Kade Read online

  “What say we eat some more of that stew before we go?” Wilson asked. “What kind of meat was that? It was really good.”

  “You probably don’t want to know,” Bella said. “I’ve had rat before.”

  “That was rat?”

  “Yep,” I said.

  He was silent for a second, “What the hell? It was the best rat I’ve ever eaten. Should I get it out of the cooler?”

  I laughed. “Yeah. Let’s eat well before we leave. We’re all probably gonna die anyway.”

  “Aren’t you just a ray of sunshine?” Wilson asked.

  “Expect the worst…”

  “Shut up.”

  “You’re doomed to a life of disappointment, Wilson.”

  “That’s ok,” he said. “I think I can live with the disappointment. I’ll keep my hopes, thank you very much. Now pass me some of that rat stew.”

  We left by the same route we had entered my house, and we once again headed west into the next Zone. It was run by a man named Devin. He pretty much kept to himself, but there were usually some cutthroats around his Zone at night. We were traveling during the day.

  “Should be fairly easy crossing Devin’s,” Wilson said.

  “Probably get ambushed.”

  “Keep those sorts of things to yourself, Kade,” he said. “I don’t need your negativity.”

  “Sure,” I said. “But I just want ya prepared for what’s about to happen.”

  “Ah, shit.”

  “Yep.”

  “Did we forget to tell you about the huge bounty on Kade’s head, Bella?”

  “I don’t remember hearing anything about bounties,” she said. “I’m assuming this group of bravos are here to collect?”

  “That would be my guess.”

  The leader of the group of twenty stopped in front of the rest.

  “Mathew Kade!” he said. “I’m about to collect…Gack!”

  “What was that?” I asked.

  He gurgled. It’s hard to speak with a knife sunk four inches into your throat.

  He tumbled to the ground, and those around him stood there with their mouths hanging open.

  “Hell with this!” I said, and I began snatching knives and throwing them. Eight men were down before any reacted. Arrows flew into several. Wilson had drawn his sword but decided to hang back as the missiles kept flying.

  Three managed to flee down an alley.

  I walked out to the moaning group and retrieved my knives, which I cleaned on their shirts and sheathed.

  “Interesting conversation,” Wilson said. “A little brief, don’t ya think?”

  “I’m tired of trying to talk these dumb asses out of tryin’,” I said. “Gettin’ rid of idiots helps strengthen the gene pool.”

  “So, why did I run through a Zone and a half yesterday?”

  “They had guns.”

  “They weren’t very accurate with ‘em,” he said.

  “You’re just mad cause you had to run.”

  “Well, yeah,” he said. “What’s that sort of thing gonna do to my reputation?”

  “Not as much as sitting there with your thumb up your butt while we handled this bunch.”

  “I took care of most of Corso’s bunch,” he said. “You owed me one.”

  “That’s how it is?”

  “Boys, boys,” Bella interrupted, “don’t you think we should move along before we have to answer a bunch of questions?”

  “Probably right,” I said. “Come on, ya big baby. I’ll try not to make ya run anymore.”

  He sniffed and sheathed his sword.

  I laughed.

  We continued after I stopped and retrieved a revolver from the leader.

  “What are the odds?” I asked. “It’s the same caliber as the other one. I could be a gunslinger.”

  “That’s a pretty good name,” Wilson said. “You make that one up?”

  “Kids these days,” I said. “Pre-Fall stuff.”

  “Figures.”

  I shoved the pistol into my waistband. Another might be handy.

  We headed south as Devin’s guards passed us, heading north in a hurry.

  “Late to the party,” Wilson said as we continued.

  “Typical,” I said.

  “There is a great deal of chaos in the central city Zones,” Bella said. “Wilderman keeps his Zone under control for the most part.”

  “They say Kathrop keeps hers under control, too,” Wilson said.

  “She does,” I said. “Been there a few times. Difference between the local Zones and hers is like night and day. Stiner’s is probably the only one that’s safe to travel at night, locally. Kathrop’s has a booming nightlife. There are some incidents, but she comes down on the culprits like a hammer.”

