Page 66 of Calico Descending

The Alphas can take on a dozen each, perhaps, assuming Cadmus plays along, but they’re no match for guns. Dropping the tarp, I turn back to Valdys, placing my hand on his arm. When he turns, perhaps he sees the grim expression on my face as I shake my head.

Sitting back against the wall puts me in a position to peek through the small crack between the truck and the cages, to see what’s happening.

“These mutations.” What I’ve determined as the leader of the group, takes a blade out of his pocket, which he uses to dig dirt from beneath his nails. “Any females?”

“N-no.” The soldier bends forward, coughing up blood, and he spits.

“That’s too bad. Bastards out in the Deadlands ain’t too picky when it comes to pussy. Hell, I’ve seen ‘em fuck corpses, dogs, just about anything that’ll hold still long enough.” The men laugh collectively, and glancing around, the soldier lets out a nervous chuckle along with them. “Seen them fuck Legion soldiers for the fun of it.” The leader tips forward, setting his blade beneath the soldier’s chin. “‘Specially ones as … healthy looking as you.”

The man shakes his head, his face screwed up in fear.

“You get starving enough out in the Deadlands, well, hell, you get a warm hole to fuck and a meal afterward. Couple years trying to survive out here, the line between the infected and uninfected begins to blur. We’re really not much different from the Ragers. We just don’t make as much noise.”

With a jerk of his head, two men nearby drag the soldier from the bed of the truck. As he screams and kicks, Valdys directs his attention upward, and I know what he’s thinking. The mutations.

Before I can stop him, he pushes the black button on the side, flips the switch, and the leader snaps his attention in our direction.

My stomach balls into tight knots as the beep beep beep sounds the alarm. The woman’s robotic voice draws the men in. The door slides open. That harrowing screech is the only warning before the screams set in.

The truck shakes as thunks sound the mutation’s footsteps.

“Oh, fuck!” The leader’s voice is brimming with terror, and the gunshots must set it off, because I hear its claws scratching against the metal truck like it’s scrambling for traction.

Closing my eyes, I listen as the mutation seems to wreak havoc on the crowd of men outside, and when I dare a peek, my suspicions are confirmed. I watch from beneath the tarp as men scatter away from the big, translucent creature swiping out at them. Limbs fly in the air, where he’s gotten hold of some. One man’s innards shoot upward, as his severed legs fall just short of the truck. They fire their guns, wounding it, but the mutation keeps coming at them.

Valdys signals Titus to follow him, and I lurch forward.

“What are you doing?”

“Stay put,” he commands, and the two of them exit the truck.

I twist around and lift the tarp again, to see Valdys passing beneath me, on the way to the front cab. In the distance, the mutation chases after men, who run off into the darkness. Some clamber onto motorcycles, only managing to fire up the engines, before they’re torn away from the seat. The truck engine fires up, too, and I breathe easy, closing my eyes, as it sets into motion.

Something cold hits my forehead, and I open my eyes to find the barrel of a gun against it.

Behind the leader, one of the marauders holds Neela against him, his hand tight over her mouth, as she squirms in his arms.

Across from us, Cadmus rocks back and forth, rubbing his skull. Useless to us.

One scream. That’s all it would take to alert Valdys.

I suspect it’d be my last.

As if he can read my mind, the barrel slides down to my lips, and he pushes past my teeth until I’m practically swallowing his gun.

“What treasure, stumbling upon you and your friend, here.” He strokes the top of my head. “I like the way my gun looks down your throat.”

I breathe hard through my nose, the bitter taste of steel and gunpowder burning my tongue.

Snaking his arm beneath mine, he lifts me to my feet and guides me by the barrel of his gun out of my hiding spot. Three other marauders stand inside the truck, bloodied and wounded. At his signal, they dive out the back, falling onto the dirt.

Once at the edge of the bed, the leader removes the gun, and as I open my mouth to scream, he shoves me from behind. The unforgiving, gravelly surface smacks into my face, as I skid across the dirt, the stones tearing into my skin when I fall. Neela tumbles out after me. Then Cadmus. The two men follow.

I scramble to my feet and scream, waving my hands in the air. “Valdys! Valdys!” My screams are drowned by the rattling of the crates, and the roar of the engine speeding off. “Valdys!” The surrounding darkness conceals me, as I watch the lights of the vehicle disappear into the darkness.

He’ll come for me, of course. For all of us.

And if he finds us, I pray it’s not too late. That we’re all still alive.

---