At the perimeter, they found a chain link fence topped with barbed wire. They looked either side and saw the barrier stretching for miles in each direction with no discernible entranceway or gate. Still, Jaxon sniffed and scratched nearby, digging large chunks of dirt out of the ground.
Caitlin hooked her fingers through the links and shook the fence. “Whoever abandoned this place made damn sure that no one could get in.” The metallic rattle seemed to echo and bounce down the streets ahead.
“Or that no one could get out,” Mary-Anne suggested. “How wide a circumference do you think this is?”
Tom stroked his chin. “Got to be a good few miles. Why? Fancy a jog?”
Mary-Anne shrugged. “You guys stay here. I’ll be back shortly.”
They watched her disappear quickly into the distance.
“So now what?” Tom asked, wandering over to a nearby tree. “We kick up our feet and just wait?”
“Sounds good to me,” Laurie said.
“Ands me,” Joe added. “Just keep an ear outs for those lunas, huh? I ain’t never yet been to a place that’s safe. Besides from the Creek, that is.”
Joe grinned at Caitlin, but she wasn’t paying attention. Her face was pressed to the chain link fence, soaking in as much of the city as she could. She couldn’t believe how…big it was. From her vantage up on the hill, she could see the whole damn thing, but now…
She saw nothing more than the street ahead, stretching to a junction in the distance. The great buildings loomed like frozen giants. Roads and pavements had cracked and were overgrown with weeds and plants. Cars and other strange vehicles lay toppled onto their sides or upside down, and metal posts littered the spaces, evidently fallen to the floor. It was a shit heap.
And so, so big.
A concrete jungle. The words popped into Caitlin’s head. Instead of trees, there were buildings. Instead of earth, there was concrete. At some point in the past, this entire place must have crawled with people—thousands upon thousands. A population so dense that the idea of it made Caitlin’s head spin.
“If you’re not careful, you’ll press so hard that you’ll slice yourself into hundreds of little square sections.” Laurie chuckled, hauling off her shoes and shaking stones out onto the ground.
“Yeah.” Tom kicked a rock near the base of the tree. “And that’s the last thing we need. Hundreds of tiny little Caitlin—”
There was the sound of something like a whipping noise, accompanied by a grunt of surprise. Caitlin turned and saw Tom hanging upside by his leg from a tree, a coil of rope around his ankle.
“Son-of-a-bitch!” he called. “Someone. Get. Me. Down.”
As Caitlin drew her sword, Joe and Laurie scrambled for their own weapons. Jaxon stopped his digging and jumped up at Tom, barking madly as several people emerged from behind the buildings on the other side of the fence. Raised guns were trained on them, the intent unmistakable.
“What are you going to do? Jump over the fence, slash your stomachs open on the barbs, and fetch our corpses?” Caitlin asked, her eyes fixed on a woman with blonde hair tied back in a bun obviously leading the defenders.
“If that’s what it takes. Now, lower your shit and put your hands in the air,” she commanded, shooting at a spot near Caitlin’s feet.
“Careful!” A whine sounded from behind. Caitlin turned to see a head poking up from the spot where Jaxon had been digging. A perfectly circular metal lid rested on its side, half-covered with grass and dirt. “You nearly got my fucking ear.”
The woman ignored him, stepped right up to the fence, and poked her rifle through. “I’m going to ask one more time. Lower your weapons.”
Reluctantly, Caitlin obliged. She heard something drop behind her as Laurie and Joe released their weapons.
“Good. Oscar, it’s over to you,” the woman said to the man who poked out of the hole in the ground and stared harshly at Caitlin.
She heard Oscar move around behind her. He worked quickly, placing a blindfold over Joe and Laurie’s eyes before cutting Tom down and doing the same to him. He left Caitlin until last, the woman grinning at her as the dirty cloth shut off her vision and all she knew was darkness.
The Broken City, Old Ontario
Kain’s head pounded. With every heartbeat, he could hear a deep wop-wop which shot around his body and drummed in his ears. Wherever he was, it was dark. Pitch dark. The smell of wet stone surrounded him.
