For A Few Corpses More - Pt. 8

               Nyx could feel the blade on her thumb, sharp and ready to draw blood. Both of the guns Griff was holding were pointed down at the ground and he was looking at Bronson. The one holding the spear to her cheek was too relaxed, content that she wasn’t going to give them any trouble, his mistake. She had shifted to get her legs underneath her, feet flat, ready to spring up. Her eyes were still focused on the throat right beneath Griffin’s graying beard. It moved as he spoke, an inviting target. Now or never, her brain sent the message to her body to strike.

               Nyx froze when she saw Griffin swing around, shotgun pointed at her. She hesitated, her life in much greater jeopardy now.

               “I’m sorry little lady, how could I forget about you.” He grinned. “My manners have really tanked over the past years, what’s your name?” He eyed her, taking a long look at her until he saw the firearms lying by where she had been sleeping. She knew at that point he realized that her hand was hidden. “Did you search her?”

               The man with the spear was back on guard, punctuated by the piece of metal now being prodded into her back. The henchman ordered her to stand. The machete had fallen back into place, sheathed tightly on her belt to try and hide what her intentions had been. She stood slowly, letting Bronson’s cloth fall off of her. That was when she noticed all of the men were smiling, she wasn’t sure she liked that though. She was pretty well covered but her clothing didn’t really hide her figure.

               Griffin was interested but he had noticed something else as well, the machete. With the side of the barrel on the shotgun he tapped the leather wrapped handle of the weapon. There was a dull clanking sound.

               “This, Miguel, is why you search people.” Miguel went to remove the blade from her belt. “No leave it. You underestimated her because she was a woman, your fault. She could have slit your throat when you weren’t paying attention if she had wanted.”

               Nyx wished he knew how close he was, but that wouldn’t have done any good right then. She just tried to give a sweet smile.

               “I’m Nyx.”

               Griffin nodded, “and it is a –pleasure- to meet you, honey.” He was smiling again, his voice soft towards her. “I don’t think these people are going to give us any trouble,” he said, addressing Miguel, “they didn’t know where they were and probably just want to get through. Least you could do though is let us give you that small meal I mentioned and a more proper place to put down for a while.”

               The two other henchmen untied Bronson and Dine’s hands. They were slow to stand, assessing the situation. Griffin continued on.

               “We’re going to have to hold on to your weapons though, just until you leave. No offense, but you know how it is. In a world where everyone has guns you could turn on us at any time, right? We’ll give them back to you when you’re ready to head out.”

               Pierce was the next one to be stood up and let loose as Miguel gathered up Nyx’ pistol and MP5. The other men took Bronson and Dine’s weapons as well, slinging them over their shoulders and attaching them to their belts or pants.

               “Understandable I guess,” Bronson said. “Guess we don’t have much of a choice.”

               “Hey,” Griffin commented, “you can leave now with your guns if you want, but you’ll be going back the way you came. I can’t have you wandering around our territory like that with them. I don’t know what you could do.”

               Bronson looked for a moment as if he was considering it, not liking the idea of going with them. Dine shook his head though. They were already going to be behind schedule and having to go around would make that worse.

               “Alright,” Bronson agreed. “No, you’re right. We’ll come with you. Maybe the socialization will help. It’s just been us four for two months now.”

               “Good, it’s settled then.” The big smile returned. “Let’s go.”

               The trip from their temporary camp to wherever their new hosts were taking them wasn’t that long; it was just winding and very confusing as they navigated through woods and back roads. It was a little less surprising to how they had been discovered when they saw how close the compound that these men had come from was to where they had been found. Dine couldn’t help but think that if Pierce hadn’t freaked out over finding that head that they could have done a better perimeter search, not have been surprised like this. He blamed Pierce. The captain was also quite uncomfortable in their current situation, being lead around by men who had their guns. He had confidence that Bronson was already trying to think of a way out, Nyx too probably, but Pierce was quiet as they walked. Probably trying not to fall into a sniveling puddle on the grass; that was what Dine thought. He could tell Bronson wanted to say something. He kept cutting his eyes at the men to see if they were watching him, standing very close to Dine as they moved.

