15 Years Later: Wasteland (15 page)

She nodded in agreement, but only looked partly convinced.

“I never said I had all the answers, Lannie. I am just doing my best, same as he has been. I don’t know what it is he sees in me that he hates, but I am betting he has some good reasons. Don’t take it all out on him.”

It was as if all her fears had been washed away, and she stepped closer and leaned in as if to kiss him. But he stepped back.

“You don’t want this?”

“Of course I do. I have dreamt of it since I woke up in this world, but we can’t. We just can’t. It’s all too late.”

She turned and walked away. He was left alone as everyone had gone back to work, or so he thought.

“Take what you can get, remember,” said a voice behind him.

Rave was sitting on a wall close by.

“Jay takes what he can get. I won’t be like that.”

“No, maybe not yet, but one day. If you could have whatever you wanted, wouldn’t you just take it?”

He shook his head, but it did get him thinking. He hoped he was a better person than that, but he really had no idea. He must have been far from good in his past life, and he needed to know why, but right now he had more pressing concerns.

“How well do you know Jay?”

“Better than I want to.”

He could only imagine why, but he didn’t want to ask.

“So tell me, what will he do now? How will he respond to this?”

“He will decide what is more important, the things you have taken, and the risk of taking them back.”

“Sounds like he is smarter than he looks.”

She laughed.

“What is so funny?”

“Nothing. But it isn’t smart. It’s survival. He runs Jaytown because he is a survivor.”

“Sounds like you admire him?”

“No, but it’s not easy to live in this world. He has everything, water, food, sex, and gas. A man who can get all those things should be respected.”

Zed grunted. He didn’t like her simplistic assessment of the priorities in life, and yet could see why it was true. He didn’t want to become the very thing he was fighting against.

“So, you’re saying he’ll what, either leave his people to die here, or attack us with everything he’s got?”

“That’s about it.”

“No middle of the road?”

“Unlikely. Jay either does something, or he does not. I hope he doesn’t come here.”

“But you think he will?”

She nodded as she looked out into the distance, as if expecting to see his army on their way. It made him wonder if he had done the right thing, but he couldn’t be seen to be in any doubt. The people around him trusted him now, and he had no choice but to see it through.

“Yeah, well, we’ll just have to wait and see,” he replied as confidently and casually as he could.

A few hours had passed as Zed waited and watched. The building of the barricades had come to a standstill. Everyone knew they had done all they could. Zed looked back into the town. All the entrances were now blocked. Every piece of wood and metal that could be scavenged had been, including the doors of all the buildings in the town. There were just four ways in, and only one large enough for anything with more than two wheels.

The high rock formation gave them elevation and a strong position. Zed was at the pathway where he had first entered the town. The opening there was now an eight-foot high barricade with the boulders behind forming the battlements. Everything was still. The calm before the storm that seemed all too natural to him. But that calm was broken by footsteps approaching from inside the walls.

It was his brother. He was wearing a battered set of police riot armour, including the helmet. Every part of it was worn and damaged from previous combat, and it was ingrained with dirt and dust, as well as blood. In his hands he carried an M14 rifle, and on his side was what looked like an old civil war sabre. It sparked a memory for Zed. He remembered his brother this way, but not alongside him. He remembered that sword and armour, but on a man he was fighting off with a blade of his own.

"I thought you didn't want any of this?"

"I don't, but I won't let my town fall without putting up a fight. I may not like this situation, but I won't run from it. That's not my way," he said bitterly.

Zed brushed it off. He was just glad to have another fighter at the wall. He looked around again. Many of the townspeople were anxious. At least most of them had seen combat before, but that didn't make it any easier. They had thirty people on the walls, and another twenty ready to deploy where they were needed, though few had firearms, and even those who did likely didn't have much ammunition. He leaned in towards his brother who wouldn't even look him in the eye.

"When this is all over, you're gonna tell me what your beef is."

"Yeah, maybe," he replied sternly.

But he was pointing out into the distance, and Zed saw a dust cloud ahead. Everyone knew what that would mean.

"Still think you can bargain with someone like Jay?" Johnnie asked.

They all watched as the vehicles approached. There were three trucks, two cars, and two bikes. Jay's characteristic cash truck wasn't among them. The old cruiser was, along with an open top Mustang with ridiculously oversize back tyres and a suspension lift. One of the trucks was a military Hummer, but there was little left of the camouflage paint scheme it once bore. The third truck was the one that had taken their food and supplies away. It gave Zed hope that they may yet get them back.

