“You were good bait,” Trooper said.
“Aye, we ate good for days. And I got to keep the little pig as a pet, until we ate ’im a week later.”
Chewing his lip, the pasty-faced Cookie giggled. “I’d like some pork. Do you think there’s pork in them woods?” He licked his lips. “Oh, dang. I’m extra hungry.”
A shadow crept up on them. The men turned to face the invader. Shane stood with her face to the flames. A dead deer with a rack of antlers rested on her shoulders.
Trooper nodded. “Well done, Shane. Can I help you skin that beast?”
She flicked out a knife longer than her thumb and said in a flat, impersonal voice, “I can handle it.” She walked off.
“Now that’s a woman,” Cookie said with a smile as wide as his face. He wiped the slobber from his mouth. “I think.”
CHAPTER 48
Alone, Gabe huddled inside his cove. The door was closed. It had been one of the longest days in his life. Rann’s screaming rang in his ears. He closed his eyes only to relive the horror. Now, it was official. He hated Angus as much as Angela. Maybe more.
Someone pecked on his door. Hoping it was Rann, he crawled over and unlocked the latch. He hadn’t seen Rann since he’d left the Count. Clovis took her elsewhere. He opened the door and found Stewart smoking a cigarette and looking down at him. He was alone.
“Time to go,” Stewart said dryly.
“Where?”
“You know where.”
Gabe scooted back into his shed. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Stewart slipped inside. He closed the door behind him. “What’s gotten into you? This is a big deal. If they want you to come, you come, or I don’t get paid.”
“Is this what it’s all about? Money?”
“It’s how I live. Listen, I’m not stupid. I know about New America. I see the markings on the walls. I know the Dominion has a fit when they see signs of it. I like it. I hate the Dominion. I hate all of the people on the other side of that wall. It’s why my crummy life turned out like this.” He grabbed Gabe by the collar. “Now, get your ass up and do something.”
Gabe shoved him away. “No! Just tell Ben or Mabel or whomever I’m not coming. That’s final too.” He pulled his knees to his chest. “I can’t risk it. Neither should you.”
“That’s it. You’ll quit.” Stewart clicked his lighter lid in his hand. “You’re a quitter.”
“I’m not quitting. But I’m not endangering anyone else either. Whatever goes down is going down my way.”
“This is about your girl, Rann, isn’t it? She came in hours ago. Her head was all bandaged up. What happened?”
Gabe gave him a solemn look. “Just go away, Stewart. Tell them I’m sorry. I can’t do what they want. Not now. Probably not ever.”
Stewart clicked his lighter shut and stuffed it in his pocket. “Thanks for getting my hopes up, Gabe. Oh, and just so you know, you won’t have any protection from me anymore.”
“Trust me, I’m doing you a favor.”
“It doesn’t feel like it.” Stewart lifted the door and dropped it shut behind him.
Gabe waited about an hour then rolled out of his cove, locked it up, and headed to Rann’s. He tapped his knuckles on her door. He pressed his ear to the door and felt a little guilty for doing it. He heard a scuffle. “Rann, it’s me. I’m sorry. I wanted to see if you are okay. I’m sorry, Rann. I really am.”
He sat beside her cove for several minutes. Some people walked by, but they were minding their own business. At the end of the row, a group of girls and boys started singing around a barrel of fire. Gabe listened for a bit before he decided to go. The lyrics were something about a jungle out there that didn’t carry much of a tune. Pushing himself up to his feet, he saw Rann’s cove door open.
“Get in here,” she said in a neutral tone. Quick as a cat, Gabe slipped inside. She shut the door behind him and latched it. Her lantern was on a very low setting. A bloodstained white bandage was wrapped around her head. “If I had one of those guns, I’d shoot you. Lucky for you, I don’t have one or a knife either.”
“Rann, I’m so—”
“Please don’t say that you are sorry anymore. I can’t take it.” Her brows knitted together. “I’m being serious. If you say you are sorry one more time, I’m going to kill you.”
“Sorr—”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Is there anything that I can do?”
