Fallocaust (The Fallocaust Series) (113 page)

Leo lifted the kerchief off of his face as he heard another noise. He looked over and wrinkled his nose as he saw a yellow stream arch over the end of the cart.

“Can’t you get off and do that? We’re going two miles an hour, and you could use the exercise.” Leo put the kerchief back over his face to try and catch another nap, but Doc pulled it back off.

“No, you can deal with me pissing and like it.” His friend for the past twenty years said. They had hit it off a few days after he had arrived in Aras and had been close every since. “It’s pouring down rain anyways, I want to keep dry.”

Leo sat up and wiped his face with the kerchief. He moved further back into the cart as the rain started to fall heavier. “We left this off for too long,” he sighed. “Or I did anyways.”

Doc reached into his front pocket and withdrew a worn tin, he popped it open and pulled out a cigarette; offering one to Leo. “This wouldn’t be the first time we left things to the last minute.”

Leo took the smoke and craned forward for Doc to light it, he took a long inhale and turned his attention to the dreary grey in front of him. Temporarily hidden by smoke as he blew the vapor from his mouth.

One would think it was impossible for the greywastes to look even more gloomy, but once the rains came everything turned into darkened shades of grey. At least normally there were light shades of grey, sometimes even a throwback of canyon red here or there. Now it was just well... damp, depressing and just dismal.

Leo looked forward to getting to Anvil, though not because he was itching to haggle with half drunk merchants and shady wholesale dealers. It was because he could finally get out of Aras for a couple weeks and just... unwind.  Let lose and be Leo for a few days, not the mayor of Aras. No husband to worry about, or half feral chimera sons, or manic depressive blond kids. No secrets to keep, no lies to fabricate. Nope. Just Leo and his best friend.

He needed it... oh did he ever need it.

If Leo did drugs he would be loading up on them, but besides the line here or there when he was stressed out, he stuck to drinking and pot. Greyson was more into those things, which had bled onto the child they had been attempting to raise. Leo had tried to set a good example to show Reaver he didn’t need drugs to deal with the day to day realities of post apocalyptic life, it hadn’t gone as well as he would’ve liked.

In Anvil though, he was going to let lose, he deserved it. The past couple of months had done a number on the mayor. Greyson strangling Reaver had hit him hard, and though they were back together now it didn’t stem the weight on his shoulders over the incident. He had had too many sleepless nights wondering if he could go back to him after that.

In the end it had never been a choice though, like how Reaver would always go back to Killian and vise versa, he would always return to his husband.

Reaver was safe, Reaver was happy... all of this boiled down to that. The last straw on Greyson’s back was returning from Donnely and seeing what Reaver had done. He then realized their son wouldn’t be the savior he had always wanted him to become. That he was better off just being the man he had grown to be. He had his bad points, yes, but he was still young.

In a way it had been the best thing to happen to them, it had finally opened Greyson’s eyes. That nurture would never outweigh the nature he had been born with.

Never.

“Do you remember when I brought him to you the first time?” Leo gave out a dry chuckle, dashing his cigarette over the edge of the caravan. It was raining heavily now, drowning out the sounds of the bosen and the mercenaries talking in low voices.

Doc laughed, a plume of cigarette smoke bursting from his lips. “You mean the little peanut that grew up to be the terror of the greywastes? I remember.”

Leo smiled, deep in reminiscing. “He was such a cute little baby, never cried, always alert and looking around. He was focusing his eyes before he was even born.”

“Really?” Doc said, he sounded fascinated.

Leo nodded, he shifted his body away from a small hole in the dirty blue canvas tarp they had propped up over the back. “He could recognise faces too. Oh did he ever hate Greyson, he liked me though. He always liked me.” Leo snorted. “What happened?”

“He grew up,” Doc laughed, sucking in the cigarette smoke. “It happens to all of them, whether they’re normal kids or Reaver. My girls scream bloody murder at me every night over something or other.”

“Girls... girls would have been easier,” Leo sighed.

