Crashing Down - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel (The Ravaged Land Series Book 3) (9 page)

I could tell almost instantly when Dominick entered a different part of the town that he either didn’t know it well, or he didn’t know it at all. He sat up taller and I could see the change on his face. He pressed his lips together to form a tight line and his eyes lit up like he had just drank six cups of coffee. He barely even bothered to blink.

Dominick parked in front of an old restaurant and tapped aggressively on the back window. The two men jumped down and came up to his window.

“Yes boss?” one of them asked.

“Be ready, been a while since I brought anyone around here,” Dominick said, and then waved them away. After I had heard that, I didn’t want Dean to go with, but they waited for him. They seemed anxious to get going. Dominick turned towards him, “Well? Off you go.”

Dean paused for a second but then left the truck. I watched him walk away and after two steps, I knew he had an uneasy feeling. He pulled out his gun keeping it down by his thigh.

“I hope you know what you are doing,” I mumbled under my breath as if it was my warning to him. If he screwed up and Dean got hurt I’d make him pay. I’d probably end up dead but I would take Dominick with me.

But he just chuckled and stared out the window. I could sense his usual confidence wasn’t there. Before I could warn him that I’d kill him myself if anything happened to Dean, I spotted the two men off in the distance. And they appeared to notice us at the exact same time.

“Oh shit,” Dominick said as he gripped his gun but kept it off to the side so the men outside couldn’t see it. He glanced to see if his men were coming out of the building. But of course they obviously wouldn’t be since they had only just gone inside a few minutes ago. I couldn’t tell for certain but I didn’t think the men were armed. Of course they could have had their weapons concealed, but they weren’t carrying anything openly as they approached us. Dominick shot a glance at his gun, “Follow my lead.”

“What?” I asked, trying to control my breathing so I didn’t have a panic attack.

He got out of the car and left the door open behind him. I scooted out after him with my gun in hand. Dominick didn’t bother to hide the fact that he had a gun. In fact, it almost seemed as if he was showing it off. So I did the same.

“Stop right there,” Dominick ordered, but the men didn’t stop their advance. “I said stop.”

“OK, OK!” one of them said holding up his hands, but the other kept his down near his pockets. I couldn’t get a read on either of them. But I was nervous nonetheless.

“Who are you?” Dominick asked not beating around the bush. He probably just assumed they were HOME. But maybe he didn’t feel very confident two-on-two with me on his team. I wouldn’t have either so I couldn’t blame him. Dominick turned his head to the side and spat on the ground like it was the wild west.

“I’m Jake and this here is Shawn,” the taller and older looking of the two said. Also spitting off to the side. I wondered if it was some kind of code or if they were both just trying to look tough.

“But
who
are you?” Dominick said as if he half expected them to confess to being from HOME. But if they were from HOME it most certainly wouldn’t be the first thing they’d tell us.

“Just two men trying to survive in what’s left… just like the two of you are doing,” Jake said winking at me. “Now if you don’t mind kid, we’ll just be on our way. We aren’t looking for any trouble.”

Just then I heard the footsteps racing up behind us. For a second I thought we were being ambushed, but realized quickly it was just Dean and Dominick’s two men approaching.

Dominick raised his gun and pointed at one of the two men. Now that his backup was here, he bravely took a step closer. “Get down on your knees,” he ordered.

“Aww come on, man! We just want to be on our way. We’re not looking to do nobody any harm!” the one named Shawn said sounding exasperated. This wasn’t how he had planned his day to go. But neither had I, yet here I was.

“GET. DOWN,” Dominick shouted so loudly I thought it would alert any nearby dog-beast to our location. They would be coming any second to feast on us.

Jake and Shawn both knelt down on the ground and both put their hands up behind the back of their head as if they were being arrested. This probably hadn’t been the first time they had been through something like this.

