Forager - the Complete Trilogy (A Post Apocalyptic/Dystopian Trilogy)

by Peter R Stone

  So was her strategy to try to help me remember her rather than force the truth upon me? It made sense if that was the case, considering how badly I reacted in the hospital when she forced the truth on me.

  I continued to stagger towards my flat. I was so exhausted now that all I could do was put one foot in front of the other. My body ached from my wound as much as from exhaustion.

  When I got to my flat, I reached out to open the door, but it swung open as soon as my fingers brushed it. Alarmed, I entered the flat and called out to Nanako, but was met with silence. I hurried past the kitchen and bathroom and into the lounge room come bedroom, desperately hoping to see her waiting on the sofa for me, but she wasn't there. Neither was she in the bathroom.

  She was gone.

  I sank onto the cold tile floor, fearing the worst. Had my callous accusations pushed her away for good? Had she gone back to North End to share her heartbreak with Councillor Okada, ready now to return to Hamamachi? A black despair took hold of me and I collapsed against the wall beside the shower. If I could only turn back time and think things through instead of losing my temper and saying such terrible things to her. I still couldn’t remember everything about our relationship, but I desperately wanted those memories back and I wanted to make new ones with her – if she could ever forgive me after shoving her away – twice.

  I sat there, cold and depressed, when I suddenly remembered what she did the first night she came to Newhome. After waiting two years for an opportunity to see me again, her hopes were crushed when I didn't even recognise her. Downhearted and disappointed, she retired to her apartment's roof to be alone.

  I sat up, a glimmer of hope piercing the gloom that overshadowed my heart. Had she reacted in the same way tonight? If so, she could be on the roof of my apartment block right now.

  I scraped myself off the floor and stumbled out of my flat for the third time tonight. I headed for the elevator for the first time. I decided under the circumstances, I could break my vow to never use it.

  The short walk felt like an hour, and the ride up to the tenth floor an eternity. But the elevator reached its destination at long last and the doors pinged open. Having regained a modicum of energy, I darted out of the elevator and into the stairwell, and up the stairs to the roof.

  Doubt and worry assailed me as I reached out to open the door. What if she wasn't here either? What if she had given up on me and gone back to North End or somewhere else in the dark? What if she didn't want to see me again?

  I shook my head to clear it and gently opened the door. A massive wave of relief swept through me when I heard the sound of Nanako's voice. Her gentle sobs cut right through me. I hurried from the stairwell housing and there she was, sitting on the roof with her back to the wall. She hugged her knees to her chest, completely soaked by the rain.

  She looked up at me, eyes red from crying, black eyeliner streaked down her cheeks, and her hair plastered to her face.

  I dropped to my knees, wrapped my arms around her, and rested my forehead gently against hers.

  "Nanako, I'm so sorry for all those horrid things I said. I'm sorry I wouldn't listen to you. I should have known you would never leave me by choice. I should have realised my father had the Custodians throw you out of the town. And most of all, I'm so sorry for telling you I never wanted to see you again. I didn’t know – I couldn’t remember. But I’m remembering now, thanks to you.""

  Nanako wiped her tear-streaked cheeks with the back of her hand and turned to face me, hope shining in her eyes. "Do you remember saying that?"

  Ignoring the pain in my chest, I cupped her beautiful round face in my hands. "No, but I do remember when we first met, over in that warehouse car park where you and your three friends were racing lizards. You were wearing these very clothes, shared your lunch with me, and asked me to come to Hamamachi with you."

  Nanako was shivering from the cold, but she threw her arms around me and hugged me so tight that I thought I'd pass out from the pain. "Oh Ethan, that’s wonderful - you’ve finally remembered me! But how did you find out what your father did?"

  "After I ran away from you I started thinking and I put all the pieces together – all the things you said and did, and then it all just clicked. I went to my parents' house just now and confronted my father. He told me everything, even what he did to you. Nanako, I cannot even begin to imagine what you went through back then."

