For A Few Corpses More - Pt. 7

               Leaves fell in broad strokes and branches struck Bronson as he pushed through the trees in a full run. Hands by his side as he ran, his knife and pistol were already drawn, his mind playing out the different scenario of what could have happened. Nyx was behind him, following close. Her words in the conversation they had just had were replaying in his mind, perhaps she had been right. It looked like leaving those Dine and Pierce alone had been a horrible idea. One of them was most likely dead, the other standing over their body waiting to dispatch of he and Nyx, or fled into the woods.

               It was to his surprise as he broke through the tree line, back near the gravel road with the building in sight and pistol drawn and readied, that he saw Dine standing at the ready and Pierce almost cowering behind him with the handle of his automatic clenched tightly. Bronson lowered the gun away from them as he saw his suspicions were wrong. He had let Nyx’ comments cause him to second guess himself. Captain Dine’s eyes were not on Pierce at all but one of the doorways to the large building they had not yet entered.

               Dine glanced over his shoulder at the returning patrollers.

               “Pierce went in there to get firewood,” Pistol still pointed at the doorway, “said he saw ghouls.”

               “It was dark,” Jonah Pierce said from behind his human shield, “But I know what I saw. I saw it’s eyes; damn soulless eyes!”  

               Nyx shook her head and knew what her partner’s response would be. She unsheathed her machete as he put his pistol away.

               “If it’s walkers you let me handle it.” Bronson spoke as he moved past them, towards the building with his knife readied, “quietly and without wasting ammo if we can help it.” He had to remind himself they were technically amateurs here. From one of the many small pockets on his pants he produced a small LED flashlight and held it in his free hand with the bulb out, wrists locked in a cross pattern with the knife blade sticking out.

               His back pressed to the wall. Nyx got into position across from him, ready to follow him if she needed to. The metal of her blade rested with a cool touch against her arm. From the corner of her eye she realized that Dine was an unmoving wall, just in case the enemy got past both of them and Pierce was still behind the captain with his pistol automatic raised.

               The sun was so low now that when Bronson went into the doorway of the old structure she had to squint to make out his outline. He hadn’t turned the light on yet, if it was a nest of them that would just paint a larger target and do more harm than good. Moments passed that were silent and everyone was still and almost breathless as they waited for the bloodlust of combat, adrenaline beginning to pump inside them. Nyx couldn’t see Bronson at all anymore and that worried her. Instinctively, her training took over and she began to move towards the doorway about to enter when she saw a bright blue light finally come on. She froze.

               The light snapped back off with a click. She moved away from the door, hearing him come closer.

               “Pierce,” Bronson called out, still enveloped in shadow.

               Pierce stepped out from behind Dine with a grunt that almost sounded like a question. His curiosity was soon sated as an object flew from the darkened doorway that Bronson was stepping out of and hit Jonah square in the chest. Pierce flailed with his free arm, struggling to catch it until he got a second glance and saw what it was. A severed human head with rotting flesh and glossed over eyes fell to the ground and made a thump against the browning grass.

               The other three looked down at it, the first really good look anyone had gotten of whoever this used to be. It was a ghoul from what they could tell, at least for a short time. There was a large gaping hole at the top of the skull though that looked like it went pretty deep if not all the way through. The cut at the base of the neck was far from clean and there were cuts that looked like they could have been from machetes or smaller knives.

               “There were three of these on pikes back there in the back of that building, just the heads.” Bronson motioned as he spoke, “looked like some kind of work bench had been set up also but nothing there anymore.”

               Pierce let out a sigh of relief before realizing the truth of what was inside the abandoned building made him look even worse.

               “Are you sure you didn’t see anything else in there?” He questioned Bronson, trying to rebuild his base for his actions. “I know I saw something move in there.”

               Bronson shook his head. “I searched the whole bottom floor and most of the walls have been removed, so I’m not sure where anything could have been hiding. The top floor doesn’t look too structurally sound with the metal catwalks so warped and rusted but I looked around up there as much as I could. I think the heads were what you saw.”

