Fallout (Tales of the Other Universe Book 2)

by J. G. Taschereau

  The Creator scowled and dismissed his partner. “You know nothing of loss.”

  Without giving a chance for rebuttal, the Creator moved away from Mr. White and exited through the gap where the castle walls had stood. The mere mortals in his path stepped aside and knelt down as he walked by, but Mr. White scoffed and turned away in disdain. He stepped towards Spartacus, who still found no peace without its sense of sight. By the command of its master, the machine stood prone. Mr. White inspected the damage to Spartacus’ face and scoffed again, burying his hands in his pockets and meandering away from the corpse-filled courtyard of the conquered castle by himself.

  Chapter 26

  Heading South

  Adam was almost at the edge of the forest when he heard the wall collapse. He turned around and although he couldn’t see it from where he stood he knew that the battle would soon come to an end. Part of him wanted to go back, but he knew there was no point now. He and Mathias had made their decisions, and it was too late to go back. Adam hated himself for not being able to do anything as Mathias and the last of his guards fought to their deaths. But he couldn’t think about that now. Now he had to help the people he could and get them away from Wensfell and its occupiers.

  He climbed the hill that rose up from the plains half a mile from the city. The forest spread out from the top of the hill, and within the tree line he could see the frightened, attentive eyes of the people who Dee had helped lead to safety. In less than two hours from the moment the first walls crumbled and the conquest came to an end, close to ten thousand able bodied people had fled out of the city. It had been difficult to coordinate with just Dee leading them through the fields up to the forest, and because of the swift advance of the invaders a good deal of others had been trapped within the city. It had been a trying experience, but the imperfect exodus had managed to save at least those lives.

  Word went out among the people that Adam had returned, and Dee rushed to the edge of the woods to greet him. She saw he was alone, and with his somber appearance she could only assume what had happened as she went to him.

  “Mathias?” she asked.

  Adam shook his head. “The rest stayed back to give us a chance to escape.”

  Dee shut her eyes and clenched her fists, her grief palpable. “That jerk.”

  “We need to hurry,” Adam said. “We need to get these people through the forest and away from the castle before the army pursues.”

  “Are you going to tell them about Mathias?”

  “That can wait until they’re safe,” said Adam. “There’s a lot of marching ahead for them. No need to weigh them down any further.”

  Adam walked past Dee and called out to as many people as his voice could reach. “Everyone, listen to me! Your king has asked me to lead you away from the castle to safety. We will travel through the forest and take refuge at Carpathia to the south. I ask you to bear with the effort until we get there, and I promise you that you will be taken well care of. If anyone is unable to continue on, do not hesitate to speak up and I’ll do what I can to help you. Now please spread the word through the people collected here and let’s begin to move. Until we reach Carpathia, please keep calm and carry on.”

  Dee stood by and watched Adam command the hopeless people. She couldn’t help but notice that for the first time since the incident at Magid Palace, Adam was acting like a real leader again, and for the first time since then people were listening to him. They had forgotten that he was a fugitive of the highest authority. Right now, he was their only hope of salvation. Dee hoped that their dependence on him would help to improve Adam’s cracked and fragile spirit. He had not let it show, but Mathias’ inevitable death had dealt a blow that might well have broken a weaker man. It made her wonder just how much Adam still had left in him, and just how much he even had left to lose.

  The mass exodus moved at a slow pace, taking hours to reach the southern edge of the forest. It was to be expected: there were thousands of people, some of whom would have been fast asleep on a normal night, trekking through an unknown forest, wary of impending dangers around any corner. Adam had been on high alert, staying at the front of the group while Dee patrolled up and down the flock. The trip had been especially exhausting for her as she continuously backtracked to keep an eye on as much of the group as possible. By the time they cleared the forest and arrived outside the town of Carpathia, Dee was ready to collapse from exhaustion.

  It was well after midnight now and there would be few within the town to alert of the refugees from Wensfell. Adam had anticipated this, and knew that in the meantime he would need to create temporary accommodations. He set to work raising a new earthen wall that rose thirty feet above the town and snaked along its borders as well as enclosing a wide lot of open field. In this field he called upon nature to produce bountiful fruit trees that gave generously even in the cold autumn air. He spread patches of soft moss to serve as beds over the cold, hard ground, and provided enough spare foliage to replace blankets so that the people might be warm. All this he did while the refugees watched in amazement, many thinking that a mistake had been made and that the one who rescued them now was the true Creator while the one who leveled their city was the criminal he hunted.

  The work Adam put in inevitably drew the attention of the patrolling guards of Carpathia, who were just as awed by the display of Adam’s talents. They questioned him and he explained the dire circumstances, and with that, those who had fled Wensfell were now under the care of the village of Carpathia. It took an hour more for Adam to complete his task, making made sure that all those who were in his care were comfortable and safe. He was met by emotional responses, elderly women weeping for joy before him, others offering overwhelming thanks and praise. All this he accepted with humility and when all was said and done he left them to find Dee, who was curled up asleep on the soft grass.

