Deadlocked 7 (7 page)

“Who are these people?” asked Annie as she slipped on her boots.

“Raiders. They found the trader camp and wiped them out. They’ve been here pretending to be traders and murdering whoever came near.”

“So we’re going to kill them, right?” asked Annie.

“First we’re going to find Kim, then we’ll figure out our next move. Come on, we need to hurry.”

“Do you know where they took her?”

“I’ve got a guess,” said Arthur, although he hoped he was wrong.

They left the tent and Arthur moved fast to the body of the man with The Bleeder stuck in his temple. He set his foot against the man’s head and jerked the blade free. Then he stabbed The Bleeder into the snow a few times before wiping it clean.

The storm was getting worse, but the snow couldn’t collect in the hot blood that was leaking from the man at Arthur’s feet. The steaming pool was illuminated in the moonlight as the snowflakes melted within it.

“Where are we going?” Annie whispered as she stood beside Arthur.

He pointed The Bleeder out towards a trailer that was parked away from the fenced yard where the tents were located. “I bet she’s in there.”

“Why do you say that?” asked Annie.

“That’s the Fuck Truck.” He used the slang term for the prostitute trailer.

Arthur knew that Annie understood why they needed to hurry. It was an unsavory truth of the post apocalypse that sex was a valuable commodity. Despite how the traders tried to appear wholesome, they all practiced the world’s oldest profession. Every trader caravan Arthur had ever encountered had a trailer or camper that was meant for sex, usually outfitted with multiple beds and partitions. Whores were kept for travelers looking for company and willing to trade for it. Sex slavery was something that the Rollers tried their best to fight against, but sometimes it seemed more pervasive than the zombies that plagued the world.

“Do you think…” Annie started to ask, but Arthur interrupted her.

“Let’s go.”

He was worried about lookouts, but hoped the two boys that were supposed to murder him had also been tasked with keeping watch. Arthur paid close attention to the footprints in the snow and pointed out a set of two that branched away from the fence
’s gate. The prints headed off in the direction of the prostitute trailer.

The trailer was hitched to a semi, and there was a door on the side with a list of rules painted
next to it. Arthur and Annie followed the tracks to a stepstool that was set beside the truck’s door. He glanced at the rules:

1)
     
No screaming.

2)
    
No blood.

3)
     
No kids.

It was a common set of rules seen
on these types of trailers. The underground market had come to refer to the Fuck Trucks by the number of rules they had printed by the door. This one would be called a Three, because it had three rules. More deviant patrons would search for caravans that had a Two, One, or even a Zero Fuck Truck in tow.

Arthur tried the door, but found it locked. He mouthed a curse and then pointed at the back of the truck. He motioned for Annie to stand guard
at the door while he went to the back to try and get in from there. She nodded and kept her gun ready while Arthur hurried away.

The storm was getting worse by the second. Even the wind had started to pick up, driving blast after blast of bitter
air into Arthur’s face. He ignored it as best he could and got to the back of the truck. It was closed, but not padlocked. He knew that lifting the lock would alert anyone inside that he was coming in, but he had no other choice. With his pistol at his side, he jerked the lever up to release the door and then swung it open.

It was set up as most of the prostitute trailers were, with a thin hall on one side and a line of beds, each separated by a fabric wall, on the other. Curtains were used for doors, suspended on a metal rod with brass rings. The trailer stank of sweat, metal, and mold.

“Who the fuck?” asked Jack from somewhere within. “Mac?”

Arthur
climbed into the truck. He could tell that Jack was nearby and he heard someone rustling and moaning. He put his gun away in favor of his blade, not just for a silent kill, but also for a painful one.

He slid
open the curtain in front of the first room, but Jack wasn’t inside. Instead he saw a young girl, not much older than Annie, bound by chains to the side of the truck. She had red hair that had been shorn nearly to her scalp. She was nude except for a studded leather belt tied around her waist. Her ribs protruded from her emaciated body. There was a ball gag in her mouth, tied in place by a white cord that was discolored by blood. Her lips bore a fresh wound, and at first Arthur thought someone had stitched the gag in place. Then he realized that someone had tattooed stitches over her lips as a cruel joke.

She was alive, and awake, but her eyes were filled with sorrow. When she saw Arthur, she didn’t recognize that he wasn’t there to rape her. The girl looked at him, and then hung her head.

“Who’s there?” asked Jack from the next room over. The curtain slid to the side and the burly man walked out. “How the hell?”

Arthur hit Jack with the hilt of his blade, causing the big man to stagger back. Then he moved to stand behind
the bloodied raider and clasped his hand over Jack’s mouth.

“This is going to hurt,” said Arthur just be
fore he stabbed The Bleeder into the fat man’s lower back, through his oblique muscles, just beside his spine. The agony that Jack experienced was intense enough to cause him to stand rigid and gasp. When his victim tried to move, The Bleeder nearly got caught in his muscles, but Arthur was determined to make this murder last. If anyone else had been hiding in the truck, Arthur assumed they would have revealed themselves by now. If he was alone with Jack, he planned to make the man suffer.

Arthur tore the blade free and stabbed again. Jack swiped his elbow backward, but Arthur easily avoided the strike. This time, when Arthur pulled his knife free, a jet of blood spewed forth.

Jack couldn’t scream, the pain silencing all but gasps as he twisted. Arthur pushed the globular man to his knees and then debated how to kill him. He wanted to cause the man as much pain as possible, but if he drew this out any longer he could put Annie in danger. Arthur clenched his teeth and resigned himself to end it.

“Who?” asked Jack, although his voice came out as a sputtering plea that Arthur wasn’t sure he heard correctly.

“Does it hurt?” asked Arthur.

“Yes.”

