendy kicked the back of my chair, calling me all manner of mean names for some reason. Carl rubbed his ear in frustration after my voice rattled his brain some.

  It might seem like a dickish way to wake my friends up, but I needed them alert as soon as possible, just in case I gave the order to get the hell out of wherever it was we were heading.

  Or maybe I was looking at this too pessimistically.

  Maybe, just maybe, I really would find my well-groomed prince charming. I can see him now! Youthful. Beautiful. Complete with a perfect frame, wonderfully defined body, and luscious red lips (big dick too, of course). Maybe this new location – or haven, if you dare to dream – would be where I meet my one true love, allowing me to have that happily ever after everyone fantasizes about.

  That was sarcasm, by the way. My previous relationship left me so broken it made me swear off that thing called “love”. Not sex, though, obviously. Guess my heart doesn’t heal as fast as my butt after taking a pounding.

  Besides, it was far more likely that this was all a big trap, one where our curiosity kills us.

  Chapter 3

  Introductions.

  Poor First Impressions.

  The four of us arrived late at night in a moderately large town, filled with all manner of different disused buildings and a few scattered heaps of bones. Carl had turned the car lights off, leaving only the moon above to grant us a modicum of illumination on the lifeless streets.

  “We’re here.” Carl pointed to an enormous building that loomed in the darkness before us.

  I looked at it keenly but saw no signs of it being used, or clues as to what sort of building it was. “Looks a bit dark, considering it’s where your ‘group’ is staying.”

  “We boarded the windows to stop any light from giving away our location,” Carl explained while driving slowly down a curving ramp that seemed to be leading under the building itself.