Once Spike had drawn a deep breath and let it out again, he turned to see Matilda watching him. Her anxious expression had eased a little. “How are you feeling?” she said.
“Ready. I’ve trained for this. I’m going to go all the way. You?”
A tilt of her head to the side as if conceding the point. “It has to happen. My mind’s here now and not with Artan. I need to let him grow up. One step at a time, eh?”
“One step at a time.”
The coach driver then brought them to another hard stop. The varnished wooden seat offered little resistance as it threw them both against the opposite wall and then to the floor. “Hey!” Spike shouted. “What the hell are you playing at, you maniac?”
“Shut up,” the driver shouted back, “and get out!”
After he’d dragged himself back onto the seat, Spike waited for Matilda to do the same. No reason to rush now. The driver could wait. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Matilda rubbed her shin. “A little whack, nothing more.” They both picked up their bags before Spike opened the door and led them from the carriage.
Aware of the hard stare from the driver, Spike ignored him, stretched his arms to the sky, and filled his lungs with a deep inhale. “The air seems fresher here.”
“No smells of industry,” Matilda said. “No kilns, no dye, no glaze for the pots.”
“No manure.”
The large gates stood as tall as the wall they were built into. At least twenty feet from the ground, both them and the walls on either side had barbed wire running along the top. The only way through would be with consent.
With everything else going on, Spike had almost forgotten about the coach driver until the man cleared his throat. “Oh,” Spike said, “you want some attention, do you?”
The coach driver stared at Spike while dragging in a heavy snort. He then spat at Matilda.
Fire rushed through Spike and he looked down at the phlegmy lump. Green and wobbly like before. “What’s wrong with you, you fool?”
“How dare you talk to me like that, boy.”
“That nearly hit her!”
“That was my intention.”
“You’re an animal, you know that?”
“And what are you going to do about it, child?”
The gentle touch of Matilda at his back helped Spike relax and he looked at the man’s spit again. “You need to get yourself checked out. That shouldn’t come from a normal body.”
“Driving self-entitled brats like you two around is what’s doing it. It’s bad for my health.”
Spike smiled and shook his head. “You’re not worth it.”
A redder face than before, the coach driver worked his mouth as if he might spit again. If he did, Spike wouldn’t hold back a second time.
“You know,” the coach driver said, “going into national service in love isn’t a wise move.”
As much as Spike wanted to deny it, he didn’t, grinding his jaw while waiting for the man to continue.
The lack of reply appeared to wind the coach driver tighter than before. A sneer lifted his top lip. “I hope I don’t see you two again. I’m sure there are kids more deserving of coming home alive than you.”
Matilda gasped at the man’s venom. As Spike drew a breath to reply, the coach driver snapped his horses’ reins, ran them in a wide circle, and galloped away, leaving Spike and Matilda on their own in front of the large wooden gates.
“What a spiteful man,” Matilda said. “You did well not getting too dragged into it.” She nodded at the gates. “You ready for this?” She led the way.
Two steps later, Spike caught up to her and they walked in the long shadow cast by the huge gates. Spike shuddered. Maybe the temperature hadn’t dropped too much lower, but it sure as hell felt like it.
The height of the gates made Spike dizzy. Sure, he’d climbed the wall to empty the chamber pots plenty of times before, and although the gates weren’t as tall, everyone climbed the wooden structure. Only a select few went through the gates each year and even fewer passed back the other way.
Continuing up the dusty cobblestone road—the saliva in his mouth turning into a thick paste—Spike studied the wall on either side. It had been built by the cadets before them. Some parts were constructed from new bricks straight from the kiln, while other parts were made from all kinds of rocks and stones. The high demands on the kiln meant it would be a long time before it met the city’s needs. A large portion of its output headed through the gates in front of them to help build the external wall. Yet, despite the ramshackle mess of materials used to construct it, the wall on either side of them still looked impregnable. At some point, they’d tear it down when they were ready to extend the city.
Spike watched the gates as they drew closer, expecting something to happen. Nothing did. He raised his hand to knock, but before he could rap his knuckles against the wood, a deep clunk sounded on the other side. A second later, the gates shook as someone opened them, the colossal hinges groaning in protest.
A sound of chains being dragged along the ground came at them, the gates obscuring their view. They grew louder as they ran across the cobblestones with increasing velocity. It sounded like a tethered dog charging, eager to see off trespassers. An inclination to run balling in his calves, Spike opened his mouth to ask Matilda if she knew where the noise was coming from. But before he could say anything, a diseased’s scream accompanied the creature bursting through the gap. Wild limbs, blood-red eyes, a snapping mouth. It leapt straight at Spike, driving the wind from him as it connected, taking both of them to the ground.
Chapter 28
Smothered by the writhing weight and the foetid stink of the thing, Spike shook and twisted to get the creature off him, but it was too heavy. It snarled, its hot breath pushing against his face. The thing had his arms pinned, restraining him. He pulled back from it so hard, he hurt his head against the cobblestones. With its mouth spread wide enough for Spike to see down its throat, the thing lunged at him.
