The Ghost and the Darkness Volume 1 (The Fallocaust Series Book 2) (71 page)

“We have money, we’re here to sell a slave, have a few drinks, spend the night and get some supplies,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “Nothing else.”

The man gave Chally a shifty look and then Killian. “Those are arians; you know that’s illegal...”

I stared at him. “And you know this ain’t Skyfall?”

He laughed and raised his hands in the ‘you got me’ type of motion. He let them drop. “We don’t ask too many questions here. We get slavers every once in a while but this is the greywastes you got us there. Okay, welcome to Mariano.”

I gave him a nod, wishing Killian had a collar on that I could grab onto just to make sure he stayed safe and near me. I wondered if he would be too overly oppose to that one, Jade’s had come in useful many times when I had to deal with him. I could see why Elish still had one on him.

The three of us walked down a single-lane street; buildings repaired with pressboard, tin, and sheets of plastic, giving all of it that patch-work look our buildings in Aras had. Though this town was worse off but all normal towns and settlements were. The good thing about a block was that we got perks for paying taxes to Skyfall, the cat-subsidy alone paid for our Ratmeal, mostly since Greyson and Leo treated them like fluffy little kings and queens. So since Skyfall, when it came down to it, paid for our rats we had taxes from the residents left over to buy oil, gasoline, medical supplies, and the big machines we needed to clear roads or tear down the houses that collapsed in the occupied areas.

Mariano had no such luxury. Piled up beside what looked like a small shop was a collapsed house that looked like its exterior had been chewed on by radrats. There were also a lot of cars still on the roads; some with ramps going up and down them, which I guess was easier than trying to move them. Even the people here looked more starved and sunken in and most of them were carrying around bottles of swill that smelled like turpentine.

But they left us alone or they didn’t talk to us at least, everyone seemed to be watching us. Physically we didn’t stand out too much compared to the usual greywaster but I suppose since I was a dominant looking guy leading two cowering little blond boys... perhaps I stood out more than I thought I would.

The first thing we did was duck into one of the shops, a shitty looking shack with ‘Bill’s Place’ writing in green on a sun bleached board of wood. With Killian beside me and the mute kid trailing behind we entered the store.

It smelled like cigarettes and mould and was only lit by the winter sun coming in from the stained windows and a single bluelamp that had seen better days. I saw black flecks stuck inside the light, some of which had legs.

Bill wasn’t who I expected him to be; it was a younger chick with badly dyed hair, smoking a cigarette with a baby on her hip. I assumed that was either Bill’s wife or daughter or something.

She put the baby on top of a makeshift table that had a cash register resting on it and gave us all nods of recognition.

“Browsing? Or can I point you in the right direction?” she asked as she raised her cigarette in the air just as the baby raised a fat little pink hand to grab the ember. Kids are so stupid.

“Water purification tablets, goggles, warm blankets and jackets and...” I tried to think of anything else we might have on the list. “5.56mm ammo and .357 magnum.” I checked my cargo pants pocket and felt for my wallet. Elish had given me free rein over his cash supply and I had taken full advantage of that. I was glad I had, we weren’t supposed to have ventured away from Kreig so in all senses we didn’t need money... but I was a greywaster and I never turned down the opportunity for free cash.

The chick nodded and took a drag of her cigarette before she looked down and I saw that another little brat was grabbing onto her jeans. “Go get Uncle Pete and tell him to bring the ammo, we have customers.” She glanced up at me as the little boy ran past us and out the door. “We keep our ammo under lock and key, everything else we can help you with. How long are you in town for?”

“We’ll be leaving before the sun rises,” I replied, watching Killian and Chally out of the corner of my eye, Killian was taking intense interest in something and as I turned to see what it was I gave an internal eye-roll. It was a stack of bar soap.

Of course it was.

I decided to be the nice boyfriend I was, I reached over and grabbed a bar of the smelly soap and saw they had a few tubes of toothpaste and a toothbrush. I put it on the counter. “And this shit, I guess.”

