{"id":701,"date":"2019-03-22T23:55:07","date_gmt":"2019-03-23T04:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.irregulardays.com\/words\/?p=701"},"modified":"2019-03-23T00:09:52","modified_gmt":"2019-03-23T05:09:52","slug":"between-rubble-and-ruin-chapter-3-same-as-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irregulardays.com\/words\/?p=701","title":{"rendered":"Between Rubble and Ruin: Chapter 3 – Same as You"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter 3: Same as You<\/span><\/p>\n

Head hung like the earth itself dangled from her chin, Patience sat crumpled on her knees, arms tied tight to a metal post behind her back. The slaver camp was nothing but a few tents and a fire that had been used to weather the previous night’s storm, but to her it felt like the inside of the most inescapable prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

The cold touch of her own knife lifted her chin. Paulson crouched in front of her and grinned, bringing Patience’s gaze to drop down in place of her head.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHave a nice night, sweetheart?\u201d He chuckled. \u201cRain wasn’t too wet?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEat a dick.\u201d she grumbled in response, turning her head from the knife. Paulson tapped it a few times against her cheek.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s no way to speak to to the one that saved that little girl.\u201d he replied with a smirk. \u201cHow do you suppose the kids are doing?\u201d Patience exhaled but couldn’t respond, so Paulson continued to talk for the both of them. \u201cFroze to death? In the stomach of a fallen maybe? Lots of ways for a couple a’ kids to meet a horrible, horrible death.\u201d She looked straight into his eyes with a growl.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShut up and kill me so I don’t have to listen to you anymore.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cKill you?\u201d he laughed mightily before his face turned to a scowl. \u201cDarling there is so much worse I can do to you.\u201d Patience tried to look resolute, but her facade wavered. In truth, she had never been more horrified. Paulson slid the flat side of the knife across her chin and stood up, face changing back to a bastard’s smile. \u201cSo get comfy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The other two occupants of the camp strode to join Paulson. One was the second gunman from back at the schoolhouse, the other was someone visible to her for the first time. He was a beast of a man, tall and strong with wild untamed hair of gold and a disheveled beard to match. A jagged hunk of metal that resembled an axe was strapped across his back while a magnum rested in the holster on his side.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShame you only got one.\u201d he said to Paulson, who nodded back. \u201cHow’d that happen again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat place was a pile of rot, floor gave.\u201dPaulson explained. \u201cLittle one fell right into a basement of fallen.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe large one glanced at Paulson’s accomplice whose eyes darted away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat right?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s right, Jeff.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHold on.\u201d Patience blurted out, looking up at the men. ‘Jeff?’ Leader of the bloodthirsty child-murdering slavers is named fucking ‘Jeff?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you expected me to be called ‘Warkiller’ or ‘Bloodeater’ or something?\u201d Jeff replied in annoyance. \u201cCan’t help what my mother called me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSomething more manly at least, Jeffrey.\u201d Patience smirked, hoping to get under the man’s skin. He smiled and took it in stride, turned to the third man and began to speak.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWas it like he says, Griff?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSee?\u201d Patience interrupted. \u201cThat’s an actual man name.\u201d Griff stared at her with mouth agape and then glanced at Jeff as if he wasn’t sure how the boss would take the badgering. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUh….\u201d Griff mumbled. \u201cNot really?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou son of a whore!\u201d Paulson exclaimed in anger, staring down his comrade.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI’m sorry.\u201d Griff retorted. \u201cI’m not going down with you!\u201d Paulson stepped towards Griff and wound back his arm.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI’m going to f-\u201d BANG! Patience and Griff flinched as Paulson hit the dirt, a fresh hole in his head.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo survivors.\u201d Jeff shrugged nonchalantly as he holstered his gun. \u201cHe never quite understood the rules<\/b><\/i>.\u201d Patience stared at the now dead raider laying an arms reach from her, his hollow eyes still somehow filled with anger. She couldn’t claim to be upset, be she sure was surprised.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cReal efficient bossing there, Jeffomundo.\u201d He smirked and crouched down so their eyes were level.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you just need to put a bullet in all of your problems, right?