  "Before you got hurt, we had everything, Ethan. From the time we met in January, we were inseparable. You lived at my next door neighbours' house but spent nearly every minute at mine with my family and I. You were able to join my foraging team too. We got married on the 7th of March 2120 and moved into our own little flat. We were so happy, but then you got injured in September and suffered from amnesia. You lost all your memories of me and the times we spent together. The seizures you started having were so bad, I was terrified I was gonna lose you. So I spent all of our money to pay someone to drive us to Newhome, hoping the doctors here could help you. They said they could, and your father promised to pay for the operation. I was so desperate for it to be a success – that you would recover and remember our lives together. But then those horrible Custodians turned up the day before the operation, dragged me from your hospital room, and drove me all the way back to Hamamachi.

  "This trading venture with Councillor Okada was the first opportunity in two years to return here. No one was willing to make the journey because of the increase in Skel attacks. The guy who took us to Newhome the first time never made it back. I wanted to come back by myself before then, but my family wouldn’t let me.

  "Ethan, do you have any idea how hard these last few days have been? To finally be with you again after all this time, with my head full of memories of all the wonderful things we did together, but you didn't even recognise me. And then to hear that your father was trying to marry you off, taking advantage of your amnesia."

  "I'll never understand what you've been through with all of this," I replied sadly. "There is one thing I would like to ask you, though, and I think I know the answer. When you saw me on Monday, why didn't you tell me who you were, that you were my wife?"

  She took my face in her hands and squeezed gently, as though trying to convince herself this conversation was actually happening. "Before I came here," she began, "I suspected you hadn't recovered your memories. If you had, I know you would have come straight to Hamamachi to find me. So when I got here and saw you didn't remember me, I wanted to see if you could fall in love with me again. I wanted to know if you could want to be with me again, not because you had to, but because you wanted to. I tried to trigger your memories of me by doing the same things I did when we met three years ago."

  I grinned from ear to ear – I loved this girl. "So you made lunches and cooked dinners for me back then too?"

  She returned the smile. "Yes, and anything else I could think of to make you mine." She paused, and added softly, "I want you back, Ethan. That's all I care about."

  I took Nanako's small, bronzed hands in mine. My heart, my all, belonged totally to her. "Nanako, if you want me, you've got me. I am yours, now and forever."

  "I do, Ethan, I do," she said, rapture glowing through her tear stained face. She lifted her chin, removed the choker from her neck, and slipped off the two gold rings that had been hanging from it. I noticed for the first time that they were different sizes.

  Crying again, but this time with joy, she slipped the larger ring onto the third finger of my left hand.

  I took the other ring and slipped it onto her corresponding finger.

  "Finally." She sighed, a peaceful, contented expression framing her face.

  And as the rain sleeted down, we continued to kneel on the wet concrete with our foreheads pressed together and our arms wrapped around each other. Savouring this moment, this reunion.

  When her teeth started clattering, I took her hands and helped her to her feet. "We'd better get you inside and into a warm shower before you catch pne
umonia."

  So hand in hand we made our way to the elevator. I figured I had a good enough reason to break my vow about not using it on this occasion too.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The night’s emotional roller-coaster ride and constant running about while already weak from the wound took their toll on me. I was exhausted. I staggered through the door of my flat with an arm draped around Nanako’s shoulders. She was so cold that her teeth clattered nonstop, so we went straight to the bathroom. She reached for the buttons on my shirt with fingers she couldn’t even hold still.

  "Come on, we've got to get you out of those wet bandages," she said, putting my welfare above her own.

  I caught her hands and held them still. "A few minutes won’t make a difference to me. Our first priority is to get you warm. I'll get the shower going. It's a temperamental little beast."

  Nanako nodded and stripped out of her clinging wet clothes while I fiddled around to get the shower to the right temperature, a difficult task at the best of times.

