Fragged

by Zachariah Dracoulis

  Miles mild irritation at Paul and I’s playful jabs was enough to inject some much needed fun into the incredibly stressful situation we found ourselves in, but at the same time it meant that I didn’t have the benefit of panic and adrenaline to help me keep my aim straight as Pete seemingly strived to smash through damn near every tree possible.

  “Wanna take it a bit easier on the smashy-smashy?” I called over to Pete after finally landing a decent shot on one of the raptor’s legs, “Last thing we need is for this ol’ girl to break down.”

  “Tryin’ my best!” Pete shouted back, “If we head out to the road we might have an easier time!”

  “Yeah, but we’ll also be spotted in two seconds, you nimrod!” Miles snapped before letting a long sigh after seeing the disapproving look I’d shot at him, “Just do your best to hit the smaller stuff, alright?”

  “What’s that? Smash into the biggest stuff possible? You got it!” Pete joked as I finally managed to kill the raptor I’d been shooting at.

  +1 Firearm Skill

  Firearm Skill: 25/100

  Heh, looks like you’re starting to get pretty confident with your shooting, but don’t let that trick you into thinking you’re invincible or anything. Or do, whatever. Anyway, you can now aim down the sights of any gun and sprint at the same time without any swaying, and you’re also semi-proficient in making some pretty cool modifications to your weapons. Oh! And you can totally survive jumping off a cliff now, so go try that. Like, right now.

  Level Progression: 80/250

  Community Population: 9/0

  “Why’d our community numbers just drop?” I asked concernedly after snatching a look around the bus and seeing that no one with me had so much as a scratch.

  “We’d have gotten a notification if Chad died, right?” Paul replied, “Maybe the Js have turned on each other?”

  “It’s the girls…” Brendo chimed in, taking advantage of the fact that he was the only one of us not actively doing something, “Mel and Felicity, they both just died.”

  “How?” I asked as I fired off another few shots, surprising even myself with my newfound accuracy.

  “Doesn’t say,” Brendo replied disappointedly, “I’m guessing all that stuff is hidden away in Chad’s logs.”

  “Can we just stay on one problem at a time?” Miles pleaded, “Seriously, we can handle all that later.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, like Miles, without actually being sorry, “but I just lost the last two first members of Zoey’s Fighters, so forgive me if I want to focus on that for a few seconds.”

  The truth was that I was less upset than just kind of surprised.

  It was like some kind of weird marker for me, a symbol of the shit that had gone and what shit was left to come, and even as I continued to fire at those raptors, I couldn’t help but think back to that first encounter with the girls, and how that had sort of defined how things would go.

  And then I shot and killed the last of the raptors and started whooping and hollering like crazy.

  What? I can be somewhat melancholy and have fun, right?

  Oh, I suppose not, huh?

  Damn antonyms…

  Chapter Nine

  With the raptors finally off our back, we were finally free to flop down in our seats and turn our attention back to finding Chad and, with that, trying to figure out what had happened to the girls.

  Of course there wasn’t much we could do on that second point beyond speculation, but it was something that turned out to be really good at killing time.

  “Maybe the Js turned on them?” Paul suggested, “You know, because the girls had more loyalty to you or something?”

  “Eh,” I replied with a shrug, “I think that if the Js got through that Supreme Leader perk the girls were well and truly out from under my ‘spell’. Maybe they got ambushed?”

  Brendo shook his head at that and sort of winced, “Doesn’t make sense, the Js would’ve scrambled, but it looks like they’ve all stayed pretty much together since the death of the girls.”

  “Then what?” I asked with a tad more frustration in my voice than I’d initially intended, “I mean, seriously, what?”

  “It’s entirely possible that the Js just killed them for sport, you know?” Miles chimed in somewhat creepily, “Hell, they could’ve just seen the girls as competition due to their higher level and decided to take the advantage of having dinos on their side.”

