Chained - Everything you know is a lie...

by Susanne Valenti

Chapter Twenty Five

  Hunter laughed for a solid fifteen minutes when we relayed our story to him. I was beginning to think that near death experiences must go hand in hand with life outside The Wall and it was certainly better to laugh about it than cry.

  He headed back to our truck with Coal and they towed it to the farm house so that it could be charged overnight. The plan was to reach the end of the road around midday at which point Hunter and his men would split off and start a series of small fires to draw the attention of any Creepers that happened to be nearby.

  The four of us would then head for the bunker, hopefully uninterrupted by terrifying mutants hellbent on killing anything that crossed their path. Easy.

  As we packed up our things in the morning, Alicia approached me.

  "I know we haven't had much time to talk, but I was thinking about what we were saying back in Franklin," she said.

  "About the way a small child could overpower me in a fist fight?" I said, though it was irritating to admit it out loud.

  "Yeah, and though you really should work on that at some point you obviously don't have the time to do so right now."

  "So what's your point? I'm not staying behind," I said narrowing my eyes at her.

  "No, I know you won't do that. I just noticed that you only carry a few weapons on your belt plus that shotgun on your back and seeing as, without weapons, you're pretty much screwed, I thought I'd just show you how to carry a few more." She flashed me a grin.

  "That's perfect." I looked at her with surprise. "Thank you."

  "Well it's for my benefit as much as anything else." She sat down next to me and produced several knives which were held in various types of sheathes. She then went about showing me how she hid knives in her boots and how to strap them to my forearms.

  "It's worth keeping some weapons concealed, especially knives, because if you're captured, they'll take anything obvious away." She seemed to be speaking from experience.

  "In what circumstance might we be captured?" I asked.

  "Well, not everyone out here is all that nice. If we ran into some nomads, say, they can be a little aggressive at times. Or the travelling gangs, or the territorial gangs for that matter-"

  "Okay I get it," I stopped her before she completely terrified me.

  Alicia laughed and then made me prove how quickly I could reload my guns and corrected the way I loaded my pistol. There was a technique which involved careful timing and quick wrist action that meant I could load a new cartridge in the same move as ejecting the old one.

  I dropped the new cartridge nine times before I did it right and then she made me repeat it until I had it perfect.

  "Okay, I feel better about you risking your life now," she said finally.

  "Thanks, me too."

  "Are you girls ready to head out?" Hunter called over to us. Alicia jumped up and ran to the waiting truck, her long, white-blonde hair swishing around her as she went.

  I followed more slowly, getting used to the feeling of the knife in my boot and glad she had given me the holster so I could be sure I wouldn't impale my ankle.

  Laurie and was already sitting in the truck and Coal opened the door for me to climb in before him.

  "I found something pretty cool in the farmhouse," Alicia said as we all settled into our seats.

  "I'm not sure that I trust your judgement on what's cool," Coal replied.

  "Oh you will." She pulled a clear plastic case from inside her jacket and shook it at him.

  "Does it work?" he asked, leaning forwards with more interest.

  "Only one way to find out." She snapped the case open and pulled out a shiny, circular piece of plastic which she slid into a slot on the dashboard.

  A second passed and the number one flashed up in green next to the slot.

  I glanced at Coal who was suddenly looking really happy and was about to open my mouth to ask why when noise filled the car.

  There was a lot of crashing and banging but it all worked together somehow to create a beat. I felt a smile spread across my face too as a male voice kicked in and started to sing. Music in the city never sounded like that.

  "I hope you like rap music." Alicia laughed and cranked the volume up so that the speakers pounded.

  Hunter pulled up next to us, the same excited expression on his face as Alicia's. She flicked a button and the window descended so that we could talk to him.

  "We're gunna make use of these trucks today, it'll be the full off-road experience," he called over to us.

  "That's if you can keep up," Alicia yelled over the music, revving the engine.

