***
The scooters were still parked by the concrete stairs, and the scrapper truck waited nearby. The birds set everyone down by the vehicle and deposited the packs into the cargo area. Star took fresh clothes out of her backpack and dressed herself while Winston manhandled Bert toward the driver’s seat.
“Get in there, you!”
He shoved Bert hard.
“Okay,” Bert said, “you win. No need to get rough.”
“I’ll show you rough, if that’s what you want, Rust Bucket,” Winston snarled.
He wanted to smash Bert into a pile of rubble, tear off his remaining arm and beat him to death with it. The scrapper leader had threatened Star – he’d tried to throw her out the window! He was a loathsome coward who had refused honorable individual combat.
Go easy on him, pal.
The restraining voice in Winston’s mind had a distinct Iridium tone. Winston forced himself to calm down. His rational mind understood that, without Bert’s gang, he and Star would both be piles of blasted rubble by now. And they needed the scrapper in order to make a fast getaway. Bert was both enemy and savior. It was all too much data to process at one time!
Bert got into the driver’s seat. Ripper sat directly behind and draped a paw on his good shoulder, ready to tear the scrapper apart at the first sign of rebellion. Winston retrieved the scooters and loaded them into the back.
The mech birds formed themselves into a single mass and swooped over them in a low dive.
“What the heck?” Winston said.
The birds made another dive, banking in salute as they passed. Then they began flying off toward the east.
“They must be heading back to Mech City,” Star said, “now that Iri’s gone ...”
“We should have expected that,” Winston said, “they can only serve one master.”
He wrapped an arm around Star. With his other arm, he waved to the birds.
“Thanks for everything, guys!” he called. “Have a safe trip back!”
In a way, it was a relief to be free of the winged creatures. Their flapping, smothering presence had been a constant irritation. But now that the birds were gone, danger and uncertainty pressed in closer from the darkness. What horrors awaited them on the road ahead?
Star melted back into his arms and nestled her face against his. Winston joined both arms around her; they enjoyed a moment of peace amid the swirling terror that their existence had become.
“Thank heaven, you’re safe,” Winston spoke softly into Star’s ear. “I couldn’t go on without you.”
Star sighed heavily and retreated deeper into his embrace. Her loveliness glowed in the moonlight.
But the perfect moment couldn’t last. Soon, anxieties were gnawing at Winston again. Their survival now depended on the services of a lunatic scrapper and on the loyalty of a mech wolf. Good grief! How much longer would Ripper obey his commands before it turned savage? If only Iridium hadn’t been –
Winston forced himself not to think about Iri. If the grief fist smashed into him again, he might not be able to function. Star could release her turbulent emotions through weeping, but he could only go into a lethal feedback loop until he shook apart, or retreated into zombie mode from which he might not be able to emerge again.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get to overhaul your cranial rotation mechanism,” Star murmured.
“As long as I can turn my head enough to see you, it’s all right,” he said.
Star turned and rested her head on his shoulder, tears moistened Winston’s chest.
28. The Left Behinds
Ernestina and Arleny struggled amid the throng of panicked cult members seeking refuge in the castle’s myriad chambers and passageways.
“Where can we hide, Teen?” Arleny asked.
“Nowhere,” Ernestina said. “We have to get out of this mad house.”
“How?”
Arleny’s voice was small and frightened, lost in the bustle of so many other terrified people.
“We’ll go outside, head for the higher slopes,” Ernestina said.
“Then what?”
Ernestina turned an exasperated face toward Arleny.
“I don’t know!” she cried. “We’ll stay there a while, then slip down to the road ... something. But we have to get out of here!”
“Oh, Teen, I’m so scared.”
Ernestina softened and tried to comfort her only friend in the world.
“It’ll be okay,” she said. “We’ll make it.”
She grasped Arleny’s hand and led her towards the stairs, wishing fervently that she could believe her own brave words ...
The entry hall was deserted when they got there, and the main door gaped open in tantalizing invitation. But then the sounds of running feet brought new urgency.
“Over here!” Ernestina said.
She yanked Arleny into a side alcove. The girls stood motionless as two Apostolic Guards – the ones called Sister Reedy and Brother Ralph – ran past them and out the door.
The sound of gunfire tore the night.
“Come on!” Ernestina said.
She and Arleny moved across the entry hall and crept through the door. Once outside, they turned sharp left, away from the guards who were firing their assault rifles into the sky.
Ernestina did not look up to see what the guards were shooting at. She led Arleny across the front of the castle, making another left at the corner – then headed straight uphill.
The going was rough; the moonlight offered poor illumination. The girls breathed in labored gasps as they struggled uphill through the strange and evil night. Ernestina feared a sprained ankle or a tumble back down the slope, but the gunfire staccato urged her on.
Then a refuge suddenly appeared, like a gift from that ‘Heavenly Father’ dude she’d heard so much about – a small cave nestled under overhanging rock. They’d stumbled upon a picnic spot of the castle’s original owner, now abandoned and overgrown, a place where he liked to tryst with his various lady guests,.
Are any snakes hiding in there? Ernestina wondered.
She pushed the thought aside. A snake would be a welcome companion after the horrors she and Arleny had experienced back in the castle.
“We’ll stay here til daybreak,” she said. “Then ... we’ll see.”
“Okay,” Arleny replied, barely audible.
Ernestina eased herself into the little grotto, then assisted Arleny inside. The girls pulled some camouflaging vegetation in front of the entrance and hunkered down to wait out the nightmare.
How did we ever get into this mess? Ernestina wondered ...
It all started sixteen months ago when they were still young, before they’d turned into the ancient 19-year-olds they were now. Back when they were bored, restless, and aching for adventure.
Wouldn’t it be fun to hook up with a biker gang? they’d thought at the time.
Only it wasn’t much fun. They’d been passed around like candy among the various men – mobile whores. They never got the ‘Property of ___’ emblems of the higher ranked females who had steady boyfriends. They became disillusioned and wanted to leave. But where could they go?
The whole world was coming apart around them, fast. The final plague had put the fear of God into everybody, and people were dying like flies. So, she and Arleny opted to stay and be protected by the ‘real men’ of the gang. They would all head off into the mountains together and wait out the plague.
Right!
Thirty tough guys swaggered up the trail to Pickle Lake castle with their guns and bad-ass attitudes, leaving behind ten others to guard the bikes and, secondarily, the women. A short time later, after intense gunfire and explosions, the survivors came scurrying back down, white as sheets and pissing their pants, the enemy in hot pursuit.
They refused to make a stand with the remaining real men, but jumped on their bikes and roared off. The others followed, like whipped dogs.
Bereft of their drivers, Ernestina and
Arleny had to scramble for a ride out of the kill zone. They doubled up on the back of one of the retreating bikes, but then Arleny was grazed by a bullet and they both tumbled off onto the pavement. Nobody bothered trying to help them.
They were picked up by the religious wackos and converted to the ‘one true faith.’ This basically meant being sexual slaves to the so-called Messiah until he got tired of them. Well, he may have been a sick puke, but he knew how to kick butt when it mattered. No other outsiders ever bothered them again – until tonight.
Ernestina stared at the black sky through a chink in the camouflage and pondered the uncertain future. If she survived, she’d never be such a fool again. She was over her fascination with ‘bad boys’ forever!
Well, maybe not. But there had to be a special one for her out there – a rebel type guy with real brains and power, who didn’t need a bunch of ‘brothers’ hanging around him all the time and who knew how to treat a woman properly.
Ohhh ... if I ever get out of this!