Hob had been pushed to his knees, his arms raised over his head and lashed to a thick branch that ran across his shoulders, effectively shackling him to the wood. His head was bowed and blood hung in long scarlet drips from his nose.
“Rache!” Else stepped out of the trees and shouted above the angry voices. Joel followed her, standing beside her and regarding the noisy strangers with open curiosity.
The arguing died out and Rache nodded at Else, the blade of her salvage weapon resting over her shoulder.
“What’s going on here? Why is Hob tied up?” Else asked.
The tumult of voices flared again. Else raised her hands, motioning them to silence. “Rache, tell me. Everyone else, just shut up.”
“Hob attacked Anna. So now we’re gonna kill him,” Rache announced. The holders started shouting and Rache turned on them, yelling her own anger in their faces.
“Shut up!” Else yelled. “Who is Anna?”
“I’ll show you.” Rache pushed through the crowd. Else followed, the people parting to allow her passage. Under a rough shelter a woman knelt, skin stained dark with the oil of the engineers, her head bowed.
“Anna?” Else asked, crouching down. The woman looked up, her eyes wet with tears. She shook her head and pulled a blanket back, showing a girl, her naked body bruised and battered. Else had read of young women being described as ripe fruit. Anna wasn’t ripe. She had a lot of growing to do before she would be more than a girl whose body was changing with the onset of puberty.
“Is she dead?” Else asked.
The woman shook her head. “She’s just gone away,” the woman whispered. Her voice cracked as she reached out and stroked a strand of red hair away from the girl’s unblinking eyes.
“He raped her,” Rache said softly. “He said . . . He said she’d had her first bleed so she was ready to breed. We were out looking for food and heard the screaming. By the time we got back, he’d done this to her.”
Else stood up. The eyes of everyone were on her and she didn’t know what they wanted. “What do you want me to do?” she asked the grim faces.
They all spoke at once, their anger and hate raining down like physical blows on Else. She wrapped her arms protectively around the soft cloth carrier that held her baby. He started to grizzle and she slipped the straps off. Sitting cross-legged, she wiped him clean and then fed him.
After a few minutes the people quieted down. Else ignored them until there was silence.
“Don’t all speak at once. One person speaks. Then someone else speaks. The rest of us, we listen,” she said. “Sit down, all of you.” They did, slowly at first; then they all made a space on the ground and sat down.
“You,” Else nodded at a man in the group, an engineer by the painted nature of his skin. “What do you want to say?”
The man stood up immediately. “Kill him!” he shouted, and others echoed the sentiment.
“One person speaks!” Else shouted and the crowd subsided.
“You,” Else indicated another man.
He stood up and looked about. With a shrug he said, “Kill him. We can’t stay here and we can’t lock him up anywhere. What other punishment is enough?”
Instead of exploding into an angry uproar the group simply murmured a mix of assent and disagreement. Else moved the baby to her other breast; he didn’t seem hungry anymore and just moved against her. “Who’s next?” she asked. Two men stood up and one sank back down again, poised to rise when the opportunity presented itself.
“He’s gotta die. You let this sort of shit happen and what next? What about when he kills someone? Feed him to the crew I say!”
The man nodded, agreeing with himself. Sitting down again the next fellow sprang up. “She’s just a kid! You gotta make an example of him and maybe that means killing him. Let’s face it, if we send him away, he’ll just come back and kill us. If you don’t want to kill him, punish him so that he knows what he did was wrong. Make him do hard labor or something.”
Another man shouted without standing up. “He’s got to be killed, make an example out if him. Do it so the next bastard knows what he’s in for!”
A woman stood up. She waited until the voices around her had died down. “Don’t we need him?” she asked. “He kept us together on the ship. Stopped everything falling apart. He hurt that girl and it breaks my heart. But I think we need him.”
A younger woman who sat with the fishermen stood up and put her hand on the holder woman’s shoulder. “He’s hurt Anna and none of us will ever trust him again. I don’t want him to die, but he’s gotta pay for hurting her. What does her mother want?”