Doc laughed a long deliberately drawn out laugh. Doc had two daughters, a wife and a mother living with him. He had probably had enough of living with women and dealing with teenage daughters, probably why he was so keen on leaving Aras for a few weeks.

“I would have taken a son who didn’t get so much pleasure out of watching people suffer,” Leo shrugged. “But I guess considering everything he could be, he’s turned out well.”
They finished off their cigarettes and spent the next several hours staring off into the colourless greywaste, the mercenaries on either side with their assault rifles holstered and ready. Each cloaked in a long duster and a cowboy hat, heads lowered but always ready for anything that might spring on them.

Past the mercenaries were the other caravans, three more in total. All empty now, but by the time they made their way back to Aras they would be full and brimming with supplies. Any merc who wanted to give them extra protection would be welcome to spend the winter in Aras. They always picked up at least half a dozen guard that way.

That night they made camp in an auto shop. A sorry sight of a building but one that they had been using for shelter since Leo had come to Aras. It was half rotten and it always stank of piss, but the roof was good and most importantly it was dry.

One of the mercenaries, Sharpie was his name, had even brought along his harmonica though unfortunately that didn’t mean he could play it. It was a lot better then listening to the rain though, so that night they all sat around their small campfire listening to the music, drinking stout and reminiscing about the good old days. No matter what period of time, no matter what generation there were always good ol days. Days that painted the greywastes in rainbows, where the grass was green and the croaches just a bit smaller. All of it lies of course, but it warmed him on the inside. Though that might’ve just been the stoat.

No matter all the bad things about it, Leo loved the greywastes. Even if your life might not be as long, at least you were free to enjoy it. The only people he missed sometimes were the brothers he was close to. Garrett and Elish mostly, the brothers who had helped train him.

The next morning they broke camp quickly and were back on the road before day even broke. It would be a long caravan ride today. If they wanted to avoid the canyons, it was a sharp turn south, almost edging where Reaver and his new friend had killed all of those ravers, a day or so back. Too bad Greyson had cleared out the area, he wouldn’t have minded seeking out what gems those two knuckleheads might’ve missed. He had been wanting to try and locate some wine glasses. He had thrown all of them at his husband’s face the day he strangled their son. He had been drinking Tulley Reserve from a coffee mug for weeks now.

Leo heard a flick. They were both back in the caravan now, the blue tarp sheltering them from the worst of the rainy season.

The mayor glanced over and saw Doc hunched over in the corner of the cart. A cigarette dangling from his lips as the lighter sparked and flickered trying to hold a flame. Even though it was dry inside, the lighter was protesting.

Leo eyed him curiously. “Another one? I’ve never known you to be much of a smoker.”

Cocaine was this doctor’s drug of choice, which Greyson had allowed him to do on the bounds that he stopped during delicate procedures. Doc said he like the energy it gave him, and it helped him perform better. Which may as well of been the case but it still wasn’t wise mixing such a neurotic drug while practising medicine, but well this was the greywastes it wasn’t the fucking 90’s.

“The coke is giving me the shakes, it doesn’t do what I like when I’m sitting on my ass in the back of a cart all day.” Doc’s brown eyes glanced to him, then back to the wasteland. The same wet ground and rocky hills passed them. Though in the distance he could see the shelled remains of a small town; it looked like almost all the buildings had at least partially collapsed. “We’re about half way to Anvil now, aren’t we?”
Leo nodded, he took another cigarette even though he didn’t really feel like one. More of a conversation starter then anything. “Two nights gone now.”

“Day three,” Doc whispered. The doctor slicked back his grey speckled brown hair, and dashed the cigarette, not saying another word. He stared out of the back of the cart almost wistfully, though his hands were trembling. He probably had dipped into the coke earlier, it always gave him the shakes.

“Sharpie...” A voice suddenly called, not two feet from the tarped caravan. Leo peeked out and saw the cloaked merc shouting to his friend. His eye caught Leo. “Just a vehicle, stay inside the tarp.”

Leo’s heart jumped, he looked around in apprehension. Sure enough he could hear a motor off in the distance; several actually.

“There’s people coming...?” Leo said his voice full of dread, he got up to stand when he felt a hand grab his.

