by Tonia Brown
As much as he wanted to, Dodger couldn’t argue with Thad’s logic. “How will you know where to find us?”
Thad chuckled, despite the pain the act obviously brought him. “Are you jesting? We can smell that driver of yours almost ten miles off!”
The professor laughed loud along side the wounded man. Dodger, however, just grinned. He wanted to laugh but there was so much troubling his soul. Despite Thad’s eagerness to go after Rex, Dodger couldn’t help but feel like he was sending these ex-soldiers to their death. These men were the very same reason he found the frontlines such easy work. Farmers and clerks turned soldiers were no match for a military trained warrior. Granted, Thad and his men had a few years of soldiering under their furry belts, but most of that was spent in captivity. Not on the battlefield.
Rodger Dodger was the most capable man here for this kind of work. With the instincts of a well trained fighter, and the detachment of a professional assassin, he knew he could track down this Rex and deal with him in just a matter of days. But Thaddeus was correct in his assessments. It wasn’t Dodger’s place to deal with Rex. At least not now. Right now, Dodger’s place was on the Sleipnir. His place was protecting the professor, and his marvelous train.
“Thaddeus has a point,” Dodger said. “We should get you and the line away from here as soon as possible.”
“I suppose you know best,” the professor said. “And I do have other work that needs tending to. Deliveries to make. Promises to keep. That sort of thing.”
“Rest assured we will find him,” Thaddeus said. “And we will make him pay for the things he has done. To our bodies, as well as to your honor, sir.”
“I appreciate that. Yes. I most certainly do. Mr. Dodger, please make sure these men are given ample supplies and as much as you think they will need from the petty cash box.”
“Yes sir,” Dodger said.
“We can’t accept your money,” Thad started.
“You can and you will,” the professor snapped. “After all, you can’t run an army without a budget. Now stop harping on about it. I need to go and get the serum ready.”
The professor left grumbling something about congenial ingratitude, and Dodger made to follow the man when Thad called out, “Dodger?”
Dodger turned about to face him.
“He knows we can never repay him,” Thad said. “For his help or his money.”
“I don’t think he expects you to,” Dodger said. “I think he sees it all as part of his penance.”
“There is no need for penance. At least not on our part. This was not his responsibility. We understand that now.”
“That as it may be, I reckon he sort of blames himself.”
“I can’t help him there. Will you at least assure him that we do not fault him?”
Dodger doffed his hat again and nodded. “I’ll try my best, but guilt can be a hard thing to drive from a man.”
“And Dodger, please know we don’t fault you either.”
“Fault me? I never said you did.”
“No. You never said we did.” Thad stared at him in silence for a few heartbeats, letting the weight of his words sink deep. “I don’t know what wrong you feel you have done us, but your penance, as you put it, is no more required than his.”
Dodger had nothing to say to that, so he said as much.
With another nod and a quick gesture he bade Thad a silent farewell, then made his way back to the line. There was much to be done, and as usual, so little time to get it done. He reckoned the dog men could remain on the farm long enough to gather their forces then shove off, which settled this incessant need to work the farm that no one owned. Dodger was very pleased that Thad was so willing to step up and take command, for this settled his second issue. The third item would just have to remain on the menu for now, at least until the machine resurfaced. Which left Dodger to turn his mind toward his own work; protecting the Sleipnir and her strange crew.
As he made ready his plans for getting the professor as far away from here as possible, Dodger mulled over the Thad’s last words. Was Dodger’s remorse for his past life so transparent? The answer was yes, of course. He wore his need for atonement like a god damned badge. Throwing himself into his work on the farm for hardly any pay. Taking care of the drunks and bums at Decker’s bar for nothing but room and board. Doing anything and everything to give back to the world without raising his fists or firing a gun or even using his tainted name. While it was true he felt subject to a lifelong penance, it wasn’t just to Thad’s men.
Dodger’s penance was to the entire human race.
But all that would change now that he had a real function again. Protecting the lives of those aboard the Sleipnir with the very same talents he used to cut so many other lives short seemed not only poetic in its nature, but also a little on the ironic side of things. Literary tools aside, Dodger hoped he would find what was stripped from his soul so very long ago. He hoped to find purpose, to find worth, or at the very least to find contentment for a job well done. Maybe, just maybe, he would dig a little deeper and find that thirteen year old boy that took his first human life without pity or remorse.
Find him and forgive him at last.
End
Volume Three
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Your Humble Staff
Tonia Brown:
Creator, Writer, Chronic Whiner
Tonia lives in the hills of North Carolina with her loving husband and an ever fluctuating number of cats. She has an identical twin sister, who also happens to be her bestest friend. When not writing she splits her time between reading, loving said husband, petting said cats and trying to ignore the call of the pen.
You can find more about Tonia, or read more of her sordid scrawling by visiting:
www.thebackseatwriter.com
Stephanie Gianopoulos:
Editor, Muse, Beautiful Baker
Stephanie Gianopoulos is a freelance editor and writer. All similarities between Stephanie and Red the Editrix are purely coincidental, with the exception of the ones that aren’t.
David Naughton-Shires:
Artist, Illustrator, General Badass
Born in England, David now lives in Ireland where he tries his best to sustain a certain standard of living as an artist, writer and security officer. His main interest lies in Horror but often tries his art and writing skill in other areas. Recently he began a small press and continues to work designing many book covers including the volume covers for Railroad!
You can see more of his work at www.theimagedesigns.com and on his Facebook Page www.facebook.com/theimagedesigns
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Other Works by Author Tonia Brown:
Badass Zombie Road Trip
Jonah has seven days to find his best friend’s soul after losing it to Satan, or risk losing his own. Before it's all said and done, he drags a zombie across the country, picks up a hitchhiking stripper who has an agenda of her own, and is pursued for a crime he didn’t commit, all while dealing with the occasional visit from The Prince of Lies himself.
2,000 miles. Seven days. Two souls. One zombie. And Satan.
It's going to be a hell of a trip.
Lucky Stiff: Memoirs of an Undead Lover
Meet Peter Lyles, a young man unremarkable in life but unforgettable in un-death. After he accidentally overdoses while on spring break, Peter's friends do him the dubious favor of bringing him back to life. Or rather, they turn him into a zombie with the help of a little old fashioned Voodoo. Peter's journey through the unlife takes him from the homebrewed sex magic of a mysterious swamp-dwelling Madam, to bouncing from bedroom to bedroom all across the globe, and finally leaving him with a career as the hottest gigolo not alive. All the while, he must deny his hunger for human flesh while sating his passion for, well, human flesh. At turns humorous, at times touching, but always sexy, sexy, sexy.
"Lucky Stiff" w
ill leave you wanting more Peter. He's just that good.
The Triple Shot Series
The Triple Shot’s are a series of collections featuring my shorter works. Each contains a trio of short stories, themed for easy selection, and all priced at 99 cents a collection.
