The Fall of Man: The Saboteur Chronicles Book 1

by J. V. Roberts

  “What do you mean?”

  “My daddy was a drunk. My momma was a cunt. He drank himself to death off grain alcohol. We may not have much out here, but one thing we’re not hurting for is alcohol. I was eleven when we put him in the ground. My momma always said I was the one that killed him. He never wanted me. She said it was my presence that drove him to the drink. So, that’s what I tell folks, I killed my daddy.”

  “Well,” she cleared her throat, “I’m sorry to hear that. That’s pretty shitty.”

  Dominic stared at the rainbow of neon colors spread out across the blanket of blue overhead. “It made me into the bastard I am today.”

  “That it did.” She gave one last tug. “There you go, all stitched up. We’ll keep an eye on it for infection, but you should be good.”

  The skin was puckered and red. Blood was oozing from the holes where the needle had punctured the skin. Overall, it looked a damn sight better than before. “This may be my prettiest scar yet.”

  “Well, I’ll take that as a compliment,” she said as she tucked the aid bag away. “So, what’s the plan?”

  “Situation ain’t exactly ideal.” He stood up, trying the stitches on for size. He could feel the tension in his lower abdomen. Tight. Like pants that had just come off the clothesline. “Hause’s plan doesn’t seem to be seeding too well.”

  Lerah was separating out the weapons. She tucked a pistol in her holster and began tightening the sling around her rifle. “The Rebels aren’t a threat. We crushed them once, if we have to, we’ll crush them again.”

  “I’m sure your father would be proud to hear you echoing his sentiments.”

  “What does my father have to do with it? We’ve disagreed on plenty, trust me. We just happen to be likeminded on this particular issue.”

  “So, you don’t agree with the mission?”

  “I do as I’m commanded.”

  “Obedience without question, admirable.”

  “It’s called being a soldier.”

  Dominic shook his head. “Just remember, armed men with ambition should never be dismissed lightly. You guys won the war, yeah, but you didn’t crush anything. You drove the Rebels back. You can’t kill an idea, Hause got that part right. Can you hand me my shirt?”

  She tossed the shirt up and then stood and zipped her jacket. “I’m not taking this conversation any further. We don’t have the time. What’s our next move?”

  She was right, daylight was passing them by while they stood and argued politics. “We can’t stay on the main road. We’re going to have to curve out to the west a little bit.”

  “You sure that’s a good idea?”

  “Lerah, this isn’t the only road. It’s just the quickest and easiest. Curving west and moving north from there will take us further away from the Rebels; ensure our heads stay attached to our bodies a little longer.”

  “Okay, what else?”

  “The inns are out, that’s for damn sure.”

  “What do you mean the inns are out?”

  “They’re out, too dangerous. We don’t know where the Rebels have eyes; old men and little kids, could be anyone.” His shirt was stiff with dirt and dried blood; he gripped the hem with calloused fingers and did his best to shake it loose.

  “Where are we sleeping then? We’re not sleeping outside, that’s way too exposed.”

  “The inns are a coffin. No room to maneuver. I’m not in a position to go through another window. We won’t get that lucky twice.”

  She made a noise that sounded like bitter agreement. “So, what then?”

  “We’ll make our beds wherever we can. Some place out of the way and under cover, if time allows it.” He loaded his body up with a pistol, the rifle, spare magazines, and tied the machete around his waist, concealing it all with his duster. “We’ll draw water off the wells after darkness falls. Our food should hold out fine. Bottom line is this, we’ve gotta stay out of sight. A lot of folks around here hate Union and love coin, that’s bad for our life expectancy.”

  She looked around and nodded, squinting as the sun took its throne high above them. “Agreed,” she finally said.

  “I’m glad we’re able to see eye-to-eye on something.”

  “Yeah,” she hoisted her pack up on her shoulders, “don’t get used to it.”

  16

  Blake struggled to keep up with Mother. Her white robes rippled behind her. Her hair was bundled atop her head in a fat knot that bobbed back and forth. “Does someone want to tell me how this got so far out of hand? I gave simple instructions, yet you idiots still managed to turn it upside down.”

