Ruins of Fate

by Jamie A. Waters

  “One of you needs to start cutting back on your rations,” she said, gripping the edge of the platform tightly. “It’s a little crowded up here.”

  Leo unhooked the cable from his harness. “Chance could stand to miss a few meals.”

  Chance snorted and quickly secured the equipment and started climbing down the rickety ladder. “I know when I’m not wanted. See you surface-side, kids.”

  Skye crouched on the ledge next to Leo, waiting for Chance to reach the ground. The ladder was flimsy, and they couldn’t all risk climbing down at the same time. She watched Chance descend until he disappeared from her view. It was a long way down.

  A few minutes later, Chance’s voice came over the headset. “I’m on the ground.”

  Leo turned toward her. “Can you make it down the ladder?”

  “With one hand tied behind my back,” Skye retorted, not willing to discuss her injuries until they were safe. Knowing Leo, he’d put himself at risk again to protect her. “You should go first, Leo. You’re too heavy on this ledge. I’m thinking Chance isn’t the only one who’s been double dipping on the food rations.”

  Leo hesitated. Skye gripped his arm with her good hand. “Go. I can make it. If I fall, you’ll catch me.”

  “Don’t even joke about that shit,” Leo growled but moved toward the ladder.

  Skye sat back on her heels, watching him descend. The rain was making it even more difficult to see. She wiped her visor with her gloved hand, but it did little good. She lost sight of Leo about halfway down. Even through her helmet, she could hear the groaning of the building as the storm beat upon it.

  “Go ahead, Skye,” Leo said over her headset.

  Skye positioned herself in front of the ladder. Hooking her arm through the rungs, she started her shaky descent. Each step down, she’d have to grip the ladder tightly with her good hand, hook her injured arm through the next rung, and take another step. It was painstakingly slow, and the rain was beginning to seep through her clothing. Her teeth chattered from the pain in her injured hand and the chill in the wind.

  “Talk to me, Skye.”

  “I’m more than halfway, Leo,” she managed, taking another step.

  A resounding crash filled the air, and Chance shouted over the headset, “We just lost the rear of the building! The whole thing’s about to go down. Hurry your ass up.”

  Skye took him at his word and continued moving. The ladder wobbled underneath her, and her breath hitched as it began sliding away from the building. Her arm was still hooked under one of the rungs, and she held on, mentally willing it to stop moving.

  “Hold the fucking ladder!” Leo ordered. “Skye, I’m coming back up for you.”

  “No!” she yelled. “You’ll collapse it. Just stay the hell down there.”

  “She’s right,” Chance said, his voice tinged with worry. “Come on, Skye. We’re trying to hold it steady.”

  “I’d appreciate you doing a bit better than trying,” she retorted. “I thought you liked me, Chance.”

  “I do, but I’m starting to think you’re the one who needs to cut back on her rations.”

  “Payback’s gonna hurt,” she promised, moving down another rung, and then another.

  It was tempting to rush even more, but she knew from experience that even worse accidents could happen from the slightest miscalculation. Panic was never your friend in these types of situations. It wouldn’t matter how much they were holding on to the ladder if the whole building came down—she’d be an ugly smear on the ground either way.

  “Gotta get your ass down here first,” Chance reminded her. “Your threats don’t mean shit when you’re hanging in the air.”

  Skye heard a screeching groan and another loud crash. A cloud of dust billowed up from somewhere nearby. Another floor must have collapsed, but it was closer this time. Not even the downpour was minimizing the impact of the building falling apart. Her heart thudded in her chest as she continued to descend. It was almost impossible to see the ground between the construction dust and the rain obstructing her vision.

  Focusing on her movements, she moved down another step and hooked her arm through the next rung. The ladder began shaking violently, and she clung to it tightly as it started to tilt backward.

  “Drop, Skye!” Leo shouted. “The wall’s going.”

