The Day After Never - Purgatory Road (Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Thriller - Book 2) (2 page)

“Bastard’s a cheat, Holt. I been watching him.”

Holt glanced at the dealer with weasel eyes and shook his head. “Nah, Kurt, he ain’t. Maybe we just been at the table too long, you know?”

“Gonna win it back.”

The little Raider took a swig of the firewater and exhaled loudly. “Easy come, right?”

The dealer ignored the exchange, seemingly oblivious to anything but counting his chips. One of the players scraped his chair back and stood unsteadily. “I’m hitting it,” he declared with a yawn.

“See you next time,” the dealer said.

The playing resumed, and within half an hour Holt and Kurt were out of chips. Holt shrugged and rose. “Looks like that’s it for tonight, man,” he said.

Kurt’s hand gripped his forearm with the force of a vise. “No. We’re not done.”

The dealer eyed them. “Don’t see any chips.”

“Shut your piehole. We’ll get more,” Kurt snarled.

The dealer’s stare shifted to the smaller man, then back to Kurt. “Ain’t going nowhere.”

“Not with our loot, you aren’t,” the big Raider countered, and then lumbered over to a steel door.

Two of the guards moved in fast and blocked his way. Kurt glared at them. “I wanna see the man.”

“Kind of late, don’t you think?” one of the gunmen asked, his tone neutral.

“Place open for business, or isn’t it?”

The pair exchanged a glance and the taller one shrugged. He knocked on the door, and twenty seconds later it opened and a fleshy Raider with a body like a sumo wrestler eyed Kurt with an impassive expression. “What?”

“I want more chips.”

“You know how it works. What you got?”

“Couple of AR-15s. Another AK. Dozen mags.”

The proprietor, a trader known among the Raiders as “the mayor,” did a quick calculation. “Sounds like a couple hundred chips. Where’s it at?”

“Your man outside is watching the horses. It’s in my saddlebags.”

The mayor’s eyes moved to one of the guards. “Go with him and bring me the gear.” He curled his lip at Kurt. “Chips will be waiting if it’s all there.”

The exchange took five minutes, and after inspecting the weapons and ammo, the mayor’s door slammed shut with the finality of a gunshot. Kurt staggered back to the playing table with his trove of chips and sat heavily, piling them in front of him and then organizing them into stacks of twenty. When he was done, he pushed two into the center of the table and scowled.

“Maybe we should come back tomorrow,” Holt suggested in a whisper.

Kurt waved him off. “No, Holt. We need to get our stuff back.”

“All I’m saying is that after some sleep, maybe we’ll do better.”

The big Raider’s nostrils flared. “You hard of hearing? I told you, we do this now.”

The dealer appeared to just realize Kurt had returned. “Ready for another spanking?” he taunted.

“You want to keep what teeth you got left in that fool head of yours, best keep your trap shut and play cards.”

The remaining two Raiders stayed in for a few hands and then took their chips and left.

An hour later the dealer yawned and considered Kurt and Holt, their chips now his. “Well, boys, been a pleasure, but it’s getting late and I need my beauty rest,” he said, scooping the tokens into a canvas sack and rising. “Maybe you’ll have better luck next time.”

Kurt threw back the remainder of his rum and tossed the bottle onto the scarred table. “You robbed us, plain and simple,” he slurred, his voice dangerously soft.

“Nah, I done it fair and square. You shoulda quit while you was ahead. Nobody held no gun to your head,” the dealer counted. His tone remained agreeable, but the warmth never reached his eyes. He turned to one of the guards behind him. “Time to settle up with the mayor.”

“I won’t forget this,” Kurt threatened.

The guard regarded the two Raiders, his expression darkening, and his unblinking stare locked on Holt. “Best get your buddy out of here. Nobody wants no trouble – but you bring it, we’ll finish it,” he warned, fingering the safety of his Browning.

The dealer reached into his bag and tossed a few chips onto the table. “Come on, boys. No hard feelings. Have yourselves a bottle on me, and we’ll see how things go some other night.”

Kurt swiped the chips away and spun clumsily from the table. “Don’t want no charity.”

The dealer’s eyebrows rose, and Holt stooped to retrieve the chips from the floor with a resigned look. When the big Raider was out of earshot, he leaned toward the dealer. “Sorry. Been a rough patch.”

“We all been there,” the dealer agreed.

