Fallocaust (The Fallocaust Series Book 1)

by Quil Carter

  “Well, it’s a lot better than you laughing like you did when you murdered Bridley,” Greyson snapped. “Killian’s the only fucking person you’ve ever shown empathy over. So, yes, it is great you feel bad because the fact that you physically abused him was making me doubt you were human at all!”

  “You know what, Greyson?” I said loudly, making my way towards the sliding glass door. “Watch the feed, watch the videos, watch every single one with the sound up. You know what will happen once you do? You’ll give me a well thought out, heart-felt apology.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think so.” Greyson was walking behind me.

  I slid opened the door and walked into the living room. Killian’s eyes were red from crying and Leo was sitting beside him, the recorder on the coffee table.

  “We’re going,” I said to Killian.

  “I need more time with him,” Leo said, looking behind him and watching me head to the door.

  “I’m leaving then,” I said, “walk him home.”

  “But… Reaver, wait,” Killian called. I heard Leo say something to him but I was already out the door. I shut it and stalked towards the vacant side of town.

  I disappeared into one of the abandoned houses up the street and quickly pattered up the stairs. I climbed out a second-storey window and pulled myself onto the roof. I perched on top of the chimney and watched the shrouded moon come up from behind the rocky hillsides.

  I surveyed my town and watched the silhouettes on the wall walk back and forth. From the way the figures walked I could see it was Owen and Jess. Jess was on the north wall and Owen was at the gate. I envied them in a way but I wasn’t eager to return to work. Not unless I could drag Killian along. I wasn’t too keen on leaving him alone. He could become a great scientist on his own time.

  I dug into my pocket and took out a quil. I lit it with my Zippo and inhaled the sweet smoke, keeping it in as long as I could.

  In a way, I did want Greyson to see the feeds of me, Killian, and Perish, to shut him up, but those two goons were too nosey for their own good. They had been nosing into my business all my life. No doubt if he watched the feed of Killian cutting the scientist’s throat, Killian making out with him and all the other bullshit that went on, Greyson would have something to say to that.

  I didn’t know who he was trying to fool. He was my mayor and my boss. He didn’t get to decide when he wanted to step into his daddy shoes.

  If he was going to accuse me of domestic violence the least he could do was to see what drove me to it. Yeah, I did hurt Killian. I felt badly about it, but Killian understood why and so did I. So what did it matter? It wouldn’t happen again; I wasn’t planning on going without sleep again like that. Greyson should stop concerning himself with how much of a cruel heartless bastard I was and focus his energies on his own life.

  Anyway, I knew he’d smacked Leo around at one point; their relationship wasn’t perfect, and he sure had a great time whooping my ass when I was a kid. Hell, once I was grown enough to hit back we got into some violent brawls. I broke his jaw once. This was the fucking greywastes, not a Disney movie. People got raped, people got hit, and people got eaten. He should deal with it.

  I smoked the quil and then another one, watching my territory. The moon moved a good inch in the sky before I heard the murmuring of voices.

  I looked down to see Killian and Leo walking down the street. I clenched the quil through my teeth and jumped down onto the pavement in front of them.

  Killian and Leo both gave a surprised yell. I landed on my feet, my legs barely bending. I took an inhale as they both swore at me.

  “When he was little we put bands of reflective tape on all his clothes,” Leo said to Killian, who was holding his chest from fright. “We also put a bell on him during the day.”

  I walked over and handed Killian the quil.

  “On his wrist?” Killian asked, taking an inhale.

  “No, he could take it off. We found a dog collar for him and a small padlock.”

  Killian looked at Leo in shock then at me. “He’s not a puppy!”

  “I have Killian now, you can go home,” I said, giving Leo an unimpressed look.

  “Do you have any pictures of him when he was little?” Killian asked.

  Leo nodded. “A few, packed away in a closet. Though I couldn’t tell you where.”

  Killian’s face brightened. He seemed to have it in his head I might let him see them.

