Zeke shook the manacles on his wrist, fists bunched. “Leave him alone you son of a bitch.”
Jones grinned.
“Please don’t hurt him. Please,” Anna said. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
Jones removed the knife. “I didn’t doubt it for a minute.”
CHAPTER 13
Anna stared in awe at the crumbling city. She had never seen so many buildings. Most of the structures were overgrown with ivy and various plants. Others had collapsed and lay in piles of rubble.
They had been marching most of the morning and the shackles had chaffed Anna’s ankles. The road was hard to navigate in places as the surface was cracked and uneven and plants, bushes and trees sprouted from within.
Jones held his hand up and the riders came to a halt. He jumped down, cigar between his lips as he surveyed the buildings, hand on the grip of his pistol. His men manned their guns. They all seemed jittery.
Anna saw movement and watched as a dirty figure dressed in rags suddenly appeared out of one of the buildings and held a cloth-wrapped hand up. More figures started appearing from the derelict structures.
“Captain. You have something to trade today?”
Jones removed his cigar and whistled loudly. His men pulled the prisoners forward.
“Should be something here that takes yer fancy.”
The dirty man scooted across the rubble and walked along the line of prisoners. He prodded and poked them as he went, squeezing their arms and stomachs. Anna flinched when he reached her. The man stared at her for a moment, then moved on. He paused at Zeke, squeezing the teen’s arms, as if testing his biceps, lifted his shirt to peer at his stomach and sides.
Anna held her breath; her eyes wide as she observed the man touching her son.
The man licked his lips, and after a moment he moved on. The elderly woman behind Lucy shuddered, holding back sobs. She kept her head down, visibly shaking. Once he reached the end of the line, the man came back, tapping the larger and heaviest people on the shoulder.
“This one. This one. Him. Her. This one definitely,” he said. When he reached Zeke again, he appraised him, seemed about to touch him on the shoulder, but moved on.
Anna breathed a sigh of relief. Zeke’s shoulders slumped. He appeared about to collapse.
“OK, separate them,” Jones said.
His men unlocked the tagged prisoners and pulled them aside. A woman started crying.
“So what have you got in return?” Jones asked.
The dirty figure waved his people forwards and they came carrying old rusty tins of food and drink that they had scavenged from the ruined city. While the food was old, it preserved well and didn’t seem to have gone off.
The man held up one finger, signalling Jones to wait. He grinned, revealing crooked yellow teeth. “For you.” He reached into his dirty clothing and pulled out a couple of packets of cigars that he tossed across. “I scavenged them myself. An extra gift.”
Jones caught the cigars, nodded and stuffed them in his shirt pocket. “Right, load up.”
Several of his troops accepted the produce and loaded the supplies on a horse drawn cart. The others led the remaining prisoners back.
Zeke was pushed into line behind Anna. “What’s going to happen to those people?” he asked.
Anna stared over her shoulder as the chosen prisoners were pushed into the shadows of the buildings, sobbing. She shook her head as she was roughly manhandled back into line.
“What’s going on?” Lucy asked.
As they were led away, Anna noticed something lining the road, and it took her a couple of moments to realise they were bones. Human bones.
A scream echoed out of the city, quickly joined by another and another. Screams of unmitigated pain. Lucy jumped, and Zeke peered over at his mother, eyes wide. Anna stumbled, her legs going weak.
“Now perhaps you’ll believe me” the old woman said. “There is no escape.”
CHAPTER 14
Isaiah and his companions stared at the crumbling city.
“How do we even know they’ve come this way?” Roman asked.
“The tracks lead this way,” a scavenger said. He pointed to the hoof marks in the dust.
One of the brethren stepped forwards and shielded his eyes with his hand. “So what is that place?”
Nobody replied.
Roman started walking forwards. “Come, on, let’s get closer.”
The group trekked towards the nearest building. As they approached, Isaiah saw the human bones lining the road and he blanched. “Have you seen those?” He pointed at the bones.
Roman nodded. “I think we’d better fall back.”
Before they had time to move a flock of birds erupted from one of the ruined buildings, shattering the silence, making one or two of the men jump.
Then Isaiah noticed something up ahead and he stepped cautiously forwards. Fresh blood splattered the ground, along with remnants of clothing. He crouched down, lifted a section of it up, and jumped back, jaw open, when he spotted a severed head.
“We need to get out of here. Now.”
A shout went up and dirty looking figures rushed out of the buildings. The figures had fresh blood around their mouths and were brandishing primitive weapons, knives, axes, and swords. The lead figure reached one of the enforcers, leapt through the air, and chopped his head off with a sword. The body crumpled to the ground, spraying blood everywhere.
“Demons,” Isaiah shouted.
Shocked into action, the Sanctuary troupe fought back. They opened fire with their guns and crossbows. One bolt pierced a man’s chest, knocking him back while a bullet passed cleanly through a woman’s head. She crumpled to the ground, unnoticed by her fellow savages.
Undeterred, the savage people continued to fight. Some of their weapons were fashioned from human bones and the attackers emitted a savage war cry as they hacked and slashed, moving lithely among the rubble with almost acrobatic skill.
