The Razor's Edge: A Postapocalytic Novel (The New World Book 6) (7 page)

More screams echoed from the valley below.

Lexi scanned the expansive rolling valley but saw no one. The golden grasses swayed in the crisp wind but not a soul was in sight.

“Help!” a woman screamed.

Lexi pivoted to her right and looked.

A woman emerged over a small hill. She was running full speed; her T-shirt was smeared with what appeared to be blood.

Two men then popped over the hill.

The woman was clearly fleeing, and Lexi was in the right place at the right time. She dropped the binoculars, shouldered her rifle, laid her cheek on the stock, took a deep breath, and looked through her scope.

A gunshot rang out, but it wasn’t Lexi.

In the time it took Lexi to bring her weapon to bear, one of the men had shot the girl.

Lexi looked to find the girl but she was gone, most likely lying wounded or, worse, dead in the tall grasses.

The men were still there though, and Lexi meant to change that. She placed her sight on one of them, flipped the safety off and began to apply pressure to the trigger when a man hollered.

“Stephanie!”

Lexi looked and saw another man appear over the hill. He was running at a breakneck speed towards the others. He didn’t appear to have any weapons, but he was determined to save the woman.

The man who had shot the girl turned and raised his pistol.

Seeing this, Lexi quickly squeezed off a round. The .308 exploded from the heavy barrel and in an instant slammed into the buttocks of the man holding the pistol. The round easily passed through and exited at the top of his thigh.

The man grunted in pain, dropped the pistol and fell to his knees.

“Stephanie!” the new man again cried.

Lexi grumbled at the bad shot and adjusted her aim. She again began to apply pressure but stopped when the new man reached his first target.

The wounded man raised his hand defensively, but it wasn’t enough to stop the other’s onslaught. He began to rain down one punch after another.

When he had stopped, Lexi counted that he had landed twenty-four punches. Distracted by watching the spectacle, Lexi didn’t see the second man appear and jump the guy. The two scuffled and rolled on the ground. The tall grasses obscured Lexi’s view.

The second man rose, his back towards Lexi.

Lexi saw an opportunity to help and again began squeezing the trigger.

The second man turned and brought into clear view for Lexi the fatal wound he bore. His arms were wrapped around his bloodied lower abdomen in an attempt to hold in his guts.

The other man stood up, his clothes, face and arms covered in blood. In his right hand he held a long knife. He took two steps to clear the distance between him and the other man, placed the blade against his throat and slid it across.

The second man reached for his throat, which only complicated his situation as some of his lower intestines burst out of his gut. With his throat slit, he was seconds from death.

The third man shoved the other out of his way and cried out, “Stephanie!”

A bloody arm slowly grew from the grasses twenty feet in front of him.

Lexi was in awe at what she had just witnessed. She lowered the rifle and picked up her binoculars to get a closer look.

Seeing the woman’s arm, the third man ran towards her but fell down before getting there.

Lexi wondered if he had tripped or was wounded.

He got back to his feet, took several steps and paused to bend over.

It looked like he was wounded.

The woman’s arm dropped out of sight.

Beau whimpered.

“How do I know they’re not going to hurt me?” Lexi asked, answering Beau’s whimper as if it were a question.

The man continued towards the woman but stopped once again. This time he fell to his knees.

Beau whimpered again.

Lexi looked at Beau and said, “You go.”

Beau cocked his head.

“Fine, I’ll go, I’ll go,” she relented. She stood, slung her rifle and hurried down the hill. When she found the woman, she could tell she was dead. Her eyes already had a grayish haze as they stared out into nothing.

Out of the rustling grass the man appeared; he was crawling now. “Stephanie,” he weakly moaned.

Lexi stood and took a step back.

He never lifted his head to look at Lexi; he crawled on top of Stephanie and frantically ran his hands over her. “Stephanie, no, please no. Wake up, please, wake up.”

The tragic scene made Lexi feel uncomfortable.

The man began to weep when he realized Stephanie was dead.

All Lexi wanted to do now was leave. She interfered when needed but her mission was complete. The bad guys were dead, so therefore it was time to go. She took several more steps backwards.

The man lifted his head and said, “Kill me.”

“Huh?”

“Please, I don’t want to live anymore.”

“No,” Lexi declared.

The man remembered he had the knife. He pulled it from his pocket and put it to his wrist.

Mesmerized, Lexi just stood and watched. A thought came to her to stop him but she long ago stopped anyone from harming themselves. It was their life; if they wanted to end it, so be it.

Seconds went by, but the man just held the knife in his shaking hand over his wrist. Agitated with his lack of courage, he again begged for Lexi to kill him. “Please, just kill me.”

“No, I don’t kill innocent people.”

“Ha, if you only knew, I’m not so innocent.” The man laughed.

“That may be true, but killing you doesn’t fit into my code.”

The man looked back at Lexi and asked, “You have a code? What the fuck does that mean?”

“I’m going to leave now,” Lexi said and turned around.

“It’ll be a mercy killing. I’m wounded pretty bad, so I’m dying anyway. You’d just be helping me get it over with.”

“I told you I don’t do that,” she replied as she kept walking.

“If you’re not going to help with that, can you spare a drink, whiskey, something?”

Lexi stopped, looked back at him and answered, “I don’t drink either, sorry.”

“I’ve seen it all now.” The man laughed.

“What does that mean?”

“Oh, nothing, but I have one more request.”

“I’m done, take care,” Lexi said and resumed her march back to her camp. With all the shooting and screaming, Lexi feared others would soon be coming, and the last thing she needed was to be out in the open.

