Wipeout | Book 5 | Foul Play

by Richards, E. S.

  “So, one-eleventh?” Walter struck up conversation as Luc drove, happy to have common ground with the man over their former careers. “Don’t think I’ve ever been over there. What’s it like? How long ago did you bail out?”

  “Pretty much straight after the collapse happened,” Luc explained, taking a left and swerving to avoid an abandoned vehicle. “I wasn’t actually working on the day this all went down so I missed all the radio comms about it. Obviously, everything kicked off pretty quickly, especially around the Trident building, so as soon as I could get into the precinct I did. But by the time I got there most had upped and left. There were a few of the guys still kicking around and we tried to do what we could, but there’s only so much you can do, you know? They’re back at the base now though – I’ll introduce you to them later.”

  “Ah nice,” Walter replied, seeing Luc in a pretty similar light to himself. It sounded like the man had wanted to remain in uniform but his precinct just didn’t go the same way the 79th had. Looking back on it now, Walter couldn’t decide which of them had had the easier time of it. “So how did you end up at –” he paused, aware he didn’t even know what to call the place they’d just left.

  “The cave?” Luc filled in the blank for him, looking over at Walter’s expression and laughing. “Yeah,” Luc continued, “not what I would’ve called it either. Henry’s kid named it after the Batcave. Somehow it ended up sticking,” he paused and laughed again, shaking his head and turning another corner.

  “We wound up there not long after. We were helping dig people out of this burning building and after that someone was just like, come with me and we followed and ended up there. I swear, our numbers seem to almost double every few days now. That’s why we’re running so low on resources – we’re obviously gathering what we can for those who really need it, but the personal supply is starting to get pretty low too.”

  Walter nodded, gradually piecing together his view of Henry Packham’s secret group and the so-called cave where they’d set up base. What he still didn’t entirely understand however, was what they did. So, without sounding too foolish he asked the question, hoping Luc didn’t think any different of him for abandoning his job and joining up with a group he still didn’t really understand.

  It earned another chuckle from the driver, but nothing more. “We just help people,” he answered plainly. “We’re trying to clean up the city and get things back to normal where we can, but it’s a long way off that just yet. At the moment it’s just getting food out to those who need it, supplying people with medicine, making sure they’ve got a roof over their heads and – maybe most importantly – trying to keep the other gangs at bay.”

  “Other gangs?”

  “Oh yeah,” Luc looked over at Walter and flashed him a smile before pulling up on the sidewalk, the other truck rolling in behind them. “Maybe Henry should’ve told you this earlier,” he continued, pulling an orange piece of cloth out of his pocket. “You know it’s impossible to help people without ruffling a few feathers here and there. Resources are low because there’s hardly anything left, so we aren’t just able to pick up what we need from stores and market stalls.”

  “The guys who you were working with before,” Luc carried on, tying the orange cloth around the bicep on his right arm. “Back at the precinct, they might have roped our group in with a few of the other gangs. It’s what we need to do in order to help those in need – it’s like Robin Hood, right? Steal from those who have and give to those who don’t. It’s all for the right reasons and never intentionally puts anyone in danger.”

  Walter listened to the words carefully, the final piece of the puzzle falling into place as Luc pulled out another orange rag and held it out to Walter. The doors of the other truck slammed shut as everyone else piled out onto the sidewalk, Luc looking at Walter with an expectant gaze as he waited for the man to make a decision.

  Luc was right, Walter had heard of their gang before. They were identified by the orange rags they wore tied around their arms and they were one of the many gangs that he had been trying to put a stop to. As the orange cloth dangled in front of Walter’s eyes, he knew he had yet another huge decision to make. He’d not left the police force behind in order to join a gang, but from what Luc had described and the things Henry Packham had shown him back at the cave, this wasn’t what he had expected from a gang. These people genuinely seemed good and were trying to do the right thing; Luc was right, with how thinly resources were spread across the city, how else were they going to find the things they needed to make a difference.

  “Well?” Luc asked, still holding the orange cloth aloft in the cab of the truck. “Are you coming?”

  Walter exhaled and looked from the dangling strip of orange in front of his eyes to the five other men and women waiting for them on the side of the road. He still didn’t know exactly what he was about to walk into if he said yes.

  As he thought about everything he had witnessed since the collapse, the falling of the Trident building, the men and women trapped under the rubble and the hundreds who died on the streets. There had been riots, more looting that he had ever imagined possible and an unruly descent into chaos. People had been murdered in the streets over something as small as a loaf of bread, or later, ration stamps. No matter what he had tried with the police force and his fellow officers, no matter who they had tried to help, nothing had managed to make a difference.

  And now here he was, sitting across from someone who used to be just like him but who had recently switched sides. This man had once worn a blue uniform just like Walter, but he had chosen a different path, straying from the normal rules and regulations – the old laws which used to keep the city in check. As a different type of uniform stood in front of his eyes, Walter realized that the path Luc had chosen was the right one. He may be part of what those back at his old precinct were calling a gang, but it was nothing more than a group of individuals who were trying to do the right thing. That was what Walter wanted to be a part of and if that made him a gang member, then so be it.