\u201d he stated, hand upon the grip of his holstered magnum. Patience grimaced back at him. \u201cYou understand right? After all I count that as the 4th<\/sup> one of my men you got killed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s been a pleasure!\u201d She spat.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLook at those eyes. I’ve seen those eyes before in every one of my men. You are a wolf. A born killer!\u201d Patience looked away.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can cram your ‘same as you’ speech right up that corpse’s corpsey-ass.\u201d She growled back. She wasn’t going to let him toy with her. He would not get the satisfaction. Jeff picked the knife up off the ground and glared at her with wicked eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh I’ll teach you what you are.\u201d he growled, staring her right in the eye as he lifted the knife up above his head. The knife plunged down with considerable force. Patience closed her eyes and braced for pain, expecting it to meet her body. No pain came, however, and she opened her eyes to find the knife stabbed to the hilt into the ground in-front of her, the raider boss having stood up. \u201cAs I rip the heart right out of that little girl.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He stared at her with the most wicked and frightful visage she had ever seen. Then as if brushing the situation from his shoulder he smiled, turned, and walked back towards his tent, lackey in tow. Patience was left staring at her knife a mere foot ahead, taunting her with her inability to retrieve it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Somewhere between where things were and where they are now, Judith and Carlos carefully traipsed through the woods, the evening sky piercing the canopy and bathing the forest floor in light. They followed the shadow of the old highway that towered above the trees, held up by cracking pillars that had been claimed by vines, and pushed past the rusted chain-link fences and moss-covered cars and trucks that now looked nearly natural in the way the foliage and moss had melded with them. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou look scared of it.\u201d Carlos observed, pointing to Judith who cradled her handgun as if it were as volatile as rotting dynamite, eyes darting between it and the path in front of her. \u201cWhy did you go back for it?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She looked down at the thing, her sister’s words echoing in her skull like a church bell that could not be stopped. \u201cWe’re the soldiers now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not.\u201d he rebuked, thoughts drifting out into the sky. \u201cMom always kept me safe. I wonder if she’s already back home, I hope she isn’t worried!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGo back then.\u201d Judith grumbled, stopping to look back at the boy following her towards a fight. He was just a stranger, really. They knew nothing of each other.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s okay.\u201d he smiled back. \u201cShe’s like my mom, yeah? You need your sister, so I’ll help you get her back.\u201d Judith returned the smile, briefly feeling better about the situation. She was a gentle girl, and she wasn’t going to let this ordeal change her, slavers be damned.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStill, I do hope it doesn’t take too long!\u201d Carlos clarified, casually putting his arms behind his head. \u201cI’m starting to get hungry. You ever try fruity blasters?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cF-\u201d she stammered. \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey are old world, from before. We found boxes of them back at the schoolhouse.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not sure I want my fruit to blast me.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey are crunchy and yummy, you’ll love ’em.\u201d he beamed. \u201cWhat do you eat?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cClucker eggs.\u201d she answered, suddenly wondering what happened to the poor things in the aftermath she and Patience had left behind.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder what those are.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey,\u201d she began, before realizing explaining how some funny little birds pooping out eggs (that also could contain babies) that you cook the juices of to make a soft and fluffy meal was too strange a concept to bother with. \u201cNever mind, let’s keep going!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, right!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The young girl was no tracker, but still she walked with timid purpose, southward following the general direction her sister and her captors had taken. Judith wasn’t ready to be alone out here, she needed her sister to survive and even more she simply wanted her sister to live. It was just yesterday she lost her parents, her caravan, all of her friends, and all of her things. How could she live with such despair if her sister was taken from her too? And yet as the two quietly, yet clumsily stalked the forest all her brain could find to do was imagine that death, mentally preparing her for what deep down she recognized as almost an inevitability.<\/span><\/p>\n

