by Quil Carter
“They never growl at us,” Killian said looking through the chain-link fence. As we walked I absentmindedly checked it for any signs of tears or weaknesses. Though we were more concerned with them getting into Aras, it was still annoying when they broke free and ran off.
“They know us, they know our smell,” I said. Or that’s what I assumed it was. The moment a merchant, or a legionary’s scent came into the air, they went wild. Snapping, snarling, intimidating anyone who approached. They hated outsiders almost as much as the block did.
The trail led away from the chain-link fence and disappeared into the grey rocky hills that opened up to the west. I put my gun back into its holder and started to climb. “Pay attention to where I step, the trail is a few feet up,” I said, “and watch how I climb. You need to learn to do this quietly.”
I lifted myself onto a cliff edge and helped him to his feet, before taking us both up the rocky, narrow trail that led to the quarry. I laid my feet down toe first, watching for any loose rocks or dry bushes. I could hear Killian clumsily try to mimic my movements, he was noisy compared to me but not terrible.
“Bad, right?” Killian panted after a few minutes of navigating the rough trail. He leaned up against a slab of rock and wiped his forehead.
“No, you’re small and agile, you can do this naturally,” I said. I got out a bottle of water from the canvas bag I had swung on my back and handed it to him. “You are naturally quick and quiet, you have the body for it. You’re tiny.”
The boy frowned.
“There isn’t anything wrong with being small-boned and agile. Everyone can learn to use a gun, not everyone can learn to be stealthy and quick. Play to your strengths.”
“Well, you’re agile and quick, and you can use a gun and you’re strong.”
I smirked. Well, I hate to brag but I was pretty great.
“I guess you’re lucky to have me around then, huh?”
That earned me a scowl.
“When you get better, we can take some harder but shorter trails up to Reno’s.” The usual way I came only took several minutes but it involved climbing up two shelves of rock like you were scaling the inside of a chimney. “I have some shortcuts I use, but you would break your neck if you tried right now.”
“I’ll learn quickly. I used to climb trees all the time back home,” Killian replied. He patted the dust from his knees as we made our way onwards.
“They said back home that the ash of the greywastes is the ground up bones of the dead,” Killian said. He held up his grey dirt-streaked hands and blew on them. A puff of dust blew from his breath. “That’s why it’s so hard to grow things here.”
“The world is poisoned, that’s why.” I shrugged, rubbing my nose as the loose dust started to creep up the insides. “Nothing good grows in poison.”
We crossed over a small wooden bridge and Reno’s shack came into view.
The house itself had been owned by his father and his father before him. It had once been a house in Aras that they had literally torn down and rebuild. It was a small home, reinforced with concrete now to keep out the elements and any potential attacks. It was almost as impenetrable as my home. It had been a project for myself and Reno to fortify our houses together, it had taken us years to make them to our standards. Kept us out of trouble too. We even hauled two large water barrels up on the cliffs, with two thick plastic hoses running down to the tap in his house. It was only good while the rains were here since the water became stagnant after but that water was used for the plants he grew.
We walked up to the porch, through the twisted metal and junk piled up on the dry sun bleached wood. Broken down TVs we hadn’t fixed yet, car parts, power tools, small engines, and radios.
As I stepped onto the porch, I heard the generator turn on.
“Hey, he actually came! Hey, Tinkerbell, how’s your head?”
Oh boy, this was going to be a long night. Maybe Killian should’ve stayed home.
“I don’t hear ringing anymore,” Killian said politely, stuffing his hands inside his jeans pocket. “You have a really nice place.”
I watched as Reno paused, the sly smile on his face held faint tones of confusion.
My friend scowled and gave the boy a skeptical look, then he shot me one. “How many times have you made him cry so far?”
I glanced over at Killian who was looking around a bit out of place and uncomfortable. “Lots,” I said flatly. Reno laughed and we went inside.
His living room was covered in warped wooden paneling that masked the cracked concrete. The walls were covered in posters; mostly old bands but also some scantily clad guys I’d given him for a laugh.
