The Wasteland Soldier, Book 1, A Fractured World

Twelve

Stone's face showed nothing. His hands were still. His heart beat steady. He couldn't believe he had slept for so long.

Lucas took several steps back, Stone's revolver in one hand, boot knife in the other. He crept across to Tomas, moving lightly for a man his size, and shoved him off his stool, quickly seizing the crossbow. As Tomas hit the floor, Lucas drove his boot hard into his chest, knocking the wind out of him. Stone felt his fists clench but his revolver was aimed directly at him and he would never cover the distance. Lucas kicked Tomas again and now Emil was awake, her tortured dreams a reality. She wiped her stained face with her sleeve and tried to wrestle her hands free but the rope was too tight. Her face filled with shock as she saw Tomas curled on the floor, gasping for air, Lucas kicking him.

"This is how it's going to happen," he said, breathing laboured. "I'm taking your weapons, the girl and my bike. You get to keep your lives and nothing else."

He began sawing through the rope binding Emil's wrists.

"You have a choice, miss, of coming with me to Chett and taking your chances or setting off on your own away from these two."

"You can't trust him," winced Tomas, clutching his stomach.

"I can't trust you, either," she said, rubbing her wrists. "I saved your life and you tied me up."

Lucas handed her his knife so she could free her legs whilst he loaded weapons and packs onto his bike. He kept his aim on Stone, knowing he was the more dangerous of the two men. Crouching, he pulled free the wedge holding the door shut. It was light outside, scraps blowing in the wind, the air chilly, the road and land deserted. He climbed onto his bike, grabbed Emil by her arm and swung her onto the bike behind him.

"Put your arms around me," he said. "Stick on this helmet ..."

She drove the knife into his throat, feeling it sink deep into the flesh. She yanked it free and the blood spurted at her. Lucas screamed and dropped the revolver. Stone sprang from the booth. Emil leapt from the bike and snatched the gun from the floor. The bike toppled over with a loud crash and Lucas went with it. His face turned deathly white and he was shaking violently as he bled from the terrible wound. He gasped and his arms jerked wildly.

Emil flashed the blood stained knife and revolver in her shaking fists.

"We're not going to tie you up again," said Tomas. "I promise."

"Then why did you?" she said. "I know he was going to trade me for a better life. You two are just the same."

"Emil ..."

Stone snatched the revolver from her. He aimed and fired, the bullet hitting Lucas in the skull, ending his misery. The blood stained knife slipped through Emil's fingers and clattered to the floor. She fell into Tomas's arms, crying loudly, exhausted. He curled her against his chest and held her. She was trembling uncontrollably. He could smell the dirt of scavenging in her hair. Stone crouched next to Lucas and frowned at a series of markings burned into his arm. A sequence of shapes. He had never seen anything like it before. He got back to his feet and went back to the map he had fallen asleep with last night.

Walk. Breathe. Survive. Wait.

"I kept the name," he said.

Emil wiped mucus from her nose; she peeled away from Tomas and stared at him.

"What did you say?"

"I kept the name," repeated Stone, tapping his head with the barrel of his revolver. "In here."

"That's enough ... leave some of them alive ... not the children ... spare some of the children..."

"What you are, this thing they call you, it can get us through the city gates," he said. "This map will get us all out."