by Quil Carter
Problem solved!
In the now quiet apartment, I slid open the sliding glass door and stepped outside onto the balcony. The view was perfect, and I was glad that I had indeed picked the right apartment considering the trouble I had just gone through. Thankfully, duct taping the brat hadn’t taken that long, and I hadn’t missed the mercer’s grand entrance.
The deacons had started to calm down, meaning that the mercer and the soldiers were now on the other side of the barriers. I dug my M16's tripod out of one of my cargo pants pockets and started positioning my gun. By the time I had the gun stationed perfectly, I could see the legionaries loudly marching their way to the middle of the square.
I was comfortable with my position. The railing that surrounded the deck of the apartment building broke up my silhouette enough that unless someone was really looking for me, I would remain hidden. The deck was rotten, and I didn’t feel safe in the least, but it would do for now. I was willing to take the chance of it falling apart under my weight.
I peered through the scope, trying to find the mercer in the mass of soldiers below me. They were now in the square right in front of the fountain.
The soldiers’ boots made a unique sound as they marched on top of the cobblestones, almost a cross between a stomp and a click. The sound reverberated off the walls around the square and through the alleyway. As they stomped their boots onto the ground, they started calling out different military commands.
When I first started hearing them, I assumed that they were just to show off, until I started to pay more attention to the residents around them. I watched in fascination as the tension built in each person, as the soldiers went through their paces. This wasn’t just a set of military formalities to show off how organized they were; this was to intimidate and inject fear into the masses.
The people of Aras were silent and rigid. What hours before had been anger and annoyance at the mercer’s arrival was now replaced with fear. The children were clinging to their parents, partners were shoulder to shoulder with each other, and everyone was either standing still as a statue, or fidgeting nervously.
I found it amusing. For some reason I always find people’s fear amusing, but I also understood it. Everyone still had Greyson and Leo’s sobering warning fresh in their minds; the warning that the mercer could easily eradicate our block with the wave of a hand if we so such as insulted him.
Unless I get to him first…
I must admit I did smirk at that thought.
I peered into my sniper scope and adjusted the lens so I had every soldier in my sight. I watched as they shouted the last of their commands, and lined up in rows of three, leaving one lone soldier at the very front of the group. A soldier with short black hair and a perfectly groomed beard and moustache, it was obvious who he was. If the well-groomed appearance didn’t give it away, the smirk did.
“Mr. Merrik, I see you’ve survived another round?” the lone soldier said with the same smirk, I could hear the amusement in his voice. I wasn’t surprised to hear that he knew Greyson; he seemed like the kind of asshole Greyson had warned us about.
“As have you. Dressed like a common soldier this time, Carter?” Greyson replied. I raised my eyebrows, I wasn’t expecting that sort of cocky comment from Greyson, but I guess if they knew each other, perhaps Greyson felt comfortable around him.
Greyson and Leo were both standing side by side by the fountain. They both stepped forward and shook the mercer’s hand. I had expected the mercer to be dressed differently from the normal legion soldiers, but this man looked the same as the other nine soldiers. Usually when it comes to King Silas’s army, they boasted their rank any way they could. I’d shot a few of them just because of…
Ah… got it.
“We seem to be having a bit of an issue with our mercers in the past year or so,” the mercer named Carter said, with a particular edge to his voice. “I thought it would be wise to take the target off of my back.”
I smiled to myself, and aimed my gun at his head, though I kept the scope zoomed out in order to watch everything that was going on. I was smiling because deep down, I hoped that somehow, my target practice perhaps had something to do with this decision. I knew the chances were slim. I had only found legion soldiers to shoot and I know I wasn’t the only one in the vast greywastes doing it, but still, it was fun to think.
“I’m glad to see it’s worked well for you.” Greyson smiled. It didn’t look strained either; he definitely knew how to put on a good front when needed.
Mercer Carter inclined his head and turned to one of the soldiers, who handed him a large leather briefcase. As I looked closer, I could see that several of the legion soldiers were carrying leather briefcases, and several others had canvas bags strapped to their backs.
“Did you want to bring your caravan inside block limits while this goes on? It’s safer,” Greyson asked. “Surely you have soldiers in need of some rest? We have fresh water and Melpin’s bar is always well-stocked.”
At this point Leo had left his side, and though my scope was focused on Grey and Carter, I could hear him shouting orders at the residents.
“We would rather not,” Carter said airily. “We’ve left a large number behind with our caravan and our supplies. They are on notice to expect us back before nightfall.”
Greyson nodded. He looked past Carter and the soldiers to where Leo and the residents of Aras were. I glanced over as well, and could see that Leo was arranging the residents into groups of families containing children, childless men, and childless women. I was surprised with how quickly Leo was getting them divided, but I suppose most of Aras knew the routine, and wanted this over with as quickly as possible.
Keeping an eye on Greyson, I watched for the next couple of hours as the soldiers and Mercer Carter organized the residents of Aras into several hastily put-up tents. They arranged the groups into single file, and as Greyson and Leo looked on, the residents were brought in one at a time and given a coloured wrist band upon leaving. I didn’t know the procedure at all, since this was the first time I had even been in Aras while this was going on, but from what Greyson and Leo had told everyone, they were there to take blood, to register live births and deaths, take cat records, and probably answer a few stupid questions.
