Future Unleashed Read online

  I stepped forward, weapon ready and eyes open, then I waved Tegan and Lyman up to my side. There was no need for stealth. Not anymore.

  Tegan hissed in anger at the scene. The frames of several buildings still smoldered, with occasional tongues of flame licking upward. A pair of horses lay dead, their bodies charred and twisted. I saw the remains of a small wagon or truck, the metal blistered so badly I couldn’t tell what color the paint had been.

  Then I saw the bodies.

  They hung from a line string between two posts, their hands bound, partially clothed, and quite dead. There were six—four adults, two children, and something else at the far end of the line.

  A pair of hands tied to the line, and nothing else.

  “Seven,” I ground out.

  “Eight,” Tegan said, her eyes focused on a shape half covered by some brush. “they put up a fight, it seems. Looks like a small pitched battle happened here,” she said, scuffing at a wide patch of disturbed earth. There were broken stones, the odd fossilized shell, and clay smeared across an area that was a rough circle. Something violent had unfolded there, and I saw what looked like a broken rifle and the shattered haft of an axe, its head bent, scarred, and covered in muck.

  “This place is---a battle, but why here? What the fuck happened?” I asked as my eyes drifted back up to the horrors before me.

  I walked toward the feet—they were bare, and smeared with blood—and pulled back some of the branches to reveal a boy of ten or so, his face untouched, pale, and very still. His shirt was soaked with blood, but only on one side. I lifted the cloth to reveal a massive wound, the edge clean and even. A surgical cut, not a wound of war.

  “What happened to him?” Tegan asked in a quiet voice. Lyman said nothing, but judging by his face, he couldn’t have spoken if he wanted to. There was an air of violation around the farm, and it pressed on us with a bullying menace.

  “Parts of him are gone,” I said. “Stolen.” I lifted his arm, and there was something off about it. Then I realized. He’d been drained of blood, and not by an animal. There was a plastic nozzle sticking from his leg with a few drops of blood clinging to the smooth surface. “They took his blood.”

  “Why?” Lyman managed to say.

  I knelt next to the boy and began to look him over with a critical eye. It was gruesome, but it had to be done. When I spread one of his hands, the skin felt like marble, smooth and cool.

  “How long have the Procurators been around, Tegan? Lyman?” I asked without looking up from the boy. His eyes were closed, which was a small favor.

  “I’m forty, and I first heard about them about ten years ago,” Lyman said.

  “Same here. I was twelve, on my name day. I remember hearing that word—Procs—and not knowing what it meant,” Tegan said with disgust. “I do now.”

  Ten years. In ten years, a faction had risen to obscure power and began influencing Kassos and all the lands around it that used to be Oklahoma. A huge area of land to hold hostage, especially in a world as brutal as the Empty.

  “So they’re relatively new, and they muscled in on Kassos,” I said. “And now, things like this are happening, and no one seems to know why because the killers are—what, ghosts?” I asked. I shook my head, letting the boy’s hand down gently. “Stay right behind me, and don’t touch anything, Eyes open, okay?” I said.

  We began moving through the site, and it was bigger than I’d thought at first. There were at least three families here—had been, anyway, but all that was left was bodies, burned wood, and scorched earth. I spent an hour combing the area until I saw tracks.

  Not vehicle. Human, and not normal.

  I touched my communicator. “Aristine, can you see where we are?”

  I waited a second, giving Lyman a nod. He was impressed by the technology, but he stayed silent.

  “I have you,” came her answer over the channel.

  “Send anything you have on a sweep overhead. We’re at a burned out settlement, and I’m sending you images of the victims. Someone has taken body parts. And blood. All of it,” I added.

  “Did you say—drained their blood?” Aristine asked.

  “All of it. Left some kind of needle of nozzle in a boy, too. Plastic, small, stuck in an artery. He’s dry as a bone. Just a kid, too.” I could hear the building anger in my voice, and fought to tamp it down. It did me no good to lose my shit when I needed evidence.