  “Reaver was a handful. He was always running around, taking off on his own, or beating up the other kids. He would wedge himself in the stupidest places and get stuck. He would have died of heat stroke if it wasn’t for his bell.” I heard Leo chuckle. “No one could keep up with him, so we had to use other methods.”

  “They used to tether me in the backyard too,” I remarked. I remembered it well. “I even had a plastic bucket of water.”

  “We left you toys.” Leo sounded uncomfortable. I knew I was a hellion as a child, but I also knew Killian was a sensitive little nurturer and would find it horrifying. I had deserved every tie-down and beating I got. I was surprised the town didn’t exile me for some of the things I had done. Or made the other kids do for me.

  “That’s horrible!” Killian gasped.

  Yep, see?

  “We eventually gave up and just left him to run around free. It made him happier and Greyson and I fought less.” Leo shrugged. “You think Reaver is bad now. Imagine him as a three-year-old with the vocabulary of a fifteen-year-old, who could turn anything sharp into a shank.”

  Killian was quiet for a moment. “I could see how that might be a bit… hard to deal with.” He shuddered. “We shouldn’t have kids.”

  I snorted. Kids. Never.

  Leo must have also found this prospect amusing because he chuckled pretty hard.

  “No matter how much you two have sex, Killian you won’t bear his children.”

  “I know that, I’m not retarded,” Killian said defensively. “I mean we could surrogate… like turkey baster.”

  I started laughing too. Turkey baster. I’d have to remember that one. I’d never let my kid live that one down if that’s how he came into the world.

  “Or adopt. You and Greyson kind of adopted.”

  I rolled my eyes. “If you want to mother something, adopt a puppy. That’s pretty much what they did.”

  I heard Leo’s heart give a jolt; he was hurt by that remark. Whatever, he brought those things up not me.

  “We’re taking off now,” I said. Leo stopped me.

  “Before I bugger off, Reaver, you need to mark off where the security cams are.”

  I took the paper from him and the red marker. I walked over to a car and laid the paper on it, and marked off the places where I had seen or heard the cameras. Leo and Killian were still talking.

  My ears perked up.

  “Do you think I… I could have his body? I don’t want… him to be eaten.”

  Oh great, from my childhood as the neighbourhood stray to Perish’s corpse. I didn’t turn around, I kept making small x marks where the cameras were. Killian had made a pretty accurate map of the floors of the lab we had seen.

  “I… no, Killian, we’re going to process him once we’re done examining–”

  “I’ll buy him,” Killian said. “I’ll buy what his meat is worth… please, Leo.”

  “No… I’m sorry, Killian. Meats short, he’s worth more–”

  Killian cut him off again.. “He’s not yours to make those decisions for. He wasn’t from Aras, he was mine more than anyone’s.”

  “Killian, you know that doesn’t matter. Free meat is free meat.”

  “It doesn’t matter obviously, since you already butchered and ate his parents,” I said loudly. “Give him Perish’s body, or at least give him his head. He gave it to me, not you.”

  I didn’t even turn around, but I could feel Leo’s eyes burrow into me. The tension could be cut with a knife.

  “Why do you want him, Killian?” Leo a
sked, his voice barely audible.

  In the smallest mousiest voice I heard his answer. “I want to bury him beside my mom and dad.”

  But we ate them. I wondered if he had gotten their heads back. We never ate the heads or spine because of kuru. The parts we removed for eating were the cheeks, tongue and eyes. Maybe ears if you wanted to make a stew.

  I wondered if I could take some slices of his cheeks without Killian knowing… hmm.

  I heard Leo’s heart speed up, which was interesting. He must feel bad for how the Masseys died; it was rather traumatic for the poor kid. I wondered if he regretted letting me kill them. I enjoyed being the town’s executioner. It was a job well-suited for me.

  Though now that Killian was my boyfriend I did look at the whole situation differently. That kid had been a hysterical mess, begging and crying. It took three of them to pull him away from his mom. She and Jeff Massey had been quarantined for a few days previously in one of the shacks. I’d heard that Killian had never wandered more than six feet away from that shack.

