by Quil Carter
“I know, I don’t mind.” I yawned. I would be rather grossed out if I thought there were maggots in the bed too. “I’m getting better, ain’t I?”
Killian nodded and gave me a quick peck on the cheek.
I gave him one in return, then closed my eyes. I could still feel his eyes on me. “Will you teach me how to shoot my Magnum soon?” he asked, before stifling a yawn. “I want to learn to defend myself better.”
“Sure,” I mumbled. This seemed to make him happy; after five minutes of silence he started to snore. That was my cue to push him gently off to the side and claim my own area on the other side of the bed. He was hot like a furnace and I liked the cold. He was asleep anyway, so he didn’t care.
The first day of him returning to volunteer at Doc’s clinic had him taking the stitches out of my back and ear, marking eight days since I had rescued him from the factory. I found myself missing his company on his first day back though, so I mostly sat on top of the clinic and watched him do his thing from the ceiling windows. He didn’t even notice.
I decided it was time to keep well on my promise and teach him how to shoot that gun of his. Right now it was just a fancy decorative piece for his holster since he couldn’t shoot worth shit.
That afternoon we made our way to the target range east of the square.
It was a horrible place. Bones and rotting carcasses littered the area, with makeshift bullseyes spray-painted on, barely visible through the sun-baked blood stains.
Greyson had recovered a diseased rat carcass for Killian to shoot at. Though it was a grisly sight; the greeny red flesh was hanging off of it, dripping maggots in place of blood. It was ripe in the boiling sun and so rank even the cats steered clear of it.
The heat only made the smell worse. I had grown tired of wiping the sweat away from my eyes and had tied a kerchief over my head. I had given Killian a green one to wear as well, though it was bloodstained from an adventure I had long since forgotten about.
A silenced gunshot cut the hot air. I looked to see the top of the carcasses’s head get blown off. Its rotted skull flew off and hit the concrete blocks behind it, leaving a dull stain. In place of the skull the brains had come to life, shifting and wiggling inside its skull, a mass of arid grey.
Moments later there was another shot, blowing the rust-coloured cheekbone off, a third shot almost getting its ear. Though it missed and hit the wooden beam we had nailed the carcass to.
“His response time is getting faster,” Greyson observed beside me. He looked his usual. A cigarette stuck between his teeth, aviator sunglasses on and a dirty tan baseball hat. Like me he was only dressed in a grey beater that had been white at one point in its life, and cargo pants. It was too hot for anything else, including my bulletproof vest.
“He missed the third shot.” I pointed out.
“Well, when you first started you missed shots as well. He’ll learn.”
“I was five years old when you started teaching me to shoot!”
Greyson took a drag from his smoke and blew it out of his mouth with a smirk. “You were such a cute kid with your little 9mm. Though we had to watch what we said around you. You shot at Leo once when the kickback knocked you on your ass and he dared laugh.”
I didn’t remember that. “Did I hit him?”
The leader of Aras was still smiling. “Of course not, though we beat your ass bloody for it. Never did it again. Half the block came to watch us kick your ass all the way home. I think they enjoyed you getting what you deserved. You were a little bastard to everyone, even back then.”
No wonder everyone always gave me a wide berth, ever since I could remember. They were probably all itching for the chance to see me get my ass beat down Main Street again. Well, I hoped they enjoyed disappointment.
There was another gunshot, and with that a large portion of the rat’s skull exploded like a firework, raining rotting brains and maggots down on the concrete barrier behind it. Killian aimed again, but when he pulled the trigger there was only a click.
“Always keep track of how many bullets you have in the chamber.” I walked over to him and took the gun away, cracking open the chamber and slipping a handful of bullets into it. “You don’t want to be face-to-face with a raver thinking you have one in the chamber when you don’t.”
“You’ll be beside me anyway.” Killian gave me a toothy smile. I rolled my eyes, hearing Greyson chuckle behind me. He was right though, I would be, but that was beside the point.
“Does this mean you’re taking him out scavenging tomorrow?” Greyson asked. Killian stared at him for a second before he clicked the barrel in and gave it a spin.