Dear Queen Bitch and all that is good and holy, he said as he tried to push his way into a sitting position. He paused and shook his head. Damn, that vampire bitch is really getting into my head!
The floor was cold. He held his head in one hand as though to support his weight, trying to remember the last time he had felt so rough.
Damon’s party…that psychopath… He chuckled to himself, remembering the loud chatter, the steady stream of booze, and the gullible women who drank too much and were fool enough to fall into his bed.
Phwoar. That was a heck of a time. Maybe that’s where I am now. Stuck in a time warp back at Damo’s. He patted around in the dark, all his hopes pinned on touching the warm flesh of some naked bimbo who’d be ready to scream and run away when the alcohol wore off and she realized what she was doing.
Kain laughed. It sounded more like a gargle and echoed around in the dark silence. Somewhere nearby, he could hear water dripping.
“Maybe not, then,” he murmured, kissing his hand and holding it to an imaginary sky. “Here’s to you, Damo, you fuck-nugget of a legend. Rest in peace.”
Kain rose to his feet, wobbling as he did so. Where was his energy? When was the last time he’d eaten? How long had he even been out for?
A rock. That was all he remembered…celebrating his victory of achieving more points than Caitlin in the woods, staring at the slaughtered Mad, and cheering. Then, a white pain of light before he was dragged away by—
Shit. It couldn’t be. Not after all this time.
He pawed his way around the room, feeling nothing but brick until he eventually felt the smooth texture of wood. A door, perhaps?
“Hey! Hey!” Kain shouted. “Let me the fuck out of here before I—”
A small slat slid open, revealing two bloodshot eyes. “Before you what? Shout some more? What are you going to do?”
Kain gulped. He could recognize those eyes anywhere. The last time he had seen them had been…what…a year ago? More than that?
“Howie, you son-of-a-bitch.”
“Now, now,” Howie said. “Watch your language, boyo. Don’t want to get yourself into more trouble than you’re already in, right? The big man is very pleased that you’re back with us. Wouldn’t want to upset him again.”
“Depends what day of the week it is.”
“It’s Tuesday.”
“In which case, let’s upset the big man and give him a swift kick in the nuts.” Kain’s eyes began to glow amber. He felt the hairs begin to root as the transformation began.
“Uh-uh-uh,” Howie cautioned and held his finger up to the slat and wagged it back and forth. “You might want to think about that. Ol’ Mikkel fell victim to frustration and transformed just a few weeks ago, and now that fucker can’t change back.” Howie moved out of view, resting the back of his head against the door. “All over a girl, man. Mikkel got stuck as a wolf because his buddy took his girl. How’s that for a fucked-up fortune? It’s like, one day you’re invincible, wandering around on two legs and able to work a fucking GameBoy. The next day, you’re licking your own ass and growling at sparrows.”
Kain took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. Howie was right. Was now the time to risk it all? To fire off another bullet from his limited supply and go feral?
“Mikkel is stuck?” he asked, his mind trying to work through the possibilities around the lingering pain.
“Yup. I’m telling you, no one takes this shit seriously until it’s too late. A lot has changed around here. A lot of Weres have made their bed and now have to lie
in them.”
Kain stared ahead through the slat, seeing nothing but a bricked-up tunnel ahead. A series of torches lined the wall.
“Why have you brought me back?” Kain asked, resigning himself to his place back to the floor. “What am I doing here?”
There was a pause as Howie seemed to contemplate the answer. “Easy, really. Brothers don’t leave their pack. Never. Geralt wants you back.”
Kain closed his eyes and remembered the last time he had seen Geralt. A cry of fury echoed in his memory as Kain sped off into the forest with nothing more than the stars for a guide. The screams and howls of his pack had followed as he had sprinted off into the night, running faster than he had ever thought possible. The fury on Geralt—the leader of the Weres’—face remained to haunt him.
Shit-cakes, buddy boy. What have you got yourself into now?
Chapter Ten
The Broken City, Old Ontario
Caitlin had no idea where they were going. All she knew was that they were taken down into the tunnel where Oscar had appeared from and marched forward.