               He was pleased they hadn’t tried to take their packs off of them. Leaving them without weapons was one thing, but without food and water would be another. Their communicators were hidden on their belts to anyone who didn’t know what they were looking at. The small black boxes just looked like patches since the lights were off. The thing he was really careful not to draw attention to was the computer on his forearm. It was hidden by a fold over flap that made it look like it was a part of his sleeve, just a bit bulkier than his other arm. He tried not to subconsciously touch it or look at the device. Since their gear was lost in the ocean, if they lost this computer their mission would be dead in the water.

               Coming from the trees the group found themselves on an old dirt road that had been overrun with weeds and grass. A rusted sign for “Wilson’s Quarry” hung limply from a bent pole on the right side of the road. The dirt path soon turned into gravel, the rocks were uneven. It would have been easy to twist an ankle on this path if someone wasn’t paying attention. Nyx noticed that the closer they go there were more sounds coming from the woods, animal noises. The wildlife did their best to stay away from the ghouls, so they must like it here more. Perhaps the idea of being hunted by humans for food was more appealing than that of being gnawed on by and undead monster. Nyx didn’t think it really mattered to them but that was what was going through her mind.

               They came to a large chain-linked fence with two men standing on the other side of it. Griffin gave a peculiar melody in a whistle to let them know who was coming. The two men began to unchain the fence. One held another home-made spear in his hand and the second who called back to Griff had the handle of a pistol sticking out of his pants. Nyx was pretty sure from what they had seen that this group had five guns at most, they were hard to come by here.

               “We have guests,” Griffin exclaimed with a smile. “They were just trying to get through.”

               “Which one of them screamed so loud,” the gatekeeper asked under his breath as Griffin passed by. The two men at the gate took an extra long gaze at Nyx as she walked through. “Bet it was her,” at least, that’s what Nyx thought she heard the man say. Griffin laughed and whispered something to the man as the other three men lead them on the gravel and dirt path.

               There were tall trees that pointed out in every direction, Western Hemlocks and Cedars. Nyx was taken in by the sheer amount of green around her, so many evergreen trees. When Bronson and her hunt they are usually in Nevada, Arizona, or Southern California, places that are dead and dry. She had seen some spread out before, maybe a row at most, but since landing here she had been enjoying how different and nice it all looked, how alive. This path was the thickest she had seen it though. The trees hid wherever they were going from the roads with their expanding full arms.

               The road was long and had several winding turns through the dense trees before they tapered off and the path expanded into a full clearing. There were hills of rocks and dirt off to the sides up on the top ledge that overlooked the other sections that were carved out of the earth. The almost circular camp looked liked an onion with cascading layers that went down further and further to a center that was a small man-made lake that had two large white pipes pumping water into it. There were several wooden cabins and lean-tos put together as well as stone fire pits and what looked like out-houses. Many of the trees in the immediate area had been cut down to make large walls and slanted poles that were sharpened on one end attached to the walls, a defense system against walkers. They had built a community here, a safe haven in a devastated world. Nyx felt almost proud for them; surviving.

               “Welcome to our humble abode,” Griffin said as he approached back up from behind them. “We’ve tossed around a few names for it over the past couple of years but I don’t think anything has ever stuck, but no matter what you call it, its home.”

               Looking around the group saw people emerging from the different huts and around the upper rings. Some were washing laundry in basins while others looked to be sorting vegetables. Two old men were playing with a deck of cards that looked old and worn. There were probably a few missing from the deck. A young girl who looked she could only be about nine or ten was playing with a doll down by the small manmade lake, brushing its hair. She stared at Nyx before looking at the other new faces. There were about thirty of them total and only about four of them were women, including the young girl. There were two older women that had been sorting the food and a girl that probably wasn’t much older than Nyx exited one of the huts. Her stomach was plump and round under a torn yellow sun dress, she was very pregnant.

               “Alright folks,” Griffin said with that winning bearded smile. “I’m gonna put your weapons here someplace safe. I’m a man of my word though, we’ll give them back to you when you leave. Lunch should be ready in about an hour or so, until then take a load off by the fire. I know it’s a bit chilly, especially compared to where you guys are coming from I’m sure.” He nudged Pierce with an elbow, “am I right?”

               “Yeah,” Pierce said almost under his breath as he looked around with his nose practically upturned.

