Shaun Jeffrey: Dead World

“What about my family?” Isaiah asked.

The scavenger crouched down inspecting marks on the ground. “They were here.”

“So where are they now?”

The scavenger stood up and peered down the road. “Looks as though they were taken.”

“Taken? Where? Why?”

“I don’t know. One thing I can tell you, if the Demons have them, they’re as good as dead.”

Isaiah felt as though someone had punched him in the heart. “They can’t be.”

Anna stared at one of the camp fires, the flames from which chased flickering shadows through the trees. She was too far away to feel any warmth from the flames, but she heard the crackle of wood and smelled the smoke that blanketed the floor like low level fog.

A figure sat next to the fire, stirring a large pot suspended above the flames.

She heard footsteps and glanced up to see a man walking towards her. He crouched down, undid the shackles either side of Anna and her family and pulled them to their feet.

“Follow me,” he snapped.

By the light of the fires Anna saw that tears had left streaks down Lucy’s dirty cheeks and her heart sank.

The man led them to where Jones was sitting next to a fire.

“You can’t keep us prisoner like this,” Anna said.

A log rolled out of the fire. Jones used his boot toe to push it back in place. He peered up at Anna and grinned.

“I can do whatever the hell I want. Out here, I’m the law. Now I wanna know where you’ve come from. How many of yer are there?”

“Go to hell.”

Jones laughed. “Haven’t yer realized yet? We’re already in hell.”

“Please. Let us go,” Lucy sobbed.

Jones looked her up and down and reached out and brushed the back of his hand along Lucy’s arm. A sick lump filled Anna’s throat. Lucy shuddered and pulled away, and Anna pulled her daughter to her chest, away from Jones.

“Someone as pretty as ‘er will be worth a lot in trade. But I’m a business man. I’m open to negotiation. What can yer offer me in return?”

Lucy shuddered.

“I don’t have anything.”

Jones chuckled, his eyes reflecting the flames. “I wouldn’t say that.”

“You lay one finger on her and I’ll kill you.”

Jones and the men nearby laughed. Jones licked his lips.

“It’s not my finger I want to lay on ‘er.”

Anna wrestled against the shackles, but to no avail. Jones seemed to take little interest. He stood and squared his shoulders, all business.

“Tell me where yer’ve come from, and you and yer family will be free to go.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Yer’re a good judge of character, because I wouldn’t believe me either. So let me put it this way. Tell me what I want to know, or I’ll kill you here and now, starting with yer kids.” He withdrew a long knife from a sheath on his belt and held in the flames. When the blade started to glow orange he withdrew the knife and spat on the blade, making it hiss.

In a flash, he grabbed Ben’s face with one hand and brought the blade close to his eyes. Ben squirmed within his grasp and tried to kick out but the shackles constricted his movements. Jones gazed sideways at Anna. “Blade as hot as this, his eyeballs are going to explode like a couple of fried eggs.”

Zeke shook the manacles on his wrist, fists bunched. “Leave him alone you son of a bitch.”

Jones grinned.

“Please don’t hurt him. Please,” Anna said. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

Jones removed the knife. “I didn’t doubt it for a minute.”

Anna stared in awe at the crumbling city. She had never seen so many buildings. Most of the structures were overgrown with ivy and various plants. Others had collapsed and lay in piles of rubble.

They had been marching most of the morning and the shackles had chaffed Anna’s ankles. The road was hard to navigate in places as the surface was cracked and uneven and plants, bushes and trees sprouted from within.

Jones held his hand up and the riders came to a halt. He jumped down, cigar between his lips as he surveyed the buildings, hand on the grip of his pistol. His men manned their guns. They all seemed jittery.

Anna saw movement and watched as a dirty figure dressed in rags suddenly appeared out of one of the buildings and held a cloth-wrapped hand up. More figures started appearing from the derelict structures.

“Captain. You have something to trade today?”

Jones removed his cigar and whistled loudly. His men pulled the prisoners forward.

“Should be something here that takes yer fancy.”

The dirty man scooted across the rubble and walked along the line of prisoners. He prodded and poked them as he went, squeezing their arms and stomachs. Anna flinched when he reached her. The man stared at her for a moment, then moved on. He paused at Zeke, squeezing the teen’s arms, as if testing his biceps, lifted his shirt to peer at his stomach and sides.

Anna held her breath; her eyes wide as she observed the man touching her son.

The man licked his lips, and after a moment he moved on. The elderly woman behind Lucy shuddered, holding back sobs. She kept her head down, visibly shaking. Once he reached the end of the line, the man came back, tapping the larger and heaviest people on the shoulder.

“This one. This one. Him. Her. This one definitely,” he said. When he reached Zeke again, he appraised him, seemed about to touch him on the shoulder, but moved on.

Anna breathed a sigh of relief. Zeke’s shoulders slumped. He appeared about to collapse.

“OK, separate them,” Jones said.

His men unlocked the tagged prisoners and pulled them aside. A woman started crying.

“So what have you got in return?” Jones asked.

The dirty figure waved his people forwards and they came carrying old rusty tins of food and drink that they had scavenged from the ruined city. While the food was old, it preserved well and didn’t seem to have gone off.

The man held up one finger, signalling Jones to wait. He grinned, revealing crooked yellow teeth. “For you.” He reached into his dirty clothing and pulled out a couple of packets of cigars that he tossed across. “I scavenged them myself. An extra gift.”

Jones caught the cigars, nodded and stuffed them in his shirt pocket. “Right, load up.”

Several of his troops accepted the produce and loaded the supplies on a horse drawn cart. The others led the remaining prisoners back.

Zeke was pushed into line behind Anna. “What’s going to happen to those people?” he asked.

Anna stared over her shoulder as the chosen prisoners were pushed into the shadows of the buildings, sobbing. She shook her head as she was roughly manhandled back into line.

“What’s going on?” Lucy asked.

As they were led away, Anna noticed something lining the road, and it took her a couple of moments to realise they were bones. Human bones.

A scream echoed out of the city, quickly joined by another and another. Screams of unmitigated pain. Lucy jumped, and Zeke peered over at his mother, eyes wide. Anna stumbled, her legs going weak.

“Now perhaps you’ll believe me” the old woman said. “There is no escape.”

Isaiah and his companions stared at the crumbling city.

“How do we even know they’ve come this way?” Roman asked.

“The tracks lead this way,” a scavenger said. He pointed to the hoof marks in the dust.

One of the brethren stepped forwards and shielded his eyes with his hand. “So what is that place?”

Nobody replied.

Roman started walking forwards. “Come, on, let’s get closer.”

The group trekked towards the nearest building. As they approached, Isaiah saw the human bones lining the road and he blanched. “Have you seen those?” He pointed at the bones.