  “Jack, are there any other bodies?” Aristine asked.

  “Yes. Several.”

  “Can you do something unpleasant? Get me a tissue sample if you can. As many bodies as you can stand. Keep them separate and I’ll send a drone right now. I need to see something,” Aristine said.

  “I can do that. Will you land the drone and take the samples? Lot faster than coming back on a lizard,” I said.

  “Exactly that. And when you get back, we can talk about the new people, too. There are a lot of them, and I’m not sure where to put them for now,” Aristine said.

  “How many more?” I asked.

  “Four hundred. Half the Empty is here, I think, and they’re all on the run. It’s time to discuss the next settlements, but maybe we wait until we find out where it’s safe to build,” she said.

  “I’ve got a better idea. We’ll kill every Proc and build wherever the fuck we want,” I said.

  Aristine laughed over the channel. “See, that’s why I’m on your team. Drone incoming in two hours, diverting one from a patrol. Will you come back after this?”

  “Still haven’t found any Procs, but yes—we’ll come back home,” I said.

  “Come to the Chain first. I’ll meet you there. Be careful,” Aristine said, and cut the connection.

  I flicked out a small knife and pulled small bottles from my pack that I carried for seeds. “You might want to look away,” I said.

  “I’ve seen worse,” Tegan said, her voice flat. She looked pale but steady.

  “I haven’t,” Lyman said, and promptly spilled his guts as I cut a sample of the boy’s corpse. When Lyman fainted, I shrugged. “Guess he’s not as brutal as I imagined.” In moments, I had collected samples from the victims, then got to the grim task of cutting them down for burial. We would not be leaving the people to rot in the sun, no matter what. Tegan worked alongside me in silence, a smear of gore on her forehead by the time we’d lined all eleven victims up.

  With a shovel we found near the dead horses, I began to dig with a purpose, and Lyman recovered his composure as well, setting to the hole with a quiet fury. Tegan hauled a bucket, filling it with dirt and rocks, and in two hours of hard labor, we had a grave nearly a meter deep and three meters long.

  “We’ll have to place them on their sides,” I said, so we did, then began covering their waxen faces with the soil. I brought armloads of flat stones from the burned out barn, layering them over the top of the grave so that, for a while, the animals would be kept at bay.

  “Should we say anything?” Tegan asked as we stood, panting in the sun.

  “I’ll let my actions speak for me. Later,” I said, and she gave me a sad smile.

  Lyman just stared at the grave. “I’ve seen this before,” he said. “Not exactly like this, but—more than once. Families up north, and once, and trading group that came west from one of the rivers. They were in flat wagons that rolled on rubber tires, but not old. New, well-made. They were successful people, or at least they were until—”

  “They might have been my people,” Tegan said. “I’m from the river. One of them, anyway. In a few short days with Jack, I’ve discovered the world is quite a bit larger than I’d previously imagined.”

  “And more dangerous?” Lyman asked her.

  “No, that part I already knew, starting with my own family,” she said.

  A hum overhead announced the drone’s arrival, and Lyman flinched. I put a hand on his arm, smiling. “It’s okay. One of ours.”

  “Good,” he said, watching the enormous drone settle on its retractable leg
s.

  “Drone down,” came Aristine’s voice over my communicator.

  “Loading samples for you now, and then we’ll be along. Chain, right?” I asked.

  “Please. And don’t worry about the Konnodar. Half of the biology division is itching to get a look at them, and we’ve plenty of room and food to share. There’s a minor storm front drifting northeast, but nothing that should slow you down much. See you in two days or so. I’ll have a team of Daymares waiting for you a klick out,” Aristine said, earning a look of confusion from Lyman.

  I motioned that I would explain, then said, “See you then. Out.”

  “Daymares?” Lyman asked in the tone of someone who isn’t sure they really want to know the answer.

  “Before I explain, I need to know what your plans are,” I said.