  I didn’t really want to think that the Js had just decided that it’d be easier for them to kill the girls than to deal with them later down the track, but it was the only logical option.

  “Just get us there, Pete.” I said colder than I’d intended, “Anyone tried to open up a chat with Chad?”

  “I tried PMing him and shit, but he ain’t responding.” Paul replied, “Like, he’s seeing the messages, but he’s ignoring them.”

  “Great…” I trailed off as I started to realise that even if we found Chad, there was a chance he’d still be pissed with us.

  “I’m sorry for the shit this has caused,” Pete practically blurted out upon seeing the stressed expression on my face in the rear-view mirror, “but I’m not sorry I hit him. Fact of the matter was he was a liability, and I’ve seen bitter words turn into problematic actions one too many times.”

  Pete was right of course, and while I did make an effort to give him a knowing smile, I was still having a hard time accepting that he’d done the right thing.

  Hindsight’s 20/20 though, right?

  “Should be rolling up on him any minute now,” Brendo said after a few more seconds of awkward silence, “should we be gearin’ up for a fight?”

  “Nah,” I replied as coolly as I could manage, “we go in with fists raised he’ll just be even more defensive. We need to play this as calmly as we possibly can, or we risk losing him.”

  “Oh come on.” Paul groaned before giving me a smile, “Chad can be a bitch, but there ain’t a chance in Hell that he’s gonna bail on us.”

  “Heh, not so long ago you were the ‘bitch’ in our group.” I replied in an effort to divert the conversation.

  “Yeah, but that was before y’all helped me get some confidence.” Paul said as his smile turned into a big old grin, “Seriously, conquering the land with you guys, designing and building the bunker with Miles, it made me feel useful again.”

  “Well of course design and shit made you feel useful,” Miles chimed in playfully, “as we’ve all seen, you can’t shoot for shit.”

  “Shot you, didn’t I?” Paul shot back light-heartedly, “Look, all I’m sayin’ is that Chad’ll come around, we just have to give him the opportunity to do so.”

  “And if he doesn’t take it?” I asked.

  “He will.”

  “But what if he doesn’t?” I asked with more force, “We have to entertain the possibility that he won’t come back, and that he may very well be hostile.”

  “Zo’s right,” Pete agreed sorrowfully, “if we’d have been there when he woke up we definitely would’ve been able to convince him to play it cool, but if he’s woken up on his own… Well, it’s not entirely impossible that he may have found some form of independence and decided that he doesn’t need us.”

  “So… we’re relying on him basically being entirely co-dependent?” I scoffed, “Yeah… we might need a better plan than that.”

  “Too late.” Brendo said as we came to a grinding halt in front of a small cabin, “We’ve found him.”

  “Right…” I muttered as I looked out through the windscreen at the wooden structure and the three unsaddled steggies that stood around it, “Guess it’s time to find out what it’s going to be…”

  Chapter Ten

  I knew there was something off about Chad from the moment I stepped off the bus and he came swaggering out of the cabin, covered in blood and smiling broadly with the Js behind him, but I was smart enough not to say anything.

  “Sorry ‘bout the butt to the face,” Pete said as he di
sembarked, “I recognise now that that probably wasn’t the best th-”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Chad interjected coolly, “I was pissed, and I wasn’t exactly being the most fun person in the world to be around.”

  “Still though, I cou-”

  “Pete, seriously, it’s fine.” Chad said firmly before turning his attention to me, “I hear that you guys had a little altercation with a couple of our former community members, anything to worry about?”

  “Nothing we can’t handle.” I replied confidently, “How about you? Saw that we lost the girls.”

  Chad shook his head at that, “Didn’t lose ‘em, I had them put down.”

  “Why’s that?” I asked after tilting my head confusedly.

  “They were a bad influence on the Js,” Chad clarified matter-of-factly, “they were using their higher level to push them further away from us. So I went ahead and made the executive decision to have the Js take them out.”

