by Han Yang
“Move this whole pallet of TNT. It won’t spontaneously explode so you can rush it, at the same time, don’t drop it. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast,” I told Dex and Fen.
They wanted to say something, but I ventured deeper into the warehouse. A few gaping holes in the roof allowed me to inspect ammo boxes. I found a whole row of .22 rounds, passing them up. They just didn’t pack enough punch besides for babies and we had plenty of the rounds already at the mine.
The pallets were arranged tight, so tight, I had to turn sideways to walk between them. This proved less than ideal, so I climbed up and onto a .22 pallet.
I glanced around, seeing nothing but crates in endless groupings. I had to wonder if Bisben was planning a war, or if this was just a central munitions hub. I checked for narock droppings or signs of babies, and besides the busted wall and holes in the roof, didn’t see anything.
Both Dex and Fen hunkered down, quickly grabbing crates and walking the fifty feet or so to Kevin. Matt arrived with a handcart from somewhere, altering the pattern of moving goods.
I kept my height advantage, watching them work while trying to see motion. The reality was that it was damn hard to detect a baby narock in these confined sections.
Feeling a tad useless, I decided to help the others for now.
After five minutes of hauling TNT, the hand cart was stacked decently, and Matt rolled it to Kevin.
“How’s it looking?” I asked Yilissa with a shout.
“A lobo poked its eyes up near the barges. I haven’t seen a single webo yet. A few progs have perked up, but none have left their basking points, probably because there’s a lobo laying here,” Yilissa said.
I nodded and ran down the length of the warehouse with Dex and Fen hot on my heels. At the far end of the building, a lock bolted a double set of doors.
Ensuring I was far enough back, I leveled my revolver at the lock.
Bang!
The first round almost did the trick.
Bang!
This one busted the lock. Dex went to open the door and I held up a hand for him to wait. I shifted my left dragon to the right holster, opened the cylinder, and added two fresh rounds.
“Always reload. Always. Now you can slide the doors open and get ready to run to the ship,” I ordered.
The barn style door creaked open, and we all braced for a fight. Thankfully, nothing awaited us, and I grinned gratefully.
The bonus was that we shifted further down the warehouse because right in front of me was a mix of .44, .45, and .46 revolver rounds.
“Get the hand cart. At least three boxes of .45 and .44,” I said.
I entered the building and dove into its depths. I shimmied by the .22 row and found the rifle rounds. I had to turn right to go up in caliber. I found the .50 rounds and my gut sank. There was only one box.
I could go to .44 for a Winchester or a .54 for the Yager. We had one of each in the mines. I figured the bigger the round, the better off I was.
With that in mind, I shoved my dragon into the left holster and grabbed the .50 box first. I trotted the box all the way to the docks. Kevin struggled to finish offloading all the TNT and Matt ran ammo from the far end.
Instead of helping, I set the crate down, running to grab five more boxes of .54 ammunition. By this point, all four of the others were stacking ammo into the hold of Apple. I ran and grabbed more ammo until they caught up.
I dripped sweat, hell, all of us did. While only a half hour passed, we busted our asses. We paused for a quick drink, heading back up the driver’s station. Between gulps, I inspected the buildings.
“Hey, check this out,” Yilissa said.
I followed her finger and brought Henry to my eye. A sheet waved out a window, a hand sticking out.
“Hot damn, survivors,” Kevin said. “Didn’t expect that.”
“Let’s send them a signal. Keep venting the steam into the water collector. Fen, get the coal built up. If we have to run a bit hot, we will. Lock the wheel too,” I ordered.
“Yes sir,” Fen said.
“What’s the plan?” Sally asked slowly.
“We can turn the vent stack into a kettle. It’ll collect more water from the steam anyway. Since there’s eight of us, we could use a filled reservoir,” I said. “Nothing more important than clean water.”
Kevin came over, looking at the exhaust stack for the steam. “Oh, there’s two valves here. One to fully remove the pressure and another to use the steam for creating drinking water.”