“Retreat.” Roman stumbled backwards, arms flailing in the air.
The men followed, the enforcers firing wildly as they went, shooting from the hip to deter their pursuers. They ran off the road and into the undergrowth. Isaiah’s legs burned from the exertion, but he didn’t stop even though his lungs were on fire. Fear provided the fuel to keep him going.
He skipped over logs; scrambled through bushes and clambered uphill, until eventually he collapsed exhausted against a tree. He puffed and panted, hands clutched to his chest. The men around him hadn’t fared any better and they were all red faced and exhausted, sweat dripping from them as they stared wide eyed back the way they had come, fearful of pursuit.
“It looks like we lost them,” Roman said after a while.
Isaiah wiped his brow. “Those people. They were…”
“Demons,” a brethren said.
“Those bones. They must eat their victims.”
“Like the Gods?” an enforcer asked.
Roman crossed himself. “They’re nothing like our Gods. Did any of them rise up? No, they were mortal men and women. Savages that try to act like Gods by imitating them.”
“Is that what you think they were doing?” Isaiah asked.
“Why else would they eat human flesh?”
Isaiah frowned but didn’t reply.
“We’ve lost a few good people back there, and we’ve lost a lot of time, so we need to get moving if we’re to catch up with your blasphemous wife.”
“My wife is not blasphemous.”
“She’s threatened the safety of our community by angering the Gods. In my book, that’s blasphemy.”
Isaiah swallowed. “She wouldn’t have done it on purpose. She… she probably wasn’t thinking straight.”
Roman turned to one of the scavengers who had taken off his chain mail and was wafting himself to cool down. “Which way now?”
The scavenger pursed his lips. “Best I could tell they were heading back towards Sanctuary.”
�
�Why would they be heading for Sanctuary?” one of the brethren asked.
“Probably to try to pillage it,” Isaiah replied.
“Well we won’t be able to beat them back to warn everyone,” the brethren said.
Roman stroked his chin. “We might be able to if we cut across the mountains.”
He pointed at the distant peaks.
Isaiah studied the mountains, his expression pensive. “Come on, there’s no time to waste.”
Isaiah and his companions scrambled over fallen rocks. They were now high up in the mountains, and they all laboured, puffing and panting at the exertion. Tall trees lined the rocky precipice, their lower branches providing useful handholds.
Isaiah scrambled on all fours up another sharp incline. Shingle skittered beneath his hands and feet and his heart missed a beat as he lost his footing and slipped towards a cliff edge, the drop below hundreds of feet. He fought to grab hold of something to arrest his fall and managed to seize a sharp rock that cut into his palm. Breathing heavy he pulled himself back up and caught Roman scowling at him.
Pain pulsed from his palm and he opened his hand to see a deep cut welling with blood. Wincing, he wrapped it in a piece of cloth from his backpack and stood up.
Isaiah was about to scramble back up to the rest of the group when he glimpsed movement behind them.
“Look out,” he shouted, but his warning came too late and a figure shuffled from behind a rock and grabbed one of the brethren, sinking its teeth into his wrist and tearing out a lump of flesh. The priest screamed in agony and instinctively started striking the God.
The rest of the party scrambled away. Isaiah hesitated for a moment, and then scurried up the rocks and tried to prise the figure off.
“Leave him. You can’t interfere with a God,” Roman said.
Isaiah gritted his teeth and ignored Roman. He pulled the man off and pushed him aside. The man tumbled down the incline, and Isaiah helped the priest to his feet and hauled him up to a plateau with a high precipice on one side. The priest’s wrist was chewed and dripping with blood and he appeared pale and shaken as Isaiah lay him down. Roman rushed up and forcibly pushed Isaiah aside.
“I told you not to interfere.”
“I couldn’t leave him. We’ve lost enough men already.”
“Well what good’s it done him? Look, he’s dead.”
Isaiah glanced down to see that Roman was right and he sighed in annoyance. About to turn away, he saw the man’s hand twitch. Then his arm moved, his eyes snapped open, and he sat up and staggered to his feet. Isaiah backed away while the priests started chanting.
Before Isaiah could react, Roman rushed forwards and pushed the priest, sending him hurtling over the precipice.
Isaiah ran across and stared down, shocked to see the brethren lying far below, splattered across the rocks, his head cracked open like an egg.
“You’ve killed him.”
Roman snorted loudly. “Like those others we found, he wasn’t ordained. That’s why he died. A true God would have survived. Now I think we’ve had enough interruptions. Let’s move on.”
CHAPTER 15
Isaiah scrambled over the rocks. He was aching in places that he didn’t realise existed, but for the sake of his wife and family, he disregarded the pain. He recalled Anna wanting to talk to him before she ran away, and he berated himself that he hadn’t taken the time to listen. When he thought about everything, he had been ignoring his family. He had taken them for granted and now he was paying the price.
The sun followed overhead as they progressed, the relentless heat adding to the discomfort of the exertion. Sweat glistened on Isaiah’s face and he continually mopped his brow on his sleeve. The group stopped now and again to rest and have a drink or a snack before moving on.