  Leo had taken him for a walk. When the noise had faded from the last gunshot I had heard him wailing half a block up. At the time I hadn’t cared, or I didn’t feel like I had cared, but I had started following him soon after. So perhaps I had felt something that night.

  Before, Killian had been another blond head in the sea of Aras’s residents. I had noticed him several times, mostly because he was always happy and smiling. His blond mother, sharp-faced, blue-eyed and stern, was always beside him, watching to make sure her son didn’t wander far. Making sure he minded his manners and called everyone sir or ma’am. I think she had been a good mother. I wasn’t sure; I didn’t have one, but I think that’s what made a mom. Why else would they call it mothering, right?

  I finished marking the pages. I immediately went to Killian and stood beside him as he tried to beg Leo for the body. He didn’t need too, he was getting it whether the bosses wanted to give Perish up or not.

  Leo was sucking down the quil, his heart was still a rapid drum beating. “We’ll… drop it off before we leave in a couple days.”

  “I thought you were leaving tomorrow?” I said, handing him the map.

  “We need to wait for more gas to be refined.” Leo looked over the map and nodded to himself. “We’ll… we’ve been keeping it on ice.”

  Perish popsicle.

  “Promise you won’t let them eat him?” Killian said. He was looking at Leo but I knew he was talking to me.

  “Yeah…” Leo said. He folded up the piece of paper and took a last inhale of the quil. “You two have a good night, don’t wake the neighbours.” And with that he turned around and headed home.

  As we passed Killian’s cul-de-sac, I glanced at his yard. “Did you bury them in the backyard?” I asked.

  Killian refused to look; he shook his head. “I did… but then the nightmares started. I moved them to a special area. I thought it would help – it didn’t.”

  “Well… maybe your mom can… you know, she can slobber all over Perish and be all mommy-like. That would make him happy, right?” Hah, I was proud of myself for that one. Now that comment was just reeking of understanding.

  “Mom would have hated him.”

  Your fucking mom hated everyone; she was a stuck up bitch who looked down her nose at everyone but her precious little son and his drug-addict father. She spent all her time putting on a show that she was this strutting hen from Skyfall when really she was a bigger head case than her sheltered, naive, dummy of a child.

  “Probably,” I said instead. I wondered where their graves were. I wouldn’t mind adding Mrs. Massey’s skull to my collection. She could watch the detestable Reaver fuck her son.

  That reminded me, I had wanted to add Perish’s… I’d wait for it to rot then dig it up. Hopefully Killian wouldn’t notice, or if he did I’d say it was someone else. Not sure, he was my trophy though. I hadn’t got to eat the fucker’s brain, but I could keep his skull.

  “Hey, why do you want Perish’s body anyway?” I asked. I took one last glance at his quiet, empty house before we walked down the last stretch of road. “Burying it is a waste of meat.” I hated siding with Leo, but he was right. We had gone through severe meat shortages during the winter months. It was nothing to take lightly. We had lost fifty of our residents once to a bad combination of shortages and disease. An adult male could feed the entire block for a day if you were on starvation rations.

  It was life and death at times. Burying intact bodies had died out two hundred and thirty years ago, unless they were diseased. Usually we would arrange a gathering of friends and relatives and hold a ceremony inside the town hall. After that two things would happen: either the family and friends would have a feast for the block and the person was eaten, or if it was a more sombre event like a kid dying their meat would be butchered and given to the family. Though that was only in times of plenty. If there was a shortage they just got sent to the Slaught House and added to the rest.

  Killian was silent. He was staring at the dark pavement as we made our way home. His hair was light and silvery in the darkness and his white skin seemed to glow under the faint moonlight. What was he thinking? Thinking up a lie? I wasn’t sure but I knew not to enquire. I was learning him.

  We were almost home when Killian finally answered. “Would you let them eat me?”

  My first reaction was anger at the thought of anyone eating Killian, and I think that was his point. The problem, of course, was that Killian wasn’t Perish’s boyfriend. I pointed that out icily.