  Trusting Leo at his word, Skye squeezed her eyes shut and pushed back from the ladder. For a second, she was suspended in midair before plummeting downward.

  Chapter Two

  Skye crashed into Leo, knocking him backward onto the ground. The jarring impact was enough to steal her breath. She rolled over, staring up at the dark clouds as the rain continued to fall. It was a glorious sight and would be even better once she could breathe.

  Hopefully, that would happen soon. They needed to get out of the storm before their protective gear was completely ruined from the high acid levels in the rain.

  “That was a little too close. You scared the shit out of me. Are you hurt?” Leo propped himself up and leaned over her, running his hand over her jacket and searching for injuries.

  Still trying to catch her breath, she focused on moving each of her limbs to make sure nothing was broken. Her bruises were going to have bruises at this rate, but there didn’t seem to be any permanent damage. When she could finally speak again, she said, “Just my pride. Let’s go.”

  Leo stood and helped her up. He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her against him. “Chance, grab the cabling gear and let’s get inside. This storm’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

  “On it,” he said, bending down to lift the equipment.

  Leo led Skye back into the building where they’d temporarily set up their camp. They’d been living here for the past several months while they scavenged in some of the nearby ruins. This building was run-down like most others, but they’d been able to excavate the rooms enough to use for their own purposes. They’d formed a suitable shelter to house the almost two dozen people living within the ruin rat camp by using a combination of salvaged building materials from the surrounding areas.

  It was one of the better scavenging camps, but it was still a far cry from the more opulent conditions within the OmniLab trading camps. Most of their possessions were cast-offs the trading camps didn’t need or use anymore. They’d chosen a location fairly close to the ruins of the fallen cities, which allowed them easier access to trade for critical supplies. The only problem was that those particular ruins were in OmniLab territory, which was more than a little dangerous.

  While the trading camps might barter with them for artifacts they’d scavenged in the ruins, the official Omni traders didn’t look too favorably upon the ruin rats stealing from their districts. But need for critical supplies had made thievery a necessity. It was possible to get tradable materials from areas farther away, but the cost in time and resources to travel back and forth made it nearly impossible. As it was, their camp was barely able to survive—and they were considered fortunate compared to many others living in the outlying areas.

  Skye ducked under a low-hanging beam and into the building. They’d set up a few lights to illuminate some of the areas, but they had tight restrictions about when they could be used. Their solar cells tended to break down more often than not, so power was mostly reserved for critical life-support items. Lights weren’t one of them.

  Leo helped her pull off her helmet and hung it up on a nearby rack before taking off his own. He ran a hand distractedly through his short dark hair before pulling off the rest of his well-worn protective gear. She fell silent, watching his quick and efficient movements.

  Leo was several inches taller than Skye, but sometimes it felt like much more. He had a way of commanding the attention of everyone in a room. Skye would be lying if she said she wasn’t drawn to him for more reasons than his considerable skill as a scavenger. He’d captivated her from almost the first moment she’d met him. Meeting Leo had changed everything for her, and he was just as p
rotective of her as she was of him.

  He hung up his wet UV jacket, and she noticed it was starting to look a little worn. The patch on his elbow was fraying again and appeared in danger of falling off. She made a mental note to see if they could find something with which to mend it. Things always seemed to break down faster than they could fix them, and Leo tended to put other people’s needs before his.

  Leo turned back to face her and lifted her injured hand. Her heart beat just a little quicker and not just because the injury was painful. His touch was gentle, and he frowned as he studied her hand.

  “We’re going to have to cut off the glove.”

  Skye wrinkled her nose, suspecting he was right. It was doubtful their creative ruin rat engineering would be enough to save it. She’d had this pair of gloves for years, dating back from a time before she’d come to live in the scavenging camp.

  “Let’s remove the rest of the gear and take a closer look. Maybe we can salvage part of it.”

  Footsteps sounded from behind her, and she turned to see Chance dragging in the cabling device. He dropped it on the ground and pulled off his helmet.

