The Road North

by Phillip D Granath

  Further down the alleyway, Kyle reached the wounded man, he was curled up lying on his side, and gripping at his midsection. Kyle knelt next to him setting his trauma kit down and reached out to the wounded man.

  “It’s going to be okay,” he said.

  In response to Kyle’s words, the prostate man turned his head ever so slightly, and one of his eyes opened. The look in the man’s eye confirmed the fear that had been growing in the pit of his stomach. The man suddenly rolled over, Kyle launched himself backward as he just caught the glint of steel in the man’s hand. The blade narrowly missed Kyle’s midsection, instead, it sliced him across his right forearm. Kyle felt the hot sting of the blade, and then another heat flared to life deep inside of him. His attacker was starting to rise, and without another thought, Kyle’s foot snapped out connecting with his attacker’s jaw. The man fell backward, spitting blood and teeth from his ruined mouth. At that moment the lid of the dumpster flew open, and two more attackers leaped into the fray.

  At the mouth of the alley, Coal’s head came up at the sound of the crashing dumpster lid, his struggle over the stretcher momentarily forgotten.

  “Kyle!” he shouted.

  In the next moment, the bounty-hunter's years of dangerous living saved his life. On instinct alone he threw himself backward, creating space between him and the man in rags, and the knife slash that he never saw coming narrowly missed his neck. Coal turned his head meeting his attacker’s eyes again, and a broad smile spread across the bounty-hunter’s face.

  “You done fucked up now,” Coal said with joy.

  A look of terror spread across the man’s face, and his eyes fell to the saber, and knife Coal wore on his belt, but the bounty-hunter reached for neither. Instead, Coal raised the stretcher in both hands and darting forward smashed one of the wooden poles into the man’s face. The man in rags staggered back stunned and Coal stepped forward again, snapping the stretcher around quickly and knocking the knife free from the man’s grasp. Having lost his weapon, the man’s courage left him as well, and he turned to flee. Unfortunately for him, Coal let his bloodlust wash away what little self-control he had left. The half-breed swung the stretcher, striking the man on the lower back and sending him crashing forward onto his face. Coal stepped forward, straddling over the man and set the length of the stretcher down across the back of the man’s neck, pinning him down.

  “I just want you to know, that I don’t take any of this personally and I just hope you feel the same,” Coal said grinning.

  “Please, let me go,” the man begged.

  “What? And pass up my first opportunity to kill a man with a stretcher? Not on your life,” then Coal paused for a chuckle.

  “Okay, okay, sorry I guess it is on your life. But hey, I was serious when I said it wasn’t personal.”

  With that Coal raised the stretcher and smashed it down as hard as he could against the base of the man’s neck. The first blow let out a sharp crack as his neck snapped, and on the second the man’s last breath bubbled out from between his lips. Coal stepped back, looking from the dead man to the stretcher in his grip and grinning broadly. He turned, hoping Kyle had seen him make his latest kill but found his friend fighting for his life instead.

  “Oh shit, right,” Coal mumbled and ran back towards the wagon.

  Kyle was in a bad way, his newest attackers, a woman with a length of steel pipe and a man with a jagged shiv had him cornered against the dumpster. The woman was standing back and swinging wildly, forcing him to use his already battered medical kit to fend off the blows. The man moved around her, timing his strikes with his improvised knife, trying to catch Kyle between his partner’s swings. The scavenger knew that if something didn’t change quickly, the rest of his life would be measured in mere heartbeats. The man that was lying on the ground was crawling free of the action, and just starting to rise. If he managed to rejoin the fight, then Kyle was a dead man for sure.

  Kyle’s magnum rode in his shoulder holster, its weight tempting him to reach for the gun, but Kyle knew the moment he dropped the trauma kit his attackers would strike. He would never have the time to clear leather and to kill both of them. He darted to his right raising the kit to intercept a blow from the pipe and decided to risk it, but with his left hand. Awkwardly, he reached for the gun, but the movement forced him to lean to his left and seeing his opportunity, the man with the knife struck low. Kyle threw himself backward, his back striking the alley wall which was the only thing that kept him upright. At the same moment, his left leg struck out and batted away the jagged blade. Behind them, the first man finally regained his feet and retrieving his knife he moved to rejoin the attack.

