Abject in the Dust

Chapter 16 - All That Glitters

"Not a word. Do you understand?" Sam held her gaze upon Lykke longer than Rize, as the three of them rested by the side of a long paved road. A settlement lay ahead. A small town with a bridge crossing the river. It was a sign of how much things had changed since the world had ended. In the past, a small settlement off the beaten track would probably have been little more than a ghost town; a few basic services for those hurtling by in their cars and little more. Now they were centres of power and economic wealth; the cities of a new age. Nobody lived in the old cities. Not anymore. The occasional feral gangs of marauders. Flesh-eaters, who directed their attention towards other flesh-eaters on a neighbouring block, until the inevitable conclusion when only one power base remained. The old cities were not a place for good, honest folk. Not all of the new cities were either.

"It looks well defended, even at this distance." Rize squinted through the optics of Sam's rifle.

"Give me that!" She said as she snatched the rifle from a bemused Rize's hands. "They will see the glare of the glass, you fool. And if they are looking at us, they will have seen you pointing a weapon at them." As if to illustrate her point, a glint of light from the town ahead stopped Sam in her tracks. "There you go." She said as she raised her hands to the heavens. "Brilliant!"

"I'm sorry, Sam." Rize said meekly.

"Honestly! You're worse than children."

"Alright, you don't need to go on." Lykke interrupted angrily. "We know. You will do all of the talking. We are to say nothing."

"And do nothing! Just stand behind me and play dumb."

"Can we not at least look around and get a feel for the place?" Lykke asked hopefully.

"No! Definitely not. There will be no wandering off or getting a feel for anything. Where I go, you go. Understood?"

"Yes." Lykke sighed begrudgingly.

"Do the defences suggest that they might have problems with marauders or flesh-eaters?" Rize asked as he sought to shift the focus of their discussion.

"It might." Sam said as she unclipped the optics from the rifle and studied the settlement ahead.

"I thought you just told Rize not to use the optics." Lykke said with a satisfied smile.

"So that our position wouldn't be given away." Sam replied. "But given that he has already blown our cover, it doesn't really matter now, does it?" She continued sarcastically.

Rize cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Anyway, it could mean that they have problems, or it could just mean that they are well prepared. What I'm more interested in are those." Sam pointed to two positions in the river, one either side of the town, as she handed the optics to Rize.

"What are they?" He asked as he studied large pilings in the river.

"They line up with the outer defensive walls."

"Barriers of some kind then? To stop anybody attacking by river." Rize suggested as he handed the optics back to Sam.

"Or gates." She replied as she squinted through the optics herself. "To keep people from escaping." She said more quietly.

"Can I have a look?" Lykke did not wait for an answer as she snatched the optics from Sam's hand. She squinted as she adjusted the focus. "They are fishnets. They open one side and close the other depending on the flow of the water and trap fish inside. Honestly, the two of you always think the worst."

"If you say so." Sam said as she snatched the optics back and clicked them into their rightful position.

Lykke took no obvious delight as she strode forward in the strong light of the Winter afternoon. Not obvious to her companions at least, but anybody watching from the settlement would have seen a broad grin across her face.