  “Maybe I should visit there sometime,” Wilson said. “Would like to see a place where people walk around at night without bein’ attacked by cutthroats and bravos.”

  “You should visit Wilderman’s, then,” Bella said. “He has much the same sort of control over his Zone. It doesn’t have the party nightlife that Kathrop’s has, but it’s safe to travel, night or day.”

  “It would be an interesting place to visit,” I said. “But you’d get bored in a week when no one picked a fight, and then you’d have to come home.”

  “Maybe I’d like to settle down.”

  “Wilson, people like us don’t settle down,” I said. “But maybe we can make a situation where others might be able to.”

  “That’s what the Society stands for,” he said. “It’s one of the first things they teach us when we get there.”

  “Teresa is good people,” I said. “She had a rough time after the Fall, but she’s tryin’ to make a difference. Maybe it’s time for a difference.”

  “Comin’ up on Franco’s Zone,” Wilson said. “He shouldn’t be a problem. He spends most of the time hiding in his Scraper from the Circus freaks. I think he’s just waitin’ for the Circus Clowns to come and absorb his Zone.”

  “Heard about the last time the Circus expanded,” Bella said. “They crucified anyone who objected to the merge.”

  They had lined the streets with crosses and stakes. Half had been crucified, and the others were impaled on the stakes. It’s a horrible way to die, and it instilled a terror of the Clowns that does the work for them now.

  “Figure the Circus will keep expanding ‘til they meet something to stop ‘em,” I said. “They run into the Society if they expand north. I expect ‘em to go south when they try to grow again.”

  The streets were quiet. Which, in a normal Zone would be ominous, but here, the day was quiet. The night was when all the freaks came out. Franco may have been the Warlord of the Zone, but it was in name only. His Zone was already run by the Circus. He just didn’t realize it.

  “You see that?” Wilson asked.

  “Yeah.”

  At the corner of the Scraper stood a Clown, almost as big as Wilson. His face was painted a ghastly white with a huge red smile over his mouth. Once, this paint had been a sign of joy and fun. Now it instilled terror in those who looked upon it.

  We strode past the Clown toward the Circus. His eyes followed our progress, and he pulled a two-way radio from his colorful shirt.

  “They know we’re here,” I said. “At least, we won’t have to hunt ‘em down.”

  “I’m so relieved,” Wilson said.

  “Joy,” Bella agreed.

  “When we run into someone, Bella, stay as far back as you can. These guys are fast. If you shoot, shoot at one that’s not lookin’ at ya. If they see you shoot, they’ll catch the arrow or bat it aside. They’re that fast.”

  “Gotcha,” she said.

  “Wilson,” I said, “if it comes down to a rumble, use the length of that blade. Don’t let ‘em in close.”

  “Right.”

  Clowns began to enter the street from the south. All of them were painted and wearing brightly colored clothes. The weapons didn’t look bright or colorful. There were
swords, clubs, massive hammers, and several guns amid the thirty-eight Clowns that arrayed themselves in front of us.

  “Looks like we’re a few Clowns short of the Circus.” I giggled.

  Who said you can’t laugh a little in this Fallen World?

  * * * * *

  Chapter 9

  “Mathew Kade,” one of the Clowns said and stepped forward.

  “Blinky?” I asked. “Is that you?”

  The Clown chuckled. “Most people start screaming when we talk to them. I think I like you.”

  “Oh, look,” Wilson said. “You’ve made best friends with a Clown.”

  “You, I don’t like.”

  “I’ll try to contain my disappointment,” he said.

  “Told ya,” I said. “Now you’re disappointed again.”

  Wilson let out a long sigh.

  “I’ve got questions to ask you, Clown,” I said. “If your boy gets any closer behind us, he’s gonna have a bad day.”

  A slight frown crossed his face, and a minute shake of his head stopped the large Clown we had seen on the way through from moving any closer.

