Sid’s eyes flew open.
“What?” Conner shouted, aghast. “Aren’t you going to kill him? Every man living is another mouth, right?” he said, repeating what stood as the mantra and policy of most gangs, and what had stood as Sid’s personal mantra to date.
“No,” Asher shook his head. “I’m not going to kill him.” He turned to eye the others. “And neither will you. We don’t kill unless we have no other choice.”
“I always knew you were weak, Ashhole,” Sid said, flushing.
“You really need to stop pushing your luck, man. Now, I’m going to give you ten seconds to head in whatever the hell direction you want, but you can’t ever come back, get me?” He pressed on his sword to make his point. “Oh, and you don’t get RED. That’s our color now.”
“Alright, alright,” Sid protested as a trickle of blood wound its way down his chest. “I’m outta here.” He stood and brushed himself off, backing away. “Anyone coming with me? Or do you all want to stay with Mr. Peace, Love, and Hope here?”
Asher turned to the others, his sword still drawn, his blood beginning to puddle on the floor. “You know what? Sure. Any of you guys who want to do things Sid’s way, then go right the hell with him. I don’t want to have to put you in your place one by one.”
TinMan stepped forward, ready to die for Sid, but to his dismay, so did Eliot. Somehow Asher hadn’t expected that. He’d been hoping…well, maybe it was actually begging, to keep Eliot safe, but now he was helpless.
“I’m sorry,” Eliot mouthed as they backed away. Asher’s stomach twisted. It didn’t matter that he had shared moments of real kindness with this boy. Reality had no room for kindness.
“This isn’t it for us,” Sid warned.
“Yes, it is,” Asher replied. “A life for a life. I don’t owe you shit now.”
Though he wasn’t surprised, Striker, Hodge, and several others darted after Sid as he headed out the door. Asher turned back to the ones who’d stayed…to his own gang members, he realized. As he met their questioning eyes, he held up his sword, red now with his own blood for the first time. He embraced the sting of victory, the pain of being himself again. “Welcome to your new life, Dragons.”
Conner whistled. “Well, hail to the motherfucking chief.”
A Promise Remembered
I’m sorry, Ginny. I thought taking over would make a difference, but I know in my heart that it didn’t. Even though I kicked out Sid and the others who were truly disgusting, I’m still here…still waiting. I thought I was staying to make the City a better place, but with supplies dwindling, it seems to get more vicious every day.
…I seem to get more vicious every day. With each kill, with each mouth from which my Dragons steal food, I grow dull, like a blade dishonored. So why stay? I know. I hear your voice in my head and feel insane. Do I think my parents are coming for me? That they’re actually still alive? It’s torture to wonder that after almost a year, but somehow, I do. When I close my eyes and reach out to them, I swear, I can feel them reaching out to me.
And so I stay.
And then there’s inertia. It’s holding me here, the “not knowing” if anything better exists. It’s like if I went out into the world and found it was worse, that would be the last blow my heart could take.
But even so, even with all of that holding me here in the midst of the river Styx, I do feel the weight of your promise, and your sacrifice, pulling me to shore. I worry more with each dawn that finds me that it’s one that doesn’t find you or Cassie. That your choice to free me ended up entrapping you. If I believed in prayer, I would pray for you, but it seems that God has deaf ears these days.
Still, I want you to know, Ginny, that I DO promise. I’m not sure when, and I’m not sure how, but one day…I’ll leave this place.
Asher stuffed his journal back into his waistband wishing that he’d actually put the words to paper rather than simply thinking them into the night breeze, as he had every night since he’d taken over. But he wasn’t able to write any more. The words would form in his mind but somehow they would turn to nothingness once his fingers curled around a pen. All this time writing had been his salvation, and yet it too was leaving him now, his humanity fizzing away through a million tiny pinpricks of loss.
And though the ritual tore him to shreds every time he repeated it, he pulled Ginny’s letter from his pocket. He had to unfold it with the utmost care, the edges tattered and fraying as if it were an artifact pulled from an old trunk in an attic, rather than something just months old…something that lived in a filthy pocket, tucked against a failing heart.
“Hey Ash, you up here?” Conner’s silhouette emerged from the doorway and then stopped. “What’s that?” He pointed. “Some kinda family thing?”