“Yeah, our home has natural well water that we boil, but if it goes bad, we can always use this. Assuming we have river water and coal. Just a guess, but all this boiling water leaves muck behind over time that has to be cleaned out of the boiling pot,” I said.
I waited until I heard the clunk from the wheel locking.
“Sally, partially close the vent,” I said.
“This lever?” she asked, and I nodded.
Within seconds, the steamboat screamed like a kettle for the escaping steam.
“Are you sure that is a good idea?” Kevin asked.
“Huh, no. It’s an awful idea. However, I’m not doing it for us, I’m doing it for them.” I pointed to the flag.
He ran a hand through his blond hair with a troubled grunt. “I don’t know if I should thank you or want to argue.”
“Thanks for staying up. We will see how it goes. For now, untie the back of the ship, and get the front ready to release,” I ordered. “At least we are trying, we send a signal. Get to us and you might get out of Opo. In case anyone takes us up on the offer, I’m going to level the playing field.”
I jumped onto the deck, standing over Yilissa. If the gunfire from earlier wasn’t clear, the toot of a steamboat was. While I still wanted to get some basic supplies, my human decency told me to blare a signal.
A narock roared from a few blocks away, hating the loud noise from our ship. I sighted, aimed high due to the distance, and fired.
Boom!
The round zipped over the city, flying high. I completely missed, but at six hundred yards, I didn’t feel bad. I was a skilled person, not a damn robot.
The narock heard the bullet, understanding something had just passed it in close proximity.
Sure enough, the beast turned onto the dock road, bounding toward our ship with its six legged waddling run. I reloaded, waited, and then waited some more. Two, then four more prog’narocks left their interior hiding spots.
Each of them charged our direction until they spotted the dead lobo’narock.
Five prog’narocks slowed and I pressed our advantage.
Bang!
The round zoomed beside the shell before popping the face of the prog’narock closest to the ship.
“Four,” I said.
Crack!
“Three and a half,” Yilissa said.
“They’re refusing to come near the water,” Dex shouted, stating the obvious.
I lined up the next shot and fired. Bullet zipped into the shoulder and blew out the side of the prog’narock. The beast staggered before falling. I grinned at the gouts of blood pooling under the narock.
“Last two are running,” Dex said with a gruff tone.
I hopped off the perch, reaching over Sally to mostly open the steam port so it would stop that incessant screaming. Fen came back up from the bottom, only to be sent back down to unlock the wheel again. Poor lad was pouring sweat, but it needed to be done.
“I got a mother and her two children running this way. The husband is firing his single action oddly… Shit, he’s being eaten,” Yilissa said sadly.
I decided to leave the high ground and rushed down to the bow, running onto the docks. When I ran around the dead lobo’narock, I saw the mother and her children running for all they were worth.
Crack!
Yilissa’s bullet zinged overhead, smacking into an adolescent Narock that pursued the three. The wife paused about fifty paces in front of me, trying to see where her husband wen
t. She screamed in terror, seeing her lover having his guts eaten.
I sighted the beast, exhaled slowly and fired.
Bang!
The bullet flew so close to the little girl that her hair gusted from the passing force. The bullet dove into the beast's chest and sent it tumbling. While I stopped the feasting, the father had passed, his body completely motionless.
The mother ran from her children, having some foolish hope -
A lobo’narock lunged from the water, trying to snatch the mother with a pincer. The crazy woman rolled out of the way to the shock of everyone, including herself.
“Run to me!” I bellowed, reloading Henry in a smooth motion.
I hastily aimed, squeezing as I sighted the lobo’narock.
Boom!
My round smacked into the face, driving into the jawline. The massive turtle type head bellowed out an angry roar of pain.
Crack!
Yilissa popped an eyeball, and the fluid splashed onto the docks. The mother slipped, landing on her ass as a claw snapped above her. Once again, the woman luckily escaped a certain death.