On the floor was a dusty area rug and there was a torn floral couch that he had covered with a thin blanket facing a second green two-seater. The furniture was worn and the room dominated by a huge TV, with a VCR that was his pride and joy – he liked watching porn. It was a habit I encouraged; it kept his hands from wandering when we were wasted.
I gave a happy sigh as I saw Reno had already laid out a pile of pain killer powder on his coffee table. I sat down and put my boots up.
“Fetch me a root beer.” I waved at him. I motioned for Killian to sit too.
He gave me an uncomfortable pleading look and sat down very lightly beside me. He was stiff and upright, his hands folded on his lap.
“Do some drugs, it will relax you,” I urged, flicking the sniffer over to him.
Killian winced, tensing his fingers against his dusty jeans. “No thanks.”
I rolled my eyes then I picked up the sniffer and gave it to him. “Do it, or you’ll bring everyone down and we’ll all resent you for it.” I smiled.
“Oh my god, you’re so mean to him.” I heard Reno gasp behind me. I cringed as he pressed a cold bottle up against the unbandaged part of my neck. I grabbed it from him and cracked it open.
He handed one to Killian. “Don’t listen to him, Tink. Don’t let him push you to a life of drugs, that’s how he gets you sucked in. I was a sober, law-abiding citizen before Reaver got me hooked. Speaking of which, Reaver, where are my fucking drugs?”
“In the sack, bring it on over, I’ve got some good stuff for us in there.” I gave Killian a smile. I went to take the straw sniffer from him but he held onto it.
“No, you’re right. I’ll do some. Just –” He looked around, biting down on his lip. “– would you still be able to kill people high? What if they come?”
“I’m probably better,” I said with a shrug. I watched as he did a couple of lines of the grey powder and wiped his nose.
“Lookit that, he’s a natural,” Reno complimented. He sat down beside me, so I was sandwiched in between them. Reno clicked on the remote.
We passed the straw around, each doing a good amount of powder. As it kicked in I checked to make sure Reno’s door was barred shut, just for the kid to feel better. Reno’s place felt safe to me; we had never had a problem before.
I grabbed a few sacks of candy out of the satchel I had been carrying and stole a few bags of peach rings from Reno’s pantry. I threw them onto the coffee table and started opening the crinkly plastic.
Reno picked up a sour key and started to chew on it. I watched as his eyes began to close as the pills kicked in. “You know, everyone thinks life is so horrible now. But would we be able to do shit loads of drugs and eat candy all day back before the Fallocaust? I think not.”
“Probably not, but I bet we wouldn’t be getting shot at nearly as much,” I said. I opened my mouth as Reno aimed and tossed a sour key at me, I caught it without hesitation. We had perfected that move years ago. I could bounce an M&M off of the couch and into his mouth too.
Reno scratched his five o’clock shadow and pressed play on the VCR. “They got fucking shot at all the time man. Haven’t you seen Robocop?”
“He knows movies aren’t real, right?” Killian asked. I couldn’t help but laugh.
“He’s pretty stupid, probably not,” I teased. I l
eaned back against my friend’s musty couch and took a breath.
I heard Reno scoff beside me. “Some of it is based on truth, not all of it is fake,” he said defensively. “They probably have Robocops in Skyfall. They gotta keep those bastards in there somehow.”
“They’re called thiens,” Killian suddenly piped up. I held up my head, and saw Reno giving him the same look. Killian looked at the both of us chewing quietly on a peach ring.
“How do you know?” Reno asked.
The boy gave a small shrug. “We lived near Skyfall, a few miles away from the island. We had them in our town.”
Reno nodded. He knew even less about Skyfall than me. “Right, your father was in a factory town wasn’t he?”
“Tamerlan,” Killian nodded. “Tamerlan Factory, on the mainland.”
The factory towns were a shit deal for the workers, you got paid in Dek’ko tokens only so you could only buy from the Dek’ko stores and rent their Dek’ko houses. They were pretty much trapped. Big fucking scam from the sounds of it, and hard to get out of even if you wanted to. We were free in Aras and the other blocks we had around were as well. We paid their taxes and gave them some blood and we were left alone. The only thing close to an industry we had in Aras were the deacdog breeding.
