Fallocaust (The Fallocaust Series) (95 page)

Thank god the kid slept a lot, eight hours if I drugged him properly. If I didn’t have the time to myself I would have probably smothered him with a pillow after the first day. You would think all that lovey dovey shit would boring after awhile to him but nope, it was just fanning the flames. Made him crave it even more like I was shooting him up with heroin or something.

But hopefully it would kill whatever stupid insecurities he would have from now on. If this didn’t prove that I wouldn’t fuck around with Asher then he could just go to hell.

I don’t know he still seemed a bit timid about some things though, when he didn’t think I was looking he scowled as he thought. I wasn’t sure what it was and quite frankly I didn’t want to ask. Chances are it would just cause a fight. He knew he could tell me anything.

The past two days he had been walking on air and smiling all day, but Wednesday morning when I was finishing the small bit of packing I had to do his mood had taken a solemn turn.

“Please be careful?” He was packing up a sack full of candy and drugs for me to take on the quad. He had already secured his own candy and drugs for Reno and his pajama party. We had a VCR now anyways and Nintendo so they wouldn’t be bored. “I meant what I said the other day about Asher...”
“And I meant what I said too, I don’t turn my back on anyone,” I said “I’ll be back in no time, and we can get all the money that asshole owes us back.”

Killian nodded, he holstered his magnum and we all went up the tank hatch.

I whistled for the dog and he came bounding in from my back yard. I thought Deek was a stupid name but it wasn’t like I had any ideas so I started calling him that too. Though I mostly referred to him as what his purpose in life was... to be a decoy in case we ever had to escape from a bad situation.

“Deek-oi,” Killian said as we walked down the street towards the north gate where Reno was going to meet the two of us. Asher was meeting us too but I hadn’t spotted him on the road. “Like o-i at the end, then it’s unique.”

“The fucking deacdog isn’t going to have his name spelled ever,” I said. “It sounds the same.”

I watched as the grey deacdog walked beside Killian. “He’s only here to protect you, alright? And this is a trial run. If he fails, he’s out, no crying and no begging. That’s my terms.”

“He will protect me, he’s very smart.” Killian kicked a rock for him which the dog bounded after.

“Hey there are those bastards!” Asher called, I immediately felt Killian’s heart jolt.

Asher was on the outside of the open gate, loading the combat shotgun I had let him borrow. Reno was leaning up against the fence talking to him.

“You leave early?” I gave Sadii a nod and walked through the gates into the greywastes.

“Nah, I hung out with Reno last night, he spent the night.” Asher gave me a smug grin. I had started to remember at least some of that conversation we had had when we both drunk ourselves into a stupor. Enough to know I had tried to hook those two up.

I nudged Killian trying to tell him non-verbally that he had nothing to worry about. Killian still didn’t look convinced.

“You ready to go get our buried treasure, matey?” Asher belted his gun to his back and hopped onto Reno’s quad.

“Like fuck you’re driving, get in the bitch seat, asshole!” I said. I took a step towards him but remembered Killian. I stepped back and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be home tonight hopefully. Keep your pants on.”

“You too,” Killian said though I know his had a different meaning. “Be safe, okay?”

“Always.” I said with a wink I turned and hopped onto the quad, and sped off into the greywastes.

Chapter 39

Killian

I looked longingly at the dust the quad had kicked up and sighed. A part of me did wish I had gone with both of them but a larger more neurotic part was glad I stayed behind. Asher did this kind of stuff professionally and in a sense so did Reaver. Me? I was useless... I could water plants and repair houses but I think that would be the extent of my abilities. At least until I learned to aim a bit better and count my bullets.

A group of kids ran down the street ahead of us, disappearing into an old white house with the roof in disrepair. All wielding machine guns made out of sticks and hollering at one another.

In my town we would mimic the theins when we played, shooting greywasters with pretend bullets and mercenaries. Sometimes the theins even let us hold their guns, guns were a lot heavier than they looked.

I tried to listen to what they were shouting about.

“Burn him alive! I sentence Kyle to death by burning!”
“No! I won Rock, Paper, Scissors, I’m Reaver!”
I heard a shriek as two of the kids started to fight each other, and then one of the kids burst into tears.

