Fallocaust (The Fallocaust Series) (84 page)

I knew I wouldn’t be sleeping tonight, not for the next nine hours unless I drugged myself up. I eventually might do that, I didn’t want to fuck up my sleep schedule with Killian more than it already was.

I made my way towards the tank hatch, grabbing my M16 in the process and strapping it across my back. I grabbed the mayor’s radio I still had with me and put it on the couch next to Killian’s lap. Hopefully if he did on the off chance wake up and wonder where I was, any one with a brain cell would know they could reach me that way.

I lit a quil on my way down my street of the same name. I could see dew on the old twisted cars and a sheen on the slabs of concrete. It was indeed colder too and from the smell of it we would be getting fog soon. Winter was almost upon us. At least we had a few less mouths to feed.

I squared my shoulders and took in a breath of the night air. I felt like a thousand pounds had been taken off of my chest. The weight of being a leader was gone, back on the shoulders of Greyson Merrik. The spazzy fuck of the greywastes.

I took in a very big inhale and blew the smoke in front of me, wisps of thick plumes tinged blue with my night vision.

I patrolled my new faction of Aras and made some decisions about what I wanted to do with it before the cold set in. Right now I would help Killian make that green house, and see about buying a Ieon generator to give it a bit of heat during the winter. That would set me back probably a hundred or so dollars, maybe more but if we could make trees, plants, vegetables and all that we could resell and make the money back. I could see about getting some chickens too.

I wanted to be as self sufficient as possible, really show that asshole I didn’t need him or his town. If everything went as planned West Aras would be completely self running, it wouldn’t be that hard considering we only had two residents.

I walked to the end of Quil Street and mapped out my territory in my head. The loader tub would be mine now, and Killian’s house of course and his graveyard. I also had the park we had planted the seeds in, with an unusable lake, and a small forest of black trees. There was also some houses in good condition too I could fix up and eventually take applications to occupy. Though they would have to be way away from where I lived, and only people I could stomach. No kids that’s for sure.

I turned down a small street west off of Quil and continued to walk around my new town for the next couple of hours. It was a nice to be alone in the dead of night. The cats kept me company, and even that damn deacdog came to follow me around. How he kept getting out of Murray’s was anyone’s guess. When he had seen me he immediately came over wagging his whole back end. I gave him a pat since he did do me a big favor last month and let him follow me around. The cats didn’t even give a shit either, my guess is he had been loose for quite awhile if those suspicious assholes were used to him.

The deacdog and I carried on, the moon hovering above the sentry walls. Not one of my coworkers saw me walking by, though their eyes were usually trained on the greywastes. Even the dog was rather quiet, they were quite stealthy animals when you trained them not to bark at everything.

I rubbed my neck, it was sore but the skin had never broken. I felt my mood darken when my mind remembered what Greyson had done to me. He had never put his hands on me like that before. I got thwacked with a stick as a kid, but it was discipline not well... whatever you would call what he did. Whether it was attempted murder like Killian believed or just him flipping shit. I didn’t know what to think about it, it just ticked me off. It shouldn’t have happened and I really didn’t know why it had. I didn’t fuck up that much.

Well... whatever. It was his issue not mine, I got out of Aras just like he had ordered me. I dare him to come onto my land now.

I was about half a mile behind my house, walking over fallen light posts and over turned cars when I started to hear something very out of place.

Singing...

I clicked the dog towards me and pulled out my M16. Though I wasn’t really expecting a confrontation, what had happened when I had first met Perish was burnt into my mind. I may make mistakes but I never make mistakes twice.

The dog dipped its ears and dropped his head but he stayed right beside me. With my gun in my hands I quietly walked towards the noise.

“And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad. The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had.”

It was a male, but I didn’t recognise the voice. I turned down a street in between Killian and my house, one mostly cleared off but with a stack of rusty cars in the middle, piled into a small barricade. Probably from some war long ago.

“I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take. When people run in circles it’s a very very... mad world, mad world.”
I could see his silhouette on top of the cars. He was laying on his back with his arms behind his head. Reddish brown hair and skin that shined under the disappearing moon. I knew who he was.