               Pierce looked as if he were trying to think of something else to bring up. Dine stepped up and pushed the head over with his boot to get a better look at the cuts on the base of the neck.

               “So someone killed a couple of walkers and put their heads up on spikes, did God knows what with the bodies,” Dine looked up at Bronson, “for what, display?”

               “Not much of a display. Just the part they didn’t want I guess.”

               “Any ideas? If not, speculate.”

               Bronson paused for a moment and looked around them, knowing there were probably more answers out there. Nyx was curious too, she knew Bron had encountered a lot but he wasn’t sure of the answer this time and she could tell.

               “No.”

               Dine nodded and followed Bronson’s gaze, looking around the tree line.

               “Are we good here for tonight?”

               “We should be. We’ll rotate a watch, keep the fire low and we’ll know if anything comes up at us early enough that it won’t give them any sort of advantage.”

               “Agreed,” Dine pulled his pack from his shoulder and began unpacking the essential supplies he had on him, neither of which was a sleeping bag. He did however have the materials to make a fire, water, and three emergency ration packs. “I’ll take the first watch, Pierce the second, Nyx then you.” He gave out the orders as he looked at the lack of firewood Pierce had failed to get. He hid his annoyance behind a forced smile and stood. “Let’s get camp made with what we’ve got and not waste anymore time, alright?”

               Bronson went with Pierce this time to gather the firewood and finish having a look around. Nyx volunteered to finish searching the two buildings and set a sleeping area and place for the fire between the two buildings. Dine had said he was going to go check the map and plan their path for tomorrow, he had walked off glancing at the three-dimensional projection. Nyx was moving some of the straw and rocks around to make sure the fire would be easy to start when the other two came back. She noticed Dine seemed to be doing something off in the distance. She wasn’t sure if he knew that she could see him from there but she moved a bit closer. The captain had removed a metal object, circular it looked like. He took something out of it and put it up to his mouth.

               Squinting, she was about to move closer when she heard Pierce and Bronson coming back up through the clearing without speaking to each other. Nyx quickly turned away. Dine would turn any moment now for sure. She looked at the two approaching men and the sticks they carried; surprised if they had exchanged any words the whole time they had been out. They began the fire wordlessly as well until Dine came back up to the rest of the group.

               “Let’s eat up and get some sleep.”

               An hour later Dine was sitting with his back against the wall of the smaller structure, his head leaning back with his eyes barely closed, looking as if he were resting more than trying to sleep. His hands were in his lap holding onto the handle of the platinum plated colt .45 with the safety off and the barrel pointing down at the ground, but it was there if he needed it. The weapon held sixteen bullets total. That was sixteen chances, he reminded himself.

               There were no sleeping bags or tents. They were at the bottom of the ocean somewhere with the equipment pod that had sunk. Bronson was okay with that. He lay next to the dying fire on his back with his arms crisscrossed behind his head. The small bits of water still resting on the hairs of his goatee glistened in the dim light of the fire beside him as he gazed up to the sky. The view from Elysium City was amazing, but something about being down on Earth and looking up at the stars caught his attention more, it was the perspective.

               It was almost silent at the camp other than the crackling of the fire and the occasional howl from a distant animal in the woods. Bronson liked it that way so that even though it wasn’t his turn to watch he liked being able to listen and stay somewhat alert. His mind was wandering though, thinking about tomorrow and how they would soon need to find more water than what they had in their packs and in another day their rations would be gone. He hadn’t been this far up North in almost twenty years. That was just another complication stacked on for them. The heads left behind were still nagging at him as well and he wasn’t sure why. Sleep was coming though and he needed to allow it, the next few days were going to be hard.

               Pierce had already fallen fast asleep, using his pack as a pillow and curling up with his legs under him. He had stayed quiet while they were setting up the area to rest for the night, little to say and not wanting to give anyone an open opportunity to bring up his mistakes. He almost messed up when they were eating the emergency rations. They tasted horrible, worse than the food on Elysium City if you could believe that. Pierce didn’t enjoy his meal or the company at this point. He wanted to forget about the day and had tried to go to sleep early.

