by Dennis Yates
All the wolves who’d bitten into a rotter were yipping shrilly, having realized their leader knew something they didn’t. Strings of foam swung from their mouths in response to the miserable taste of rotter meat. They rubbed their snouts in the sand and sneezed. I could only guess that the alpha wolf had learned how to tell the dead from the living while the newer ones were still learning how to hunt for unrotten meat.
“Trevor,” I called, trying to catch up to him without stirring the wolf’s instinct to attack. I was surprised he was still conscious considering he had scorpion toxin cutting through his veins. Maybe the kid still had a chance.
Trevor stopped and swept his hands in front of his eyes.
“Brand... I think I’ve gone blind.”
“Be still Trev... I’m almost there.”
“It’s happening to me, Brand. Too late to stop it.” His arms were trembling now at his sides.
“Hang tight.” As I walked faster toward Trevor, the wolf on the opposite side of him also moved closer. Trevor had no idea he was being watched by the predator. For a second he must have thought I was right behind him, and he reached back his hand. I had several yards yet to go before I could catch up. The wolf, however, was much nearer to him now.
“Brand, where are you?” the boy asked, his voice shaky.
The wolf was looking right at me. Its yellow eyes flashed and in my head it planted the image of my bloody remains strewn across the plateau. I’d been fought over, pulled apart and carried away in every direction. When I saw my skull frozen in a silent scream it felt like a knife in the gut. I wanted to warn Trevor but I couldn’t find my voice.
The wolf looked away from me and resumed stalking after Trevor. You need to run, I told myself. You might be able to protect the boy before it’s too late. The wolf is going to want him alone. If you’re there it’ll run off. Or not.
Trevor felt the wolf as it approached and he slapped his thigh. “You’re not behind me at all are you, Brand? Why didn’t you say something?”
“Trevor!”
I started to run and so did the wolf. It leaped faster than any warm-blooded animal I’ve ever seen and sank its jaws into the boy’s throat. A draft of air pushed toward me, filling my nose with a sickly mixture of filthy fur and blood.
The boy had no idea what had hit him. But a severed spine was still a faster way to go out than what the scorpion toxin would have done to him.
I only saw Trevor a moment longer before the beast dragged his limp body into the thick night.
I screamed his name.
Chapter 12
The sky was overcast with fire smoke while the sun pierced through it like a giant red eye. I hadn’t moved since Trevor had been pulled into the darkness. I’d asked the orb why it hadn’t been me instead of the boy, and it answered with the bronze figures of Sorensen and his men emerging from the ruddy haze on horseback.
If the wolves hadn’t attacked during the night, we would’ve made a run for it before Sorensen arrived. And yet we had no idea how much distance we needed to avoid the horseman’s ability to kill us. Maybe there was no way we could escape the explosive charge cuffed to our wrists, we just didn’t know. Patch guessed up to a mile, which didn’t seem right to the rest of us. All we were certain about was the rapid decay of Sorensen’s mental state, and knew it was only a matter of time before he took our lives during a fit of madness.
I sensed the horseman was relieved not to have lost the chance to further exploit us. He’d never admit how badly he needed our help. But it was clear he didn’t have the crew to handle what might lie ahead.
Behind Sorenson’s horse struggled a man tied to a rope. His torso was covered with welts and his feet were bare and bloody. He looked like he wouldn't be able to stand another minute.
Sorenson pulled the new captive into camp before one of his men untied the rope and made him kneel. The horseman lowered the ugly switch he’d been using on the man’s flesh and waved for us to come closer. Judging by the sinister gleam in Sorenson’s eyes, I decided it was probably a bad idea to turn down the invitation.
“Look what we found last night,” Sorenson shouted. He raised a bottle to his mouth and drank while studying our faces. Now the smell of his rotting leg finally hit us. The stench was overwhelming ¬-- at least as bad as a week-old rotter. When the horseman saw our discomfort, he glanced down at his infected limb and laughed. It was so bloated now that he’d had to cut off his entire pant leg.
