by Jason Keizer
Mercy’s face lights up. “I am great dad. How are you?”
He takes his hands off of hers and grabs a menu. “I am good. Just traveling the road and doing my bartering with people. Same as always. Not much changes on the roads. A couple Arctics, here a few assholes there.”
Al walks up to the table and says, “Hello sir. Is there anything you or Mercy would like to eat?”
Mercy hands Al the menu. “You already know what I want. As for him, he will take a rare steak and a couple eggs, sunny side up. Also, some tea for me.”
Al writes the order down. “Got it. Rare steak and eggs, sunny side up for the sir, and eggs benedict for the lady.” He turns to the man and asks, “Anything to drink for you?”
Mercy’s father hands over his menu. “Water will be just fine for me. Thank you.”
Al takes the menu. “Thank you. That will be out shortly.” He turns and stuffs his pen back into his pocket on his way to the kitchen.
Mercy’s father turns his head back to her and says, “I don’t remember seeing eggs benedict on the menu.”
“Oh, it’s not. I’m just special.”
“Yeah, that’s what I used to say about you to your mother.” A large smile fills his face. “I even thought they would bring the short bus out for you.”
Mercy gives him a small kick under the table. “Dad, you know I was only special because in sixth grade I was smarter than you. It’s not very easy growing up living like I am Sam, is it?”
Through a bit of laughter, he asks, “So, what is new with you? Why did you need to get into one of the lockers?”
“I needed something for Sam. I am having him work on something for us.” She folds her arms in front of her chest.
“For you and the doctor, I presume.”
“Yup, and sorry for roughing up your clerk.”
“It’s no problem. I gave him a little bonus cash, and he is fine now. Just try not to threaten or rough anyone up next time, ok. So, is this thing you are having Sam work on something I can help with?”
“No, we have it handled,” she shrugs her shoulders, “Just a problem that will be fixed shortly.”
“Well, with Sam’s help it sure will be. I just don’t like you working with him. He may be great with computers, but he is one shithead of a guy.” He lets out a small chuckle.
She smirks. “I know he is. But there is nothing for you to worry about.”
“Well, I do worry. You are all I have since your mom... You know. I just wish I could spend more time with you.” He reaches back over and covers her hands with his.
“Dad, don’t worry about it. I know things are a bit complicated right now.”
“Yeah, they are. Rumors on the other side of the river have been running rampant. Even heard that Matheson guy is out there again.”
Mercy slides her hands out from his and puts them on her lap. “Word really does travel fast. What are they talking about James for?”
“They say he used to be a captive of theirs,” he shakes his head, “but got away. Then they whisper about something coming after him. No idea what though. Whatever it is, no one seems to want to talk about it.”
“It is nothing to worry about. He is just on a mission.” Her face lightens up a bit. “You need to be more careful though. Rumors run around here as well and they say you are making a little black market in the world now. Well, at least for that stupid name you call yourself.”
“Vidar is not a stupid name. It is the name of a great God from the old world.”
“You and your weird history. You and James would get along talking about that kind of old world stuff. Besides, a name like that isn’t going to save you from getting caught.”
“I know, that is why I keep my distance. You do have to admit, being on the road has allowed me to find some very nice things that some are willing to buy.”
“But selling them and not turning them in is the problem. So be careful. Not everyone you deal with is such a stand-up person such as yourself.”
“Safety is number one, my dear. Besides, most of the time people are happy to see me. Plus, as far as I know, most people here have no idea who I am and think I just deliver food.”
Al walks up with two plates and sets them on the table. He places water in front of Mercy’s father and a cup of tea in front of Mercy. “I hope you enjoy,” he says.
Mercy and her father both say, “Thank you.” and start to eat.
TWENTY ONE
Everyone is sitting in the conference room, eating. A large projection screen on the far wall that has four images from the outside cameras on it. Three of the images show Arctics surrounding the compound, just standing a few feet from the walls. The last camera shows empty train tracks in the distance.
At the table, James sits at the head, near the door, facing the projection on the wall. To his left is Oliver, then Captain Hammer. To his right, Henry and Jessica. There are a couple of open cans of soups, a few opened MRE bags, and a computer hard drive in a gray bag on the table.
James leans forward and grabs the hard drive and asks, “So, this is really what we are after?”
Captain Hammer puts his index finger up as he tries to hurry up and chew his food. He forces the food down with a large swallow and says, “Yes it is. On that is the coding needed for the rest of the system to work. From what I understand is that we have a few HMMWVs and trucks outfitted with the dishes and the rest of the components, but they need the software from that.”
Oliver looks at the hard drive in James’ hand and adds, “At least it looks like it is a solid-state drive. That saves us a little bit of the hassle of making sure it doesn’t get a plate scratched. Makes it easier on keeping it safe, but with the conditions at hand, we shall see.”
Captain Hammer nods as he reaches down by his feet and grabs a small box. “I’m not the best with computers, but Sergeant Dunham was able to hook it into a computer and run a check on it. It came back with no errors, so we should be good on that front. Plus, this Pelican case should work perfectly for it. I had to cut out some foam from another one, so it fits snug in it now. Should be able to kick this thing down the stairs and still be fine.”