  Zach and Toby were behind Blake, uncomfortably close. “Mother, I was doing as you instructed. The boy had done nothing to make me suspicious, so I was keeping an eye on him to see if any of his actions—”

  “You were keeping an eye on him? How is it that he managed to sneak from his window, collect the girl, and infiltrate the gatehouse if you were keeping an eye on him?” They were using a small path, behind the buildings, just off the town square. Mother wanted to visit the young heretics without attracting attention.

  “I didn’t move to stop him, initially, because I wanted to see if the girl was going to implicate herself. When they started for the gatehouse I moved to stop them. The distance between us was too great. I didn’t reach them in time.”

  Mother raised her robes and stepped across a muddy patch of earth created by the greenhouse runoff. “Why didn’t you cry out? Alert the guards? One of our own lies dead due to your silence.”

  Blake hopped after her, desperate to explain himself. “I didn’t want to alarm the people. I didn’t know he was going to act so rashly.”

  Now Toby spoke up. “Mother, all I know is, when I walked in them doors, Doc was just standing there with his pecker in his hands.”

  “He had a gun pointed at me.”

  “It was on safe,” Zach interjected.

  “And you expected me to know that?”

  Toby gave a contemptuous laugh. “You never shot a gun, Doc?”

  “I own a varmint rifle. Not exactly the same thing.”

  “Does it got a safety on it?”

  “Enough!” Mother turned and stamped her foot against the ground. “I will stand for no more of this finger pointing. All of you are incompetent fools. Doctor, I gave you a simple task: get a read on the boy and report back to me—”

  “Mother, I had nothing to repor—” The look in her eyes stilled the words in his throat.

  “And you two fools.” She pointed past Blake. “I ordered you to keep tabs on his progress. As far as I’m concerned, you’re all equally at fault.”

  Blake shook his head, confused. “Keep tabs? You had these two following me?”

  She dropped her hands to her hips. “Why yes, Doctor. I did. Is that a problem?”

  “No, it’s just… you don’t trust me?”

  She let loose with a dry laugh. “Can you blame me, with the way you’ve been behaving? And now this? Do I have a reason to trust you?”

  “Mother, I’ve always obeyed your commands, never have I faltered.”

  “If I ask you to draw water from the well and you spill the bucket on the way back, what do you call that?”

  “Mother, I had every intention—”

  “It’s called failure, Doctor, intention or no intention. You have failed me.” She started walking again. A brown stain was beginning to form around the hem of her white garment. “Now we’ve got a funeral to plan. And the Fall. What does this say to my people? That I can’t protect them, even within these walls, that’s what it says.”

  “Mother, listen,” he ran up beside her and placed a hand lightly about her arm, “about the Fall—”

  She jerked away and bared her teeth. “Do not put your hands on me, Doctor! You forget your place!”

  Zach and Toby were there, snarling, waiting for the command to bite.

  “My apologies… with everything going on… my apologies, I was out of line. I wante
d to discuss the girl.”

  “What of her?”

  “Well, it’s my suspicion that she was pulled into all of this against her will. I spoke to her last night, for a few moments, and she communicated as much to me.”

  “She violated Scripture, did she not?”

  “Yes, Mother, but—”

  “But?”

  “She didn’t set out to violate Scripture. She was, at least partially, a victim of someone else’s folly.”

  Mother swatted away his plea for mercy. “She’s a heretic, no more, no less. The Scripture is plain. I will not have it polluted by your semantics. The fact that she violated the Scripture, at the behest of a boy, demonstrates her weak minded nature. That’s a pollutant we do not want in our water. All the more reason for her to take the Fall.” She was practically daring him to protest further.

  He gave a shallow nod. “Yes, Mother.” That was the end of it. He’d done everything in his power. He could sleep soundly on that bed of knowledge. But he wouldn’t. The tightness would be there, and the tears would sting, because two young lives would be snuffed out beneath the weight of his blessing.