               Walking down one of the thin metal plates that acted as a ramp in between the different layers of the camp they came up to one of the bigger huts. This one had no windows and a port-a-potty door as its entrance but it was closed up tight with a chain and padlock. Griffin produced the key from his jeans pocket, a chain that also held two other keys that he fumbled through. One of the other men helped him gather up the guns and they put all of the guns alongside what Bronson thought was two other pistols at most on the back wall of the hut. The door was re-chained and the padlock was put back into place. Griffin shoved the small key ring back into his pocket with a smirk.

               Bronson watched as his rifle and .45 joined the other weapons, now locked away. He reminded himself that they were lucky to be alive and chose to see this as an obstacle to be overcome. Griffin had promised to give them back and escort them outside of their territory. It seemed a little too good to be true. They had made a mistake, gotten caught thanks to Pierce. This seemed too easy. Watching Griffin with the keys Bronson realized that they had to go to something important, something worth knowing about. He looked around until he spotted the gate up on the top ring. It looked to be a part of the original quarry design, two fences that were also chained together in the center. He couldn’t see what was past there at this angle but he was willing to bet it was important.

               “Now, let’s introduce you to some of the others.”

               Griffin turned to the others. He looked at who was all present and smiled motioning them forward with his hands. They were scattered across each of the five rings of the camp, all eager to see the strangers.

               “Friends, we have guests. Come and socialize!”

               Over the next hour the four soldiers from Elysium couldn’t find a moment to themselves. Everyone wanted to meet them, talk to them, but mostly ask about where they were from and what they had seen. Bronson had the most experience of what was there in Nevada and so he did most of the talking. It was odd watching him try to appear sociable when meeting him for five minutes you could tell he wasn’t. He wanted to help keep the ruse up though. Nyx only knew what he had told her, she chimed in though off and on to keep the conversation flowing, things looking natural. Dine had only read about these areas through reports, vague ones. He wasn’t comfortable saying much and even told one man that he wasn’t feeling well, that they hadn’t eaten in a while. Pierce’s planet side experience was mostly with killing ghouls and scavenging for money. It worked to his favor that people seemed to want to talk to him the least.

               The people in the camp seemed friendly. As they fawned over them several of the men lead them down to the bottom circle near the lake where a large stone circle had been made for a fire to cook and warm everyone. Several of the older men had sat with the four travelers by the fire as the women brought food over and prepared it for the meal.

               “How many people are down there where you are from?”

               “Not enough,” Bronson answered the old man. “The undead there are vicious. We were stupid and tried to go into the cities early on.” 

               “You’ve got a lot of walkers there?”

               “They aren’t as bad up here, don’t like the cold from what we can tell,” another of the men chimed in. “They’re worse in the summer though.”

               “Not a big problem for you guys,” Dine asked.

               Griffin laughed. “Nah, we could use a few more.” He smiled and then tacked on, “for target practice, you know.”

               “Doesn’t that waste bullets,” Dine said raising an eyebrow.

               Griffin laughed. “James,” he called out and a young boy no older than twenty stepped out and pulled one of four knives off his belt. His wrist flicked out like a snake and the knife was firmly planted blade first into one of the wooden planks on a near-by lean-to. “We save bullets for other people with guns.”

               Bronson looked over at the boy who had thrown the knife. His eyes said it clearly, he was a killer.

               “You run into a lot of other people out here?”

               “Did in the beginning,” Griff said as he picked up a yellow apple when one of the old women weren’t looking. “Most of them moved on though, wanted to look for something better, and probably found something worse.” He bit a huge chunk from the apple and smiled as he chewed.

               “Some of them though, I’m guessing didn’t want to find their own thing,” Bronson suggested. “They wanted what you had?”

               Griffin’s smile didn’t fade much, but it had a bit as he finished chewing up the chunk of fruit still in his mouth.

               “World’s changed. We do what we have to, you probably know that better than anyone else here.”

               “What makes you say that, Griffin?”

               “Cause,” Griffin said with a laugh as he stood, taking another bite of apple. “You were the only one who didn’t look scared when you woke up with a spear in your face and thought you were about to die.”

               Griffin tossed the rest of the apple off to the side near a small wooden structure that a set of black paws was sticking out of. The animal inside sniffed the air and moved out, investigating the offering. His snout touched it, as black as the rest of his skin. The chocolate lab didn’t seem too thrilled with what he had been given but perhaps it was better than nothing. He picked it up with a snap of his jaws but looked at the Bronson and company. There was a hunger in the animal’s eyes.