I stayed alert as my training had taught me, but it seemed like everything was going smoothly. Greyson had glanced at me a few times when he knew that no one was looking and as we made eye contact I could see that he wasn’t concerned at all. I wouldn’t say I was disappointed, but there was a part of me that did want to blow the mercer’s head off, just to see what would happen.
Chapter 4
Reaver
Two Years Previous
Another hour went by, and it looked to me like things were wrapping up. The whole town was still hovering around the square, with their coloured bands securely tied around their wrists, mostly silent but a few of them chatting amongst themselves. The tension that had been so apparent a few hours previously had dissipated and the atmosphere was now one of guarded calm. Leo had even brought out some dried meat at one point, so everyone was fed, watered, and happy and didn’t seem to mind the wait.
As I watched the last man and woman exit the tent, I spotted Carter behind them, looking over what looked like a black clipboard. He nodded to himself as he flipped through a few pages, and then handed it off to a legion soldier, who placed it inside a briefcase.
“That’s all then?” Carter asked. Greyson, who was right beside him, nodded. I watched as all of the soldiers, their tasks seemingly complete, obediently lined up in lines of three.
“Looks like it,” Greyson said. He stretched his hand out towards Carter, but the mercer waved it off and turned around. I scowled at this and watched as he mumbled something to the soldier on his right, who then turned around and started to run towards the south exit.
The hair on the back of my neck started to prickle. I started to get an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I pressed my
eye against the scope and made sure Carter was in the crosshairs. When I was comfortable with my aim, I listened.
“There’s a new policy in place, Mr. Merrik,” Carter said in the airy, condescending tone I had become used to hearing in the last several hours. “By order of Artemis Dekker and approved by King Silas. We are instructed to perform a quick sweep of your block, to make sure no one is hiding from us.”
My heart dropped. At the very same moment the deacons exploded in a loud, vicious, crazed frenzy. Losing my focus, I glanced up from the scope and turned my gaze to the south exit. I swore under my breath as I watched a large, leashed, dog-like creature almost drag the soldier down the cobblestone road towards the square. The soldier was having a difficult time controlling it; it was pulling on the leash so hard it was almost ripping it out of his hand. The animal was drooling and coughing from the tightness of the leash. Its claws scraped up against the road as it made a high-pitched whining noise, desperately trying to get somewhere.
The dog wasn’t like anything I had ever seen before. It was almost completely covered in black fur, with a short thick muzzle. It was smaller than our deacons, and more wrinkly and burly with floppy ears and small eyes.
My heart started to race, but my mind had gone numb. I wanted to run, right then and there, but my instincts told me to keep quiet and listen to Greyson. If there was a good reason to shoot the mercer right now, this was it.
“What’s this creature?” Greyson said in an amused tone. I analyzed his face for any sign of what I should do next, but he was calm and collected. This gave me some reassurance, but knowing Greyson’s ability to hide things, especially from Silas’s men, not very much.
“Hessian,” Carter replied in a casual tone, just as the dog let out another low bark. He turned around and grabbed the leash from the soldier. As soon as the leash transferred ownership, the hessian went quiet.
“The wrist bands we put on everyone have been tainted with a pheromone,” the mercer said with a bemused look. “Anyone who is not wearing one will be found, and will be executed, and their block will be required to explain themselves.”
“I assure you, we made the announcement as soon as we saw you coming, and everyone to my knowledge is here,” Greyson said stiffly. I was starting to have difficulty hearing what they were saying to each other, and only when I really started to focus on my surroundings did I realize it was because my ears were pulsing like they had their own heartbeat.
“The best of your knowledge is no longer sufficient, Mr. Merrik,” Carter said.
At that moment, time seemed to slow down. As Carter leaned down to unhook the hessian’s leash, Greyson looked up at me and made eye contact. For the first time in my life, I saw fear in his eyes, and suddenly, the reality of this whole situation hit me like a ton of bricks.
He had been hiding me this whole time.
As Greyson raised his hand and tugged on his left ear, I tore my gaze away from the scope and in a flash I was off of the balcony. Once I was out of sight, I snapped my M16 back into its holder on my back, and grabbed the tripod. I knew right then and there, that there was no way I was going to risk Aras because Greyson wanted to hide me. Though I wasn’t, and never will be, the type of idiot to sacrifice himself for other people, I knew I had to come up with a better idea than just shooting Carter’s head off.
Thankfully, it didn’t take me long.
I could feel my whole body become cold as my brain switched into survival mode. I could no longer hear my heart beating, or my breathing; my mind was cold and calculated.
I unsheathed my combat knife and ran towards the door of the apartment. I heard an excited baritone howl, and with that I knew the hessian had found a scent. I opened the apartment door and looked down.
I grabbed her. She had stopped crying and had been sitting quietly by the door. She looked up at me with fear and immediately her face went red again as she tried to cry through her duct taped mouth.