We both got a good laugh out of that, we walked past the abandoned house to see one of the kids, red faced and holding his arm. The first one was jabbing him with the stick. “No mercy! No mercy!”

“That’s just great, Reaver’s going to love that,” Reno chuckled. “The adults may only tolerate his psychotic ass but the kids worship him. If he ever wants to take over Aras without that public execution manipulation bullshit he’ll at least have an army of children behind him.”

“Or as Reaver would call them... human shields,” I said with a grin.

“Reno?” I froze as a voice called behind us. It was Leo.

“I’m... going to get some fuel.” I backed away and quickly took off towards the storage sheds Greyson, Leo and Reaver had used. Reno called me back once but I acted like I couldn’t hear him. There was no other calling after that, thank god.

I crossed the square to the far south side and made my way to the sheds. Out of talking distance to all the other residents milling around.

I brought out the set of keys Reaver had given me, there were over two dozen keys on the chain and I only knew what maybe five of them opened. Probably his own personal greywaste caches, and ones around the block.

Since I had no idea what key opened what it took me awhile to open the shed, which was just as well, I didn’t want to chance Leo still being there when I got back to where I’d left Reno.

I rummaged through a few things as I waited, the fuel was in old gas containers lined up by the door so I could just grab it before I left.

I stuffed a can of peaches and a box of chocolate bars from Reaver’s area in the shed into my satchel and thumbed through his box of video games for anything I might want to play. After killing at least ten minutes in the musty dry shed I decided to grab the fuel and go back to where I had left Reno.

I closed the shed door and locked it and looked behind my shoulder. I jolted a bit when I saw Leo and Reno still talking beside the fountain.

I was about to walk over to Carson’s store to pretend I needed something when Reno let out a laugh and I heard him saying good bye to Leo. It looked like it was going to be safe.

As I walked towards them, Leo was turning away.

We made eye contact for a split second. His face was expressionless, but his eyes burned into me, void of the kind warmth they used to have. He turned back towards the north gate and walked away from us.

Reno silently took the fuel container from me, giving me a funny look. I adjusted my satchel and started walking back to Reaver’s.

“What... what the hell was that?” Reno had to walk fast to keep pace with me, I went into an alleyway towards a road heading near the basement. I started cutting through a parking lot to get there quicker. I could see fresh skid marks in the ash, discolouring the grey ground like scars; I assumed that was Reaver falling down during his drunk night.

I felt vulnerable without him nearby. Leo could easily snipe me and say it was an accident or something. Reno had been saying that Leo stayed over sometimes... what if they were planning to silence me for good?

“Well?... are you okay?”

I hated my imagination.

“Nothing, let’s just go home,” I said quickly, I looked behind my shoulder once more.

“You’re... scared... well alright, let’s go.” Reno kept pace with me. He didn’t ask any more questions after that, we just walked back to Reaver’s. The silence between us was apparent and awkward, and I could almost feel his mind try to probe mine but I didn’t speak.

The mood around me changed almost immediately when I slid down the tank hatch and into Reaver’s basement. The weight flew off of my shoulders and left with the boulder in my stomach. If I could bottle the feeling I got from smelling Reaver’s basement I would. It was it’s own anti-anxiety medication.

I turned the heat up on the space heater and sat down on the couch and started icing some dilaudid powder. The sour taste in the back of my throat from the drip was as addicting as the drugs themselves.

I felt Reno’s eyes on me, sure enough he was looking at me with intense curiosity. When we locked eyes he crossed his arms. “You’re scared of Leo, why?”

“It’s nothing, we just... had a disagreement.” I sniffed the powder up my nose.

“When could that have happened? You’ve been here all this-” Reno stopped mid sentence then snapped his fingers. “When you walked him out of Reaver Town a few days ago. What happened? You seemed pretty cush with him when you left.”

The corner of my mouth twitched. I bit it to make it stop. I handed him the tray and drew my legs up to my chest. Trying to figure out what I was going to say next.

“Wow, you gotta tell me dude, he’s staying over night with me some nights, I gotta know if he’s hurting you... is he?”