“Out late, are we?” I put my gun away.

“I am.” I saw Asher nod, a second later a red ember appeared, then a wisp of grey smoke.  Upon feeling the tension go down, the dog started to relax. I gave him a wave to stand down and he disappeared behind me.

I stepped onto the window frame of the first car and made my way up to the summit of the pile. Each car was stacked on top of one another like a jenga puzzle, at least six cars high. It was solid, though every piece of steel my gaze rose past was riddled with bullet holes.

When I reached the top, I saw he was sitting up now; his feet hanging off the roof of the top car. He gave me another nod when he saw me. A red glow lit up from the weed cigarette he had up to his lips.

We sat in silence, puffs of smoke and cold breath rising from our mouths as we watching the silver moon disappear behind the walls. Below us the deacdog slid in and out of my vision like a phantom, a silhouette of grey weaving through refuse piles. Chasing hoppers or flies, or perhaps picking up long lost scents only a dog could detect.

I reached into my own pocket and pulled out a quil. I didn’t like the straight weed cigs, they made me too stoned. Perhaps when I was alone in my basement or with Killian I could kick one back but not when I was with someone new. The quils gave me more of a half stoned, half warm buzz.

“I thought I told you to get a hotel,” I said after a long silence.

The glow of the cigarette lit his green eyes, pale and cold in the moon’s glare.“I hadn’t seen the moon in so long, nor the stars, the clouds...” he replied with a wry smile. “You never know what you’re missing until you’re locked in hell.”

I noticed his voice for the first time in that moment. It had a calm quietness about it that I found oddly captivating. A softer tone but not at all submissive, the opposite, it sounded dominant, assured. How curious, his voice defied his boyish looks, but then again everything about him, from his job, to his nature, to his attitude defied his appearance.

It intrigued me enough to push conversation though I had been enjoying the silence.

“I get that.” I flicked some ash and watched it disappear into the darkness below. I smirked as I saw the ash fall onto the deacdog’s head. When he noticed us looking at him, he looked up and wagged his tail.

“Nice dog,” he said.

“He follows me around, he thinks we’re friends.”

“But you don’t have friends do you?” Asher said, his voice was playful now.

The ember lit up again, and a moment later he blew out the smoke. His heartbeat was steady, but his breathing was faster than normal. I wondered if he was wary of me, it would be smart of him to be. We were alone, a solid mile from my basement and one more from any occupied house. I could do anything to him right now and no one would know.

Though I had no intentions of it, my mind did enjoy having the option. At least if this newcomer tried anything with me, his execution could be clean and unnoticed. I wouldn’t even mention I saw him. His meat would be mine and Killian's to eat.

“One friend and one boyfriend,” I replied, I noticed my own voice was matching the smooth flow of his. I decided to go with it, it would make him more comfortable around me, and I wanted to get him to drop his guard. So I could see what was underneath that smirking mask.

“A fellow Mayor of West Aras?” Asher winked at me.

News travelled fast. “You seem to be getting in the know rather quickly.”

I winked back to see what reaction I would get. As I suspected his heart jumped. He wanted to be accepted. Good. It meant he wasn’t going to try and be dominant with me. He wanted to impress me, he wasn’t looking for me to impress him.

We were off to a good start, I didn’t do well with dominant types. They always ended up dead by suspicious circumstances.

I watched a smile flashed for a brief moment on Asher’s face, before he turned away and brushed his auburn hair behind his ears. Two small hooped earrings in each, both silver, twisted with black.

“I was having a drink in your local tavern. People look at you as someone who gets things done,” Asher said smoke flowing out of his mouth as he spoke. His green eyes didn’t leave my face as he took another drag. “I only wish they suffered more.”
Yes, I remember the comment he made before he left the building I had put Killian in. The coldness of his voice came from a heart steeled from years trying to survive in the greywaste. That head must be over flowing with stories and experiences. It was of no doubt in my mind I was looking forward to hearing some of them. I would enjoy it, I didn’t mind his company.

