Condemned (Death Planet Book 1) (38 page)

Guy grabbed the Brain’s shoulder, and pulled him away from the pod. “Come on. One of those things is easy enough to fight off. A hundred of them would be another matter.”

Daniel followed, keeping one eye on the parachute. With the excitement over for now, exhaustion returned as he tried to keep putting one foot in front of the other. His eyelids drooped. He could still see Guy's feet walking ahead, but little else. He forced his eyes open. They began to droop again.

The few minutes of sleep he’d managed while lying on the riverbank had helped a little, but his body just wanted to give up. He’d pushed it too hard, compared to his easy life back in EdCamp. Particularly after all that time in suspension. But, if he stopped to sleep, he’d want to find the King staring down at him as his Guards dragged him back to the dungeon.

That wasn’t going to happen.

P
rincess lay on the cold ground, shivering. They’d stopped for a rest, and Brunhilde was keeping watch as Princess tried to get some sleep. But that wasn’t going to come when the ground sucked the heat from her body, and stones prodded whatever she lay on. Every time her eyes closed and her consciousness began to fade away into the void, a shiver or a jabbing stone brought her back. Even the excitement of the day, and the lack of sleep last night, hadn’t worn her out enough to ignore that.

Something thin and hard massaged her back. Were those Brunhilde’s claws? That was nice of her. All her muscles ached after walking kilometres through the woods and climbing those darn cliffs. Or maybe it was a tree branch, blowing in the wind? She shivered again, and pulled her dress around her, for what good that might do.

She’d wanted to build a nice fire when they stopped, but Brunhilde said she wouldn't, in case someone saw the glow and found them. Princess would rather be found and warm than lost and cold. So long as the King found them, and not one of those asshole slavers. Or one of the nasty-sounding fucking beasts that howled, hissed or yelled in the darkness around her.

She could still hear the stream somewhere behind them, and the crashing waves of the sea ahead of them on the shallow slope they’d been walking down since they passed the cliffs.

The fingers pressed into her shoulder, then her neck. She moaned as her muscles relaxed under the pressure. Then they moved up into her hair. That didn’t need a massage.

“That’s enough,” she said.

“Enough what?” Brunhilde said.

“I like the massage, but I’m about done, thanks.”

Brunhilde stepped in front of her in the dim moonlight. “What massage?”

The fingers were still working through her hair. Princess’ skin crawled. Then she screamed, and jumped to her feet. She ran her hands through her hair, and her fingers smacked into something small, hard, and furry. She screamed again, and flung her head madly from side to side. The weight of the thing pulled against her scalp as it clung to the hair. Then her wildly moving hands smacked into it again, and the weight was gone.

She jumped back, and hid behind Brunhilde’s leg. A dark shape moved on the ground, eight legs scuttling toward them.

“Kill it,” she yelled.

Simon raised his front legs, and hissed at them. He moved side to side on the other six as he faced off against Brunhilde, whose feet alone were bigger than he was.

“It’s just a fucking spider,” Brunhilde said. “There’s plenty worse than that in these cocksucking woods.”

“It was in my hair.”

“That’s what happens when you go to sleep in the woods.”

“Just kill it, OK.”

“Why don’t you?”

“I hate spiders.”

Brunhilde sighed, then raised her right foot. Simon looked up, flicked his legs toward her, and hissed. Then ran forward, toward the left foot. Princess backed away as Brunhilde slammed her right foot down, then moved her weight over to lift the left. Then Brunhilde stopped.

Simon tapped his front legs on Brunhilde’s toes, as he moved in closer. His body moved side to side in front of her.

“What’s it doing?”

“Looks like it’s smelling my feet.”

“Spiders can’t smell. Can they?”

“How would I know? Do I look like the local fucking spider expert? Besides, who knows what these cocksucking Hades spiders are like? Maybe it's not even a spider?”

“Just kill it, will you?”

Simon tapped his front legs against Brunhilde’s foot. Then he spun on the spot, lowered his legs, and scuttled away.

“Where’s it going?”

Simon scuttled toward the trees.

“Dunno, but it’s about the same way we’re going. Want to follow it and find out?”

