“All I’m saying is the man’s tendency to hurl people out of windows makes me uncomfortable.”
“You’ve got a nice house. Heat. You’ve got more than most people. What’s it bother you if someone gets thrown out a window every now and then?”
“So you’re okay with his propensity for defenestration, provided you aren’t cold at night?”
“You’re such a nerd, Axeface.”
“Oh, nice with the name calling, Dagger.”
The handle and the door squeaked, but the guards couldn’t hear the noise over their conversation. Jerry climbed into the driver’s seat and signaled for Chewy to jump in the bed.
The guards were still arguing when he dropped the pickup into gear and pulled away, but it didn’t take them long to react. A bullet cracked the rear window and he heard another slam into a body panel as he turned onto the street. Chewy was pretty comfortable in a truck, but he turned so fast that he heard her paws scrambling for traction in the unlined bed.
He looked in the mirror to make sure she was okay and then checked the cab for anything that might be helpful. There wasn’t much except for a red blanket serving as a seat cover on the passenger side of the bench. Jerry pulled it free and draped it over his shoulders. Maybe if he were moving fast enough, it would be mistaken for a Legionary’s cape and buy him a few minutes of not being shot at.
Working his way through the side streets of Niagara Falls, he doubled back to the wax district, hoping to find the others. There were even more soldiers on the streets now and they were actively searching for those causing the disturbance.
He made several passes around the area and saw no sign of his new friends. He assumed from the chaos on the streets that they had evaded their captors and he began to make his own plan. He had no idea what it was going to be.
Jerry turned south and began driving toward the casino Invictus called home. At the very least he could get a closer look at the defenses around the complex.
A pair of guards dashed across the street in front of him and he reflexively slammed on the brakes. The sentries shot him only a cursory glance as they hurried on their way. Jerry turned to follow them down the street and saw the reason for the rush. Connor had been cornered. The kid’s back was against a wall and four Legionaries had him surrounded.
Jerry plowed into one of the guards with the truck. This drew the attention of the other three as he leapt out from behind the wheel. Chewy was over the edge of the bed before Jerry hit the ground and leapt at one of the men. She caught the soldier’s cape in her teeth and pulled the man to the concrete before he could react.
Connor assessed the new situation quickly and sprang on the guard closest to him. The Stranger wrapped an arm under the soldier’s chinstrap, pulled the man off-balance and walked him slowly back up against the wall while he choked.
The last guard swung at Jerry and missed as he ducked under the attack. He dodged more attacks as he studied the guard’s armor, looking for a weak spot. He finally spotted an unprotected spot in the armor and drove a fist into the Legionary’s back. Two more punches to the kidney took the fight out of the guard, and a kick to the helmet gave him time to see to Chewy’s opponent.
That man had dropped his gun and had his hands over the back of his neck. He was also weeping. Good dog.
Connor and Jerry jumped into the truck’s cab. A whistle later and Chewy had released her prisoner and leapt back into the bed. When they drove away, the contingent of soldiers made no effort to follow.
“Where are the others?” Connor asked.
“I didn’t see them. Just you.”
Conner pointed. “Head south. We’ll be safe if we can cross to Chippawa.”
“Safe?”
“Relatively speaking.”
“What’s there?”
“It’s the southern border of the city.”
The farther they got from the center of town, the more the activity settled. What guards they did pass hardly gave the Alasis patrol vehicle a second glance. They drove slowly and stuck to the neighborhoods to keep a low profile.
Connor had been staring out the window for most of the drive when he suddenly said, “You really are the Librarian. Aren’t you?”
Jerry dismissed it. He was tired of this stupid game. “Does it matter?”
“A lot of people think so.”
“Not the ones that matter,” Jerry said, as his frustration grew. “I spent the last few years running from my reputation. A myth built on half-truths and bullshit. It’s caused me nothing but pain and suffering.”
“It’s given a lot of people hope.”
“Not me. Never me. The one time I tried to embrace it, the one time I dared to hope that it would get me somewhere, it blew up in my face.”
“The Resistance, you mean. They didn’t believe you. I wonder why?”
“Because of you.”
“Me?”
“You and everyone like you. You go around infatuated with building your legacy, your myth, as if popularity still counts for something in this mess of an afterworld. And you lie about damn near everything to build it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The Stranger. Rather convenient way to take credit for everything, isn’t it?”
“I never lied. I—
“The slaves in New Dawn.”
“What?”
“You rescued the slaves in New Dawn?”
“Yeah? So?”
“That was me. And there weren’t a dozen men with chainsaw arms. There were two meth-heads with one knife between them.”
Connor grew silent.
“The Stranger, hrmmph. Pretty convenient. You can claim to have been just about anywhere.”
“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” Connor said, and turned back to the window.
“No, you don’t. I get you. You’re an idiot. The rest of us are trying to run from our reputations, but you’re out there trying to get killed for one you don’t even own. Let me ask you this? Do you take credit for your own failures? Or just others’ successes?”
Connor didn’t respond.
“Mistakes make a man quicker than victories, kid.”
“Stop calling me kid. I’m no less capable than any of you.”