“Not enough.” He stabbed Jack in the throat and the tip of The Bleeder spiked through the other side of the man’s neck. Arthur knew this wouldn’t kill the rapist immediately, and would leave him struggling not to drown in his own blood. He pushed Jack over as the man convulsed, spewing crimson from his mouth and back. His flopping feet splashed in his blood as he stared up at Arthur, his eyes wide with terror, until his body finally fell silent.

Kim sobbed, uncertain what was happening behind her. She was
nude and hogtied, with her backside facing Arthur.

In the months that followed, neither Arthur nor Kim ever spoke about what happened in the trailer. They rescued the other prisoner, a mysterious young woman that came to be known as Stitch because of the tattoo that Mac had given her
, and then murdered the remaining raiders as they slept. Only the three of them ever knew what had occurred in the trailer on that horrible night, although Arthur suspected Annie knew as well, but she was kind enough not to ask.

Nine months later, David was born. He was, and always would be
Arthur’s son. It never mattered that he couldn’t have been.

*   *   *

August 24
th
, 20 years after the apocalypse

Annie is near death as Arthur and David wait inside the church.

“Move,” said Clyde as he came back into the church.
His mouth was smeared with blood, as if he were a zombie pulled off a victim mid-meal.

Arthur was confused by the commotion, but soon realized that the mass of bloody rags that Clyde and some of the Rollers were carrying into the church was Annie. Her brilliant red hair was muted by wetness, and the color seemed to drip away from her, leaving a trail beneath them.

“What happened?” asked Jill as she rushed to help.

“She fell,” said Abe as he supported Annie’s body from the side.

Arthur realized that Clyde’s lips were stained with blood because he had been performing CPR on Annie.

Laura came in after them, her body clearly beaten and bruised from being knocked off the truck
not long ago, but her true pain was revealed in the well of tears that glassed her eyes. She watched them carry her daughter into the church, and Arthur was heartbroken as he stared at her. It was as if Laura’s grief was too much for her body alone, and was pouring forth to affect everyone around her.

“She’s going to be fine.” Billy staggered up the stairs to stand beside Laura, his back hampering his stride. “She’s a tough girl.”

Laura turned on him, filled with fury and blame. “This was your fault!” She grabbed Billy’s shirt in her left hand and shook him. Where most women would’ve instinctually slapped the victim of their fury, Laura chose to punch him. She struck him in the nose and he fell backward as she reared back to hit him again.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”
Zack bounded up the stairs and pushed his way between the two rival captains. Billy’s back gave out, and when Laura’s grip was torn away from his shirt he fell against the threshold for support. “Stop it you two.”

“He did this to Annie!” Laura’s anger twisted her tone, making each word hiss as she seethed. “He made her stay up there.”

“It was the right thing to do,” said Zack, which halted Laura’s condemnation. Zack looked pained as he explained again, “Billy was right. Annie’s the reason those copters fell. If she’d come down from there, then a lot more people would be dead right now.”

Laura struggled to understand how
Zack of all people could turn on her, but then she looked out at the crowd of survivors that watched them. Her fury turned to sorrow, and then to resolute authority. Her transformation was stunning to watch as she wiped away her tears, willing once again to be the leader the Rollers needed. “You’re right.” She spoke in a whisper at first, but then stood up straight and pulled away from Zack’s arms. “You’re right.” She walked away from them both, a steady cadence as her boots clopped on the wood floor on her way to where Clyde and Jill had set Annie down.

“How is she?” asked Laura.

“Hard to say.” Clyde had set Annie on a pew and was struggling to locate all of her injuries. “We’ve got lacerations everywhere, and no doubt a few broken bones.”

“She’ll be okay, Laura,” said Jill as she stood beside Clyde.

Clyde looked at his assistant, and then at Laura. “No, she might not be. I’m going to give it to you straight, Laura. She’s in bad shape, and she’s losing a lot of blood.”

“Annie’s a fighter.” Jill sounded defensive, as if offended by Clyde’s dire warning. “If anyone can live through this…”

“I’m not sure we can save her, Laura,” said Clyde. He paid attention to the girl’s battered body as he spoke, tearing at her clothes as he searched for the source of the gushing blood.

“God damn it, Clyde,” said Jill.

“It’s the truth.” Clyde screamed, his voice echoing in the sanctuary as his anger boiled. The survivors watched in stunned silence. “Laura, you need to see the truth here. She might not make it.”

There was a tense silence as Laura stared at him. No one knew what she would say as Clyde seemed to be trying to provoke a response.

“I trust you, Clyde,” said Laura. “We’re going to evacuate soon. Do what you can.”

Laura’s coldness was startling.

“Is Aunt Annie dead?” asked David.

“No,” said Arthur. “Stay here, I’m going to go check on her.” He headed over to where Laura was standing, behind the pew where Annie was laid out.

“What are you talking about?” Clyde asked Laura, his furious tone tamed by her decision to evacuate.

“The fire is in the town now,” said Laura. “It’s only a matter of time before it gets here.”

“We can’t move all these wounded,” said Clyde. “We can’t move Annie like this.”

“We don’t have a choice.”
Laura’s hardened demeanor broke for a second, and the pain she masked was revealed as a sob slipped between her words. She clenched her jaw and breathed deep, her eyes rimmed with tears. “We have to save these people.”

“Laura.” Clyde abandoned his combative tone as he continued to work on Annie. “I’m sorry.”

“Save my baby girl, Clyde,” said Laura as she turned to leave. “I’m going to save the rest of us.” She walked past Zack, who looked as if he wanted to hold her, but she ignored him and headed for Billy. “I need you to start consolidating crews.”

“What?” asked Billy, still nursing his bloodied nose. He was understandably shocked by Laura’s sudden change of attitude. It was as if he were speaking to a completely different person.