By the Feet of Men

by Grant Price

  Ghazi grinned too, but quickly became sober again when he saw the expression on Victor’s face. ‘What is it?’

  ‘We got Hearst in the back. She’s in a bad way.’

  His stomach turned over and a dread he’d never known wound its way around his skull. Cassady let out a strangled cry.

  ‘She’s alive?’

  ‘For now.’

  The Runner pushed past the two younger men, stalked to the back of the pillbox and threw the doors open. Ghazi stood, rooted to the spot, staring at nothing. The blood ran hot in his veins. He’d made a terrible mistake.

  Victor winced as he bent his injured arm. ‘What happened out there?’

  Ghazi looked into the eyes of the men standing before him. ‘I don’t know.’ He struggled to draw breath. ‘I thought she was dead.’

  ‘She ain’t got long. We tried to make her comfortable. She’s flat out on a stretcher.’

  ‘Wh–where did you find her?’ he stammered.

  ‘On the trail. When it came out of the forest and hit the open country. Picked her up before we were attacked.’

  He wavered on his feet. ‘She climbed back up the valley.’

  Tagawa had been watching him through narrowed eyes, and now he reached out and placed a hand on Ghazi’s shoulder. ‘Take it easy. There’ll be time enough to talk about this later. We should get her inside. Is there somewhere we can hide the wheels?’

  Ghazi glanced at the Silkworm, dents and damage all over its body, and was overwhelmed by an image of Orion hurtling down the slope before coming to a sudden sickening halt. His own words rang in his ears. She knew the risk. She’s gone. Only she wasn’t. Not yet. ‘Three buildings down on the left,’ he said in a monotone. ‘A garage. That’s where we are. There’s room enough for you.’ Cassady hadn’t reappeared since he’d climbed into the pillbox. ‘I’d better go and help him.’ He imagined the form lying in the back and felt the terror that came with the moment of reckoning. He wanted to pray, but no words came to him. He was alone in this.

  ‘Calm and easy, Ghazi,’ said Victor.

  Tagawa held out his arm for his partner, who leaned against him for support. Together they limped back to the Silkworm. Ghazi followed on leaden legs.

  7

  Cassady stood frozen in the metal sarcophagus. Something had burned through the roof and created a ragged hole and the night sky was visible above the woman’s head. He wanted to help her, but his body refused to respond to his commands. He tried to speak, but his trachea was pinched in a vice. Nothing could go up or down. He struggled to draw in air. Panic ballooned in his chest and exploded and sloshed around his stomach. Then he could breathe again, and he sucked in great ragged gulps that made him dizzy. Her face was a mask of blood. As he stared, heavy eyelids opened. A hand quivered and rose and thick fingers curled towards him. She needed his help, but he had none to give.

  Footsteps sounded on the road and the cab doors slammed home. A voice came through from the front.

  ‘Hold on, Cassady,’ said Victor. ‘We’re taking her inside.’

  The engine awoke with a sigh and with it his control over his body was restored. He dropped to his knees and grasped the hand that had reached out for him. Hearst’s breath emerged in hot, painful spurts. The pantech swayed from side to side and rolled forward at walking pace. With care, he wiped at the red film covering her eyes, nose and cheeks and searched for the source. She had a deep wound at the top of her forehead. Her clothes were torn and her left leg was a mess of black and red.

  Heavy boots clanged against the rear step as somebody jumped onto the moving vehicle. He didn’t have to turn around to know who it was.

  ‘She’s alive, Ghazi,’ he growled.

  ‘I know.’

  ‘You left her.’

  ‘This isn’t the time. Once Tagawa pulls up, we need to get her out of this box.’

  Cassady’s vision blurred and he gripped the hand tighter. Hearst’s head rolled from side to side. He hated the man. But it could wait.

  The Silkworm struggled up the ramp into the garage where Warspite slumbered. The engine clicked off and Victor and Tagawa climbed out.

  Cassady moved to one side and gestured to Ghazi. ‘Help me lift her.’

  They grunted with the effort of hoisting the stretcher, but managed to manoeuvre Hearst to the doors. She whispered something about Orion that neither man understood. Victor stood by the rear door, his injured arm pressed to his chest, and watched as they lifted her out and placed her on a litter Tagawa was still throwing together. When he was done, the Japanese crouched next to Cassady and spoke in a quiet tone.

