Fallocaust (The Fallocaust Series) (14 page)

Grey and red… always grey and red.

I passed out.

Chapter 9

Reaver

“
Reaverrr, is an...an an asshole!
” Reno roughly strummed on the guitar he was carrying for me. He couldn’t play worth shit, but I knew that wasn’t the point.
“
He doesn’t have the balls to talk to the blond kid, so he buys him shit and stalks him. He has no fucking class, why doesn’t he just grab his god damn
-”
I smacked him in the side of the head palm out, Reno stumbled over and started laughing. I shot him a glare.
“We’re close to the fucking gates, shut up or I’ll tear out your vocal cords,” I snapped, trying to hide the fact I was scanning the area for Killian. I might be a silent follower of Killian with my own set of rules, but Reno wouldn’t play along. He would probably run up to Killian and start trying to steal him from me just to force me to talk to him.

Of course Reno kept laughing, he sure seemed proud of himself.
“This is so stupid. You trade good loot, good loot
you
scavenged, for shit you’re going to give to that kid? This cost twenty five bucks, the gun cost ten!”
I didn’t answer back. I enjoyed my best friend’s company, but in the right doses. I think all the drugs he had taken over the years had fried his brain. He lived southwest of Aras, on a small shack hidden in some steep rocky hills that overlooked a wide area surrounding the block. He was our field sentry just like his father before him. The Nevada family had been here almost as long as the Merrik family.

I had known the knuckle head since I came to Aras, when I was two. I have fond memories of bossing him around and making him help me steal things and beat up the other kids. We had become closer during our teen years and now we were as thick as thieves. Reno was a good guy and I trusted him, though he was a loud idiot and unfortunately a horny one too. I always slept with one eye open around him. Not that I was worried for my life, more for his. I had broken more than a few fingers when they started to wander.

We had walked the merchants a half a mile or so past Aras. Before leaving I had over heard one of the merchants tell the other one how he was sad Killian missed buying the guitar Reno was now carrying. I had to borrow the money off of Reno but it was worth it. The kid liked making that racked, and I was starting to like it as well. Seemed to mean a lot to him and I don’t know, whatever made  him happy. I was thinking of sticking it in his bedroom tonight or something. Maybe I would just leave it with Doc... I hadn’t decided yet.
I had also gotten a gun for him earlier today. A magnum. I had spare rounds for it I had scavenged so I didn’t need to buy their inflated ammo. I was proud of myself for actually going through with it, even if I hadn’t decided how I was actually going to give these things to him.

Now darkness had fallen, I had stayed at Reno’s longer than I had anticipated. We were now heading back to Aras. To settle the bill I now had with him, and to see what Killian was doing. I was planning on getting Reno high then ditching him when he passed out. Reno slept like a brick and I knew I could sneak out without him following me like a puppy. I didn’t want to deal with his howling laughter and relentless teasing if he ever found out about my tree perching while Killian slept.

I heard our footsteps change tone as we hit the pavement. I could see the glow from Aras’s lights leaking through the cracks in the concrete. In front of the concrete I could hear the deacons breathing and moving around. They always knew when it was me, I had never had one of those sons of a bitches bark or growl at me in my life. Smart little fuckers.
We walked along the fence until we got to the north gate. I could hear the whine of night vision goggles.
“Oh good, I was getting worried. I hate letting that little shit out.” I heard Matt say from above us. I could see the gates were wide open which was odd.
“Who?” I asked, my brow furrowed. He certainly wasn’t talking about me, and he had no reason to care about Reno’s comings and goings he didn’t even have a house in Aras.
I could see Matt pause, he turned off his glasses and lifted them up to his forehead. I felt a little uneasy when I saw the look on his face.
“He... Killian isn’t with you?” he said slowly, his voice dropping.
I could feel the colour drain from my face. My body went cold.
“What?” That was all I could say.
Matt stared back at me, he looked terrified. I couldn’t move.
“Maybe he came through another gate,” Matt said quickly. He got out his radio and started talking quickly into it. I could feel the apprehension start to well up in my chest. Each heartbeat was pumping more and more anxiety into my body.
“Killian is outside? Why the fuck is Killian outside?” My voice started to raise, I looked behind me, quickly scanning the road we had just stepped off of. Hoping to see a blue tinged silhouette walking towards us.

