The Way of Death

by James Von Ohlen

  Having to leave civilization behind and go out among the tribes of savages running through the wastes didn’t appeal to him. Barely eking out existence in the sun-blasted dust and rocks. Headhunters and thieves, the lot of them.

  Occasionally they found some cache of weapons from before the world was left behind. Then they caused problems for civilized people before getting themselves obliterated by Overlord or tracked down and killed by hunters playing at soldier.

  That was no life worth living.

  But if he couldn’t get sorted with Cent-Sec, then he would have little choice. He knew of no surgeons he trusted enough to perform biometric alterations. They’d all likely anesthetize him, and then turn him in to Cent-Sec once he was out.

  Things would have to change drastically. But that was all secondary to the retrieval of Kaishakunin and Little Brother, and the disposal of the man who had taken them.

  His thoughts began racing, jumping from random topic to random topic and soon he was asleep.

  Reiji awoke to someone kicking his foot. The mismatched gaolers had returned, somehow not waking him as they entered the holding cell. Not only had they entered the room, but they’d managed to unlock Reiji and Tod from the floor and then connect them together. Reiji attempted to raise his hand to his face and found that his wrists were now bound as well.

  They moved to Tod and shook him hard, enough to rouse him and cause him to lash out at them. Reiji looked about the room and saw a small cartridge in the corner of the room that had not been there before. Similar in appearance to the canisters that had carried teargas earlier.

  They had used some type of sedative gas, he realized.

  “Now that you cunts are awake,” the skinny man began.

  “You’re coming with us,” the fat man finished the thought.

  “The fuck I am,” Reiji said and then spit on the fat man’s feet. The rotund gentleman simply smiled and pressed a button on a small device he carried in his hand. Reiji writhed in pain as a powerful electrical shock coursed through his body.

  “Put your fucking boots on, and get your fucking ass up, halfbreed,” the fat man said with a grin, through clinched teeth. The knife is definitely going in this one’s throat, Reiji thought as he slowly moved to obey.

  Boots on, he was jerked to his feet by the leash that now bound both him and the boy to their captors’ hands by the neck. The pair led them out of the holding cell and into a long hallway. LEDs and polished tiles in a structure that looked to be built out of cinder blocks. Like the building was having a crisis of identity and couldn’t make up its mind if it was ancient or slightly less ancient.

  The hallway gave way to a stairwell, where two more men joined them. Soldiers or guardsmen, wearing uniforms and armed. The stairs lead to another hallway and a maze of turns and stairs. Reiji didn’t bother trying to keep track of where they were going. He had no intention of returning to the holding cell on his own, and if they returned him there he probably wouldn’t be conscious.

  Seeming to grow bored with the silence of their captives, the jailers and the soldiers began to chat.

  “So did anyone get a look inside the APC yet?” One of the soldiers, a man with a buzzcut and long flowing beard asked.

  “No,” the skinny jailer replied. “Corina had it put in her lockbox. That warehouse in the courtyard she keeps her private property in. She locked it in there herself with her command key. Made a big show of it. No one is allowed in to see it. She says the gear in it is too valuable and presents too much of a temptation to our brothers in arms. Some bullshit like that. But it’s in her box.”

  A few others chuckled mildly at the last sentence.

  “I’d like to take a look in her box,” the other guardsman chimed in, causing the others to laugh. His face was hidden behind a helmet and faceplate. In fact nothing showed of his entire body. A one-piece leather suit covered him between boots and gloves and neck, leading to his helmet. A dress uniform shirt was pulled on over it, matching the other guardsman. Fuckin’ weirdo, Reiji thought.

  “So you haven’t had a turn yet?” Fatty asked.

  “No. Haven’t hit the lottery yet,” the leather clad guardsman answered.

  “Too bad,” the bearded man added. “I had my number called a few months back. A week with that woman,” he whistled then, drawing it out until he ran out of breath. The others laughed. “My balls have never been so empty in my life,” he finished.