“Shut up, shut up,” I hissed. I cut through the duct tape on her feet and tore it off. I then grabbed the top of her head. I pushed her head forward and with my newly sharpened knife, carefully shaved the few pieces of hair that the duct-tape had stuck to when I wrapped it around her face. Within several seconds the only tape on her was holding her mouth shut.
“There, see, didn’t hurt you,” I whispered. I picked her up a bit more carefully this time and ran into the apartment. I knew I couldn’t leave the tape on her; it would be harder to explain that away, so with a quick pull, I ripped it off of her mouth.
She was almost as loud as the fucking hessian.
I dropped her back into her prison pen and threw the wad of duct tape behind their sofa. In a flash I was back out on the balcony again. Without thinking or even caring about hiding myself, I looked down to see where they were.
I watched as the very last legionary entered into the Red House. The whole town’s focus was on the entrance to the house, and just as I was hoping, one of the women down there was crying hysterically.
Taking advantage of their distraction, and knowing I only had a few moments before they rushed into the apartment, I jumped over the railing of the balcony and onto a narrow, five-inch ridge that wrapped itself around every level of the apartment building.
I took a deep breath, waiting for some jackass to shout my name, or scream, but thankfully I was up high enough that the chances of anyone catching me out of the corner of their eye were slim. I pressed my back against the brick wall, and carefully walked six or so feet to the corner of the building. It was awkward with my M16 strapped to my back, but I felt confident enough to make it to the corner in only a few strides.
I had always loved heights, and, like the canyons I scour now, this ledge was no different. The drop would kill me, or at least fatally injure me, but that wasn’t on my mind now. I knew where I had to go, and if I concentrated on the present, and not the possible outcomes, my body and mind would bring me there.
Turning the corner on the building was the trickiest part, but with a deep breath and a few swear words I found myself on the other side, out of sight and facing the side of the building next to it; so all that was around me now was a dark alleyway.
I crouched down to my knees, and with one fluid motion I hopped off the ridge. As I did, I turned my body and grabbed the ridge with my hands. I dangled there for a few seconds before allowing myself to drop down to the third-storey overhang. It was more difficult maintaining my balance with my face against the building instead of my back, so before I could fall backwards, I crouched down again and repeated the action. I scaled down the building in under a minute and, before I knew it, my feet found solid ground.
I stood there in the alleyway and leaned my back up against the wall. I wiped my face with my hands and took in a deep breath, not realizing that my hearing had shut itself off until my mind started to catch up with my body. It seemed my body had blocked out every other sensory organ I had as I focused on getting from the fourth floor to the ground.
My hearing came back with an assaulting rush: the crying of the mother, the bellowing of the hessian, all noises I could do without.
As my hearing fucked my senses, I looked around to make sure I hadn’t been seen, and kept close to the side of the building. I walked to the end of the alleyway, and was relieved to see that every soldier seemed to be in the Red House, including Carter.
I glanced around scanning the crowd.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” a voice hissed. I looked to my left to see Leo. Leo didn’t look pleased to see me, he didn’t even wait for me to answer him back or explain myself. He took a look around and grabbed the back of my bulletproof vest and started dragging me towards one of the tents.
“What the hell are you doing?” I said, but he didn’t answer, he threw me in front of the tent and ran into it himself, emerging a few seconds later with a blue wrist band. He wrapped it around my hand and as he fastened it together he quickly glanced towards the Red House, making sure he hadn’
t been seen.
He took a deep breath and wiped his forehead.
“You’re a lucky son of a bitch, Reaver,” Leo growled. He squeezed my shoulder so hard I could almost feel the pent-up fear he had inside of him.
“Go home, stay there until we come get you, don’t be seen,” he ordered, with a tone that suggested he wanted to hug me and rip my face off with his bare hands at the same time. He turned away from me and quickly made his way towards the Red House, shouldering people out of the way as he stalked towards it.
I didn’t need to be told twice. My adrenaline was still pumping and I knew that Leo knew more about what was going on than I did. I took one last look at the Red House and ducked into the alleyway behind the tent. As soon as I knew I was out of sight, I broke into a run.
I didn’t realize how relieved I was to leave all of the noise until I got to my street. The deacons had shut up, and I could no longer hear the yelps of the hessian, meaning it had probably found the kid. What trouble that woman would be in for not bringing her kid to the square was beyond me, and not my problem. I was just relieved I was able to leave her as bait. I was sure the little brat was fine.
As I approached the house, my run slowed down to a fast walk. I felt safer now that I was alone, and closer to my den, though I still felt my hands twitch towards my M16. My house was halfway down one of the more vacant areas of Aras. It was a small brick house with two bedrooms I used mostly for storage of food and guns, and a concrete basement I spent most of my time in.
The street it was on was in almost as bad condition as the one Greyson and I had walked down earlier that day. Mountains of debris were piled up against many of the buildings on my street; everything and anything, from rusted out cars, to building material, all the way to slabs of concrete as big as my roof. Some of the piles were tall enough that you could reach the third-storey of the building they were leaning against.
