by R. B. Tetro
She smiled from ear- to- ear when she saw that he was still among the living. “You ever feel like a cock roach?” she joked with him.
“More and more every day,” Poet answered wearily. He looked around for Angel, spotting her sitting with her head down. She was crying softly, but did not appear to be injured. They shuffled over to her and knelt down beside her.
“Are you okay?” the old lady asked her.
“I’m fine, but they killed two of our pack.”
Poet noticed that Onyx was not present. He realized she couldn’t see them although he knew that she could see whatever the pack could see, wherever they were. “Where is Onyx?” he asked her.
“With the pack. They’re chasing the rock demons.”
The old lady handed her some water. Angel took it and thanked her. Poet and the old lady looked at each other and shook their heads as they saw Pops and his two remaining sons sitting in shocked silence. They’d been reunited just to watch Junior be killed right in front of them. They wanted to say something to comfort them, but the mood was somber and silent.
Daniel and Chloe sat at the mouth of the packed cave with their shoulders touching each other, leaning on each other.
For a while nobody spoke. Suddenly, everyone froze. The boulders had stopped falling. It was eerily silent outside the cave. Pops blinked and shook his head. He touched his son’s faces and smiled at them as if to say, I’m back in the fight. He stood up, dusted himself off and went over to stand by Daniel at the entrance to the cave.
“We’ll go and check it out” offered Lucky. Juggernaut came behind him. He looked comical, all hunched over in the low cave.
“I’ll go with you,” said Daniel.
Chloe tried to hold him back, but he walked out of her grasp and followed the other two outside. They spread out, making their way cautiously up the canyon, going about a hundred yards and stopping, each of them scanning the ridgeline for any signs of the rock demons. They stood there for a few minutes, before returning to their people.
Daniel signaled to Pops and he led what remained of their party out of the safety of the cave. The group was exhausted and traumatized- barely holding on to their sanity. “Never a dull moment,” Lucky chirped loudly.
The rest of the group looked at him like he was crazy, then, one by one, they started to smile and chuckle. They’d made it so far but they still had a long way to go.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Reverend put aside the Bible and his faith, and he gave into the blood lust of revenge. He looked to kill as many as he could and deal with the inevitable guilt that would come along with it later.
Reverend, Jack, Tom and Tinker had founded Over Watch and the Cavern of the Light together, back when the monsters ruled the land and civilized people were nothing more than the hunted. Over Watch and the Cavern of the Light had made them feel human again. Like they’d felt sitting in their food stained, leather recliners before the lights went out. It had giving each of them and everybody that came to them a sense of being civilized again; less like the animals the nuclear war had turned them all into.
“Do you know where the hell you’re going?” Basher asked.
Reverend looked at him and nodded slightly. He knew every inch of the mountain they were on, and then some. They stopped and looked down at the caves where the council of the cavern lived.
“What the hell are we doing? Do you even have a plan?’’ Chains demanded.
Reverend motioned for them to be quiet. At least twenty Cavern guard soldiers came into the living quarter’s area and took up positions around each of the separate cave entrances. The three of them looked at each other and shook their heads. Their situation had just become a lot more complicated.
“That’s cool, for a minute I thought we weren’t going to kill anyone,” Basher whispered.
“We’re not here to just kill. We’re here to take the leader of the council hostage,” Reverend whispered back.
The two brothers looked at him like he’d just dropped an ostrich egg out of his ass. “Come on, that’s crazy talk,’’ said Chains.
Reverend looked up at them and smiled grimly. “Let me make it simple for you. You guys go down there and kill anything that moves, and I’ll get the council leader. Then we’ll all go back to Over Watch and have a drink… how bout that?”
Chains and Basher looked at each other and started smiling. ‘’That’s the kind of plan we can sink our teeth into,’’ Basher grunted. He hefted the twin automatic shotguns he was carrying.
“When?” asked Chains.
Reverend started to walk down the narrow tunnel leading to the cavern floor.
“I guess now, Lead- head,” Basher grunted to his brother. They both jogged to keep up. At the bottom of the tunnel, Reverend pulled his pistols and looked at the brothers to make sure they were ready. “Stay close together. Once I get the target… follow me out. We can come back and kill the rest of them later.”
Chains and Basher exchanged an uncomfortable glance. Reverend was freaking them out with his cold blooded attitude.
He didn’t give them long to dwell on it. He stepped out into the open and blew the heads a part of the nearest two soldiers. The living quarters of the council had never been attacked, and the soldiers were caught off guard. They’d all joked around earlier when they’d received their orders that they wouldn’t have to be in harm’s way. They weren’t joking around anymore.
Reverend and the brothers killed and wounded many of them before reaching the entrance to the council leaders cave. It was guarded by ten elite soldiers, all willing to die for their position and they did. The rest of the soldiers formed a line further back and fired at them from cover. Basher and Chains took cover as well and returned fire, while Reverend went into the cave.
He found the Council of the Light president, cowering behind his wife and daughter in a curtained-off bedroom. He motioned for them to move out of the way with the barrel of his pistol.