She held the image of the woman in her mind—a powerful woman accustomed to command. The type of woman she had herself become over the last few months. It irked her to know that her crew’s safety was in a stranger’s hands now, but even though the woman had been harsh with them, there was something that Caitlin liked about her that she couldn’t put her finger on.
Only once did Caitlin hear anyone trip. Laurie uttered a slight cry followed by a thud as her body hit the floor. Joe uttered, “Are you okays?” before being hushed by Oscar, and they were prodded on their way.
After a series of twists and turns, Oscar placed Caitlin’s hands on metal bars which, she deduced by feel, ascended. She took the stairs slowly and eventually, felt a pull on her collar as she was hauled up into the open. The smell of damp dissipated, replaced by the cool chill of the open air. And as her blindfold was whipped off, she felt she already knew who would be waiting for her in the light.
“Fun trip?” the woman asked, taking Caitlin by the arm and placing her on a chair in the center of the room they had entered. A basement of sorts, it seemed.
“It was Goldilocks who tripped. I was fine.” Caitlin winked back at Laurie, who stuck out her tongue in return.
“Goldilocks might be forced to send her bears to maul your ass,” Laurie countered.
When the other two surfaced and they were all seated, their hands still tied behind their backs, the woman pulled up a chair and spun it around. She straddled it coolly and leaned forward over its back, staring for some time.
“When you’re done with your staring gig, do you mind telling us who the fuck you are?” Caitlin pitched her tone as calm but authoritative. “And where the fuck is my dog?”
Oscar turned, Jaxon held steady in his arms. Caitlin breathed a sigh of relief.
The woman smiled. “You’ve got a sharp tongue for a pretty lady. You know you shouldn’t swear at strangers, right? Especially those who could use your brain matter to paint the walls behind you.”
“You’re not going to shoot us.”
Tom, Joe, and Laurie watched her uneasily. The woman chuckled, pulled her gun out of a holster fixed to her thigh, and aimed it dead between Caitlin’s eyes.
She stared back, unblinking. Not a twitch of emotion betrayed her as she held their captor’s gaze until, eventually, the woman lowered the gun again and smiled. “I like your balls,” she said, leaning over the chair back once more. “Figuratively, of course. My name is Isabella Cenzo, and these are my men, Oscar, Dwight, and Howard.”
The boys nodded, though their expressions held wariness rather than welcome.
“We belong to the Vanguard of the Broken. Protectors of the Broken City. It is our duty to defend the walls from the Mad who roam the hills and forests.”
“So what are you wasting your time with us clowns for?” Tom asked. “We haven’t done nothing to you.”
“You expect us to allow strangers to roam unchecked along our perimeter?” Isabella said. “Four unidentified humans, a dog, and a freak who can run faster than any woman I’ve seen in my life?”
“You saw Mary-Anne?” Caitlin asked.
Isabella nodded. “You were hardly secretive in your approach. We saw you running down that hill from miles away. Where the hell did you think you were, in the forest?”
Caitlin blushed. From afar, it had looked as though the city was deserted. She hadn’t once believed that there might be anybody living there, let alone keeping an eye out for them. She had grown used to the protection of the woods. This open land was strange territory for someone who could disappear behind a tree in the snap of a finger.
“Now you know us, tell me who you are,” Isabella demanded.
Caitlin introduced them all. Isabella’s eyebrows raised when Caitlin introduced Joe at the end. She seemed to take great interest in the small man whose legs hovered in the air like a child at the dinner table, unable to touch the floor.
“From the forest, you say?” Isabella looked back at her men. “What brings you all the way out to The Broken City?”
For a moment, Caitlin considered whether to tell the truth that her Were friend had been taken and the trail led there. Would that be a good move on her part? What if Isabella’s friends had been the ones to take Kain? What would happen then?
In the end, she settled on partial truth. “We were tracking a friend. Someone from our party who scouted ahead.”
“What makes you so sure they came here?”
Caitlin nodded at Jaxon clutched in Oscar’s arms. He looked calmly back at her. His tail wagged and he licked the man, forcing him to hold him at arm’s length.