Not yet.
I swallowed and looked at him. I didn’t want to keep this to myself anymore. I knew I could trust Reno to keep a secret. Especially one like this. “Promise you wont tell anyone? Not even Reaver...”

My friend’s usually cheerful eyes looked right into me, his expression was serious, I had rarely seen Reno look so serious, it didn’t suit his face at all. He nodded very soberly. “I promise, I just want to help. We’re buds.”

And he was... I really liked Reno, I liked him enough to knock the shit out of him for hinting that he had slept with Asher. I wonder if Reno liked him? Besides as a fuck buddy. Maybe he shared my feelings regarding the raticater.

I found myself spilling everything to Reno over the next hour. The drugs taking effect and making me talkative helped me get through some of the tougher parts. They made me feel brave, or just not as shy.

I told him everything. What I had found, who Leo was and who Leo had confirmed that Reaver was. The confrontation and Leo’s threat towards me. By the time I was done Reno had done just as much drugs as me.

He swore and dropped his head backwards so it was resting on the top of the couch. “It makes more sense then it should, I can’t say I know what a chimera is, but if Leo it fits. He was always a tad different. Smarter than the rest of us. ” He shook his head. “Reaver’s one of them? Seriously?”
I nodded and he swore under his breath. I knew Reno didn’t know what went on in Skyfall, no one in Aras did. Which in hindsight would’ve made this home perfect for keeping Reaver hidden. A chimera to a greywaster in Aras was just a type of person far far away that bossed people around. He didn’t know what it meant to be one.

“My earliest memory is Reaver twisting my arm because he wanted my red Hot Wheels truck, he was probably two. I was four. Fucking still beat me up,” Reno said, he leaned forward, his brow furrowed in thought. “Shit I wish I could add some information but... when they let Reaver out of the bunker they played it up that he was an orphan... no one asked questions. Just one day he was there.” He leaned back, I could see the white powder on his nose. “I’m just a stupid waster with barely any knowledge of Skyfall. I wish I could be more help, but you know more about how they work than I. Reaver’s just always been Reaver to me. I don’t know what a chimera is suppose to do.”

Suddenly my friend snorted, he let out a chuckle. “He really is a motherless bastard.”

I rolled my eyes, but appreciated him lightening the mood.
Reno stood up, he clapped and pointed at me. “That is why Leo and Greyson never wanted Reaver to give his blood to the Legion! Those chimeras probably have special super blood, it would show up on the results right? I bet Leo’s been botching his own blood every census too!”

“Shit.” I had completely forgotten about it. “You’re right... it wasn’t that they were afraid he would get recruited. They would know he was alive, or at least that two chimeras were in Aras far far away from Skyfall.”

A boulder shifted in my stomach. “And we can never tell Reaver... ever. Leo will kill me if I do.” Reno still looked shocked, suddenly I felt a wave of anxiety wash over me. “Reno, please please, you promised. Don’t tell Reaver.” I begged. “Leo said he was safe now, with Greyson laying off of him. He kept saying he wouldn’t be safe if he knew. That he would try and find out.”

“I know, I know.” Reno put up his hand, he hovered it for a second before it landed on my knee. “I wont say anything, I’m not stupid. I might act like it ninety percent of the time... but I’m not. Reaver’s as happy as I’ve ever seen it and I don’t want to fuck it up.” His large eyes became troubled. “It’s just... shit it’s just mind fucking.  Reaver’s all... special and shit. He was always just Reaver to me.” Reno clicked the remote and handed me a game controller. “You know, at least he doesn’t care about this kind of stuff. He’s always been okay being a motherless bastard. If there was anyone not to care about where he was from it would be him.”

“Yeah, I care more then he does,” I said, another reason why I just had to let it be.

I settled into some gaming with my friend, and as was the tradition we stuffed ourselves with candy and chocolate. The chocolate tasted pretty good for its age, but you had to really work up the saliva to keep it from drying your mouth out. The candy was tastier, it just kind of hardened after the radiation. Though nothing beat when the older women made candy to sell in the store. It was delicious, but you had to get there early or else the other residents would buy it all.