  The rest of their journey was taken in silence. Mother continued to storm ahead, grunting, pulling her garment up above her ankles at each imperfection in her path. As they rounded the final corner a small crowd appeared, gathered loosely outside the lockup, held at bay by a contingent of guards from the Watch.

  “Great, this is all I need,” Mother muttered. “Zach and Toby, up in front, now.”

  They spun Blake like a top as they banged past him.

  “Mother!”

  “Bless you, Mother, it’s so good to see you!”

  “Pray for me, Mother!”

  Zach and Toby worked as a shield. They joined together at their left and right shoulders and formed a V-shape. Mother hid in their shadow. “Children, pride of our Creator, please, let us through. I am here on His business.”

  Blake lagged behind and observed the spectacle as it revved through the usual gears of fanatical hysteria. Additional bodies, attracted by the roar of the crowd, began to stream in from other parts of the settlement.

  “Is that Mother?”

  “What’s she doing here? Is there going to be a Fall?”

  Within the growing crowd Blake saw the tear stained faces of Colton’s father, Terrence, standing next to both of Kati’s parents. His stomach lurched. His intestines coiled.

  “Mother, my boy, please, I need to see him!” Terrence pushed through to the front of the crowd. Mother kept her head down as Zach and Toby ushered her into the lockup. “Mother, is my son okay, tell me that much, please?”

  Blake broke into a jog as he approached the door, dropping his head, hoping to go unnoticed.

  Two hands closed tightly around his wrist. “Doctor, you can’t let my son take the Fall. You talk to Mother, she listens to you.”

  “I don’t know what’s happening or what’s going to happen. But I assure you, Mother will be fair. She will only move in accordance with our Creator.”

  “That’s crap and you know it!” The saliva hit Blake right between the eyes. “The men working the well saw you there yesterday, talking to Colton. They said Colton got really quiet after you left. Said he looked troubled. This was you, damn it! Fix it!”

  Kati’s Mother, Belinda, joined the fray. Blake didn’t see her until her claws were plummeting towards his face. With Terrence latched on to his wrist, his options were limited. He turned his head away but she still caught the top of his ear. “Her blood is on you! On you!” Her husband was there, pulling her back as she kicked and scratched.

  Zach appeared beside Blake like some guardian demon. “Let him go, Terrence. This ain’t the place to quarrel.”

  “Zach, you tell Mother that my boy was fine till he talked to the Doc, you tell her that for me, please?”

  “She’s going to listen to the Creator, she will deal fair and just, like she always does. You’ll know the outcome soon enough.”

  “He’s the reason my boy is in there. He was fine till the Doc broke words with him.”

  Zach stepped in closer, his hand now on Terrence’s arm. His voice was quieter, but much firmer than before. “Now’s not the time, you understand me?”

  “If something happens to my boy, I’m going to be breaking a hell of a lot more than words with you, Doc.”

  Zach dropped into an offensive position. His other hand was now on the butt of his pistol. “Terrence, I’m only gonna tell you once more.”

  Terrence relinquished his grip, but his eyes still held promises of retribution. “You sleep sound, Doc,” he said, with a quivering chin, as he stepped back into the embrace of the crowd.

  “Come on, Doc, get inside.”

  Blake felt like he was breathing through a straw. “He’s going to kill me. You heard him. I was only following orders and he’s going to kill me.”

  “Ah, now, I doubt Mother will let that happen.”

  “You doubt…”

  “Just walk, will you.”

  “What’s up with him?” Toby asked as Blake shuffled into the lockup.

  “Scared, like always.”

  Mother was dismissing the guard as Blake walked in.

  The interior of the lockup was made up of a table, a chair, and an open air wall-to-wall holding cell. Blake remembered when they’d crafted the cell. They’d sent teams to collect scraps from the ruins. Men went out for days at a time. Some of them never came back; lost to bandits and the elements. They used whatever metal and mortar they could find. The bars were a bit crooked and the lock often got stuck, but in the end, the cell did its job. And if it didn’t, there were always the men with the guns.