We were shocked he was still alive. But us Dusters had a knack for beating the odds, whether we rode in the light or in the darkness. I couldn’t shake off the notion I hadn’t run dry on luck, that there was still an imaginary lady dancing nearby, watching my back.
“Here’s another fool hunting for Junior Garrett,” Sorensen said, grinning. “And you thought you were picked because you were special. I think those Pilgrims up there must be getting desperate. They’re thawing out anyone they can so they can ship them down here to do their dirty work.”
Patch walked over to the new captive with his water skin but Sorenson struck it from his hand with his cruel switch. Patch shot back his hand, crying out in pain. The water skin hit the ground and sloshed.
“No,” Sorenson ordered. “He’ll be given nothing until I say so.”
The prisoner glanced at Patch and I with pleading eyes. I ignored Sorensen and walked toward him. As I got closer, I felt my skin erupt with gooseflesh.
I knew who this man was. Jim Cutter. A true Duster outlaw like me. Cutter lived by the old code. For years we’d shared a mutual respect for each other. We kept out of each other’s way when it came to business, but sometimes we shared tequila in a rundown saloon far out in one of the worst corners of Lazarus.
Jim Cutter was the best safecracker I’d ever known. He’d had a thing for my sister Jess and always asked about her. Remembering my sister made my eyes sting. It felt as if a steel trap had gripped my insides to send me a reminder. The guilt never went away. No matter how many bargains I made with myself, it hung inside me like a tumor.
One day Cutter’s luck ran dry and he was arrested by Federation soldiers and sent to the warden’s prison. It was the last anyone had seen him. Four years later the Federation caught me and the others, sent us to the same hellish prison in space.
“Glad to be thawed back?” I asked.
Cutter didn’t seem to recognize me. Either I looked nothing at all like I used to, or he was sun blind from being dragged behind Sorenson’s horse. He squinted at me for a long time before his memory stirred up something.
“Brand?” Cutter asked, his voice clawing its way out of his dust-torn throat. “What the hell are you doing here?”
To be honest it was hard to look at him. His face was flayed off in sunburnt strips. Even worse, I could see he was losing his mind. It’s what happens when you get too much exposure out here. By the end you’re running toward the horizon, focused on an icy cold lake you can never reach. That’s how you go out. Chasing a goddamn hallucination until you end up on the buzzard menu.
I could feel Sorenson approaching closer so he could listen to us talk. I whipped around and grabbed his horse by the bridle. I couldn’t stand knowing it was lurking behind me.
I immediately regretted what I’d done. The fearsome animal snapped its sharp yellow teeth and I let it go. Sorenson shoved the barrel of his rifle against my throat.
“I ought to kill you now.”
“You’ve got to let Patch take care of him,” I said. “He isn’t worth a damn to us if he’s not alive to tell us what he knows.”
Sorenson laughed. “And you don’t think I already gave him that opportunity?”
I didn’t answer. I picked up the water skin and handed it to Cutter. He took it in both hands and drank. Water ran down the corners of his swollen mouth. He chugged too fast but I didn’t have the heart to stop him. Having finally recognized Cutter, Ramos and Jade gathered beside me.
Sorenson grunted. “When I come back you better have lea
rned something new from him.” He signaled his other men and they soon rode off in a choking cloud of dust. We watched them ride through a mirage. It stretched them like taffy until they were mere threads of glass.
The horseman wasn’t worried in the slightest when he left us anymore. Besides, we’d be incapable of getting very far before he came and herded us back. Unless, of course, he decided to blow us up and let us bleed out. As far as I could tell, he still needed us alive.
I was worried right now about Cutter. It was looking like he’d arrived way too late for our help. The safecracker handed back the water skin and nodded thanks. Patch looked him over, shaking his head at the horrific welts and bruises Sorenson had marked him with. He dug a bottle of alcohol from his medic bag and began to swab the man’s wounds with spider cotton. Cutter winced, waved off Patch’s attempts to help him.