The lobo’narock pounded feet in frustration and roared in anger before having enough. The second it started retreating to the waters, I knew I might be able to save those kids.
I let Henry fall, pumping my legs for all they were worth. Maybe I shouldn’t have killed the first lobo’narock. Maybe that was a turning point in the Chinese history. Once they were assumed as evil, they became evil only because of the assumption.
I didn’t dwell on the thoughts because, well, screw narocks. Without a second thought, I’d kill Grammor under that waterfall and not lose a wink of sleep over it.
Those thoughts faded as I reached the two children, both under ten. My arms shot out, snatching them up and sprinting back for the ship.
“My children!” the mother shouted.
“Are safe! Ouch! Don’t bite me,” I said to the boy with his teeth clamped onto my forearm. “Follow me!”
As soon as we neared the steamboat. I set the kids down. The boy cocked his arm back to punch me in the dick. I booted him onto his butt. Not my finest moment, but play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
The mom rushed around the lobo’narock, her eyes glistening with tears.
“Mam, I’m sorry about your husband. He died a hero. I need you to calmly get on the ship. If you swear to follow the rules, you may board. Fair and civil rules,” I said, reloading Henry while I talked.
“It’s gone quiet,” Yilissa said.
“Is that white flag still flying?” I asked.
“That was us,” the woman said between sobs. She shouted, “Will! He’s coming. I saw him get up.”
“Uh… he did not,” Yilissa confirmed.
“Will. I gotta get him. Will! I’m -”
That did it, she lost her marbles. If this wasn’t a life or death situation, I’d try to coax her into an understanding. Way I saw it, we were past that point.
I interrupted her shouting, trying to lead her onto the ship. She literally hissed at me with a snarl, shouting about how I needed to save Will. I had enough.
She never saw it coming. I cross-hooked her jaw, dropping her like a sack of rocks from the swift blow.
Her son attacked me again and her daughter did the sensible thing of running onto Apple. I picked up the mother and deposited her onto the back deck.
Crack!
Yilissa fired at something, and I had to wrestle a fifty-pound boy onto the boat.
“What is it?” I shouted after Kevin grabbed the boy from me.
“Five babies are coming,” Yilissa shouted back.
I whipped a dragon off my hip, walking toward the hand cart. I made it about halfway there when the first creature bounded around the corner, heading straight for me.
Boom!
The revolver barked in anger and the creature lost half its face. The moment the next adolescent rounded the corner, I was ready.
Boom!
Three more surged from around the building. I fired three more times, and each round left the barrel with a smooth trigger squeeze. Without an ounce of concern, I killed them one by one.
The barrel drifted smoke until the area shifted into an odd calm.
“Maybe don’t toot the steam vent like a horn again,” Yilissa said with a tease.
“What do I do with this woman?” Kevin asked from the back of the ship.
“Bind her,” I ordered. “The boy too if he can’t behave. I’d like to think I’d do whatever it takes to straighten out their behavior, but if they don’t cope with their new reality, we toss them on the next set of docks or shore later.”
One of the dead prog’narocks twitched and we sorta just stood there, stunned by sudden intense actions.
“What now?” Matt asked.
“We wait,” I said, reloading my dragon.
I stepped back onto the ship, walked down into the hold, and reloaded my weapons. I couldn’t help but notice how empty it was down there. Even with the full pallet of TNT and dozens of ammo boxes.
“And we steal more ammo.”
I tapped a foot while I jammed rounds into my bandolier belts. The weight dragged on me in all the right ways. I liked the heft of being ready for a long gun fight.
“Rowboat coming in. Two, now four. A sloop too. They’re running it looks like. I’m not sure from… By the mother,” Yilissa shouted.
I ran up to the top deck with a blistering speed. By the time I arrived, only a single sloop sailed up the river with a tail wind. Lobo’narocks snapped at the wreckage of four small vessels. Their shells and paddling flipper feet shifted around the debris.
“Well shit,” I muttered.
I peered over the edge of our boat instinctively.