  “You mean to tell me there’s a lottery system to see who gets to fuck your garrison commander?” Reiji asked in disbelief. If these men were serious, it was yet another reason to keep women out of positions of power.

  “Yes, there is,” the fat man answered. “And you can shut the fuck up unless you want some more shocks.” Fatty appeared to be sweet on her, Reiji thought. An interesting nugget, but one that was ultimately meaningless.

  Tod walked next to Reiji, matching him step for step and silently watching everything going on around him. The escort changed their topic of conversation to something more inane, losing Reiji’s interest. They passed through an open doorway into the courtyard of Tower 2 of Fort Houston. It was late in the afternoon and the sunlight was beginning to fade.

  The four men marched their prisoners through another large set of doors and into a building marked Garrison Commander’s Quarters. As they entered, it was like stepping into another world.

  Cool air caressed them and light perfumes tickled their noses. Everything seemed to be made of polished marble, in contrast to the cinderblock construction of everything else in Fort Houston, save for the granite walls. Personal guardsmen of the garrison commander stopped what they were doing and watched the men pass by, leading their prisoners.

  Envy, boredom, and indifference. Reiji saw them all in their faces.

  The building seemed to be laid out simply enough. The first floor contained offices and security checkpoints. A large stairwell led up to the second and third floors, identified by signage as guest quarters and the garrison commander’s living quarters. Restricted access of course.

  A few more turns and into a long hallway with a stairwell at the end. The lights were out there and in the space of darkness, Reiji saw his opportunity.

  The escort was engaged once more in discussing the sexual escapades of their commander. Saying that so and so from unit 5 had convinced her to give up her ass. The men laughed, the general consensus being that it was likely the other way around. She had likely given it to him up the ass.

  The group stepped into the dim space, just before the stairwell.

  Reiji turned to Tod and nodded slightly, only once, just before he shoulder checked the boy and knocked him to the ground. Bringing the procession to a halt.

  “Sorry, kid,” Reiji said as he knelt next to Tod. “Let me help you up.” He grabbed Tod’s wrists, bound together like his, but didn’t pull.

  “Hurry the fuck up,” the fat man spoke and kicked weakly at Reiji’s back before turning his attention back to his conversation with the others. Seeing his opportunity, Reiji seized it. His hands moved quickly yet inconspicuously, grabbing the knife from Tod’s boot.

  In less than a heartbeat, the knife gouged into the soft spot below fatty’s first chin. Once, twice, three times in rapid succession. The fat man tried to scream, but succeeded only in gurgling blood. Everyone froze from the shock of the movement, the violence of it an alien thing to them. These were men who hid behind huge walls, and rarely dealt with their foes in a face to face manner. This was new and terrifying.

  Reiji gouged deep into the fat man’s throat, finishing him and turned to his skinny partner before anyone could react. Into the abdomen, just below the solar plexus and aimed up into his heart. Reiji ripped the blade to the side to cause the most damage possible and pulled it out as the man slumped forward and collapsed.

  The two guardsmen moved to draw their weapons, stepping toward Reiji. Their initial shock evaporating into righteous fury at the quick slaughter of their friends. Tod tripped up
the bearded man, as Reiji delivered a forceful push-kick to the chest of the leather-clad weirdo.

  The force of the blow sent the man reeling backwards, fighting to keep his balance and not go over backwards. He stepped onto the stairs and disappeared from view, arms flailing and feet scrabbling for purchase as he fell down them. Tod grappled with the remaining guardsman, preventing him from drawing his weapon just long enough for Reiji to jam a finger in one of his eyes, pull his head back, and cut his throat.

  The bearded man twitched for several seconds, trying to push himself up from the floor. He slipped in the rapidly expanding pool of his own blood, and fell face down. He became still save for the occasional jerk of his arms.

  “On your feet,” Reiji said to Tod. The boy moved to obey, causing the segment of chain linking their collars to pull on Reiji’s neck. The boy looked nervous and excited. He knew another fight was coming and looked forward to it.

