Murphy’s .45 locked to the rea, his rounds spent, a fraction of a second before Kyle’s last shot hit him high in the chest and catapulted him backward over his desk. Kyle landed hard on the floor next to his wife. He laid there panting for a moment then rolled over and found Anna reaching out to him. He looked up at her and smiled like an idiot. He then reached out to touch her face. Her cheek came away bloody, and he looked down at his hand in confusion. His right forearm had a large bloody hole right through the center of it. Anna was it motion immediately, she grabbed the discarded blanket and quickly ripped a strip out of it and began to bandage the wound. Kyle grinned through the pain, they would be alright.
Murphy stood over them a moment later. His suit was splattered with blood, Kyle shot had hit him high in the shoulder, and his left arm seemed to hang limply at his side. He still gripped the now useless .45 in his right hand and pointed it at Kyle as he shouted, emphasizing each of his words.
“You fucking Scav, you haven’t stopped me! I run this town, me! You haven’t changed any of that!” Murphy screamed at him as he backed his way towards the door.
“I couldn’t care less,” Kyle replied dismissively, and as Murphy ran out the door, Kyle turned back to look at his wife again.
Murphy staggered from his office into the wreckage of his bar. What a few minutes ago had been a pitched battle was now a full-on rout. His men that were still alive were crawling over each other trying to escape the bloodbath, dead men and a few braves littered the floor.
“Cowards!” Murphy shouted and turned around through the doors of the bar.
Coal dispatched his last attacker and rolled the dying man off of him just in time to see Murphy escape out the front door. The half-breed leaped to his feet to follow, but as he ran past the open office door, he cursed and reversed course. He ran to the doorway and stuck his head through. A surprising amount of relief flooded through him as he saw Kyle on the floor next to Anna, the Scavenger was wounded but definitely alive.
“Hey Kyle, that bastards getting away!” Coal shouted.
Kyle replied without looking at him, his eyes firmly on Anna’s face. “I don’t care Coal.”
“You fucking white people do not understand how revenge works!” Coal shouted and raced from the room to follow Murphy.
The councilman dashed through the entryway into the daylight. All around him the Indians were riding down and butchering his fleeing men. A lone Indian archer stood at the end of the parking lot and casually fired arrows into those that tried to flee. Murphy smirked, it served them right for abandoning him he thought. As he turned to flee himself a massive hand grabbed him around the neck and yanked him forward. Chief Red Bear was splattered with blood, making the visage of the scarred warrior even more terrifying. The Chief held the councilman out at arm’s length and then pulled back his bloody hatchet. Murphy raised his useless pistol and pointed it at the chief pulling the trigger in hopeless desperation. The Chief just smirked in response but then paused, holding back the killing blow.
“Wait,” The Chief said to himself and using the bloody hatchet poked at the councilman’s now ruined suit.
“Hey, aren’t you that fucking politician we came here looking for?” Red Bear asked knowingly, as he smiled his face somehow became even more menacing.
“I, I, I’m a very wealthy man…,” Murphy began to plead weakly.
Just as Coal stepped out of the bar Chief Red Bear pulled back the hatchet again. “Not where I come from you’re not,” the Chief laughed in reply.
The blast from a shotgun shattered the relative silence and along with it Chief Red Bear’s skull. The councilman was splattered in a hail of blood and tissue. The two men stood there for an unreal moment as the headless corpse of the giant Indian continued to stand and grip the bloody man’s throat. All around them blood splattered white feathers slowly settled to earth from the Chief’s ruined war bonnet. The body slowly pitched to the side and fell to the dirt, nearly pulling Murphy along with it. A moment later Rory was at his side on horseback. The Ranger dropped the now useless shotgun and pulled the councilman up in the saddle behind him. The pair raced away from Murphy’s ruined club, and though surrounded by Indians the braves were too shocked to even move.
Coal stood silently in the doorway, frozen in place as well. He watched as a single figure began to move. Two-steps dropped his bow and raced across the parking lot running past the stunned braves and fleeing enemies. Coal willed himself into motion and step by step he slowly walked to where Two-steps knelt next to his dead brother’s body. Two-steps had a hand placed on the dead Chief’s chest, he whispered something too quiet for Coal to hear.
“Cousin, Cousin…” Coal began, but Two-Steps silenced him with a look. Tears filled the young man’s eyes.
“You are not of my blood, not any longer,” Two-Steps said and then pointed down at his brother’s corpse. “This was the last family I had left, now my brother is dead, and I’m alone.”
Coal stood in shocked silence, his mouth opened slightly, and tears began to form in the corner of his eyes as well. Two-Steps went silent again staring back down at his dead brother, his dead chief. His shoulders and back began to shudder as he wept in silence. Coal could only watch as he wrestled with his own grief.
“I’m going to take my brother home and bury him next to our father. Then I’ll see to the tribe, we will need to select a new Chief,” Two-Steps said solemnly when he finally spoke again.
“It’ll be you,” Coal said with certainty and rubbed the tears from his eyes.
“Perhaps,” Two-Steps said as he stood and turned to face Coal.