Rann pushed him down on the mattress. She lay down on her side with her good ear on the mattress. She pulled Gabe in behind her. “Just hold me.”
Cradled against her, he said, “Does it hurt?”
“It burns. But you know, I’m relieved in a way. I thought he was going to take my eye out. Maybe he didn’t know that my other good eye was only hidden.” She locked her fingers with his. “When I was with the Eyewatch, I worried that would happen one day. It was my biggest fear, losing my eye. I consider myself lucky that I only lost an ear. The sad part is that I’ll never need a pair of earrings.”
“I should have listened to you.”
“You’ll never do that, Gabe. You are how you are. If you try to be anything else, it will ruin you.” She scooted her body back into him. “Gabe, don’t hold back because of me. That will only make me feel worse. Promise me you won’t.”
“I don’t know.”
She squeezed his fingers in hers. “Promise me.”
“I can’t make a promise I might not keep. I’ll do my best, but I don’t want to hurt you, Rann. You shouldn’t have to suffer because of me.”
“Life is misery. I’m used to it. But you, Gabe, you give me something to live for.”
“You do the same for me.”
“I know better than that. It’s Squawk who keeps you going.” She lightly kissed his fingers. “That Count’s a real evil bastard, isn’t he?”
“I’ve never met a Count who wasn’t.”
Rann made a delightful little laugh. “That’s why I like you. You have spirit. Almost everyone I’ve known’s spirt is broken. I think even my parents had given up hope.” She yawned. “I’m tired. Don’t leave me tonight, promise?”
“That, I can promise.”
Within a minute Rann, cuddled in his arms, began to softly snore. Gabe finally yawned too. The nightmarish day came to an end. He woke to the sound of thunder, except it wasn’t thunder. It was Tim pounding on the outside of the door.
“Gabe! Rann! Get out here now!”
CHAPTER 49
Tim practically shoved Gabe and Rann out of the flats and into the streets. He walked with a limp and winced from time to time. It was the wee hours of the early morning. The roadways were barren, as the morning whistles ending the curfew hadn’t been blown yet. The Blue Guard had tripled outside of the coliseum’s main entrance. One of the men was tucking in his in dark-royal-blue shirt. He accidentally kicked his wooden club, and it rolled down the steps. Rann picked it up.
Tim snatched it away. “Do you have any sense at all?” He tossed the club to the man. His appearance and build were sloppier than the others. His eyes were red and watery. “Secure your gear, Harrv!”
“Sorry, Tim. Long night, eh?”
“Shut up.”
Inside the coliseum, more guards were stationed at the tunnels that led into the dens. Gabe came to the conclusion that there was more than one den inside the concourses. The Dragon Den was one of them. The other dens must have hosted something else. He was curious about that. They entered the pipe-like tunnel that led to the Dragon Den. The door was secured on the other end. Halfway into the tunnel, Tim grabbed Gabe by the nape of his neck and shoved him into a wall.
“Listen to me, boy,” Tim said in his ear. “If you ever do anything so stupid again, I’m going to bust your head open like a melon. What you do not only affects you, but it affects me, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to get my ear or something else cut off too. You got me?”
Gabe managed to nod in the man’s iron grip.
“I don’t like babysitting the flats at all. Don’t make it worse than it already is.” Tim shoved Gabe up the hall. They entered the den. As Tim closed them inside, he said, “I’ll be checking you more often than I used to.”
“It’s bad all around, isn’t it?” Gabe rubbed his eyes. “I think I was sleeping really well too, for a change.”
“Me too.” Rann stretched and yawned. “Gabe? What’s wrong now?”
Gabe’s blood started to rise. A new burst of energy flowed through him. His pulse quickened. Excited, he said, “He’s here!”
“Who’s here?”
Rushing to the dragon cages, Gabe searched them all. “Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?” Nestled in the bottom at the end of the cages, he saw a new dragon. “Squawk!” He yanked at the locked slide bolt. “Get the keys, Rann! Get the keys!”
Rann hurried over with a ring of keys. She knelt by his side. “Are you sure it’s him? They kinda all look the same.”
“It’s him. I’d know him if I was blind.”
