by Eric Keller
Rage overtook her grief, focusing her mind to a fury sharpened point and, despite being pressed into the countertop, Kinma responded with a calm tone, “No, wait, wait. If Hale’s gone you don’t need to do this, we can do it proper.”
The pressure on her back eased somewhat as he seemed to be considering this, but then he leaned back against her, growling into her ear, “Enough of your tricks. I waited out of respect but now none of that bullshit matters, nothing here ever matters. I’ll take what I want.”
“I know, I know, I wanted you to wait, needed you to wait. But, I agree, all of that is passed, without, well, without…”
She could not say Hale’s name, her words trailing off. Luke returned to struggling with her jeans. She resumed, “No, listen, I’m not tricking you. Think about it, do you think I want to get used by everyone else out there. I’ll do anything to be spared that. I want to be with you now, it’s my best option, you’re my best option. We can still have something better, something together.”
This got him to pause, and she thought her desperate plan might be working so she continued, trying to push a hint of sultriness in her tone, “Trust me, Luke, it doesn’t need to be like this. It can be better, much better when both parties are interested. Let me turn around and show you.”
His weight shifted, moved off her slightly, and she took the opportunity to turn over. He still loomed over her and roughly held her shoulders, but she looked him coyly in the eye as she slowly hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her pants and pushed them down. Luke released her and gaped down stupidly. Kinma leaned back, put her hands on the counter and lifted herself up, so she was sitting before him.
The half-grown orphan looked intrigued by the sight but also stunned, so she twisted a half-smile onto her tight-pressed lips and pulled her feet up onto the counter to improve his view. He remained laser focussed as primal instinct caused his hands to fumble at opening his own belt and allowing Kinma to let her right hand slowly creep to the edge of the counter. He managed to open his jeans and pushed towards her, but she playfully put a foot on his stomach before leaning back to make a show of pulling her shirt over her chest with one hand as her other hand blindly searched for the knife block.
Before he tired of the view, her free hand managed to grasp the handle of a paring knife. When he pushed towards her again while letting out a creepy, soft groan, Kinma’s right fist pounced with all her power at his exposed neck. The knife was short, but sufficient as it found its vulnerable mark, impaling the flesh of his throat as she stabbed, and then stabbed again and then again.
Kinma pushed the young man’s bulk away with her foot, letting the dying body fall sickly to the floor like a half-filled bag of rice slipping off a table. As Luke, fear filling his panicked and confused eyes gurgled for help, she plucked up the yellow toque before it could be soiled by the expanding pool of blood and placed it on her head.
She knelt down to make sure he could hear. With wide eyes, he stared up at her in complete, abject fear. For a heartbeat, she felt remorse. She had watched Luke grow up. Blaming him might have been wrong. He had recently learned his father figure was dead. Raised in a den of filth surrounded by unthinking brutes what could she expect him to become, how else could he react. Then the familiar image of Hale reading with the boy by candlelight flashed into her mind. Unthinking brutes, but one man of integrity who cared for him.
Leaning in close to his contorted face, she softly said, “He pulled you out of that frozen closet. He took care of you when no one alive even knew your name. He took care of you when people were not taking care of one another. You could have chosen to be like him. You could have chosen to be a proper person, he gave you that lesson, that opportunity, that gift. Instead, you chose the easy way. You chose to indulge your foulest needs despite all he showed you. You chose this. You chose this death.”
Standing up, Kinma walked away. They had not stolen her dignity, they had not stolen her identity, they had only hardened it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
JUNE 25, 2046
DAY THREE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE
Sam stepped out of the trees lining the main garden. Definitely not unusual for Sam to silently appear, normally he was carrying a rabbit or a grouse. However, this time was very unusual as a woman Morreign did not recognize walked beside him.
The others, weeding between rows of freshly-sprouted potato plants, stopped to gape at the stranger. Morreign, who liked to try to slowly help in the gardens as it loosened up her hip, leaned her hoe against a tree and limped towards them. She took her time, partly because of her limp but also to give herself a moment to prepare. A trickle of hope rose up, this stranger might have seen Jacob. Morreign had to tell herself this was unlikely and she needed to be strong when the disappointment came.
As she approached, Morreign counted back. Six years. Over six years since the last visitors came to Malden. The Seven Rules, specifically Rule Four, clearly addressed how newcomers were to be dealt with. The Committee would meet with them, if they were deemed not to be threatening to the proper order of Malden and they agreed to live by the Seven Rules, the newcomers were invited to stay. Beneath that formality, however, Morreign knew of an unwritten rule which was making her uneasy.
Managing to sound sure of herself, Morreign said, “Afternoon Sam, who do we have here?”
Leo and Paul would describe the woman as linebacker-like but probably not to her face as she wore an unimpressed scowl on her thin lips and looked with a harsh glare. Wrapped in hides and coyote furs despite the warmish weather, Morreign guessed the woman was actually more wiry than stout under all the bulky clothing. The grey hair braided into a thick rope coupled with the wrinkles on her weathered face made Morreign think she was in her late fifties.
