‘Get in the car, we’ll get you back to Midway,’ Nero said, looking down at the dead raider again, wondering what it was he’d meant by that final comment. He looked back up at Nyx as she helped the man off the truck. ‘Check around, see if there’s anything useful back there,’ he said and walked over to the cab and did the same before going through the pockets of the raiders.
He found a few bullets and a few bits of food, but not much else. Returning to his charger, Nero grabbed one of the empty jerry cans from the back, along with the flexible hose he used and proceeded to syphon the gas from the truck. It didn’t take too long, and the fat man sat in the back of the charger patiently waiting for them.
‘What do you think of him?’ Nero asked Nyx who was leaning against the truck close by as the jerry can slowly filled.
‘Slimy,’ she said.
‘Yeah,’ Nero agreed with her. ‘He is that.’
‘I’ve seen it before when I was at the Watchtower. Some of those who’d pass through, if they thought there were better than you, they’d have that same feel to them. Like they thought their shit didn’t stink, you know?’
‘I know.’
‘I get that feeling from this one, too. Sounds like he’s in with this queen, whoever she is. Some camp or fortress leader, I’ll wager, who thinks she’s some kind of royalty. I know the type.’
‘So, what do we do? Do we take him back like we said?’
‘Or what? Dump him in the desert? Leave him to die?’
Nero shrugged.
‘No, we’ll take him. He might be as good as his word. He might even be useful, but we’ll never know if we don’t try.’
‘The benefit of the doubt, huh?’
Nyx nodded as the syphon sputtered and stopped.
‘Fair enough,’ Nero said. ‘Let’s see how this plays out.’
After placing the part-filled can in the back of the car and securing it, they both climbed into the front. Nero looked at the fat man in the rearview mirror. ‘So, what do we call you?’
‘You can call me Chain, my dear boy, and what, may I ask, should I call you?’
‘I’m Nero, this is Nyx. We’ve got a couple of days travel to get to the city by my estimation, so, we might need a place to stay for the night.’
‘Bridge town. It’s about halfway there. They’ll let you stay for a fee,’ he said.
‘I bet they will,’ he said. ‘But hang on, can’t we just walk in there with one of the queen’s family members and get a place for free?’
‘I’m afraid I must insist on travelling incognito. There are too many, um, how shall we say, “rough” elements out here, if you know what I mean.’
‘Rough elements, huh?’ Nero smirked. He looked over at Nyx. She smiled, too, finding his comments amusing.
‘Fair enough, Mr Chain, sir, incognito it is,’ he said with the barest hint of sarcasm and brought the charger to life with a twist of his key before dropping it into gear and setting off.
***
Bride Town lived up to its name, located, as it was, at one end of a long suspension bridge that crossed a deep and dried up river. The river ran through a broad valley that sliced through the landscape beneath the bridge. The fortified town was attached to this end of the bridge with separate gates blocking off the bridge itself, although it looked like they were being repaired right now.
Nero looked at them with a frown. He guessed that the raiders they had taken out earlier today had caused this.
‘See, Bridge Town,’ Chain said
‘Indeed. Looks like they suffered an attack recently,’ Nero said, wondering if Chain might comment.
‘Caused by the raider scum that took me,’ Chain said.
‘I’d guessed as much,’ Nero said. ‘So, are the people in here going to recognise you?’
‘Most of them probably won’t, dear boy, but I shall keep a low profile. I suggest you do, too.’
‘We don’t want any trouble,’ Nero said, looking over at Nyx. She nodded back to him. He knew that her sights were set firmly on the city and the goal of finding her mother so she would not want to get too distracted.
Nero edged the car forward, approaching the gates at a slow and steady pace to appear non-threatening.
The two guards on the gate motioned for them to stop, which Nero did, and killed the engine to clearly hear the guard.
‘Hold. Who are you and what’s your purpose here?’
