Days of Anarchy: Year 7

JUDAS III || The Trainer

JUDAS

The dense green trees made it seem as if the radiation hadn't reached Ashton, as if the mountain environment continued as it did before the war. Even the weather felt different; beyond the suffocating heat and dry air of No Man's Land, in Ashton, the air was humid and cold.

Judas looked at the ground; the grass was green, and the birds were chirping, very different from the sterile scenario of No Man's Land.

In front of him, they were beneath a polished stone. The man touched the cold stone's surfaces. Then a breeze touched Judas's neck; he felt a chill. That morning he cut his hair, although it was still longer than the usual standard of the other Ashton's men.

"This is where we buried the coffin," Lieutenant Gallen said as she walked towards Judas. "I think it's a good place; it's peaceful. I'm sorry, we couldn't get any permission for the town's cemetery. Mayoress Schwartz can be a bit... 'difficult' to deal with."

"It' s okay, thank you, Lieutenant," Judas replied and turned halfway, looking at the lieutenant with his large, expressionless black eyes.

Lieutenant Erica Gallen was not unattractive. She had a heart-shaped face with blue eyes and short blonde hair. She might have been in her late twenties, probably around 26 or 27 years old. But she had sacrificed her femininity to give everything she had for Ashton.

"I have a question. Who were inside the coffin? We know from El Brayan that they must have been the most important people in the world to you," the lieutenant asked.

"Do you really want to know, lieutenant?" Judas asked.

"I'm curious, but if you don't want to answer, I won't force you," Lieutenant Erica replied.

Judas then turned halfway and placed his hand on the stone, caressing it as if it were those people he had lost.

"My wife and my daughter," Judas replied. "Sierra was 28, and Debbie would have turned four next month."

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have asked," Lieutenant Gallen quickly replied.

"No, it's okay. Fernando Reyes was the one who killed them; he forced me to carry their corpses through the desert. That's why now..." Judas took a small blue hairpin that had belonged to his daughter from his coat pocket and put it in his hair. "I will kill him, so tell your mayor that I accept being her consultant," Judas replied.

"Really? That's fantastic," the lieutenant replied, giving a small jump. "You'll see that they are good guys; I've personally supervised their training to be good police officers."

"They'll be good by the city's and the old world's standards, but if they are going to function in the wasteland, they must be ready for anything," Judas thought and then left Lieutenant Gallen.

The police station had changed from what it typically should have been; now it had become four large buildings, one administrative, another where the police officers' rooms were, another housed the armory, and the last one was vacant. In the middle of the four buildings was a training area.

Judas was given a simple room, where there was a single bed, a window overlooking the training yard. It had its own bathroom and a small kitchen. But that was all. It seemed more like they had repurposed a motel.

Got it! Here is the revised text with the dashes replaced by quotation marks and "The Kings" changed to "The Reyes":

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The next morning Judas met with the recruits at the training camp. There were more than he expected, men and women, tall and robust, it was obvious they had never gone hungry. And in their faces, one could see their hopes, "poor things" Judas had thought. "They don't know what awaits them in No Man's Land." It was clear that these young people had joined the police just to find out what was in No Man's Land.