The Ruins Part 2 (Sequel to The Ruins)

Chapter 17

Sam knew that voice, and in the half second before he turned, he saw Sachet's face tighten with fear. Sam turned to see Hammer, standing on the street right behind him, smiling a greasy little smile.

"Whatcha holding there, young Sammy?" Said Hammer with the slick civility he used when he was setting up a bad joke- or something worse.

Sam was suddenly aware of the card. It was small, but at that moment it felt as big as a poster. His hand trembled as of the card itself felt exposed and nervous.

The massive bounty hunter stepped closer, and his bulk blotted out the sun. It was weird, why is Hammer being close and wanting his card. And who was the boy with him?

Hammer held out a hand for the card, but Sam's fingers pressed together to hold it more tightly. It was not a deliberate act of defiance. It was more an act if protection.

"It's just a card," Sachet said. "Like the ones I did of you and White Bear. I did a couple new ones. You know, for extra ration bucks. It's nothing special."

"Nothing special?" Said Hammer, his smile as steady and false as the painted grin on a doll. "Let's see, shall we?" Hammer reached for the card the same way Dylan had. Familiar, as if he had right or an invitation born of a long-standing confidence. Sam was primed to act, and as the bounty hunter's fingers closed over a corner of the card, Sam whipped it away. Hammer grabbed nothing but air.

"No!" Blurted Sam, and he took reflexive step backward, turning to shield the car with his body.

Hammer's eyes went wide. The boy and the artist wore identical expressions of complete surprise. Sam felt the blood in his veins turn to icy gutter waters

"Boy," said Hammer in a quiet voice no longer held the lie of humour or civility, "I think you just made a mistake. I'll give you one second to make it right and then we can be friends again. Hand me that card, ad you'd better smile and say 'sir' when you do."

Hammer did not make another grab, but the threat whined his words filled the whole street.

Sam didn't move. He held the card down by his hip and out of sight. He flicked a glance at Sachet, and the Hammer had his hand resting on the gun he's carrying. There was no help there.

"Now," commanded Hammer. He held out a huge, callused hand, palm open and flat to receive the card. A stiff breeze filled with heat and blowing sand suddenly whipped out of the west. The card fluttered between Sam's fingers.

"Give him the card, Sam," urged Sachet.

"Listen to the man," agreed the Hammer, laying a hand on the artist's shoulder. The tips of his fingers dug wrinkled pits through the fabric of Sachet's shirt. Hammer stretched his hand out until his fingers were an inch from Sam's face. The bounty hunter's skin smelled like gunpowder, urine, and tobaccos.

"Boy," Hammer whispered.

"No. Why do you need it?"

"Sam."

They eyes raised to the voice who now stood in the street. Sam smiled and slid the card into his shirt pocket.

"Tom," Sam said.

"What's going on, today?"

"Just chatting, Tom," said the Hammer. "Ain't nothing."

Hammer edged a step closer to Tom. He towered over Tom, but he didn't back away and didn't look away at his gaze.

"Heard your teaching the pup? It's a risky business taking a young pup into the trade."

"Everyone should learn."

"But he looks a little soft to me like the people in town. The Ruins is a dangerous place."

"Sam's already seen and been out in the Ruins. He's just fine."

Hammer's eyes hardened to stone, and he opens his mouth to say something. Tom put a hand on Sam's shoulders. "We'll be moving on home."

He turned, pulling Sam gently, but before they went three steps, Hammer said something quietly to himself, and laughed. It was dark and ugly laugh, heavy and swollen with the promise of awful things.

He and Sam walked in silence all the way home.

"What was going on?" Tom asked as they sat on the porch. "He wanted something in the card."

"The card and I didn't want him to have it." Said Sam.

"Why?"

He reached into his pocket and gave it to Tom. He takes it, and once he looks at the portrait, his breath gasps, eyes wide and almost becoming teary. His hands shakes with the card flapping.

"-M-Mal...?"

"She's alive and well," Sam explained. "She's in the Tradepost or Sanctuary with Negan. She's alive and is a Savior. We have to find her."

"And we will. Tomorrow at dawn."

-:-:-:-

They did not sleep at all that night. They for cleaned up, ate a large high-protein meal of meat and eggs, and dressed for hiking. They packed only those supplies they needed to take, including several bottles of water, a tarp blanket, and two tough but lightweight carpet coats. They took plenty of weapons- after all, this was the Ruins and not a walk-in-the-park trip. It was a mission.

When they stepped out into the porch an hour before first light, Sam turned and looked back at their house. He never felt like at home in this place. He turned away and adjusted the straps of their packs, patted their pockets for the necessary things they would need out in the Ruins. Sam had a 9mm pistol and a wooden sword, and he had a sturdy hunting knife that Tom had told him to hang from his belt.

"Tom?" He asked.

"Yes?"

"Why did Hammer want to see the card?"

"I have a feeling they're involved of the KillGames incident. Maybe he thinks Mal was the one to destroy the place."

"So he wants her dead?"

"I believe it. Bounty Hunters like him, working with the Marion family they will do anything to bring the KillGames back, and Hammer was a friend of Charlie Marion."

"He would kill Mal just for revenge?"

"And that he works with White bear," Tom said. "White bear is new and there's rumours of the KillGames being back and rebuilt again. And Hammer is with him. If we prove evidence to Captain Strunk and the others, and Gregory, we'd be able to cast suspicion on them."

Sam nodded. "What would we say to Mal when we meet?"

Tom put his hand on Sam's shoulder and have it a single, solid squeeze. "Say hello and be happy for her, and let her answer her own questions."

They started out walking toward the fence of the Red Zone; the gates open as Tom signed the papers. Walls wide open, Infected reaching up their arms at the drums and noise.

"It's clear!" A guardsmen's said in a fierce whisper. "Go! Go!"

Once they ran outside the gate, they turned to the south and ran harder, forward towards the narrow path in the forest, and they disappeared with the forest swallowing them whole.