Not surprisingly, Sam ignored the question and walked off after merely saying, “She’s alone.”
Morreign put out her hand and said, “Hello, I’m Morreign, welcome.”
The stranger overtly scanned her, reminding Morreign of a dog sniffing over an unfamiliar dog. Finally, she took her hand, made eye contact and with a gravelly voice, said, “Marge.”
“Nice to meet you, Marge. By chance have you seen two young men and a girl in your travels?’
Marge hesitated just long enough to let the hope in Morreign grow before she shook her head. “Sorry, no.”
Morreign had expected this but the disappointment still stabbed her in the chest. Forcing the pain from her voice, she said, “Ok. Please, come with me to the Lodge. We’ll get you something to eat.”
This seemed to confound the newcomer. “Really?”
“Sure. Nothing fancy but decent enough.”
“All simple and easy like that, you just invite me in?”
“Of course. Why not?”
This got a bark of a laugh from her. “Maybe you folks with your nice gardens and cozy cabins and all haven’t noticed, but Armageddon happened a while back. Plus your friend there didn’t strike me as overly friendly.”
Morreign gave a laugh of her own and said, “Oh, Sam’s quiet but harmless unless you’re a rabbit. And, yeah, I heard something ‘bout the Armageddon. Even so, I think we can spare a few beans for an innocent traveler. ”
“I got an ex-husband might not call me innocent, assuming he’s still breathing somewhere, but I’ll take your beans, all the same, assuming, of course, I’ll be free to leave after eating.”
Morreign’s stomach tightened as she gave a curt nod. The visitor gave her a penetrating look so Morreign added, “We do have some questions we’d like to ask, and then you can decide if you want to leave. I mean, we don’t get many guests out here and grow tired of telling each other the same old stories, be nice to hear something new.”
As they walked to the Lodge, the woman talked continually, apparently enjoying the stretching out of her unused vocal cords. Rambling stories about storms, trapping and rare encounters with humans. Malden residents openly stared at them as they passed, baffled by the vision of a stranger, but Marge did not let this attention slow her speaking. Morreign figured the woman, despite her contention of being a loner, was deeply lonely and this gave her hope the newcomer would decide to stay.
. . .
Harrison watched from his window on the third floor as his people moved about below. The hedonistic, alcohol-fuelled party had definitely increased the morale of the men, and they all seemed content, especially when he hinted at such events occurring again. He hoped, when the returning patrol members were told of the festivities, they would not be angered over being excluded but instead would look forward to the next one.
A soft knock announced Clarence’s arrival. Harrison turned and silently pointed to the couch before he took a seat in the armchair. His lackey looked tired and battered from the road but also annoyingly pleased with himself.
Dealing with Clarence all these years, Harrison knew the former helicopter pilot to be quite smart with technical and planning matters but quite clueless with inter-personal matters. Through their conversations, Harrison gleaned the diminutive man felt he got mistreated by the rougher elements of society and now enjoyed being able to act under the safety of Harrison’s protection.
He reminded Harrison of those people who were picked-on in high school, and then when they got to participate in any small way with the cool group, they were overly excited and grateful. As a result, the best way to get him to blindly follow orders was to keep him guessing as to whether he was pleasing or disappointing, make him worried about losing that emboldening protection and, subsequently, any chance at inclusion.
“You managed to get rid of Hale?”
Nodding eagerly, the former pilot answered, “Yeah, yeah. He was out on watch, all by himself in the pitch black. I snuck right up on him. Pretty easy actually.”
Shaking his head in response, Harrison said, “But everyone suspects you did this easy job and if they suspect you, they’ll think it was my plan.”
“Sure, I suppose, I mean they suspect, but they don’t know.”
“The fight with the Survivalists sounds like it was bloody and chaotic. You couldn’t have taken care of it then?”
Lifting his hands slightly, Clarence said, “No, no. I thought about that, of course, but I couldn’t get near him, and it was so crazy I figured he might get taken out anyway, the way he was charging right at ’em. When he made it through the attack, my only option was to take care of him when he was alone.”
Harrison knew Clarence was not brave and, more importantly, he knew Clarence also knew this. Harrison decided to poke at that soft spot. “Right, I imagine it was hard for you to get at him during the fight when you were way in the back.”
Opening his mouth to refute this, Clarence seemed to decide against arguing and meekly said, “I got done what I was told to get done.”
“And now I’ve got another mess with everyone thinking I ordered the killing of one of their bloody heroes.”
The defensive hands came up again as Clarence began speaking quickly, “I know, but I covered myself pretty well. While we were out there at that settlement, a few of those Prepper guys brought in captives. Those kids that came back with us were with ‘em. They’re so scared and rattled they don’t even know which way is up. When everyone was running around looking for whoever killed Hale, I got the two guys and took ’em out with me.