Timmy Rose stood and tried to look indignant. “Now see here…”
Reverend hit him, once, just hard enough to break his nose. Blood spurted and bone crunched. Timmy fell to his knees screaming like a girl scout on fire. Reverend slapped him hard, across the face to get his attention. Timmy stooped screaming.
“Get up and shut up… you’re coming with me,” Reverend ordered.
Timmy got shakily to his feet. ‘’Now just wait a minute… I’m the council president!”
Reverend back- handed him, hard enough to send him reeling out of the bedroom area and into the front of the cave. He became tangled and wrapped up in the curtain, falling down and grunting like a pig as he struggled to untangle himself.
“You don’t look so damned important now.” Reverend said softly as he knelt down and used his long bladed, hickory-handled skinning knife to cut Timmy out of the curtain. After Timmy was free, he stood him up, tied his hands behind his back and placed a rope with a noose at the end of it around his neck.
He stared hard into the terrified council president’s eyes as he tightened the noose with a violent jerk. There were two more council members groveling in the living area. Reverend took them as well.
“We need to go! There’s more of those bastards coming!” Chains yelled from outside the cave.
Reverend turned toward Timmy’s wife. She stepped back in fear. “I’m sorry about all this,” he apologized. “This man will be held hostage. If anybody attacks Over Watch… he dies.”
The women looked at her husband and then at Reverend. ‘’Just go,’’ she snapped.
Reverend nodded and pulled Timmy and the others out of the cave. Timmy wanted to talk. He’d talked his way into the council, and talked his way into this war, but the noose was too tight to allow him to run his corrupt mouth.
The cavern was silent, the soldiers were waiting on reinforcements and the brothers were saving ammo.
“We have the council president and two other council members! Anybody shoots at us and we kill them! Any
body attacks Over Watch and we kill them! We’re leaving now!” Reverend shouted.
Nobody shot at them as they made their escape. In truth, the soldiers were glad they were going and they didn’t have to fight the brothers anymore.
The three of them and their valuable hostages began to make their way back to the safety of Over Watch. Timmy was thinking about how he could talk his way out of the mess he was in.
Reverend was thinking of all the different ways that he could kill him.
CHAPTER FORTY
Scout was feeling no pain.
He’d made it to his destination, and held a bottle of brandy in each hand. He drank out of one of them while he looked through the other dark-colored bottle at the shifting light of his tiny fire. He took another pull off of his drinking bottle and tilted the looking bottle a little to change the view. He liked the way the fire light danced and flitted through the bottle. It reminded him of something he couldn’t remember, something that was making him sad.
He put his looking bottle down and rummaged through his bag, taking out his little green friend and setting him on a nearby rock, facing him. “Look at the fire dance in the bottle, it’s very keen, Mr. Mean.”
Mr. Mean glared at Scout as if he didn’t approve of him being so close to the fire.
Scout nodded and moved back a little. He plowed through his back pack again, and pulled out his solar powered radio. His tiny friend scowled at him, as if to say that he wouldn’t be able to get a signal down this far from the surface. “I know… it probably won’t come in… you don’t have to say it.”
Scout was a glass half- full kind of guy, while Mr. Mean was all about the half empty point of view. He set the radio on the highest boulder he could find, and held his breath while he turned it on and dialed it in. First, there was just the faint hum of solar driven power. Scout cussed softly under his breath. He knew Mr. Mean was saying- I told you so- behind his back, so he didn’t look at him.
He tweaked the tuning dial ever so slightly and the radio began to buzz and hum. Scout clapped his hands and danced around. He took a deep breath and turned the knob another fraction of an inch…
‘’That’s right wanderers of the wastelands… it’s the Red Robin… bop, bop, bopping along.
Listen up freedom fighters…
The crooked council of the Cavern of the Light and their bought and paid for army have decided to throw in with Magnus. They attacked the members of Over Watch and their own citizens. This is an act of war, and I don’t mean a war of words. I mean bring the steel and lead until every one of them is dead.
Our last hope is Over Watch. All those who love freedom rally to Over Watch. That means you…you Winnebago dwellers in the campgrounds. Fortress is nothing but ashes…how long do you think it will take Magnus’ blood-thirsty army to find you?
Everyone that can hear me had better heed me… the time for hiding is well past.
Remember my friends… it’s better to burn out… than to fade away.
Goodnight true Americans…hold on…stay strong and fight on.”
The radio squelched and buzzed and died. The cave was silent as Scout stood staring at Mr. Mean. Mr. Mean stared right back at Scout, letting him know, in no uncertain terms, how he felt. Scout ignored him and swallowed the last bit out of his drinking bottle before opening his looking bottle and putting it to better use. Burping loudly, he put his radio back in his back pack and turned to put Mr. Mean away for the night.
He loved his little green buddy, but sometimes he was a real downer. What the…
Mr. Mean was gone.
Scout looked around the cave floor, frantically trying to find him. He was gone, like he’d vanished into thin air. Scout was exhausted, and the thought of losing his only buddy in this shithole part of the planet was more than he could stomach. He felt like he was going to be sick.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a quick blur of movement leaving the cave. “Hey… wait!”