It wasn’t like Dominick was arresting them. Then again, in a way maybe he was, but I preferred to call it kidnapping. This was probably the first time they’d been kidnapped.

“Tie them up,” Dominick said to his men, who instantly obeyed. They pulled out long pieces of rope from their pockets as if they had planned on this happening. Based on how we had been captured, they probably were always prepared for this type of thing.

His lackeys tied them up, checked them for weapons and then helped them into the back of the truck. They slipped the burlap sacks over their heads as Dean and I climbed into the truck. Everyone was silent as we headed back towards camp.

W
hen we arrived back
at the camp instead of parking in the same spot, Dominick drove the pickup truck right to one of the houses he said they used for storage. He cut the engine, jumped out and instantly started barking orders at his men.

Off to the side there were a couple of people walking back towards the main building and he called out to them to help haul the supplies inside the storage shed. Before I could even blink he had a small army assisting him.

Instead of Dominick taking the two men inside like I thought he was going to, or to a basement, he gestured towards the stage with the nooses. His men pushed and jerked the strangers towards the stage.

“Wait! Dominick!” I yelled out shaking my head. I was confused. Why was he bringing them to the stage without question? I thought he would interrogate them first like he had done with us.

I could hear Dean charging after me and I knew without him saying anything that he wanted me to shut up. What was happening had nothing to do with me and he desperately wanted me to keep my nose out of it.

“What?” Dominick said sounding annoyed, but lucky for me he was distracted. I was surprised he even bothered to stop and listen what I had to say.

“Aren’t you going to check them?” I asked carefully. I was sure he wouldn’t like me questioning his actions in front of his men.

“Hmm? Oh. Right, I almost forgot. There are so many of these HOME creeps roaming around here. Say, why don’t you check them?” he said as his evil smirk found its way to his face. He looked as though he even surprised himself with this idea.

I took a step away from him and bumped right into Dean. He put his palm against my back to steady me. “Why me? This isn’t my thing,” I said trying to take another step away.

“Could have fooled me. You’re part of this camp now… just check them,” Dominick said, his eyes turning dark as he furrowed his brow. I knew he wasn’t messing around. But I didn’t want to be the one to reveal the mark to everyone. It would somehow make me feel responsible for what would happen to them after the markings were revealed.

I rubbed my hands against one another as I walked up to the first man and gingerly pinched the fabric of his shirt between my thumb and index finger. My hands slowly moved upward and revealed the HOME markings to everyone standing behind me. I heard the whispers and snickers. My stomach turned, and I dropped the shirt as if it was covered with thousands of spiders.

“Next!” Dominick said sounding positively thrilled. I couldn’t tell if it was because of what would happen next or if it was because I was obeying his orders. It was probably both.

I took a deep breath and lifted the other man’s shirt already sure of what I would find. And of course, as I suspected, it was there. The dark ink stark against his pale skin.

“See we didn’t even need to check did we? I can spot these HOME jerks a mile away,” Dominick said not expecting an answer. He waved his hand and his men started to drag them off towards the stage once again.

“Wait! It’s not what you think!” the one that had called himself Jake shouted. He twisted his head towards Dominick with his eyes filled with fear.

Dominick laughed but then the darkness returned to his eyes. “It’s exactly what I think,” he said through clenched teeth.

I grabbed Dominick by the sleeve and spun him around. For a second I wasn’t sure if he was going to hit me, or kill me. “Stop it!” I yelled “You gave us a chance to explain. Why not them?”

“It was different with you,” he said as he started to turn back to what he believed was his duty. To protect his people and save the Earth.

“No it wasn’t. You didn’t know we weren’t from HOME right away,” I countered. If he had suspected it without checking we would have been dead too, but for some reason he had given us a chance.

“There is nothing to say. I wasn’t sure when I came across you guys… I had my doubts, which is why it was handled differently. You guys didn’t give off that HOME scent,” Dominick said scrunching his nose up towards Jake and Shawn. “But I am one hundred percent sure these guys are from HOME thanks to you. There isn’t anything left to talk about with them now,” he said as he yanked his arm out of my grip.