  “That was a little too close. This storm’s going to be a bad one. We’ll be lucky if it doesn’t take out this building too. Either way, should be an exciting night.”

  “See if you can help Alanza finish securing the building,” Leo suggested, reaching forward to help pull off Skye’s jacket. Like the rest of her clothing, it was patched to the point where very little of the original material remained. Unfortunately, that meant the cold rain had seeped under her clothing to cling to her skin. Her teeth chattered, and Leo put his arm around her.

  He briskly rubbed her arms to warm her up. “Come on. Let’s go in the other room where there’s a bit more light. I want to see the damage.”

  “Next time you decide to undress me, let’s try to make it under more enjoyable circumstances,” she grumbled, leaning into his warmth as he led her down the hall of the ruin rat camp.

  Leo chuckled and squeezed her shoulder. “Then let’s get that hand fixed. Next time I undress you, I’m going to want both your hands on me.”

  “I knew you had an ulterior motive,” she teased lightly, stepping around a pile of rubble. They’d cleared a lot of the debris from the building, but some areas of the structure were completely uninhabitable. Space wasn’t the problem; they’d only taken over a small portion of it. It was keeping adequate resources in the usable areas that was the tricky part.

  Leo led her into one of the rooms where they’d set up their communication and computer systems. A couple of people were working on various things, but one person in particular caught her attention.

  “Mom,” Veridian called out and rushed over to her. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. Using her good hand, she lightly tousled his hair.

  “Hey, little man,” she murmured, pressing a kiss against the top of his head. “Staying out of trouble?”

  He frowned and looked up at her with eyes that were far older than his seven years. Sometimes, Veridian looked so much like his father, she had trouble seeing any of herself in him. His brown hair and eyes contrasted sharply to her blond hair and blue eyes, but when he smiled, Skye caught sight of the same dimples she possessed. Unfortunately, he didn’t smile as often as she’d like.

  “You’re hurt,” he said pointedly, staring at her hand.

  “This? Aw, it’s just a scratch. Nothing much to worry about.”

  Leo made a small noise of agreement. “Your mom’s tough. She took a hit, but we’re going to fix it up. Why don’t you get a list of everyone in the field who’s checked in? We’re going to need their locations once the storm lets up.”

  When Veridian hesitated, Skye added, “It’s important, V. We need to make sure everyone’s safe. Go find out from Alanza where everyone’s holed up. Then maybe you can help Chance finish strapping down the supplies and secure the building.”

  Veridian nodded and ran from the room. Skye turned toward Leo. “Thanks for that. He does better when he stays busy.”

  “He’s a good kid,” Leo replied.

  Walking over to a nearby table, he angled one of their few lights to shine onto it. Skye followed him and sat on a crate, placing her injured hand palm side up on the tabletop. Leo pulled out a knife and began cutting the glove off as close to the seam as possible.

  “Niko, grab me the bandages and the healing salve,” Leo ordered without looking away from her hand.

  Skye winced as he started peeling the glove away from her skin. It felt like Leo was tearing off layers of her skin along with her glove. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, the pain was sharp and vibrant. Her stomach lurched, and she tried to focus on breathing through the worst of it.

  Niko, one of the camp’s scavengers, brought over a small first aid kit. Like Skye and Leo, he’d been off the scavenging rotation that day and working in camp. They were all scheduled to go back into the ruins tomorrow, but none of them knew if that was going to happen with this storm approaching.

  Niko opened the kit. “We ran out of the healing salve last week. I don’t think we have many other supplies left.”

  Skye remained quiet. Medical supplies were the most expensive items to purchase from OmniLab. It wasn’t unheard of for some people to try to steal supplies from other camps because of the critical need. It had only served to foster more distrust between those living on the surface. No one knew if the next visitor would have honorable intentions or not—until it was too late. Thankfully, their camp numbers were large enough that they were able to keep people on guard around the clock to watch for any possible intruders.

