by Eric Vall
“I hear it used to be a beautiful view, mate,” the long-haired guard whistled as he walked up next to me and then holstered his shotgun on his back. “Before Doomsday, that is.”
“It was,” I admitted. “I’d seen it before.”
Careful, Hunter, Karla’s voice warned. We don’t know who these people are yet. Telling them you’re from another timeline may not be the best course of action.
“You’ve seen it?” the man asked in disbelief. “How’s that possible? You’re younger ‘an I am, and I was just a little bloke when this all went down.”
“Pictures,” I lied. “My parents came here when it was still standing and took a bunch of pictures.”
“Damn shame,” the guard sighed. “I really wish I coulda seen the world before it was blown to Hell and back. The name’s William, by the way.”
“Hunter,” I reminded him.
I stuck out my hand to shake, but he simply chuckled.
“You really are from another part ‘a town, aren’t ya?” he laughed. “Did they not have the virus up in the Tundra?”
“Probably not,” Natalie interjected. “It was on the very edge of the blast zone, and the super-cold atmosphere kills the virus, remember? I’m sure it was completely decimated before it even got started up there.”
“If the virus is killed by the cold, then why are there so many mutants here?” I questioned. “Doesn’t it get to be like, in the negatives during winter?”
“During winter, yes,” she explained, “but my parents always said we barely got a winter during that first year after Doomsday. The entire Smoulder was hit hard, but the Fallen Lands were the ones who got it the worst.”
“Ninety percent of the population,” the mohawked guard sighed as he joined in on the conversation. “Every one of my family members, turned into a Rubberface right in front of my eyes… ”
“I’m sorry,” I tried to be sympathetic. “That couldn’t have been easy for you.”
“It wasn’t,” he admitted, and then he changed to a faux happy tone. “But at least I escaped the madness and found my Scavenger brothers and sisters. There was a silver lining to all of this, I suppose.”
“What is it like up in the Tundra?” Natalie asked suddenly. “We Scavengers have heard many rumors, but we’ve never actually met anyone from so far away. Have you ever seen an Atomoose? Do your people really live in igloos, far away from the cities of old?”
Just play along, Karla interrupted. They won’t know if you’re lying, anyways.
“Uh… Yes!” I nodded. “Atomooses are our main food source up in Minnes--er, the Tundra.”
“Howda eat those things without getting radioactive bellies, mate?” William asked.
“Very carefully,” I joked, even though I had no idea what the Hell I was talking about.
“I dunno how you live like that.” The man with the mohawk shook his head. “This is the only life I’d ever want. Me, out here at sea with my friends… Scavenging what’s left from the cities of old… ”
“Now, now, Harrison.” Natalie clicked her tongue. “The Scavenger life is certainly not for everybody. As we were reminded today, it is a life filled with danger, heartbreak, and loss.”
“But the rewards, though,” Harrison snickered. “I doubt anyone up in the Tundra or out in the Glowing Mountains can say they have the stuff we’ve got.”
“My geography is really, really bad,” I lied. “Can you remind me again what the ‘Glowing Mountains’ are?”
“Oof, this bloke,” William chuckled and slapped me on the shoulder. “I guess I need ta give him a full geography lesson.”
“It’s not his fault,” Natalie reminded the man. “He’s been out in the freezing cold Tundra his entire life.”
“Ya might wanna take a seat,” the long-haired man mused as he leaned back on one of the boat’s rails. “This is gonna take a while… So, where do ya want me to start?”
“The beginning, I guess.” I shrugged. “Of Doomsday, of course.”
“If ya insist… ” William nodded. “Well, as ya probably already know, that old city back there used to be Chicago, the pinnacle of this whole region of the country. That’s probably why it was targeted for an attack.”
“An attack by who?” I questioned. “Terrorists? Foreign enemies?”