“Hell no,” I said, grabbing Killian’s shoulders and turning him back towards the rat cadaver. “He’s going to be in my cave with the doors locked. Locked inside safe.”
Greyson threw the cigarette into the corner of the concrete block. “You can come hang out with me and Leo if you like, Killian.”
Killian held up the gun and fired it, taking out the last shred of skull. It fell to the ground with a thunk, leaving just a nub of spine and the rest of the chest, pulsating with maggots. I hoped it would explode before we left. I would love to see Killian’s face.
“Thank you, Greyson,” he said politely. “I wouldn’t mind being on the wall, maybe at the gate? I can watch for them coming home that way.”
“Nope,” was my reply.
Another gunshot, this time hitting the rat’s churning chest. Killian tried to hit the top of the spine several times but he missed on all of them. He did manage to make the guy’s chest into Swiss cheese though. That only intensified the nose curling smell.
“Are you going to take that from him, Killian? You can go on the wall if you like,” Greyson said. Another couple of shots rang before once again there was clicking. He had forgotten to count again.
Killian noticed this; he looked at the gun and gave out a huff before holstering it. “I’ll stay in the house. I don’t want Reaver to worry about me while he’s out.”
The unimpressed sound Greyson made had Killian cowering. He threw his hands up in the air. “Already whipped! I can’t believe it. No free will at all.”
“That’s how I like ‘em!” I said with a smile.
“I’m not whipped, I would just rather Reaver’s mind be on scavenging,” Killian said. He started following Greyson as he made his way back towards the street.
Greyson looked amused at Killian’s reasoning. “Whatever you have to tell yourself, kiddo. But you can go on the wall if you want. No one’s looking for you anymore anyway.”
Though the Legion Radio had been alive with reports on the missing patrol, the Raven, and the bombing at Typhus Canyon Factory, Killian hadn’t been mentioned once. I wagered it was because he had been sold illegally. Either they had no idea he was missing in the first place, or they didn’t want to admit they had taken an illegal arian and the son of a former factory worker.
The Raven on the other hand was being hunted like a dog.
“He’s not going on the wall,” I said as firmly as I could. “He’s not doing any of that shit unless I’m there.”
Greyson looked annoyed. “Then make it his fucking choice, Reaver. He’s your boyfriend, not your child, and even if he was, you were crawling all around that fucking wall when you were three.”
“Well, I’m more concerned with what happens to him than you were of me,” I said coldly. That garnered me a shocked look from Killian and a steel gaze from Greyson.
“Don’t start that shit with me.” Greyson warned, waving an annoyed hand at me but he didn’t say anything more. We headed towards the front gates. It was feeding time for the deacons and Leo would be coming to the front soon.
“Didn’t they raise you as their son?” Killian asked quietly, so Greyson wouldn’t hear.
“No.” That wasn’t true, but I wasn’t about to admit that with Greyson around.
“Then who raised you?”
“Me.”
“But when did your parents die?”
“When I was two.”
“No one can raise themselves when they’re so young.”
“I can.”
“Greyson?” Killian looked at the leader for help. I gritted my teeth. Greyson’s eyes were fixed ahead; he didn’t like talking about this shit just like I didn’t. It was a touchy subject that turned into a rotting wound when touched. We had been butting heads about my upbringing since I had moved out. Though I did see them as pseudo dads there were some ways they parented me that, as an adult, I resented.
“He was a wild kid. You had to put a leash on him to keep him still. We gave up after a while and let him do what he wanted. He was happier that way, and Leo and I fought less.”
I walked ahead of the two of them. I’d had enough of this talk. Though just when I thought I had gotten a good distance I could hear the loyal pattering of sneakers on pavement. I didn’t even have to turn around to know Killian had caught up to me.
I kept walking, we were almost at the gate anyway. I could see half a dozen people around the old truck and the blond head of Leo in the back kicking the totes of rat down the ramp, laughing with the others.