  “But you protect me, right? I was his protection, Reaver. I felt responsible for him, no matter how crazy he was.”

  Which is why you killed him. You don’t leave your pet to starve if you can’t take it with you; you shoot it so it doesn’t suffer.

  “Yeah.” That was the best response my mind would let me give him.

  We got home and headed for bed. I wanted to take him again, but talking about his parents and Perish had pushed that from my mind. I didn’t care but he would.

  The cushions stayed on the couch though; obviously I would have no need for them. I fell asleep to Killian beside me.

  Chapter 29

  Reaver

  It was a week, a fucking week before Greyson and Leo finally took off. A week of the both of them coming and going from Aras.

  When I needed Greyson a few days previously to approve a new sentry’s apprentice hours Redmond had said they were in the bunker outside of town. That bunker had our personal supplies in it and, more importantly, Leo’s science stuff. I gathered that they were probably dissecting and cutting apart Perish’s body; just to see how he ticked, or maybe Silas had given him smart implants or something. Or perhaps just to see why he was retarded, I didn’t know. I kept my speculations from Killian, and tried to distract him whenever he brought up Leo and Greyson’s delay.

  Sex was a good distraction and we had been having a lot of it. There hadn’t been a day all week that we hadn’t done it at least once. Just three days ago we had gone four times that day. Killian was walking a little funny though, so I had reluctantly decided to give it a bit of a rest. My mouth still freely travelled though, and had found many new parts I had taken a liking to licking.

  We had both gone back to work too. It was a nice break from the basement and from Killian. Though after a few hours I was missing him; he usually came and visited if he couldn’t sleep.

  Killian was working with Doc at the clinic, and would be taking up extra hours since Doc was leaving with Leo and Greyson.

  The doctor would be helping Leo and Greyson in the lab. They were also taking a few of our sentries and guards as well: Reno’s cousins and Carson’s kids Carson Jr and Gini, and two of my fellow sentries, Owen and Donny. They were going to be the group’s lookouts.

  I had no desire to be a part of that team. I would be content never going to Donnely ever again, even if it was good scavenging.

  So now I was officially in charge; I was i
n all respects the Mayor of Aras. Reaver, Scourge of the Greywastes, Demon of Indifference and the Raven, and what was I doing right now?

  I wiped the sweat off of my brow and pushed my hair out of my eyes. Perish was still partially frozen but what had started to unthaw was smelling already. Killian had wanted to carry him to his little cemetery but I offered my services.

  That was very smart. Killian’s graveyard was hidden behind piles and piles of shit. Small mountains of it that towered over your head, leaving all underneath it in permanent shade.

  The area he had led me to was set way back behind both of our houses, off to the northwest. All of the refuse that had been cleared out of the occupied parts of Aras had been put here. Broken medians, rusted vehicles, gravel, store signs, and lots of broken pavement. It was a haven for the stray cats, radrats, and the scavers but useless to anyone in Aras.

  I hadn’t even bothered exploring a lot of this place. I liked houses or shops. What was the fun climbing over piles of shit? There was rusted wire everywhere, camouflaged in the dregs or protruding out like brown twisted bones just waiting to cut your leg or arm and infect you with tetanus or something equally bad.

  Well, I wouldn’t get cut and I wouldn’t fall, even with Perish on my shoulder. The boy wouldn’t have made it over the first tipped over car. At least we had those vaccinations now. Killian hadn’t had the heart to clean out his satchel bag yet besides the fruit; he was carrying a new one right now. But I knew once he remembered he had them he would stab me with one. I was planning on selling the rest, I’d give the mayors and Reno a good discount.

  I hoisted the dead scientist and got a better grip on him. His rotting stump of a neck only a foot from my nose. He had been drained, his blood was gone but everything else felt intact. I could smell every rotting organ. The intestines always smelled the worst, next was the liver. Too rotten for eating unfortunately, even if he had been on ice.

  I jumped from a pile of gravel and wire, over to a slab of pavement on a sharp angle. I could see Killian already halfway up carrying the blue bag with the head.