  "Do you really wanna challenge me little lady?" Hunter shouted as he sped off, splattering mud up from his wheels which flew in through the window and coated us.

  "I'll kill him," Alicia growled, flicking mud off of her face and slamming the truck into gear.

  "Is there something I'm missing on the whole car front? I mean they make traveling easier and all but-" I waved a hand at Alicia who was practically bouncing out of her seat with excitement. The truck span wildly as she turned it back towards the road and the rear end slid sideways in the mud before levelling as we shot forwards in pursuit of Hunter.

  "I'll teach you to drive some time." Coal glanced at me. "It's great fun, but Alicia and Hunter do have a kind of obsession with big engines that's beyond most people's enjoyment of them."

  We were flung sideways as Alicia sped out onto the road and the tyres squealed in protest as they skidded on the tarmac before gaining traction. I fell into Coal and pulled myself upright hastily, hanging onto the door so that it didn't happen again.

  "How about you?" I asked, having to speak loudly to be heard over the music.

  "Yeah, I guess so, I prefer motorbikes though," he said.

  "How do they work?"

  "I'll take you for a ride some time." He raised his eyebrows at me invitingly.

  The engine growled as we hit top speed. Alicia and Laurie were whooping and laughing in the front and I couldn't help but feel exhilarated by the drive too.

  The wide, straight road provided the perfect race track and the truck roared its challenge as we pulled level with Hunter. We nosed ahead and then Hunter did and then us again. Finally, I was looking at Hunter through the window next to me and we were still speeding up.

  Eventually Hunter gave up, he smacked his hands down on the steering wheel and let us take the lead. Alicia laughed triumphantly and returned to a more controlled style of driving.

  The songs on the disc had played around several times and I was able to sing along to some of the choruses. I wasn't really sure singing rap music was my life's calling but I liked it.

  "What happened to the coyotes?" I asked as I grew bored of the view once again.

  "I guess they went off looking for something easier to catch," Coal shrugged.

  The truck lurched as Kaloo rearranged herself in the back.

  "Does she go everywhere with you?" I asked, looking back at the beautiful animal.

  "When I was younger I spent a lot of time wandering through the forests. I wanted to know all of their secrets. That was when I started to learn the value of the things I could find. I got to know the different plants and their uses and how to scavenge from abandoned housing and so on. It meant that I could earn my keep and I liked exploring too.

  I found Kaloo when she was very small. She was caught in a hunter's snare. I knew better than to interfere with the poachers but she looked at me with such trust in her eyes that I had to cut her free." He shrugged.

  "Like when you saved me," I said, remembering what he had told me about not consciously deciding to save me.

  "Right." He smiled at me. "I haven't regretted acting on those instincts yet."

  "And she stayed with you then?"

  "Yes. She's practically been my shadow ever since, though I'd guess she's saved my life more often than I've saved her's now." He looked fondly at the huge dog who had her nose to the
air, sniffing the wind as it whipped her ears back and forth.

  We pulled off of the highway and moved onto smaller and smaller roads. The path wasn't so straight anymore and Alicia set up the GPS to lead her through the twists and turns that our course required. We passed through towns where the people had tried to hold back the encroaching forest. They were barely recognisable and I only noticed them when I saw a windmill poking out between the greenery.

  "It's no good fighting the forest," Coal said as we passed a building with a huge tree sprouting from inside one of its windows.

  "How long did it take to do this kind of damage?" I asked, fascinated.

  "The plants are able to take hold within a matter of weeks. After that they just keep growing and growing until there's no choice but to give up. It takes a massive amount of time and energy to hold them back like they do in your city."

  "They have special branches of Wardens whose job it is to go out daily and burn everything that grows. They lace the ground with salt from the sea too," Laurie added from the front seat.

  "It's much easier to just live alongside it. The world is meant to be lived in, not controlled." He spoke with passion and I agreed with him. I reached across the seat and took hold of his hand. He stiffened for a moment and then relaxed, leaving our hands entwined and looked back outside.