15 Years Later: Wasteland (12 page)

“I guess I’ll roam the wastelands like every other poor bastard who doesn’t want to live as a slave to some asshole.”

“Why not settle here?”

“Here? Like they would have me! You saw my brother. He’d rather slit my throat.”

“There are many other towns like this.”

“Yeah, and all just as shit, too few people living over fear of the same assholes that are out there. No, I came looking for something, and I didn’t find it. So I guess I’ll just have to go look somewhere else.”

“But you found everything you were looking for here.”

“Clearly not,” he grumbled.

“So what are you going to look for?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll tell you when I find it,” he replied with a pained smile.

Zed awoke to the sunrise once again. Nobody had offered them a roof over their heads that night. They had been so close to what was left of civilisation, and yet not one person extended the hand of friendship. It told Zed all he needed to know.

"What you wanna do?"

Rave stood against one of the huts beside him and looked like she had been awake for a while. The few things she did own were already packed, and her bag lay at her feet ready to move. She had already figured it out.

"There ain't nothing here for me."

"So we go?"

He nodded as he got up and began to collect his things.

"Are you leaving already?"

He turned to find Lannie confronted him. She looked sincere in her concern for his departure.

"All these years, you are finally back with us, and you are just going to leave again?"

"Come on, look around. No one wants us here. I don't know why I left before, but I can see I am not wanted now."

He looked over her shoulder. Johnnie stood on watch with his shotgun in hand. He was just close enough that he could hear them speak, and at least nodded in agreement with his last statement. Lannie turned to look at him and saw it, too. She looked at Zed with tears in her eyes.

"I don't want you to go," she whispered.

He nodded slowly.

"No, but still I must go. Good luck, Lannie, and I am sorry if I ever hurt you."

He shouldered his rifle and walked away with Rave by his side. He didn't look back. He couldn't bear it. Even though he still remembered so little about them, he knew they were his family. They carried on out of town and back to the trail until they once again reached Frankie.

"They still got you working here?" Zed asked.

"We do shifts."

Zed nodded as he walked past.

"You know, you seem like a decent guy. I don't know why Johnnie hates you so much, but I bet he has some good reasons."

"Yep, I am sure he does."

"Well, I ain't seen any of them. You look after yourself."

"Got to, not like anyone else will," he replied with a smile.

They carried on out of sight until Rave finally spoke up, "So where are we going?"

He looked up the trail. It led to the highest viewpoint in the area. It would be a good twenty-minute walk, but it appealed to him.

"Right up there."

"Why? There’s nothing up there for us."

"Maybe, but I want to look on at these lands. Get a feel for where we are and where we might want to go."

"And where is that?"

"I don't know. Maybe we'll find out when we get there. Sure as hell it won't be South, at least."

He tried to put on a brave face and be enthusiastic, but it was hard.

"We’ve got to find somewhere to be. Life on the road ain't no fun."

He could see she was well accustomed to it, and he didn't doubt her.

"Let's just see what we can see, and go from there."

He carried on up the path. It was already getting warm, and the ascent was causing them to sweat profusely. He heard Rave cursing behind him, and he knew why. Wasting energy and water on such a climb must seem like such a futile act to someone whose only priority was survival, and efficiency in achieving it.

"You haven't ever wanted to just see a great view?" he asked.

But she only groaned, and they didn't say another word until they reached the top. As they came over the crest of the rocky verge, a great view stretched for miles around. A fresh breeze blew across his face, and Zed smiled, even more so when he noticed Rave enjoying the same sensation.

"You get it now, don't you?"

"It's okay, but not worth the walk."

He laughed, but his face turned to a concerned frown as his ears caught the sound of engines roaring in the distance. He spun around to see a dust cloud created by a dozen vehicles. They were racing towards Calico. His face turned to stone.

"It's Jay," said Rave with certainty.

They were too far away at first for him to tell, but then he recognised a few of the vehicles from when he had escaped. His instinct was to go forward, but he didn't get more than a single pace when Rave extended an arm and stopped him.

"Nothing you can do for them. Jay wants you more than anything else."

"You don't know that."

But he could see in her eyes that it was true.

"I thought they had a deal with the Boss, that nobody came this way?"

She shrugged.

"New Boss, new rules, I guess."

"What will they do to them?"

"Take half of what they’ve got. Maybe some of the men and a few of the women, too."

"Why?"

She didn't respond, only gave a look as if he should know already, and he did.

"Come on, let's leave them," she said.

"What?"

"They want nothing to do with us. There is nothing for us here."

"But..."

He pulled his rifle from his shoulder.

"Do you want to die?" she asked, as she held him back once again, and that made him stop and think.

"Jay will make you suffer till the end, and no one in that town will fight for you."

He gritted his teeth and hissed. He knew she was right, but he hated feeling so powerless.

"I won't leave, not yet."

She conceded that, as they both knelt down and watched the scene unfold. Air horns rang out to intimidate the town by announcing their presence. The town was well hidden by rocky crags on most sides, but as the vehicles drew nearer, they turned and skirted the natural wall around to the East. They could see everything that was going on. The riders on the vehicles were screaming out like wild animals as the horns continued to echo.

They stopped when they reached a large door between a rock outcrop. It appeared to be a vehicle entrance of a sort. Some kind of negotiation was going on, and now they were standing still they could see Jay himself riding on the back of what looked like an armoured cash truck. The roof had been removed and replaced with a firing deck.