Asher bit back a curse, stuffing the letter back into his pocket. None of the Dragons had ever seen this version of him, the one that brooded over the terrible reality of hope undone. “Yeah, something like that.” He straightened, folding his arms. “So, you’re up here bugging me while I plan tonight’s crawl. That’s a weird way of apologizing, if that’s what you’re doing.”
“Damn, man, will you stop riding me for one second? I am sorry. I guess. Sort of. I didn’t mean to freak her out. I just…I dunno. I don’t get how you do it.”
“Do what?”
“Not think about girls, man! Don’t you ever miss them? I get your whole white hat thing, Chief, but don’t you miss sex? I’m fucking dying living in this sausage factory. Oh!” He perked up. “Or maybe that’s why…”
“Don’t even start, Conner. You’re on thin ice with me as it is. YES, I miss girls and sex, and yes, being trapped with you assholes is hardly how I’d prefer to live, given choices. But I’m not going to force myself on a child.”
“I didn’t force myself on her, man,”
“Yeah? Well, from what she said, it was close enough, alright? I was serious about kicking you out if you can’t keep away from her. Jesus, she’s the only decent human being in the group. Don’t fuck that up. I’ll be shocked if she and her father don’t disappear tonight. And Nate’s our best runner!”
“Ok! I get it! How many times am I gonna have to say it? I’m sorry.” He ran his hand through his thick hair, tugging it in frustration. “It’s not like I would’ve considered a 12-year-old fair game in the ‘good old days.’”
Asher sighed, exhausted. Lately, anger was his only respite from depression and even that couldn’t beat the darkness back for long. Despite the fact that Conner was probably always a pig, he also was probably telling the truth. There used to be plenty of girls. They used to be everywhere. Now they were a rarer sight than Halley’s Comet. And though he tried not to think about it, he did miss them.
“Hey, seriously though Ash, I didn’t come to apologize. We gotta go. Stryker says we have a bogie near the store.”
“What?” Asher lunged for the stairs to the warehouse, his feet clanging on the metal. “Why didn’t you say so? It is Deacons? Or Lobos?”
“Dunno.” Conner huffed as they picked up the pace. “The guys just said there’s a shadow that’s been sitting in place for a while, like he’s waiting on someone.”
“Shit.”
They hit the ground running, racing through the defunct refrigeration units toward the stairs leading back up to the main level. The shouts and growls of the agitated Dragon Guard floated their way and Asher’s heart surged, his adrenalin zinging.
“Wait!”
Asher was yanked backward as Conner grabbed his arm.
“Just a second, man. Lemme catch my breath.” He bent, panting, his hands on his knees.
“What?” Asher drew his sword, frustrated. “You said it yourself, we gotta go.”
“You can’t just go running in there. The guys are spooked as it is. You gotta do it calm.”
Asher grimaced, annoyed that Conner had taken it upon himself to serve as his “second.” He couldn’t remember having held a vote for the position. But it was even more infuriating when
Conner was right. He took a deep breath, forcing his heart to slow.
Conner looked up and pointed at him. “I know you meant what you said back there.”
“Which part?”
“The part about the girl being the only decent human being left in the Dragons.”
“Oh.”
“That’s the other reason I stopped you. There’s no point to you rushing up there to help us defend our food and our lives, if you really feel that way.”
“What do you want from me, Conn? You want me to do a happy dance while I hold this mess together?”
“No. I get it. We’re pieces of shit, but we’re your pieces of shit. That sound about right?
“No, that’s not what…”
“…You know what I think? I think you should burn that thing.” Conner poked Asher’s chest, crinkling the letter in his pocket. “Because no matter who you had before, we’re your family now.”
*****************************************************************************
We’re your family now.
The words echoed in Asher’s head, caroming around in the darkness. I think you should burn that thing… …We’re your family now. The drumbeat wouldn’t cease, the repetition deafening him until he barely heard what was happening around him…barely felt the sting as the back of his hand connected with the kid’s face.
On some level his conscious mind registered that they’d found a true “bogie,” a kid who no one had seen with any of the other gangs in the Territory. He also registered that the kid was pretty brave, given that he was taking a beating and still refusing to give up his friends. Because he had to have friends. No one traveled alone anymore. No one living anyway.