  “Coal!” Kyle shouted in desperation.

  As if in answer to a prayer, thunder rocked the narrow alleyway. Faster than his eye could follow Kyle watched as the man with the knife’s head exploded in a spray of blood and his body crumpled to the ground. The eyes of both Kyle and his attackers turned to look down the alley and found Coal racking another round into the chamber of his .30-06 rifle. The woman took a step back and without another look at Kyle turned and ran. The man’s reaction was the opposite, he dove for Kyle, his jagged blade aimed for the scavenger’s guts and the two men collapsed to the ground struggling. Kyle dropped the trauma kit, trying to keep both of his hands on his attacker’s knife hand. As his blade drove towards Kyle’s throat, the man started punching the scavenger in the stomach, desperately trying to break his will. Kyle held on, taking every blow, he knew that Coal would be running down the alley, coming to help him, all he had to do was hang on.

  Then a second shot echoed down the alley proving Kyle wrong. The bullet whizzed between Kyle and his attacker, narrowly missing both of them. The round struck the side of the dumpster next to the struggling men, another inch to the left and the bullet would have gone right through the sheet metal, but instead it struck the dumpster thick lifting bracket. Both Kyle and his attacker were peppered with hot pieces of the fragmented bullet. By sheer luck alone, Kyle’s attacker caught the worst of it as hot steel tore into the right side of his face, including his eye. The man screamed, releasing his blade and staggered backward, he turned and fell once before rising to his feet and trying to escape down the alley. In shock Kyle looked down at himself, small spots of blood marked his left arm and the side of his face, for the moment at least he couldn’t tell if the blood belonged to him or his attacker. Then Kyle looked up at the mark where the bullet had struck the dumpster, not four inches from his face. The sound of running feet drew Kyle’s eye as Coal ran down the alley toward him, his rifle now slung, and his saber in hand.

  “Coal?” the scavenger said.

  “One-minute buddy, not done quite yet.”

  The bounty-hunter almost ran past Kyle, but then suddenly pulled up short. Sheathing his saber Coal bent down and scooped up the battered trauma kit.

  “I’m going to borrow this for a minute, but I promise, I’ll bring it right back,” Coal said with a laugh.

  “No wait,” Kyle shouted, just beginning to regain his senses.

  But the half-breed ignored Kyle’s plea and ran further down the alley, chasing after the half-blind attacker. The dumpster blocked Kyle’s view, so on unsteady feet he tried to stand, only to quickly relent and was instead forced to lean against the dumpster. From down the alleyway, he could hear the sound of a scuffle as he assumed, Coal caught up with his prey. Kyle carefully pulled himself down the length of the dumpster until he was able to peer around the corner and see for himself.

  The blinded attacker was down, lying flat on his back with Coal now straddling him. The bounty-hunter held the trauma kit in both hands and was now mercilessly smashing the plastic box across the man’s head and face. The wounded man struggled in vain, his face a mask of blood, as the plastic box cracked and shattered a bit more with each blow.

  “Coal, Coal stop, please!” Kyle shouted.

  If Coal heard his friend’s shouts through his blood fueled frenzy, he didn�
�t respond. The half-breed continued to pound the plastic box against the helpless man’s face. The attacker turned victim tried to rise one more time, only to have his Coal’s next blow bounce the back of his head against the concrete and the dying man finally went still. But Coal wasn’t done, he took a breath and then arching his back smashed the box against the helpless man’s head as hard as he could, once and then again. On the second blow, Kyle heard a sharp crack, and he couldn’t help but cringe, certain the man’s skull had caved in. But when Coal’s hands came back up, they held just pieces of the now shattered medical kit. He paused then, looking down at his blood-soaked hands and the ruined pieces of plastic they now held.

  “Fuck!” he shouted.

  “Coal?” Kyle called out again.

  “In a minute,” came his reply.