Killian’s heartbeat jumped behind me but he kept quiet, which I gave him credit for. I might be getting lax on showing affection around my brothers but it was still not allowed in front of people we didn’t know.

A few minutes later after our supplies were sitting in a bag (Hopper’s goggles had pink frames which I thought was just great) an older man who I assumed was Uncle Pete came in with the little boy trailing behind.

“Well, don’t you look like a man not to fuck with.” Uncle Pete gave me a nod. He had a scraggly greasy beard and his breath smelled like a cat shit. “Where are you heading?”

I opened my mouth to tell him to piss off and stop asking questions when Killian cut in. “We’re just heading north, that’s all. Does Porchlight have any rooms open?”

Pete looked past me to the boy and shook his head. “No, Porchlight burned down last summer. You’ll be looking for Little Eight, it’s an actual hotel we finally were able to make safe. Just follow the main road until you see it.”

Killian nodded his thanks and I started sifting through the bag of ammo that he had brought with him. He had my M16 ammo and the Magnum ammo I needed, not a hell of a lot but it was all bonus anyways. This town trip was just a perk. I had packed enough ammo for me and Killian, and Elish had more than enough spare ammo for the AK 101’s the other two had.

“I want this, how much?” I asked laying out the worn-out cardboard boxes.

“Forty bucks for the ammo, fifty for the supplies.”

I snorted. Fuck that. “That’s not going to happen, that’s double what it was in...” I paused catching myself before I said Aras. “Tintown.” Well, that was the only thing I could come up with.

Uncle Pete crossed his arms, so I did too, burning holes into those beady little eyes of is. You would think with this toothpaste and shit he would use some to brush his fucking green teeth. “We’re far away from Tintown, my friend, and –”

“We’re not frien-”

“Ninety is fine,” Killian cut in. He put a hand on my shoulder and took my wallet. Funny enough he hadn’t burst into flames which I thought he would considering the fucking death glare I was giving him.

“I’m also selling a slave, not this one, the blond kid with the grey eyes.” I motioned behind me towards Chally who was standing as quiet as a mouse. “Put the word around, we will be at the bar this evening.”

Before they gave me an excuse to argue Killian paid him and I took my wallet back. Then with a forced exchange of farewell pleasantries we were off and on our way.

“You know arguing like that is going to make them remember us,” Killian hissed at me, dropping his voice low enough so only I could hear it.

“They’re ripping us off!” I hissed back, looking ahead to scout for the hotel. I thought I could see it in the distance.

“And? We’ll be gone tomorrow and it isn’t even our damn money! Elish literally has all the money in Skyfall.” Bah, I hated when he was right; it was more the principal of it though.

He continued, “We’re not... home, these aren’t our people. I know it goes against –”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” I said bitterly before muttering under my breath. “When I’m king I’m going to get back my forty bucks, mark my words.”

We checked into our hotel room without incident, the man there was cordial enough and he had a pretty face which I got glowered at when I pointed it out to my boyfriend. After having a couple cold water showers and an hour to rest our feet the three of us headed towards a bar we had walked past.

I sat down with a beer and a couple shots of whiskey and found a dark corner for the three of us to sit down in. This bar was even shittier than Melpin’s back in Aras, dimly lit with just bluelamps plugged into extension cords and LEDs. We had left the remote phone and the Ieon back in the hotel room getting charged, hidden under a radrat chewed mattress though there were two guards watching over the hallways which made me a bit more comfortable with this place.

Hell, maybe tonight I might actually get some sleep. I didn’t need a lot of sleep but I wasn’t a machine. Donnely had been a nice reminder of that.

I gave Chally a shot of whisky. “You ever drink before? Want me to get you a glass of milk?”

Chally gave me a look before he grabbed one of the pens Killian had on him and a scrap of paper Killian had stuffed in his pockets. My boyfriend laughed when he saw it.