“I’m sure you would.”
Gabe fumbled through the key rings. They were in order by cage number. He quickly counted through them, found the key, and opened the lock. He flung the door open and reached inside.
Squawk snapped at him.
Gabe jerked his fingers back just in time to save them. “Whoa!” He leaned back from the cage. Squawk’s throat rattled. “Something’s wrong.”
“He looks mean,” Rann said.
The hard ridges that ran along Squawk’s spine flared up. The skin under his neck heaved. His eyes narrowed, and his claws squeezed into the mesh floor of the cage, making a creaking sound.
“What are those white marks?” Rann said
Gabe could see white scars on Squawk’s body that hadn’t been there before. His fist balled up. His eyes watered. “Those bastards. What did they do to you?”
“They look like scars from incisions. I’ve seen them before with the Eyewatch. When they take the eyes, they leave white scars like that.” She rolled up her sleeve, revealing a long, white scar running up her forearm. “Potus did that to teach me a lesson.”
Gabe started to apologize but held his tongue. Instead, he made eye contact with Squawk. He spoke in soft words and envisioned he and Squawk playing together. “Come here, boy. It’s me, Gabe. You know I would never harm you.” He moved his hand slowly inside the cage. “I’m your friend, Squawk, always.” Gabe’s nostrils flared. There was an angry feeling stirring inside of him, but he wasn’t driving it, Squawk was. The dragon bared small teeth that were as sharp as knives. Rann flinched. Gabe said, “We’ll make them pay, Squawk. We’ll get revenge.”
Squawk’s tongue flickered out of his mouth. With his head and long neck low, he crawled forward. His tongue licked Gabe’s knuckles.
Gabe let out a sigh. “Come here, Squawk.” The dragon crawled into his arms. His tongue licked Gabe’s face. “You’ve gotten bigger.” The dragon felt like twenty pounds of bone, scales, and muscles. His lizard skin seemed tougher than before. “What in the worthless world happened to you?”
“Can I touch him?” Rann said with eager eyes. “I missed him too, you know. Do you think he still likes me?”
“Ah, I don’t know. He seems to be settling down. Move slowly.”
Like a dog, Squawk sniffed Rann’s hand. She started petting his face. “That’s a good dragon. You still like me, don’t you? I’m glad.”
Gabe walked over to one of the workbenches. He took a seat on the stool. The emptiness that had taken over his body began to fade. Squawk, a part of him that was lost, made him feel like a new person, but he could still sense that something was wrong. He set Squawk down on the table. “Let’s take a look at you.”
Squawk bunched up.
“It will be okay, Squawk. I won’t hurt you.” Gabe ran his fingers over the scars. There were two identical ones on each side of the dragon’s chest. There were more on his belly. Gabe’s heart sank. “What did they do to you?” He unfolded a wing. The skin was clipped open between the body and the wing. The gash looked nasty. “Oh, no.”
“What happened?” Rann asked.
“I don’t think he can fly anymore.”
CLANG!
Everyone, including Squawk, flinched.
The wheel on the vault door creaked as it turned a full circle. The door swung open.
CHAPTER 50
“What have you got there to eat, Little Jack?” Dino asked.
All of the Deathriders had gathered around the campfire. It was a night after the day they went to hunt in the wilderness. The riders returned with possums and squirrels. The one named Skins had a pair of rabbits. They were all eating what they’d fetched. They were waiting too—on Jack.
Jack had just wandered into camp. He’d gotten lost in the forest. His stomach growled. Not wanting to be embarrassed, he didn’t return empty-handed. He sauntered over to the fire. The cooking meat made his mouth water. If not for that scent wafting into the wilderness, he might not have made it back. He approached Trooper and opened his hands. A small critter lay in his palms. He’d crushed it. “I don’t know what it is.”
Trooper picked it up by the tail. The Deathriders erupted in chuckles. Trooper pointed at the critter. “This vicious varmint is called a chipmunk. Well done, Jack the Chipmunk Killer. You can have it all to yourself, and save the pelt. Maybe you can make a really nice cap out of it.”
Everyone guffawed. Even Shane cracked a smile.