  The bounty-hunter casually tossed away what little remained of the ruined box and then picking up a particularly jagged piece of broken plastic from the bloody concrete, he raised it to the unconscious man’s throat. Kyle looked away for a moment, suddenly feeling light-headed, when he glanced back he found Coal sawing away at the dead man’s throat. Fresh waves of blood now spraying across the half-breed’s face and chest, and through it all, Coal laughed.

  Kyle turned away, his knees felt weak, and he allowed himself to slowly slide down the dumpster until he crouched in a near fetal position. For how long he sat there he couldn’t say, as Kyle allowed his mind to wander free from the bloody scene. Sometime later Coal was standing over him, and for a heartbeat, Kyle felt a flash of fear. When he looked up into Coal’s face, would he see his friend there or the blood-crazed killer?

  “Kyle? You okay?” Coal asked.

  Kyle blinked, Coal’s voice seemed to be coming from far away and when he looked up at his friend and the world seemed to sway with the motion. The half-breed was covered in blood, it coated his chest and his face. He held up his hands still fresh with gore to show Kyle what remained of the broken trauma kit.

  “I think I owe you a new tackle box,” he said.

  Kyle nodded, but for some reason, Coal’s words meant nothing to him. The bounty-hunter's eyes narrowed and were suddenly filled with concern.

  “Hey buddy, you okay?” he asked.

  Kyle blinked in confusion, again unsure of Coal’s meaning. Then he looked down, following the bounty-hunter’s gaze. The three small spots of blood that had adorned his left arm had grown it seemed. The entire length of his left sleeve was now soaked in blood and was dripping into a crimson pool around him.

  “Don’t move,” Coal ordered, “I’ll get the…shit.”

  The bounty-hunter glanced down at what remained of the shattered trauma kit in his hands and then tossing them aside turned and began to run back towards the ambulance.

  “Be right back!” he shouted.

  Kyle stretched his hand out after him, “Wait, stop, please.” he murmured.

  Then the scavenger tried to rise, suddenly feeling desperate to follow after Coal, but not exactly sure why. Kyle leaned forward, the edges of his world grew dark, and he pitched forward into unconsciousness.

  .

  A Reckoning

  Kyle came awake sometime later, and it took him a moment to realize he was in his own bed. The room was dark, the light from the clinic was spilling in through the curtain and filled the room with shadows. The scavenger started to rise and then a hand on his chest gently pushed him back down.

  “Go back to sleep, you need your rest,” Anna said.

  Kyle looked down at her, just able to make out her swollen form in the darkness.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “I was hoping you would be able to tell me that.”

  Kyle shook his head, and the images of blood and violence came flooding back to him.

  “I think I kinda got shot,” he replied.

  “Well, that would explain the shards of steel that I dug out of your arm. Coal carried you in, you were the one that was bleeding, but he looked like he had been bathing in blood. I had several patients take one look at him and walk out. What in the hell happened out there?” Anna demanded.

  Kyle took a breath, his fingers tracing the line of fresh stitches across his arm.

  “We got jumped, I’d be dead if it weren’t for Coal.”

  “Jesus and one of them took a shot at you?”

  “Yeah, something like that,” Kyle replied, as he stood.

  “Your wounds weren’t that deep, you were lucky. In fact, I’m a bit surprised that you lost consciousness at all,” Anna said.

  Kyle found his spare shirt and pulled it on in the dark.

  “What happened out there?” she asked again.

  Kyle stepped into the doorway and without looking back replied, “I think maybe Coal has spent a little too much time in town.”

  The scavenger walked out into the clinic and then down the hallway and out of the double doors. It was dark outside, and as he expected, Coal had the cooking fire lit. The half-breed sat beside the fire wearing a fresh shirt and stirring at the coals absently, Kyle walked over to join him. He stood beside the fire for a moment and looking down the bounty-hunter glanced up to meet his eyes. Coal smiled at him as if nothing had happened, as if they were just sharing another evening around the campfire.

  “Why don’t you sit down before you fall down,” Coal offered.

  Kyle nodded and then sat down in a folding chair across from Coal.