  Until they knew the condition of their people after being trapped in the storm, she wasn’t willing to use up their remaining supplies. Any of them could have far more serious injuries. It might be weeks or even months before they were able to replenish their supply cache.

  Leo reached into the first aid kit and muttered a colorful curse as he dug around in it. He picked up a vial and shook it, but from the loud rattle, it was almost empty too. “How much pain are you in?”

  Skye shook her head. “Just wrap it. I can deal with the pain.”

  Leo studied her for a long time. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he sighed.

  “Stubborn woman,” he muttered, placing the vial back in the kit. He lifted her hand again, tilting it toward the light. “Can you move your fingers for me?”

  She wiggled her fingers a fraction. It was excruciating, but her hand was still functional. At least she had that going for her. “Looks like I won’t be giving Chance the finger for a while.”

  Niko frowned. “It looks bad, Skye. Maybe Daryl can try to barter with OmniLab for something.”

  “Nah, I’ve had worse scrapes,” she said, trying to assess the injury with a critical eye.

  The nausea rose quickly and suddenly, and she closed her eyes again to focus on her breathing until it passed. It was bad, but it could always be worse. Such an injury would eventually heal, but nerve damage and infection were the biggest threats. At least she was able to move her fingers. The fact she was still bleeding would also help flush out some of the debris and bacteria—she hoped.

  Leo was quiet for a long time before gesturing toward the door. “Niko, why don’t you go run interference with the kid? I need to clean the wound, and I don’t want him coming back in here until it’s done.”

  Niko nodded and headed out of the room.

  Skye managed a teasing smile. “You trying to get me alone?”

  “Always.” Leo chuckled and moved closer. He placed his hand on her knee, his expression more serious. “All joking aside, Niko’s right, baby. That wound needs to be treated. We only have a little bit of the wound sealer left. After I clean it, I can close up the worst of it, but we need to try to barter with OmniLab. Otherwise, you’ll be out of commission for weeks. I know you’re hurting a lot more than you’re trying to let on.”

  Skye blew out a breath. Their camp
leader wouldn’t be happy if they asked him to make such an exchange on her behalf. She was already in debt for several other concessions he’d made for her. “Just seal it. I’ll make do.”

  He hesitated, and she lifted her gaze to look into Leo’s worried eyes. The clear blue color had always revealed the emotion he mostly kept hidden from the world. He only showed that part of himself to her, but even that was rare. It melted her heart a little to know how concerned he was for her welfare.

  “Hey, don’t get all serious on me,” she said and scooted forward. “You know we can’t afford it. We don’t know how long this storm is going to keep all of us out of work. Besides, I’d rather not ask Daryl for more favors right now.”

  Leo brushed some of her loose hair away from her face, trailing his fingers across her cheek. “I’ll seal it for now, but I want you to promise me you’ll let me know if it gets worse.”

  She stared down at the injury and frowned. Knowing Leo, she probably wouldn’t have to say a word. He’d most likely end up checking it every day himself. Sometimes, he worried about her too much.

  When she didn’t respond, Leo tilted up her chin to meet his gaze. “Don’t fuck around with this, Skye. I want your word, or I’ll drag your ass to the nearest trading camp right now.”

  Skye placed her good hand over his and squeezed it gently. She’d tell him, if not for her sake then for her son’s. “You have it. I’ll tell you if it gets bad.”

  Leo’s shoulders relaxed at her agreement. As much as he denied it, Leo was a wonderful man. Better than she probably deserved, but he was right. She’d do whatever was necessary to make sure she stayed around to look after Veridian.

  Leo reached into the medical kit to pull out the wound sealer and began sorting through the rest of the supplies. His movements were efficient and brisk, but she knew a softer side to him. He was much more compassionate than most people realized. Since she’d found her way to Daryl’s camp almost eight years ago, Leo had made it his mission to look after her and Veridian, even though neither one of them were his responsibility.