  “Nothing is free at the Circus.”

  “Then I’ll swap question for question.”

  “We deal in scrip,” the Clown said. “But there are some things I would like to know. Deal.”

  “Maddy Hale,” I said. “What happened?”

  He grimaced.

  “I already know you have a deal with Drekk to hold his victims until ransom is paid. What happened to the girl?”

  “She disappeared in transit from Golon to the Circus. We lost two of our agents in the process.”

  “She was never here?”

  “Question for question.”

  I nodded.

  “You worked for Obsidian. Rumor has it you were in the imprinter when the nukes dropped. Is this true?”

  “Yes,” I said. “She never made it to the Circus, so where did they disappear?”

  “Their path would have been Simms, Overton, Jeffreys, Kort, Dozet, then here. Dozet never saw them, Simms did. They disappeared in Overton’s, Jeffreys’, or Kort’s Zone. Is it true multiple imprints dropped in your head and drove you crazy?”

  “Yes. How do you know what happened at Obsidian?”

  The change in my questions set him back a little. He figured I’d ask more about the girl. I had enough information about that, but his knowledge of Obsidian bothered me.

  “The majority of those you see here are imprinted. Corporate Guard.”

  “Are you trying to piss me off, Clown?” I asked in disgust. “How does a Corporate Guard become this…abomination?”

  “I’m going to treat that as a single question,” he said. “We’re doing our job.”

  The job of a Corporate Guard is simple. Protect Corporate Heads. The ramifications of what the Clown had just told me were ominous. One or more Corporate Heads were behind the Circus.

  “How many imprints did the machine dump in you? Are they accessible?”

  “I’ll also treat that as one question,” I said. “And it is the last question. It dropped the database. Now, I’ll give you a warning.”

  His eyes narrowed.

  “You tell your bosses I said they are a disgrace. They were part of a civilized world; there’s no excuse for becoming…this,” I said. “Pray your path doesn’t cross mine again; the next time I come to the Circus, I’ll burn it down. In answer to the last question, yes.”

  He took an involuntary step backward. He knew a lot about the imprint database. Enough to be scared.

  “You’re gonna take that shit from this piece of…” said a voice from the left edge of the group of Clowns.

  “Shut that idiot up, Funboy!”

  Two Clowns closed on the outraged Clown. He snarled and grabbed his knife with amazing speed and hurled it.

  I caught it and hurled it back. The two Clowns closing on the knife thrower caught his limp form as he sank backward with his own knife handle jutting from his right eye.

  “You want to dance this dance?” I asked, staring out of the dead eyes of someone else. “We can dance right now.”

  “Back off, guys,” the Clown said. “Kade and his companions are leaving.”

  “Smart choice, Clown,” I said, with a smile that made the man flinch.

  We turned east and walked away.

  Kort was the closest Zone to where we were, so that’s where we were going. We walked almost the length of the Zone before Wilson said a word.

  “I’ve never seen anything like that, Kade,” he said. “Clowns don’t back down, ever. What the hell were you talkin about? Imprints, databases? Who the hell are you, Kade?”

  “Old World shit, Wilson,” I said. “I’m just a leftover from a dead civilization.”

  “What’s an imprint?”

  “Old World tech,” I said. “There were worse things than Clowns back then.”

  “I still can’t believe they backed down,” he said. “I expected to die right there.”

  “See, you’re not disappointed at the outcome,” I said. “That’s what I’ve been sayin’ all along.”

  “See what I have to put up with?” he asked Bella. He was regaining his composure.

  “You could leave,” she suggested.

  “Then Teresa would probably cut me up in tiny little pieces.”

  “I guess you’re just doomed,” she said.

  “What excuse do you have?” he asked. “You can leave anytime.”

  “And lose the chance to use that enormous bathtub again? I think not.”

  “That was pretty nice,” he said.

  I chuckled and continued into the territory of a Warlord named Oliver Miz. He owned a single block with one Scraper. He was harmless. He spent his days fretting over which of his neighbors was coming to swallow his territory. Franco, Tully, Dozet, or Xeno.