  He knelt down and laid his hand on her shoulder, rocking it gently. “Dee, wake up.”

  Dee inhaled sharply as she was ripped from her sleep and blinked her eyes open, looking up at Adam in a lost daze. “Hm, huh?” came her groggy response. “I’m awake, I swear. Is the camp set up?”

  “Yes,” said Adam. “We need to leave.”

  “Is everything alright?”

  “It’s far from alright, but things are as good as they’re going to get here,” Adam replied. “But you and I need to get away from this place. The Creator is still close by and he may be watching us, or leading that army here. We’re putting these people in danger the longer we stay.”

  Dee moaned and sat back up, rubbing her face with her hand. “Okay, let’s go.”

  “Are you going to be alright to travel?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I just need to get up and moving again to get my energy back,” Dee said. Adam knew she was lying, and that she was just as exhausted as he was. After everything that had happened, the last thing they wanted to do was go back on the road and keep moving. But he knew that staying with the refugees would only endanger them. It wasn’t fair to Dee, and he wished he could have just let her sleep.

  He helped her onto her shaky legs. She picked up her travelling bag and joined Adam as the two departed from the encampment. They gave no notice of leaving to the people, nor did they deliver the news of Mathias’ death to anyone aside from the guards of Carpathia. It would be their task to spread the word, which was bound to be discovered by the whole country the following morning.

  From Carpathia, Adam and Dee continued south through more farmland and open space. The terrain which was delightful when they first arrived now made them feel exposed under the moonlight. Adam wanted to keep a solid pace and get as much distance between them and the refugees as possible, but he soon realized that his own strength to proceed had exceeded what Dee was capable of. She collapsed after only a half hour of travel, and in a pang of guilt Adam almost stopped there. Instead he took Dee onto his back and carried her while she clung to his shirt and dozed off again. Adam went on like this for another half hour
before finding himself drained of strength as well, finally relenting to stop for the night.

  He sank the ground beneath them to form a rectangular pit and then grew a stretch of thick moss that covered the hole and provided both camouflage and insulating warmth. Within the pit he dug another deeper hole and started a fire to help heat the damp chamber. Once settled, he laid out a bedroll for Dee and lent her his blanket, which she took with gratitude before falling immediately back to sleep. Adam decided to go without a soft bed or blanket, instead lying on the grass beside the fire. The dangers that pursued them still plagued him, but his exhaustion won out over his thoughts and he slept.

  It seemed he had only just closed his eyes when the light of morning broke through the moss and beamed down on him. He clenched his eyes tighter, but as his conscious awareness returned he knew he could no longer stay sleeping. He sat up, adjusting his glasses that he’d neglected to remove the night before. Dee was curled up facing the wall of the pit, still sound asleep and out of the light’s reach. The fire that had kept them warm seemed to have died out long ago, and now only ashes remained.

  He put his hand against the damp wall of the pit and drew out water from the ground into his hands, holding it as a floating blob. Adam splashed this water onto his face and rubbed it with both hands to help wake him up. He didn’t feel rested at all, and he only hoped that Dee had slept better. There would be no chance for them to rest anymore, not while they were still within the borders of Leapador. Adam roused Dee, who was more willing to rise than she had been the night before, and after gathering their things the two ascended from the pit and continued travelling through the fields towards the south.

  Their pace remained slow, dragging on as they were weighed by exhaustion and a looming sense of hopelessness. October faded away and the nights grew colder as they carried on to the southern border. Their seclusion kept them away from any source of news, which would have informed them that Wensfell Keep had fallen to the army of the Opal King, that Mathias was killed for his part in conspiring against the Creator by harboring fugitives, and that Leapador was to be annexed by the Opal Kingdom. This news came as a terrible shock to the rest of the country, and the only good thing that came out of the takeover was that the fugitives of Aeris had been forced out of the country. The refugees of Wensfell were even recovered and welcomed back without penalty by the new government, but they all knew who the real benevolent force in the conflict was.

  The Creator had said nothing more about the takeover, or of Adam and Dee, to the public since that night. Adam was surprised he had made no further attempts to capture him or Dee, and was frustrated that the deity was carrying on with this game of cat and mouse rather than just being upfront. Since that night, Adam had been hoping for a confrontation. He had dismissed any benevolence in the Creator’s actions and if he could he wanted to step up and announce to the world the truth of the Creator’s fraudulence. But to do so would expose Dee, and he was certain the Creator understood that. So he said nothing, and trudged onward with Dee until after two more weeks they arrived at the edge of the country.

  The three human kingdoms of the north and the less organized territories in the south were divided by a wall that spanned the length of the continent, the plainly named Great Wall, for it was a wall, and it was indeed great. The wall stood higher than Magid Palace and stretched across the grassland as far as the eye could see in either direction. It was an impressive monument to the iron will of the kingdoms who desired to keep order by separating the dangers and unknown of the southlands. It was, however, only an inconvenience for anyone who desired to cross over. The wall ran to the edge of the continent, but anyone so inclined to pass could sail from one side and dock at the other, and if he could escape the port authorities he was home free. Indeed there were many ways to circumvent the otherwise indomitable wall, and Adam had his own way.