He’s dying, I thought. Cutter’s face was covered in sweat and he was trembling badly. It was too late to do anything for him. He’d been forced to cross the line of no return. I’d seen it happen too many times before. Even as a young child, I was never spared from witnessing the horrors Lazarus provided in ample supply.
It was as if Cutter had heard my thoughts when he reached out to me with a weak hand. “Does anyone have a gun they can lend me?”
I glanced at Jade and Ramos. They were thinking the same thing. Cutter knew he wasn’t going to make it. It had come time to consider an alternative way out. Even if his ticket was a bullet to the head.
“I can’t help you, Cutter. Sorenson took them a long time ago.”
Cutter’s eyes fell away from me. He gazed up into the sky as if he were looking for something. But there was nothing there. The indifferent sky of Lazarus never offered anyone hope before and never would.
“Who would have thought we’d meet again.” The safecracker laughed before gritting his teeth. He noticed Ramos and Jade beside me and nodded at them both.
“I’m just glad we’re no longer in the frozen parts bank,” I said. “I can’t figure out how we managed to stay in one piece all those years.”
Cutter started to laugh again and it quickly turned into a hacking cough. I saw in his eyes what he was going to tell me. I still needed to ask him anyway.
“Wait... you had something to do with it?”
Cutter took another sip from the water skin. After he wiped his mouth, his hand came away with blood. “Aside from Sorenson, don’t us Dusters try to watch out for each other’s backsides?”
“But how?” I asked.
Cutter reached into his mouth and pried out a molar. He wiped the blood off on his pants and tossed the tooth to Ramos. “What the fuck?” the big man cursed.
“Open it up as soon as you get a chance. There’s information you’re going to need soon,” Cutter said.
“You’re not making sense,” I said, regretting my choice of words. But Cutter seemed to have accepted his fate and the cruel stages he was in for. In fact, the man was beaming at us with joy.
“While I was a guest of the warden, I hacked the freezer inventory. First thing I did was reprogram it to keep Dusters from ending up on the chopping block. All bets would have been off if there’d been a high demand for body parts. But now... now I’m sure you’re wishing you’d given your right arm to some damn Federation soldier instead of this.”
“Not a chance,” I smiled. Even while he was dying Cutter managed to cling to his sense of humor. “Did they send you down here with your old gang?” I asked.
Cutter half closed his eyes in concentration. “Yes they did. They’ve been thawing out all us Duster gangs and dropping us back home like there’s no tomorrow.”
“You run into any of these gangs?” I asked.
Cutter laughed. “I’ve seen some of your old friends and others who don’t like you much.”
“You’re being serious?”
“Of course, Brand. I’m surprised you haven’t run across any of them.”
“I haven’t seen anyone I know. But we did meet some infected bikers and a gang of bandits back in Cranston. Those bandits were some bad men. Never got to find out where they came from.”
Cutter began to shake violently and Jade set her good hand on his arm. He looked up at her and the tremors seemed to ease up.
“Jade,” he said hoarsely. “It’s so good to see you.”
Jade nodded and lowered her eyes. “You too Cut... what happened to you out here? How long have you been looking for Junior Garrett?”
“Enough to know when I’ve been made a fool of.”
“Did he pull something on you?” Ramos asked.
Cutter shook his head. “I gave up on him.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I started to wonder if he even existed. If the whole enchilada was a game the bored Federation heads had dreamed up to entertain themselves.”
“We have Garrett in our custody now,” Jade said.
Cutter squinted at the boy lying in a fetal position nearby. He laughed as if his throat were filled with obsidian shavings.
“Well I’ll be damned. It’s too bad Sorenson had to go ruin our chances at getting rich.”
“Our chances?” Ramos asked, puffing his chest. “You just said you quit.”
“Drop it, Ram,” I said, annoyed. “We’ll discuss it later.”
Cutter eyed the boy more closely and shook his head. Junior Garrett had sat up. He was rocking back and forth, shivering so hard I could hear his teeth knock around like dice. I worried if he’d be able to survive the rest of our journey to the ship. Patch was still looking through his medical supplies to find something to calm his nerves.