               Dine and Pierce had begun a conversation with two of the older men, discussing their journey and the area. Dine was asking which directions were safe and trying to feel out their path to Spokane without tipping his hand too much. He was doing fine and for once Pierce made a good distraction by bringing up nonsensical little bits here and there to keep everything light hearted.

               “That’s why I don’t fuck with snakes anymore,” Pierce said throwing his hands up suggestively for the purpose of his story. “Even if you knock their teeth out the risk to your prick isn’t worth it.”

               The old man, whose name they had found out was Max, was cracking up and holding his side as he laughed. “That’s crazy. I don’t think anyone here is quite that desperate yet; emphasis on yet.”

               Dine forced a smile to appear to enjoy the conversation as he looked around the camp and Nyx and Bronson, not wanting to separate too much, just in case. He thought he had gotten as much as he could about the surrounding areas out of Max and his friend without setting off any red flags, distracted in strategy he almost missed Pierce’ comment.

               “How is the snatch situation around here actually?”

               Max and the other older man paused at his question and both men turned and looked back at Nyx as she sat by the fire with Bronson.

               “I think you’ve cornered the market around here.” Max grinned.

               As that conversation was going on the meat was being brought out of one of the huts. Several mats with cut up apple, celery, oats and shelled peas had been laid out. The two older women were putting the mean on long sticks to go over the fire. Nyx wasn’t sure if it was pork or deer, it looked like deer meat she thought, or maybe even steak. The cut was hard to see but she thought they could have had or found a cow possibly. A good meal indeed for people they were ready to impale not that many hours ago.

               Nyx heard a noise off to the side as someone else exited the hut with pieces of meat wrapped in cloth. The pregnant girl had winced in pain and almost dropped what she was carrying. Nyx jumped up and walked over to her.

               “Here, let me get that for you.”

               The girl opened her mouth to protest but another pain hit and she simply nodded, handing the meat to her.

               “Are you alright? Do you need anything,” Nyx asked her. The odor of the meat she held now more pronounced, she hoped the fire was getting all of the bacteria out of this stuff.

               “I’m fine,” the woman assured her. “I’m sorry, I’ve just been having pains lately.”

               Nyx nodded. “How close are you?”

               “I’m not sure, soon though, I know that.”

               “I’m Nyx, what’s your name?”

               “Alex.”

               “It’s a pleasure to meet you Alex. Where does this need to go?”

               Alex pointed over to the two older women and Nyx gave it to them. She saw a small row of cups in the line of them that were being assembled for the meal. She picked it up and went past the fire down to the small lake. The water was pretty clear. She dipped the cup in to retrieve some of the water and then hurried back up to Alex.

               “Here you go.”

               Alex took it with a soft smile. She drank some of the water, slowly, and looked off to the distance as she seemed contemplative.

               “Alex,” She asked to get the woman’s attention. “Is there someone here that will be able to help you with your delivery?”

               Alex nodded. She motioned to the older woman shelling peas with salt and pepper hair.

               “Laura, she used to be an LPN or something she said; said everything would come back to her when the time came.”

               Nyx nodded.

               “Are you excited?”

               “Yes,” Alex smiled. “I can’t wait to see him, or her. I think it’ll be a boy though.”

               Nyx smiled at her. She felt a pang in her gut that she knew she’d never fulfill, but seeing this here and now brought it to the forefront like a tidal wave. She dared not say it to Alex but she couldn’t imagine trying to raise a child down here, in this world on the planet’s surface. Was there any hope? The danger could come from all sides and the child’s protection would be her responsibility. Even back on Elysium City there would be so many risks, such a poor world to try to bring a child up in. Down here though there were no doctors, there were ghouls, and the idea of the struggle. Even up in Elysium City though Nyx wasn’t sure she’d do it. She had told herself she wouldn’t for years. Her mother hadn’t had a choice, but she did.

               “Who’s the father?”

               Nyx’ question had obviously caught Alex off guard. Her eyes were scanning the men on the different shelves of the onion-like camp. There were a group of three men discussing shifts for guarding the gate and she flung her arm up, pointing to one or perhaps the other one, Nyx wasn’t sure.

               “He is, Nathan, he’s the father.”

               Nyx bit her lip. There was an awkward moment of silence before Griffin’s bellowing voice broke it up.

               “Chow time; let’s all get together over here!”

               Everyone gathered.