  “Me? Not dying is a good start, but as to long term plans, I don’t have any. What you see is what I’m doing, now that everyone is dead. And these people, too. I don’t think it’s safe out here anymore, not that it was ever the best place to live,” Lyman said.

  “Do you want to live in the Oasis, under my command and by the rules of our civilization?” I asked him.

  To his credit, Lyman thought about it for a moment. He wasn’t feral—not like the others had been, but he still gave the idea some thought. He also knew that I wasn’t the forgiving kind, so his next words were careful.

  “I would prefer that to this life,” he said.

  “So that’s a yes?” I asked, pressing him for confirmation. We didn’t have half-measures in the Free Oasis. The world was too fucking dangerous for that kind of casual commitment.

  Lyman gave a sharp nod. “Yes.”

  I tapped my communicator and found Aristine. “Got an addition to the party. He’s rough, and he might need some supervision, but I think he’s worth saving. The rest of his raiding party is dead. Can you add one to the table?”

  “Plenty of room. Tell him that if he misbehaves, the salmon will eat rather well shortly after his unpleasant behavior,” Aristine said.

  “That’s a kind of fish they raise for food,” I told Lyman.

  “Message received,” he said.

  “He understands. We’re on our way in. Let me know when you verify samples, okay?” I told Aristine.

  “Will do. Be safe. Out.” She cut the connection and we were left with the heat and the sun, but fewer questions. For the moment.

  “We go east, and here’s how it’s going to happen. You ride behind Tegan, and if you—” I said, but Lyman interrupted.

  “Misbehave?” he said.

  “Yes. In the event that happens, you won’t even make it to be fish food,” I said.

  “A question?” Lyman asked.

  “Sure, what?” I said.

  “Mind if I use some water to wash up? I’m filthy, and it’s embarrassing. I didn’t always live like this, you know,” Lyman said.

  “Go ahead. Clean up, we’ll share some food on the ride,” I said.

  He was good as his word, despite Tegan’s reluctance to have an unknown person behind her, but she was armed, I was armed, and Lyman was soon lulled into a near doze by the constant motion of the Konnodar. There was room for three people on the lizard, so two wasn’t a crowd. After two hours of good ground, we came to a series of open gullies and broken rock, scorched by the sun yet still dotted with shrubs. There were tough grasses and the odd low tree as well, and in the distance I could make out a line of growth that could only mean a creek.

  “How far have you been in this direction, Lyman?” I asked.

  “To the southeast of here a bit, but never north. The people I was with were scared. Said it was controlled by a ghost, but I took that to mean it was someone who was too elusive to be pinned down. I’m not sure about spirits. They don’t have teeth, and they don’t make you die of thirst,” Lyman said.

  “A ghost?” I repeated, letting the word roll around on my tongue. The Procs were an unknown, and I’d been looking for just that. I felt the first tingle of alert in my blood as we continued up the gritty slope. The ground gave way to more grasses and greenery, verging into something between desert and steppe. It was a fast transition brought on by the presence of water, and birds flew away, alarmed by us and the Konnodar’s intrusive noises.

  “There are no ghosts in the desert, and certainly not in the river. Only beasts who will eat you. Quite ordinary that way,” Tegan said.

  “Um—right. What kind of beasts?” Lyman asked. He didn’t appear to be a fan of rivers. Or monsters that lived in those rivers.

  “Oh, all manner. Crocs, whiskerdeath, wild hippos, bull sharks—you know, the ones with the long fins that come upriver to spawn—many, many ways to die in the river,” Tegan said cheerfully.

  “Right,” Lyman said, turning to me slowly after giving Tegan a searching look. “Why does the idea of a ghost interest you, Jack?”

  “Because the Procs are everywhere and nowhere, and it’s a big world. We need a break. That means we chase leads, and this sounds like a lead. So I’m going to run it to ground one way or another, and in the process, I’ll learn more about the north.”