As the vehicles drew nearer, they could all see it was not their people aboard the truck, but Jay's people. His cutthroat savages.

"Where are our people?" Lannie asked. She stood just a few along from him and seemed genuinely surprised that the plan had not worked, but Zed wasn't.

"You never thought he would go for it, did you?" asked Johnnie.

They both saw in his face that he wasn't surprised at all.

"Just because it was a faint hope, doesn't mean it wasn't worth trying for."

"You knew this fight was coming all along?"

He shrugged as if surprised that Lannie hadn't.

"You see, he will only bring us trouble," added Johnnie.

No one else said a word as the vehicles encircled them. The cruiser pulled up as close as it could to their position. The two trucks headed to the gate, and the bikes and cars continued to speed around their position. No car could get to their rear, for the steep slopes that rose up were impassable.

"His Braves," stated Rave.

"What?"

"That's what he calls those men and women who fight for him, like her," Johnnie said and gestured towards Rave.

"Well she ain't one of them anymore."

The same Captain that came to address them before stood atop the car. He looked a little on edge and surprised to see such formidable defences at Calico. That look of shock did not go unnoticed by Zed, before finally he put on a brave face and laughed aloud to try and hide his fears.

"What is this rabble?" he roared.

"Where are our people and supplies? Where is my son?" Lannie shouted.

"You will never see them again. Jay says that if you give us back what is his, that will be the end of it...until the next tax is due."

"You bastard!" Lannie screamed.

Zed put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down. His brother who was shaking his head did not miss that.

"Give us back what is ours, and you get to keep your miserable lives."

"We should consider it. We have a chance to live on without another war. A chance to keep the peace."

"Didn't you just hear him, Johnnie? This will never be over," spat Lannie.

Johnnie understood the people had more faith in her than him now, and the fact that she and Zed seemed so in tune meant a lot. Johnnie leaned in close to him to talk privately.

"You don't know these people, what they've had to go through. Don't make them pay for your sins."

"I am doing what I believe is right. I have to. That is all that there is to live for."

"Well, aren't you the fucking saint, reborn as some saviour? But you won't save these people. You will lead them to their deaths. You almost did once, and now you have come to finish the job."

"What?"

"You know what I mean."

"No...I..."

Jay’s Captain interrupted him, "You have ten seconds to open that door and give us what we want!"

"Don't do this," Johnnie pleaded.

Zed had seen enough bullying, enough suffering, and enough running.

"Don't be such a stubborn bastard. These people have a chance to go on living. Don't take the last thing they have left!"

Zed ignored him.

"I made Jay an offer. You heard me. Have you brought our people back or not?" he yelled.

"Ten! Nine! Eight!" he began the count.

There was a sadistic look on his face as if he hoped they would not give in.

"What are we gonna do?"

The Captain disgusted Zed. He lifted his rifle and took a quick aim on the man.

"Five! Four!"

A shot rang out from the barrel of Zed's gun, and it struck the Captain in his collar. He collapsed down into the back of the vehicle and vanished from view. There was a silence as everyone waited for some response from the other side. He hoped that would have broken their spirit, but moments later the Captain pulled himself up onto the side of the vehicle and shouted out.

"Kill them! Kill them all!"

Air horns rang out on the trucks as the engines fired to life. Zed drew the bolt back and chambered another round. He took aim at the driver through the windshield and fired, but it had already started moving. The shot went through the roof, seemingly hitting nothing of use, as the vehicle sped out of view. It closed in towards the town walls, so close that it was covered and obscured by them.

One of the trucks had reversed up towards the gate. On its bed was a ballista like catapult.

"What have you gone and done!" Johnnie hollered.

The bolt fired, and a two-yard long iron bolt punched through their gateway. The truck’s engine revved, and it drew forward quickly until the steel chain attached to the bolt drew taut. With one quick lurch the steel door was ripped from its mountings. The other truck full of fighters raced forward to come through the breach. Zed chambered another round and took aim as his brother opened fire, but neither was quick enough to stop them getting inside.

A loud crash rang out as the truck burst through what was left of the entrance, and the framework collapsed out onto the earthen ramp. A shotgun rang out as Zed reached the walls overlooking the entrance. He was just in time to see two of their people be knocked down by the blast, but he didn't have time to see if they were still alive. He took aim with his rifle and fired a shot into one of the Braves. The round went right through his body, and he dropped dead, but as he went to rack the bolt, a Brave leapt onto the improvised battlement. He came charging at him in a frenzy, a hammer in one hand and an axe in the other.