  “And how did you get the Js back on our side?” Brendo asked before I could, “Normally once a Freeman turns on a clan they’re a right bitch to calm down.”

  Again, Chad shook his head, “Not if you pass through a Rabid clan and let them go nuts.”

  “Rape and pillage?” Paul sniped accusatorily, “Do you really think that that’s the best way to have them-”

  “I’m just gonna stop you right there,” Chad said after raising his hand to silence Paul, “there was no ‘raping and pillaging’, they just killed a bunch of them and ate their food… Okay, so maybe there was some pillaging.”

  I was still having a bit of a hard time being comfortable around Chad, but after that little joke I noticed my unease starting to wane.

  “What’s with the blood?” Miles asked after a few seconds of silence.

  Chad hesitated to answer, then shrugged and gestured at the cabin behind him, “This place was occupied when I got here. I remedied that.”

  “With what? A blender?” I chuckled.

  “Axe,” Chad replied with a slightly evil grin, “wanted to make sure it was at least a little bit of a fair fight.”

  “How very kind of you,” Pete joked, “but I have to ask, why? What’s the point of grabbing this place?”

  “I needed a place to wait until y’all found me,” Chad said as if that completely justified butchering a freshie, “besides, not like he had much to lose anyway.”

  “Still though, could’ve found somewhere else.” Paul practically whispered.

  “True, but this was a whole lot more fun. Anyway, let’s get down to business,” Chad proclaimed before clapping his hands together, “I think it’s time for me to take a bit of a break from the clan. Nothing permanent, but I don’t think it’s in anyone’s best interests to keep travelling with you guys.”

  “And why’s that?” I asked.

  “Because you guys have completely changed what yo-we were originally going for.” Chad clarified, showing the first sign of feeling sad or defeated since we’d found him, “I just don’t know if I can continue being a part of that, you know?”

  It was a hard pill to swallow, but I think there was a part of all of us that knew that what Chad was suggesting was for the bes-

  “No, fuck that.” I snapped, “No fuckin’ way in Hell are we going to the Spire without you, fuck face.”

  “C’mon, Zo, don’t do thi-”

  “I’m sorry, did I sound like I was finished?” I practically growled, causing a shocked, maybe even somewhat scared expression to wash over Chad’s face, “You’re one of my best mates, and there ain’t a chance that I’m taking these dildos to the Spire without my second-in-command.”

  “Uh…” Brendo droned out like what he was about to say caused him physical pain, “The ‘dildos’ are standing right here, you know?”

  “I stand by my statement,” I barked back, “I like you guys plenty, but Paul and Chad are my real, proper mates, and I ain’t going anywhere unless they’re coming with.”

  Another silence fell over our group for a while there, and I honestly was preparing myself to have to start firing at Chad and the Js as I hastily retreated back to the bus, but then something interesting happened.

  Chad started laughing.

  The rest of us remained silent and confused for a few more seconds, then I joined in with the laughter, followed by Paul, followed by the rest of the guys, and that’s what we did for a while.

  We just laughed.

  I’m not sure what had caused it, but I certainly wasn’t about to start questioning it.

  “Alright, alright,” Chad said, wiping away the tears in his eyes as he did so, “guess I haven’t really got a choice in the matter then.”

  “You really don’t.” I chuckled back, “I get where you’re coming from, but we need you. We’re Zoey’s Fighters, and there ain’t a whole lot of us left.”

  “Ain’t that the truth…” Pete muttered from behind me as Chad nodded in agreeance.

  “Fine, one last crazy ride,” Chad said with a grin, “but you have to promise that none of y’all are gonna bitch out before the end.”

  “Us?” Paul laughed as he walked over to Chad and clapped him over the shoulder, “You’re the only flight risk here, we’re all more than willing to dive face-first into the concrete.”

  “Hey,” I interjected with mock defensiveness, “can we all stop acting like we’re gonna die or somethin’? If anyone can get to the Spire, it’s us.”

  “Is that a fact?” Miles asked light-heartedly.