Nyx had also passed out, the day had been exhausting and she wasn’t about to look like she couldn’t keep up. She had fought too hard to prove these things to Bronson, and now that the group had grown to four she felt as if she had more to prove. She was shivering now though, the warmth of the flames fading. Her hand shook as it gripped her wrap. Her lip quivered. Bronson took the cloth he wore over his gear that he was using as a blanket and laid it across her. Dine, the only one awake to see this rare soft approach the hunter gave to his partner. Soon afterwards Bronson embraced sleep, knowing they wouldn’t be on great speaking terms over the next few days.

               Minutes passed, two people slept uneasily and Pierce was snoring. The hour was passing the agreed upon time to switch out the guard. Dine wanted to let Pierce sleep a little longer though. He felt protective over them, watching them sleep. The sound of metal tightening against the leather as he slid it into the holster was a pause between the crickets. Captain Dine listened to the dull near-lifeless sounds of the woods around him before finally nudging Pierce with his boot.

               “Wake up, your shift starts.”

               Pierce made an odd noise that could have been words if his lips weren’t pushed up against the folds of his pack.

               “You’re up for two hours,” Dine instructed, “then you wake up Nyx for her shift.”

               There was another noise and Pierce slowly stood before rubbing his eyes. Moving in an almost drunk motion he nearly tripped over his own pack. Reaching down, his hand fumbled in the pack for the now half empty bottle of water and he took half of what was left.

               “You good,” Dine asked.

               “Yeah, yeah just should have offered to go first.”

               Dine nodded and gave him one last look before moving off back to the side of the building where he was. He resumed his seated position, leaning his head back against the wall. There was a moment that he tried to shut off his mind and fall asleep but something didn’t let him. He reached down and removed the .45 from the holster and pressed the barrel back to the ground, hands wrapped tightly around the grip again. Now he could sleep.

               Nys was having trouble sleeping. It was cold. She had awoken for a moment, long enough to realize that someone had put something over her, Bronson. It was uncommon enough that when he did show some kind of hint of caring or sympathy she found it surprising. She had fallen back asleep not long after that though. Now there was something nagging at her, that feeling that she had something to do and knew that she’d need to be soon. These kinds of thoughts pushed sleep further away, causing her to toss and turn, fidgeting. In her fragile state between sleep and consciousness she realized that it would be any moment now, Pierce would come and wake her for her shift.

               It was cold, but now there was something colder pressing against her cheek. Nyx’ eyes fluttered open. Even in the darkness of the dead fire she could make out the piece of metal that was pressed against her cheek as a warning not to move. Her eyes followed it up the thick wooden shaft that it was attached to. The individual holding the spear to her face was large with long nappy hair. She couldn’t make out his face. She looked down to the MP5 and her pistol that lay beside where she was sleeping. Nyx considered going for it, but she knew the chance was too good that he had already seen it also, knew what she was thinking.

               This was an awkward moment. She wasn’t really sure what to say, a witty bit of sarcasm had come to mind but there was just enough fear that she had decided against it. She sat up slightly but stopped when she felt the metal, rough and crude, pierce her cheek just slightly. She could now see that her suspicion was right. Dine and Bronson were both already on their knees with their hands being tied behind them. Another man with an old rusted shotgun stood over Pierce, who was still fast asleep against the tree he had set against. The taller man with the shotgun crouched down in front of Pierce with a devilish grin stretching across his face amidst the graying beard.

               “Wakey-up now friend” the man said with a soft voice that didn’t match his exterior, “high time for introductions.”

               Pierce woke up at the words, his hand reached for the rifle at the end of the strap around his shoulder but there was already a shotgun being buried in his crotch. The bearded smiling man shook his head slightly to let Pierce know that it wasn’t going to happen.

               “Oh fuck me,” Jonah Pierce had dropped the ball again.

               “Is that your name or a request?”

               The other men laughed at their leaders joke. This finally gave Nyx the opportunity to sit up, but do little else without feeling the sharp embrace of the spear again.