“Either way, you are no longer welcome in the Nation half-breed. I will spread the word amongst my people. If you cross into our lands, you’ll be hunted down like the stray dog that you are. As far as my own promise goes, when things have settled, and the nation recovers from this loss. I’ll be coming for you Coal, our lands or the whites, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to hunt you down and kill you.” With that, Two-Steps turned back to his brother’s body.
All around them the braves began to gather. As if hearing a silent command, they began to gather up their bloody weapons and collect their horses, the fight had left them. One produced a large red blanket, and they began to wrap the Chief’s body tightly in it for the trip home. A half dozen other Indians had been killed, and these were simply draped across the backs of their ponies. The entire group moved with eerie sullen silence. Coal watched them for a time until Kyle and Anna walked out of the club and joined him. Anna still wrapped in a blanket, Kyle’s arm now wrapped in a bloody bandage.
“I’m sorry Coal,” Kyle said, and the half-breed just nodded.
The little group watched as the braves finished wrapping their dead Chief and hoisted his covered body up over their heads and carried it towards his waiting horse. All of the other Indians were mounted and sat in a column two abreast waiting to ride home as an honor guard for their dead. Kyle noticed a small group cautiously making their way towards them through the dispersing crowd. Four of them were Black Jackets and the fifth an older woman.
“Coal,” Rincone called out, and the group hastily moved towards them.
Rincone and his men looked like they had been through a bit of trouble themselves. Each carried a club or nightstick in hand, most still wet with blood and the Chief still had his magnum in hand.
“Coal, we did it, the water is ours!” Rincone said with a grin.
Coal just turned and looked at him blankly for a moment, and Rincone continued.
“Your attack, it kicked off a bit of a riot over at the tower, Murphy’s men were holding their own for a while. Then they got a good look at your friends and the ass kicking they were delivering at the club. Most of them tucked tail and ran. It’s ours now, we control the tower and the pump again. Didn’t lose a man!” Rincone said smiling broadly.
“He means the City Council controls it again,” Councilman Wadsworth cut in, stepping around the Chief of Policin
g.
Rincone looked down at the woman and grinned. “That’s true, but of course by this time next week the city will have held its elections, and we’ll see who that includes.”
Wadsworth's mouth gaped open for a moment. “But this, bringing Murphy down, getting the water back, this changes everything!” Wadsworth protested.
“No it doesn’t, it doesn’t change a damn thing. Time for a little democracy around her,” Rincone said sharply.
The two exchanged murderous glares just as Two-steps mounted on horseback trotted up to the small group. To a man, the rest of the braves had mounted up and waited to begin their solemn ride back to the Nation.
Two-steps looked down at the Black Jacket leader never so much as glancing in Coal’s direction.
“Black Coat, you speak for these men of policing?” Two-Steps asked Rincone.
“I do, and they call me Chief,” Rincone replied holstering his sidearm.
Two-Steps swallowed hard as if choking down a bitter taste and continued.
“Our trader will arrive at dawn tomorrow along with six braves, you will guarantee my people’s safety, yes?” Rincone’s mouth slowly opened, his eyes darted from the Indian to Wadsworth and back again.
“My men guard the main street and the Hub where all trading takes place,” Rincone answered slowly.
Two-Steps paused for a moment, cast a sideways glance in Kyle’s direction and then simply nodded. He then turned his attention to Wadsworth.
“Woman, you speak for the City Council?” Two-Steps demanded.
The small councilwoman’s brow furrowed, and she actually took a step forward. “My name is Wadsworth, not woman and yes I speak for the City Council. What do you want?” She demanded right back.
Two-Steps looked down at her and cocked a slight smile. “I want your people to hold up your end of the deal. When the Council of Elders stops bickering long enough to actually make a decision, we’ll send word,” with that the Indian turned his horse and trotted away from them. He rode past the waiting war party and down the street. The column of warriors began to move behind him in a long sullen procession.
Rincone and Wadsworth turned to look at Coal pointedly. The Chief spoke first. “Coal, what the fuck was that?”
The half-breed didn’t respond; he was still watching the braves trail down the street. It was Kyle that replied.
“The Nation will be sending a trader into town to trade us food and water regularly from now on. They’ll come with their own group of braves acting as guards, and they have some very particular rules regarding drugs and alcohol, so you had better have a serious talk with the merchants, or you’re going to have trouble. Also, the city council is going to recognize the Nation’s claim to all of their lands East of town,” Kyle explained.
“When was this decided?” Rincone turned and asked the councilwoman, her face now wore a scowl.
“Last week, by us,” Coal answered for her, the column now out of sight he turned to look at them for the first time.
“I think it’s a pretty good deal considering,” Coal added.
“Considering what?” Wadsworth asked angrily.
“Considering we were just trying to keep from getting skinned when we made it, and that if you back out of it now the Nation will ride in her and do the same to all of you,” Coal replied as he casually glanced around the parking lot where a dozen dead bodies now lay.
Coal turned and began to walk back towards Murphy’s ruined club. “Oh yeah and one other thing. You had better pull out and dust off an extra chair. The City Council just added a new member, appointed by the elders of the Indian Nation and that position is permanent,” Coal called back over his shoulder.