“He wanted out, he said he had a fucking gun on him, he said he would be back before dark...” Matt said hurriedly, I could hear a voice answer back on the radio but I wasn’t listening to it.
“Killian doesn’t have a god damn gun!” I suddenly exploded. Fuck that kid was stupid, why the hell was he so stupid?
“Sadii just took shift from Jess, she’s trying to find her to ask if Killian came in from the south,” Matt’s voice was tight. I looked behind me again, I felt frozen on the spot. I didn’t know if I should run back into the wastes or run and see if Killian was home.
I turned to Reno. “Get Greyson, get a radio. I’m checking Killian’s house. Talk to me when you know something,” I said, fingering my own handheld radio to make sure it was still there.

I turned and ran down the road and started running towards Killian’s house. I didn’t want to go there first, I wanted to run out into the greywastes and start looking. But I knew I had to be sure he wasn’t already in Aras. The radio signal would eventually fade, and then I would have no idea if they had found him or not. If he was out there, I wouldn’t be coming back without him. I had to be sure he wasn’t already home.
I turned up the sound on my radio as I ran down Stone Road. Hopping from one car to the other, no time to weave through them now. My adrenaline was pumping through me and I felt so much cold energy each step felt like I was floating in the air.

My mind raced, my heart raced. He had to be home, he just had to be. He was at home, enjoying the food he bought, or reading in his bed. He was safe, and warm. Fuck why did I have to go patrolling with that idiot. Why did I ever let Killian out of my sight. He was too much of a naive idiot, how the hell did his parents keep him alive?
I made so many vows as I ran towards Killian’s cul-de-sac. I vowed I would make eye contact with him, I vowed I would give him his guitar myself, I vowed I would talk to him. I vowed that my first conversation with him would be to tell him never to leave the god damn block without me.
A sense of dread washed over me as I turned onto the cul-de-sac. His lights were off.
Not giving up hope I ran inside and opened the door.

He was probably sleeping... he was probably just sleeping early.
“Hello?” I called, I was surprised to hear the tone of my voice, it was full of fear.
There was nothing.

I tried again, and as silence encased me almost like a tomb. I knew in my gut he wasn’t in Aras.
“Reaver?”
Reno’s voice called from the hand held radio. I picked it up with shaking hands and pressed the talk button.
“Yes?” I said, my voice was hoarse. I didn’t want him to answer back, I didn’t want it to be confirmed.
“Babe... he never came back,”
Reno said, his voice was heavy. I put the radio back on its holder and ran out of the house. I headed towards the north gate, not even giving myself another moment to think.
Reno tried to stop me as I ran past him, he had been talking to Matt and Jess beside the metal gates. I didn’t want to hear anything more from him, all I needed to know was that Killian was out there somewhere. I had nothing more to say to them.
My friend was persistent though, it didn’t take long for me to feel his presence running beside me.
“Miller says he asked where the caravan was, I think he was trying to catch up to it to buy the guitar,” Reno said, keeping pace with me. I immediately started to look around, trying to find the caravan tracks.
“Greyson wanted you to wait, he’s organizing a search party,” Reno said. I spotted the caravan tracks and started looking around the steeps rocks surrounding the cracked road. I never wanted to see Killian’s damn face so badly.
“How long ago did he leave?” I asked.
“Over three hours ago,” Reno said grimly.

My chest constricted my heart, I didn’t know it could feel any tighter. I heard a whirring noise as Reno put on a pair of night vision goggles. I forgot how dark it probably was for him, I was surprised he hadn’t tripped yet. The old roads were broken apart and littered with shit, it was easy to trip even at a walk.

“Menkin’s a good guy, he probably made him stay after it started to get dark,” Reno tried to reassure.
As I looked around the deserted, dark greywastes, I could only hope that that was true. Unless he hid and hid well, Killian wouldn’t last the night outside. Not only were their legionnaires in the vicinity, there were ravers in the canyons only a few miles off, and carracats and radwolves living in the rocks. I knew Killian had a knife with him but that would do nothing against anything bigger than a croach.