The engineers muttering grew in volume. “I say we brand him and then exile him!” one of them shouted.
“Kill him!” another voice demanded.
“What does the girl want? What does her mother want?” Voices around the group picked up on the idea and quickly drowned out those calling for execution.
“Bugger of a situation you’re in,” Joel said, crouching down next to Else.
“I don’t know what to do,” she admitted quietly.
“Maybe you’re gonna need him, for a while at least. Maybe them fellas sayin’ he’s gotta be killed are right. Or maybe them that says he should be turned out on his own, they’re right too.”
The discussion continued; suggestions and arguments were made for a range of punishments. Hob remained silent through it all. The woman who had been tending Anna was brought forward. She shivered and stared at the ground and would pronounce no judgment, only saying, “He hurt my girl. He hurt her so bad.”
The voices calling for Hob’s execution continued. When Joel unpacked the fresh dog meat and started grilling it over the fire, it was agreed to take a break from the discussion to eat.
Else took Joel’s water bag and knelt down in front of Hob. “You haven’t said anything,” she said.
Hob lifted his head. One eye had swollen shut; the dried blood and marks on his face gave him an evol-like appearance.
“Your problem is you think this fuckin’ world is still safe. Y’think that old laws, old ideals and principles apply.
We’re livin’ in the new dark ages. Ain’t nothin’ gonna make a damn bit of difference now. Not in your lifetime and sure as fuck not in mine.”
“What would you do, if they asked you to pass judgment?” Else asked, tipping water into Hob’s mouth. He drank greedily and panted a bit before replying.
“I’d fuckin’ congratulate me on seein’ the bigger fuckin’ picture. You think that being nice and talkin’ about shit is gonna save the human fuckin’ race?” Hob stretched his neck against the branch that pressed down on his shoulders.
“I’ll fuckin’ tell ya what. If you don’t get every fuckin’ one of these cunts bred, we’re fuckin’ extinct.”
“She’s just a child. It wasn’t about breeding a woman. It was about you forcing yourself on her.”
“Forcin’ myself?” Hob chuckled and spat blood on the dirt. “Ya shoulda seen the way she’s been lookin’ at me. Hot little cunt like that, she wanted it. Sayin’ I attacked her is just engineers talkin’ shit.” Hob shuffled forward on his knees and whispered, “She fuckin’ loved it.”
Else set the water bag down, Hob’s sudden erection pressing against her thigh. She lifted her gaze, staring him in the eyes, smiling gently. She slid her hand around his pulsing shaft, moving her grip down until she cupped his swollen testicles and Hob grunted and pushed forward against her wrist.
“I read a book once, it said that scars are what remind us that our past is real,” Else murmured, her hand working Hob up and down.
“Yeah . . .” Hob said with a satisfied grin. “Thas’ right. We all got scars. So she’ll be a bit more careful next time. She’ll get over it.”
“There are those who say that you are an asset, so you can’t be lost. There’s those who say that you are dangerous and should be killed. Trust is going to be important in a group like this and what happens if your kind of
thinking gets passed on through the genes. I know an expert on selective breeding and I’m sure she would agree.” Else spoke softly, her voice as much of an arousing caress as the steady motion of her hand.
Hob’s eyes fluttered closed as his mouth opened in a deep groan. Whatever visions of sexual conquest he was seeing behind his eyelids were riding the sensation of Else’s smooth stroking driving him towards a climax.
She watched his face, felt the convulsion of his orgasm and felt the hot splash of his fluids on her arm. In that moment where he was completely lost in the fire of his masculinity, she swept a knife up behind his ball sack and with firm pressure and an upward slicing motion she severed everything. Hot blood sprayed, painting her shirt and face. Else raised her hand, showing Hob his wilting manhood, now lying across her palm. The shock drained the blood from his face and his next breath was already a scream.