Holt converted the chips into an unlabeled bottle of whiskey with a stained cork half stuffed into the top – one of the local concoctions that could kill you just as often as not. He wended his way to the exit and stepped out into the gloom. The accompanying wind carried with it the scent of desiccated rot from the latrine trench by the Raiders’ camp area. Most only spent a few days at a time in the sad little hamlet to resupply and reshoe their horses, tend to any wounds, trade, gamble, and whore, and prepare for another few weeks on the road, where they would waylay any travelers they came across.

“Hey. Look what I found,” Holt called to Kurt, who was stalking away, his movements uncertain in the spectral moonlight. “Come on, man. Wait up.”

The pair found a welcoming spot beside an abandoned building – the remnants of a fifties-era gas station that had gone out of business decades before the collapse – and passed the bottle back and forth. An amorous owl hooted somewhere in the darkness, covered by the bellows of drunken laughter drifting from the bar. As the level of the bottle sank, more Raiders emptied out of the watering hole to stagger back to their tents with paid company in tow, leaving the two men to watch the night wind down.

“Damn mayor’s in on it,” Kurt grumbled. “It’s a hustle. Whole thing. A con. Dealer, mayor, all of it.”

Holt shook his head. “I don’t think so…”

“They know we got to bring our stuff here – nobody else will trade with us. So they got us by the balls, and then they screw us every chance they get. Pay what they want for our booty, then cheat us out of our chips – and for what?” Kurt spit into the mud by his side and then burped loudly. “We take all the risk, and they walk off with the reward. I’m sick of it. Bet they’re in there laughing it up at how stupid we are for doing it again and again.”

Holt rubbed his face with a grimy hand. “Let’s go sleep it off. I’m beat.”

Kurt forced himself to his feet with a grunt and set off in the direction of the bar. Holt scrambled up and tailed him, leaving the empty bottle behind. When they got to where their horses were hitched beside a water trough, Kurt stood still for a moment as though in a trance, and then pulled his Kalashnikov AK-47 free from its saddle scabbard and pocketed two spare thirty-round magazines. Holt backed away and shook his head, his eyes wide. “No, dude, no…”

The big Raider’s backhand slap caught Holt by surprise, and the little man’s head jerked back from the force of it. His eyes welled as a trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth, and his fingers flew to his jaw. “Jesus–”

“Best keep your mouth shut,” Kurt snarled.

Holt shook off the blow. “This ain’t the way.”

“You got a better idea? I’m not letting ’em steal a month’s work.”

Holt nervously eyed the building façade. “You’re gonna get yourself killed.”

“Not if I take them first.”

“You got no chance.”

“You gonna help me, or I do this alone?”

Holt shook his head. “No way. You’re talking crazy. Just put down the gun, and let’s clear out of here.”

The big Raider moved surprisingly fast for his size and level of inebriation. The wood stock of the Kalashnikov caught Holt in the side of the head, dropping the smaller man like a sack of rocks. Kurt stood over him, breathing hard, but then blinked away the blurring vision from his bloodshot eyes and turned toward the saloon entrance.

Kurt pushed through the door and spotted the dealer sitting with the mayor at the card table. A half-full bottle sat between them, from behind which a curl of smoke from a pipe in a black plastic ashtray spiraled toward the ceiling. Both men looked up in surprise, and then Kurt’s AK barked death at the lone guard holding up the back wall, who jerked like a marionette as slugs chewed through the ceramic plate of his plate carrier, his body armor insufficient to stop an entire full auto 7.62mm burst at point-blank range. The gunman slumped to the floor, and the dealer slowly stood, hands raised in front of him, shaking his head.

“Ain’t got no gun, boy. Now just take it easy–” he began.

“Ain’t your boy, bitch,” Kurt growled, and squeezed the trigger as he moved toward the table. The assault rifle bucked in his hands, and the dealer’s chest erupted with ruby blossoms as he pitched backward and slammed into the table, knocking the bottle over. He collapsed onto the wood slab and lay gasping for breath, staring at the roof in disbelief as his life pulsed from him in arterial spurts.

“I’m here for my gear,” Kurt snarled at the mayor.

“I expect you are,” the mayor said agreeably, and then the compact Glock 29 10mm pistol in his robe pocket blasted through the filthy fabric. The first round caught Kurt in the shoulder, the second slammed into his abdomen, and the third drilled through his skull above his left eye and painted the area behind him crimson.

