World Of Sin

Chapter 9

"Wake up you lazy town boy!" J.C boomed. "It's time for the hunt!"

Nick suddenly woke up, still in the clothes that he wore last night. He looked at J.C hazily. The hulking man was dressed for a hunt; Camouflaged clothing, nice, sturdy boots, and a crossbow for silent kills. Nick wordlessly got up and he picked up his rifle. J.C told him that he woudl have to borrow his camouflage jacket to blend in a bit since they had nothing for him. Nick accepted it, though it was a bit large on him.

They found Tony and Amy already prepared. It was funny to see Amy in one of J.C's jackets. Nick almost laughed. She did the same. Tony interrupted the brief joyfulness and told them the plan.

"J.C's thinks the boar lives in these three areas." Tony pointed to three x's on a map of the area. "We'll try to search these three places and catch the little bastard red-handed. You kids have to be on high alert. These things ain't nice and cuddly. If either of you two see it, tap us on the shoulder. We can't risk the thing getting away. Nick, try to let J.C finish the job with with crossbow unless the thing's charging at you. Don't waste ammo on it. Got that?"

They nodded and the hunt was on.

They approached the den slowly. Nick's heart thumped. Boars were dangerous and he didn't' want to be on the wrong end of one. They crouched in the grass and waited for a bit. Nick couldn't stand the silence. He wanted that damn boar to come out do he could shoot it. J.C told them that this was not the den and they moved on.

The sun had came out, so they expected the boar to be resting after a long nights foraging. This was the last one that they had to check. J.C was certain that this one had to be the boar's den. He spotted tracks directly leading to it. They crouched behind a bunch of foliage and waited. It felt like forever to Nick. He imagined that hunting would be a bit more...exciting. He guessed that would happen when your being charged at by a boar.

Then Nick spotted something. A large, brown animal that was feeding on some plants. The boar. The others were completely unaware of it. Nick raised his rifle, but then he remembered to let J.C finish the job. He tapped Tony on the shoulder, "I spotted it." He whispered.

Tony turned and saw it. "J.C, over there." He pointed to the boar. J.C aimed the crossbow at it's head. He angled the shot and fired.

The boar was dead. The bolt penetrated the boar's eye. J.C smiled, "Hell yes! The damn thing didn't know what hit it!"

"Tony congratulated J.C. "Nice shot man. Never knew you were that good with a crossbow."

"You have a lot of time on your hands out here." J.C went up to the downed boar and took the bolt out. "We'll need to skin it and prepare a meal." He picked the body up effortlessly. "Anyone up for some boar?"

They all sat around a campfire. The boar meat was delicious. J.C served it with wild berries and some vegetables straight from his garden. Amy asked J.C to tell them about the world before. "You sure?" He said

"Yeah. I wanna know."

J.C told his tale. "The world before." He put a hand on his chin. "Where should I start? Aha. OK, I heard the guys in town, you know, before I self-exiled myself. They talked about this all the time. Sunday night football, hot dogs on the grill. They would talk 'bout late night movies and drinking Starbucks coffee. Hell, all that stuff existed, but it wasn't peaceful. On Sunday night, you wondered if the Chinese er whatever would invade you city. Happened in L.A 'nd places like that. I would know, 'cause I was one the soldiers that was in the fall of L.A." His face darkened. "Some of the citizens tried to be heroes, but what can an AR-15 do to a new model Chinese hovercraft? Hell. The army sent in troops quickly and we went to work."

Nick intervened, "You were a soldier?"

"Yep. Then we retreated. The army wasn't what it used to be. It took some time, but the West Coast was liberated soon enough. Then we had to go clean up in the east."

"What do you mean by 'clean up'?" Amy asked.

"Enemies on that front too ya know. I only spent a few months there until the rebellion started. You know, the citizens revolted since the government changed a lot. The army was divided. Some wanted to help the rebel cause, others were loyal to the new government. We split and I went on the rebel side. Then the government released that virus, BS-12? Yeah. That one. Spread like wildfire. It was meant for the rebels ya know. Took the lives of many government biggies too. You should have seen it. So many people tried to evacuate to Mexico and Canada. Then they were evacuating those places too." J.C's face was dismal. Tony almost ridiculed Amy for asking him to tell this, but he said that it was OK.

"So." Amy started. "What happened next?"

J.C was in full swing, "It reached Europe and Asia. Places like those. Hell, them people already experienced their own collapse, so the plague just made things worst. OK, lets go back to good ol' 'Murcia. " J.C laughed at his own statement. "The rebels were having lots of trouble, between BS-12, some of the famines that occurred, and the new government, they couldn't handle the pressure. The government hadn't fared any better. They collapsed five years after America was liberated. The remnants retreated to Honolulu and left all of us for dead."

"Wow." Amy said. "Sounds horrible. Just leaving all of those citizens to fend for themselves."

"It's worst than you think little girl. It would have been smart if the rebels had stayed together. Re-build the nation. That's not what happened. The rebels had lots of internal conflict. We couldn't agree on many things. Soon enough the solution was simple: Split The U.S between themselves. I came with. The group that got Texas and the surrounding states. We built a little town near Corpus Christ, Providence."

"You helped build Providence?" Nick and Amy said simultaneously.

"Yep."

"What about the other towns?" Nick wondered.

J.C chuckled, "They were already here. Texas was long since abandoned by the government before the rest of America. We still could have re-built Texas at least, but many of my comrades thought that they were safer in their little town."

"Why?" Nick thought that was stupid on their part.

"There were many lawless gangs roaming the state. It took lots of time to even get to the coast. They thought that it was best if things were left the way they were." J.C paused. "So Tony, yesterday I heard you mention a Page right?"

"That's true." Tony replied.

"I know him if it's the right Page. He's the son of a general. The guy still commands some of the remnants of the army. Probably the same army that attacked during the Resistance war. You know, when some army forces tried to take over? I knew him during my..." He stopped for a few seconds, and then continued, "Former life. Nothing good could possibly come out of him." He got up. "I'm gonna rest a bit."

With that he left and entered the house.

Nick thought that his training had ended the first second he stepped out of Providence. He was dead wrong.

"You've done well." J.C commented as he examined Nick. "He's fairly in shape, but how does he fair in combat?"

Tony answered. "He's good with a gun..."

"No." J.C barked. "Real combat. Knives, bats, fists."

"You'll have to find out."

Nick gulped. "How?"

"Try to punch me." J.C challenged.

Tony intervened, "Take it easy on him J.C, he is only sixteen."

Nick swung his fist at J.C's face. He easily blocked it and pushed Nick back a bit. "Come on Nicky, gimme a challenge!" He taunted.

"No fair!" Nick protested. "You knew I was going to punch you!"

J.C lunged at him and Nick moved quickly. Nick tried to knock the big man down, but it proved futile. J.C had him in a headlock soon enough. "He needs a lot more trainin'. J.C declared.