Knights of the Apocalypse (A Duck & Cover Adventure Post-Apocalyptic Series Book 2) (9 page)

“No, it’ll be fun.
Like a
slumber party.
It’s been years since I’ve had a girlfriend stay over.”

Chewy barked.

“Your lion can come, too. Come on. We’ll drop
the boys off and then I’ll show you the place.” Brae took her by the hand and
the four new friends started towards the rising black soot of the train’s
engine.

“This just keeps getting worse,” Erica said
too low for Jerry to hear, but she knew he agreed.

NINE

So much had
been lost in the devastation of the earth that one could hardly keep a list. It
ended many cities, countless lives and more than a few famous landmarks. Some
of those targeted had made sense. Symbolic targets like the Statue of Liberty,
Mount Vernon and the St. Louis arch were obvious attacks at the American psyche
and the St. Louis psyche. But others were obviously targeted out of spite. What
other purpose would there be to fire ten nuclear missiles in to the Grand
Canyon other than someone just looking to be a dick about things?

In addition to
wiping out the population and many great attractions, it was generally believed
that small talk had also been obliterated. At the very least it was a lost art
that most agreed should stay lost. All talk, especially chitchat,
had
a purpose. Banter was used to determine if a stranger
was a threat. However, this posed a problem for the survivors. There were no
sports left to discuss and the weather was almost always hot and miserable or
cold and miserable and it shifted so quickly between the two that no one felt
comfortable commenting on the day without having any kind of idea what tomorrow
was going to be like. There was no TV to discuss. No movies to hate. No NPR.
Once the feed of information had stopped, people found it difficult to sound
informed. And since no one ever wanted to sound stupid, breeze shooting
stopped.

Small talk had
been replaced by a general reminiscence that people called “remember when.”
“Remember when there was electricity?” “Remember when we could crap indoors?”
“Remember when mutants didn’t roam the land trying to eat your face off?”
 

Shane had been
playing this game for the better part of an hour and had covered everything
from appliances to favorite desserts. Jerry did his best to pass his turns and
get some rest as the train lumbered on to Durango.

The ten
conscripts were ushered into a single car and they milled about as the train
rolled south. They weren’t alone. Sir Dominic and three other knights sat along
the bench refusing to share the seat with the men from the mines. They cited
smell as the main reason for not wanting them near. When that failed, they
pulled class into the argument.

“Sitting is for
citizens,” they laughed. “If you’re lucky, maybe you can sit on the ride back.”

The knights
weren’t there to guard him this time. The only passenger they were concerned
with rode at the end of the train in a private car. The prince and the man in
black had not said a thing to the conscripts at the station. They had passed by
without a word, stepped in the private car and slammed the door behind them.

It seemed
fitting. The day had been nothing but assholes and train rides, so Jerry sat on
the floor with his head against the wall and did his best to rest.

Shane wouldn’t
let him.

“So, Brae says
she knows you from before the world went to hell.”

“It’s been a
long time,” was the best noncommittal answer he could give. Jerry didn’t
recognize the girl, but that didn’t mean anything. He was bad with faces and
worse with names. He figured once everything blew up he was off the hook for
remembering anybody and purged the faces and names that he could remember from
his mind. He had always remembered best how people treated him, and if he had
known Brae before everything fell apart, she must have been fairly indifferent
to him. He couldn’t remember any specific incident, good or bad, that involved
the woman.

Just before the
world burned it had gone stupid with networking tools and social media. Jerry
remembered getting updates from people he was never sure he knew. And if he did
know them, he couldn’t remember how. In the end he accepted everyone because it
was easier than trying to figure out exactly who they were. Perhaps Brae was a
coworker from a job he didn’t like or a classmate of a friend or a cousin of a
roommate. Everyone had been so eager to stay connected that many had forgone
the formality of connecting in real life and skipped to being best pals online.
The world had gotten smaller but cloudier before it blew up. Maybe his past
with Brae was in one of those clouds.