The room echoed from the shots, and when the reverberations had died down, the mayor stepped forward with the gun freed from his robe, weapon trained on the dead gunman. The two remaining guards burst through a back door that led to the sleeping quarters, guns at the ready, and froze when they saw the carnage. The dealer groaned and stiffened on the table, and the mayor shook his head.

“Get them out of here. Throw the big one in the field out back as a warning, and bury Jed,” he ordered, indicating the dealer with a nod. “And mop up the blood. I don’t want a bunch of flies in here.”

The men nodded wordlessly; bloodshed was nothing new. The mayor watched as they dragged the rogue Raider unceremoniously from the room by his feet, leaving a trail of coagulating sawdust. He stopped to collect the dead man’s AK-47 as the Raider’s body bounced over the threshold and into the street.

There was no point in wasting a decent weapon.

“If he’s got a horse, it’s mine now,” the mayor called. “And if you see that little rat buddy of his hanging around, gun him down.”

The taller of the bodyguards paused at the door. “Why?”

The mayor made his way to the bar and opened a bottle of rye. He took a swig, set it on the bar, and sighed before fixing the guard with a hard stare.

“Principle.”

Chapter 2

Ruby and Lucas sat outside in their camp chairs, facing Sierra, who was watching Eve play near the horses. The ride back had consumed most of the morning, and the sun was high overhead as they discussed their next move. After considerable back and forth, Lucas had agreed to go in search of the USB and accompanying note, but as he thought through the logistics, the task seemed daunting. And there was still the matter of the kiss – the start of something or, at the very least, unfinished business he and Sierra would need to resolve.

“Is there anything you can tell me about the vest that would help identify it?” Lucas asked. “Distinguishing markings?”

“It was that tan camouflage color everyone seems to be wearing. I think…I think it had something on the front, like an emblem or something. I just don’t remember what it was,” Sierra said.

“You recall what color the emblem was?” Ruby asked.

“Black.”

“How big?”

Sierra held up her fingers with a small space between thumb and index. “I don’t know. Maybe an inch, inch and a half?”

Ruby leaned back in her chair and called to Eve. “Eve, can you come here for a second, please?”

The little girl ran through the tall grass, skipping occasionally, an expression of untroubled happiness on her face. When she arrived where the adults were seated, she grew serious. Ruby offered a smile and took her hand.

“We were talking about the man who was in charge of your trip from Lubbock, Eve. Your aunt says you have an amazing memory. Do you remember something on his vest? A design or picture?”

Eve nodded. “Yes. It was a bird.”

Sierra snapped her fingers. “That’s right. An eagle or a hawk. Stylized, like a military logo.” She frowned. “I don’t know why I was drawing a blank. I’m sorry.”

“You’ve been through a lot, and you’re still healing. Between the wounds, the infection, and the drugs, the mind can play tricks,” Ruby said.

“And it wasn’t a plate carrier?” Lucas asked.

Sierra frowned. “Not like yours, but it did have a front ceramic plate, so I guess it was. I’m sorry. I’m not really up on gear terminology.”

Lucas had been asking for a more detailed description for some time, but it was obvious that Sierra’s memory had been affected by her ordeal. He decided to quit while he was ahead, the emblem hopefully adequate to identify the vest. “Where was the hidden pocket?”

She tapped her sternum. “Inside, over the chest. It had Velcro that held it together so it looked like part of the inner seam.”

Ruby smiled at Eve again. “You can go back and play if you want, Eve. Thank you, young lady.”

“Welcome,” Eve said, her voice small.

The child ran off. Sierra eyed Lucas. “So what are you going to do?” she asked.

Lucas watched Eve for a few moments and then stood. “I need to ride back to the gulch where Eve was hiding and see if there’s anything I missed. Neither of the shooters I took out were wearing camo, so if the vest is there, it would be with the rest of the bodies.”

“And if it’s not?”

“Then I have to go to the canyon where Carl and his deputy ambushed the Raiders, and see how many they tagged, and whether any of them had the vest.” Lucas paused. “If none of them were wearing it, the options get worse from there.”

“What do you mean?” Sierra asked.

“The Raiders control a tiny town in Texas near the New Mexico border. Most traders avoid it because they know anything for sale wound up there from looting or robbery – or worse. But some don’t care. I’ll have to go and nose around, see if I can pick up the scent, assuming it was a Raider who grabbed the vest and not some opportunistic third party.”