“Who?”
“The note gave no name, just said it was important and to meet them there tonight just before midnight.”
“I see, and what about Vincent. What have you been able to find out?”
“He is still confused it seems, but I believe he isn’t a threat, at least not yet.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Keep up the good work and don’t get caught. You are proving most useful. We would hate to see that end.”
Auska stared out the bared window slot in the rolling prison that housed them as the trucks slowly bounced their way through the densely wooded area. She could see the large rock cliff face jutting up in the distance in the direction they were going.
Already flashes were coming back to her of a time that almost felt like forever ago; when Archer and a young girl had been ambushed in this very spot by wire across the path. Flipping the motorcycle, they had stolen from men who only hours before almost killed them. Cannibals had attacked them moments after the crash. Archer had been badly wounded and unable to defend himself, and she had run, killing two in the process.
She shook her head, hardly believing that she had once been so young and naïve, so foolish to the ways of the world. Her parents had damned her by keeping her ignorant; had it not been for Archer she would have been dead a long time ago. If it hadn’t been for her parents a lot of people might not have died from the grand lie they were living. But at the same time, she never would have met Archer either, and that was time and memories she would never regret.
“Jesus Christ!” Someone mutter behind her. “Are those… human remains?”
“Where the fuck are they taking us?”
“Those… those are human bones! So many of them!” A woman cried out.
It was true. There were far more now than there had been when she had last been here, hundreds more. They dangled from the trees like sick ornaments, swaying in the breeze like some morbid wind chimes. Others were nailed to the trunks, splayed out in warnings of the fate to come to those who wondered to close to the den of beasts.
“It’s called the Abyss. It’s the realm of cannibals,” Auska told them, her tone dead flat.
The word ‘cannibal’ was muttered around her in fearful tones.
“How do you know this?” asked Wren.
She turned and her face was hollow. “I’ve been here before… a long time ago.”
“We’re all going to die, aren’t we?” another man asked.
Auska turned back to the small window. The smell of death was growing thicker as they drew closer to the cliff face where the entrance was. Flashes of bringing the axe down on the man stuck in the mud… the sleeping guard on the cliff face trail… the fear… the panic… back then had nearly destroyed her.
“You’ve really been here before, haven’t you?” Wren asked, seeing the darkness in her eyes.
“It was half a lifetime ago.”
“You couldn’t have been more than a kid?”
“I was twelve.”
He leaned back against the metal wall as the trucks slowed and a large group of people could be seen gathering ahead. “So, what can we expect?”
“They are going to make us fight to the death against other slaves. Those who die become food.”
“Oh, that’s all?” Wren muttered. “Here I thought it was going to be something horrible and morbid.”
The trucks stopped a hundred feet from the massive mine entrance. Nearly fifty cannibals were already crowded outside, more slowly filtering out. Their clothing was tattered and pieced together with bones, metal and human skin. They all carried weapons; many had rifles or handguns, a few had crudely made bows, others carried sadistically constructed melee weapons of all varieties.
Everett climbed down from the truck, keeping his weapons holstered and making sure his men kept theirs in check. Dealing with the Abyss dwellers was always a challenge, one that could very easily result in death on a large scale for either side.
“Greetings,” Everett called out, “I wish to speak to Tonka.”
A tall, lean man stepped out, wearing nothing more than a loincloth made of human skin. Blood was smeared in designs all over her face and body. “What makes you think Tonka is even still alive?”
“That’s true,” Everett replied, “it has been a while since I was last here, much could have changed. But I somehow doubt it.”
“What makes you doubt?”
“Well, his markers are still up. If he was no longer chief, then new ones would have replaced them,” he told the cannibal. “But mostly because he would never have let a single one of you stupid pricks overtake him.”
A booming laugh came from the entrance as a large, brute of a man stepped out, trumping all those around him. Tonka was nearly seven feet tall and well over four-hundred pounds of both muscle and fat. “You always were too stupid for your own good.”
The two men clasped hands, Everett feeling like a child next to the massive man. “I was almost worried someone else was in charge.”
Tonka grinned rubbing his belly. “Many have tried.”
The thought made Everett uneasy. He knew Tonka very little and had sold him slaves before, but what the man was and what his followers were, scared the shit out of him, though he’d never show it.
“So, Everett, what brings you to my realm?” The massive man looked over to the trucks.
“Why else would I come? I have wares to sell, though most of them are spoken for, but a few I can part with.”
“Any worth anything to me?”
Everett motioned for his men to bring the slaves out and line them up. “Might be a fight or two in some of them. At least they will taste good, they have lived a soft, comfortable life.”
“Come, we will talk trade inside; your men can stay out here… where it’s safe.” Tonka turned to leave.
“Well, there is something else I wouldn’t mind talking to you about.”
“What is it?”
“I have a fighter I want to bet on in the pit.”
“Ha!” Tonka laughed. “You bring a fighter, but want to keep them for yourself?”
Everett shrugged. “A man can’t give everything good away. Besides they might not prove to be that good against hardened fighters like yours.”