“Well, are the cops all metal plated and badass?” Reno asked, inhaling more drugs and passing the sniffer to me.
The boy shook his head. “No, they wear combat armour, different to the legionaries. They’re normal. I think I have a cousin who is one, I don’t remember.”
“Dude.” Reno looked at him in awe. “What’s it like there?”
“Safe,” Killian said, lowering his voice. “It was very quiet. We didn’t go to Skyfall much, we mostly stayed in town. That had everything we needed. I had never been into the greywastes before we left.”
Imagine not even knowing what a shit hole was waiting for them outside their borders. Being brought up in a cozy little factory town. If he was raised in one he wouldn’t even know what the outside world was like. No wonder he was well, who he was. He had been sheltered from the greywastes since he was born. Lucky in a way, extremely unlucky in another way since he left.
“Can you do drugs and all that?” Reno asked. I took my last hit and handed the sniffer to Killian as he gave a small nod.
“Drugs are a big thing there, especially in the lower districts like Moros or Nyx. Dek’ko sells them though, it’s illegal to make them yourselves. Rumour is King Silas and his chimeras are some of the biggest users.”
I leaned back in my chair to stare at the ceiling. “Dek’ko makes drugs? I didn’t know that.”
There was a pause and I heard Killian take some drugs. “They don’t sell them out of Skyfall and the surrounding communities. The last merchant I saw sell them was fifty miles from the border.”
“Why waste them on the blocks he can’t control I guess.” I shrugged, closing my eyes as the high swept over me. It was such a nice feeling. “We can get better drugs from the ruins, and what we can’t scavenge we can make. Fuck Dek’ko.”
“I’d love to fuck that Dek’ko prez, have you seen a picture of Artemis Dekker? Daaamn!” Reno’s voice had that disconnected tone to it, telling me the drugs were hitting him as well. “Silver shiny hair, fucking purple eyes, man. Now that is some funky chimera engineering. Those colours ain’t natural.”
“Elish Dekker had purple eyes too, though his hair was blond. His cicaro had yellow eyes, but I don’t think he was a chimera since he’s a slave,” Killian said in his own dreamy disconnected tone, resting his head against my shoulder. His eyes were closed and his mouth slack. If he dared to drool on me I was going to use his face to wipe it up.
“Sure, anyone is handsome when you get three meals a day, health care and all that,” I muttered trying to adjust my shoulder away from Killian’s mouth. “You can fuck Artemis, I’m going to fuck the shit out of King Silas if I ever see him.”
Killian’s eyes snapped open. His face paled. “You can’t!”
My brow furrowed. I was going to have to teach this kid that no one told me I couldn’t do anything. Even though the thought of fucking Silas was so farfetched it was ridiculous. He was giving me a look like it was a distinct possibility that I would have the chance.
Before I could answer him Reno snickered.
“Already showing a jealous streak, eh?” my friend chuckled. Killian sat up and looked at him, he was seething.
“King Silas is dangerous, his chimera bodyguards are too. If you see him you should be running in the opposite direction.”
“I could kill him,” I scoffed. “And I will. His shit legionaries are the reason you almost died. If he ever ventures near here I’ll have his head on a stake and that imperial asshole Kessler.”
It amused me how much this seemed to bother my little blond boy. Reno and I always bullshitted about this type of thing. It was drug talk. None of us ever expected to get near Silas, or Artemis, or Kessler, or any of King Silas’s handsome little bitches. Killian didn’t seem to get that though.
The kid let out a tense breath but didn’t say anything more.
I rolled my eyes. I didn’t feel like wasting my energy calming him down. So I looked over at Reno, I had a quick and easy way to cheer him up.
“Reno, fetch his little present,” I said. I watched the kid’s expression go from stormy to surprised and curious. Reno got to his feet and disappeared into his room.
“What is it?” I tried not to laugh at how cautious he seemed. Though perhaps it was a smart move on his part. Who knows what his mom told him about me, or the rest of the block. He was wise to be apprehensive.
