Fragged

by Zachariah Dracoulis

  “Alright, then let’s do a skill grind.” I said, thinking that there was no reason I’d have to explain what I meant before seeing the dumbfounded look on Chad’s face, “Let’s just do some shit for a while, punch trees, craft spears, that kinda stuff. I mean, it’s probably gonna be pretty boring, but at least it’s something.”

  Chad didn’t seem fully convinced that that was the best use of our time, but managed to force a smile that was clearly only for my benefit, “Sounds good.”

  “And what the Hell are we s’posed to do?” Freddie asked as Chad and I went to walk over to the patch of trees closest to the base, “Not trying to sound cocky or nothin’, but we don’t exactly need to build up any more of our skills.”

  I thought on their question for a few seconds, then shrugged and smiled, “I’m sure you can find something to do, might even be a good idea to go see what Pete and Miles are up to. It’d be for the best if you guys mended whatever bridges you burned.”

  Brendo appeared to be the least comfortable with the idea, though he clearly wasn’t about to tell me that he was scared of either of them, “I’m happy with that,” he said as calmly as he could with the crack in his voice before turning to Freddie, “what about you?”

  Freddie seemed to have concerns too, but from the moment Brendo had asked he’d taken on a more relaxed demeanour, “Sure, why not? It’s not like we can’t take them if things get dicey.” he said somewhat pointedly, clearly expecting that I’d get upset or angry at the mention of him threatening my clan members.

  I didn’t give him the satisfaction of that though, and instead simply nodded, “Exactly, two well-armed blokes such as yourselves shouldn’t have any trouble in dispatching those two.”

  Now, I don’t want you to think that I had absolutely no regard for Pete and Miles’ lives or anything like that, it was just that I knew Pete could probably take the both of them with his hands tied behind his back and one of his feet nailed to the floor.

  Heh, that was some fun imagery.

  Chapter Two

  “Are you sure you can trust those guys?” Chad asked once we were well and truly out of earshot and into the forest, “I mean, they seem fun enough, but they’ve definitely got more than enough gear to take a mighty fuckin’ swing at us if they choose to.”

  “Where’s this coming from?” I asked as more of a way to dodge his question, “You didn’t seem to have much of a problem with them before.”

  “Yeah, that was before I got to spend some time with them.” Chad replied with a level of unease that I didn’t expect, “They didn’t say or do anything that outright concerned me, it was just… I don’t know, it was a sort of vibe, you know?”

  “I know exactly what you mean, but I didn’t feel it,” I said, forcing a half-smile for his benefit, “don’t get me wrong, I trust your judgement ‘n’ all, but I just don’t feel like they’re gonna give us any trouble.”

  “And that’s just the thing!” Chad practically blurted out, coming to a stop and forcing me to do the same, “Look at these guys, they’ve never needed a place to crash before, and now, out of nowhere, they want a base?”

  “I’m pretty sure they explained that clearly,” I replied with a bit more of a disinterested tone than I’d intended, “we’ve just reached the point where they can do it with someone that isn’t the Metois.”

  “And why couldn’t they have done it with the Metois? I'm pretty sure that they would’ve wanted a helping hand over the past couple of days.” Chad almost growled before taking a calming breath and sighing, “All I’m saying is that I think we should be careful leaving them at our base. They probably won’t flip around and bite us on the arse, but I want to be prepared for if they do decide to do that.”

  I stood there staring at him for a few seconds, trying my best to come up with a response before finally trilling my lips in defeat and shaking my head with a smile, “Alright, alright, I get your meaning.” I said with a laugh, “Now you’ve got me all paranoid and shit.”

  Chad smiled and shrugged, “I’d rather you’d be paranoid than careless.”

  “And I’d rather be neither.” I scoffed before turning and pointing at a tree I’d spotted before, “come on, let’s lay into that one for a while.”