“If you have a shovel, I’d like to bury her. It’s the right thing to do,” the man said.

Lexi ignored his last request and kept walking.

“Not even a shovel?” the man hollered. “You’re a real good Samaritan.”

The man mocked Lexi as she kept walking, but she disregarded his comments until she no longer heard them.

When she arrived back at the campsite, she knew she couldn’t stay. She was too close to that scene to call this home any longer. So with haste she began to break camp. As she loaded her pack, she came upon an entrenching tool and paused.
What would it hurt for him to bury the woman?
she thought. But no sooner a competing thought challenged that.
Does it matter? He’s probably dead already.
She put the e-tool aside and continued to load, but the original thought kept plaguing her. Annoyed that she couldn’t clear her thoughts, she made herself a deal: if he was still alive, then she’d help him; if she found him dead, she’d let the dead lie where they fell.

She grabbed the e-tool and her rifle and rushed off.

Stopping at the tree line, she scanned the area first just to be safe. With it all clear she made her way to him.

He was exactly where she had left him, but his back was towards her.

Cautiously she approached.

“Please tell me you changed your mind,” the man said.

Lexi stepped around until she faced him. “Here,” she said, handing him the e-tool.

He reached up and took it. “Thanks.”

Seeing his poor condition, she said, “I can help.”

“Now you’re being nice?” he joked.

His entire shirt was soaked with blood and his face was ashen.

“You’re going to die,” Lexi flatly said.

“Thanks for the four-one-one,” he said as he unfolded the e-tool. He got to his knees and with a big swing plunged the shovel head into the hard ground, barely making an impact. He swung two more times without more effect. “The ground is frozen.”

“It’s not technically frozen, but yes, digging a hole will be difficult,” Lexi said.

“You’re just full of tips, aren’t you?” he said, coughing.

“There’s plenty of large rocks; let’s gather them and bury her that way,” Lexi suggested.

The man tossed the e-tool aside and said, “Good idea.” He got to his feet and went to take a step but vertigo overcame him. He looked at Lexi and mumbled, “I…um.” He fell to the ground hard.

Lexi checked his pulse and found he was alive. She looked around then checked her watch to see it was almost noon. She thought about leaving him, but couldn’t. “Look at the mess you’ve gotten yourself into, Lexi,” she cursed.

Sandy, Utah

Pablo peeked inside the tent where the prisoners were being held to find they were gone. The only thing that remained was their blood, remnants to prove they even existed. On the table his tools of torture still sat as he'd left them.

A soldier walked by unaware of who he was.

“Where’s General Luis?” Pablo asked.

“He’s gone.”

“Where?”

“He took a small detachment and left this morning,” the soldier answered.

“Who’s in charge?”

“Who are you?” the soldier asked.

Pablo got in the soldier’s face and replied, “I’m your emperor.”

The expression on the man’s face went from disdain to fear. He dropped to one knee and said, “Forgive me, Emperor.”

“Who’s in charge?”

“Colonel Reyes.”

“Where is he?”

“He should be in the command tent, sir.”

Pablo pushed past the soldier and headed for the command tent. He hated being left in the dark. Why hadn’t Luis told him he was going out?

Just as Pablo reached the command tent, Reyes was exiting.

“Colonel Reyes,” Pablo said, now recognizing him. He might have had twenty words with this officer before.

“My emperor,” Reyes said, shocked to see Pablo.

“Where is General Luis?”

“Sir, he took a detachment out this morning.”

“I know that,” Pablo said angrily. “Where?”

“He had new intel from the interrogations and needed to act immediately.”

“Why didn’t he inform me?”

“I was under the impression he had, sir.”

“No one called,” Pablo barked in his raspy voice.

“Sir, I distinctly remember he tried to call you twice,” Reyes said.

Pablo struck Reyes with an open palm. “No one called.”

Dismayed, Reyes simply replied, “Yes, sir.”

“Did he say where?”

“A Mormon church south of here in the town of Drake,” Reyes answered.

“Why?” Pablo asked grabbing Reyes.

“Sir, those Americans told us there was a large cache of food and other supplies.”

“Nothing else?”

“No, sir. Nothing else, they don’t know about the other thing.”

“Are you lying?”

“No, sir,” Reyes replied, shocked he was being accused of such a thing.

“Hector, come in. Over,”
Annaliese said over the handheld.

Pablo released Reyes, keyed his radio and said, “Yes.”

“Where are you?”

“Camp,” he replied.

“When you’re done, we could use you in the hospital.”

“Okay,” Pablo replied and put the radio back in his pocket.

Reyes looked strangely at Pablo. He was clearly a man living in two worlds.

“When General Luis returns, have him call me this time,” Pablo ordered.

“Yes, sir.”

Pablo walked away. He reached into his open coat and retrieved the satellite phone Luis had given him. He pressed a button, but the screen didn’t turn on. He tried several more times. He hit the power button but nothing. He then remembered he had forgotten to charge it. The phone was dead.

Memory loss had plagued him since the crash, but over the past few weeks, it had been getting worse. He climbed back in the Ranger and sped off towards the hospital and his alternate life.

Banff, Alberta, Western Canada

Gordon imagined on the flight that he and Cruz would be imprisoned in some sort of cell or dingy room, but Jacques showed a level of decorum by housing them in a luxury room at the Fairmont Banff Springs, a once five-star hotel resort that had serviced the wealthy tourists who came to experience the best in outdoor recreation. Upon waking, Gordon had searched the room for anything that would tell him his location. The desk proved valuable, as he found promotional material for the resort, an old room service menu, and list of recreational events and activities.