Raising his fists and pumping them, Cookie shouted, “Jack the Chipmunk Killer! Eeeeyah!”
Jack flung the chipmunk at Cookie. It hit the flabby man in the chin and dropped into his plate.
Cookie rose up with a knife that appeared in his hand. “No one throws a chipmunk at ole’ Cookie and lives to tell about it!”
There was a quick moment of tension that was washed over in a tide a wild laughter and knee-slapping guffaws. Cookie laughed as he held his bouncing gut. He chucked the chipmunk at Jack. “Cook it yourself, little Jack.”
Jack slunk away to the front of the truck. He sat in front of the wheel on the other side of the fire. Hungry and mad, he buried his head in his knees. His body ached. The muscles in his wiry arms throbbed. He wanted to sleep. Blocking out the campfire conversation, he closed his eyes, wishing he were back in Newton.
A pained groan woke him. He crawled toward the sound. The men still huddled around the dying campfire. Skins held his arm. His face was bathed in new sweat. His grimace was painful. The skin on his left shoulder was seared by a branding iron that now rested in the fire. The marker glowed red-hot in the coals. It was the brand of the Deathriders, a horse’s skull inside a circle. The brand it made was ugly.
Jack sauntered into camp. Sheepishly, he sat among the men. The smell of burnt flesh turned his stomach. Half of them had already been branded. It was Shane’s turn. She stood tall with her bare arm exposed in front of the flames.
Trooper took the branding iron from the flames. “Do you swear to forsake all for your fellow Deathriders?”
“I do.”
“Do you swear to serve the Dominion until death?”
“I do.”
Trooper branded the meat on her shoulder. The searing skin sizzled. Shane stared into the man’s eyes. The muscles in her jaws clenched.
“Ride, Deathrider, ride,” he said. “Until death do we part.”
The men clapped. One by one, they congratulated the perspiring woman. Trooper dropped the brand in the dirt. He hefted up a glass bottle and shouted, “Anything for a Rider!”
“Ride! Ride! Ride!” they chanted back.
Trooper sucked on the bottle of hard wine and passed it around to the others. Jack had seen enough. He jumped up. “Where’s my brand? I should be a Deathrider too! I did everything they did!”
“This brand’s too big for your arm, little Jack,” Trooper said.
“Yeah, it would burn your entire arm off,” Cookie added, laughing.
; “I don’t care if it burns my arm off. I want the brand. I’ve been riding longer than them.”
“Go to bed, little Jack,” Trooper said. “You’re getting grouchy.”
“Yeah, go take a nap, toddler,” Cookie said. “Go curl up under your chipmunk blanket. It will keep you warm.”
Jack snatched up the branding iron. He swung it into Cookie’s face. The blow clipped the man in the head. Jack started beating him with the hot iron.
Trooper yanked the brand out of Jack’s hands. By the hair, he yanked him up to his toes. “We don’t attack our own! That’s crossing the line! You attacked a Deathrider. Now you’ll have to pay for it.”
With his eyes simmering and fresh burn marks on his face, Cookie rushed Jack. He hit Jack hard in the gut. “Try to brand me, will you!” He hit Jack again.
“Oomph!” Jack sagged, but Trooper held him up.
“Deathriders, show this little cur what happens when he crosses one of your brothers.”
The riders formed a line in front of Jack. One by one they took their best shot. Punches hammered into his body. Kicks busted his ribs. Shane was last. Sneering at him, she broke his nose with a straight punch.
CHAPTER 51
Rann slipped behind Gabe as the vault door opened wide. Her fingers dug into his sides. The metal door groaned on its hinges. A man stepped through the opening. It was the bestial man Gabe had caught a glimpse of before. He was built like an ape—not tall but stout as a metal barrel. His hairy arms rippled with brutish muscle from his forearms to the top of his bulging shoulders. His long, tawny hair was braided in the back. His large eyes were probing. A crimson vest of dyed animal hair covered his chest. His pants were wool and black. A whip hung on his hip.
Flight from the Dominion (The Gamma Earth Cycle Book 2) Page 15