Tonka eyed the group of slaves that were lined up. “Doesn’t look like a fighter in the lot to me. Everyone looks soft and pathetic.”
Everett turned to one of his men. “Bring her out.”
“Her?” Tonka was grinning now.
Auska was pushed out in front and forced to stand in front of the two large men. At first, she thought to act weak and pathetic, hoping the cannibal leader would turn down the offer, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so. She stared defiantly up at them both, her shoulders burning with the effort of trying to break free from her restraints.
“The fire in this one’s eyes shows strength,” Tonka said. “But that doesn’t mean she can fight.”
Everett rubbed his jaw. “I know for a fact she can.”
“I will be the judge of that. Come, we will talk, barter, and maybe tonight we will see what your fighter can do.”
Everett sat on the surprisingly comfortable and well-maintained couch within a large, nearly smoothed walled room of the underground city. This was likely the nicest room in the whole underground world the cannibals had created. It was the leader’s dwelling, likely had always been the leader’s dwelling.
He wondered how many different leaders had ruled here since the infection had destroyed the world. Ten? Twenty? Thirty? How many people had died here? How many people eaten? Thousands, he imagined and fought back a shiver that ran up his spine.
The massive cannibal leader poured two glasses of an amber liquid from a faded bottle. “Pure rye whiskey not watered down. Won’t find much of that out in the world anymore.” He placed the glass in front of Everett who picked it up and inhaled the aroma deeply, savoring it fully before
taking a sip.
“Been a long time since I have tasted pure anything.”
Tonka grinned. “We may be savages, but some of us still enjoy the finer things that life still has to offer. So,” he placed his drink down on the wooden table between them as he sat his massive frame down on the seat across, “tell me about these slaves you have. They do not look like your typical bunch. They appear healthier, cleaner… the hardness of life hasn’t aged them nearly as bad.”
Everett sipped the drink again relishing in the warm burn that slid down his throat to rest in his uneasy stomach. “That is because they haven’t. I have acquired a new source of slaves, all like the ones you see in my possession now. Though it only comes once a year and is costly to me, the profits of such slaves prove worth it. My buyers enjoy soft, clean, healthy girls and women that have never felt a cruel hand far more than the roughly broken tramps you can catch out here on the daily. The men, well, they also sell well for entertainment purposes.”
“You evade my question well.”
“No question was asked.”
Tonka’s face turned sour. “Are we going to continue to play games with one another? Fine, I will ask plainly. Where did these slaves come from?”
The slaver put his hands up in defense. “That I will not tell you. Surely you know a good source of ‘wares’ is to be guarded in this day and age. Besides, I wouldn’t want you going there and eating all my future profits. The deal I have once a year pays well, leaving enough to ‘repopulate’.”
Tonka boomed with laughter, his thick neck bouncing with each breath. “Fair play.” Then he turned serious. “You know I could just torture it out of you. You and your little band of slavers would be easily overrun by my hordes.”
Everett knew he was on dangerous ground, but still, he held firm. “No need for threats; you are my first stop, I thought of you first of all. I know cannibals enjoy the ‘finer’ tastes of life. Surely a few well ‘raised’ cattle would be worth bartering for each year.” The thought of this conversation made him sick, but he held his conviction; if he didn’t, he doubted he would leave this room alive.
Tonka took a large gulp of his drink, his eyes never leaving the man in front of him. “You’re are not wrong in this. We would be willing to pay a decent price for such delicacies. But do not play me for a fool. You did not ‘think’ of me first. You thought of that woman you have with you, that fighter you think she is.”
He nodded. “That is the truth, she cost me dearly to get her. She wasn’t part of the original deal. But because she happened to mess up the transaction, her people were kind enough to give her to me as compensation for the men she killed. Also to keep her quiet about their dirty little secret.”
“Let us talk fights, then.”
“Gladly.” Everett smiled, happy this conversation was going better than he had expected.
“Your fighter will fight three fights. She may pick the first, you may pick the second and I shall pick the third. If she can survive them all, I will pay you what you would get for all your slaves. But should she lose, then I get all your slaves.”
It was a huge offer. If he won, he would be set for the rest of the year; if he lost, he would have to work far harder to recoup his losses than he wanted to. Was this girl worth the risk, he wondered? Worst off now is he doubted he could back out of this without dying. “I can agree to those terms. But she should be permitted a few hours rest between fights, to have wounds looked at and to regain her strength.”
“Fine. But as a token of this deal, that slave of yours, the one who can hardly stand, I’d like to have him for dinner tonight.” Tonka said, putting out his meaty hand.
It took everything within Everett to keep from retching in front of the man. “Deal.” He took the cannibals hand in his own and they shook.
“Excellent, I will send a man out to collect him. I want him prepared just right for my meal during the fights tonight. Hopefully, he tastes as good as he looks.”