  ‘Do you still have your med kit?

  ‘Yeah.’ His mind was working in slow motion.

  ‘We need it.’

  Cassady placed Hearst’s hand in Tagawa’s and went to Warspite. He turned on the headlights. Twisted shadows merged and broke apart on the wall opposite. In the cab, he popped the lock on the storage bin and threw aside canteens, boxes and tools until he found the kit. When he returned to the litter, he found that Ghazi had cut Hearst’s trousers off. For the first time, the Runners saw the intricate tattoos on her legs. A tree with roots that curled and blossomed, a sliver of moon, a supernova star, an ornate bow with an arrow. The geometric patterns on her skull were designed to repel; these tattoos were a glimpse into something much deeper. The dichotomy caught in their throats. In the end they hadn’t known her at all.

  Tagawa pressed a rag to Hearst’s forehead and whispered to her in Japanese as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Cassady cracked open the med kit. Despair boiled inside him. All that remained was a bottle of painkillers, a pair of soiled gloves and a tube of superglue. They’d used the gauze and the bandages and the drugs to try to make Kaja comfortable. There was nothing left for Hearst. He held it open to Tagawa.

  ‘Does the Silkworm have one?’

  ‘No. It was destroyed when we were attacked.’

  Ghazi took one of the rags from the floor and ripped it into shorter lengths before wrapping it around Hearst’s green-grey thigh. Gently, he moved Tagawa to one side and bound her head. With the livid wound hidden from view, she looked more like herself. Next, he sliced through her sodden shirt and peeled it away from her skin to reveal a wound in her stomach. His body went limp.

  The heat from Warspite’s headlights splashed against the backs of their necks. Hearst groaned and her eyes fluttered for a moment and then closed. Her breathing became steady. Cassady looked at the three men in turn and asked the question that didn’t have an answer. ‘What can we do for her?’

  Ghazi shook his head. ‘Nothing. Stomach acid’s been seeping out of there for hours. We can’t do anything about the infection.’

  ‘That’s it?’

  He bowed his head. There was no response from the other two.

  Cassady picked up a blanket and laid it over her. She moved her head from side to side, but her eyes remained shut. Her lips were dry and brittle. He ground his teeth and swallowed to get rid of the thick taste of blood. He pressed the back of his hand to her cheek. It wouldn’t be long. But the fact was she was still alive. He hadn’t gone down into the valley after her. He’d allowed himself to be led away like a dog, and his punishment was to stand and watch the life ebb out of the one person he thought could never be killed.

  The silence stretched, broken only by her unconscious sobs of discomfort. ‘What happened?’ said Victor finally.

  Cassady ignored the question, so Ghazi took up the slack. ‘When the trail left the forest, we saw the city on fire, so we stopped. It was after we picked up again and made a break for it that her tyre exploded. The one she replaced after the Zuisudra. She tried to control it, but it was too much. Took off downhill and her truck hit a rock.’

  ‘And then we left her,’ said Cassady tonelessly. The others looked at him. ‘We left her when she needed help.’

  ‘Come on,’ said Victor. ‘You couldn’t have known.’

  ‘We could’ve climbed down th
e hill to check. We could’ve waited longer than we did. We could’ve done something.’ He threw a venomous glance at Ghazi. ‘But instead we saved ourselves.’

  Tagawa rubbed at the downy hairs under his chin. ‘Nobody can make the right decision every time.’

  Hearst groaned and her eyelids trembled and snapped open. She looked around, trying to understand where she was. Cassady moved into her line of sight and reached under the blanket for her hand.

  ‘You’re safe,’ he said, making an effort to sound as calm as possible. ‘You made it.’

  ‘Where am I?’ she asked in a skeleton whisper.

  ‘With us.’

  ‘Don’t remember getting here.’ She grimaced. ‘Water.’

  Cassady lifted a canteen to her mouth. The water spilled around the corners of her lips and pooled in the crevices of her neck. She shifted her head when she’d had enough. Her voice regained a little of its edge.

  ‘Puncture.’

  ‘We saw it,’ said Ghazi.

  ‘Hit my head.’ Her eyes opened wide and she tried to sit up. Cassady placed his hand on her shoulder and pushed her back against the litter.