  “How are you feeling?” the half-breed asked.

  “How am I feeling? How are you feeling?” Kyle replied.

  “I don’t follow,” Coal replied.

  “You lost it out there today. You took it to far,” Kyle blurted, anger rising in his voice.

  “I took it as far as it needed to be taken. Those fellas started it, all I did was end it, that’s all.”

  “You don’t think what you did was wrong? You don’t think, that just maybe, you made a mistake out there today?” Kyle demanded.

  “I did make a mistake, but it wasn’t today. It was when I let the slimy little fuck plating possum get away last time,” Coal said with a nod.

  “Last time? You mean this isn’t the first time those guys have jumped you?”

  “Just the one, I killed the other two he had with him before. I let that guy one, I guess I figured maybe he would learn his lesson. I guess all he learned was to avoid the night shift,” Coal replied.

  Suddenly things clicked into place for Kyle. Usually, during the day, he would have made the run himself with perhaps the help of one of Anna’s volunteer nurses. It was only the fact that he wanted to talk to Coal about Miles that he had forced the half-breed to come along with him today. Those men expected to catch Kyle alone, to kill him and steal the buggy, and Kyle held no doubt that they would have succeeded if Coal hadn’t been there to intervene. The scavenger took a breath, and his anger subsided, how could he accuse Coal of being too violent, when that very violence had saved his life?

  “Why didn’t you say anything about being attacked before? Why is this the first I’ve heard about it?” Kyle asked.

  Coal shrugged still staring into the flames, “At first it didn’t seem like that big a deal. Just the world we live in, at least that’s the way I see it, and…well...”

  “You didn’t want us to know you were selling the bodies,” Kyle offered, another piece falling into place.

  “Not selling, it’s all barter now, remember?” Coal said, shooting Kyle a quick grin.

  “And if you said anything, we would have made a pair of Black Jackets ride along with you. That would have cut into your bartering, wouldn’t it?”

  “Those boys in black would have just slowed me down anyway, been more trouble in a fight than they were worth,” Coal pointed out.

  “Like me today?”

  Coal shook his head, “Hell no Pale face, I know you can hold your own in a fight. Hell, you can be downright scary when your blood is up, I know, I seen it. It’s just that sometimes, well, you like to play catch a
nd release.”

  “Yeah, I do, when I can. It’s called giving people a second chance.”

  “Yeah, I know, I tried it. The last fella I gave a second chance to used it to nearly gut you today. I won’t make that mistake again,” Coal said with a nod.

  Kyle paused letting the words hang between them and considering his next very carefully. He and Anna hardly spoke anymore, they were all but strangers sharing the same space. Miles had grown distant, focusing on his pump and his theories about the alien machine that had nearly killed them. Anyone else that Kyle may have once considered a friend had been killed by Murphy in their failed attempt to flee across the desert. For maybe the first time, Kyle considered that perhaps Coal was his best friend, maybe his only friend. A man that had forged a name for himself through blood and violence, a man that seemed to be growing more unpredictable and more dangerous with each passing day.

  “Coal, have you considered that this place, that living here in town may not be the best thing for you?”

  The half-breed didn’t respond. Instead, he pulled the plastic flask from his back pocket and took a long pull of the dark liquid inside.

  Then Coal’s eyes settled on Kyle, and he asked quietly, “And just where would you have me go?”

  “Well obviously you can’t go back to the Nation, but there's a lot of places you could make your own out there. Then come back into town, when you needed too, you know to barter and whatever,” Kyle offered.

  “I’ve considered it Pale face, I really have. But the thing is…I’m afraid,” Coal said, then took another drink.

  “Fuck you, you aren’t afraid of anything. Remember, I watched you stare down an alien kill-bot thing and fucking laugh in its face.”

  Coal gave a quick chuckle, “Yeah, that was a hell of a day, I’ll give you that. Fucking Wally 2.0, from hell. But the thing is, I’m not afraid of dying, that’s bound to happen, sooner or later. I’m afraid that if I leave town, somewhere out there, I’m going to find Two-Steps waiting for me.”