Everett quickly left the leader behind, feeling dizzy and nauseous. He stopped in the tunnel just outside the door to gather himself. “What the fuck am I doing?” he muttered to himself. He should never have come here, but there was no leaving this unfinished now. But he promised himself he would never return. This was cruelty beyond even him.
Auska sat crouched on the balls of her feet in the small cell. It wasn’t the same one she had found Archer in all those years ago. She wasn’t even sure if it was the same room, but none of that mattered. The smell of human waste and death hung in the air like paste, burning the eyes and coating the tongue with a bitter film of despair.
Looking around, she was relieved to see the guards had finally moved on. She edged herself to the lock, being sure to avoid the barbed wire that encased her cell. The dried blood covering dozens of the razors showing many passed visitors and their clumsiness or failed attempts to break free.
Searching her cell, she looked for anything, anything at all, that she might be able to use to pick the lock, but there was nothing. Of course, there was nothing, they wouldn’t be so foolish. Not like she was overly skilled in such a talent, but it was better than doing nothing.
“Only one way out of here girl.” A battered form three cells across from her called over. There were several others, but most were sleeping, or maybe even dead in their cells.
“Had to try, right?” She slumped back down.
His chuckle was void of emotion. “Yeah, we all do, but even if you got out, you’d never make it out of here alive.”
“I did once before.”
This time his chuckle had mirth in it. “Of course, you did, girl, of course, you did.”
“I wonder if someone will come to save me,” she sighed. No one was coming for her, she was on her own. She would find a way; she had to.
“If they do, can I tag along?” he asked.
“Sure, why not?”
Everett and three cannibal guards walked into the large carved rock room where prisoners were being housed. The smell nearly overwhelmed him, but the three guards hardly seemed to notice. He eyed all the cages until they locked on the one he was looking for.
“Hope they are treating you well,” he teased, with little mirth behind it.
Auska glared at him with disgust. “Better this than your company.”
“You wound me,” he tapped his chest, “but enough of the formalities. I have a deal for you, one that might interest you greatly.”
“Only thing that would interest me right is you stepping into the pit with me and let me show you how pathetic you really are in front of a crowd!”
“That would be quite the feat, but I think I can do you one better. How would you like your freedom?”
She rolled her eyes. “Because I am going to believe you would be so generous.”
“Regardless of what you choose to believe, I am telling the truth. I have arranged a ‘contest’ if you will. One that, if you win, will see me with far more then you could bring me. I am a businessman first; a cruel, heartless slaver second.”
“You tell me this as if I have a choice.”
His grin was wicked. “You do… well, kind of. You could just die in spite of it, then I will lose a great deal. See, if you lose, all the slaves I have in my possession right now will, well, become food. So, your friends from Sanctuary will all suffer for your loss. Now I know you claim to not care, and I almost believe you, so I sweetened the deal by giving you your freedom. You win and you walk away from here, with weapons and supplies to see you on your way for a good while. You have my word.”
Auska wanted to throw herself at the cage wall, to lash out at him, grab him and slam him into the barbed wire, but she knew he was too far away and it would only injure her more.
“Since I don’t have a choice, I might as well know what this ‘contest’ is.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.” He clapped his hands excitedly. “You will have to win three fights. Don’t worry, I am kind enough to ensure you will g
et breaks in-between.”
“Who will I be fighting?” She was not keen on the prospect of fighting three different times, but there was nothing she could do about it… except win!
He shrugged his massive shoulders. “You get to pick your first fight from his warriors, I will pick the second, and he will pick the final, should you make it that far.” He reached into his jacket and handed her a bottle of water and a large cut of dried meat. “I need you to have your strength up for this.”
She eyed the food suspiciously.
“Don’t worry, it’s deer, not human. I’m not sick like them,” he told her, knowing what she had to be thinking. He stared hard at her, feeling her hatred towards him, which he understood. How could he not? “Look, girl, do this, and live until the end and you will have what you want.” He stepped back, eyed her again. “Do not disappoint me.” With that, he left.
Auska grabbed the water and food and ate it quickly. There was no choice here; she would have to fight soon and to survive she needed any advantage she could get. Even if it had been human meat, she would have eaten it.
Glaring at the doorway where she had watched him leave, she spat. “I will fight and I will win, but I already promised you death and I will make sure that happens before this is over.”
Auska was forced down the torch-lit tunnels. Ahead of her, she could hear what sounded like rushing water, but knew it was the roaring of a hundred cannibals baying for blood; her blood… her flesh. They will have blood, but it won’t be mine, at least not the last of it, she told herself firmly as fear crept into her with each step. Survival in the wastelands was one thing. This… this was something else entirely. This was demonic and base in the worst way humanly possible.
As she was pushed along, she remembered vague memories of these very tunnels and knew one of them led to the secret entrance at the top of the cliff face they had used to escape over a decade before. She couldn’t for the life of her remember which turn off it had been, but then again, she had left a small mark on the walls near the floor; she looked for those marks now but saw nothing. The years had likely worn them away long ago.
What Remains (Book 2): What's Left Page 13