There was no time to load, so he swung the stock up and parried the axe haft with it. The hammer came at him almost as quickly, and he parried that off as well, but he felt the blade of the axe slice into his shoulder soon after. His attacker hadn't managed to get much room to swing, or he might have lost the arm. Something glimmered out of the corner of his eye, and he saw a shiny blade pass by his head and embed itself in the Brave's chest.

It was Johnnie. He had buried the tip deep with both hands on the grip. Initially, the Brave let out a cry of pain, but that was soon replaced with a fanatical scream as if he was not done yet. Johnnie drew out the blade, spun it around his head, and brought it down with all his force onto the man's head. The blade cut deep into his shaved head, and he was killed instantly.

Johnnie was prising the blade from his head while Zed was still looking at him in surprise.

All that bitterness and still he saved me?

A shotgun blast brought his attention back to the fight. The Braves were scattering into the town. He chambered a round and took aim, shooting the first one he saw in the back. He didn’t feel bad about it. The rifle was empty. He hadn’t counted his shots right and must have fired one more in the chaos of it all than he remembered.

A scream rang out. Lannie was on the floor inside the compound, wrestling with a Brave who was trying to drive a knife into her throat. She was just about holding him off, but he struck her with a headbutt that weakened her grip. The blade reached her jacket and penetrated into her flesh a little before she could stop it, but stop it she did.

Zed leapt from the barriers even quicker than Johnnie could. He struck her attacker to the side of the head with the stock of his rifle. He didn’t hold back. The impact knocked the man senseless, maybe even dead. He slumped partially over Lannie who shoved him off in disgust. Zed offered her his hand, which she gladly took and was hauled to her feet.

As she got upright, she suddenly hauled him forwards with such force that he went off balance and staggered. As he did so, he turned and noticed a Brave with a brutal looking two-handed machete. He had just cut through where Zed’s head had been moments before. He was about to rush towards them when he jolted upright and seemed to clench his shoulder blades, slumping down head first to the ground, revealing a hatchet buried in his back.

Rave leapt onto the body and yanked the weapon out, causing blood to spray out over her and her victim. She looked happy with herself, not just for having saved Zed, but she seemed to be enjoying herself.

“Thanks,” said Zed bluntly.

He didn’t know what else to say. He still couldn’t believe that she would have his back, but she seemed the one dependable person he had.

“This ain’t going to plan,” she said.

“There was a plan?” Lannie asked.

The rasp of a motorbike engine caught their attention. The bike leapt over the rocks at the rear of the town and landed in amongst them. It hit the ground so hard that the suspension bottomed out, and the bike bounced up off the ground, the rider holding on for dear life. But he managed it all right. He drew out a spiked mace from the front forks as he raced towards Zed.

He wasn’t going to get caught out a second time. He spun out and away from the vehicle, swinging the butt of the rifle like a club. It struck the rider in the throat, and he was lifted off the bike as it raced on past and landed hard on the floor. He was desperately gasping for air, but Zed just lifted up the butt and smashed it down on his head to finish him off.

Lannie looked appalled by the brutality, but Rave seemed to be appreciating his work. Zed knelt down and picked up the huge machete that was lying on the ground. The blade was three feet long and curved and flared towards the tip. The grip was almost two feet long and nylon wrapped. The entire weapon was black, except for the edge, and scratches and corrosion along the flat. It had seen a lot of action. It was a brutal and savage weapon, and it felt right at home in Zed’s hands.

Screams rang out, and one of their people took a full power strike from a steel bat to the face. Teeth flew from the man’s mouth as he collapsed, but the Braves’ numbers were dwindling. The other bike jumped from the rocks where the last one had come, but had done so without seeing the landing point. It came down right on top of one of their own before spinning out and throwing the rider. He went into a tumble and rolled to a halt a few feet in front of Zed.

He tried to get up, but it was the perfect opportunity to try out his new weapon. He swung the machete and hit the man’s neck with absolute precision. The blade passed right through and took his head with it. It was a gruesome scene that made Lannie want to throw up, and Johnnie rushed to be by her side.

The last few Braves were backing off to their truck.

“Get out of our town!” yelled Johnnie.

“Kill them all!” Zed ordered.