“Maybe. But we’d never know it, now would we? What put it in your head to do this anyway? I was stupid and optimistic. I thought I could fix things. What’s your excuse?”
“I didn’t like the way the world looked when the dust cleared. I lost my parents. My grandparents saved my brother and me. They raised us, but we grew up starving and fighting for everything we had. We were getting by until Invictus’s men came through town. The people there did their best to stand against him and he slaughtered half of them. My brother included. I watched the strong bully the weak, so when I was strong enough to punch back, I did.
“I needed something more to fight with than fists. I needed an image. No one trembles at the idea of an orphan. I’ve done good things, Jerry. I’m not a complete lie. But I guess I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t trust me.”
“Fair is fair,” Jerry said. “You don’t believe me and I don’t believe you. Words failed us, so we’ll have to go on actions. You fought well back there.”
The rear window exploded. The cold air rushed in along with the sound of gunfire and roaring engines.
“Chewy? Are you okay?” Jerry risked a look over his shoulder to check on his friend and received a warm wet tongue across the face. “Hold on.”
It was a mean thing to say to an animal with no hands, but Chewy knew what he meant. She spread out her legs and lowered herself into the truck bed as Jerry sped up.
He cut hard around a corner and felt the back end of the pickup slide. Then he heard Chewy slide and shouted an apology. They raced down the street as the citizens of Alasis ran out onto their porches to see what was going on. Almost every one of them was armed and the neighborhood was soon filled with bullets.
Jerry cut right onto an
other residential street.
“No, this is a dead end,” Connor shouted.
It wasn’t technically a dead end, but it was a circle that didn’t really go anywhere. He drove a complete loop and didn’t realize it was over until he was passing some of his pursuers on the second lap.
He came up on a small Toyota and crashed into its rear. The push sent the car spinning into a yard where it struck a tree and came to a stop. By the third lap, he was in the lead again and the block was getting crowded.
“Cut right!” Connor shouted.
There was an offshoot from the circular road that obviously met a dead end in a growth of shrubs. Connor didn’t wait for an argument. He yanked the wheel and stomped on the gas.
The small pickup truck crashed through the bushes. The occupants were tossed around, and Jerry had to fight to keep his ass in the driver’s seat. When the truck finally settled they were in an open field that looked to have once been a city park.
“Go!” Connor shouted from the floorboards.
“You better not have hurt my dog!”
Chewy barked from the back of the truck. It sounded like a curse.
A moment later they passed a playground and found the walking path that led to the parking lot.
Their pursuers had followed them through the small hedgerow and were barreling across the park after them.
Jerry gave the little pickup all the gas he could, but tune-ups were few and far between in the apocalypse and he was sure it was operating on fewer cylinders than it had originally.
They reached the parkway and he turned south once more. Maybe they could get lucky and make it across the bridge at the southern gates.
They had just turned onto Portage Road when the tires blew. Two of them burst from either gunshots or fatigue, and the truck pulled hard to the right. Keeping it straight was a challenge, so he went with it and pulled into the parking lot of an aquarium called Marineland.
“Why are you stopping?” Connor yelled as Jerry jumped from the car.
“The car won’t make it. We have a better chance on foot.” Jerry called Chewy from the truck bed and the pair ran toward the entrance.
Contrary to what one might expect, the place was not a direct rip-off of SeaWorld. Even though its name sounded like they just flipped open a thesaurus, took the first alternative and whipped up a sign, the aquarium actually pre-dated its more famous cousin. The fact that the star of their show for years was named Kandu instead of Shamu was just lazy writing.
The whale’s face and name were on everything from the signage on the walls to souvenir cups that littered the floor. The cartoon orca smiled broadly with a toothy grin that Jerry was pretty certain wasn’t anatomically correct, but it did give Kandu the look of one of your more friendly killers.
Connor raced in the door behind him and they made their way farther into the aquarium. The complex wasn’t large compared to most theme parks, but he knew it was big enough to hold at the very least a whale so hopefully it was big enough to shake their pursuers.
As they ran, Jerry was surprised to see parts of the aquarium were still operational. At first it was a mystery as to why a tyrant would waste resources on an amusement park. Once he saw that the main pool was filled with alligators instead of whales, it all made sense. What tyrant wouldn’t want a gator execution pavilion that could seat several hundred at once?
“He’s sick,” Connor said.
“In his defense, I doubt many people are terrified of being eaten by dolphins.”
The tale of the Marineland dolphins was like many from the end of the world—well meaning and tragic. Before Invictus but after the bombs, the people of Niagara Falls realized the animals at the park would starve and that something must be done. Things were getting desperate for the creatures and the town found inspiration in a sea lion named Jeff.
One of the original stars of the aquarium, Jeff had made a daring escape from the place in ’63. The brave—or more likely ignorant—animal had made his way to the Niagara River and dove in. He was soon carried over the Falls themselves and disappeared. A reward was offered, and a frantic search ensued. Miraculously, Jeff was found a couple of days later 5 miles north, sunning himself on a rock with a teenaged kid named Tommy.