“Fuck if I know,” the man chuckled. “All I know is this place was hit hard, along with a bunch of other key cities across the USA. I’m tryin’ ta remember the names of all of ‘em… I know the capital was hit, for sure.”
“The District, as it’s known now,” Natalie confirmed.
“Right, the District.” William nodded. “They were hit, as was some big fancy city out on the west coast and another one on the east. I can’t remember their names.”
“Los Angeles and New York?” I suggested.
“Those are the ones!” William proclaimed as he clapped his hands together. “Not bad for a Tundra dweller. There were a few more around the country, and then we retaliated with everything we had. Now, all the world’s in the same boat as us here. Not literally, of course.”
Wow… So the world really had gone to shit in this timeline.
“The fallout from the blasts collapsed all society as we knew it,” Harrison added. “Crops didn’t grow like they used to… Major urban centers were wiped off the face of the map… that’s when we all got divided up into the new ‘territories.’ That’s one thing I remember clear as day.”
“The Glowing Mountains to the far west,” William elaborated. “The Fallen Lands and Smoulder in the center, the Floodland to the south, the Tundra to the north, the District in the east, and Texas all the way at the bottom.”
I tried to contain my amusement. Of course Texas was still its own thing.
“What about the mutants?” I continued. “What did you call them again?”
“Rubberfaces,” Natalie said somberly.
“Right, the Rubberfaces,” I noted. “What’s the deal with them? We don’t really have any out in the Tundra.”
“That’s ‘cause they all converged on this place ‘ere,” William continued. “Right after Doomsday, the radiation at each of the blast sites was sky high. And those little buggers love some radiation.”
“Like I told you before,” Natalie interrupted, “every Rubberface for five-hundred miles is here in the Fallen Lands, just as I’m sure all the Rubberfaces out in the District or in the Glowing Mountains are huddled up in the blast sites there.”
Suddenly, the distant beeping in my head began once more.
“That’s… a lot to take in,” I admitted as I leaned up against the dune buggy and rubbed at my temples. “If this is, like, ground zero for the nuclear blast, how are you all not dying of radiation poisoning? And why haven’t you become Rubberfaces yourself?”
“I wish I knew, mate.” William shrugged. “The virus is strange that way. There was a certain percentage of the population that just… wasn’t affected by it, even after we were exposed.”
“That’s how I knew you were clean,” Natalie interjected. “If the virus had an effect on you, we wouldn’t have found a human when we came to investigate.”
“You sure?” I gasped. “Should I wear a mask or something? Because I really don’t want--”
“Trust me, Hunter.” The blonde woman shook her head. “If you had the virus, you’d be on your knees right now, tearing off chunks of flesh with your bare hands and vomiting up blood. You’re clean.”
“As far as the radiation,” Harrison spoke up, “it’s not a problem anymore. I mean, I’m no scientist, but everybody knows the radiation goes away after a few decades or so. Once that happened, this place became a Scavenger paradise!”
That sounded unlikely… Then again, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were both fully-functioning cities today.
I’d have to ask Karla about that later.
“So, that’s what you guys do, huh?” I questioned. “You go around to the destroyed cities and loot what you can?”
&nbs
p; “Ya make us sound like criminals when ya put it like that,” William chuckled. “We ain’t takin’ nothing anybody’s gonna want, anyways. If ya haven’t noticed, this place has kinda been abandoned for a long time now. Rubberfaces don’t really make good neighbors, ya know?”
“What about the rest of society?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Like, we all live in igloos and you guys are obviously pirates… but what about everybody else?”
“There’s not much to it,” Natalie grumbled. “The ‘President’ still sends out radio broadcasts every now and again, but nobody sees him as an authority figure anymore. It’s every man and woman for themselves out here.”
“And this Marcus… He’s your leader?”
“You’ll meet him soon enough, mate.” William slapped me playfully on the shoulder. “Who knows? Maybe if he likes you he’ll make ya an honorary Scavenger.”