“There’s the little devil.” Leo gave me a cheerful smile. He gave the last tote a kick. The rat inside gave a gurgling yell as he slid down the ramp to the awaiting trolley. Leo shielded his eyes and looked past me. “How’s he doing? Ready for a real gun yet?”
“Yes he is, but try telling his owner that,” Greyson replied.
I glowered. I wasn’t in the mood for their teasing today. No matter how cute they thought it was.
“Killian can have any gun he wants. The more powerful the better.” I shot Greyson a cold look. “That way when they discover your rotting corpse with his bullets all through it we can blame it on his friendly fire.”
“Then you would be mayor, son.” Greyson shot back, picking another old wound. “No one wants that, not even you.”
“Perish the thought.” I walked towards a slit window in the concrete wall. The scabbed and hairless beasts stalked around their enclosure in circles, their shoulder blades rising and falling, their heads lowered and frothing. The image of Greyson getting torn apart limb from limb brought a bit of light into my annoyed mind.
Though in the middle of my daydreaming, Doc popped up behind me. He started examining my ear, flicking it a few times. I hissed and batted him away.
“Well, you still have feeling in it. Have you been disinfecting it?”
“Three times a day, changing bandages, all that shit.”
“Good, you smell like stale sweat and dirt, which is a lot better than rot. You’ll be fine.” Doc gave me a deliberately hard slap on the back, making me cringe with pain.
“You should have an easy trip tomorrow,” Leo said. He was up on the wall now getting the rat meat up onto it. “Don’t forget the god damn list though or I’ll make you eat it.”
“I have it packed away, calm your ass,” I said glancing up, though the sun was blinding me. The smell of dirty rat was filling the air as Leo hoisted the piece of groaning meat up on to the wall. Beside me the deacons started to give excited yips and yelps. Before long the rusted hinges started to creak as the gate opened.
Greyson climbed the steel rungs to the top of the concrete block and I felt Killian beside me.
“Are you going with him?” Doc asked, leaning over to look at Killian.
The boy shook his head. “No, I’m staying at Reaver’s.”
“It’s been over a week… if you wanted to try the ropes, it would be relatively–”
“No,” I said in the same curt voice I had given Greyson when he had hinted of Killian going with me and Reno.
Doc laughed. I swear they had meetings at night to discuss new ways to get a rise out of me regarding my new relationship. “He can busy himself with the clinic then.”
We all walked towards the chain-link gate for a better view. The first rat landed with a thunk onto the bone-covered deacon cage. As soon as he landed there was a flurry of scabbed patched fur as the deacons surrounded him. Ripping the living meat limb from limb, everyone but me stepped back further as blood and flesh sprayed into the air.
I tried not to smile. Nothing like lightening your mood with seeing something die.
They quickly devoured the rat, in time for the second one to be dropped. I hadn’t even noticed that a few others had joined our party. There was always some bored resident who wanted to see the carnage go on.
Soon every deacon was in his or her corner with their limbs or chunks of flesh. The fresh blood was heavy in the air now, almost masking the smell of deacon shit and decay. I wished then I had taken a few pieces of the soldiers for myself; I would miss tomorrow’s distribution. I wouldn’t have fresh meat until I returned. Unless we found something during our scavenging.
“Greyson…”
Everyone stopped as Leo’s voice sounded. It had a nervous edge to it. He was shielding his eyes as he looked over the greywastes.
“What is it?” Greyson immediately walked towards the ladder rungs but Leo was already making his way down.
Then everyone’s radio crackled to life.
“We have legionary, it’s Mercer Carter and the rest of the ACL.”
“Fuck!” I swore, anyone but that son of a bitch. A flurry of activity erupted around me. Greyson said something to Matt which had him running towards the radio house. Then Greyson turned to me.
“You need to get the fuck out of here, now,” Greyson said in a tone that left no room for bullshit, he looked scared and I knew he was. Mercers usually gave us warning so we could pull in the surrounding lookouts for census.
It was obvious why he was coming without warning… me and the shit-storm I had created.
“I’ll get to Reno’s, we’ll go to Donnely now…” I said quickly. I turned to run but as I did I found myself face-to-face with Killian.