  “I’m right behind you,” he finally answered with a nod, taking the orange rag from Luc and tying it around his right bicep.

  “Happy to have you,” Luc nodded. “Now let’s get out there and tear this city a new one.”

  Chapter 11

  Getting boots on the ground with Luc, Billy and the others, made Walter feel like he was a part of something real again. It almost felt like his days as a cadet, except this time he knew he was fighting for something real. They split up into two teams, Walter and Luc accompanied by Taggy, one of the most badass looking women he had ever laid eyes on. She had bright red hair, the waves rolling off her shoulders like fire as she moved. Coupled with piercing green eyes and her all-leather attire, she was a force to be reckoned with and Walter instantly felt like he could place his trust in her.

  The three of them turned right at the first fork in the road they came to, Billy led the other team off to the left to whatever rendezvous point they’d agreed. Walter had spent the entire drive grilling Luc about his time as a police officer, that he realized he knew very little about what they were about to do. Suddenly despite his confidence over his move away from the police force, Walter felt vulnerable and unsure about whatever was going to happen next.

  “What are we looking for?” He kept his voice low as they rounded another corner and Luc started to head towards an old gas station.

  “Whatever we can find really,” Taggy replied with a grin, flashing her white teeth that created another contrast against her hair and eyes. She really was one of the most striking women Walter had ever seen in his life. She looked like she belonged on the front page of a magazine rather than roughing it through the streets of New York. For a second, he paused and wondered what sort of a life she’d led before the collapse, making a mental note to ask her when they had the time to talk.

  “It’s basically scavenging,” Taggy continued as they stood outside the shop that sat next to the
gas station. Luc went inside to look around. “There isn’t anything we’ve got enough of right now, so we’ll take whatever we can get our hands on.”

  “Got it,” Luc reappeared outside, holding an L shaped key in his hand.

  “What’s that?”

  “You’ll see,” Luc winked at Walter, heading over to the middle of the gas station, the overhead cover shielding them from the unrelenting sunlight. There was one truck still parked underneath it, but it didn’t look like it had been moved or used for weeks. Cameron’s Carpets & Drapes was printed in white letters along one side.

  Walter looked from the abandoned truck to Luc and Taggy with a perplexed expression on his face. Luc was now on his hands and knees unscrewing a drain cover with a battery powered drill he’d produced from his backpack, while Taggy rummaged around in hers for something else. Eventually everything clicked in Walter’s head and he realized what they were there to do – putting the location and what Luc and Taggy were doing together. They were tapping the fuel tanks that sat underneath the gas station – the large drums which were filled through industrial tubes on a weekly basis, back when the place was in operation.

  “Don’t we need something to put it in?” Walter asked, voicing his assumption. “Like a tanker or something?”

  “There are some barrels inside,” Luc replied. “Figured we might as well check how much is left before we roll them out though.”

  “Here,” Taggy handed Luc a pump that she’d put together from the various parts in her bag, fashioned with a handle they could work up and down to pull up the fuel, in the same sort of way you’d inflate a soccer ball. “Looks like there’s enough for one barrel at least, right?”

  Leaning forward and looking into the dark hole in the ground, Walter squinted but couldn’t see anything inside. However, Taggy was making her assumption about the fuel he had no idea, but he figured the two of them had likely done this sort of thing before. They’d not even considered it back at the precinct, siphoning gas for their vehicles from those abandoned in parking lots or left on the side of the road.

  “Yeah,” Luc answered after a couple of pumps, the smell of gasoline filling the air and hitting Walter properly for the first time. “Definitely one, maybe two.”

  “Nice one; come on, Walt,” Taggy addressed him, shortening his name in a way that even his friends and family rarely did. “Let’s go and grab them.”

  Walter nodded and did as he was told, following Taggy into the tiny shop which would’ve once housed bottles of windshield washer, air freshener and snacks for the road. While the windows remained intact and in place, very little could be said for the interior. Shelves were knocked over with all their contents long gone, there wasn’t even a stray packet of chips or last bottle of Gatorade left behind. The place was stripped bare.

  “You alright with one of these?” Taggy asked as she shuffled a barrel over to Walter, the two of them walking through the door marked employees only and finding the barrels Luc had been referring to. Taggy was maybe six inches shorter than Walter and couldn’t be more than a hundred and twenty pounds and yet she stood over the barrels and checked whether Walter would be able to manage them. Straightening up and puffing out his chest slightly, the former police officer nodded.

  “No worries,” Walter said, “I’ll follow you out.”

  He stood to one side to let Taggy shuffle the first barrel out of the storage room, the woman moving it like an awkward piece of furniture until she was through and able to drop it onto the floor and roll it. Watching her go, Walter took in a deep breath and gave himself a little mental pep talk. It was something he used to do before big briefing sessions or occasionally when he was out in the field at work. Right now, he reminded himself to pick up his weight a bit more – he was a part of this group now and while he may be a newcomer, he needed to prove to Luc and Taggy that he wasn’t just a piece of dead weight. He wanted to be fully integrated into their alliance and to do so, he knew he needed to prove himself.