  ‘Orion.’

  ‘Don’t worry about that now.’

  ‘Water,’ she croaked. Cassady held the canteen up to her lips again.

  ‘Alone. Fire and screaming. Dead ground all around.’

  Cassady held her hand between his. ‘You’re not alone now. There’s no fire. Just us.’

  Her breathing became faster. She looked from Cassady to Ghazi and back. ‘Death is coming.’

  Cassady bit his lip. He didn’t know what to do.

  ‘Where is Katarina?’

  Ghazi took her other hand. ‘She’ll be along soon. Be calm.’ Her breathing continued to increase. She looked beyond the pair of them and recoiled at an invisible presence. Her hand was cold and the tips of her fingers were grey.

  ‘Be calm,’ Ghazi said again. Hearst’s chest heaved once. Her lips parted and surprise registered in her eyes as they turned to glass. Her eyelids slid down and stopped halfway.

  Cassady placed her hand by her side, stepped back and wiped his cheek with his sleeve. He hated himself. He hated Ghazi. And part of him hated her for returning from the dead. She’d come back to haunt them, as if to prove she was stronger all along, and now he had to deal with whatever came next.

  ‘Goddamn it.’ His voice cracked. He had to stop himself from falling to his knees.

  Victor’s head dropped. Tagawa’s gaze fell to the body on the litter.

  ‘We can’t afford to lose it now,’ he said to all of them.

  ‘This son of a bitch run.’ Victor raised his head again and looked at Cassady. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘For what?’

  The younger man flinched. ‘For the way it turned out.’

  Ghazi brushed Hearst’s eyes closed. It was enough of a provocation. Cassady walked around the litter, pulled back and slammed an iron fist into the mechanic’s chest. He went sprawling across the floor. Cassady approached on shaking legs, only half-aware of what he was doing.

  ‘Don’t touch her.’

  Ghazi rolled to one side, but made no move to defend himself. ‘I made a mistake. I’m not going to fight you over this.’

  Cassady spat on the floor at his feet. ‘You and your damn single-minded beliefs.’

  Before he could make up his mind to do anything else, Tagawa pinned his arms and dragged him backwards.

  ‘Control yourself.’

  Victor stepped in front of Ghazi. ‘It wasn’t his fault, Cassady. It was a judgement call. Anybody could’ve made it.’

  ‘I’m done.’ He shook himself free of Tagawa’s grip and went to the litter again, where he rearranged the blanket around Hearst. His body still shook. He stood with his back to them all, his cheeks burning with anger, shame and impotence.

  Victor hauled Ghazi to his feet and the three of them retreated to the corner of the room. They spoke in low voices, but Cassady could hear them all the same.

  ‘What happened on the mountain?’ asked Ghazi.

  ‘We worked on her for a few hours straight,’ said Victor. ‘Damn near froze to death. Never thought I’d say it, but it made me realise: give me hot days and warm nights. Least I know how to cope with them. Anyway, we got her started and we reached that camp. Was it empty when you got there?’

  ‘Deserted. But Hearst found a map.’

  ‘Which told you about the trail through the forest.’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Figured one of you had eagle eyes or something.’ Victor grimaced as he recalled the ride through the forest. ‘It was choppy. I was sure the engine would give out again, but it held. The city jumped out at us after we broke away from the trees. Every building was on fire, it looked like. The ring-road, too. Some sight.’

  Tagawa cut in. ‘It was the drones that made me stop and think. They were like a swarm of flies, and they dropped bombs and gas and foam on anything that moved. I don’t know how anybody could have survived in there. Wyler talked about how the Koalition controls the state, but being prepared to destroy a city and everybody in it is a special kind of fanaticism. Nobody should have that power.’

  ‘Is that when you were attacked?’ asked Ghazi.

  Victor nodded. ‘Yeah. While we were dead on the hillside taking it all in, two drones peeled off from the swarm and headed straight at us. It was too late to turn her around and get her back into cover, so we made a run for it over open ground. Hideki went into the back with the rifle and I held her as steady as I could.’

  ‘I hit one,’ said Tagawa. ‘But they kept coming.’