Oliver turns his attention to the can of chili in his hand and asks, “So, this is what you guys have been living off of? Expired canned goods and vending machine food?”
Captain Hammer nods his head as he shovels some food into it. “Yes sir. Most of the food in the kitchen is rotten. So, it’s mostly just this left. Most people don’t realize that most canned food can last a good bit longer than its expiration date. Just gotta make sure it looks and smells fine before digging in. Not the best way to live, but will definitely ensure you do.”
Sergeant Dunham laughs and says, “Yeah, took him a day or two to figure that one out. Which reminds me, do not go to the bathroom on B2. It’s been a few weeks, but that smell is never going away.”
Captain Hammer glares over to her. “Yeah, I kinda had to learn the hard way about that.”
Jessica turns to James and asks, “So, why do you all call each other by your first names and not your last? Henry told me you all are former military. Did you all know each other before the world went to shit?”
James sets down a gray bag with a spoon sticking out of it. “Yeah. We used to be in the Army. All of us were in Special Forces together, on the same team. Once we all decided to get out, a few years before all this shit happened, we figured there was no more need for calling each other by last names. There is a time when some people stop being your Army family and become your real family, and you don’t call family members by their last names.”
Captain Hammer asks, “I didn’t think you guys and the Science Department would be on a mission like this one. Figured you guys would be working on getting tech, not going on a rescue mission.”
Oliver replies, “Well, didn’t you guys come out here to get some tech? Looks like someone messed up somewhere and got our jobs mixed up.”
James looks up at the scree
n and sees a small train of six cars coming to a stop on the tracks. He says, “Hey Oliver, can you make that full screen and zoom in a little bit.”
Oliver grabs a small tablet sitting in front of him and starts to press some buttons. “Yeah, I can do that. These cameras may be top of the line, but it is zoomed out pretty far. So as long as we don’t go much further, we shouldn’t get much, if any, loss of quality. He presses on the tablet a couple more times, and the projection of the video on the bottom left camera becomes full screen. Slowly, it zooms in until it shows the three last rail cars.
The doors on the train cars open. Arctics run out and head towards the building. Behind them, a man climbs up a ladder on the back of the train. He gets to the top and walks to the next car up. As the Arctics get out of view from the camera, four more people start to make their way up the ladder.
“Well, this is new. Normally they unload and leave. I wonder why they are sitting on the top of the train now. And why aren’t the Arctics turning around and running at them?” Captain Hammer says.
Everyone keeps staring at the screen as James replies, “My guess is that they are able to control them somehow. There was a weird box in one of the cars that had a bunch of the Arctics stacked in it as a trap. Maybe they are attracted to something from it. As for the ones up top, best guess is that they are waiting for us. Making sure we don’t get out alive, ya know.”
Two of the men are standing on the train, the other three are sitting with their feet hanging off the side. One of the men standing is on the last car, the other is two cars ahead of him. Everyone sitting is on the car in between them. A sixth man comes into view and makes his way over to the train.
James sits forward in his seat and whispers to himself, “Fuck.”
Henry looks over at him. “What?”
James tells Oliver, “Zoom in some more. I want to see the guy making his way to the train.”
Oliver presses a couple of buttons on the tablet and the camera zooms in a little bit. It shows the top of the last rail cars and the men standing on them. “I can’t go in any further than that. It would just get pixelated and blurry.” Oliver sets the tablets down and looks at the screen. He asks, “Is that guy wearing a top hat?”
James stares at the screen and says, “The Baron.”
The Baron climbs up the ladder and jumps on top of the last train car. The three men sitting down rustle to their feet. All the men stand still, facing the Baron. The Baron takes a couple of steps forward, until he gets about ten feet from the closest man, and stops. He lifts his right hand straight up in the air, takes a puff from the cigar hanging from his mouth, and says, “This is no longer your fight.”
Like lightning, he pulls his sword from his sheath and throws it at the man closest to him. The sword stabs the man in the chest, pierces through his back, and starts to send him flying backward. Before the man can fall back more than a couple of feet, in an instant, the Baron sprints up and grabs the handle of his sword.
As the man continues to fall backward, he slides from the sword being held still by the Baron’s right hand, and falls to the ground. As the Baron exhales, smoke from his cigar envelops the air around his head.
The man two cars ahead yells to the three men standing in between himself and the Baron, “Kill him.”
The men run towards the Baron, pulling out pistols from their waistbands. The man closest to the Baron starts to bring it up to aim. The Baron jumps across the gap in between the two train cars and swings downward with his sword. The sword hits the man on the left, at the base of his neck, slicing through the collarbone. As it slices across his body, it breaks through his ribs with a loud cracking sound. The sword comes out of the man just under his right armpit, bringing with it, a thin red line of blood.
As the Baron lands on the train car, he drops to his left knee. His cane and sword each make a clinking sound as they tap the top of the car. While he starts to look up towards the men in front of him, a small thud sounds as the top part of the man he just cut bounces off the train car and falls to the ground.