  When they were certain that no guards were nearby patrolling along the top of the wall, Adam and Dee approached it and just as he had done with the lesser walls surrounding Wensfell he divided the wall in one spot to form a narrow passageway. This act deformed the wall around it and was not stable, and would certainly draw attention if they dawdled. They wasted no time travelling through the forty foot long crevasse and emerged on the other side. Adam quickly closed the wall and ensured it was just as it was when they found it. They had made it through undetected, just as they’d hoped.

  Adam turned and saw Dee staring out ahead. It was plain to see why, and he knew well that he would have to face this challenge. As far as they could see ahead, there was nothing but barren, sandy desert. The green pastures that they’d followed through the southern tip of Leapador were left behind the Great Wall, and all that awaited them now was the inhospitable desert. If they were going to get to a port, or anywhere else at all, they would have no choice but to move through it. Dee drew her strength from Adam, and he from no one, as the two set out into the deserts of the southern territories.

  Mr. White plucked a few succulent grapes from their stem and popped them into his mouth as he ate in the private dining room in the castle at Wensfell. He was joined by Evangeline, who, having arrived at the city long after the conquest was over, found herself bored once again, contemplating just why exactly her superior had bothered to drag her along. She sipped a cup of red wine and set it back down beside the ever present skull that Mr. White kept around. She found it revolting, even if all superficial flesh and tissue was long gone, and wished that Mr. White would not insist on having it at the dinner table. Such a request would be rejected and met with some haughty explanation about why it was acceptable to display the macabre ornament like a trophy. She knew him to be the most stubborn of men, and so she kept quiet and enjoyed her wine.

  “Have you sent word to Miko and Mr. Dremmel yet?” Mr. White asked.

  Evangeline looked up from her cup. “This morning,” she replied. “They’ll be leaving Magid immediately en route to our final destination.”

  “Splendid,” said Mr. White, taking up a cheese knife and spreading one of the soft, fine cheeses on the platter before him on a cracker. “The system that Miko established should hold the country for a few days, time enough for us to finish our task.”

  “So you intend to let that country fall into ruin as well?” The voice of the Creator came from beside Mr. White. He had gotten used to the Creator’s sudden appearances and was unfazed.

  “All wars have casualties, Daniel,” said Mr. White.

  “Considering how you spent months weakening their infrastructure to make Iilil-ja look bad and then so boldly proclaimed that you would make things right for them, it’s downright appalling that you can so easily leave them to suffer even further.”

  “All life is suffering, it’s a proven fact. Sometimes that suffering becomes too much for people and they give in and fall to oblivion.” Mr. White turned his head and smirked at the Creator as he bit into his cracker. “Other times people rise up from that suffering and make the best of a bad situation. That’s what I did. We’ll just have to wait and see what fate is in store for the good people of Magid.”

  “There is no such thing as fate,” the Creator stated.

  “As you continue to insist, but I’ve yet to hear a good argument from you as to why your philosophy is any more correct,” Mr. White countered. “You believe we all have the choice to act as we do, but did I choose this life? No, it was thrust upon me and I stood up and made it my own. Did all of my plans fall into place because I chose to make them? Or because Adam Evans chose to let things happen as they did? Rubbish. There is a greater hand at work that guides our lives, and it leads me ever closer to achieving the destiny I was set out for, and you as well.”

  “It was that line of delusion that led Fatum to spread his wickedness throughout this universe,” said the Creator. “You’re only perpetuating his failed system.”

  “Oh, there you go again associating me with your disobedient little mistake.” Mr. White picked off a few more g
rapes from the bunch and bit into them. “If anything, Daniel, such a comparison proves that there is a destiny, for if your insinuations are correct then I am by some stretch of the imagination achieving the destiny that he began. Of course, that’s a grand exaggeration. I have no interest in ruling this universe, nor in binding life to my will. I intend only to put an end to the problem of Adam Evans once and for all, and then I will be satisfied and depart.”

  “And just how much longer do you plan on dragging this out?” the Creator asked. “How much more suffering can you put him through? He’s run out of people to turn to and his hope has faded.”

  “Almost,” said Mr. White. “He still clings to a bit of hope, in that he might find some salvation on Earth. As we speak, he and the girl are slugging through the desert to get to the port that will take them out of your sight. I’ve decided that they will not be reaching that port.”

  “How will you stop them?”

  “I won’t, Daniel. You will. You’ve had enough of me dragging Adam Evans along? Well I’m going to placate you then. You see I’ve called my faction back from Magid for a reason. We’ve reached the end of the road. Before Adam Evans reaches the port, you will confront him and put an end to his existence.”

  “Why now?” the Creator asked.

  “As you said, I’m running out of ways to perpetuate his suffering,” Mr. White elaborated. “I’m sure I could come up with other paths, but I feel like things have progressed to a logical conclusion. Besides, I’m sure my team is anxious to return home. Aren’t you, Evangeline?”