It had further armour plating and a large bulldozer blade attached to the front, and looked impervious to any handheld weapons.

"What are they doing?"

"Giving them a chance to accept the terms."

"Shit," he muttered.

It went on for a few minutes, but they couldn't hear what was happening. It was frustrating, but Zed knew there was nothing he could do. A few moments later the gates opened and were prised apart. Jay's vehicle rolled inside with another pickup and two motorcycles

"Is that good?"

"Means they didn't fight."

"What will he take?"

"Anything he wants."

Zed was shaking his head.

"Is this what it has come do? Asshole bullies killing and taking what they want?"

She seemed surprised that he had to ask.

"Come on, let's just leave this place. We can find somewhere else," she pleaded.

"All that violence in your life, and now you shy away?"

"I'm not stupid enough to mess with Jay. I fight when I know I can win or because I have no choice. But now I have a choice, and so do you."

He looked back towards the town and could hear shouts and screams. He couldn't see what was going on but knew it wouldn't be nice. He wanted to turn and run, but he couldn't. He just stayed there, watching and waiting. About twenty minutes later the vehicles roared to life. They rode out of the town and led their convoy away. The truck that had gone in was now full with items pillaged from the town, and at least a few townsfolk, but he couldn't see who they were. They waited an hour to be sure Jay was gone, and then finally Zed leapt into action. He rushed down the hill. There was nobody on guard duty where Frankie had once stood.

Zed strode into the town to find many of the inhabitants weeping. Many were just sitting down helplessly crying while others consoled them. Lannie was amongst them, lying in the arms of his brother.

"You see what you have done!" he yelled.

Johnnie got up and rushed at him. He punched Zed in the face, but he just stood there and took it, and two more afterwards until finally he stopped. Johnnie was crying.

"After everything you have done to us, why bring this to us now? Why couldn't you just stay away?"

Zed had no answers.

"Where is Wyatt? Where is your son?"

Johnnie gave him a long cold stare, and it was clear what that meant.

"They took him?"

"Just get out, and don't come back!" he shouted.

Zed didn't move, and as much as Johnnie hated him, he couldn't bring himself to raise a gun to him. He stormed off out of sight and left Zed to cautiously approach Lannie.

"Why did they take him?"

"I don't know," as she continued to weep.

She wiped the tears away and tried to run through the events again to make some sense of them, but that just made her cry more.

"He said something about the new Boss, new rules. They aren't leaving us alone anymore. They took my son. They took Frankie and Ed, too. Is this because of you?"

"I don't know, but I never meant for any of this. I didn't want to bring trouble to you, and if I did, I am truly sorry."

She shook her head and looked away.

"My daughter, and now my son! Just go."

"Lannie, I just..."

"Go!" she screamed.

He looked up to see all eyes were on him now, some with murderous intent. He felt sorry for them, but he couldn't help but feel he was being blamed for others people's actions.

"I was a fool thinking I could rely on my family. Maybe we are all alone in this world, but if that's the case, then to hell with you all."

He stormed away as they glared at him. He didn't look back, but Rave did. She knew he was close to getting shot in the back. He reached the path and took a fork to go West.

"West, then?" she asked.

"West," he replied firmly.

He was breathing heavily as he could feel the anger brewing inside of him. He hated his brother for treating him that way, and he resented his wife for letting him.

"I don't have any family left. All I’ve got is one friend, you. It's time I took what I can get and move on, just like you said."

Rave smiled. "I told you. That is life now."

"Yeah, well it's a bitch of a fact to swallow."

They walked on for hours through the day as he tried to calm his nerves, but he could not help but feel angry and sad all at the same time. It was a gruelling walk in the heat that he just wasn't accustomed to. Not like Rave. She moved like a native of the wasteland. A slender reed as sun soaked and dusty as the ground they walked on. As accustomed as she was to it, neither of them could help but feel they were walking to nowhere. He didn't recognise where they were at all. There was no sign of civilisation in sight, past or present. They were lost, and he knew it.

He hissed and spat and cursed over his wife and brother, and then just after noon he stopped, sat down, and cried. Rave didn't seem to get it, and he could tell she had been become accustomed to this kind of loss and pain. She was acclimatised in the worst of ways.

Is that what I have to look forward to? Is that what I will become?

"Tell me, if your sister was alive, and when you found her she didn't want you around, what would you do?"

"Stick around until she changed her mind."

"So some things do matter to you more than you thought?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

He saw in her eyes that she really meant it, and that gave him some hope.

"We can't go back though, can we? They want to kill you almost as much as Jay."

"And what is my life worth without them?"

"I don't know what you want here. From them."

"What is it you want? If you could have it right now, what sort of life?"

"Nice place to live, plenty of water and food."

"Yeah, and I am guessing the Boss has that?"

"I suppose so."

"Well, maybe it's time the rest of us had it, too."

He took out his photos to look at them once again. She could really tell now how much they meant to him. No matter what they said or did, he remained loyal.

She thought back to her sister and all that she would give and do for her, and she was beginning to understand.

"So what do I do? Go on for nothing. Wander this wasteland as a nothing. Or go back and risk the only thing I have, my life. Is that worth it to get what? A tiny bit of my life back?"

"Maybe so."

"Rave, you are my one and only friend in this world. I guess you are as important to me now as Lannie and Johnnie are. So tell me, will you come with me?"