They cautiously hit the edge of a clearing. Judith’s eyes lit up, spotting her sister among the minuscule, yet somehow imposing camp set against the crumbled remains of one section of highway. Her head was hung and her back turned, but she was there and she was alive. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPatience!\u201d Judith half-whispered starting to bolt from the clearing. Carlos scanned the area spotting a trio of cans dangling like wind-chimes from a nearby tree. He snatched out at his new friend’s arm and yanked her back into the brush. She frowned at him only to be rebuked with a finger point towards the cans, then at a similar set at the opposite end of the clearing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWire.\u201d he whispered, tracing his finger between them. Judith quickly understood. She almost ran straight into a makeshift alarm. She felt silly, of course they would have something to warn them in the darkness last night, it would be vastly too dangerous not to.<\/span><\/p>\n

They crept ever closer around the forested perimeter, from her sister’s rear to her left. The camp was quiet and empty, but a few scattered tents could be hiding a swarm of trouble. The two tiptoed into the camp, careful to avoid unwittingly triggering and noisemakers. Her sister appearing in her peripheral, Patience’s eyes bugged out in surprise and fear. She darted her head between Judith and the tents, horrified of those within them. Of course she wanted out. Of course she was horrified to stay here, but she was even more horrified of seeing her sister share the fate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Judith whispered her sister’s name and gently hugged her while Carlos nabbed the knife and started to cut her hands free.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJudy you shouldn’t have come here.\u201d snapped Patience.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDon’t be so bossy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis belt!\u201d Carlos gasped in surprise, just a modicum too loud. \u201cThis is my mom’s!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d Patience grumbled back before realizing what that meant. The boy’s mom was that fallen. She wanted to tell him but no good could come of it at the moment. His mother was dead and gone like they would be if he wasn’t quick about that rope. \u201cFinish cutting me loose!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGo on, boy.\u201d chimed in a smug voice. \u201cCut her loose.\u201d Jeff stood outside one of the tents, weapons not yet drawn. Carlos shook off his questions and cautiously kept cutting. Filled with panic, Judith stood up and aimed her gun at him. He smirked at the shivering little girl and took a bold step forward. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShoot him, Judith!\u201d her sister screamed. Judith’s hands were shaking like a road sign in a storm. She knew she had to do it. She had to kill! Still her hands would not steady and her finger couldn’t squeeze the trigger. Jeff quickened his approach. \u201cFucking shoot him!\u201d She tried as hard as she could to calm her nerves but it was too late, he was upon her. He reached out and held the barrel of the gun with a wicked smile.<\/span><\/p>\n

Suddenly Carlos finished his work, and feeling her hands free, Patience immediately sprang forth and plowed into Jeff’s knees, bringing them both tumbling to the ground. She got atop him and tried to throw a punch but he grabbed her with one arm and ripped her from him, sending her tumbling a few feet away. He got up, pulled her to her feet and held her at his side. Hearing the commotion, Griff emerged from another tent.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRun!\u201d Patience commanded her sister as she struggled to escape her captor’s grasp. Judith however stood frozen. Carlos grabbed her arm and stared to pull her away.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI’m sorry.\u201d Judith squeaked with tears in her eyes as she turned and fled, leaving her sister to the wolves yet again. They ran into the opposite treeline from which they had entered and didn’t stop.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGet after ’em, Griff.\u201d Jeff barked to his underling.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut..\u201d he stammered. \u201cThey’re heading towards the old city!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Griff swallowed his fear and hesitantly gave pursuit, knowing what the price of disobedience could be. Jeff shoved Patience closer to the post she was once tied to, swept up one half of the rope, yanked her hands together and bound them, creating something of a leash.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat girl isn’t like us.\u201d He grunted at the solemn face before him. \u201cShe doesn’t have it. She’s not a survivor.\u201d She glared back it him, defiant eyes trying to hide the despair inside.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re wrong.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know where they are running too?\u201d he asked before chuckling to himself, her silence queuing him to continue. \u201cA city for the fallen. And so much worse.\u201d Patience scrunched her lips and swallowed in fear.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn’t over.\u201d She chided her captor. \u201cYou haven’t won.\u201d he snorted in laughter and yanked her rope, causing her to stumble forward as he pulled her towards a tent.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery one of my men was once you.\u201d he boasted as he ducked into his tent before emerging with the Miller family rifle in one hand. \u201cUntil I made them the killers they always should have been.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

To Chapter 4 –><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter 3: Same as You Head hung like the earth itself dangled from her chin, Patience sat crumpled on her knees, arms tied tight to a metal post behind her back. The slaver camp was nothing but a few tents and a fire that had been used to weather the previous night’s storm, but to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[93,4],"tags":[94],"class_list":["post-701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-between-rubble-and-ruin","category-short-stories","tag-between-rubble-and-ruin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8aGcS-bj","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irregulardays.com\/words\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irregulardays.com\/words\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irregulardays.com\/words\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irregulardays.com\/words\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irregulardays.com\/words\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=701"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.irregulardays.com\/words\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":709,"href":"https:\/\/www.irregulardays.com\/words\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701\/revisions\/709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irregulardays.com\/words\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irregulardays.com\/words\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irregulardays.com\/words\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}