  “You’re sure you don’t just wanna head back?” Chad asked semi-anxiously as I started toward the tree, “We’ve already been out here a while.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure.” I replied coolly in an attempt to offset his nervousness, “last thing we need to do is show up emptyhanded. They’ll know we were talking about them if we do.”

  It took Chad a few seconds to respond, but eventually managed to find the words, “Good point.” he said with a slightly more chill tone, “Anyway, what’s the plan? Just punch trees until we get bored?”

  “Nah, well, not just that. I figured we could make some basic spears and stuff as well, stick ‘em around the base until we get a bit more patched up.”

  “That ain’t gonna stop players.” Chad replied as if I didn’t know, “Hell, it probably won’t even do much against din-”

  “I’m aware,” I interjected as calmly as I could, burying the slight irritation that I had with him questioning me, knowing that it was just so that he could justify his position with wanting to leave, “but it’ll do something. Might even skewer a few Muties.”

  “Eh, maybe.” Chad muttered, clearly picking up on my annoyance and deciding that he’d rather ignore it than discuss it, “But… you’re the boss.”

  “Thanks.” I said as if I appreciated the useless reminder before starting to take swings at the tree, “Now, let’s get to work.”

  I’m not sure what it was that had gotten me so, for a lack of a better word, bitchy, but I’d chalked it up to simply being the anxiety Chad had put on me getting the better of my otherwise calm attitude.

  I know that that doesn’t seem like much of an excuse, and that I should’ve probably appreciated what Chad had done for me a bit more, and that that should’ve at least earned him some sort of pass when it came to me being a snarky tool.

  The issue was that I didn’t really need all that noise, especially considering the fact that Chad himself had gone to a lot of work to reaffirm my belief that what I was doing was the right thing and that my word stood for something.

  Then again, I suppose it was a good thing that he wasn’t going to suck my dick over every little thing. Well… whatever counted as a dick for me. My point is that I was glad that he wasn’t just going to be some blind follower.

  That’s what the Freemen were for.

  Chapter Three

  Crafted: Primitive Spear:

  Durability: 40/40

  Damage: 30

  Description: Took you a while to crack this one, eh? Why am I not surprised? It’s not like your species has been doing this for thousands upon thousands of years, is it? Anyway, stick the pointy end in your enemy, watch your enemy die. Easy.

  +1 Crafting Skill

  Crafting Skill: 17/100

  Level Progression: 150/200

  It’d taken about half an hour and what felt like half a bloody forest, but we’d managed to make a good couple hundred spears between us.

  They were lightweight, I’d say almost flimsy, but I was confident that they’d do the job they were meant to, which was actually pretty easy considering the fact that most of that job was to keep me occupied for a while.

  “I maintain that that was the most boring thirty minutes of my life.” Chad grumbled as we drew nearer to Home Base, “I mean, seriously, did we have to get this many? My inventory’s practically full!”

  “That’s the beauty of these things, man,” I replied happily, “they stack like a mofo, and you’ll always need more. Now, quit your bellyaching, we’re almost home.”

  “You’ve been saying that forever though…”

  A scoff escaped me and I smiled, “We’ve barely been walking twenty seconds, I’m sure you can handle a few more measly feet.”

  “But I
don’t wanna.” Chad groaned exaggeratedly.

  I knew that he was using that teen-like groan to try and mask the fact that what he actually wanted was to stay out in the forest a while, far away from the guys back at the base, but I wasn’t really in the mood to pull it out of him.

  “Look,” I said, pointing to the mostly destroyed walls as we came out of the woods, “we’re home. Was that so bad?”

  Chad went to answer then stopped as, with a hydraulic hiss and paced rumble, the semi drove past us and through the main gate.

  “Guess the boys’re back…” I muttered, this sort of sick feeling in my stomach building up as I looked at the truck that had just come to a stop in my courtyard.

  I wasn’t sure what it was at the time, whether Chad’s suspiciousness of them had finally caught up with me or whatever, but seeing that truck sent chills up my spine.