Princess crept up behind Brunhilde, and stared past her hairy leg at the spider. It was ignoring them now, but making no real attempt to avoid being seen. As though it wanted them to see it, and follow.

“It’s probably trying to lead us to some big spider that wants to eat us.”

Brunhilde stomped after it. “Don’t be a pussy. Let’s find out where it’s going. It’ll give us something to pass the time.”

Simon scuttled on through the trees. Leaves moved in the dim moonlight above him. Then he disappeared.

“Something’s out there.”

Brunhilde pushed between two tree trunks, and stomped into the undergrowth. “Whatever it is, it ain’t as scary as me.”

Princess waited for a second. Should she go? Following Brunhilde had to be safer than hanging around in the woods on her own.

“Wait for me.”

She hurried after Brunhilde, hobbling on her one remaining shoe. The ground was uneven, and she could see little in the light that reached her through the trees above. She grabbed a tree trunk to help her over a hole, then clambered over a fallen tree beyond. The cloth of her dress tore as it caught on a spiky branch. She pulled it clear, but now had another slit across the side of her dress.

She squealed as something grabbed her. Brunhilde’s big paws lifted her from the trunk, and placed her down.

Brunhilde grabbed the shoe, pulled it from her foot, and tossed it into the woods. It bounced in the trees, then clattered into the undergrowth.

“Hey!” Princess yelled. She’d liked those shoes.

“What use is one shoe? Turn around.”

Princess turned. Brunhilde’s big paw slapped down on her shoulder. Then cloth tore, as the other paw ripped the dress away and tossed it into aside. Princess squealed.

“What are you doing?”

“That fancy skirt won’t last another five minutes out here in the woods. Might as well get rid of it now.”

“Great. So now I’m naked. Again. I might as well not bother getting dressed. I just can’t keep my clothes on around here.”

“I haven’t had any clothes on all day, and it hasn’t hurt me. Besides, you were a stripper.”

“In a club. On a stage. Or in a VR.”

“Trust me, with that outfit, whether you were wearing it or not really didn’t make much difference.”

Princess glanced into the woods. Wasn’t there anything she could cover herself with? Leaves, even?

“It makes a difference to me.”

Brunhilde laughed. “Who do you think is going to see you out here? Other than me, and I’ve seen it all before.”

Bushes rustled ahead of them. Dark, spiky leaves shook at the end of long, narrow branches. Princess jumped behind Brunhilde’s leg. She was naked, unarmed, in the woods, at night, and something was out there looking to eat her.

Great.

The plants moved ahead of them. She closed her eyes and crouched low behind Brunhilde’s foot.

“Well, well, well,” a deep, male voice said. “And what do we have here?”

M
aybe Guy should just kill the dumb kid, and dump him. The boy knew too much, and he wasn’t the kind who would keep his mouth shut if he was threatened with... well, pretty much anything, really. How had he got away from the King in the first place? Was this just some complicated plan to have Daniel follow him, until the King's shits could catch up? The dozy fuck would certainly take a deal rather than be eaten alive by hounds. Guy had seen them do that one day at the mines, to a slave who tried to escape. They started with the fingers and toes, and worked inwards while the man screamed for an hour, until all that was left was the ribcage and head in a mass of blood and gore. And the head didn’t last much longer after that.

He’d planned to ride to the monastery in style, with a glass of wine in his hand. Not hack his way through this fucking forest, eating rabbits and hiding from bears and borers. Still, he could at least throw the kid at the bear if he ran into another one. He could decide what to do with him when they reached the monastery. Just hope the news of the breakout hasn’t reached them first, and the Brain become too hot to handle. Then what would he do? Find a boat and sail to Over The Sea?

Yeah, right.

Head down the coast, maybe. There must be something there, and someone who needed a guy like the Brain.

The only other option was to get rid of the King. Or, at least, knock him out for a while. And how likely was that?

“Brain, you got any bright ideas?”

The Brain had pulled his shirt off, and was rubbing it over the nearest tree trunk. “I think Simon would try to follow our scent. We should rub ourselves on the trees to leave a trail.”

Not the kind of idea he was looking for.

“Spiders can't smell.”

“How would you know?”

