by Max Masen
Chapter 16:
Time To Talk?
We walked in almost complete silence the next three days. Escaping the town was a miracle. We earned some peace and quiet on the road. We passed through a few abandoned cities, towns, and makeshift villages. We avoided the ones with people still living inside of them. They were probably decent enough people, but we decided the risk was too great, especially after our last mistake. Marley hobbled most of the way, leaning on me for support. On the second day, we found him crutches in a long-forgotten house. This made it much easier on both of us.
The people we passed were in for quite a show, seeing two cripples barely getting by. We didn’t care, though. We were still alive. Most of the people we ran into were friendly enough, many of them even giving us shelter for the night or food they had managed to collect.
The third day, Marley broke the silence. He asked: “Why have you been so quiet?”
“Why have you?” I retorted quietly.
“How about we don’t play this game and you just tell me what’s wrong?” he said angrily.
“You tried to kill me. I was just wondering when the next time I’m gonna have to deal with that will be. That’s all.” The anger in my voice was more than apparent to him.
“That wasn’t a problem, Dustin,” Marley replied. “You had a plan and it worked. Besides, you tried to kill me.” He was raising his voice. I could tell he was trying to scare me into quelling our fight.
“Only because you tried it first!” I screamed.
“You wanna go again?!” Marley yelled back.
“You want me to kill you again?” I said softly.
He picked up one of his crutches and pushed the end of it against my body. His expression intensified and his face started to redden. I held my head down low. I wasn’t proud of having to fight him or anything else I had to do. He turned his back to me and started hobbling away.
“Marley, wait!” I yelled.
“Dustin, don’t you feel any kind of connection to me?” he asked, turning to face me again. “Take a moment. Look at me. Notice anything familiar? Maybe you’re mad at yourself and you’re taking it out on me.”
Maybe he’s right. I’ve made poor decisions that have gotten people close to me killed. But I still can’t fully bring myself to trust Marley after what he tried. He attempted to kill me because he was scared. While I had come to the revelation that I could save us both, he thought only of ways to kill me to help himself.
“No, you’re wrong,” I replied. “We’ve been through alot together, Marley. But that doesn’t forgive what you did.”
“What’s that?” he asked, appearing intrigued.
“You killed all of these people.” I didn’t sound convincing in the least. I knew that.
“Just like you killed all of those people back there,” he returned.
“That wasn’t me. That was the wolves and you know it.”
“Just like it wasn’t me. It was other people. I don’t kill, Dustin.”
“You’re hiding something,” I said, unsure if I was really on to something or not.
“Yeah, you’re right,” he said with head low and voice quiet.
“Maybe it’s time you finally told me. We’re getting close to the outpost and I think I deserve to know,” I said, knowing our journey was coming to an end.
“You’re right.”
“Tell me what you’ve been hiding, Marley.”
“The bomb that detonated in D.C. It wasn’t the government’s, Dustin. It was mine. It was ours. That was the plan from the beginning and I couldn’t go through with it. We would take our loyal faithful to D.C and kill all of them with a bomb when they were close to completing their objectives. This was so it would look like the government was okay with using nuclear bombs on its own people. It was a calling to the rest of America to wake up and rise against. How else do you think we would have had the numbers to take on the army? We’re bad people, Dustin. We’re bad and I couldn’t deal with it so I ran. I ran as far away as I could get. You happy, Dustin? Just remember, for the last seven years you dressed up and pretended to be a man that was okay with killing his people,” he said morbidly, quickly changing to a much darker tone. He looked me in the eyes, let up on his crutches and gripped my hand. “It’s my time. I can’t deal with this anymore. Telling you this, finally getting it out. I feel… relief. I think. Kill me, Dustin!”
He put a knife in my hand and gripped my fingers around it. He brought the knife close to his abdomen and held my hand more tightly.
“Kill me, Dustin, or I promise you will come to regret it. You have a chance to kill the most evil man in recent history and you’re hesitating. Why?” he said, looking shocked.
“We’re… friends,” I said weakly, looking away from the knife.
“No, we’re not!” he screamed. “We’ve been travelling together. That doesn’t make us friends, Dustin! You hate me! After everything I’ve put you through and you’re hesitating?! Kill me!”
“I won’t,” I replied after another moment of contemplation.
“You were thinking about it,” Marley said assertively.
I attempted to shake him off but he tightened his grip, staring aggressively at me. I averted my gaze but I could still feel him looking at me; he was waiting for me to meet his eyes again.
I couldn’t do it. He wasn’t a dying man anymore; the doctor had healed his infected leg and the power armor gave him his strength back. I had no reason to meet his request. If it even was a request. He doesn’t really want it. Marley is in no hurry to die and he knows I can’t kill him.
“Do it!” Marley screamed intensely. His face was nearing mine.
I looked back to him and replied: “I can’t!”
“I knew you couldn’t. You massacred all of those people back there for me and now you can’t even finish this. Our journey is over. Our trip is finished. It’s been fun, but we are done!” he yelled, throwing my hand down. The downward motion forced me to drop the knife.
Marley leaned on his crutches and said: “Pick it up.”
“No.”
“Do it!”
I grabbed one of his crutches and tossed it to the side of the highway we were standing on. Abandoned cars littered the area. Marley began falling over but latched onto my dirty shirt in his descent, bringing me down with him. We landed by a low-sitting truck. Marley grabbed my head and threw it into the side of the vehicle, making my head spin after a moment of lapse of pain.
“Dammit!” I screamed. “I’m done! Let’s be done!” I took a moment to breathe. It was getting harder and I was getting weaker.
“How did you do it, Dustin?” Marley asked feebly. “How did you get us out of there? The wolves. The escape. How?”
“Wire cutters from the doctor’s office,” I replied. “I saw an opportunity and I took it.”
“Interesting. So had you not said your goodbyes to me then you wouldn’t have been able to spring your trap. But why? Why save me? You must have known that you could have easily won before you found out about the power armor trick.”
“I made you a promise,” I said, turning my head to look at Marley. “I told you I’d get both of us out of there and I did.”
Marley smiled and put his hand out as an offering. I stuck mine out after moment to consider. I met his hand with mine and we shook.
“I’m… sorry,” Marley said as though he felt unsure about the situation.
“Not easy for you to say, is it?” I said back.
“I’m stubborn.”
“I know.”
I stood up and put my hand out for him to accept again. He did. I lifted him off the ground and he leaned against the truck while I retrieved his crutches for him.
“You know, you’re a really lucky guy, Dustin,” Marley told me abruptly.
“Nothing I’ve been through would qualify me for a term like that,” I replied almost angrily.
“You’r
e still alive. Just when you lost all of your friends, I come into the picture and I save you. We saved each other. I consider that pretty lucky,” Marley remarked.
“Marley, I need you to shut up,” I said definitively, ending the conversation.
