Fallocaust (The Fallocaust Series) (32 page)

“Unless you want me to pass out your share of the merchant’s shit to the poor and sick, I suggest you get your snippy ass in here.”
Well, he knew how to make me do something. I turned around and saw the great leader, leaning up against one of the old sheet iron sheds we had in the square. He was wearing a dark green, faded t-shirt and jeans with his own sawed off shotgun strapped to his back. He smiled at me, with a cigarette stuck between his teeth and a cowboy hat on his head. He knew he had gotten me with that remark.

Greyson nodded towards one of the shops and went inside. The square was surrounded by old shops, most two stories. We used a few of them for stores, bars and other facilities and others for storage or even homes. The building Greyson was ducking into was one of our storage areas that only the three of us used. We kept it locked rather tight, this is where we stored some of our personal supplies. The supplies Greyson and Leo kept for the entire block we stored in the vault of an abandoned bank. We even had a car in there, though it was too low to the ground for it to ever be of use in the greywastes.
“Killian, you get a share of this,” Greyson said as he led us through the dark, dimly lit hallway and into one of the back rooms. “Your share of the gas, we gave to Reno as thanks.”
We entered a windowless room, reinforced with metal beams and treated wood. White paint was peeling off of the walls in twisted ribbons. The room smelled like stale blood, I could see blood spots on the burlap sacks and metal chests. I felt the boy cringe beside me.

“Alright, the chest is food, the sacks are random merchandise. Reaver you can pick a few weapons out of the bunker for you and the kid when you have time.”
“We’re going to Reno’s right now,” I said looking through the thick sack, there were a few things I wouldn’t mind having. A bottle of soap, the kid would like that, and what looked like after shave, that might be interesting to try. I even spotted a few electronic things, I’d have to test them out to see if they worked later.
“Good, there is something else we need to talk about, Killian go wait outside,” Greyson said pointing towards the door.
“He can stay,” I said, giving him a glance. He was my boyfriend now, he was privy to information.

Though my boyfriend didn’t seem to agree. Killian gave me a uncomfortable look, he probably would have preferred to wait outside.
Greyson looked out the door behind us. “He’s not going to like it. Reaver, the merchants aren’t coming back until this blows over. The legionnaires are saying it was the Raven, we have Chive and Domnik heading to Anvil block to make a few announcements on the radio clearing Aras of harbouring the Raven aka you. I doubt this will get fixed by the time the rains come. We’re going to need supplies.”
“Reno and myself, no one else,” I said.
Greyson nodded like he had been expecting that. “Done,” he said and continued. “Medical supplies is what I need you to find.”
I wasn’t surprised, that would be the most difficult thing to find, all of the obvious and easily accessible places had been picked clean already. King Silas had vast medical advances thanks to Skytech but for the most part he kept them isolated to Skyfall and his labs. Dek’ko rarely brought any to Aras, and anything we found in Anvil or the other blocks were expensive as fuck. So we scavenged the abandoned cities for our medicine, we always needed it.

Everything else we could locate. Meat was easy in that respect, we knew were the ravers and radanimals could be found, and in times of shortages we cut out the ration cards anyways. Fuel was expensive but obtainable, we just needed to make a trip to Anvil or Tintown. Medical supplies though, you actually had to scavenge, it was too expensive to buy from the merchants or the shops. It was pretty much every man, or block, for themselves.
Reno and I have done a good share of scavenging missions, he and the leaders were the only men I trusted to take along.

Though there was another guy I had taken once. I didn’t care for him. Let’s just say we didn’t agree well when it came to our mutual friend Reno. I ended up leaving his tortured corpse as bait for some ravers. I wasn’t asked to bring anyone else after that.

“I’ll talk to Reno about it tonight,” I nodded. I opened the door and started to walk back to the square. “I’ll grab the stuff when we come back. We’ll probably be spending the night.”
“I’ll pick the kid up when he’s had enough of you two,” Greyson said with a laugh. We walked back into the square and started towards the north gate.
Killian was silent, which surprised me, I was sure he would have something to say about my new scavenging mission. He just looked ahead though, maybe he was nervous about going to Reno’s.