Dean and I followed them all the way to the stage but stopped about ten feet away. I saw Sienna and Penn approach looking around as if they were trying to see what all the commotion was about. They both seemed confused but at the same time glad to see us back in the camp.

I didn’t have any doubts that they could see I was upset, but they stayed in their position. Penn protectively put his arm around Sienna as if he was worried something bad was going to happen. He wanted to be prepared.

Dominick jumped up on the stage while his two men led the HOME members up the lopsided steps towards the nooses. He looked excited, like he was the Master of Ceremonies at a circus. And this place really kind of was a circus.

“Ladies and gentleman,” Dominick started, and I rolled my eyes at him. Some of the women in the crowd lightly clapped their hands together as if they were his biggest fans. Next thing, they’d be fanning themselves and passing out.

“We have to do something to stop this,” I mumbled to Dean.

“No we don’t,” he said and wrapped his arm around me tightly as if he was afraid I might just try to run up on stage and set the men free. But I didn’t want to do that either.

“When we were out today, our new member Ros and I…,” he said scratching his chin briefly. “Hey, Ros, why don’t you join me up on stage if you would be so kind. That way everyone can see you and remember your face. After all, you were a really big help to our camp today.”

His words sounded friendly, but I knew it wasn’t a request. It was an order. I tried to be polite. I raised my hand with a small smile and shook my head. But he wasn’t having it.

“Oh, don’t be shy! Come on up,” he said, the sugar sweetness leaving his voice which he swiftly replaced with something completely artificial. The crowd sort of clapped as if they weren’t exactly sure what was going on.

I hesitantly moved away from the safety of Dean and made my way up onto the stage. The way everyone was looking up at me made me want to cringe. I’m sure they could all see how incredibly uncomfortable I was. I connected eyes with Penn and he looked beyond anxious.

“This is Ros everyone… she’s just a little shy is all. As I was saying, Ros and I were out gathering supplies as we often do for the camp, and she spotted these two men off in the distance. So, essentially, finding these HOME members was completely her doing. We all should thank her for her good work and quick thinking. We are so lucky to have her as part of the resistance,” Dominick said making a grand flourish in my direction.

Some of the folks in the crowd wore smiles so big I was afraid their faces might crack. I swallowed down a hard lump and wished I could disappear.

The last thing these men would ever hear was that I was the one responsible for their deaths. It wasn’t like I could protest in front of all of Dominick’s people. They’d put me up in the third noose if I tried. I had to keep my mouth closed.

“Let’s all thank Ros with a big round of applause,” he said taking a step towards me as he started clapping. Once his people were clapping their hands together enthusiastically he wrapped his disgusting arm around my shoulders and shook me lightly as if I should be excited by this whole spectacle.

I couldn’t smile. I couldn’t react at all. I felt as if I was frozen in place… maybe it was shock. But this was exactly what Dominick had wanted. Maybe he had been looking for an excuse to put me in that noose. I didn’t give him one, but I was sure at the very least he knew he was pushing my buttons.

“Um, thanks everyone but really it was all Dominick—”

“She’s so modest! Take credit where credit is—”

“Dominick is so brave and strong. It was all him. I just happened to be there with him. He’s so kind to try to share his accomplishment with me,” I said forcing a thin smile that stung my face. I stepped out of his arm and made a weak attempt to bow to his greatness.

When everyone started to cheer for him, he took his eyes off of me for a split second. I could tell he knew he had lost control for a second, and he wasn’t pleased. I jumped down off the stage clapping my hands up in the air as I was offering my thanks to him. It felt like my feet wouldn’t work fast enough to get me back to Dean.

But when I got to him, I didn’t stop. My feet kept moving… and fast. Dean pivoted and followed me. I knew it wouldn’t be long before Sienna and Penn would come looking for us.

