“No,” the voice said.
A thud sounded behind Pierce. The stranger must have been hiding above the vine wall the whole time.
Pierce turned his head and saw a rather large, tall man with his cock hanging out. “Hanging out” was an understatement. The thing practically reached his knees.
“Holy fuck!” Pierce exclaimed.
“It’s been described that way before,” the stranger said. “Call me Trunk. And that needs no explanation. You’re coming with me to answer for your betrayal.”
“My what?” Pierce said. “A second ago, you said to get the fuck out of here.”
“I heard you speaking with Grinder,” Trunk said. “It’s clear this was not your first meeting, and no one with your lack of fighting prowess survives a first meeting with her unless they made a deal.”
“You’re right. I made a deal with her, and she betrayed me.”
“You admit it?” Trunk asked, surprised.
“Of course I do,” Pierce said. “She was going to slice me up the first time, too. She’s got problems.”
“A deal to do what? Attack Letha?”
“No, of course not. She just wanted a new shield.”
“She wants to kill Letha. You should not have made a deal with her, especially considering that Letha’s mark is on your arm.”
Pierce was surprised that the tattoo still meant something with the bounty on his head. “Okay, that would have been useful information. I didn’t know for sure about that. She did mention that Letha wouldn’t be happy about me making a deal with her, but I didn’t know it was a blood vendetta, or whatever it is.”
“You should have known.”
“I agree,” Pierce said. “I should have known all these things that no one has bothered to tell me. I should have been reading everyone’s minds.” He laughed bitterly. “So… are you going to choke me by shoving that thing down my throat, or are you going to blast me into pieces?”
Trunk shook his head and snarled in disgust. “Loyalty means something in our clan. You’re not mine to destroy. You belong to Letha.” Trunk snatched up the Bunker Buster and shoved Pierce forward in the direction of Letha’s camp.
Pierce knew better than to question him or bring up that he needed to get to Ulric’s hideout. For now, he just needed to keep his mouth shut and let himself be force-marched to what was likely his fourth or fifth encounter with near-death since arriving. Come to think of it, now that he was trying to count, he realized he’d lost track.
27
Doubt
Planet Kill, Aero’s Camp
At the camp, Pierce noticed that Letha’s numbers had grown, not by much, but it was noticeable. There were some warlords and their newest recruits as well. He didn’t care much about them. His eyes roamed the Noobs, and compared to his recent experiences, he felt justified in calling them that, despite arriving at the same time. He searched for Essie. Had she made it so far? Was she still alive?
She found him first. She rushed over and wrapped her arms around him, but Trunk pulled her off.
“He’s a prisoner now,” Trunk said.
Essie’s eyes narrowed. The girl was obviously confused, upset. She put her palms out to sign “why.”
“Apparently, I’ve made a few missteps,” Pierce said. “But don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine.”
“Unlikely,” Trunk interjected.
Essie sadly took a few steps away when Trunk shoved Pierce forward. She stayed there, watching for a moment, chewing her lip like she was trying to think of a way to help.
Trunk led Pierce into Letha’s tent, announcing his arrival ahead of time. “I brought you a gift,” he began. The huge man lugged Pierce forward and dropped him a few inches from Letha’s heels.
Letha spun around and laid her eyes on Pierce. “He’s not the gift I wanted, but not bad.”
“I figured you’d want the credits for his bounty.”
Letha smiled smugly, pleased with her potential general. “And Grinder?”
A frown flashed across Trunk’s face. He shook his head.
“Leave us,” Letha said, to Trunk. “I need a minute alone with the traitor.”
Pierce opened his mouth to speak but waited until Trunk had left. “I did not betray you. Grinder was going to kill me. I used my access to your Sleipnir temple to make a deal with her. I still have the weapon and shield I acquired. Technically, I didn’t fulfill my end of the deal.”
“But you had planned on it.” Letha took a hostile stance.
“Sure. Sure,” Pierce answered. “But she decided to attempt to kill me first.”
“You’re an idiot for thinking you could trust her. She doesn’t end people to merely live or even level-up. She’d keep taking lives even if she had to pay for the privilege.”
“Yeah,” Pierce said, shrugging. “I picked up on that a little too late. I get it now. I didn’t intend to betray you, though.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Letha said, nudging his prone body with a boot. “You’re aware of the bounty on your head?”
“Uh-huh, yes ma’am. That’s what I needed to talk to you about. I need your help.”
Letha scoffed. “My help? That’s priceless. With the whole planet after your head, you think I’m going to help you?”
“As chance would have it, we have a mutual enemy. Did you not get the message?”
“No. I didn’t. Who’d you send it through?”
“Your temple. I left it with your statue thing. Nice temple, by the way. Anyone ever figure out who built the things?”
She glared down at him with distrust. “I haven’t been to upgrade at Sleipnir in a while. I’ve received no messages.” Letha said.
“That would explain why you seem more inclined to slice me up than plan a counterattack,” Pierce replied., He’d have to ask about the origin of the temples another time, if there was another time.
“Seriously? A counterattack. What is so important that you think I’d want to fight alongside you, instead of executing you in some horrific way for the fans and credits?”
