Sampson's Legacy: The Post-Apocalyptic Sequel To Legacy Of Ashes (Earth's Ashes Book 2)

by Ric Beard

  “Did you just say monastery? Are you telling me you’re a…monk?”

  “Yes.”

  “What’s your order called?”

  “The Black.”

  “All that time you were working in the Vipers, you were actually working with your order?”

  “Yes.”

  “How long was that?”

  “Almost a decade.”

  Shit.

  “Well, at least you’re persistent.”

  A long chuckle crossed the airwaves. “You don’t know the half of it.”

  “If you don’t call this Sacred City or whatever home anymore, where is home?”

  “We’ve refused to set down roots until the time has come to return to Plains City.”

  “You’re nomads?”

  “We have camps.”

  Sean shook his head. “A nomad monk. I have to admit, I didn’t see either of those coming.”

  “Did you still want me to tell you what our motivations are?” Moss asked.

  “Oh! Sorry. The monk thing threw me.”

  “Why?”

  “Forget it. That will just get us off track again. Why are you here?”

  “Our short game is the same as yours. To let the people decide who their leaders are and stabilize the region.”

  “Your long game?”

  “To unite with The Foundation for our common goal…to make the continent better. Peace.”

  “Sounds straightforward,” Sean said. “Where does your return home fall into the plan?”

  “Later.” The word was spoken as if the discussion was of little interest.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t come find us sooner,” Sean said.

  “Until the radio signals popped up, we didn’t know you were out here. Your sister keeps a low profile.”

  Sean nodded. “You don’t see Lexi coming unless Lexi wants you to see her.”

  “Sink hole ahead.”

  This hole was only about twenty yards across, the terrain around it was level, and they swung their vehicles close enough to the road to stay on the packed earth.

  “What do you think of Jenna?” Moss asked.

  One side of Sean’s nose ticked up as he considered an answer. He opened his mouth, sighed, and closed it again.

  “I sense hesitation.”

  “Your senses are well-tuned. Jenna is amazing. Sure, she’s beautiful, strong, and has a good heart, but Jenna has something rare among human beings.”

  “What’s that?”

  “A soul. I’m not religious. I never have been. Hearing Jenna talk, though, makes me wonder if there might not be such a thing as a soul, because that kind of inner beauty, the kind that just naturally puts people before one’s self, man, there just aren’t enough words in the English language to give Jenna her due.”

  “I’m not sure I would’ve been able to construct the elegant words, but you described her perfectly, as I knew her.”

  “She doesn’t hide herself from people. Jenna tells it how it is.”

  “I was most impressed by how she inspires loyalty. I don’t think there was a man on the road crew who wouldn’t have died for her. Well, maybe Tyler. Did Jenna ever tell you of Tyler?”

  “She doesn’t talk about the crew much. I think their deaths still weigh on her.”

  “A sentiment I can understand, but I think that badlander attack, the day you came upon us, delivered a well-timed death for Tyler. He was a psychotic.”

  “You know what?” Sean asked.

  “What?”

  Sean’s words rattled off in an even tympani. “We’re on our way to steal a truck we hope is loaded with drugs from powerful people and haul it across the continent so that we can cut its potency, undermine a potential tyrant, and restore democracy to a people who’ve never experienced it, assuming they’ll know what to do with freedom once they have it”

  “That about sums it up.”

  “Right.”

  “I’m not sure I saw your point.”

  “I think deep down, we’re all a little psychotic.”

  Chapter Ten

  ANYBODY DEAD?

  10

  The patter of rain on the windshield lent a marching rhythm to the footsteps of the men advancing toward the tent in the back corner of Ripley. Since Bradshaw couldn’t be bothered to run an operation in the rain—or more accurately, in one of Ruby’s districts—one of the lieutenants stood by the flap rolling his hand at the wrist, signaling his men to enter. He fell into the darkness of the canvas structure behind them with the strange, transparent pistol held high, as Ruby’s heart pumped in a rampant thump against her ribs.