Dominick was stuck on stage leading his circus. If we were going to try to leave this camp, this could be our best and maybe only chance.

“Let’s find Sienna and Penn and get the hell out of here!” I said unable to keep my voice down. But they wouldn’t have heard me over their cheers and roars at the killing of the HOME members anyway. Everyone was gathered around the stage, or at least I assumed they were. None of these people wanted to miss the party. “I don’t like this place any better than HOME!”

“Sounds good to me,” Dean said as we turned a corner around one of the buildings. I heard the crowd
ooh
and
ahh
, and I just knew one of the members had been hung. We had to find them fast.

We turned another corner and almost collided with them as they rounded the same corner. Thankfully, I had been right that they would come looking for us.

Sienna put her hands on my arms and looked me over as if she wanted to make sure I was OK. And I was, but I didn’t want to be here any longer. I wanted to get away from Dominick and this camp as fast as we possibly could. There was no time to explain in great detail. I worried that the instant Dominick realized we were gone, he’d send someone to come looking for us. We didn’t have much time.

“I want to leave,” I said looking her in the eyes. It was the quickest way to convey just how serious I was.

“Then let’s go,” she said as if none of the reasons mattered. All that mattered was getting us out. Although I’m sure she would have agreed with any of the reasons, or more likely she already knew all of the reasons.

“Follow me,” Penn said as if he had already planned for this moment. He took us around back to the fence that surrounded the entire camp. Penn stood on what looked like a rusted, old toolbox. Just as his fingertips gripped the top of the fence, someone whistled loudly from the side of one of the buildings.

Dominick and his two men, Dezzie and Mack, must have finished their murdering work quickly. Maybe Dominick had suspected we might try to leave when we all disappeared from the gathering at the same time.

“Going somewhere?” Dominick said with the most pleased expression I’d ever seen on anyone’s face. He was awfully proud of himself for catching us in the act.

“No,” I said trying to sound nonchalant as I crossed my arms and shifted my weight to my other leg. “It’s just that I didn’t want to be around all that nonsense.” I was mostly referring to the hanging but also all of the ‘we love the leader’ stuff was a bit too much to take. I didn’t see Dominick as the superhero everyone else seemed to and it made me sick to my stomach. How could everyone be so blind to what he was truly like?

“Yeah, we’re just hanging out, waiting…,” Sienna added as she leaned back against a nearby shed casually.

Dominick forced a laugh but his expression didn’t change. I could tell he wasn’t fooled. “Right. Well, come on back, it’s almost dinner time.”

“Sure thing,” I said, uncrossing my arms and stuffing my hands into my pockets. I was trying to hide how badly they were shaking. I didn’t want Dominick to see. Hell, I didn’t want anyone to see.

“Can’t wait,” Penn said awkwardly lowering himself down from the rusted hunk of metal. Dominick whispered something to Mack and Dezzie. I wasn’t surprised when the two of them went to move the rusted box to a new location.

I knew we had no choice but to go back to the camp with him. I wasn’t exactly sure what he’d do if we attempted to leave again, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he would have shot at us. Or have someone else shoot at us. After all, Penn had been from HOME, he could have justified it to his followers. He could have claimed some sort of trickery. Showed them Penn’s tattoo, and they’d be none the wiser.

His followers weren’t going to be easily swayed against him. They were in too deep.

So we did what kept us alive another day. We followed him back to camp and abandoned our plan. We were stuck here with Dominick and his cult. I had to hold on to hope that we’d find a way… if I gave up hope, that would be when I gave up on surviving completely.

* * *

W
e slept
through the night the same way we had the night before. Each of us taking a shift to keep watch. We all got a longer rest period because Sienna insisted on helping once again.

At first, Penn said to give it more time, but after he saw the look on her face he backed down. She had told him she’d scream even louder than he could imagine if anyone so much as looked at her funny.