I had heard all of Reno’s stories, and Killian never opened up about his life before Aras. It seemed to be too painful to talk about. If this Asher Fallon was as unyielding as his voice and mannerisms suggested he would have no problem giving me every grisly detail.

We finished our cigarettes in silence. I enjoyed the quiet, but not as much as I enjoyed the calm acceptance between the two of us that at this time, there was no need to talk. I did have my questions, and my curiosities but none of them would give me a clearer picture of who this man was more than silence.

When the only thing in the sky was the stars and the haze, I rose and without a word between us, I jumped down into the abyss and made contact with the road.

I looked ahead at the shrouded mountain of debris, and counted in my head.

Before I reached seven, there was another impact beside me and a small grunt. I looked to see him buckle just slightly under his injured leg but just as quickly as the pain swept his face it left. Replaced with the cold pale eyes that burned through the gathering fog.

He looked ahead unfazed, the pain forgotten. Raticaters had always been made out of tough stuff.

We walked together, he stayed beside me on my left, shoulder to shoulder. Not as close as Killian would get to me, but close. If it was Reno I would have pushed him away, but Asher seemed different. His heartbeat never wavered, nor did his breathing. The only exception was when he would hit a pot hole or an uneven piece of pavement. His heart would give a jolt and his chest would tighten as the pain of his bad leg swept through him, but his face barely showed it. He limped on, uncomplaining and because he didn’t complain I slowed my pace for him.

It was during what I knew would be our last trip around that Asher nodded towards a boarded up rancher house. Somewhere south of my house and a few streets to the east.

“I want to fix that place up.” He glanced towards it. “Live there. What’s your price?”
I was surprised at that. Live here? Did I want him to live on my land?

I was silent for a moment, I took a long deliberate drag and blew the smoke towards the rancher. Though it was away from my nature to say it, even to myself. I had enjoyed this guys company in the hours we had spent together. He had given me no sign of being hostile, or deceitful. And if he ended up being those things by some great chance, I would be able to see it before anyone else could. I could keep an eye on him, more than Leo and Greyson would be able to.

If he created problems, he would be mine to dispose of. Easily, cleanly and without hesitation. A public burning wouldn’t be needed for this one. His body was well proportioned, muscular but lean. He would taste good.

I made the decision there. I would accept him into my city. The best and worst possible outcomes benefited me both.

“No price, just jobs. Me and Killian are preparing plants for winter, we also need sentries to make sure those parasites don’t trespass on my land. You help, you stay.”

His face held no relief, but his heart gave him away. All he allowed himself was a small nod.

It was another few minutes until he spoke again. “Killian is a good kid, he was very kind to me even though he didn’t know me.”

Indeed Killian needed a bit more guidance in that department. I guess the ordeal with Perish hadn’t taught him much about strangers, but then again he had been surrounded by people in Doc’s clinic. He had probably felt safe, and Asher did give off a favorable impression. If I could tolerate him without trouble he and Killian would probably be best friends.

“There is no one in the world like Killian,” I replied simply. If I was with Reno, or even Greyson and Leo I would have said more. How proud I was of his progress, how much he had grown and even let some of my feelings for him show. But he was not my friend and my personal life was my own. Not a topic up for conversation or a tool to get to know me better.

Asher nodded, and lit another cigarette.

“I wish I could have seen him cut off Perish’s head, had some of that blood spray on me.” Asher’s face adopted a dreamy look to it.

I couldn’t hide my surprise, not by the content. I would expect nothing more from what I knew of him already, but the suddenness of it.

“I wish I could as well.” I watched his face.

His pupils retracted slightly in his narrowed eyes. His voice lowered to an almost gravely growl. “Blood is surprisingly hot inside the body, one day I want to feel it gushing from an artery.”

My surprise gave way to a feeling I had to kill the moment its essence appeared in my mind. If there was one thing I was missing from my innocent blond boy it was the thirst for murder, pain, torture... you name it.