When We Shed Civilization

Chapter 8

Leo had hoped there'd be more weapons in the car, but all they found was a crate of food, clothes, some ropes, and tools. They packed the food to take it with them, but they left the rest—saws, axes, and other hardware were easily found in the ruins.

The only things they took with them were a blanket and some rope. Hawk and Bolt tied the sheet to two branches from one of the trees they had felled, making a stretcher for Flora.

Her pale face glistened with sweat, and she merely groaned as the twins picked her up between them. The trickle of blood from her wound continued—not much for a hole that big, but it didn't show any signs of slowing.

Their path took them along the highway and downhill towards the city, whose distant, broken towers shimmered under the heat of the sun. Even if they hurried, it would take them some several hours to reach the headquarters.

Leo marched in front of the procession, with Spike and the captured girl behind him.

They walked without talking until the gater woman interrupted the silence. "Where are you taking us, and why have you captured us at all?"

Leo was in no mood to give her a reply. That woman brought nothing but polished words and trouble.

Spike took the bait, though. "Curious, are we?"

"A wiseacre, aren't we?" she said.

"Full of fancy words, but without guts, are we?" he said.

"Void of thought, aren't we?"

"Hostages," Spike said.

"Pardon?"

"We've taken you hostage," Spike said. "We'll trade you with your folks."

"Trade us for what?" She sounded surprised. "All we've got is culture, morals, and knowledge. And why would you care for any of these?"

"Right, we're not interested in nonsense. But you have some other stuff that we want."

"And what would that be?"

"Weapons and bullets."

Looking back, Leo saw her walking next to Spike, who had bound her arms behind her back and held her on a leash. She had her gaze on the ground, but then she looked up.

"The heat out here must have addled your thinking." She locked eyes with Leo while talking to Spike. "The people of Seaside would never give you weapons or ammunition, just to have them turned in enmity against them."

Leo turned his gaze away. Getting caught by people she despised must have been hard enough for her. He didn't need to rub her face in it.

Spike laughed. "Whatever you do in that gated city of yours, it must have... addled your ass. You should pray your folks are willing to trade guns for you. If they don't, you'd hate the result."

"It's you who should pray, good sir," she said. "Pray that our weapons won't bestow any further scratches on your face."

Spike rubbed the scar crossing his cheek. "It wasn't your weapons... bestowing these scratches on me, t'was a mutote."

"A mutote?" she asked. "What would that be?"

"It's a... mutilated coyote."

"A mutilated coyote?" She frowned at him. "Why would a mutilated coyote be able to hurt a streetwise, strong fighter such as you?"

"Not a mutilated coyote then. It was a... mutated one. It attacked me in the Wastelands. A fierce brute, almost as high as myself. I gave it my axe, right between its green, mad eyes. And after that, we had dinner, the beastie and I. Well, I had dinner. And it got dinnered." He laughed. "Next day, I brought its ugly head to Doc Faith, and she told me it's mutated. That means it was different from what coyotes should be."

For some minutes, they continued in silence as they entered the fringes of the city. Sand-covered parking lots and decayed buildings lined the road. Leo welcomed their reassuring presence, so much more familiar than the dead trees beyond the city limits.

"Leo," Bolt called from behind. "You might wanna check on Flora."

The party stopped as Leo walked back to join Bolt and his brother. They had lowered his sister to the ground.

Her skin had the hue of pale ashes. Red blood had soaked most of her shirt. He squatted next to her and placed a hand on her forehead. It was moist and cold to the touch.

"Hey," he said. "How are you?"

Her eyelids fluttered open. "Hey, bro. Doing just fine with these two strong lads carrying me." Her smile lacked the strength to convince Leo.

"She may suffer from internal bleeding." The gater woman had approached and gazed down on Flora. "You should keep her legs high."

"Can you help her?" A spark of hope ignited in Leo's chest. These people knew things the gangs didn't. "Are you a doctor?"

"No, unfortunately, I'm not." She pressed her lips into a thin line.

"She needs a medbay," her friend said. His hands were bound on his back, like hers, but he stood with his legs apart in a stance that was all challenge once more.

"Medbay?" Leo had heard rumors of these machines, built in the age of tech and designed to heal people. He had doubted that they had ever existed, let alone there still being functional ones.

"Yeah, a medbay. There's one at Seaside." A tiny smirk pulled at the man's lips. "If you're nice to us, we might allow your lady friend into it. I don't know if it works on chinks, though."

Leo didn't know what a chink was, but the tone of the man's voice carried its meaning. He squeezed Flora's hand, got up, and faced their captive, suppressing the urge to smack him. "What's your name?"

"Burt."

Leo forced himself to move slowly. He grabbed the front of Burt's shirt with both hands and pulled him closer. "Listen... Burt. My name's Leo. And you don't mess with me. You don't mess with any of us."

He shoved Burt away from him, letting the shirt go, and looked at the woman, thinking she might be less full of shit than the guy. "You've got a working medbay?"

"Yes." She shrugged. "Well, it has become a bit unreliable. At times—"

"It works," Burt interrupted.

"Leo!" Flora called, her voice tight.

Leo got back to her side and squatted down. "What is it?"

She was so pale.

"Don't..." she whispered and took a deep breath. "Don't sell ourselves to them, not for me. It's not the medbay we need. We did this to gain weapons to defend ourselves against the Bikers and the tunnel clan."

"But..."

"Shh, bro. Let's move. Let's get back to the headquarters. And then get the doc. She'll fix me. The bleeding is already less." She gestured at her belly.

Her shirt was still soaked with blood, but some of it had dried now. A fly landed on it.

Leo shooed it away.

"Let's go," she repeated.

Reluctantly, Leo got up again and motioned at Spike and Rock to proceed. He didn't want to see Burt's smirk.

The twins lifted the stretcher.

"I'll take you to HQ," Leo said. "It won't take us long. And then I'll get Doc Faith to have a look at you even if I have to carry her, screaming, all the way from her bloody house."

"You're the best, Leo. The doc will put things right, trust her. She knows what she's doing."

Leo nodded, not convinced. Doc Faith knew a lot when it came to herbs and stuff, but he doubted that she'd ever had to treat someone with a bullet in her belly. But a medbay was tech age.

A medbay could work miracles.