A Story of Cinders: From the Ashes

Chapter 6: A Horse with No Name

            The tunnel was about as uncomfortable as they came. Dark, warm, claustrophobic, and despite being in the desert, it still managed to find a way to be damp. The walls were made entirely of soil. It was not a very tall tunnel. The Brawler had to bend over to make it through, and even then his gear bag scraped against the ceiling. They walked down its lengths for some time, trying to keep quiet. It seemed to stretch for an eternity. Finally, after clambering through the darkness for about 300 meters, Nox pulled a flashlight out from inside his cloak. The tunnel forked off into three separate paths. Gray Wolf chuckled. "I was half expecting you to have a lantern or something," he whispered. Nox shook his head. "We take the left path," he said to the three men behind him, turning down another dark corridor. Another trek through silence. It was maddening. An eternity had seemed to pass when finally, the tunnel came to an abrupt end. There was no sign of a ladder, or any other means of escape. "Now what?" Brawler grumbled. It's a trap! Kill him before he kills you! Brawler turned his face to the side and grabbed the sides of his head in pain. "Baron, you're being too loud!" he yelled at the voice.

"You think I would trap myself in here?" questioned Nox. "No, of course there's a way out. Right here," he said, reaching for a root overhead. He yanked on it, and the ceiling gave way with it, sand pouring through. But it gave way in too geometric of a shape for it to be natural. A hidden trapdoor, complete with a camouflaged ladder on the other side. "You're full of surprises," remarked Gray Wolf, impressed. Gray Wolf climbed up first, followed by Nox, then Brawler, and finally Sarge. They stood, looking into the hole, nodding their heads and glancing back and forth at each other. Gray Wolf lit a cigarette. The sun had begun rising, casting long shadows across the land. Smoke still rose from the ruins of Homestead. "You know they're gonna figure out the way out of the tunnel soon, right?" Sarge said.

"It's a labyrinth down there, it'll be awhile," responded Nox.

"Well that may be, but..." Sarge trails off, pulling something out of his bag. It looks like a black ball, but packs a much more devastating punch than the average fastball. It is a Mark-2 fragmentation grenade. He pulls the pin and rolls it down the hole into the inky blackness of the tunnel below. There is a short silence. Then a deafening boom. Smoke and sand plume out of the tunnel entrance like an erupting volcano. The sand around it begins to sink. When the dust settles, they look back down the entrance. They can no longer see down the tunnel-- not because of the all-consuming darkness, but because of the wall of sand that was now in the way. "Now they're definitely not getting through." He turned to face Nox. "So, where to?"

"Pinnacle," replied Nox. Pinnacle was the first major city in the area to re-emerge after the end. Built just outside of modern day Phoenix. It was the closest thing left to civilization in the West. "We're to meet another associate of mine. He goes by the name "The Saint"."

"I'm gonna go on a limb here and guess that he's really anything but a saint," cracked the Brawler

"He uses the name because he found it ironic."

"He sounds like a nutjob."

"He is a bit... eccentric, you could say."

"Eccentric like Gatsby or like Charles Manson."

"Little bit of both."

"Awesome," Gray Wolf cut in, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Anyway, we better get moving now. It's a six day walk to Pinnacle if we stick to the roads." He slung his Galil on his back and began heading westward, popping a hydration pill. Take one of these a day, and a man could survive up to ten days in the desert without any water. He had only taken a couple steps down the road when Sarge said to him, "You sure that's the right way?"