Chapter 4
“Carrying him will slow us down,” Joel warned. Else shrugged. Hob’s screams had only stilled when he fainted from shock and blood loss. The engineers and holders had moved quickly, responding to Else’s command to put pressure dressings on the wound. She needed him to live and recover, to be a walking example of the law of the group. If he didn’t die of an infection, then he might well serve a purpose.
They sat together under the trees, the rest of the group sleeping or sitting close together engaged in murmured conversations.
Else waved a fly away from her baby’s face as he slept in the space made by her crossed legs. “I have medicine and books at my house. We can keep him alive.”
“You got a powerful hate for this fella, aye?” Joel asked.
“Hate? No. I just compromised.”
Joel nodded before saying what was on his mind. “If you want to keep him alive, maybe you shouldn’t have cut his cock off?”
“He’ll live,” Else said. “I’m going to make sure of it.”
Rache approached, a grease-splattered banana leaf with thick slices of dog meat steaming on it. “I thought you might be hungry,” she said, offering the leaf plate to Else.
Else thanked her and ate quickly, the copper taste of fresh blood mixing with the strong game taste of the cooked meat.
“If you lead this lot back past your place, I’ll go and find some stuff that might help him live long enough to get you what you want.”
“I don’t want anything from him,” Else said, licking her fingers.
“Yeah, you want him to suffer,” Joel replied and stood up. “I’ll look for youse along the track to the house. If I’m not back by the time you get there, wait.”
“Thanks,” Else said. Joel nodded and vanished into the trees.
Rache came back and sat down carefully, as if waiting for Else to lash out with a knife at any moment. “Everyone’s wondering who that guy was,” she said.
“His name is Joel, he’s with Lowanna’s family, they’ve gone on walkabout. So he can take us to them.”
“What are we going to do then?” Rache looked nervous as she asked the question.
“I don’t know,” Else sighed. “You’re the leader, you tell me.”
“I’m not the leader. You made everyone think about Hob and what he had done. You . . . cut him.”
“I never asked to be the leader. I just want to go home and look after my baby.”
“On the ship, when there was a baby that the crew didn’t take, everyone helped. You can’t look after a baby on your own.”
The fresh memory of the dog sniffing her baby flashed in Else’s mind. She shivered and stared down at the tiny form wrapped in a blanket, sleeping against her legs.
“As long as they know I’m not in charge. I don’t want to tell people what to do.”
“If I ask, would you tell me? Help me be like you, so I can lead them and they will follow?” Rache shot a glance at Else, who nodded.
“Sure, I’ll be your advisor, but you can wear the crown.” Else scooped up the baby and cradled him against her chest. “We should get moving, while there is still daylight.”
Rache stood up. Moving amongst the group she touched shoulders as she passed, quietly encouraging them to stand up and get ready to move. Else watched as the holders, the engineers, and the fishermen responded. Rache would be a good leader. She just needed to be more confident about it.
Else stood up, falling into step at the back of the group. Rache glanced back regularly and Else indicated the direction with a casual gesture. Hob lay on a rough stretcher of lashed branches. Four people carried him, and he slipped in and out of consciousness as they made their way through the trees.
The people shied away from Else, giving her a personal space that she enjoyed. Even Cassie, who normally wanted to chat incessantly about baby things, ducked her gaze and stayed well away.
The journey to Else’s house in the forest took them until after dark. Else emptied her food supplies and they ate tinned fruit, vegetables, and dried meat stew, and the older ones spoke of long lost things like bread and peanut butter.
Joel came sauntering out of the darkness and crouched by the fire. Warming his hands in the glow he accepted a bowl of stew and, between bites, confirmed that Billy and Sally’s people had made camp and would wait for Else’s group to catch up.
“Good day’s walk for this lot, I reckon,” he replied when asked how far it would be.