               “My names’ Dwight Griffin, you can call me Griff.” He smiled and his free hand that wasn’t holding the shotgun reached for the strap on Pierce’s shoulder. There was no struggle, Pierce released the handle and now Griff had a shotgun and a high powered rifle. “I don’t like to stand on ceremony or anything but I don’t want to be just referring to you as ‘those trespassers’ all day either, so how about some names and a good old fashioned explanation as to why you folks are on our land.”

               “P-Pierce.”

               “Calm down now son, I don’t think you’ll be losing your balls today.”

               Griffin stood and removed the shotgun from between Pierce’s legs; it was still trained on him though. He looked over to Dine and Bronson who were side-by-side on their knees, bound. He nodded to one of the other blade wielding men and they switched places. Pulling rope from his belt the henchman began picked Pierce up from his seated position and forced him down to his knees. His hands were soon tied behind him as well while Griff looked over the other two men in the group, sizing them up. He pointed to Dine.

               “How about you,” he asked with a tone that didn’t quite relay the severity of the situation. This man seemed to enjoy his work.

               “Dine,” the soldier paused, he had almost followed up his name with his rank and serial number, but that would give too much away at this point.

               “That a first name or a last?”

               “Surname.”

               “I know we caught you people trespassing and what-not but that is no reason not to get to know one another better.”

               “Price.”

               “Ha! They do anything simple where you’re from?” There was a hearty laugh that followed his rhetorical question, the other men joined in.

               Nyx was using the time that the attention wasn’t on her to look at the others. The only one with any real weapons was Griff, the others had each a machete, knife, or spear, but nothing else. They all looked healthy and well fed, which was a bit surprising to her. She was trying to think of a way out, a weakness. It was four on four though and any second now they would have the rest of their weapons.

               Griff pointed with his shotgun towards Bronson.

               “What about you big fella?”

               “Bronson, and I’ll be your friend if you’ll break his jaw for me.” Bronson motioned with a nod of his head to Pierce who for some reason looked a bit shocked at this response. “We didn’t know we were trespassing on your land.”

               Bronson was angry, probably at himself as well as Pierce but Nyx knew that was strike two in Bronson’s book. She didn’t want to see what strike three meant. Whether he knew it or not though Bronson had helped her out. The cloth that he had covered Nyx up with was still over the bottom half of her body and had kept hidden the machete on her belt. If she could get to the right position, she could grab it and lunge at Griffin. His throat would be slit before the others could act and that would put the odds in their favor, except for Dine and Bronson still having their hands tied. She wasn’t worried about Pierce. At this point she figured the best thing he could do was to fall on one of their blades for them, keep a man distracted that way.

               Griff laughed, “I guess you’re right, we don’t advertise like we used to. Still, I need to know why you’re here and what your intentions are.” He pressed the barrel of the shotgun to Bronson’s chest. “And I’d ask you kindly not to lie, we hate liars.”

               Dine was about to speak up but he realized that any lie he would have told had a chance of being seen through. His eyes cut to Bronson.

               “We’re from the Boulder City colony, in Nevada. We’ve been looking for food, supplies, anything really.”

               Griff nodded, thinking about what Bronson had told him. He looked to Dine to test the story.

               “Nevada, that’s a good ways away isn’t it?”

               “Oh yeah,” Dine said, knowing that whatever he answered needed to flow. “We’ve been traveling for months, thinking about not going back.”

               “Why’s that?”

               “Have you ever been to Nevada? It’s shit.”

               Griffin laughed again, that deep laugh that the others joined him with.

               “Well alright!” Griff finally lowered the shotgun, pointing it at the ground for the first time since they had met him. “We can’t really give you anything in the way of supplies, not that anyone would, but we have a camp near here that you’re welcome to come and share a small meal, long as you don’t mind following a few rules.”

               Nyx knew now was her best shot, Griffin was as relaxed and off-guard as he was ever going to be for them. Under the thick cloth she felt the leather handle as she pulled. Her thumb soon ran over the metal of the blade. Her free hand would push the spear up and she’d have one shot at this. One fluid motion was all she needed. Her body shifted slightly as her eyes focused on Griffin’s throat.