  “Don’t move,” Reiji instructed him as he began prying at the locking mechanism of the collar on Tod’s neck. The movements of his hands were quick and sure, though he didn’t exactly know what he was doing. Reiji only knew that time was of the essence. If the hallway was being monitored, they likely only had seconds until more armed men arrived.

  Tod’s nervous movements weren’t helping with the situation. Several times Reiji felt he was on the verge of unlocking the collar, only to have the mechanism move out of place along with the boy. He considered driving the pommel into the back of his neck to put him out long enough to unlock him. The boy moved again, resetting the mechanism and Reiji considered cutting the boy’s throat.

  In his mind he jammed the knife into the side of Tod’s neck, severing his jugular and ending the complication of his life that the boy presented. His grip tightened on the knife and the point of the blade moved to line up with the new target. Reiji closed his eyes for a moment and clenched his teeth. The boy had saved his life, likely more than once. He owed him better than that.

  He focused his attention back on the locking mechanism of the collar. Almost, he thought to himself as the sounds of footsteps began echoing down the hallway. He turned his head to check. There was no one in sight. The sound could be echoing from who knew how far away.

  Clicking and popping emerged from the lock as Reiji focused on it. With a loud crack it opened and the collar fell away from Tod’s neck. Not waiting for the boy to do something stupid, Reiji grabbed his wrists and began working at the lock there. A few seconds later, a chorus of footsteps echoing through the hallways, the cuffs fell to the floor with a clang that seemed loud enough to wake the dead.

  Tod began excitedly jumping up and down.

  “Calm yourself,” Reiji began. The boy looked at him intently. “I need you to get this shit off of me.” He changed his grip on the knife and handed it to the boy. “And don’t cut me.” Tod nodded once and took the proffered blade.

  Reiji tilted his head back and the blade in the boy’s hand rose towards his neck. There was a popping sensation against his skin and almost immediately the collar fell away from him. Without pause the boy turned to the cuffs and opened them with similar ease. Expending much less effort than Reiji had, he noted.

  Tod tried to hand the knife back to Reiji, but he declined it.

  “Keep it,” he said to the boy and then pointed to the dead men. “Arm yourself.” The footsteps now sounded as if they were only a few meters away. A dozen men or so. Likely covered in heavy plate and carrying a projected force field blade in each hand.

  Tod took the sword from the bearded guardsman, testing its balance with a few sweeps in the air. Reiji took the fat man’s blade. It didn’t matter which one he grabbed. He could tell by looking they were all of similar quality. And that was to say they were borderline useless.

  Poor quality metal combined with an inferior forging process and poor upkeep of the weapon. It would cut, but it likely wouldn’t last very long. These men playing at being soldiers seemed to have no idea just how little stood between them and an unpleasant death at the hands of the high-desert plains savages.

  The raiders that this fort had been built to protect against were not children, and they were not weak men. If half of what Reiji had heard was to be believed, their women would easily tear through men like the dead around him. No point in pondering that, he thought. There was more important work at hand.

  Reiji took a short blade from the corpse of the thin man, ridiculously notched along the cross-guard. As if that cunt had ever killed a man. The pair of weapons he held were garbage, but they would still get the job done.

  He looked to the boy, who was looking to him. Waiting for instructions, like a good hunting hound. Or so Reiji assumed. He’d never been hunting with a dog in his life. Then again, assumption was considered the mother of all fuck-ups. Maybe the boy was just looking at him because there was nothing happening in his tiny mind.

  “Let’s go,” he spoke in a low voice. Not quite a whisper. But something about the way the hallway carried sound made him want to not speak too loudly. The footsteps now sounded like they were right on top of the duo, yet there was no visible sign of anyone.

  They began moving back the way they’d come. Reiji played back the conversation between the guardsmen and the jailers in his mind. Corina had put the APC in some type of locked storage unit that only she could open. They were inside of her personal abode. Putting two and two together, he knew what he needed to do next.