When Reno came out holding the guitar, Killian’s face lit up like a 100 watt bulb. He jumped to his feet and made an odd squealing noise as Reno handed it to him. I thought he might explode from joy.
“Thank you!” Surprisingly he dived into Reno’s arms and gave him a hug. Reno gave me the most shit-eater smug grin as he slowly and deliberately hugged him tightly to his chest.
“You little fuckface, I was the one that got that for you!” I said.
Killian let go and turned to me, his eyes misty.
“You… did?”
I shrugged. “I overheard that guy saying he was sad he couldn’t sell it to you, so I chased ‘em down. Reno fronted me the money. I got it when I got the Magnum.”
Killian hugged me. “Thank you, Reaver. I never thought I would see another one in my lifetime.”
Well, no because several days ago your life span was as much time as it took for your liver to swell…
“Whatever,” I said, trying to sound casual, but enjoying his happiness. “I knew you would like it and you like making that racket so… you know, it doesn’t sound that bad. The residents liked it.”
He gave me a big smile. He looked like he was about to kiss me but he decided against it. I could appreciate that, Reno was here after all. He wouldn’t let it go, and the last thing I wanted my friend to see was me well – being affectionate.
“You’ll play something for us later?” I asked, picking up the guitar and strumming it. He made it look easy to play, but I’ve made better sounds come out of accidently stepping on cat tails.
“Whatever you like,” Killian said with a beaming smile. He set the guitar down gently beside the couch, so carefully it was like it was made of glass. Well, better than him just dropping it wherever, fucking thing did cost me twenty-five bucks.
“And now everyone’s happy! Let’s all celebrate with some Mario Kart!” Reno the mood-breaker announced. He held up the Nintendo controller and waved it around. I rolled my eyes but Killian looked excited. Perhaps he thought Reno might be more competition to him than I was.
If he did he was going to be disappointed. Reno came in last every single time except for a few choice opportunities when he blue shelled the fuck out of Killian. I howled with laughter every time, I took pleasure in seeing his little smug face fall when he got in last. Revenge for all the times
he beat me back in my basement.
Any anxiety Killian had with leaving the block was gone by the sixth round. After a good couple of hours of playing, he was swearing up a storm and threatening to disembowel us in our sleep whenever we took the lead. It was cute. I was glad to see him relaxed and enjoying being out of Aras. I haven’t seen him this loosened up since well, never.
“I will rape your fucking shit!” Reno yelled. I had just barrelled through him with a shiny star thing. He not only flew up in the air, but he also landed off the edge, killing his second place finish. I gave a triumphant yell and finished the race. Reno for the fifth time slammed down the controller. Condemning us both as little cocksuckers.
It was in that moment that Reno’s radio crackled to life.
“Rock Hawk… Rock Hawk.”
Killian dropped his controller. It wasn’t Greyson, or Leo but I recognized the voice. It was Sheila from the Greenbase, a reinforced building a couple miles from here. Our lookout for the southwest.
Reno grabbed the radio. “Rock Hawk here.”
The room fell into a deafening and tense silence. I could feel the fear and anxiety emanating off of Killian beside me. I eyed my M16 leaning up against Reno’s junk-strewn coffee table. It was loaded and ready.
“I have a line on the men you were looking for. We just spotted four legionaries out by Grandview. They were by there earlier heading west, they’re not on the usual schedule. Chances are they’ll be making camp soon.”
“NO!” Killian grabbed my arm, his cry drowning out Reno’s response.
Then Reno glanced at me. “Let’s go.”
I nodded and turned to Killian, who already had tears welling up in his eyes.
“You’ll be safe here,” I said to him in the gentlest tone I could muster though my blood was on the verge of boiling. “We won’t be long.”
“Please, Reaver, no…” Killian held onto my arm tightly, his face terrified.
I didn’t have time to console him or argue with him. We had to get to them and quickly. The scum suckers out there were the same ones who kidnapped my boy, stripped him, humiliated him, and sold him for meat. I couldn’t rest properly until they were dead. And if that meant Killian screaming and hating me for a few days, so be it. I didn’t take orders from anyone, not even him. The sooner he learned that the better.
