Wasteland Wonderland - Part 1 (11 page)

She’s exhausted. Probably hasn’t slept in
days. But she’s looking at me with fire in her eyes. She knows this
is all just getting started.

“So what now?” she asks, getting right down
to it.

I search the corpse of the Overseer for a key
to the vault. I find nothing.

“I need to go and square some things away
with the Mayor,” I answer. “Make things right. Make sure that he
calls off the Mercs and tells the Enforcers to lay down their
weapons and get the hell out of here.”

“Do you think they’ll go for that?”

“If they don’t, they’ll answer to me. And
trust me, they don’t want that. They don’t have their precious
Overseer, their ultimate weapon to protect them anymore. Not that
he was doing a lot of protecting in the first place.”

And I can’t help but get the feeling that
maybe the Overseer enjoyed the killing, the massacres.

Death.

Like he was fascinated by it.

I try not to crawl into his headspace. That
way lies madness.

“He didn’t have a key on him?” Angel
asks.

“No. Nothing.”

“Strange,” she says softly, too tired to
think about the key or where it’s hidden or who possesses it. “What
do you want me to do?” she asks.

“I need you to lay low. Stay here. Watch this
vault door. If anything nasty comes through, you raise the
alarm.”

She gives me a weak thumbs up, letting me
know she understands. Her eyes are becoming distant though. She is
definitely exhausted.

“And get some rest,” I say. “You’re gonna
need it. Where are the rest of the girls?”

“They’re safe. For the moment. They’re
hidden.”

“Nowhere is safe. Not here.”

“Trust me. I’m the only one who knows where
they are.”

I nod my head.

I trust her.

The Mayor.

He’s a slime ball. Part politician, part
salesman, part reptile.

His hands are always cold and clammy. He is
always smiling.

But like it or not, he runs the Buried City.
He has alliances with all the major players of the underworld, all
the gangs, all the families.

The Unions.

The Guilds.

The Bosses.

Everyone.

Everyone who had the brains to form a group
and horde supplies and guns and ammo.

This is how the Mayor did it. This is how he
got his power. This is why he got the top job. He was wealthy.
Beyond wealthy.

But most importantly, he is connected to
Wonderland.

And if we want any chance of standing up to
the might of Wonderland, we need this asshole to fight for us, for
the people.

I walk up to his building. His headquarters.
His fortress. There is a distinct absence of security.

I make my way to his office.

Sure enough, he’s still there. He sits behind
his massive hardwood desk and he is smiling like always. “Heard you
ignored my advice, Hector.”

“Didn’t really have a say in the matter.”

The Sheriff is there, standing off to the
side. She’s a good kid. Like I said, she’s too young for the
position, but she’s tougher than she looks. And stronger. She never
takes a backwards step. She’s never intimidated. The mayor made her
the Sheriff because he thought he’d be able to manipulate her.

This move has backfired spectacularly.

It’s the only wrong step the Mayor has taken
the whole time he’s had the top job.

“Sheriff, could you give us a minute,” the
Mayor says.

“She needs to hear this,” I say.

“Trust me, there are some things, some very
confidential things that I need to clear up.”

And right on cue, the radio strapped to the
Sheriff’s belt squawks to life. I can’t quite make out the voice on
the other end. There’s a whole bunch of static. A string of code
words. Something about a missing girl. Armed to the teeth. A war
chest of weapons. Packing more heat than the Red Giant.

Angel
…

They’ve found her.

The Sheriff speaks into the radio. “I’m on my
way…”

The Sheriff leaves and gives me a reassuring
look. I know I can count on her when the rebellion starts, when the
war starts. She’ll be a powerful leader, a powerful ally.

As she walks past me, she whispers… “Your
brother is alive.”

And I say, “I know. And that girl, the one
with all the heat. She’s on our side.”

She nods and leaves the room immediately,
breaking into a run. A girl on a mission.

I turn back to the Mayor.

The Mayor…

Behind him, the wall opens up. There’s a
large screen. It shows security footage of the Water Treatment
Plant.

It shows me.

The Overseer.

The Mayor looks at me, looks at my ribcage.
“You’re bleeding pretty heavily. And that blood is mighty
dark.”

“Yeah,” I answer, because I don’t know what
else to say.

“You actually killed an Overseer,” he says in
disbelief.

I nod.

“No one,” he says. “And I mean… no one… has
ever killed an Overseer. Not in hand to hand combat. Not in battle.
It is simply unheard of.”

“Killing is easy for me. It’s probably the
only thing I’m good at.”

“Apparently so. But the Overseer left his
mark on you.”

“Yes, he did.”

I feel the blood pour out of my body. Feel it
run down my leg.

“You’re going to need some high-tech to fix
that wound,” he says.

“Look, Mayor, I don’t have a lot of time. I
just need to know one thing…”

“What’s that?”

“Are you with us?”

“Us?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“I told you before, Hector. There is no us…
no them. We’re all in this together. We are the last ones left, the
last people on Earth.”

“If that’s the case, then why are these
girls, why are they running? Why are they escaping? What are they
running from?”

I’m pretty sure the Mayor is dirty. I’m
pretty sure he’s in on it. He has to be. His job and his livelihood
depend on it.

I let him live before, but I think that was a
mistake.

I pull my brother’s gun out. I aim it at his
chest. “Don’t move. Don’t call for your goons. You move, I destroy
your skull.”

“Hector, you’ve got this all wrong.”

“I don’t think so. I just want you to know
that I appreciate what you did for me before. I really do. But that
doesn’t change the fact that you’re working with them. That you
sanctioned Ruby’s death.”