“Are you going to be okay?” I asked, I got out my M16 and slung it over my shoulder. The boy nodded, I saw as he brushed his hand over where his handgun was.
It was a few hours into the afternoon, so we still had several hours of daylight left. The greywastes were dangerous, but if you had a gun in the middle of the day, and were basically rubbing up against the deacons in their wall pens; chances are you would be fine. I had walked to Reno’s probably thousands of times now, and I’ve stumbled there and back drunk as fuck many times also when I was younger. Not the smartest thing and I did get flak for it, but the point of it was, it was safe.
Reno’s house especially. It was a small concrete and wood one bedroom house with a loft in it. It was nestled in a mined quarry and was surrounded by large sharp rocks. We had made rough trails leading to several watch stations over the years and carved out some pretty nice lookout points. You could see everything from the top of those sharp cliffs.

Jess let us through the gate and I started slowing my walk a bit so Killian could keep up with me. He still seemed uneasy but not as much as he was last night. I was sure he would be fine. The damn deacons were right beside us.

I looked over at the ugly beasts. I could see them watching me from their concrete shelters. Their dark patchy skin, bare and covered in scabs, rippled with their muscle movements. They were calm, but their milky eyes never left us as we headed towards the large rocks that hid the trail to the cabin.

“They never growl at us,” Killian said silently looking through the chain link fence. As we walked I absentmindedly checked it for any signs of tears or weaknesses. Though we were more concerned with them getting into Aras, it was still annoying when they broke free and ran off.

“They know us, they know our smell,” I said. Or that’s what I assumed it was, the moment a merchant, or a legionnaire’s scent came into the air, they went wild. Snapping, snarling, intimidating anyone who approached. They hated outsiders almost as much as the block did.

The trail led away from the chain fence and disappeared into the grey rocky hills that opened up to the west. I put my gun back into its holder and started to climb. “Pay attention to where I step, the trail is a few feet up,” I said. “And watch how I climb, you need to learn to do this quietly.”

I lifted myself onto a cliff edge and helped him to his feet. Before taking us both up the rocky, narrow trail that led to the quarry. I laid my foot down toe first, watching for any loose rocks or dry bushes. I could hear Killian clumsily try to mimic my movements, he was noisy compared to me, but not terrible. His small frame and body made him predisposed to being stealthy, eventually he would move like a shadow under my training.

“Bad, right?” Killian panted after a few minutes of navigating the rough trail, he rested his hands on his knees. We were almost there but he was out of breath. He leaned up against a slab of rock and wiped his forehead.
“No, you’re small and agile, you can do this naturally,” I said. I got out a bottle of water from the canvas bag I had swung on my back and handed it to him. “You are naturally quick, and quiet, you have the body for it. You’re tiny.”
The boy frowned.
“There isn’t anything wrong with being small boned and agile, everyone can learn to use a gun, no one can learn to be stealthy and quick. Play to your strengths.”
“Well you’re agile, and quick, and you can use a gun and you’re strong.”
I smirked, well I hate to brag but I was pretty great. 
“I guess you’re lucky to have me around then, huh?”
That earned me a scowl. He was useless now, and he knew it, but he would learn.
“When you get better, we can take some harder but shorter trails up to Reno’s.” The usual way I came only took several minutes but it involved climbing up two shelves of rock like you were scaling the inside of a chimney. “I have some short cuts I use, but you would break your neck if you tried right now.”
“I’ll learn quickly. I used to climb trees all the time back home,” Killian replied. He tried to pat the ash like dust away from his knees, when he was satisfied we started walking back towards the quarry.
“They said back home that the ash of the greywastes is the ground up bones of the dead,” Killian said, he held up his grey dirt streaked hands and blew on them. A puff of dust blew from his breath. “That’s why it’s so hard to grow things here.”
“The world is poisoned, that’s why.” I shrugged, rubbing my nose as the loose dust started to creep up the insides.“Nothing good grows in poison.”
We crossed over a small wooden bridge and Reno’s shack came into view.
It was encompassed almost entirely in rock cliffs twenty feet high. Anyone trying to jump down would have a broken neck for their trouble. There were several trails leading up the rock face, most hidden unless you knew what to look for. The trails led into narrow gaps in the rocks which spread up the hills to his sentry positions.