  ‘The first dropped its guts right in front of us,’ said Victor. ‘Bombs hitting the ground, flames covering the windows. I was sure we were dead. The vibrations damn near shook my arms off. But I kept my foot down and prayed the engine wouldn’t break down. The second one dumped foam on us. Corrosive as hell. Most of it missed, but some ate into the back.’

  Ghazi rubbed the new bruise on his chest. ‘I saw the hole.’

  ‘Victor hit the brakes and the drones turned back towards the city,’ said Tagawa. ‘I suppose they had nothing else to attack us with. And that’s when I saw her struggling up the incline. She didn’t even respond when I got out and called to her. She just kept climbing.’

  Cassady flinched as he listened to Tagawa’s account, but he forced himself to remain silent.

  Victor lifted his bound arm slightly. ‘That’s how I did this. I slid down the hill to get her and landed on it like an idiot. Might be broken. Hurts like hell in any case.’

  ‘You were lucky.’

  ‘I guess. Anyway, we managed to get her up onto the track as quick as we could and bundled her into the back. Hideki took the wheel after that and we gunned it away before anything else decided to try to call time on us.’

  Tagawa’s tone became more sombre. ‘I don’t know if you noticed, but the foam that ate through us landed on the medicine crate. I used the water to try to flush it out. It didn’t work. The supplies are destroyed.’

  None of the men spoke for a few moments.

  ‘Two cargos in a day,’ said Ghazi.

  Tagawa rubbed his hands together as he tried to remove the dried blood that stained his palms. ‘That’s how it is. At least you still have Brandt’s.’

  ‘We could transfer it to the Silkworm.’

  ‘No, keep hold of it,’ said Victor. ‘We’re open to the elements now. We’ll run bodyguard for you.’

  ‘How are your batteries?’

  ‘Working as well as they can.’

  ‘One of ours has bitten it.’

  ‘Then you’ve gotta swap with us.’

  Cassady’s impassive gaze left Hearst’s body and he turned. He couldn’t keep quiet any longer. He called across to the three men. ‘I won’t take it.’

  Victor wasn’t deterred. ‘Our engine might not hold and we have no cargo. If you’ve got a dud, you’ve gotta let us help you.’

  ‘I
’m not condemning you to death as well.’

  ‘You have not condemned any of us,’ said Tagawa in a measured tone. ‘We make our own decisions and we know the goal. Survival is a bonus.’

  Cassady had heard enough. He walked away, out through the open doorway of the garage, along the road, between gutted homes and empty stores and other monuments to a long-dead culture. No footsteps echoed behind him. He stumbled blindly through the streets, not caring where he ended up, and turned onto an avenue of buildings that were silver and yellow-grey in the darkness. A tall one with a concrete staircase draped around its exterior called to him. A vicious kick sent a gate that hung from its hinges crashing to the floor, and he shuffled up the stairs to the roof. Animal faeces and plastic flotsam coated the floor. Cylindrical metal drums congregated in the centre. Panting, he dragged one to the edge of the roof, wiped the rust from his hands and sat down. He balled a grime-streaked fist and pressed it against his forehead. A coughing fit shook him up and down until he was exhausted. He spat between his legs. It was frothy and streaked with something darker.

  He looked out at the uneven mass of concrete, but saw only the massed faces of the dead. A few stars winked blue and white, millions of kilometres distant. The trees on the mountains hissed. A deep bass rumble forced its way over the rocky hills, landed on the deserted town and dispersed. When the air had become calm again, a bird whistled from one of the rooftops. Alone and unwatched, Cassady allowed the grief to bleed out. His body trembled and his cheeks became wet. After a time, he growled at himself to stop. He rose from the metal drum and made for the stairs. He wasn’t yet ready to join the ones he had failed. But the hour was close. Of that he was certain.

  8

  As night disintegrated and the sky turned a morose grey, the four remaining Runners placed Hearst’s body on top of a meagre pyre and lit it. Cassady was the one to push the flaming torch into the pile of kindling, and the flames snarled and spat as they explored the rags. Smoke twisted into dark braids. When the air became ripe with the smell of burning flesh, it was time to go.

  They had moved the rigs out of the garage and onto a steep road that would take them clear of the town. The Silkworm sat behind Warspite, its rear doors held together with a length of chain wrapped around the handles. The men walked from the pyre to their vehicles in silence, each one lost in thought.