  Back outside on the forecourt of the gas station, Luc was busy pumping the gasoline up from the underground tank and into the barrel that Taggy held steady for him. Walter rolled the other one over and then stood it beside the first, smiling at both of his accomplices as they looked at him.

  “So, is it just gas today?” He asked as he wiped his hands on his pants, flecks of dirt and grime flying off in the faint breeze. “Where did Billy take the other team?”

  “They’re hitting the houses,” Luc replied, taking a break and wiping the sweat from his brow that had formed from the pumping.

  “Want me to have a go at that?” Walter offered.

  “Sure,” Luc nodded with a smile. “Be my guest.”

  Walter rolled up his sleeves and took Luc’s position over the pump, holding the thing steady between his knees and using both arms to generate a steady, forceful motion. Once he’d got the fluid moving again, he continued to speak. “What does that entail?” He asked, repeating the phrase Luc had used. “Hitting the houses?”

  “Like going inside,” Luc elaborated. “Checking to see if there’s anything left in them. Most have been ransacked already to be fair, but every now and then you find something good.”

  “You break into them?”

  “Yeah,” Luc confirmed nonchalantly. “I know what you’re thinking – I was a bit on edge about it at first too, being a cop. I was in the same position as you must be. But if you think about it, the places are all empty. We don’t go in anywhere that we can tell people are living and if by accident we do hit one of those places, we don’t take anything.”

  “It’s just what needs to be done,” Taggy added. “If there’s gear or whatever in those houses and no one is using it, it makes sense for us to gather it all up and put it to good use. No point wasting things these days.” She paused, “I think this one’s nearly full, Walt.”

  Tapping on top of the barrel, Taggy indicated for Walter to stop pumping and removed the tube from its opening, peering inside at the liquid that had accumulated. “Yeah, that’ll do,” she nodded. “Let’s switch them out.”

  Putting down the pump for a minute, Walter stood up again and between the three of them they shuffled the now heavy barrel away from the tank opening, replacing it with the empty one. The thing weighed a ton now and Walter wondered how they were going to get them both back to the truck, though he was sure Luc and the others had a plan for that already.

  “You okay to keep going on that?”

  “Yeah, you bet,” Walter answered, resuming his place on the pump and getting the contraption going again once the tube was inside the second barrel. “It’s gonna be a challenge to get ‘em back to the cars once they’re both full.”

  “Ah don’t worry about that,” Taggy swatted at an invisible fly. “Once Billy’s guys are done, they’ll bring the trucks around and load them up. We’ve got another job to do before we head back.”

  “Oh?”

  “We’re near one of the borders for these new zones they’re trying to set up,” Taggy continued. “We’re going to go and check that out before we head back to the cave, if you’re cool with that?”

  “Yeah, that’s fine by me,” Walter nodded, curious to see what was happening with the zones. When Captain Banes and McManaman had first proposed the idea to him back at the precinct, Walter had been astonished. He couldn’t believe they truly thought it would work – the idea that enforcing more laws would be enough to get people to start following them was ridiculous. But both men were convinced. “I’m curious to see what’s happened with that,” Walter continued, “Couldn’t believe it when I first heard about it.”

  “Oh yeah,” Luc waved a finger in Walter’s direction. “Of course, you were with them. What are they like? Couple of run in’s I’ve had with the guys working for them haven’t been the best.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They didn’t really seem like they’d thought through what they were doing – take these zones for example, or even the rat
ioning they introduced. It’s a good idea on paper, but does it really work? I don’t think so. The rationing is only helpful to a limit, there still isn’t enough for everyone to share equally. And even if they somehow managed to give everyone left in the city an equal share of the same meal each day, what’s to stop people just stealing from each other in order to get more?”

  Walter nodded. “That’s exactly what I said. It’s two guys who came up with this zone system,” Walter explained, giving Luc and Taggy details about Captain Banes and Philip McManaman, talking them through the conversation he had shared with them when the idea was first announced. “They’re just not seeing the bigger picture,” he concluded. “I don’t think Captain Banes has really left the precinct since everything started.”

  “That’s the problem,” Taggy agreed. “It’s the same one we’ve always had though. Even before Trident collapsed and all of this happened, the country has been in the same state for years. The people at the top don’t see what happens further down the ladder and when it really comes down to it, I don’t think they care too much either.”

  “Always looking out for number one aren’t they,” Luc scoffed. “You’d think something major like this would change that.”

  “I think it can,” Walter replied optimistically, stepping away from the pump as Taggy gave him a nod to indicate the second barrel was filled up now. As the three of them capped the lid on it and shuffled the two now full barrels over behind the abandoned carpeting truck, Walter continued to explain his hopefulness.

  “We just need the right people to be in charge and to be making the right decisions. That’s what we thought we were doing when we set up the group back at the precinct. We all wanted to make the city safe again and we had plans to help rebuild. Things just took a wrong turn along the way.”