For someone who could build all kinds of shit from memory, he didn't seem to have much grasp of real life. He was just slowing them down with this crap, and the King couldn't be far behind. Guy had to hurry the fucker up.

“I’m sure Simon will meet us at the monastery. He heard Moses talking about it, he knows where to go.”

“But he has such a poor sense of direction. I tried to teach him to read maps, but he just used to make webs on them.”

“He’ll be there. Trust me.”

“Sometimes the web used to look a little bit like the map, but I don’t think he really understood. Any line looks like a web to a spider.” His head flicked around. “Simon!”

Long, furry legs tapped on a tree. The Brain grabbed the branch and heaved until he pulled himself up. The spider scuttled away, but he followed it toward the trunk.

Enough of this shit.

Guy swung his knife. It slammed down into the spider’s back, impaling the creature on the branch. The Brain screamed.

“You killed Simon.”

Guy pulled on the knife as the Brain lunged toward him. He backed away with the spider stuck on the blade, and its legs slowly moving. Then they stopped. The Brain reached out from the branch, toward the spider. Then slipped, and fell.

He rolled over. Guy flicked the knife, and tossed the spider’s body into the dirt beside him. The Brain grabbed it.

“It’s not Simon. It’s a drone.”

The Brain raised the spider drone, and stared into its dark camera eyes. Then he tossed it aside.

“Look,” Guy said. “I didn’t want to tell you yet, but I saw the King kill Simon after we escaped from the bear. That furry little guy was giving it his best, but a spider doesn’t have much chance against a big metal foot.”

“You’re just telling me that to make me go with you.”

Guy slapped his hand on the Brain’s shoulder, and looked deep into his eyes. He put on his best sincere voice. “I know you want to believe that, but it’s true. He’s gone. I’m sorry.”

The Brain stared back in the woods. Guy pulled him up. “Come on. You know we have to go.”

The Brain followed sullenly as Guy lead the way. Daniel moved closer, and whispered. “I killed someone. Maybe a bunch of people.”

Guy slapped his back. He'd never thought the kid really had it in him. Maybe he could be useful for something, after all?

“Good on you, kid. You won't last on Hades if you can't kill the assholes who try to kill you.”

“One minute they were there, then they were gone. I just snuffed their lives out. What will my comrades at the barracks think, if they see the recording? What will Erica think?”

“They'll think you've become a bad-ass. The girls will be all over you when they realize you can protect them. At least, it works for me.”

“I'm not like you.”

“If you just killed a bunch of people, you're a lot more like me than you were when you first landed here.”

“But I don't like doing it.”

“Trust me kid, a few more years here, and you will. Most of the people on this planet are assholes who deserve to die.” Guy nudged Daniel. “Come on, you weren't complaining when you were planning to blow up the King.”

“That's different.”

“How?”

“He's the worst asshole on the planet. He deserves to die for what he’s done. I killed a girl. Didn't even look as old as me. What had she done to deserve it? She probably wasn't even Condemned, just born here.”

Guy shrugged. Dumb kid needed to get real. “You can't change the world if you're not ready to kill a few assholes. You'll feel better in the morning.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever feel better.”

The Brain grabbed a lump on the branch of a nearby tree, and twisted until it broke free. He held out a long, spiky nodule with a hole at one end that he had torn from the tree.

“What is that?” Guy said.

“Happy pod. Helps you forget.”

Guy took it from him. Liquid sloshed as he raised it to his nose, and sniffed deeply. Smelled like alcohol, but so strong it almost burned his nose. He coughed, then lowered it.

“Here,” he said, and held it out to Daniel. “Give it a try.” Getting the kid drunk didn’t seem like a bad idea. Would make life easier if he did have to get rid of the boy later.

Daniel’s hand shook as he took the pod, and raised it to his face. He sniffed it, grimaced, then took a swig. He coughed, then took a deep breath and wiped his lips. Then took another. He sighed.

“How is it?” Guy said.

“Helping me forget.”

Daniel raised the pod in front of his mouth, and tipped more in. He gasped for air, sucking it over his tongue. Then wafted air over his face before he walked on.

“Is the Revolution really worth it?”

“Just think what would have happened to the poor girl you killed, if she wasn't dead. This ain't a world where you want to be female. Unless you've got muscles like a bear.”