  “The first thing we have to do is spread out and ask questions in Kort’s Zone,” I said. “It would have been a small Caravan with closed wagons. The prisoner or prisoners would have been hidden from sight. May have been as small as one wagon and guards. Shoulda asked what sort of group it was while questioning the Clowns.”

  “We could go back,” Bella said.

  “No, thank you,” Wilson said.

  “Probably not an option,” I said. “I made a promise.”

  “Yea, I heard that,” Bella said. “I’ve got matches.”

  “It’s a blight on this city,” Wilson said. “Which is saying a lot, as screwed up as this city is.”

  “The Circus’ day will come,” I said. “We have enough information to find out what happened. We just have to ask questions. And keep an eye out for more of Blechley’s bounty hunters.”

  Miz’s Zone was busier than Franco’s. But there were no Clowns on the street so people weren’t hiding wherever they could. The Clowns were known to be mean, twisted freaks. No one was safe when the Clowns were on the streets.

  “No reason we should start askin’ questions before Kort’s Zone, is there?” Wilson asked. “Do you trust the Clowns’ information?”

  “Actually, I do,” I said. “They lost men, so it would benefit them to learn where the threat is. And, for a bonus, they get to send us in first.”

  “I’m not sure I’m happy doin’ the Clowns’ work,” he said.

  “Me neither,” I said. “But we’re doin’ my work, not the Clowns’. I wouldn’t give one shit about their men if our girl weren’t a victim, too. It would actually serve the bastards right to lose men when they do things like this.”

  We turned south and crossed into Dozet’s Zone. There were still plenty of people out in the streets, but there were a lot more bravos leaning against walls or signposts.

  “Keep your eyes open,” I said. “More of the unsavory sort here.”

  “None of ‘em want any of this,” Wilson said. “I think the body count over the last few days has begun to trickle down.”

  “I see a lot of ‘hell no’ comments on their lips,�
� Bella said. “Reading lips is one of those handy skills I picked up.”

  “That would be a handy skill,” I said.

  “It’s useful.”

  “When we hit Kort’s, we should split up. We need to cover most of the Zone, and it would be quicker if we split,” Wilson said.

  “I’ll hit the Scraper,” Bella said. “I spend a lot of time with that sort in Wilderman’s.”

  “I’ll take the bars,” Wilson said.

  “Alright,” I said. “I’ll work the street.”

  “Sounds good,” Bella said.

  I saw a fruit stand beside the Scraper and turned that way. I pulled a quarter from a pocket and smiled at the lady behind the counter. She saw the coin, and her eyes widened.

  I normally don’t deal with the vendors from the Scrapers. I’m not interested in giving money to those who already have it, but I needed bargaining power on the streets of Kort’s Zone. The fruit would buy more good will than Old World coins.

  I left with a fairly large sack of apples and pears. There were some plums and peaches in the mix as well. I guessed there was a small orchard on top of one or more of the buildings in Dozet’s Zone.

  We crossed into Kort’s without incident.

  “Meet back in two hours on the other side of the Zone,” I said. “We should be able to find out if anything happened here by then.”

  “Sounds good,” Bella said and headed straight for the nearest of the two Scrapers in Kort’s.

  Wilson nodded and headed down the street toward a ramshackle building built near the mouth of an alley.

  I walked down the center of the street. After I passed the Scraper, I began walking near the right side. There was an old woman sitting near a stoop on one of the smaller buildings. She looked wary as I closed the distance between us.

  I reached into my bag and pulled out an apple. I handed it to the woman.

  “Hello, Gran,” I said. “I need some information. I’m not from this area, and I wondered if you might know the best place to find out what’s been goin’ on around here.”

  She pulled a small blade from her side and sliced a small piece of apple. She ate the piece with a look of joy.

  “You should talk to Rega,” the woman said. “She sets up shop down the alley behind the next building. She hears more than any of us, considering the particular thing she sells.”