Rincone and Wadsworth looked at each other again. “He, he can’t do that!” Wadsworth protested.
Rincone simply laughed. “I think he already did.”
Kyle watched Coal walk past him towards the bar, the half breed’s head was down and his face somber.
“Where you going Coal?” Kyle asked.
“Going to see how badly you fucked up my space car, then I’m going to root around through Murphy’s things a bit and hopefully find a bottle of…well anything that will get me drunk,” Coal replied.
“What about Murphy and Rory? They’re still out there somewhere,” Kyle asked.
“Oh, I haven’t forgotten about them. Like I said, you white people don’t understand revenge at all. I do some of my best revenging when I’m half lit,” Coal replied and entered the bar. Kyle followed behind him a moment later his arm still draped around Anna.
Aftermath
The bar was like something out of a late-night horror movie. Nearly two dozen bodies littered the floor from the entryway clear to the back of the bar. Crossing the area without walking on fresh corpses required careful and well thought out tiptoeing. Coal systematically moved from body to body checking the pockets of each, he had acquired a clear plastic pitcher from the smashed bar and was filling it with an assortment of treasures, mostly in the form of chits. Along the way, he snatched up every firearm he could find, checked them for ammo and then added any precious bullets that he found to the pitcher before dropping the useless gun.
Kyle stood still holding Anna for a moment watching Coal and just shook his head. The half-breed glanced up and grinned. “Don’t worry you’ll get your cut.”
Anna said nothing, she just stared at the death all around them, and Kyle felt her give a slight shudder. Looking around the Scavenger realized the only room not currently filled with death was Murphy’s now-vacant office. He placed his hands on Anna’s shoulders and guided her through the doorway, he walked her over to the red love seat at the back of the room and gently sat her down. Her eyes went immediately to the floor, but she looked as if she was staring across a great distance. She hadn’t spoken a word since her rescue, and that was starting to worry him.
Kyle dropped down to his knees in front of her, and her eyes immediately darted away from his. Tears silently began to slide down her cheeks again. He reached up to touch her cheek, and her head snapped back away from his touch. He quickly pulled his hand back.
“It’s okay, we’re going to be okay. I’m going to go find you something to wear, you just wait right here. I’ll be right back,” he told her quietly trying to reassure both of them.
Kyle stood and walked towards the doorway. Just before he stepped out he glanced back and saw that Anna was watching him go, she quickly looked away again.
“I’ll be right back,” he said again and returned to the bar.
Coal had moved on from picking through dead bodies and now was searching the wrecked bar for anything useful that had survived. The pitcher, now half full of water chits sat next to the office door, the pitcher had a red tint now as many of the chits were spotted with blood. Coal’s rifle and his shotgun were leaned up against the wall there as well, Coal having recovered them from the fray.
“Coal, where would I find some clothes?” Kyle asked, and the Indian looked up confused for a moment.
“I think what you have on looks fine, maybe a little bloody, but it seems to be the fashion these days,” Coal replied with a grin and gestured to the dead bodies all around.
“They’re for Anna Coal!” Kyle shouted.
“Okay, okay, damn I was just kidding. Check towards the back, the whores have a few rooms back there. Probably find some lady clothes back there,” Coal replied and went back to his scavenging.
“Just make sure you check them over for lice and crabs first though, and I’m not kidding about that,” Coal added as Kyle began picking his way across the slaughter.
Kyle found the rooms easily enough, but it took him nearly ten minutes of digging through several dressers and trunks before he found clothing he felt was suitable enough and clean enough for Anna to actually wear. A pair of women’s khaki cargo pants, a white t-shirt and a zippered hoody. He also picked up a pair of pink women’s sandals from beside the doorway before returning to the bar area. Coal s
tood beside the crashed buggy now and had pulled away most of the bodies directly around it.
“Little help?” he called out to Kyle.
“In a minute,” Kyle replied carefully picking his way back across the gruesome scene.
The Scavenger re-entered the office and found Anna right where he had left her. Though now she lay on the sofa, still wrapped in the tattered blanket. He approached her slowly, her eyes darted to him and then away again. Kyle set the clothes down on the floor next to her and then spoke gently.
“These will have to do for now. Your bag with your clothes is still back at the wagon. So just get dressed, take your time, I’m going to go help Coal. Just come out whenever you’re ready,” Kyle said.
Anna’s eye met his for a moment, and she nodded but didn’t move. Kyle stood and looking down at her said again. “It’s going to be okay.”
The Scavenger wasn’t sure if the words were true or if he even believed them himself. He turned and walked out of the office, closing the door gently behind him.
With Kyle’s help, the two men were able to lift the front end of the buggy and push it back over the ruined window sill and out into the parking lot. Kyle and Coal stepped out after it, Coal bending down to examine the extent of the damage. The row of LED lights was smashed with several sections hanging by their wiring. The left side of the tubular front bumper was smashed in at a nearly 45-degree angle and was just short of touching the front tire. The two men looked the rest of the vehicle over, finding three additional bullet holes in the body.
To Cross a Wasteland Page 42