“I wish I had
known her before,” Shane said. “Can you imagine being able to love somebody
with your full attention again? Remember when we could do that? Remember what
that was like?
The biggest problem use to be remembering to
send flowers for no reason.
Now, it’s mutants, marauders and
monsters—then, if there’s time left over, love.”

Jerry nodded
with an emphasis on the down-stroke, hoping that Shane would take the hint and
leave him to rest. The man prattled on.

“But this could
change everything. Being a citizen in Five Peaks is almost as good as it gets
nowadays,” Shane said. “There aren’t many places where you can live without
constantly watching your back.”

“It’s that
nice?” Jerry asked.

Shane ticked
off the first few reasons that came to mind. “Plenty of food. Clean water.
Clothes. Real clothes—I’m still not so sure why those are hard to come
by. Why does everyone dress in rags?”

“They may not
be much for looks, but rags are good and broken in. You can’t put a price on
comfort.”

Shane didn’t
acknowledge the answer. He continued with his list. “Safety. Civility. The
people are really nice.”

“Yeah, that
giant dressed in black seems like a peach,” Jerry said.

“Who? The
prince’s Dog?” Shane asked. “Sure, there are exceptions.”

“The prince’s
Dog?”

“That’s what
they call him.”

“How’d he get
that nickname? Did he pee on the prince’s rug?”

Shane scowled
at him and cast a quick glance to the knights. The rattle of the train kept
their voices close, but Shane moved closer and spoke quieter nonetheless. “No,
because he’s loyal. Get it? He’s the prince’s personal knight. His bodyguard.
He’s brutal.”

“The prince
must be a hell of guy to need that kind of protection.”

“Yeah. He’s …”
Shane picked at the dirt under his fingernails. Clumps of the mine fell to the
floor. “Mostly, the people are nice.”

“And it’s worth
working in the mines?”

Shane laughed
and turned his head. “We do what we have to, right? It beats wandering the
wasteland. If I can give Brae a better life, then I’ll do it. I’ll do anything
for her.”

Jerry smiled
and thought of Erica. “It’s almost worth living through all this, isn’t it?”

Shane smiled
and nodded. “It is.”

Jerry felt
something strike his cheek. He turned to see one of the other conscripts with
his hands raised above his head. Two others were laughing while looking for
something else to throw.

“What’s their
problem?” Jerry asked, picking up the small stone that had stung his face.

Shane looked at
the men. “Them? Oh, nothing. They just hate you.”

“I’m glad it’s
nothing then.” He tossed the stone through the open side of the car.

“Don’t take it
personal. They’ve spent years in the mine waiting for their chance at
citizenship. The way they see it, they’ve paid their dues.”

“And I just
waltz in off the track?”

“Exactly. So
it’s not you they hate. It’s just everything about you.”

“As long as
it’s not personal.”

“Nah, I
wouldn’t worry about it,” Shane said. “It won’t come to much. Some light
ribbing. One or two may try to kill you. But it’s not really you they hate.”

The brakes
whined and the train began to slow. The knights stood from the bench and moved
to the edge of the car, kicking the conscripts aside as they took up their
positions.

“Well, we must
be at the High Line.” Jerry moved aside to let one of the knights near the
window and caught a boot in the ribs for his effort.

The four
knights posted themselves at the corners of the car giving them a view of the
approaching ridge as the train curved on the rail. The pink rock face ran close
to the right side of the car. The knights watched.

A knight the
others had called Carter shouted across the car. “See anything?”

Dominic hung
out the left side of the car and searched the High Line ahead.” I don’t see
anything. The bastards have gotten pretty good at hiding though.”

Jerry elbowed
Shane. “You want to tell me what they’re looking for?”

“The mountain
men.”

“Naturally. I
figured if it wasn’t Big Foot it was mountain men.”
 