I think you should burn that thing...
His hand connected with the kid’s face again, splitting his lip. Maybe I should burn the letter, he thought. What if Ginny and Cassie returned? Or even his real family? What if his father and mother came running down the stairs into the darkened grocery store right this second? What would they think seeing him beating some poor kid who was duct-taped to a chair? What would they think when he gave orders to his Guard, ordering them to exile the kid and kill him if he ever came back?
“I’m all ALONE, ok? I swear it!”
The kid spat blood and Asher shuddered, his heart hardening. Conner was right. The Dragons had to be his family now, and he their lead attack dog. There was no other choice. No one will ever want me for anything else.
“Drop your weapons and back away from the boy!”
Asher startled as a slip of a girl popped up from behind the nearest shelves, her gun aimed directly at his head.
“Holy shit!” Conner tensed at his side.
“There you go, Conn,” Asher muttered. “You wanted to see a girl.”
“Not with a gun.”
“Beggars and horses, I guess…”
“What?”
“Nevermind.” Asher turned his attention to the threat with a heavy heart. These negotiations never turned out well. And the appearance of a girl at this point…it was almost more than he could handle. He knew his men would want an outcome he couldn’t stomach. He almost wished she would shoot him.
But as he’d done since the sorry day he’d taken over as the Leader, he did what he had to do. It seemed like a dream or a trance as the girl bargained with him, her gaze never wavering…her voice never faltering. He hadn’t seen that kind of bravery since…well, since Ginny. Which meant that the boy they were interrogating had to be worth as much to her as her own life, or she wouldn’t have taken the risk.
His stomach tightened with…jealousy? Why would he be jealous? He shook it off. Though he tried to keep his focus on the goal of protecting his own men, he found himself hesitating, waiting for her to make the next move. And what a move it was!
When she shot Conner in the hand and insinuated that she’d move on to his “package” next, it took everything in him not to fall to the ground laughing. At the same time he was totally floored by her accuracy and speed. She was straight-up deadly. Who the hell was this freaking girl?
Realizing that the situation was getting out of hand, he gathered himself. “Tell you what. Let’s just start with names…I’m Asher, Asher Grey. I’m the Leader of my Gang, the Dragons, and it’s my responsibility to keep them safe from raiders and outsiders.”
“Ok, fine. I’m Fi Kelly. I’m also the Leader of my Family, and I make sure they’re kept safe as well. I also lead our raids for resources to stay alive.”
His heart seized when she made it a point to use the word family. Whether it was staring down the barrel of this girl’s gun or realizing that she was risking her life to save the boy, his trance was broken. Maybe the Dragons weren’t the only family left, he thought. Maybe there were still decent people out there, people who could fight AND love.
“Ok, Fi,” he said slowly, considering her. “It seems like we have a little stand-off going, and I think that we can fix it with a simple barter…”
His voice cut off as a tumble of shadows poured down the staircase.
“Dragons…” the middle one called, his voice disgustingly familiar. “Come out to plaaaayy…”
Asher’s heart sank, shamed at its momentary stutter of innocence. He should’ve known that there wasn’t an iota of decency left in the world. Because Sid and the Lobos would rip this girl and her friend to shreds. He pulled his sword.
Unless he could stop them.
**********************************************************************************
-- The End
Now What?
Thank you for reading my novella, which is taken from the apocalyptic Eden’s Root Trilogy.
If you’d like to read the rest of the series to find out what happens to Asher, the Dragons, and the Lobos, visit my website: www.rachelefisher.com for links to Amazon and Barnes and Noble, where the full ebook trilogy and hard copies are available for sale. (Links below are only to Amazon Kindle)
The series includes:
Eden’s Root (Book #1 – Eden’s Root Trilogy)
Seeds of War (Book #2 – Eden’s Root Trilogy)
Emergence (Book #3 – Eden’s Root Trilogy)
You may also wish to download the backstory to the Eden’s Root Trilogy, titled The Blight, to find out how “Foodmageddon” actually came to pass.
Dragon Rising: The Untold Story of Asher Grey (Eden's Root Trilogy Book 4) Page 7