Just because I can’t talk doesn’t mean I’m not a real greywaster. No talking doesn’t = soft idiot. I’m mute not stupid.

Really now? I gave the kid a look. “You’ve gotten bold.”

He started writing again.
No, I’ve gotten my collar off.

Killian laughed again but I just shook my head. It did make me think of the little asshole a bit differently though. I suppose when you had half a dozen metal prongs just itching to dig into your neck you behaved yourself. Not being able to talk would only add to that, if you don’t defend yourself against people’s insults people just assume you’re soft and easy to kick around.

I let the dog have his day and watched him take down the shot of whisky without so much of a mouth twitch. I ordered him another because it would be funny get him drunk then relaxed myself with an opiate cigarette.

I noticed a man looking at us; he had been here for about half an hour before he finally got up with his drink. He casually walked over and pulled up a chair.

I stared at him as he took a swig. “I heard you’re selling a young arian boy?”

Killian’s heartbeat jolted and so did Chally’s. I pointed to the kid. “That’s him. I want a hundred and fifty for him.”

The man with short blond hair and a square face looked Chally up and down. “What’s he good for? Can he suck cock good?”

I shrugged and as Killian withered in his seat I looked at the kid. “Well? Can you?”

Chally’s little owl eyes looked up at the man and nodded, before signing something to Killian.

“He says he can.” Killian’s voice was flat and edging on the tear-zone.

“What he can’t talk? Why the fuck are you charging so much for a retard?”

“You want him to make conversation or do you want him to be a good fuck? You don’t need to speak to lick cock, buddy.” I shot him a glare. “Are you interested or not?”

The guy reached out a hand and lifted up Chally’s chin, before moving it from one side to the other, then his fingers trailed and he drew the kid’s shirt down to glance at his pasty chest.

“Virgin?”

“He’s a slave, what the fuck do you think?”

The man’s mouth twitched from one side to another. “I want to try out the goods.”

No, you want a free fuck. “Fifty dollar non-refundable deposit if you’re actually serious. I’m a slaver not a pimp.”

The man narrowed his eyes at me but he didn’t have anything else to say. He dug into his pocket and slammed two twenties and a ten on the table.

I checked them out, the only currency of value here were Skyfall dollars, which were Canadian dollars but they had to be cycled through the Skyfall Mint first. So if you just found a stack of money in the greywastes you were shit out of luck, they had to be documented and stamped and only with that stamp did they actually become money again.

I checked out the bills and, sure enough, they had the dried leaf stamp that all Skyfall money had. I nodded and looked to Chally. “Well, he isn’t that ugly. Go do your job and you won’t get your throat cut in Melchai.”

Chally leaned over and took the whisky shot Killian still hadn’t touched. He downed it and got up.

Killian gave me a soul crushing look as Chally and the man disappeared out the door; I had my money though so I was just fine. I tucked the bills into my wallet and ordered another drink.

“What!?” I said when fifteen minutes had gone by and he was still on the verge of tears. “This is going better than you thought it would, right? He’s not being sold to some fat old man. Why are you so upset?”

Killian exhaled from his own opiate cigarette he had been smoking, we had been cutting down on the heroin and were now down to just inhaling pills and smoking Skyfall quils.

“I’m just going to miss him... you know if I hadn’t been sold to a factory that could have been me right? You wouldn’t want –”

I put up a hand. “Don’t start that shit with me, Massey. You’re manipulating me right now and I’ve given in enough to you. Chally won’t die, you can’t fucking expect me –”

“I am not manipulating you!” Killian sounded aghast but the writing was on the walls. I took a drink of my beer and ignored him, I was done with this conversation and his ways of trying to tug on what little empathy I had. My empathy was solely focused on Killian; it did not extend to mutes.

“Well?” Killian said, his temper getting short.

I looked at him. “I’m done talking and I dare you to keep poking me. Now just shut up, you’re giving me a headache.”