“Of course I’m working with them. I’ve
always
worked with them. It’s the only way!”

“Why did you do it?”

He doesn’t answer me. Not at first.

I cock the hammer.

He talks.

“I had no choice. Like I said, she was a
prized possession. But it’s more than that…”

“What do you mean?”

He shakes his head because he doesn’t want to
say it out loud. Because he’s under direct orders not to…

If he speaks… he dies.

He’ll die slowly. Painfully.

Maybe I should shoot him. Get it over and
done with. I’d be doing him a favor.

“If people knew,” he whispers. “If people
knew the truth… they’d tear each other apart. This… this city. The
refugee camps in the Canyons. There would be chaos. There is beauty
in the lie… there is peace. As long as people live in hope…”

I hear the door shut behind me and someone
else is in the room.

They are quiet.

And careful.

Calculating.

And the person, they say, “Stop talking,
Mayor. Or we will renegotiate the terms of our deal.”

The Mayor shuts his mouth and raises his
hands. He apologizes. Over and over, he apologizes.

I’m afraid to turn around. I rarely get
scared.

But I force myself to face the monster behind
me. I turn and unload with my brother’s gun. The bullets smash into
the door of the Mayor’s office.

Light from the outside hallway pours in
through the bullet holes.

I expect security guards and Enforcers and
Mercs and goons to come rushing in. But no one does.

No one comes rushing in. No one comes to
help.

The reason for this is simple.

There is a man in the room.

He looks thin and malnourished.

He is tall. At least seven foot. He sees eye
to eye with me. And there’s not many people down here that do.

He also has a scar over his left eye.

This is a badge of honor, a rite of passage,
an initiation. This scar lets everyone know who he is and what he’s
done.

This is the son of a bitch who had tracked
Ruby to that bar. The son of a bitch who was pretending to drink
that beer, asking me if I’d seen Ruby.

Did he poison her? Is he the one?

He is an Overseer.

Another ultimate weapon.

A genetically enhanced super soldier.

There is an Overseer in the room.

Another goddamn Overseer.

How many are there?

Too many.

He has dodged the bullets.

He is thin and he looks malnourished and he’s
just as fast as the other bastard I killed. I don’t get a chance to
reload, I don’t get a chance to reach for another gun.

I am prepared to die. I was expecting to die
this whole time. But expecting it and experiencing it are two
amazingly different things. The Overseer is close enough to me he
can use his knife. He slides it into my body, right next to the
other knife wound.

This knife, it also catches on the bones, on
my ribs. But the knife smashes through, piercing vital organs.

The pain takes my breath away.

The Overseer has delivered a death blow but
his face remains emotionless. “You are defeated?”

He says this like he’s disappointed.

I fall to my knees and the Overseer is
standing over me. All seven foot of him. He just pulled off a move,
a series of moves that I can barely even comprehend. He dodged
bullets, delivered a deathblow. He did this all in one explosive
moment. But he’s not sweating. He’s barely even breathing.

“Do it,” I whisper, satisfied that I did
right by Ruby. That I did all I could do. All anyone could ever
hope to do. I say, “I’m ready.”

I say this even though I’m not sure that I
am. “And could you make it quick? I don’t have all day.”

“You are strong,” the Overseer says.

“Don’t try and sweet talk me. Just do it
already.”

“Do what?”

“Kill me. You better kill me quick and good
or I will haunt you for the rest of your days.”

“Hector, we are not going to kill you.”

“Then what the hell are you going to do?”

“We are going to make you better.”

He kneels down next to me and he puts me in a
choke hold. He cuts off the air to my lungs. The hot, hot air. “You
are too valuable to waste,” he says.

And my world goes dark. Dark like the outer
solar system, dark like the last refuge of the human race.

And I’m ready for death.

But he’s not going to kill me.
They’re
not going to kill me.

“Put him in the Enhancement Program. Hunter
Killer division.”

He says this to I’m not sure who.

And the Mayor says, repeats, “We are the last
ones left. There is no us. No them. There will be no rebellion.
There will be no war. There will be no exodus because there is no
place left to go.”

“You sold us out,” I whisper, choking.

“No. I am saving you. I am saving
everyone.”

The Overseer tightens his grip around my
throat. And I realize I have failed Angel and I have failed Ruby. I
couldn’t protect either of them. I couldn’t save Ruby and I
couldn’t avenge her.

Did I even the score? I killed dozens of
Mercs, Enforcers. I killed them good. I even killed an Overseer.
But there’s more than one. Just exactly how many more of these
genetically enhanced bastards are still running loose is anyone’s
guess.

Worst of all, I didn’t get the people who
were responsible because they are too good, too advanced. They have
the tech, the weaponry. They have armies and Overseers. And most
importantly, more important than any weapon, or assassin, more
important than any army… they have Wonderland. They can hide behind
those beautiful walls. And behind those walls, they have the only
way off this doomed rock called Earth. They have the only means to
escape the Red Giant.

I reach for a gun in the waist of my
pants.

I’m still fighting, still struggling.

But I lose consciousness.

And then I lose hope.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Coming Soon!

Wasteland Wonderland

Part 2

Also by J. L. Harden

The Secret Apocalypse

Ninja Vs Samurai

For more info visit
jamesharden.blogspot.au

Or Tweet me @james.harden07 or whatever.

Or email me at
[email protected]

I don’t have Instagram yet. But maybe soon?
Why not, right? Could be nice.

Copyright © 2015 by J. L. Harden

This book is a work of fiction. The names,
characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s
imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be
construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead,
actual events locales or organizations is entirely
coincidental.

All rights are reserved. No part of this book
may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the
written permission of the author.