The sun was just setting on the horizon of Lake Michigan. The dark waves beckoned off in the distance, blanketed by crimson light as they sloshed to and fro. The outline of the Windy City skyline could still be seen off to the west. Or, at least, what was left of it.
It may have been the apocalypse, but damn it was beautiful.
Natalie sauntered over to the side of the boat, sat down with her legs dangling over the ledge, and stared off at the sunset.
“See?” she mused. “This sort of a view makes the whole ‘fighting deranged mutants’ thing worth it. I bet you don’t get that in the Tundra.”
“No, no, we don’t,” I admitted as I walked over and sat down beside her. The buzzing in my head was getting worse, but I tried to ignore it as I faced the female Scavenger.
Now that I was up close and not in a constant state of danger, I could see Natalie’s features much more clearly.
The woman’s hair was wild and long as it hung just below her shoulders, and it was combed over to one side in a sort of mohawk-esque style that left the entire right side of her face exposed.
Her eyes were a deep azure, a perfect compliment to her luscious red lips that sat atop her cute white smile. The Scavenger had cheekbones just about any model in my dimension would have killed for, all leading down to a pointed chin.
Even through her combat clothing, I could tell Natalie’s body was very fit and lean, with a pair of small, perky breasts and a perfect hourglass form.
I guess that shouldn’t have come as a surprise. She had to be pretty fit if her entire life consisted of exploring fallen cities and fighting off killer mutants.
There was silence for a few short moments, but then William spoke up.
“Welp, I dunno about you guys, but I’m starvin,” he chuckled. “Ya wanna get some grub, Harrison?”
“I thought you’d never ask!” the other guard said heartily. “I wonder what it’ll be tonight, roasted rat, or cockroach stew?”
My insides churned at the thought.
The two men walked away toward the main deck of the boat, and Natalie and I were left alone to soak in the sunset.
Now, the beeping in my head grew a bit louder. Though it still wasn’t much more than a slight buzz.
“You aren’t going to join them?” I asked curiously.
“I’m not really feeling cockroach stew tonight,” she sighed and hung her head.
“Is this… Is this about Johnny?” I prompted. “Because I’m really sorry about what happened to him.”
“Yes and no,” Natalie admitted. “Yes, I’m sad Johnny is dead. He was one of my Scavenger brothers, and I loved him like a brother.”
“That’s not what it sounded like back there,” I reminded her. “You said something about mating with him… ”
Natalie glanced over at me with a stern look on her face, almost as if she were expecting me to be joking.
“We were not romantically involved, if that’s what you’re getting at,” she reassured me. “He didn’t make my insides spin when I looked at him, you know?”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“But he was the only human male in the Scavengers who is my age,” she continued. “By default, we would have ended up together, and he was a good one.”
“Why’s that?” I raised an eyebrow. “Do the Scavengers do arranged marriages or something like that?”
“It’s against our traditions to mate outside your age range,” Natalie explained. “We believe that, to create the strongest offspring possible, you must create a child when you are at your physical peak.”
“I guess I’m confused… ” I admitted. “You’re what? In your twenties? Are there really no other men in the group who fall into that category?”
“Not anymore,” the blonde woman sighed. “We’ve been losing people left and right lately, mostly because the Rubberfaces are becoming more and more sentient by the day.”
“Wait, they weren’t always sentient?”
“Not from what I’ve been told,” Natalie explained and shook her head. “Apparently, when this all went down, they were little more than mindless, crazed zombies who moved around without rhyme or reason. Since I’ve been of fighting age, however, they’ve at least been able to band together and do simple tasks like use weapons, patrol territory, and communicate verbally.”
“Iktuna,” I chuckled.
“Their word for ‘human,’” Natalie warned. “I’m way too familiar with it. But today was something else… This is the first time they’ve ever been able to get across the river. The Scavengers made sure to blow up all the roads that would have let them cross, other than the bridge we went over. But they somehow managed to find their way to the other side… ”
“Which means they’ve probably figured out how to use vehicles.” I nodded. “At least boats. That, or they finally figured out how to do the backstroke.”