  Standing up there with her men would’ve been better. Sampson was always preaching that she should lead by example, but the moment an operation presented her an opportunity, his orders were to plan and let her lieutenant execute.

  The rain’s rattling became a roll as thunder crashed overhead, causing her muscles to jerk in the passenger’s seat. The windshield wipers struggled to keep up with the waves of pouring water down the glass. Her eyes shifted to the rows of windows cut into the brick structures across the rough road as she worried the citizens would wake and suddenly pop up in the windows, as if spying for intruders.

  Stop being paranoid. If anything, the storm will give you cover. They’re just a bunch of townies.

  But they were townies with guns, now, and Ruby had no idea how many. She sneered at the rows of windows. These ungrateful bastards had shown their true stripes today, hadn’t they? Stepping out of the shadows wielding those fancy pulse weapons like they were an enforcer unit, instead of a bunch of laborers filled with ingratitude. Though Sampson hadn’t broadcast his feelings when he learned of the betrayal, Ruby knew he felt it.

  Sampson had returned to his homeland after two decades in OK City to bring stability to what he saw as a tortured people. Sometimes his methods were misunderstood, but he promised law and order and by-god delivered it!

  Industry popped up. New farm lands were tilled. Biofuel production tripled. If the volunteer lawkeepers he’d placed in each town weren’t enough, he also employed these trucks filled with enforcers to keep raiders and wild animals from running amok over his people. Ruby had even heard stories of three truckloads of enforcers scurrying up into the hills, to find and kill a wildcat after it attacked a little girl, nearly killing her before being driven off by townies. That was Sampson De Le Court for you!

  Giving people the opportunity to work to change the world around them was a gift in Sampson’s eyes. Endowing them with fuel they needed to work longer hours and make more marks, while avoiding the kinds of addiction he saw in OK City, was a boon beyond anything the MidEast had seen in Ruby’s lifetime. He didn’t need a doctor telling people they were addicted. Tell enough townies and outlanders that they’re sick, and they’ll start to believe it.

  Hell, the very idea a woman like me would hold any kind of position of authority would’ve been ridiculous, until our hero rolled into the region!

  Well, with one exception.

  The Proctor bitch.

  Though the Blacksburg Trading Post had no elected leader, everyone knew Lucinda Proctor was the one to whom everyone turned for counseling. Sampson’s words about this Jenna woman’s motherly affections on her patients made Ruby think both traitors might have something in common. It was possible that they were working together, too. It was common knowledge Proctor used to walk around Blacksburg with those Black Devils at her side. If this woman was working with them, it wasn’t a stretch to include Proctor in the threesome. It was downright likely.

  The former gun runner and manufacturer held a foothold so strong in the lone walled town in the MidEast that Sampson had chosen to walk away, simultaneously displaying enough respect for the people to let them choose for themselves. If they didn’t want a lawkeeper there and Proctor provided protection, let them choose. Ruby’s boss was a man of integrity, not ego.

  Of course, weapons bounced on the hips of just about every man
, woman, and even some children in that crazy town. The men were pretty amped up after Sampson was asked to take his lawkeeper elsewhere that day in Blacksburg. The governor didn’t care. It would’ve been an ugly scene if he’d been the type to go and force them to accept the prosperity offered. After Horace spent decades attacking that god damn Triangle City and failing miserably, how would it look for a man like Sampson, who claimed the days of stealing children for a misguided army were over, to go and repeat their fallacies by attacking another city wall—this time in the heart of the MidEast, itself?

  No, that wouldn’t play at—

  A flutter of motion brought Ruby’s head around as a soldier flew through the flap and slammed onto the dirt-packed street, where he rolled several times before stopping. His rifle sloshed across the surface with the light taped to its barrel flashing in every direction as it disappeared from Ruby’s sight beneath the truck. Reaching for her sidearm, Ruby kicked open the door and dropped from the high cab onto the street. Flicking on the smaller light attached to her own barrel, she raised the weapon.