He chased the fleeting shadow. Whoever, or whatever it was, was fast. Scout was small and slight, and nimble but he was having a hard time keeping up with the fleeing figure. He followed the shadow through at least a hundred feet of tunnels before stumbling head first into a large cavern with a loud waterfall in the middle of it.
Scout was surprised and intrigued, forgetting for the moment about his rapidly disappearing little green friend. He approached the falling torrent of sparkling water cautiously, putting his slender hand out, letting it wash over his brown skin, before splashing some of the precious water on his face. It was spectacular. He cupped his hands and drank deeply.
Something tapped him on his shoulder. Scout spun around and ducked low, pulling a foot- long knife out of his boot and holding it at the ready.
“Easy Scout, it’s me, Tomahawk.”
Scout smiled from ear-to-ear.
“That’s right, little brother, it’s me. Now… what are you doing down here?”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Angel stopped them a short distance from the canyon. She could see through the eyes of Onyx that he and the rest of the pack were locked in a violent struggle with a hideous creature. She screamed as she watched the battle through the eyes of her valiant protector.
The monster was massive and covered in dirt and blood. It was throwing huge rocks at the pack and had already killed two of them and injured others. Angel yelped as Onyx rushed in and attacked the rock demon, ripping a large gash in its leg before ducking away. The monster bellowed like a freight train and threw a small boulder at the wolf, catching Onyx in the hind leg and sending him crashing into the rocks.
Angel took off running and her companions scrambled after her. She led them through a narrow pass between two boulders that opened up into a short draw. At the end of the draw they saw the wolf pack fighting a rock demon. She got to them first and threw herself over Onyx. He wasn’t moving.
The rock demon spotted her, screamed and charged. Daniel and Juggernaut were the first to engage it. The demon hurled a boulder at them and they dove to either side. Daniel fired his .45 pistol directly into the creature’s torso, emptying the magazine. But the creature wasn’t fazed. It backhanded him in the side of the head. Daniel went flying backwards and landed with a thud.
Juggernaut hit the creature in the back with both of his hammers. It screamed and whipped around, stumbling a little and lurching toward him. Juggernaut fell back and the rock demon came forward. Pops, his boys and Lucky fired at it as one, causing it to turn around but the rounds were having no effect.
Poet and the old lady emptied their quivers, but their arrows simply bounced off its stone like skin. It charged them, swinging a boulder the size of a Mini-Cooper in a broad arc, catching Lucky in the side of the head. The group gasped as they watched his entire head and shoulders ripped from his body.
Pops shouted and the rest of the group attacked the demon as one. They took Pops
lead and used their swords and axes, managing to drive it back. The rock demon was screaming and throwing beach ball-sized stones at them, but they kept pressing it back. Pops threw his axe and it stuck in the demon’s chest, showering them in a grayish green, demon bloodbath.
Onyx came out of nowhere and attacked the demon with the rest of the pack, ripping at its legs. The wounded creature grabbed one wolf and smashed it into the rocks so hard it exploded, showering the group in gore.
Juggernaut stepped in between the wolves and hit the demon with both of his hammers in the head. The demon grunted and fell to his knees. Man and animal attacked the demon together.
As it lay dying, it occurred to the people that they’d actually fought together instead of fighting each other, as they had done since the beginning of time. They grouped with their own kind, and faced each other; ready to fight.
Daniel managed to get to his feet. “Stop… they’re friends.”
Angel stepped in between the humans and the wolves. “Please… they’re my family!” Onyx turned to his pack and yipped. The pack
moved away from the wary humans.
“Thank you,” said Daniel to Onyx. Onyx dipped his head and took Angel by the sleeve, pulling her along as if he was telling her they needed to get out of there.
“We need to move…now,” said Daniel.
The remaining survivors struggled wearily to their feet. They were battered and blood covered. Juggernaut stood over Lucky’s headless body. Chloe helped Daniel over to him. “I have no place to go now’’ Juggernaut mumbled. He knelt down beside his brother, hugging him close to him.
“You can go with me… if you don’t mind the killing,” offered Daniel.
Juggernaut took a picture out of Lucky’s jacket pocket. It was of him, Lucky and Scout. They were laughing. He put the picture in his jacket and took his brother’s gun-belts off and hung them around his shoulders, before standing up to his full height and straightening his shoulders. “Lucky was the smart one. I’m not very smart,” he mumbled.
Daniel looked at him and nodded. “You’re a powerful warrior. Join me and we will avenge all who have been lost.”
Juggernaut looked down at his brother one last time, before shaking his head and shaking Daniel’s hand. “You have my loyalty.”
“And you mine,” said Daniel.
No one needed to be told that they didn’t have time to bury their dead. They moved out, determined to reach their destination.
The Cavern of the Light was waiting.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Before the lights went out, Quincy Ryan was like everybody else. He worked hard at a dead end job, paid his bills, stood in line, and loved his wife and kids. He was as average as a piece of loose leaf notebook paper.
Then the lights had gone out and his family had been tortured and killed in front of him. He would have been too, if it wasn’t for the fact that he went crazy. He’d survived the attack and had even managed to capture and torture those responsible. After he’d had his way with them, he’d gathered some supplies and headed up into the mountains.