Unable to do anything but turn his face, Spike waited for the searing pain of its bite to tear into his flesh.
But the pressure of the thing suddenly lifted, the creature flying away to the side and hitting the ground next to him.
Gasping, Spike watched Matilda jump over him and lay into the monster with a flurry of kicks, each one hard enough to send out a deep thud. The beast curled into a protective ball against her attack.
The sound of chains then snapped taut, and before Matilda could kick the thing to death, it shot away from her. Where it had been driven to take Spike down, its mouth now stretched wide from where the chains throttled it.
A moment to compose himself, Spike looked up to see a woman just outside the gates. No taller than five feet five inches, she reeled in the disgusting beast. She belittled his frantic pulse and quickened breaths by making it look easy. To her, the creature was no more than a lively pet.
Despite her size, the woman had arms as thick as Spike’s thighs. They bulged as she dragged the thing. When she had it close to her, it spun around and reached its skinny arms in her direction. A swift kick to its face gave off a loud crack!
The woman then pressed her boot against the creature’s neck, pinning it to the ground. It tried to squirm free, but from the twist of her face it looked like she had the strength to pin a horse there if she needed to. Were Spike not so consumed with his own shame, he might have been impressed by her.
As Spike got to his feet, the woman pulled her long blonde dreadlocks from her face and said, “You didn’t deal with that one very well, did you?”
“Obviously!” Spike said. He threw his arms in the air. “What’s wrong with you anyway? That thing could have turned me into one of them, and for what? Your entertainment?”
“Relax, will you?”
“Relax? Did you see what just happened?”
The woman leaned down and put her hand close to the diseased’s face. Its legs kicked and writhed, scraping over the grou
nd as it remained beneath her pressure, unable to get to her. When she took her foot away, the beast snarled and sprang from the ground. It clamped onto her bare hand.
Both Spike and Matilda jumped back and gasped, but before either of them could say anything, the creature slipped off the woman with a wet clop before landing on the ground again. No teeth marks where it had latched on, just a patch of glistening saliva.
After kicking the creature again, her face twisted with hatred for the thing, the woman watched it for a few seconds. She’d kicked it so hard it lay dazed on the ground. She then drove a hard bang against the door with her fist. Someone from inside pulled the chain, the barely conscious diseased scraping over the rough cobblestones as it got dragged back into the complex. “As you can see, it has no teeth. It can’t bite you.”
“But what if I’d swallowed some of its saliva?”
“Then you’re useless and we don’t want you out in national service in the first place. You’ll have other people relying on you, so you need to be worth something out in the field. Like your friend here.”
“He’d have done the same for me,” Matilda said, although Spike could have sworn he heard shame in her words.
But the woman ignored her and kept her attention on Spike. “Think of what we just did as the idiot test.”
“The idiot test?”
“An idiot swallows the diseased’s saliva, so you passed … just.” With a dull tone, she added, “Congratulations.”
“You mean some people don’t pass?”
“We don’t want to take idiots outside the walls with us.”
In all the commotion, Spike hadn’t noticed the broadsword and crossbow on the woman’s back. A large two-handed weapon, the sword stretched nearly as long as she stood tall. Not that she’d struggle to use it. With biceps like hers, she could pop the head off a bull if she got it in a headlock.
Because the woman continued to stare at them without speaking and Spike’s heart rate had settled a little, he held his hand in her direction. “I think we got off on the wrong foot.”
“You did.” The woman nodded in Matilda’s direction. “She didn’t. I didn’t.”
The need to argue rose in him, but Spike swallowed it down again. “I’m Spike and this is Matilda.”
“Did I ask for your names?”
He flinched at the abrupt retort.
“Let me guess,” the woman said. “Like every boy that comes through these gates, you have designs of being the next protector?”
Although Spike opened his mouth, she spoke again before he could respond. “We don’t get nearly as many girls thinking they can do it. Many of them don’t think they have it in them, but they do. They’re often more capable. They just have a touch of self-awareness that helps them see their own weaknesses. The ability to acknowledge them means they can improve and grow stronger. And from looking at how the idiot test just played out, I’d suggest you start learning from your friend here.”
Spike looked at Matilda, but she didn’t look back, her flushed cheeks a clear sign of her discomfort.
“But before you think about any of that, you two morons need to learn a few things about national service. First and foremost, this isn’t working in the factories or in the fields. This is proper work. Dangerous work. You don’t shake my hand like we’re equals. You call me boss. You got that?”
The pair replied in unison, “Yes, boss.”
The woman nodded, turned around, and walked back through the gate while shouting over her shoulder, “Now follow me.”
Seeing Matilda’s cheeks push out as she exhaled hard, Spike held back and let her lead the way.
As he stepped through the gates, Spike looked around for the diseased and the person who’d reined it in.
The woman with the dreadlocks snorted a laugh at him. “It’s no good being alert now. When you’re out in the field, you’ll already be dead by this point.”