“Do the caravans stop at night?” I asked after we had been following the trail for over half an hour. I hadn’t taken a break yet, but I could see Reno start to get tired. Not my problem, I couldn’t be held back. I didn’t really need Reno’s company, but I didn’t mind it. Two sets of eyes were better than one, and he could see well with those goggles on.
“Not for long, but they do to let the bosen rest,” Reno said panting, I looked over to see sweat streaming down his forehead. A few minutes later Greyson’s voice sounded over our handhelds.
“Rock Hawk, Rock Hawk,”
he called, using Reno’s code name. I cursed, forgetting I turned mine up. I turned it down and motioned for Reno to do the same.
“Yeah,” I said stopping. Reno leaned up against an old electrical pole, his chest heaving up and down as he tried to catch his breath.
“I’m already heading towards you. Leo has a search party together. The caravans were heading towards the highway 11 crossing but they were suppose to pass south west to the bridge, the exit ramp collapsed last spring. Reno knows where that is.”
I glanced up and Reno nodded.
I held the radio up to my mouth. “We’re following the tracks.” I wanted to make myself sound strong, but my voice was weak.
“They’re a few miles behind, you scout ahead. They’re going to comb through the rocks in case he found a place to hide. Just follow the tracks and for fuck sakes Reaver be careful for legionnaires.”
I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “Roger,” I said, before clipping the radio back onto my belt.
I paused for a second, trying to listen for anything out of place, but it was quiet around us, save our heartbeats and breathing. Around me I could see the skeletons of rusted out cars and trucks, reduced to hollow shells by the elements. They seemed to surround us like foreboding statues, rotting where they were left. Their owners abandoning them in congested traffic, fleeing on foot from the bombs that burned the sky; or perhaps from the cull the government had ordered. Only months before Silas released his sestic radiation to end the war and the world.

I glance inside one of the cars, seeing a pile of dusty old bones in the front seat. I was used to seeing human remains but I looked at these ones a bit differently tonight.
I started to run again, Reno wasn’t far behind me.
“Reaver?” Reno called after another half of an hour had passed by. He was looking at the pavement, he raised his head and looked off into the distance.
“The caravan is heading towards the highway 11 crossing. I think they didn’t get the memo that the ramp had collapsed. I bet you they stayed there for the night, after they realized they couldn’t cross,” Reno was breathless but his voice held hope.

I looked ahead to see the large exit ramp not far off in the distance. The cliffs on the right side of the road were starting to break off into large gatherings of rock, and I was starting to be able to hear the Typhus River behind them.
As soon as I saw a low hanging ledge, I climbed up the large shelf of rock and made my way to the top. Reno jogged ahead a bit, still following the track. I looked ahead.
I could see the broken exit ramp, stretching out over the large river. Below it a second road wound down underneath it, the grey water licking the crumbling concrete. It looked like it was clogged with debris. Bumper to bumper vehicles and huge slabs of concrete were walling most of it off. I couldn’t see anyone.
“Reaver...” Reno’s voice said weakly.

I looked over to where he was standing, a few meters away from me. I jumped down from the rocks and walked over. I paused as I saw Reno kneeling over something.
He brought his goggles over his head, and I could see his face was ashen. He raised his other hand and held it up.
His fingers were tipped with blood.
Wordlessly, I walked over. I looked down to see several small pools of red, beside a large strip of rock. A second thing caught my eye. I leaned down and picked up a bundle of clothing.
My stomach knotted as the smell of soap reached my nose.
I looked at the ground where I had picked up Killian’s pants, beside it I could see his underwear, covered in red droplets; and a few feet away from them... his knife.
 

I was holding him, he was so warm against my skin. I inhaled and smelled his golden blond hair. I brought my hand up to his chin and raised it, kissing his pink lips.
He gazed into my eyes, so blue... the type of blue... you just don’t see in this world anymore. Blue like a tropical ocean pictures hanging in his bedroom, blue like the sky before the Fallocaust... depthless, full of life, innocent.
He smiled, and my heart jumped. I shed the hard shell that I had had wrapped around myself, and became emotionally naked beside him. Every wall I had up was torn down.