“Ulric, the Warden. He’s behind the clans combining against you. He’s aware of your plan to seek vengeance. He’s behind the forced volunteer market, too. I only know all this because I allowed him to think he was about to kill me so he would confess.” Pierce stopped, the nervous babbling having left him breathless.
Letha raised an eyebrow. “You allowed him, huh?”
“No. Got lucky, to be honest. But it was luck I’d earned. A friend got me out of that one.”
“Sweeney?”
“He wasn’t a friend exactly, but kind of. Yes. Sweeney was telegraphing his moves on purpose.” He could feel a trickle of sweat on his forehead.
“That fight did look…unusual… when I watched it on my viewer screen. My jaw dropped when you pulled that … I don’t even know what you’d call it. When you shot upward, as if you knew he was going to be there. How’d you think to do that? And how’d you know he’d be in that spot?”
“He taught me how.”
Letha’s eyes narrowed. Her lips tightened. She started circling Pierce. “You made an arrangement with him, didn’t you? He wanted to die.”
Pierce nodded. “No way was I going to defeat him unless he wanted it. I didn’t enjoy it, that’s for sure. He said he wanted to go out in battle.”
“He deserved a better opponent.”
“Can’t say I disagree with you, but I got the job done, didn’t I?”
Letha snatched Pierce’s neck, tightened her grip, and lifted him an inch off the ground. “Still,” she accused, “you used one of my temples with the intention of helping my enemy.”
Pierce spoke through choked gasps. “When you put it like that, I wouldn’t blame you for snapping my neck here and now.”
She loosened her grip and dropped him back to the ground. “That won’t suffice. I need to make a public display of it, a nice show for the viewers. I’ll use your death to get in Ulric’s good graces. That’ll
help me take action on him when the time is right.”
Pierce coughed and sucked in air. “Wait, no. That’s not the right plan at all. I want to destroy Ulric too. You were the one who put me onto him in the first place. I think that’s why he’s so interested in you. Come on…”
“I don’t care. You’re more useful as a bounty than as a fighter. From what I’ve seen, you could have used a few more months of training with Dregg before you came here. How long did he train you for, anyway?”
“A few days.” He squirmed.
Letha rolled her eyes. “You must have really offered him a sweet deal, something you seem to be particularly good at, for him to sign off on helping you and enlisting Sweeney’s help for you.”
“He was a satisfied customer,” Pierce said. He rubbed his neck. “You’ll be too, if you simply give me a chance. You know, and don’t kill me and all.”
Letha turned back. She seemed to be in deep thought, debating her options.
Pierce kept silent. His mouth hadn’t exactly been his best asset lately on Planet Kill anyway.
“I’ve got an idea,” Letha said after a few minutes. She continued looking away from the prisoner. “However, I’m going to leave it in Brink’s hands, since you saved his life.”
Pierce simply nodded.
“We’ll see,” Letha continued. “He might choose the bounty over your little cause, but it’ll have to be him, and not me. I can’t be seen helping you.”
“Good call. You wouldn’t want to tarnish your brand,” Pierce said.
“It’s bigger than that, but you wouldn’t understand. I wanted to help you. I wanted to be on your side, but now, you’re going to have to figure this out on your own.”
She took him by the arm and shoved him outside. A crowd of her followers began gathering.
Letha gestured for Brink to come forward. “If he hadn’t saved your life,” she said to Brink, “I’d have already taken his head and the bounty. Since he did, his fate is in your hands.”
Brink shifted, uncomfortable with what was being put on his shoulders. “If I kill him outright,” Brink said, “that doesn’t play well for me in the future. He saved my life, and I owe him for that. If I take his life now, that might dissuade others from siding with me in the future.”
“Good decision.” Pierce was relieved. “It’s a just decision.”
“I’m not done,” Brink added, with a cold glare at the other man.
“Shit.”
“Instead,” Brink continued. “We should release him. With your permission of course,” he said, to Letha. “And then hunt him, so his death will be fair.”
“No. No, no, no, no.” Pierce whimpered. “Not a just decision. The releasing part is great. Let’s do that. Leave the hunt out.”
“It’s decided,” Letha announced to the crowd. “Tonight, we hunt!”
Her followers cheered. Letha leaned over to Pierce and whispered in his ear.
“You realize it won’t just be my camp hunting,” she said, too quietly for the cameras to catch. “Hundreds will converge on you, seeking that bounty.”
“That’s fine,” Pierce said. “I’ll just win them over with my personality.”
“You’re a fucking fool,” Letha scoffed. “You’ve shown a proclivity to rush into bad decisions in a short amount of time. I have my doubts that you’re going to pull off your little mission. However…” She paused to make sure no one was close enough to hear. “My enemies will be converging on your position too.” She pulled back. “Shh.”
Pierce thought he was starting to understand what her idea might be, but he wasn’t sure. It could just be part of her ploy to save face by not ending the life of someone with whom she’d sided and helped just for credits and the bounty, while setting it up so she could still acquire both in a roundabout way.