  “Damn right it is.” I replied confidently, “Like I said, we’re Zoey’s Fighters.”

  Chad rolled his eyes at that, “I still can’t believe we still have to call ourselves ‘Zoey’s Fighters’. I mean, it just sounds like you run this like some kinda dictatorship.”

  “And I don’t?” I joked.

  “Nah,” Pete said as he walked over to one of the steggies, “you use a clever mix of crazy ideas, delusions of grandeur, and emotional manipulation.”

  “It works, don’t it?” I said, not bothering to defend myself like I was pretty sure I should’ve, “Anyway, this is it, no more distractions. We’re going to the Spire, agreed?”

  I was met with a sea of nods with the exception of Chad who simply smiled and let out a little huff of amusement, “We’re totally gonna run into a bunch more distractions, you know that, right?”

  “Yeah, probably.” I replied with a shrug, “But it feels pretty fuckin’ good to pretend that it’s a straight shot.”

  It’s funny that, I really did think that there was still so much to do, but the truth was we were fast approaching the end of our journey, and there wasn’t a single thing we could do about it.

  But hey, that final build-up? Those final few little adventures before the Spire? They were going to be a lot of fun, and I think I knew that even then.

  Well, except for the little speed bump we were about to hit.

  That one was slightly less than fun.

  FRAGGED 13

  Chapter One

  It didn’t take too long after finding Chad to get back on the road, with the main holdup being the Js and their insistence on taking the longest possible route with their steggies through the forest.

  “I’m tellin’ you, man, we should’ve just let them keep on doin’ their own thing.” Paul said from the back of the bus where he and Chad sat watching the Js through the little window in the emergency exit door, “Don’t get me wrong, I like having them around, but their so fuckin’ hard to work around.”

  “Trust me, we’re gonna need ‘em.” Chad said in defence of his little followers, “Oh, and sorry that they won’t listen to you, Zo, I’m guessing it’s just because I was the one to convince them to stay on our side.”

  “By having them murder the girls.” Miles scoffed before I could open my mouth, “Seriously, how do you justify in ordering the execution of our two most valuable NPCs?”

  “Makes perfect sense to me,” Pete retorted, “better to have them dead than ha
ve them alive and ordering the Js around.”

  “There’s no guarantee that that would’ve happened,” Miles snapped, “I trust you, Chad, but at the same time I feel like it could’ve been handled better. Don’t you think so, Zoey?”

  Again, I was denied the opportunity to speak as Brendo jumped in with a defensive “How can you say you trust Chad but question what he did?”

  Honestly? I was starting find the whole conversation a bit funny.

  It seemed that Chad and I were having a quasi-argument without having to actually say anything.

  “Chad’s with us now,” I said, interrupting someone after having phased out for a few seconds, “that’s all I care about. And I’m sure he had his reasons for getting rid of the girls.”

  “Thanks, Zo.” Chad replied with a smile, “I promise it was the only thing I could do. They were starting to use their… wiles to convince the Js to start lookin’ at me in a way that was more than a little concerning.”

  “And I have complete faith that that was the case,” I said before turning to face both Miles and Brendo who were closer to the front of the bus, “so can we all just drop it?”

  Brendo and Miles both looked kind of abashed for a few seconds, but that quickly fell away when Pete started laughing his hole out.

  “You guys got in trouble!” our driver laughed in a sing-song voice through the PA system.

  And with that, balance had been returned to the group and we were all either laughing or, at minimum, smiling until the tyres finally found the road and we could start picking up speed.

  “Fifteen minutes from Liennam,” Brendo said as the laughter started to die down, “can’t believe how much we backtracked.”

  “Eh, I’m not all that surprised.” I said, “The Js really took Chad for a ride.”

  “Still though, we ended up getting closer to the bunker site than Lienn-”

  “Hey, guys?” Pete interjected as he foot eased on the brake and we came to a slow stop, “I think we might-no, no, I know we have a problem.”