Nero was already leaning out the window as he listened to the guardsman. ‘Just travelling through, looking for a place to stay the night,’ he called back.
‘Who’s in there with you?’
‘Two others with me. We’re happy to trade as payment.’
The man looked down to the inside of the gate and then looked back. ‘Okay, move inside and exit your vehicle,’ he said, as the gates opened up to reveal a good sized space behind them and another gate beyond that. It was a kill box. A buffer so that the guards could check them out before letting them into the camp proper.
‘Here we go,’ Nero said, and rolled the car forward into the security buffer where two more men were waiting for them, both with guns held at the ready.
‘They seem a little cautious,’ Nyx said.
‘You would be, too, if some raiders had just rolled through here.’
‘I guess,’ she said, as he brought the car to a stop.
‘Hands where I can see them,’ one of the guards said. ‘Now, climb out, real slow, okay?’
Nero kept his hands in plain sight and slowly climbed out the car, watching the guards. Nyx and Chain did the same. They were brought to one side where one of the guards in the box with them watched them while the other started to hunt through the vehicle.
They were also covered by the two guards on top of the tower as well.
‘Anything dangerous in here?’ the closest guard asked about Nero’s car.
‘Just a couple of weapons. A sword, some guns, and ammo,’ Nero said.
‘You got them?’ the covering guard said to his friend, who was looking through the car and under it.
‘Aye, I found the guns and sword,’ he said as he searched. Then, after a few moments, he walked over. ‘Nothing to worry about here,’ the second guard said. ‘They have some sweet supplies, though. Maybe we can deal?’
Nero nodded. ‘Sure.’
‘Okay, the deal is this: you get a room for the night in return for some supplies; we can work those details out once you’re inside. While you’re here, you can keep one weapon on you, the rest need to be kept in the gatehouse just inside. You can pick them up on your way out when you leave. Deal?’
‘Deal,’ Nero said.
‘Great, you two can walk in,’ the guard said to Nyx and Chain. ‘You can drive in. There are places to park over on your right under where you’ll be sleeping. Stop at the gatehouse first, though.’
Everything went smoothly over the next thirty minutes as Nero traded some food and gas for the night before leaving his pistol and dagger with the gatehouse for safe keeping. Handing over your weapons while you were in a camp wasn’t uncommon. It didn’t happen at all the camps, but Nero had encountered it many times before. Some of them demanded all your weapons, some only a few. Nero didn’t mind, but chose to keep his enchanted shotgun with him for his stay here.
Nyx took Chain up to their rooms right away to keep him out of sight of people. Nero followed them up as soon as he could and found Nyx in a communal area above the carport with several rooms behind it. The structure was simple, dirty, and constructed out of reclaimed metal. It was not the most comfortable place he’d ever spent a night, but it would do.
They’d been given two rooms, something that Nyx had negotiated, she told him, with Chain already inside one of them. Nyx sat by a large open window, running her whetstone along the edge of the blade of her sword, sharpening it as Nero walked over to her from their room.
‘It’s not a bad place. I’ve certainly stayed in worse,’ he said.
‘It’l
l do. Chain said he was exhausted and needed to get some rest, plus, it would be best if he kept out of the way.’
‘I suppose being kidnapped is a tiring experience,’ Nero commented.
‘I suppose so. We’re staying just the one night here, then, yes?’
‘Absolutely. We’ll be on our way early tomorrow,’ Nero answered her, reassuring her that he was as committed to this as she clearly was. This mission was a new experience for him. Previously, he’d not really done much that was purely for someone else. Everything up to now always had some part of it, some element that would benefit him. Whether he was rescuing someone for supplies or Nyx because, frankly, he fancied her. Though, that last one had changed his life forever. But this, this was a mission for Nyx. This was something she wanted to do, and strangely, helping her on this mission was giving him a feeling of satisfaction and happiness that he’d not expected at all.
Nyx smiled at him before continuing to work away on her sword as they watched the encampment shut down for the night.