Natalie let out a slight chuckle, but then she instantly went back to being stern.
“It’s worse than that, Hunter,” she clarified. “They not only got across, but they also knew exactly where we’d be, and they waited for us. I’ve never seen them have the deposition to plan out an ambush like that. Ever.”
I wanted to put my arm around the woman and try to comfort her, but I was getting the vibe that maybe this wasn’t the best idea. I wanted to let her know it would all be good in the end, and I was here to save her and her people by eliminating the mutant threat.
Again, that probably wasn’t the smartest idea.
Also, I had no clue how I was going to do that.
So, I did what any trained PCT would do when they didn’t know something… I changed the topic.
“I gotta ask,” I said as I motioned to the ship, “what’s up with this boat? I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“This thing?” Natalie perked up a bit. “We call it the Scavenger’s Revenge. But it was some sort of commercial vessel before Doomsday. A transport for some sort of special traveler my mother liked to call ‘tourists?’”
That made perfect sense. This was one of those ferry boats where people could park their cars and then sail across the lake, instead of trying to drive all the way around it. Actually, the fact the Scavengers had one of these things as their main transport vessel was ingenious. It definitely had all the amenities you could need for a quick getaway by sea.
“Strange,” I continued to play dumb as I pointed back to the dune buggies behind me. “I don’t know what this thing was for, but it’s pretty lucky you found a boat that can carry your vehicles, huh?”
The blonde woman glanced over at me and smiled.
Suddenly, the noise in my head increased tenfold. What the hell? Was this chip programmed to go off whenever a pretty girl started talking to me?
“I guess so,” she mused. “It’s even more fortunate we found a vessel with enough space on the deck for our helicopter.”
“Helicopter?” I whistled as I tried to push past the distraction in my head. “You have a helicopter? Why didn’t you use that to rescue me?”
“Because it’s for emergencies only,” Natalie chuckled. “
It only has so much fuel, and once that’s gone, it’ll be a pain in the ass to try and replenish. Besides, we already had the dune buggy out and about when we saw the flames go up.”
“Fair enough.” I shrugged. “Now, be straight with me… What do you think Marcus is going to do when he sees you’ve brought back another human?”
“Marcus?” the blonde woman laughed. “He’ll be through the roof when he meets you. Especially when he sees you’re in the age group that keeps dying off.”
Again, I didn’t know whether to be flattered or concerned.
One thing that did cross my mind, though… I was the same age group as the beautiful blonde woman. Did that mean we were potential mates? I couldn’t help but think about running my hands along her fit body and kissing every inch of her soft neck…
Now, the buzzing in my head went crazy, almost to the point where I couldn’t even hear my own thoughts.
Natalie must have had similar sensual thoughts, however, because her face quickly turned red as she snapped her mouth shut. Then she quickly hoisted her legs back over the side of the boat, stood up, and placed her hands over her chest.
“Leaving so soon?” I teased, even though my head was now filled with the droning noise.
“On second thought, I am going to go get some food,” she obviously lied. “We should be arriving at camp in a little over an hour. Try not to fall overboard in the meantime.”
I watched the woman in the denim jacket saunter away. The second she was out of my sight, I pulled myself over the edge of the boat and laid down on the deck.
“Karla,” I grumbled as the droning beep continued, “I think your father’s chip is busted. I keep hearing this awful beeping noise!”
A beeping noise? Karla’s voice questioned. The only way the chip would be damaged was if you experienced some sort of brain damage. Did you take a hard fall or anything like that during your escape?
“Not at all,” I reassured her. “Well, we did roll the dune buggy, but I don’t think I hit my head. Plus, the noise started when Natalie and her friend first pulled up, and now it’s getting to be unbearable. I don’t know if I can keep going if this gets any worse.”