Laurie, who had been looking uncomfortably back and forth at the guns since they had sat down, blurted out, “Look, if you’re going to kill us, then get on with it. Slap us, burn us, do whatever the fuck it is you psychopaths do. But I’m warning you, the minute our friend gets wind of what you’re up to, you’ll lose your neck quicker than you can say ‘Holy-gosh-what-the-fuck-is-happening?’ Have you ever had to fight a—”
Please don’t say it, please don’t say it, Caitlin thought, knowing the protest was futile.
“—vampire before? They’ll fuck you up in a heartbeat.”
A moment of silence passed as Isabella fell into thought. The men behind her looked at each other before they started laughing.
Isabella scoffed. “A vampire, you say?”
Laurie shrunk in her chair when she caught Caitlin’s eyes and the message that she’d said enough.
“Not exactly,” Caitlin hedged.
“Interesting.” Isabella stroked her chin, still thoughtful. “Well, if it’s any consolation for you, Goldilocks, we’re not going to kill you. But I will offer you a choice. We’ve got a bit of a problem in the city. An…infestation, if you will. And we’re in need of some good fighters to join our cause and rid us of the plague. Maybe even your…vampire friend could help?”
“Sounds serious,” Tom said.
“It is,” Isabella replied. “We’ve got a good group of people in the city center. Survivors and defenders. We’re trying to rebuild a utopia here in the middle of this shit-stack of a world, and you could do well to join us and help us.”
Laurie turned up her nose in a disdainful gesture. “We’ve got our own people to look after. Our own town to build. You’re not the only guys out here looking to rebuild life from the shit of the Madness. What can you possibly offer that’ll make us help you?”
Caitlin watched Isabella’s face as she stared impassively at Laurie with a complete poker face. Nothing could be read there, although Caitlin wished Laurie would shut up. An alliance with these guys could mean a stronger bond and a better understanding between Silver Creek and the world outside the forest. It could be their first step in exploring the wilds.
Or it could mean Silver Creek’s downfall. Caitlin couldn’t get a good read on Isabella and her men just yet. And if she judged wrong, wh
o was to say that this Vanguard of the Broken couldn’t find their way to her town and pillage and burn what she was creating?
Isabella continued with a steady tone, unfazed by Laurie’s questions. “I offer you the chance to find your friend. Help us, and you will have the freedom to search for your lost one amongst the rubble of the broken. If you choose not to…well…then I imagine it’ll be much harder to search the city from outside the fences that border our territory, won’t it?”
Laurie scowled. Tom stared unblinkingly at Isabella. Joe turned to Caitlin with a face that read, “What do we do?”
“Very well,” Caitlin acquiesced at last. “We will join you…for now.”
Isabella sneered but let the condition pass. “Excellent. You’ve made a wise choice.” She stood up, clicked her fingers, and her men untied their hands. “Now, follow me.”
They had only started walking when Isabella stopped and turned to face them.
“And if you try any funny business, don’t forget…” She waved the gun in the air. “Now. Come.”
The Sewers, The Broken City, Old Ontario
Kain was asleep when the door to his cell opened. He recognized Howie and Madeline—a woman with long blonde hair tied into a loose ponytail behind her back.
“I was wondering when the entertainment would arrive,” he grumbled sleepily as they each grabbed an arm and led him out of the room. “Howie, give me five, would you, while I grab this bitch’s ponytail and take her for a spin.”
Madeline glared at him.
“Okay, you’re right. Who am I trying to kid? Two minutes will do just fine.”
It was dark inside the sewers. At least Kain’s eyesight was good enough to identify that fact. If it hadn’t been for the moist atmosphere and running water, the smell would have been a dead giveaway. The air was filled with the rank odor of things which had been left to rot and breed fungus down in the tunnels below the city. The decay smelled ancient as if the metropolis had broken and crumbled years ago. His instincts on overdrive, Kain realized that they were now a long way from the forest and somewhere in the city he still remembered from the distant past.
Hunting The Broken: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Caitlin Chronicles Book 3) Page 9