“I pretended to be hunting for the intruders, eventually bringing them to where I left some fake tracks. I convinced the terrified idiots they were proof someone came into the settlement and then ran off. They parroted this to the others. I think most of them bought it.”
For a moment, Harrison sat quietly, letting Clarence stew before he said, “Some of ‘em might have bought that bullshit but not all. Not Milo, certainly. Anyway, what’s done is done. I’ll fix it like I always fix your mistakes. I need to get down there and supervise the sorting of supplies. Anything else I need to know?”
Surprisingly, the chastised pilot said, “Yeah, maybe. Those kids, the ones that were brought to the settlement-”
Harrison ordered, “Out with it.”
“There’s something shady about them. I think they’re lying about where they come from. Might be worth looking into.”
This was actually interesting. “Explain.”
Clarence leaned forward, excited at the new opportunity to please. He said, “They told a story about being brothers from some isolated farm, but they don’t look like it, and I doubt there’s any farms way up here. Plus, their clothes are well tended, and they look pretty well fed for being secluded on some farm for all these years.”
“But you’ve only got speculation?”
“Yes, one of them, the redhead, said something about a place when they didn’t know I was listening. He called it Malden, I think it’s a village or something.”
“Malden? Give me the context.”
“When we came upon Thule, them seeing it for the first time, he said that Malden had more buildings.”
Very interesting. “Did you ask them about this?”
“No. I figured it would be best to wait and see what you wanted to do.”
Harrison thought for a second. Finally, a turn of good luck. An opportunity, one that perfectly fit his new plan, his mandate to explore and expand. An established settlement which had been overlooked.
“Ok. Make them wait outside until tonight. No food, no water, no company. Then bring the boys up to me for a talk at sunset.”
. . .
“Getting really tired of these people out here in the big, wide world. We should’ve bolted when we had the chance.”
Griff paced diagonally across the rocky area, stepping over random items littered about to kick a plastic bottle. After their arrival at Thule, Clarence told them they would need to wait outside before the leader could meet with them. Taking in the impressiveness of the building and their new surroundings kept them occupied for a while but that soon gave way to worsening angst.
Laying on the ground, using his coat as a pillow, Jacob resisted the temptation to point out that Griff was the one who wanted to come to Thule. Griff continued, “Shit. They could’ve left us something to eat, some water at least.”
Tina muttered, “I don’t think our comfort crossed their minds.”
With a defeated sigh, Griff sat down on a bin, put his head in his hands and asked, “What the hell is going on? I’m so damn tired, I can’t even think. I’m scared and worried all the time. Is this nightmare ever going to end? When do we get to wake up?”
Strange to hear his normally arrogant friend talking in such a manner but Jacob could completely understand, all the fear and torment was threatening to erode any toughness they carried from Malden. Jacob sat up. “I know what you’re saying. Maybe we should simply run. Bolt into the woods and take our chances. Sam taught us, we’ll be ok and we’ll be smarter this time. After all this facing an angry bear in a thunderstorm is preferable to dealing with one more stranger.”
Nodding, Tina quickly said, “Makes sense to me. Completely.”
Griff, however, only shook his head, his usually cocky gaze fixed on the floor. It worried Jacob to see his friend so despondent, the last setback of seeing Thule in ruins apparently one ob
stacle too many. Griff only muttered, “I don’t know. I don’t know anymore. What if -”
The apartment building door abruptly opened, interrupting the conversation as Clarence walked out with two massive men who looked shockingly similar: long golden hair, huge beards, and glaring eyes, a mirror image of menace in the setting sunlight. Clarence said, “Come on. Harrison wants to see you now.”
Jacob looked down at Griff who was looking back and forth between the mountainous men with pure fear in his eyes. No way they could chance running away from monsters like these, so they all silently stood. Clarence lifted a hand. “No, she’s gotta stay out here.”
Confused, they merely stared. Shaking his head, Clarence said, “The girl. She stays out. For now.”
Tina pulled on Jacob’s sleeve pleading in a whisper, “Don’t leave me. Don’t leave me alone.”
Jacob looked at her, “No. We won’t.”
Before he could protest, one of the blonde-bearded men, stepped down and grabbed him. Moving remarkably quickly, the huge beast hurried him inside, the other one roughly dragging Griff along. Risking a look back, he saw Tina. She stood stock still, staring at him, an equal combination of terror and disbelief on her face as she clearly fought back tears.
Jacob could only blindly hope she would be safe as struggling against the man’s powerful grip would be like trying to snap iron. They were led through the building, the two silent masses lumbering them along. Even in the dim light, the smooth walls, shiny tiles, and copious glass were visible enough to be impressive; nothing like this existed in Malden. If he was not terrified for himself and worried about Tina, Jacob would have marvelled at the sights.
They walked up numerous stone stairs before entering another hallway. One of the beasts grunted, “In there.”