They were brought some food that evening and went to bed a little later.
Nero stirred to the sounds of shouting from within the camp at what felt like a very early hour. Looking up, he found the space where Nyx had slept beside him empty and the door to the room left partway open. He woke up quickly on realising Nyx was missing and jumped out of bed only to spot her through the door next to the window, looking out over the camp.
Wondering what she was looking at, Nero stepped out of the room and walked over to her. She noticed his approach and looked over at him, putting one finger to her pursed lips to keep him quiet before beckoning him forward.
He approached the window cautiously until the scene outside in the courtyard below came into view. It was morning, and the sun had already risen above the horizon, its light casting long shadows over the scene below. A large customised, rusted looking desert vehicle sat in the area below while six people stood menacingly around three others who were from the camp. The lead man in the group wore black leathers with bits of makeshift armour attached to him that were covered in spikes, and he was talking loudly in the face of the lead camp member and jabbing his finger at him. The rest of his group were dressed in similar gear for the most part, although two stood out. One of the men had what looked like some kind of devil dog on a leash. Nero guessed it was a daemon, not dissimilar to the one they had encountered in the wreck with Cryptus. The other notable member of the group was an Asian looking woman wearing white wraps around her body and limbs, solid boots, and carrying a katana. Her simple white coverings stood in stark contrast to the black leathers and armour of the others.
‘Who are these guys?’ Nero asked.
‘Not sure. They arrived a little while ago and started throwing their weight around. There are way more camp members in here, but no one wants to challenge them,’ Nyx said.
‘Is Chain awake?’
‘I’ve not seen him,’ she said, pulling her boots on.
‘You’re not planning on going down there, are you?’
‘That depends on them,’ she said.
‘What happened to keeping a low profile?’
‘I know. But I can’t stand by and let them kill people for no good reason,’ she said.
Nero nodded. He understood that completely. His own sense of justice had landed him in a few fights he could have avoided over the years. He really should learn to walk away more, but when the weak were being punished by the strong, for no good reason, a part of him just couldn’t stand by and let them get away with it. He had to do something.
It was a trait that he had found he shared with Nyx, and they regularly backed each other up now when these situations arose. Nero could see this being another one of those moments, so he pulled his own clothes on, including his boots and jacket, feeling reasonably sure this would likely only go one way. As he dressed, he listened to the conversation below.
‘Well, you can’t have tried very hard, could you, because those fucks got through here anyway? What good are you if you can’t stop a simple band of raiders? Maybe we need to get some other people in here to do your job for you? So, I think we need another offering for the queen,’ the lead man yelled.
‘But we’re down to our last reserves of food. We need more. If we give you any of it, people will starve. We don’t have enough as it is.’
‘Not my problem. Now go and get an offering.’
‘Please, don’t do this,’ the camp leader said.
The gang leader, who in Nero’s mind was called Spike, seemed to sigh, but it was tough to make out at this distance. He put his hands on his hips and nodded to the katana girl.
The girl moved like graceful lightening, and in one smooth motion, sliced at one of the camp members. Blood sprayed as the man beside the leader looked shocked for a moment before he dropped to the floor. The clean, deep cut opening wide to reveal his insides as he hit the floor.
People around the camp looking at the scene screamed in horror. The camp leader backed off in shock.
‘No, oh, God no. Sev? Oh, shit you killed him! How could you? We’re doing our best,’ the leader pleaded, stepping forward and dropping to his knees as he reached for Spike. The daemon dog growled at the camp leader, warning him off.
‘That’s it, I’ve seen enough,’ Nyx said.
Chapter 12
Nero
Nero nodded at Nyx, feeling his own blood boil at what he’d just seen happen. Nyx jumped from the window with her sword in hand and landed quietly. They were off to the side of the confrontation and slightly behind the gang, so they didn’t see her coming right away as their attention was on the leader.