One of the other men pushes the standing remains off the car and stands in front of the Baron with a pistol drawn. The man tilts his head a little and says, “Looks like this is no longer your fight now.”
He turns his head around to the men behind him and adds, “All you pussies are so afraid of this guy? He isn’t anything special or to be feared. Shit, in a second he will just be dead.”
As he turns his head back around, the Baron shoots his cane up in his left hand. The skull on the cane strikes the man’s hand, shattering the bones inside it, as he lets off one round. BAM!
The bullet soars through the air, almost striking the brim of the Baron’s hat. As his arm, still swinging from the force of the Baron’s cane, moves above his shoulder, he loses his grip on the pistol. It flies straight up in the air while his arm keeps moving up and then behind his head.
A loud crunch echoes as his shoulder dislocates from its socket. The Baron jumps up and brings his sword out in front of him. The tip of the sword pierces the man’s lower abdomen. As the Baron’s body moves upward into the air, so does his sword move up and through the man’s body.
The sword goes all the way up the man’s abdomen, and as it reaches his head, the Baron pulls it back. The blade barely touches his chin while his chest and abdomen start to split open. The Baron lands on his feet and gives a small bounce of his knees.
The man’s knees buckle as he starts to fall to the side, off of the train. His organs begin to appear through the gaping wound as he falls and splatters on the ground next to the train. The Baron turns his attention away from the falling corpse and towards the next man closest to him.
The man closest to the Baron drops his pistol, falls down to his knees, and closes his hands in front of his chest. He begs, “Please. We will just leave. You don’t have to kill us. We will get out of your way and just let you do what you want.” The man on the car behind him drops to his knees as well to surrender.
The Baron takes two steps forward and stops right in front of the begging man. He takes another puff from the cigar in his mouth. As he breathes the smoke out he says, “No one lives today.”
He swings his sword across his body and through the man’s neck. The man’s arms fall to his sides as a red necklace forms around the skull on his neck. The skull falls to the ground followed by a waterfall of blood.
As the Baron steps to the side, the last man alive starts to scramble to his feet. The Baron slowly slides his sword back into the sheath resting on his back. The man next to him falls forward, his head rolls and drops in between the two train cars. The last man starts to run towards the front of the train.
The Baron slides his trench coat back as his right hand grabs the silver pistol on his hip. He pulls the pistol out and brings it up. BAM! A round soars through the air and makes its way through the running man. It blasts out of his skull, just above his left eye, popping it from its socket. The man falls down and slides halfway down the first train car, as his boot gets stuck on the edge’s lip.
The Baron puts the pistol back into his holster, takes a large puff from his cigar, and slowly walks to the dangling man. He stops when he gets to him and with a swift kick to the stuck foot, sends the man sliding down the rest of the train. The Baron taps his cane on the top of the car a couple of times before lifting his head up to face the building surrounded by Arctics.
Everyone stares at the screen as the Baron stands atop of a train car, facing the building. Jessica gets up from her chair and takes a small step back and quietly says, “What the fuck is that? He just killed all those men, with that speed and force, like it was nothing.” She turns around and faces everyone at the table. She raises her voice, “What the fuck was that?”
Henry stands up, places his hands on her shoulders, and gives her a shake. “Calm down Jess. He can’t get in here.”
Jessica stares into Henry's eyes and nods her head a few times. “He isn’t real. This isn�
�t real,” she says as she takes her seat, and Henry follows suit.
Captain Hammer looks over towards James and Oliver. He leans forward on the table and asks, “Any of you seen some shit like that before?”
James pays no attention to anything in the room as he stares at the screen with the Baron.
Oliver nods his head as he stares at the screen. “Not exactly. I’ve seen James fight like that before though.” He turns his head over to James. “I think it might be about time you tell us about this guy, the Baron.”
James turns to Oliver, but his eyes stay on the screen. After a couple of seconds, his eyes follow suit. James turns and glances at everyone else in the room. They all stare at him as he turns back to Oliver and says, “Yes, I think it would be a good time. But first...”
He stands from his chair. “I need to go and get something. I will be right back.” James walks out of the room.
Captain Hammer watches James walk out, and after the door closes, he asks, “What do you mean you have seen James move like that?”
Henry replies, “Yeah, James can get out of hand at times. Until this, I never thought there was someone as fast or as deadly as him. I can see why this guy freaks him out.”
Captain Hammer quickly replies, “Freaks him out? That thing would freak anyone out. What are we going to do with that thing out there?”
Henry shrugs his shoulders. “Not sure. We will figure that out when the time comes. Until then, we need to worry about our mission.” He puts his hand on Jessica's thigh. “Hey, are you ok?”
She looks away from the screen to him. “Yeah, I just never seen anything like that. Kinda messed me up a bit. It's like watching Jet Li on steroids as the villain in a horror movie.”
Henry chuckles a little bit, looks over to Oliver, and says, “You hear that? What series was Jet Li a badass villain in? I don't think it was Die Hard. Lethal Weapon bro.”
Oliver shakes his head a little bit and replies, “Yeah, but that was the worst one in the series.” Henry replies with a middle finger.