  “Successful trip?” I asked Freddie as Chad and I walked through the gate, “Or did your guys have trouble finding trees?”

  That’s when I got my first glimpse into the shitty kind of person Freddie could be, this sharp look in his eye as he spotted me, this sort of disappointed anger that we’d had the audacity to come back, but it was just that.

  A glimpse.

  Nothing more.

  I went to ask what was wrong, but by the time I did he’d totally changed his demeanour back to one of smiles and welcoming, “Good to have you back, figured you’d gotten yourself lost in the woods.”

  “No such luck.” Chad replied coldly with a forced smile, “I’ll just go ahead and dump this stuff with some of the Freemen then, yeah?”

  I nodded at that, doing my best to pull a more convincing smile than Chad, “Sure thing, I’ll dump mine when I get the chance.”

  The tension was almost palpable and, despite the fact that I desperately wanted to, I couldn’t quite find the right way to ask if Miles and Pete were okay, or where Brendo was, and I sincerely doubted that Freddie would’ve answered honestly even if I did.

  “Anyway,” Freddie said, clapping loud enough to make me jump as he did so, “the men, they’ve got what you need.”

  I went to make a slightly inappropriate joke to break the uneasiness between us, but decided against it when I realised that he may not have known how uncomfortable I was, “Brilliant,” I replied coolly, “wanna just tell ‘em to stick it in… that building? The one closest the gate.”

  “You sure about that?” Freddie asked, “I’m not gonna question your judgement or anything, it’s your base after all, I just think that it might be safer to store it somewhere less accessible.”

  Again, I had to stop myself from making a joke, “And I’m telling you that that’s not gonna be a problem.” I said, not realising how cold I sounded until after the fact, “The building’s coming down soon enough, and the resources will have been used by the time we need to defend anything.”

  Freddie didn’t seem to like that answer so much, but managed to mostly hide it with a smile so taut it made his lips go white, “You’re the boss.”

  His men didn’t need any further orders from there, and started loading the lumber and fibre into the abandoned structure while I decided to head toward the main building.

  “Going without saying goodbye?” Freddie asked, stopping me in my tracks.

  “Figured I’d check on my boys,” I replied as politely as I could without turning around, “they’re always gettin’ themselves in trouble.”

  “Heh, tell me about it…” Freddie said with a somewhat ominous tone, “They’re in the basement last I saw, hangin’ out with Brendo.”

  I wanted to ask if he meant literally ‘hanging’ as if in from meat hooks while Brendo did less-than-savoury things to them, but instead what came out was an almost giddy “I sure hope they’re not having an orgy.”

  That was enough to stun Freddie into a confused silence, and I must say that it had much the same effect on me, but I decided to pay it no mind and simply started walking again, hiding the fact that my eyes looked about ready to pop out of my head.

  I think it might’ve benefitted me to see a speech therapist, or some kind of analyst to get me checked out for Tourette’s.

  Eh, coulda-shoulda-woulda.

  Chapter Four

  I expected to see a lot of things when I finally got to the bottom of that elevator shaft.

  Some kind of brutal torture.

  A bloody scene with Brendo or Pete as the victor.

  Hell, I even briefly thought that Miles might’ve finally taken the advantage and killed Pete ‘accidentally’ before killing off Brendo.

  What I didn’t expect to see is the three of them being all chummy with Chad while sorting through a bunch of stuff that the Freemen had dumped down there for whatever reason.

  “What are you guys doing?” I asked slightly more angrily than I’d intended.

  “We’re hangin’ out,” Miles chuckled out with some residual laughter from one of the other’s last jokes, “isn’t that what you wanted?”

  He was right of course, but after my odd interaction with Freddie I simply wasn’t prepared for everything to be so chill.

  “I did,” I finally said after realising I’d fallen silent, “I did, I just… I was just wondering where Paul was.”

  It was a terrible lie, and I’m sure everyone saw through it, but they were nice enough to ignore it.