Once they were reminded of Jeff’s story, the town had their solution. If a sea lion could survive the Niagara, so could the dolphins. One of man’s greatest qualities is the ability to convince themselves of anything if they just stop thinking long enough. So they threw a party to see their flippered friends off, and into the water went the dolphins. Dolphins were mammals, after all. They weren’t fish. They breathed air. What difference did it make what kind of water they were in?
Buoyancy was the difference. The dolphins could breathe just fine, but they couldn’t swim for shit. They were less buoyant in the freshwater and everything was thrown off. Lida went over the Falls first. Upside down and backward. Marina was next. People swore they heard Echo chirping as he fell. The people rushed into the water to save the remaining two dolphins, so Tsunami and Sonar went over the Falls with a fair bit of company.
It was a sad day for everyone.
Gunshots rang out behind them and the two men turned to see the soldiers blasting their way into the stadium. Connor ran left while Chewy and Jerry ran to the right, each circling around the pool while trying to stay below the stadium seats and doing what they could to shoot back.
It was chaos in the aquarium but as far as Jerry could tell, Connor was a terrible shot. Jerry struck one guard in the upper torso and kept the other rounds close enough to make them cautious. Connor wasn’t even coming close and the guards were closing in on him with little fear.
He and Chewy reached the curve of the pool and took cover behind the concrete. He reloaded and risked a look over the pool’s lip. Connor was halfway up a ladder that led to a catwalk over the auditorium.
“What the hell is he doing?” he asked Chewy.
The dog said nothing.
The Legionaries gathered at the base of the ladder and started shooting.
Jerry dropped two of them and sent the others diving for cover before they returned fire.
He ducked, slapped in a fresh magazine and rose to fire again.
The gator’s breath hit him first as the massive reptile lunged for him. He sprang back before the jaws could snap shut on his face. There were reflexes and there was just plain flinching, and this was the latter. Jerry kicked back and fell to the ground.
By the time he got to his feet again, Connor was dangling from the catwalk over the tank full of gators screaming for help.
“Seriously? How did he do that?”
Chewy barked her reply.
The guards weren’t backing down. Jerry bent down and pulled a pencil and a scrap of paper from his pocket. He scribbled a quick message.
“It looks like The Stranger and I are about to get caught.” He tucked the paper in the dog’s collar and pointed to the back of the stadium. “Go play Lassie, girl. Go get help.”
Chewy barked and ran.
“If there’s any to find,” Jerry said to himself, and turned back to the problem at hand.
Connor was still dangling, the guards were still chasing and as soon as he went up his own ladder to save the kid, they would be surrounded.
He sighed and began to climb. Climbing a ladder one-handed was slow going, so he chose speed over defensive firing, hoping he would reach the top with as few bullet holes in him as possible. He was counting on a lot more missing. They hadn’t hit anyone yet and Connor, dangling from the walkway, was hardly a tricky target.
He scrambled upward as fast as he could, and the bullets started flying. They were closer than he expected.
Over the shots he could hear Connor yelling for help and pleading with the guards to stop shooting. And surprisingly, they listened. The bullets stopped as he climbed onto the catwalk. A quick glance back down confirmed that he wouldn’t be going back that way. Several guards had grouped around the la
dder while two more began the climb.
They were climbing from the other side as well. He shot the top one off the ladder and watched as the Legionary took out the two that were climbing below him.
He reached Connor and reached for his hand. “Grab it!”
“I can’t! I’ll fall!”
“Grab my hand!”
“Pull me up!”
Jerry fired another shot to keep the guards at bay and set the gun on the walkway. He grabbed Connor by the collar and helped pull him up.
The kid was panicking, kicking his legs like wild to get back on solid ground. One kick sent Jerry’s gun tumbling into the pool of gators below.
He swore and heaved the kid onto the platform. “You’re good now. Get up.”
The men that had followed him up the ladder were on the catwalk, and he leapt over the kid to confront them. The suspended platform was only about three feet wide and shuddered when he ran. He slid and took out the legs of the first Legionary he came to, who screamed his way into the pool below.
A roar rose up from the gator pit along with a clattering of armor. The armor might buy him some time, if he could keep the gators from drowning him first. In that case, however, the armor was on the gators’ side.
He had the next guard in line back over the rail when the warning shot hit him in the shoulder. The impact spun him around. Connor was pinned to the platform with a rifle against his head and two more guards were crossing toward him.
Jerry dropped to his knees, put his hands behind his head and hoped that when they knocked him out he wouldn’t fall in with the gators.
SEVENTEEN
Night fell, and the bow of the aluminum boat crunched as it hit the shoreline. The three men disembarked as best as they could without getting wet. Eli pulled the craft out of the water. The cold from the hull penetrated his gloves and went straight to the bone.
The three men moved without a word up the shoreline and into the town with their dogs in tow. Ice hung from the sheepdog’s fur and the old dog jingled as it followed along. Lord Stanley, bred to work the cold water of Newfoundland, had a spring in his step as he happily heeled at Joshua’s side. Connor’s Blue Heeler appeared the coldest of all and shivered as he walked at Lucas’s feet.
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