  Mother walked the length of the cell, sliding her fingers over the bars, a foul look about her. This was a demonstration of power. A way of letting the ants get a good long look at the sole of the shoe before it came down on top of them.

  Zach was sitting back on the table, picking at his black nails with the tip of his blade. Toby was sitting down near the door with his head back and his mouth open, drifting in and out of sleep; it’d been a long night for all of them.

  “Look at you two, all snuggled up together.” Colton and Kati were pressed against the back wall. Their hands were cupped, one over the other. Kati’s head was draped beneath Colton’s swollen, purple chin. “Look at you, sitting there in your sin. You should be repulsed by each other. Repulsed by the dark, vile creatures that each of you has become. Repulsed that the person sitting next to you has betrayed their Creator. Yet, you sit, basking in it.”

  “Mother, we both wish to renounce our oaths. We wish to take The Covenant,” Colton spoke assertively, through broken teeth, while Kati wept softly in his arms.

  “Oh, you do? Well then, that’s just splendid.” Mother steepled her fingers and inclined her head towards Blake. “Isn’t that splendid, Doctor?”

  Blake nodded. Dizzy. His breathing shallow. “It’s good to hear such noble intention.”

  “Bah, noble intention, it would seem you have the good doctor fooled. Tell me, Colton, why have you and this heretic whore suddenly decided to take the Covenant?”

  “Don’t you call her that!” Colton didn’t look tough. He didn’t sound tough. He was just a broken kid, making broken promises.

  Zach, usually a sucker for conflict, just laughed at the outburst and continued right on fiddling with his nails.

  “She lost the right to be called by name, as did you. You’re both heretics. Nothing more. Why would I let you take the Covenant? Why would I depart from Scripture by allowing you to atone for your sins?”

  “Mother, because we love each other.” Colton’s tears fell into the tangled mass of Kati’s hair.

  “We do, Mother, we love each other, so much.” Kati sniffled, wrapping her arms tighter around Colton’s chest.

  “And because we’d multiply, just like the Scripture commands. We’d do our Creator proud. We’d do you proud, Mother.”

  “Mo
ther, perhaps—” Blake started.

  “Shut up, Doctor.” She sighed and pouted at the two captive lovers. “You both tell a good story. I can see that you’re both quite upset by all this.”

  “Ma’am, it’s the truth. Before you, before our Father, the Creator, I swear it.”

  She shook her head. “There’s a problem though, Colton. You see, I don’t believe you. I don’t believe either of you.”

  “Ma’am—”

  “You’re not sorry. You’re not speaking out of genuine conviction. You have no desire to bring yourselves in line with the will of the Father. No desire to multiply. You’re simply scared. You were caught hatching your little scheme. You killed one of our own. And now, you’re too scared to accept the consequences.”

  “No, Mother, please—”

  “Still your lying tongue, boy. No more. I will hear no more of it!” She was breathless, clutching at her chest for a brief moment. “If I didn’t possess the wisdom bestowed upon me by our Creator, I may very well fall beneath the poisoned words of your forked tongues. But I hear our Creator’s voice. You’d take the Covenant and you’d fold yourselves back into our society. You’d plot and you’d scheme, perhaps dripping your poison into the ears of your fellow citizens, and when the moment was right, you’d strike.”

  “Mother… I… we—”

  “You will take the Fall. You and your whore.”

  Mother rounded on Blake and pushed past him towards the door.

  Something crashed hard against the bars of the cell. Blake spooked and almost rolled across Mother’s back in a fit of terror.

  It was Colton. His fingers were wrapped around the bars. His knuckles were white. “You bitch! You lying evil bitch!”

  Mother was unfazed as she turned to face the young man cursing her name. “I didn’t quite catch that. Would you mind repeating it?”

  “You’re just a bitch! Fuck you! Fuck the Creator!”

  She nodded her head, as if considering what Colton had said. “Zach, would you please call the guard back in here?”

  “Yes, Mother,” Zach chuckled and rubbed his calloused hands together, as if he knew what she was up to.