  “He’s upstairs somewhere,” Pete replied coolly, “somethin’ about wanting to make sure our architect didn’t get disturbed or something like that.”

  “Good, good…” I trailed off, showing to everyone in the room that I was still somewhat in shock following my discovery, “Has Chad filled you in?”

  “Has Cha-oh, about your trip?” Brendo asked with a grin, “Yeah, he was also tellin’ us about how much of a weirdo Freddie was bein’.”

  “He did, did he?” I replied, giving Chad a stern look as I did so, “And what did you all think of that?”

  “We totally agree,” Miles said with a laugh, “he got a bit mopey when he ended up havin’ to go upstairs to welcome the boys back.”

  “He’s always like that when he has to do any work,” Brendo chuckled, “has no problem with tellin’ other people what to do, but the second he has to do something even remotely out of his way he gets all shitty.”

  I wanted to believe that that was it, especially due to the fact that Brendo genuinely seemed to, but there was still a part of me that felt like Freddie was less friendly than he was letting on.

  There wasn’t any reason for me to let the other guys know that though, least of all Brendo, so I quickly put on a happy face and walked over to the guys and their miscellaneous pile of crap.

  “Is that a-” I started then stopped as Pete nodded.

  “Yep, that’s a fish.” the sniper finished for me, “I have no idea where they found a fish, or why they dumped it down here, but that is a fish.”

  “Weird…” I trailed off curiously as I started to think about how cool it would be to have an aquarium in the bunker.

  I like fish, sue me.

  Anyway, I ended up joining in on their bonding session, looking over the bizarre trinkets that ranged from tricycle tyres to a bag of heart-shaped pebbles, and actually found myself having a pretty good time, especially after I’d dumped my spears on the pile and damn near killed us all as they briefly glitched out and shot all over the room.

  It was all fun and games though, and as we recovered from our brief brush with death, I heard Pete mutter something about being a leaf on the wind.

  I was about to respond to the reference, but stopped when we heard the sound that signalled midnight, and froze as we collectively realised that we were absolutely screwed.

  “Well…” Chad trailed off, allowing an audible gulp to resonate amongst us, “I doubt that’s anything good.”

  Chapter Five

  We’d done nothing to prepare, and had somehow lost the last hour or so of daylight.

  “We need to get back upstairs.�
�� Pete said, starting for the elevator before the rest of us had even moved.

  “Why?” Brendo asked, “We’ll be well safer if we just stay down here.”

  “Yeah, but the Freemen won’t,” Miles replied as the rest of us followed after Pete, “and neither will Paul or Freddie. With the exception of down here, we’re about as far away from being defensible as we possibly could be.”

  “This place is a fortress though!” Brendo laughed.

  “No,” I said with a shake of my head, “no, this place was a fortress when it had a small army running it. Now we’ve got you guys and us, and that’s only if Freddie doesn’t decide to ditch at the first sign of trouble.”

  I kind of regretted saying that, not least because I’d just gotten myself stuck in an elevator with Freddie’s best mate, but he responded in a way I don’t think any of the others expected.

  With a deep, unsure sigh.

  “Yeah, you’re probably right there…” Brendo trailed off concernedly, “If that happens, I’ll do my best to convince him to leave a few blokes here to give you a hand for the night, might even stay behind myself.”

  “Are you sure you’d be willing to do that?” Miles asked, “I mean, I get that we’re pretty cool with each other now, but when we’re face-to-face with Freddie? I’m not trying to say you’re a dick, or that he definitely is, but I just don’t know if we can count on you.”

  Brendo seemed to be offended by that for a few seconds before shrugging, “That’s fair enough. Guess I’ll just have to prove you… wrong.”

  Brendo’s last word came out as more of a gasp than anything as the doors of the elevator slipped open and revealed that the building had been packed with the Freemen while the Js did their best to defend against the dozen or so Muties that had made their way into the compound, but that wasn’t the worst of it.