A single eye watched us with hate. In a flash, I whipped Henry up and squeezed mid-motion, knowing the exact point where the pin shot forward.
Bang!
The eye flared in panic from my instant reaction. The last thing it saw was a blur of motion before I drove a bullet into its brain.
Yilissa shrieked in surprise. “Warn a girl.”
“I blew his other eye out and into its head. That one is as good as dead,” I said.
“You shouldn’t have killed this one,” Yilissa said, gesturing to the first one I aced.
“A, it's too late for that now. B, screw narocks of all variations. There can only be one apex species, and I pick humanity,” I said with scorn. “Notice how they’re only picking on easy targets.”
“What do you want to do about that sloop?” Yilissa asked.
“They’re what, twenty minutes, if not more, sailing into a strong current. I can’t help but fear they’re not friendly,” I said.
“The fact the lobos aren’t attacking the steel boats might be a sign. I agree with you here. This boat is valuable. Worthy of trying to steal. And it's quick, meaning if we’re on the water we can adjust easily. Maybe we should pull up and leave,” Yilissa said.
I glanced at the city, not seeing much movement. “One trip to the general store,” I said with determination. “Matt, Dex, you’re with me.”
“I’ll pass,” Matt said, folding his arms. “I twisted an ankle. And you’re an idiot.”
I about shot him right on the spot. I wanted to. I really did. My flaring emotions luckily didn’t get the better of me.
Even so, my hand inched toward my sidearm.
Dex carried Craig’s rifle. The young man glanced with a whole lot of concern between me and his friend. Kevin arrived from the lower deck, noticing the tense moment.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Matt’s not willing to risk his neck for supplies,” Dex said. “He said he twisted an ankle.”
Kevin walked over and stole the gun from his brother's hands before giving it to me.
“Sorry Dex, you holding that makes you a target should we upset the captain. Make no mistake, part of our rules for boarding this ship, as per Lady Yilissa, we’re to follow hi
s orders. If Matt is hurt, Theo will understand. If he’s challenging his authority, it may get violent and I wanna see you live,” Kevin said. “Let me see your ankle.”
Matt raised his pants, and sure enough his ankle was swollen.
“Alright, Matt,” I said. “You can try to keep the mom and children calm while managing the furnace heat.”
“Men don’t hit women. And you’re a damned fool,” Matt shouted. “Shot the lobo. Why? Why do that!?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, maybe I’m not perfect. She was hysterical. Now she is safe and alive on board our ship. It’s our ship Matt. I may be directing the path but you’re on the team. We all are in this together and the second we fracture, the better it is for the monsters.
“As for the narocks, no matter what, they turn on humans. They’ll run out of food, and a hungry creature will eat what it can to survive. I wanted to go get some much-needed supplies, but let’s put that on hold. We could have a firefight with a sloop, so you might as well get below decks and huddle down,” I said.
I could see the internal conflict of how to react roiling through his facial expressions.
“I’m not a coward, I can fight. I’d rather have a place in the mine than be exposed on a dinghy or trapped in a building,” Matt said apologetically. “Fine, I’ll hobble downstairs. I do respect you, even if I think you’re wrong. And Theo, don’t kill me please.”
“Kill you?” I asked with furled brows.
“When we were in our original group, the big one. One of the men told Leonard he was wrong and an idiot. Leonard blew his brains out,” Kevin said.
I folded my arms and sat beside where Yilissa watched the city from.
“If you can’t get along with the group or help, you can find your own way. Me killing you, doesn’t solidify my rule, it weakens it. As for the woman, yeah… about that. Trust me, I didn’t want to hit her. I’m not a woman beater.
“I also didn’t think the other lobos would realize what I’d done. Maybe it’s a coincidence. Maybe it's my fault. I’ll feel bad either way. As long as you try to help, and are level with me, I’ll respect your right to descent, but I’m in charge. Hell, you should meet Mark. The guy is as sour as they come,” I rambled with a scoff.