“Wolves,” Garrett murmured. “The wolves are going to eat us all.”
“Where’s the rest of your crew?” Ramos asked, pretending not to hear the boy. None of us wanted to think about the wolves. They were still out there, waiting to catch their next meal. We’d heard their hungry voices call out to us from distant cliffs.
Cutter stared at the sky while a dark cloud of buzzards floated past. The wretched birds had been keeping track of us all day. As soon as the sun had slid beneath the horizon, they’d started claiming the fallen bodies of Sorenson’s men. Cutter pressed a rag to his mouth and coughed. There was too much blood and it soaked through to his hand.
“They’re either truly dead or they’ve been turned into those things.” Cutter said. “I didn’t get a chance to find out which.”
“How long ago did this happen?” I asked.
“Three or four days. After we discovered the ship. Junior Garrett was gone but we no longer cared. We had a way off Lazarus and far from all this bull. It seemed like it would be easy to pull off, except the place was crawling with more dead soldiers than we could handle. Other than Rudy Wilson, I lost my entire crew in less than a day. He and I got ourselves trapped inside a burnt-out truck until Sorenson showed up to the rescue.” Cutter paused to wipe his face with a filthy sleeve.
“As soon as he had us disarmed he started in on the questioning. Rudy had a bad heart and he didn’t make it. He was my family. Like the three of you are family.”
“I seem to remember meeting Rudy,” I said. “Didn’t know the two of you were close.”
“Hell. We were thirteen when we ran away. Been on our own ever since. We knew what we left behind would kill us if we stayed. We were orphans, and nobody gave a damn if we lived or died. They were training us to work down in the mines. Rudy and I saw what it did to the older boys and we would have none of it. We’d dreamed of living the life of outlaws, not lung hackers.”
I began to doubt my prognosis. Cutter seemed to be rallying. Then suddenly he fell onto his back and shut his eyes, stilled as if turned into stone. It looked as if death had taken him away just like that, pulled his plug from this world. Jade and Ramos were as surprised as I was. And although no one had volunteered to check his neck for a pulse, we silently agreed it wouldn’t be necessary.
Except Cutter had other plans. He jolted up again and continued
as if nothing had happened. When he looked up at me, I saw a weak glow in his eyes, like coals in an early morning fire pit.
“I just remembered something Brand. I saw your sister not more than a few weeks ago.”
My pulse kicked up and made my voice quaver. “Jess? You saw her?”
Cutter closed his eyes and pretended to kiss someone on the mouth. I knew all too well who he was imagining. If it’d been anyone else, I probably would have bloodied his nose for thinking about my sister in that way. But Cutter was never less than a gentleman to Jess.
The few times I saw them together, I sensed a weird energy around them. I was never sure what to make of it. Of course, a lot of time had passed since he’d been shipped up to prison. Like it or not, people’s hearts will change over time. I was under no illusion things would be any different between Jess and me if we ever saw each other again. Would we even know what to say?
Cutter stopped smooching the dusty air and reopened his eyes. He had a dreamy smile on his torched face, like he’d really felt something. “She can’t be far away from here, Brand. Will you let her know I said hello?”
In his current state of mind, I wasn’t sure if there was any truth in what Cutter was saying. But I knew him well enough that he wouldn’t lie to me on purpose.
“Maybe you’ll get a chance to talk to her yourself,” I offered. I realized I wasn’t the one being truthful. My mouth suddenly tasted metallic. I turned and spat.
Cutter shook his head. “Come on. You know I don’t have long. Haven’t you seen a dying man run at the mouth before?”
“You’ve been running at the mouth since the day we met,” I said.
Cutter grinned. “You might be right.”
“How was Jess?” I asked.
“I’m afraid she’s running with a rough bunch of Dusters. I was lucky she recognized me. At first I thought they were going to kill me. When they didn’t, I tried talking her into letting me stay with them. But I soon knew it wouldn’t work. There was a guy she was with who was extremely jealous. I knew it would only be a matter of time before he figured out a reason to see me no longer breathe.”
