Book 2 Chapter 17: Spearited Debate

Book 2 Chapter 17: Spearited Debate

We left Fette shortly after that. There was little reason to stick around the entire time through to Elises execution. Deux rode a short distance ahead of me, his head tilted downward to shade his eyes, though certain hills our bloodmanes rode over made him wince as we moved. His was loaded with the radio equipment hed looted, and mine with the weapons and ammo Id decided to take from the Widows camp. Id probably put it in Nico's house with a note for her to take it to Murphys for a cut.

Thanks to his drug induced hangover, Deux wasnt in much of a mood for conversation, which I was grateful for. I just let my mind wander while I kept my senses open for any threats. I knew that Deux was doing the same thing in his own way. He had a tendency to seem aloof, but when it came to surviving the wastes, he was nearly as effective as Nico and I.

While we moved I sent a short message to Leah.

Completed my job. Heading to Potts then well rendezvous from there

It was about two mile before I received a response.

Understood, confirm when youre in Potts

I sighed and gently patted the side of my bloodmanes head, receiving a gentle hiss from it in return. Id always liked the bloodmanes, but they were reserved for the work done by undertakers. I wondered if I could justify taking one for myself to the Honored Dead, but quickly dismissed the thought. Even if I could, I doubted it would get along well with Gus, and I had Betty to rely on in most circumstances anyway. Still, I gave the beast another pat as we moved.

We were taking a different route to Potts then the one I typically took from Jasper. We were able to cut through deadzones with the bloodmanes who shared our immunity to rads, and so were making good time as we moved.

Around midday, when the sun was high over our heads and our shadows had dwindled to nothing, I heard a noise on the path ahead of us, and Deux made a simple hand motion toward me, but didnt slow down. We were in a thick, swampy forest, and had been forced to slow our pace in order for the Bloodmanes to take their time and find their footing.

Deux stretched nonchalantly and rested his hand on his holster. I didnt bother with the subtlety, and simply drew my pistol, and held it at the ready. We passed into a small clearing, and I began to smell more people around us. Their scent was musky, but also tinged in a kind of spice. Id smelled similar people before, wed stumbled into a group of Kaijin.

By the end of it all, there were almost twenty dead Kaijin. If theyd had guns it couldve gone very differently, but with spears against two well traveled deadmen and their bloodmanes, they didnt have much of a chance. I didnt feel very satisfied by the fight though, the bad thing about fighting people without guns is that the loot isnt anywhere near as good. I had no interest in a spear made of an old road sign, or a skirt composed of fabric scraps.

Deux had a bit more luck, taking a black denim vest off one of the corpses, chuckling a bit as he poked a finger through a fresh bullet hole in it. He looked over to me, Got some pre-war patches and pins from old bands. This is perfect for them.

Covering yourself with shiny, obvious things while roaming the wastes?

He chuckled. Some of us spend time in Potts not worrying about getting sniped or having our throats slit every once in a while. He started the sentence as a joke, but as he finished it there was a surprising edge to his voice.

I shrugged. Sounds dull.

He shrugged back, seeming to regain a bit of his good humor. Not all of us enjoy the absolutely riveting pleasure of reading. Who wouldve expected a nerd to survive the apocalypse?

Well between me, Nico, the colony of people pretending to be knights in the Black Woods, and our founders who named their city Potts Field, call their leaders the honored dead, and send out Undertakers, I would say that its mostly nerds that have survived. By your definition.

The apocalypse gets worse and worse every day. I guess Ill just need to be cool enough to bring up the average for everyone else. Its a heavy cross to bear.

My sympathies.

Thank you. That means the world to me.

With his jokes exhausted, Deux and I spent some time checking over the bloodmanes and letting them have a quick meal of Kaijin food before we saddled back up and started back along our way. We made a few more hours before we decided to stop in a rotted out old barn that had somehow survived the bombs. Deux made a little small talk at me, before enjoying one last redeye laced cigarette, and somehow falling asleep. I didnt need as much sleep as he did, so I spent some time with the bloodmanes, before tilting my hat down, and dozing off for the night as well.