Spike clenched his jaw and looked at Matilda again. She’d turned pale. As much as he wanted to promise her everything would be okay, he didn’t. Instead, he took in the national service area. A large open patch of grass in front of him, it stretched all the way to another set of gates like the ones they’d just walked through. A crowd had gathered in front of them, and he nearly asked the woman who they were. But he’d already had more than he could take of her.
The stocky woman moved at quite a pace for her short legs. Spike jogged a couple of steps to keep up before looking around again. A large wall on his left cut off a section of the national service area. It had a gate in it that led through to the space beyond. Over his right shoulder and behind him, he saw a wooden fence. It too had a gate in it. They’d surely find out soon enough what lay on the other side of each one.
As fascinating as Spike found his surroundings, he kept glancing at the crowd down by the gates. What were they doing there? Again, the question rose and died in him.
Between them and the gates at the end stood several huts. Many of them were about the size of an average house and must have been where the cadets slept. There were a couple of larger buildings that must have been used for the more communal activities. Made from wood, they looked like they could be taken down and reassembled in the new national service area whenever they were ready to move on.
The short and stocky woman stopped by a pile of bags and pointed down at them. “Leave your things here. You need to go and meet Sarge by the main gates. And you need to be quick about it, the last class of cadets are coming home now. It’s their final day today.”
“You could have told us that sooner.”
“What?” the woman said.
“Well …” Spike threw a hand in the direction of the gathered crowd. “They look like they’re waiting and we’re holding them up.”
“They’re not waiting for you. The other cadets will be coming home whether you’re in the crowd or not. Jeez, you think the world revolves around you, don’t you? Let me guess, you’re an only child?”
Although Spike didn’t say anything else to the woman, Matilda dipped her a nod on her way past and said, “Thank you.” She didn’t look at Spike.
The woman spoke in a loud voice, clearly for Spike’s benefit. “You’ll go far, sweetheart. Good luck.”
Spike watched Matilda break into a jog towards the crowd before he set off after her.
Chapter 29
A thickset man with tightly cropped grey hair stood at the front of the crowd and glared at Spike and Matilda as they approached. In his sixties, he’d clearly had an active life and wore his strength like an old bull. He might not have the pace he once did, but he undoubtedly more than made up for it with guile and brute strength. Not the kind of man to get on the wrong side of.
The kids in front of him must have all been about the same age as Spike and Matilda. All in national service for the first time, Spike saw many of them had the pale complexion appropriate for the journey they were about to embark on.
As subtle as they’d tried to be in joining the back of the group, the man raised his eyebrows at them. “How good of you to join us.”
Even Spike knew when to keep his mouth shut. He moved closer to the back of the group to make it harder for the man to see him. He stared at the grass at his feet.
“Today is the final day for those who were in national service before you. There were thirty-two of them six months ago. You’ll see how many are left shortly. We’re here to congratulate them on their hard work. The wall’s close to being finished. They’ve done a great job and need to be celebrated for it.”
Before the man could say anything else, a horn sounded on the other side of the gates, lifting the hairs on the back of Spike’s neck. The horn to say they were outside, he’d heard it on occasion as far away as the agricultural district. It had taken a lifetime to get here, and now he’d arrived, he’d make sure he came home as the next apprentice.
A guard on either side of the gates, they had two wheels each. They each turned one, the rush of chains
running over wood as they dragged the slack in. Both chains snapped taut and the gates wobbled before a gap opened down the centre of them. It split wider apart as the large wooden doors slowly moved inwards.
Within seconds, the cadets in front of Spike gasped and muttered. He bobbed his head to get a better view, seeing through the crowd to catch sight of the dirty faces of those returning. Boys and girls not much older than him and those around him, although their eyes told a different story. They wore the look Spike had seen so many times when he’d asked about national service in the past. A look that said once they returned to society, they’d never talk about it again.
The guards on either side of the gates bobbed up and down while they spun the wheels with increasing velocity, the whooshing of the metal chains singing against the wood as the cadets entered.
Several guards amongst the experienced cadets, they all filed into the place. When the flow stopped, Spike stood on his tiptoes to see behind them and the long grass of the world outside. There were no more cadets. Only about twelve had entered. He heard one of the boys close to him whisper, “Is that it?”
One of the guards on the gate looked at the older man at the front. The older man nodded.
The same energy they’d opened the gates with, the two men went to the wheels next to the ones they’d been turning and spun them, closing the gates again. It prevented Spike from getting a clear view of what lay beyond the city.
A sombre air had settled and no one spoke. Then one of the cadets who’d returned from building the walls screamed. Her shriek rang out and seemed to stop time momentarily, turning Spike’s blood cold and lifting gooseflesh on his arms. The girl panted, the whites of her eyes stark on her face as she pointed at the boy beside her. “He’s been bitten!”
Those close to her jumped backwards, the guards in the group raising their weapons and turning on the boy. While the cadets scattered, the boy held his hands up. “It’s just a cut, honestly.”
Protectors - Book one of Beyond These Walls: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller Page 12