Shit… I had forgotten about him.
“Reaver, get out of here!” Killian said quickly, he grabbed my arm and tried to pull me away from the metal gate.
“He’s on foot, looks like he has two dozen with him.” Sadii was suddenly there, behind her was another sentry Owen. They were both out of breath. “It’s collection, he’s looking for the Raven.”
No shit, Sadii…
“He has hessians, three of them.”
Several heartbeats around me lurched as she said that. He hadn’t brought hessians since the sniper incident when I was sixteen. I looked at Killian. I couldn’t leave him. I couldn’t leave him with the mercer and hessians so near. What if they had found his blood at the scene? What if they thought he was the Raven? It was far-fetched but fuck, I couldn’t risk him. I couldn’t take chances with him, I just got him back.
I turned to Killian. “You’re coming with me.”
The colour drained from his face but he regained himself. He nodded and we both took off running.
“Two days, Reaver,” Greyson called after us. I turned to him and nodded and we both ran towards the south gate. Halfway there, I was met by the armourer, Tyson. Without even stopping he handed us both bulletproof vests, and an assault rifle with a vest of bullets went to Killian.
“Greyson radioed me,” Tyson said keeping pace with us. “The gun is loaded as well. Reno’s meeting you with the quad on the south end; he just left his house.”
I felt a lump in my throat. This isn’t how I wanted it to go. A part of me wanted to shove Killian into my basement and bar the door but I couldn’t. I had to have him close to me. I didn’t trust the hessians not to find him and if they did… there would be trouble. Either he’d get shot or he would get recruited. I didn’t know what would be worse. I couldn’t come home to that… fuck, I hoped I wasn’t making the biggest mistake of my life right now.
Reno was waiting for us with the quad, pacing around anxiously.
“Put this on,” he quickly said to Killian, giving him some goggles and a jacket. “I have to stay; the quad wo
n’t make it there and back with three people and supplies, and they’ll mark me as dead if I don’t give my blood. Sorry, buddy.”
I swore and snatched the bag away, climbing onto the back of the quad.
“Feed my cat, he’s at Reaver’s, please, Reno?” Killian said desperately, putting the bulletproof vest on. Of course that’s the first thing he thought of.
“Don’t worry about it, Tinkerbell.” Reno gave him a wink, before he turned to me and handed me a pack. “I got as much shit as I could but I nearly broke my damn neck getting here quick. What do we say about Tink?”
“He went missing while scavenging,” I said to Reno as the kid climbed on the back of the quad with me, wrapping his arms around me in a death grip. “We’ll be back in two days. If anything goes wrong we’ll be sleeping by the ruins outside of Donnely. Send off a firework or something.” The radio wouldn’t reach that far, not ours anyway. If anyone here needed us they would either need a quad or a trike. The terrain was too shitty for a truck to get there.
Reno nodded. I could tell he hated not coming with us, but we had to do what we had to do. It was my fault the ACL was coming this soon.
Without another word, I pushed the throttle. The deacon dogs started to go insane near the north gate, telling me the mercer was close. I drove east, the boy behind me and the rocky broken greywastes in front.
Chapter 19
Killian
It took about two hours journeying through the greywastes before I stopped feeling like I might throw up from sheer terror. Being out of Aras again had made my gut turn to churning ice.
I thought I would have a panic attack when the walls of Aras disappeared into the hazy rocky distance, and another one when Reaver pointed out a crucified human to me. I’m not sure why he felt like he had to do that, but I wasn’t sure about a lot of things Reaver did.
I kept telling myself that I would be safe, that I was with Reaver. We had armour and lots of guns and a tank full of gas. I knew Reaver wouldn’t let anything happen to me, but we were miles and miles away from Aras now with no one else in sight. The world was deserted; the greywastes just that, a wasteland. Miles and miles of black withering trees in a war-ravaged limbo, thousands of abandoned shells of houses and streets broken like shattered glass. It was called the greywastes for a reason, nothing grew in the dead ashy soil and what did was old before it took its first radiated breath.