  Find that cunt and force her to open whatever it was that his vehicle was inside of, take it back, and get the fuck out of here before Cent-Sec showed up to claim him. Public vivisection and the machines that would tear a man’s mind apart held no appeal to him.

  The footsteps continued, pounding into Reiji’s ears as he advanced, Tod by his side. How could they sound so close, and there not be anyone in sight? As they neared the end of the hallway, Reiji peaked around the corner and got his answer. Five men in the uniforms of Corina’s household guard marched along towards them, their feet falling in synch, sending out echoes that carried down the hallway like a shout.

  One looked up as Reiji pulled his head back and spotted him. He said something that was unintelligible to the others, but their advance didn’t stop or even slow. Reiji leaned back against the wall, pulling Tod back beside him. There didn’t appear to be any way around this fight.

  A guardsman stepped around the corner, a scant meter from Reiji and looked at the pair with shock etched upon his features. The edge of the short sword Reiji carried slammed into the man’s throat, cutting most of the way through and coming to rest against the bones of his neck. A dull, wet thud sounded and the man’s eyes went wide. If the blade wasn’t a piece of shit, Reiji thought, it would have taken his head off.

  He wrenched the blade back and a torrent of blood poured form the wound as the man fell. Tod launched himself from Reiji’s side and into the four remaining men, striking down one and wounding another before Reiji joined him. Two steps, two surgical strikes. Two kills.

  The last man found his voice and screamed loudly before Tod could finish him. He hadn’t even bothered trying to draw his blade when the boy knocked him to the ground. Reiji grabbed Tod’s shoulder and pulled him back. There might be something to learn from this man. Reiji pushed the tip of his long sword into the squirming man’s throat as he stepped on the prone man’s right hand.

  “Oh God,” the man on the floor whimpered. “Please don’t hurt me!” Tears began to well in his eyes. “I don’t even know how to use a sword! I’m just here for a paycheck.” His voice cracked and Reiji snorted with derision.

  “What are you doing in the garrison commander’s personal guard if you don’t know how to use a sword?” A simple question. The guardsman looked at Reiji as if he’d asked him to explain the cutting edge of theoretical physics.

  “Uh…she doesn’t keep us around because of our combat skills,” he began, eyes darting back and forth between Reiji and Tod. “She keeps us around because she liked the way
we fucked. After we won the lottery.”

  “Are you fucking serious?” Reiji asked incredulously.

  “Yeah,” the guardsman replied meekly.

  “Tod,” Reiji began. “This is exactly why you can’t leave a woman in charge. Ever.”

  The boy nodded as if he understood completely.

  “Where is she?” Reiji asked as he put pressure on the blade at the guardsman’s throat.

  “Up stairs. In her chambers. With this week’s lottery winner.”

  Reiji shook his head as he pressed the tip of the blade through the man’s throat. The guardsman tried to pull away, but it was too little too late. The blade tore through flesh and he began to gurgle as blood flooded his throat. Reiji twisted the blade and ripped it out to the side, finishing the job.

  “What is it?” A voice called down the hallway from somewhere further ahead. Reiji grabbed Tod and leapt back around the corner, peeking to see who might be coming. A single figure appeared in the hallway.

  “What were you yelling about?” He asked again. The man’s eyes fell on a body visible from where he stood. “Oh shit,” he muttered as he began running down the hallway. As he approached, the other bodies came into view, and he stopped. He was too far away to take down, and Reiji didn’t know who else might be nearby. The man turned and began running, screaming for help as he went. So much for the silent approach.

  Tod brushed past Reiji and around the corner, throwing the knife he used to open Reiji’s bonds. It sailed through the air, spinning end over end. Reiji wondered where the boy had learned that. He’d never spent any time teaching him the subtleties of throwing knives. The blade struck home, sinking into the running man’s shoulder blade, but didn’t drop him.

  If anything, it seemed to make him run faster, screaming hysterically as he did so. Whatever competent guard there might be, they would now be roused. Better make this quick, Reiji thought as he began running down the hallway.