  The downpour was nearly blinding. Before she’d taken three steps in the direction of the fallen soldier, a giant burst into the rainy night, one massive fist wrapped around the throat of the muscle-bound lieutenant. Though the enforcer was a thick man in his own right, the giant swung him back and forth in his grip like a limp snake, even while seeming to teeter back and forth, himself. A ridiculously small arm wrapped around the giant’s neck in a choke hold as one of the soldiers jumped on his back, but the towering specimen with the long beard braided to his chest hardly even stepped backward as he took on the weight. Ruby set her finger inside the trigger guard, but removed it again when her light shone on the cylindrical object dancing from the bulging muscle of the giant’s shoulder.

  Wait for it.

  A massive fist came around from the giant’s opposite side and landed flush with the lieutenant’s nose, causing an explosion of blood to spray into the air between the drops of falling rain. Discarding him like a steak bone, the giant gripped the arm around his neck, leaned back, and doubled over, tossing the soldier onto his back. As he turned his head back toward the tent, another soldier reeled backward from the tent, trying to gain purchase with his boots as he was launched. When he hit the ground, a blonde woman about Ruby’s height stepped into the rain wielding a metal pipe in her white-knuckled grip. It was almost as if her gaze staggered the giant as the tranquilizer dangling from his shoulder took effect and he faltered, falling to one knee. The woman ripped the cylinder from her compatriot’s and tossed it into the night while the giant raised a hand to his forehead.

  The woman’s head ticked up as she seemed to notice the light source in Ruby’s hand for the first time. The lights from the truck accentuated her glaring eyes, lending them an inhuman, jade quality.

  Ruby warded off the pair with her free hand, but then another enforcer appeared in the opening and cracked the giant on the side of his head with a rifle before spinning it on the woman and shoving the barrel against her chest.

  The blonde’s hair, now brown in the heavy rain, was matted in spirals down the side of her face as she allowed her arms to go limp. She eyed the enforcer and said something, but Ruby couldn’t make it out in the rain. Her attention turned to her fallen companion instead of the gun leveled on her. The soldier jerked the weapon toward Ruby.

  Those flat, jade eyes rose to meet Ruby’s as she was led to the back of the truck.

  “You should’ve just let us help, lady.” She shook her head as she passed. “Shit just got real.” Judging from her confident tone, Ruby knew she meant it. The man Ruby planned to take her to wouldn’t be impressed, though.

  Thoughts of August’s sadism, his yellow teeth, and his often-sour scent caused Ruby to shiver.

  The lieutenant got to his feet and stomped toward her, his boots splashing water puddles in the mud.

  “I dink you can nolster da weapom.” Blood flowed from his smashed nose and into his hand, to be washed away by the rain as he passed.

  Ruby gazed down at her pistol as if it were an alien artifact she’d forgotten she’d been holding. One of the soldiers appeared in the opening to the smaller tent to the right as she shoved it into her holster. He shook his head emphatically. The woman Filcher described, the one with the strange hand, wasn’t where she was supposed to be. Ruby glanced over her shoulder at the darkened windows across the way.

  “Here’s another one for you to check out.” He tossed something black into the air and Ruby snatched it. The device was undoubtedly a pistol, but it was made of some kind of hard composite. There were no markings, save for a green stripe running down the top of the barrel.

  As she examined the weapon, she asked, “Anybody dead?”

  “I don’t think so,” the man next to her answered. “L.T. is going to need some attention, though.”

  “I noticed.” She continued staring across the street. “Grab the giant, and let’s make for the horizon.” She shoved the strange pistol into the front of her pants.

  “You don’t want to find the other one?”

  A light flicked on in one of the windows of the long, two-story building across the way, and Ruby shook her head.

  “Sometimes leaving one behind is a good way to send a message to your enemies. Let her be my pigeon.”

  He answered with an indifferent tone. “Okay.” The enforcer shrugged as he trudged through the rain and signaled the recovering forces to help him pick up the monster on the ground. He stopped as he passed back by her. “What about Lawkeeper Jones?”