Leo looked back at Doc, the expression on his face was... fear? No...

It was guilt.

“Stay down, Leo. I don’t want them to shoot you too.”

“What?” Leo said in alarm. “Shoot me..? Too?”

Suddenly there was gun shots, Leo hit the bottom of the caravan and so did Doc.

He could hear popping above him, he looked up to see the blue canvas tear into pieces, revealing the steely grey sky above them. It fell on both of them, cloaking his world in blue before something ripped it away.

Leo felt hands on him, rough hands, they pulled him violently off of the cart and onto the wet ground. He groaned and tried to rise, but felt a hard kick to his stomach.

He could hear commotion all around him. A flurry of voices, some panicked, some commanding and fierce; and gun shots... lots of gun shots. He covered his ears to deafen the rings as it rattled every part of him.

People were dying... everyone was dying. Leo closed his eyes, waiting for the gun shot that would throw him into darkness. His hands pressing up against his ears so hard it felt like his head was in a clamp. His mind shot in all directions, frantically trying to figure out just what was going on. Why was this happening? They hadn’t told anyone they were leaving, no one.

A shot landed beside Leo, spraying him with damp dirt. He coughed and tried to look around for a place to crawl to.

Who would I think of before I died? Why does my mind always go to such stupid places when I’m seconds away from being killed.

Leo jumped as the head mercenary fell down dead beside him. His blank eyes staring off into oblivion, a trail of foamy red dribbling down his bearded face. Behind him he could see legion garbed men finishing off the last of their guard. They fell like rats, one after the other.

Then his eyes then fell to the cart, he could see Doc looking at him from behind the wooden barriers of the caravan. His dark eyes were wide from shock, his rain washed hand gripping the barriers like his life depended on it. The look on the doctor’s face told him he didn’t even believe what was happening. Everything seemed surreal, just a dream.

“Raise him,” a young authoritative voice commanded.

Leo kept staring at his friend, his eyes never left him as someone pulled him to his feet and started dragging him away from the cart. He looked around at the death and dying around him. His guard, his protection, all riddled with bullet holes, glassy eyes staring off from where they had fallen. Blood mixing in with the dreary dark grey, washing away already in the sprinkling rain.

How long would it take for Reaver to find this place? To figure out what happened? Would he be the one to tell Greyson I was gone?

There was another punch to his gut, he keeled over and gasped as the wind got knocked out of him.

“What is the meaning of this?” Leo yelled, but none of the soldiers would talk to him.

He felt his hands get pulled tightly behind his back, with such a ruthless force he could feel his muscles spasm. As they made him march away from the caravan party he could see more of the legion vehicles on the ridge below them. Parked in a messy circle, surrounded by tire tracks and disturbed ground, bright compared to the darkened wet soil. They had fallen right into an ambush.

The soldiers cloaked in their black and blue pushed him forward, towards a large circle of legion quads. The cougar chimera on their combat armor snarling in declaration to the wonders of their king. They were talking excitedly to each other, they were happy their mission succeeded. They had captured me.

But why? Surely they didn’t want...

No, there was no way they could have found him. I had been so careful.

“Tell me what you fucks want!” Leo demanded. “Donny? Donny? What the hell did you do?” He screamed, he tried to look behind him but one of the legionary wrenched his head back so he was facing forward.

“Where are you taking me?” He demanded, he tried to drag his feet but their pace was so quick his brain automatically kept walking. “Doc? DOC? Do they know? DO THEY KNOW?”

“I’m sorry Leo, he has my family.”

Leo swore, swallowing the thorns and glass that had seemed to lodge in his throat. The panic was bubbling to the surface, he was bordering on losing himself, losing his mind.

Did they know, did they know?

No they couldn’t know, they had no way of knowing... he was safe. He had taken every precaution possible. They had been too careful.

Greyson... I need you
. Leo swallowed. His husband was miles away, days away. It was just him now.

“Make sure he’s secure, Nero’s already on his way.” One of them said as they pushed him into their only truck.
“Nero did this?” Leo said faintly. Anyone but that fucking lunatic...