“They live
somewhere in the forest. We’ve searched the area a hundred times. I’ve been on
several parties looking for them trying to earn my citizenship. We never find
them. They raid the trains from time to time looking for supplies. But I don’t
understand why the knights are so jumpy. They only hit the northbound runs.
Those have all the food on it.”

“So they’re
just hungry people?”

“No. It’s worse
than that. If they can’t get the food, they start taking people.”

“Kidnappers?”

Shane shook his
head. “Cannibals. The king’s been trying to rout them since he got here. But
they’re impossible to find. They disappear into the woods.”

“So the big bad
sheriff has his own personal Robin Hood? How poetic.”

“If Robin Hood
ate people.” Shane looked out the window. “I don’t get why they’re so nervous.
South bound is the milk run.”

Jerry laid his
head back against the wall. “It’s the prince. I imagine a hostage like that is
worth a winter’s worth of food and the knights know it.”

The train
straightened around the curve and the knights lost their view. They crouched
low to see as high up as possible. They drew their swords slowly and realized
they had to stand back up to get their weapons free. They were just beginning
to squat again when the train’s bell began to sound. It wasn’t the steady peel
of a toy. It was hectic and without rhythm. The engineer was pulling the cord
as fast as he could.

The knights
began shouting, “Where are they?”

Another knight,
Jerry hadn’t caught his name, answered with the unhelpful, “I can’t see them.”

“Of course you
can’t see them, there’s a fucking cliff in our way,” one called Sir Erik barked
like he was in charge of the unit. Jerry wasn’t sure if knights had rank. He
always assumed they answered only to the king. But there was a lot he didn’t
know about how a kingdom based on shoddy Renaissance fair history was run. Even
now he wasn’t sure if it was official or if Erik happened to be the brightest
of the four.

Several thumps
sounded on the car’s roof followed by footsteps racing to the rear of the
train. The knights stared at the roof and followed the sound, unable to do
anything but shout at it.

Sir Dominic
screamed the obvious, “They’re going for the prince!”

“How did they
know he was here?” asked Carter.

“They must have
a spy in the kingdom,” said the unnamed knight. “How else could they know?”

Sir Erik
slapped Sir Nameless on the head. “Because the dumbass puts a giant flag on his
damn private car.”

“I can’t even
hear them now.” Dom was hanging out the window over the edge of the High Line
straining to see. “We’ve got to stop them.”

Sir Nameless
backed away from the window. “I really hate this part. Why can’t they attack
when we’re not moving? Or so high up?”

“We’ve got to
do it.” Dominic struggled to put his sword in the scabbard to prepare for the
climb to the roof.

Erik was
definitely in charge of the thinking. “The hell we do.” He pointed to the
conscripts. “We’ll make them go.”

Sir Nameless
happily kicked the conscripts to their feet and forced them to the window while
Carter set a large duffel bag on the bench. He unzipped the bag revealing an
assortment of machetes, sledges and axes. Rusted blades and rotted handles were
handed out to the conscripts.

Jerry received
a hatchet that had seen better days. “Am I supposed to give them tetanus?”

Sir Carter
grinned. “What kind of valiant knight would I be, sending you out there
unarmed?”

“What about my
guns?” Jerry asked.

“There are no
guns allowed in the kingdom,” Sir Dom said. “Lead is for the weak. We rule by
steel, will and nothing else.”

The nameless
knight pointed to Sir Dom. “Law.”

“Right,” Sir
Dom nodded. “Steel, will, law and then nothing else.” The knight grinned again.
“Now take the hatchet or take nothing.”

Jerry returned
the sarcastic smile and moved over to the window facing the drop off.

“Told you he
was an idiot.” A conscript without any teeth sat across from Jerry on the
cliff-ward side of the coach. The others joined in the laughter as the
conscript gummed his theory. “You may be lucky, new guy, but you’re a dumb ass.
You go out that side and you’re going to fall.” The conscript laughed again,
grabbed the ledge of the roof above him and pulled himself out the coach
window.