The house its self had been owned by his father and his father before him. It had once been a house in Aras that they had literally torn down and rebuild. It was a small home, reinforced with concrete now to keep out the elements and any potential attacks. It was almost as impenetrable as my home. It had been a project for myself and Reno to fortify our houses together, it had taken us years to make them to our standards. Kept us out of trouble too. We even hauled two large water barrels up on the cliffs, with two thick plastic hoses running down to the tap in his house. It was only good while the rains were here since the water became stagnant after but that water was used for the plants he grew.
We walked up to the porch, there was twisted metal and junk piled up on the dry sun bleached wood. Broken down TVs we hadn’t fixed yet, car parts, power tools, small engines and radios. Small things we both wanted to repair but hadn’t gotten around to it. All the bigger stuff we usually stashed in the upper part of my house, it was easier than pulling it up the hill side to get it here.

As I stepped onto the porch, I heard his generator turn on, it was stashed in an almost sound proof shed on the other side of one of the cliffs. It was inaudible from the trail and the road. That project had taken a fuck load of styrofoam.
“Hey, he actually came! Hey Tinkerbell, how’s your head?”
Oh boy, this was going to be a long night. Maybe he should’ve stayed home.
“I don’t hear a high pitch buzzing anymore,” Killian said politely, he stuffed his hands inside his jeans pocket. “You have a really nice place.”
I watched as Reno paused, the sly smile on his face held faint tones of confusion. He was used to dealing with me, I think Killian’s politeness threw him off.
My dark haired friend scowled and gave the boy a skeptical look, then he shot me one. “How many times have you made him cry so far?”
I glanced over at Killian who was looking around a bit out of place and uncomfortable. “Lots,” I said flatly. Reno laughed and started walking towards his living room.

His living room was covered in warped wooden paneling that masked the cracked concrete. He had posters and pictures hung up, old music bands mostly and a few scantily clad guys I gave him for a laugh.

On the floor he had a dusty area rug and a torn floral couch he had covered with a thin blanket. Beside the couch was a two seater green couch and in the center a wooden table with the stain peeling off. In front of all this, the most important thing, a large TV and a Nintendo hooked up to it, he also had a VCR. He was in the middle of repairing his, so I had let him borrow mine. He needed it more than I did though, he liked watching porn. That wasn’t really high on my list so I let him borrow mine. It kept his hands from wandering when we got wasted together.

I gave a happy sigh as I saw Reno had already laid out a pile of painkiller powder on his coffee table. I sat down and put my boot up on the corner of the table.
“Fetch me root beer.” I waved at him, I motioned for Killian to sit too.
He gave me an uncomfortable pleading look and sat down very lightly beside me. He was stiff and upright, his hands folded on his lap. He looked forward.
“Do drugs, it will relax you,” I urged, I flicked the sniffer over to him.

The boy winced a bit, he tensed his fingers against his dusty jeans. “No thanks.”
I rolled my eyes, I picked up the sniffer and gave it to him. “Do it, or you’ll bring everyone down and we’ll all resent you for it,” I said with a joking smile.
“Oh my god, you’re so mean to him.” I heard Reno gasp behind me. I cringed as he pressed a cold bottle up against the un-bandaged part of my neck.  I grabbed it from him and cracked it open.
He handed one to Killian. “Don’t listen to him, Tink. Don’t let him push you to a life of drugs, that’s how he gets you sucked in. I was a sober, law abiding citizen before Reaver got me hooked. Speaking of which, Reaver where are my fucking drugs?”

“In the sack, bring it on over, I have some good stuff for us in there.” I gave Killian a smile. I went to take the straw sniffer from him but he held onto it.
“No, you’re right. I’ll do some. Just-” He looked around, biting down on his bottom lip. “Would you still be able to kill people high? What if they come?”
“I’m probably better,” I said with a shrug. I watched as he did a couple lines of the grey powder and wiped his nose.
“Lookit that, he’s a natural,” Reno complimented, he sat down beside me, so I was sandwiched in-between them. Reno clicked on the remote.

We passed the straw around, each doing a good amount of powder. As it kicked in I checked to make sure Reno’s door was barred shut, just for the kid to feel better. Reno’s place felt safe to me, we had never had a problem in all the years since he had taken over this cabin.