  "Right to go." I held back the plastic floral-pattern shower curtain.

  She slipped under the steaming hot water and sighed deeply with blissful relief as the water cascaded down her beautiful, lithe body. I stood there drinking in the sight of her, not quite comprehending that she was my wife.

  "Don't just stand there." She held out a hand. "Get undressed and hop in."

  I didn't need to be asked twice.

  * * *

  I was rudely awakened when the flat’s front door was kicked in. That I didn’t wake at the sound of boots outside indicated how soundly I'd been asleep. Lifting my head from the pillow to see the bedside clock, I saw that it was 4:30am and still dark outside. Nanako was lying half on top of me, soundly asleep, with her head on my shoulder, right arm across my chest, and her legs entwined with mine.

  I struggled to sit up, waking Nanako in the process. The front door slammed shut and four men with guns rushed into the lounge-bedroom, blinding us with their torchlights.

  “Got ‘em!” Lieutenant King declared. “Ethan Jones and Nanako, you are under arrest for sexual misconduct.”

  “No, you’ve got this all wro…” I protested but got no further before one of the intruders smashed the stock of his assault-rifle into the side of my head.

  * * *

  I came to with a thumping headache that felt like a red-hot poker was stabbing me in the head. It took a moment to realise I was gagged and on my knees on the floor beside the bed with my hands cuffed behind my back. One intruder stood behind me, holding me upright by my hair and right shoulder.

  The lights were on, and by twisting my head a little to the right, I saw Nanako kneeling beside me, similarly restrained. Her eyes were wide with terror. We were both shivering, for she wore only a t-shirt over her underwear, and me only my boxer shorts.

  The intruders were all Custodians, but King was the only one in front of us. He stepped closer and leered down at me with undisguised loathing.

  “You stupid fool, Jones! Did you seriously think you could cavort and sleep with this girl without us noticing? You’re dumber than I thought. Now the normal procedure after arresting you two is to take you to the magistrate in the morning, but we have a bit of a problem with that. The sentence for sexual misconduct is death by lethal injection, but in your case, Jones, the magistrate will transmute your sentence to several years hard labour. Since Nanako is from Hamamachi, he will probably just expel her from the town.” He knelt down and stuck his ugly face in front of mine. “And as I’m not happy with either of those options, my friends and I are going to administer the sentences you deserve right here and now. A bullet to the back of the head.”

  I tried desperately to tell him that we were married, but the gag had been shoved so far into my mouth that I could only make muffled noises.

  King stood and drew his pistol. He grabbed my pillow and folded it double. “I’m going to do her first so you can have the pleasure of watching her die, Jones. That’s only fitting, isn’t it? Payback for what the little cow did to my family’s honour.”

  I flung myself back against my captor, but he jabbed me in the ribs with his right fist and drove the air out of my lungs.

  King approached Nanako, but she struggled against her captor with all her might and tried to tell him something, but the gag made her words intelligible as well.

  Not caring about our incoherent protestations, King walked behind Nanako, placed the pillow against the back of her head, and pressed the gun into the pillow. Although still winded, I fought desperately against my Custodian captor as well, trying to tear my head from his grip and kick behind me at the same time.

  “Hold fire for a moment, Lieutenant,” the fourth Custodian said suddenly. Until now he had been standing quietly behind us, content to watch the proceedings, but now he reached out a hand to stay King. He was an Anglo-Australian, as tall as King, with a square jaw, and a very powerful build.

  “What is it, Captain Smithson? You said I had your full support in this!” King complained.

  “They’re wearing wedding bands.” The captain pointed out.

  I stopped struggling and watched from the corner of my eye as King stepped back to look at our hands, clearly confused. “It’s a trick, Sir. It has to be. They weren’t wearing them on Friday.”

  Nanako nodded furiously, desperately trying to speak over the gag.

  “The girl’s trying to tell us something,” Captain Smithson said.