Never having been outside Sanctuary before, Isaiah found himself transfixed by the scenery. Wherever he looked, were sweeping vistas. No wonder it was referred to as God’s country.
They descended as the sun set, and in the distance, partly hidden within a lush forest; Isaiah glimpsed a faint orange glow. “Over there.” He pointed towards the trees.
“What is it?” Roman asked.
“Camp fire,” one of the scavengers replied.
Isaiah and his companions hunkered near to the road, hiding within the tree line.
Fires blazed within the trees where The Horsemen of the Apocalypse had erected campfires. The orange glow appeared warm and inviting. A couple of guards were stationed around camp while the rest of the troupe slept beside the campfires or in makeshift tents.
Horses tethered to trees neighed softly. Beyond those, a line of prisoners were shackled together, metal chains clinking when they moved. Isaiah scanned the group; his pulse throbbing when he spotted his wife and children.
Roman gave hand signs to direct his men and they disappeared into the undergrowth. When they were in position, Roman signalled them and the enforcers opened fire with their crossbows. The faintest whistle of wind was heard as the bolts flew through the air, and a soft thud as they struck their targets. The guards slumped to the ground.
Isaiah crept along the tree line, careful to move as quietly as possible towards the shackled prisoners.
“Anna. Anna.”
Anna awoke, looking groggy. Ben also roused.
“Dad!”
Isaiah put a finger to his lips. “Shush. Keep quiet.”
“How did you find us?” Anna asked.
“We’ve been tracking you for days.”
“We?”
Before Isaiah responded, Roman appeared at his side and gave her a salacious grin.
“You didn’t think he’d make it all this way on his own, did you?”
Anna scowled.
“What’s going on?” Zeke asked, yawning. He spotted his dad and he grinned.
Some of the other prisoners stirred and Lucy woke from her slumber.
“I never thought I’d see you again,” she said, tears rolling down her cheeks.
An old woman woke up. “Who are you?”
Ignoring the woman, Isaiah grabbed the chains that linked the prisoners. “Damn. Where are the keys?”
Anna pointed at a fallen guard. “I think he has them.”
Isaiah crawled over to the dead guard and rifled through his clothing before finding what he was after. He made his way back to the prisoners and carefully undid the restraints. Anna rubbed her wrists to relieve the pain. Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.
“Now what do we do?” Anna asked.
Isaiah studied the prisoners, and stared around the camp. When he spied the horses, he nodded, then grinned.
A loud series of shouts rang out. Jones’ eyes shot open and he jumped up to see some of the horses galloping through the camp.
“What the hell’s going on here?” Jones snapped.
A soldier ran across. “Someone’s stealing the horses, sir”.
“Well don’t just stand there, stop ‘em.”
The soldier barked out orders and the men trained their weapons on the horse thieves, but they were too late.
Jones spat on the ground and looked around at his disarrayed army. “So what happened?”
“They took us by surprise.”
Jones shook his head. “How the hell did that happen?”
“I… I don’t know sir.”
Jones lit his cigar and puffed out smoke. “If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s incompetence.” He snatched his gun out of its holster and put a bullet through the man’s head. “Now would someone like to tell me who attacked us?”
His troupe all stared sheepishly at the ground and started fidgeting.
“I’m waiting.”
“I think it was a rescue mission,” one of the female soldiers said. “Probably something to do with the family we picked up the other day. The ones we rescued from the zombies.”
Jones frowned. He raised his gun again and seemed about to shoot the woman. She cringed, but Jones l
owered his gun and narrowed his eyes.
“Well recapture those loose horses, and everybody get ready to move out. Nobody makes a fool out of me. Nobody.”
CHAPTER 16
Isaiah looked across at his wife. He had so many questions, but didn’t know where to start. He sat against a tree trunk. The freed prisoners bustled around the camp. They had been given the opportunity to make their own way, and while some of them had accepted, others had stayed with the group.
Too dangerous to continue in the dark, they had set up camp for the night. While Lucy, Zeke, and Ben were free to roam around, Roman had shackled Anna.
“What’s going to happen to mum when we get back to Sanctuary?” Lucy asked.
Isaiah shook his head. “She’ll probably be punished.”
“Punished! She was trying to save me.”
“Save you? I know it was unconventional how this happened, but you were chosen to become immortal… are you questioning things now, too?”
Lucy stared at the ground and kicked her feet in the dirt. “I don’t know what to think anymore. I wonder if they are Gods.”
Isaiah shook his head. “I don’t want to listen to this. Your mother has obviously poisoned your mind.”
Lucy stared at her mother. “No, I think she’s opened my eyes.”
Isaiah walked across to Anna. She peered up as he approached then turned away.
“Why did you do this? Why did you have to run away? I understand you weren’t happy Lucy was selected, but why didn’t you come to me? Why didn’t you discuss things with me?”
Anna didn’t reply.
“Talk to me, Anna. I spoke to my mother before I came looking for you. She’s infected you with her crazy ideas hasn’t she?”
After a moment, Anna slowly lifted her head. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “You really don’t want to know why I did it.”
Isaiah crouched down and took hold of her hand. “Please, Anna, tell me.”
“The lottery was fixed. Lucy’s name wasn’t on that piece of paper.”
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