“Pierce, just one more question,” Letha said, as she accepted his weapon and shield from Trunk. “Satisfy my curiosity. Were you able to find your missing wife?”
“Apparently,” Pierce admitted. “But I didn’t recognize her, and she chose not to reveal herself.”
“You didn’t recognize her?”
“According to someone in the know. Yep.”
“That’s strange.”
Pierce studied the ground, head hung low.
“I believe I know who she is,” Letha confided. “but I won’t tell you my suspicions. If she wants you to know, she’ll let you know.”
Letha’s viewer screen popped up. There were countless requests for her to behead him or even to fuck him to death. Pierce watched in surprise as she swiped them all away. She was calling the shots on her own this time, and she’d decided to use him as bait.
It didn’t matter that she was sparing him. He was going to have practically a whole planet of fighters of all types swarm to one spot to catch and tear him apart. For the first time, Pierce began to let his mind question how far he was willing to go. He’d already learned that his wife was here. He still didn’t know if she’d volunteered or not, but he knew that she no longer wanted him to find her. She hadn’t revealed herself. How much more was he willing to take? How much more could he take, regardless of his will? He could feel the self-doubt wash through his body as Letha shoved the weapon and shield collar at him.
He hadn’t proven to be a very good fighter on a planet where his fighting ability was the very definition of his value and worth. He hadn’t even proven as good as others thought him to be at pulling strings and orchestrating events toward victory. He was losing, and in the worst kind of way. Part of him wanted Letha to just end it now, to get this fucking thing over with. Why not? What was the fucking point? How in the hell was he going to accomplish anything without help? He couldn’t. He knew that. The best he could do at this point was to stay alive a little bit longer, cross his fingers that events would turn in his favor. If that happened, maybe a plan would emerge. Perhaps Letha’s plan would be the key. He wasn’t even sure if it would benefit or harm him. The hopelessness started to creep in.
Until…
His viewer screen popped up.
Even Letha was surprised by the interruption. Who would have a bid for a fighter with no leverage, who was clearly at a disadvantage?
Pierce’s mind raced, as he worried what the message would be.
Letha gave him the courtesy of allowing him to reach out and open the message, but read it at the same time he did.
“Don’t fight,” the message read. The bid was set at one credit.
“Don’t fight with who?” Pierce asked.
Letha nudged him and pointed with her eyes to the west.
He allowed himself to take in the sight. The blood-red moon had just begun to rise over the western horizon and shed light on a daunting array of individuals standing alone, but together. As far as both Pierce and Letha could see, lone wolves and defectors from other camps, who’d heard of Pierce’s quest to rescue forced volunteers, filled the land with their presence and influence over what would happen next.
Pierce did the only thing any rational person would. He swiped right to accept.
“Fucking hell,” Letha said. “What have you done?”
“I don’t. Fucking. Know,” Pierce said.
To Pierce’s surprise, another message popped up and was as confusing and unrevealing as the first. “Tell them to stand down.”
That was when he noticed that all the lone wolves had their weapons ready. They were apparently willing to fight to save him.
Letha almost smiled, which surprised Pierce. “They’re here for you, aren’t they?”
“Wow. Word spreads fast on this fucking fuck of a fucking shithole that you fucks call a fucking planet,” Pierce said. “I imagine that any one of a number of things explains their support…” He paused and thought about what he was going to say. “You all are no different from everyone else. That’s the truth. Not a one of you is really any different from the people who don’t go through what you go through. It’s just that you’ve gone throu
gh it. That’s it. You’ve been through the wringer. So you think differently. It’s not that you’d do things differently from others put in your situations and positions. It’s that you’ve been through it. You experienced something. The universe doesn’t care, though. It’s still just there, being the place we ALL live in…” He trailed off.
Pierce stopped to observe what Letha’s camp was doing, how they were responding to all this. They were silent, probably not sure what to think. The moonlight revealed the surprised, yet sincere expressions on their faces.
“Yeah,” Pierce continued. “I think, maybe, the people have decided.”
“And what have they decided?” Letha asked, curious, unsure, and respectful despite having full power over the man.
Pierce shook his head. “You still don’t get why I’m here.”
“Enlighten me.”
“Nothing big. Just disruption. Complete and total disruption. I intend to bring it all down.”
“At any price?”
“Haven’t my actions shown that?”
Letha chuckled a little. “What are they doing at the edge of my territory?”
Pierce said. “They’re here to make sure I fulfill my promise to fix this corrupt system.”
“But why you?” Letha said. “You’re not that special.”
“No,” Pierce said. “I’m not. You’re absolutely fucking right. But I keep using whatever I have to listen, hear and act on behalf of those who are. Haven’t you noticed?” he couldn’t resist saying.
Letha turned her fierce blue eyes back to him. She looked as if she could kill him with a glance. “Nothing’s changed,” she said. “You go after the fucker who built an alliance against me. You do that, or I take my chances against the lone wolves out there.”
“Deal,” Pierce said.
“Deal? No,” Letha warned. “It’s a command.”
“Sure, whatever you wanna call it. Just, yeah. I agree. Let’s get it done,” Pierce said.
Planet Kill Page 25