  “Yeah, ‘don’t kill us,’” King snarled angrily.

  “Doesn’t sound like that at all. Remove her gag.”

  “But Sir,” King protested strongly.

  “I know you have issues with her, but it isn’t going to hurt to hear what she has to say. Now take off the gag, and that’s an order.”

  King untied Nanako’s gag and ungraciously yanked it from her mouth. As soon as it was out, Nanako twisted around to address the captain. Her words poured out like a waterfall as she relayed the entire story to the captain.

  “What a load of codswallop,” King retorted. “Why didn’t you tell Ethan the ‘truth’ as soon as you saw him on Monday?”

  “I didn't want to force the truth on him. I wanted to trigger his memories of me instead,” Nanako replied, though to the captain, not to King.

  The captain indicated for the Custodian restraining me to remove my gag. “Is what she’s saying true, Jones?”

  “Yes, Sir! When I went to the hospital yesterday I saw my hospital admission form from November 2120, and it stated that Nanako was my wife. That’s how I found out.”

  “I see. And did she trigger any of your memories?”

  “Yes, Sir. Since her arrival, I’ve had a number of memories of the time I was in Hamamachi. Last night I had a dream where I remembered meeting her for the first time. After things started falling into place, I confronted my father. He admitted he had asked the Custodians to have Nanako thrown out of Newhome.”

  “Lieutenant King,” Nanako said before the captain could reply. “Don't be mad at me for stopping your sister’s marriage to Ethan. Blame Ethan's father his deception.”

  "Can you prove any of this?" the captain asked. It sounded like he was beginning to believe us.

  "Have a look at my file in the hospital," I replied. "You'll see I was checked into the hospital in November 2120 by Nanako Jones, with her relationship to me listed as 'wife'."

  "You can also ask Councillor Okada," Nanako added. "He knew Ethan very well."

  King suddenly had an epiphany. "Nanako, you said Jones went to Hamamachi."

  "Yes, Sir."

  "Did he join the Militia?"

  "Yes, he did, though he was promoted to the Rangers soon afterwards," she replied. “He developed entirely new strategies for dealing with the Skel, and these were adopted by the Militia and Rangers.”

  “And they were?” King prompted.

  “Never fight them frontally but use stealth to get behind them and ambush them.”

 
I’d actually developed my anti-Skel strategies when I started foraging at the age of seventeen. As I was able to detect Skel ambushes using echolocation, it was from there I got the idea to sneak behind them and give them a taste of their own medicine.

  “How did you fight the Skel previously?” the lieutenant queried.

  “Upon encountering Skel, each squad broke into two teams. One team would provide covering fire while the other advanced.”

  “I see,” King said, nodding his head. As the Custodians were primarily a police force, they probably hadn’t learned military tactics such as this.

  Captain Smithson looked at Nanako and me, still handcuffed and kneeling on the floor and shivering uncontrollably. He sighed and addressed the Custodians who were restraining us. "Alright, uncuff Mr. and Mrs. Jones and let them go."

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Now that we were free, the captain and two Custodian privates strode for the door. In typical form, they did not apologise even though they were about to murder us a moment ago. I was overwhelmed with relief that we were still alive, but also incensed with anger at yet another Custodian injustice. How much longer did I have to live in this prison-town?

  Ignoring wrists sore from chafing handcuffs and knees aching from kneeling too long on a hard wooden floor, I stood and helped Nanako to her feet. Like me, she was relieved but angry. She was also shivering uncontrollably from the cold.

  But before I could even take stock of our situation, King was back in my face.

  "Mention this little ‘misunderstanding’ to anyone, anyone at all, and there'll be a little accident when you're out foraging one day. You reading me, Jones?" he hissed in my ear.

  I wanted nothing more than to smash my fist through his pockmarked face, but that would just give him the excuse he needed to lock me up. With a monstrous amount of self control, I focused on breathing in and out and glared back at him without answering.