  “If I know Sampson at all, we’ll have our talk with Lawkeeper Jones in sight of the whole town, tomorrow. Let’s hit it…”

  …before the people who’ve shown you the working ends of their fancy weapons wake and sound the alarm.

  Chapter Eleven

  A HELL OF A GREETING

  11

  Nina couldn’t understand why the pounding sounded so loud as she crept out of consciousness. With the long hallway and closed bedroom door of her apartment, the thudding should’ve been muffled to a thump, but realization dawned as her eyes flickered open, and she took in her surroundings.

  Shit.

  She wasn’t in her cozy little apartment in Triangle City anymore. There was no long hallway or closed door between her and a front door. There would be no automatic light when she went to use the john. There was no environmental system, no voice-activated compute infrastructure to tell her the time upon request. This was the MidEast, she was two months into her first mission, and the pounding was coming from the door ten feet from the cot she occupied when tenants of the building kept her up late on her rotation days.

  “Give me a second!” she barked as she kicked her legs over the side. An involuntary grunt emitted from her chest. “I’ll be there in a second!”

  Against the strip of light beneath the door, shadows of feet shuffled back and forth even as the pounding stopped.

  Nina groaned. A long breath drawn into her nose brought the constant underlying stench of mold from which all these old-world buildings seemed to be built, as if it were part of their spirits. At least it beat the smell of the latrines she’d shoveled dirt into the previous day, behind what Jenna had said was once a hotel.

  Nina spent her days taking the addict-tenants food, patting their backs as they vomited from withdrawal, and taking refuge in the occasional training of the townspeople of Ripley with the few pulse rifles they’d brought with them.

  As the softer raps against the door came now, Nina was reminded that there was always the possibility of an urgent situation in the recovery center. Things could get hairy in a hurry.

  Judging from the stories Jenna told of how she, Lexi, and Lucian had spent the last hundred years or so, hairy was the norm. So she might as well get used to it.

  The cot squeaked as she pushed up and pulled up her combat fatigues. While tying the drawstring, Nina peered down at her tank, decided it covered enough for the purpo
se, and yanked the door open.

  The man standing in the hallway had a wide jaw set in a hard clench that revealed lumps in the back of his jowls. One hand gave his temple a nervous scratch beneath unkempt umber hair. The lawkeeper wasn’t wearing his hat today, and the flat mesh of hair off one side indicated he wasn’t long out of his own rack.

  “You gotta get out of town.”

  “Well, that’s a hell of a greeting.” Nina dropped her hand from the doorknob and gestured for The Foundation’s ally to enter, but Lawkeeper Jones shook his head. “Your friends are gone, Nina. He snatched ‘em last night. Back side of the tent is collapsed, like it was a struggle. LuAnn noticed it out her window at sunrise.”

  “Wait, they got Jenna and Scruff? How the hell did they get Scruff?”

  “How the hell would I know, Nina?” Jones threw his hands up. “I guess there was a bunch of them. Maybe they…” He trailed off.

  Killed him? Nina panicked for an instant. No. They’d have left the body if they’d had to kill him.

  “Nina!” He snapped his fingers in front of her. “You aren’t hearing me. Our little revolt yesterday got answered fast, and it ain’t no way that’s the end of it. You gotta get the hell out. I figure the only thing ‘saved you is you weren’t in your tent. You gotta get Lexi!”

  It was Lexi who’d infiltrated this town and found the first lawkeeper ally in the MidEast. Now, he’d stuck his neck out a bit too far and was likely to get it chopped off, but he wasn’t thinking of himself; he was thinking of Nina.

  Lexi sure knows how to pick them.

  Heart thumping against her ribs, Nina snatched her bag and shoved some clothes into it before wrapping her holster around her waist and slinging her rifle over her back. Pulling her plain, black, billed cap over her head and donning her SmartGlasses, she nodded at the man in the doorway.

  “I need to go to the tent.”

  The back side was collapsed, its thick green cloth touching the ground. Jenna’s cot was flipped over onto the sleeping surface, and Scruff’s was thrown against the back wall.