Joel prepared a poultice of honey and leaf paste, which was applied hot to Hob’s wound. He bit through the stick jammed between his teeth as a gag against the pain. Else also administered a handful of pills from her scavenged stock, some crumbling from age, but they seemed to ease his suffering and Hob drifted into sleep.
Rache, Eric, Joel, and Else talked together as the camp settled down for the night. “Where are Billy and Sally going on this walk of theirs?” Else asked.
“Wherever. They hunt, move around, see new stuff and check in on sacred places,” Joel shrugged.
“I want to take them with us, all of us, and go to Mildura,” Else announced.
“Mildura?” Joel scratched his beard. “That’s a way down the road, aye?”
“We can find horses, or maybe some vehicles, fuel, that sort of thing. I once drove a steam train from Port Germein to Pimba.”
“Steam train?” Joel’s eyes crinkled over his grin. “I reckon you must’ve too.”
Else smiled at the memory. “I was much younger then.”
“My people are used to walking. We see more that way and usually get where we want to go,” Joel said.
“My people have been living on a ship for the last ten years. They aren’t used to walking long distances,” Rache said.
“Lot of horse riding happen on that ship?” Joel asked. Rache flushed, “Of course not, but if we can find vehicles, we can make them go.”
“You piss petrol then?” Joel asked.
Eric gave a cough. “I can brew something that should work for fuel. If I can find the right ingredients.”
Else spoke up. “There’s vehicles everywhere, plenty of farms around here with trucks and cars. Lots of garages and sheds. Keeps them protected from the elements.”
Joel didn’t look convinced, but Rache and Eric nodded their approval.
“What’s in Mildura?” Rache asked.
“Friends,” Else said. “A doctor. Technically she’s a geneticist. She has this plan to rebuild the human race by selective breeding.”
“What?” Eric asked.
“The important thing is that she is building a community. A safe place, where people can come together and work together. Grow food and live in peace.”
“What about the dead?” Rache asked.
“Peace is a state of mind. We can work for it if we want it badly enough,” Else replied.
“The dead will always be a problem. They don’t decay, they don’t change. They just want to kill and feed,” Eric said.
“Which means we just learn to live with them,” Rache declared and stretched until her shoulders popped.
“
If you mean we learn to destroy every last one of them, then I agree,” Else said.
“Goes without sayin’,” Eric piped up.
“I always dreamed that there would be a place, somewhere in onland, that would be safe. Where the crew could never reach us,” Rache said.
“One day,” Else said. “One day we can make a place like that. We have to do a lot of fighting and a lot of killing to make it. Lot of people are going to die. Lot of people are going to lose everything.”
Rache reached out and took Else’s hand in both of hers. “Tell me it will be worth it,” she pled.
“If you want a peaceful future badly enough, you’ll do anything to make it happen,” Else replied.
“I want it,” Rache confirmed.
“We can start tomorrow.” Else stood up, lifting her son and carrying him inside. Lying down on the bed, she fell asleep with his baby noises cooing against her neck.
Chapter 5
The rain came again before dawn, waking Else instantly and the baby a few moments later as the clouds opened and the water thundered down on the shingle roof.
Else dressed: jeans, boots, two layers of shirts, and an old oilskin coat with the hood pulled up over her head. The survivors had scrambled up when the rain started falling. They hunched miserably under the trees, nothing to protect them from the rain except a few scraps of cloth.
Joel stood in the rain, face turned up, mouth open, occasionally gulping like a dark-skinned fish. With the baby protected and her knapsack packed, Else sheathed her weapons and pulled the door shut on her house again. There might be no coming back to this place. She would miss her home, this place that had sheltered her during the long months alone while the baby grew inside her.
“Let’s go,” Else said and Rache jumped to rouse the others.
“Come on you lot, you’ll get just as wet sitting here as you will walking. There’s places to go and we can find shelter somewhere down the road.”
The group stumbled to their feet, grumbling about stiff muscles and hunger. Hob had survived the night. “He’s healing, going to be awhile though,” Joel said as he redressed Hob’s wound.
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