‘We're sorry, please, don’t kill anymore,’ he begged.
‘Why? You should be thanking me; that’s one less mouth to feed. Now you can give us his share of your supplies.’
Nero jumped down, too, after grabbing his shotgun. The camp leader didn’t answer, he’d seen Nyx approaching and looked up at her in surprise as she took hold of her sword in two hands. Spike turned in time to see her swing the blade, as did the daemon dog, moments before she cleaved it in two, killing it with one hit.
Spike backed off, the dog handler looked shocked while others raised their weapons. Nero was ready, though, and fired at one of the six who held a shotgun of his own. He dropped to the floor as Nyx adjusted her grip and whipped her sword around to take a swipe at the dog handler, who was fumbling for his weapon.
‘Get him,’ Spike yelled at the two guys in the gang who were not dead, pointing at Nero, while the katana girl faced off against Nyx.
Nero adjusted his aim towards one of the two guys moving to get a shot on him and fired. The shot caught a glancing blow against the gang member, who yelled in pain before raising his own gun and shooting back.
Nero ducked left towards some barrels and boxes as the bullets chewed up the floor where he’d been standing.
The wounded man staggered forward and fired again. Nero ducked and brought his own gun up to bare and fired off another round, this time catching the man full in the chest. He dropped to the floor quite dead.
The other man had run over in the meantime and disappeared behind the same cover Nero was close to, but around the corner. Nero ducked back and started to move around, approaching the side that the gang member had moved to before whipping around the corner to see nothing.
Nearby, swords clanged. Nero looked over. Spike was on the other side of the two girls, not really much of a target right now.
Focusing back on his own predicament, Nero edged forward and jumped out around the next corner, still not finding the man who he’d seen duck back here. Nero frowned and looked back the way he’d come. Nothing.
‘Yaaah,’ shouted someone above him. Nero ducked left, throwing himself to the floor as the man’s gun fired, missing him. Nero rolled to his feet in time to see the man leap down beside him and smash him on the side of his face with the butt of his gun. Nero went with the motion of the attack and spun in pl
ace, kicking his leg out. Nero caught the man’s gun and knocked it wide. As he moved, he caught the briefest of glimpses of Spike running towards them.
Nero stepped in and rammed the muzzle of the shotgun up into the man’s chest, squeezing off a shot.
The man had a look of shock on his face as Nero yelled at him in a rage. Nero gave him a quick push as he took a step back, turned, and swung his shotgun out in a sweeping arc, catching Spike on the side of his head moments before the leader reached him with a large dagger in his hand.
Stepping in as Spike fell backwards into the dirt, Nero kicked him in the head once, hard. Spike rolled over onto his side, blood from his mouth splattering to the floor.
‘Who do you think you are?’ the man asked.
‘Doesn’t matter who we are, what does matter is making sure you don’t terrorise any more people,’ Nero said, looking down at him.
‘You’ll both die for this, you know that? The queen will have your heads on a spike.’
‘Will she now? Well, I don’t think that will be happening.’
‘You’ll suffer for this, you fucking idiot. No one disrespects the queen and lives.’
‘But if she doesn’t know about it, how can she punish us for it? Fuck me, you’re stupid.’
Nyx yelped. Nero looked up to see the katana girl stepping in towards Nyx who she’d knocked to the floor, her weapon ready.
‘Hey,’ Nero shouted to get her attention as he raised his gun. She looked up and paused.
Movement behind Nero grabbed his attention. He spun back around to see Spike pulling a small pistol from his boot and raising it up. Nero swung his shotgun and smashed it into the man’s arm as the gun went off, narrowly avoiding Nero. Nero brought the shotgun back in and aimed it at Spike’s head, keenly aware that the gang leader still held the pistol. Nero didn’t wait, he couldn’t risk being shot at with that gun. He fired, turning Spike’s head into mush.
Wasteland Road Knights Trilogy Page 24