  My communicator chirped, then Aristine’s voice came through again, clear and crisp. “Drone’s back, and samples are secure. Look to your east, Jack.”

  I peered into the distance and saw a cloud of dust. “Yours?” I asked Aristine.

  “Daymares. On their way to escort you in,” Aristine said.

  “Have they got a four-wheeler with them?” I asked her.

  “They do. Why?” she asked me with a hint of suspicion. I watched the Daymares approaching at breakneck speed in their trucks, then shaded my eyes and took another long look at the terrain to the north. I made my decision, and nodded to Tegan. “I’m sending Tegan and our new arrival back with the Daymares, along with both the Konnodar. I’ll borrow a four-wheeler and some supplies for a run north. Got an idea based on something our new friend Lyman told me.”

  “Which is? Tell me it’s not assaulting an outpost on your own?” Aristine asked.

  “Nothing of the sort. A ghost,” I said.

  “A... spirit?” Aristine asked.

  “Something like that, but since I don’t believe in them, I’m betting it’s something to do with the Procs, and that means I’m going north. On my own. I can move fast and be back in a day. Send a drone to fly cover, and I’ll be fine,” I said.

  “I don’t like it, but—just call for us before you charge the walls, okay?” Aristine said. “I’ll have the drone up once you ping my from your four-wheeler.”

  “No one-man sieges. You have my word, General,” I said.

  “Come back safe. Chain out,” Aristine said, her voice cracking a bit on the last word. I was taking a risk, but it was better to do it alone, rather than wasting valuable time rounding up a team who would only slow me down.

  “Jack?” Tegan asked as trucks came hurtling towards us.

  “They’re Daymares. You’ll love them,” I said.

  “What’s a Daymare?” Lyman asked as the trucks rolled to a stop ten meters away. The soldiers got out, a wall of hardened men and women who stared at Lyman with obvious distrust. They were heavily armed and unsmiling. “Oh. That’s a Daymare.”

  “Hullo,” Tegan said, smiling at the elite soldiers. “Care to take our lizards for a walk?”

  10

  I went looking for a ghost.

  The Empty was less empty as I went north, with thickening growth and more evidence of ruins here and there. With each trip into the land, I learned more about who had come after me and the time when the virus erupted across the world, ending what I thought of a reality.

  Aristine and the Chain proved that life had indeed gone on. Their satellite data showed me that empires had risen and fallen, even coming close to breaking out into real progress, but they were always being torn apart by the same things that killed my world. Greed, war, and then the inevitable effects of the virus.

  The four-wheeler’s tires cru
nched over gravel as I cut up a hill, taking an angle that would give me less exposure at the top. Just because I felt like I was alone didn’t mean I was—at any point, there could be eyes on me, either human or animal. Maybe even something in between.

  I’d gone a solid thirty klicks, only stopping for water because traveling alone meant making good time with minimal interruptions. My ‘bot enhanced sight gave me enough warning that I spotted not one but two distinct predators in the distance, and I avoided both rather than fight or kill for the sake of the act. My choices were also driven by a need to know; to find out what I could in as quick a manner as possible. Time was of the essence when it came to understanding why the Procs had become an issue in our world after operating silently behind the scenes. In my experience, a threat either grows or fades, and the Procs were growing.

  That meant they had my attention, and despite their power, that was a bad place to be.

  The charge monitor flashed yellow on the dash, meaning it was either time to lay up and let the solar panels cook for a bit, or switch to a reserve battery. I was hungry, so I opted to let the sun do its work while I ate and drank. I had fresh fruit, dried hog, and all of the water I would need for days, so I could afford to take a moment, stretch my legs, and let the feeling return to my ass after three hours at the wheel. It took an active hand to drive the four-wheeler, especially over terrain I was learning on the fly.

  I tipped my water back, wiped my mouth, and regarded the ridge before me. It was broken rock held in place by tough roots; along the top there were low tress and a kind of bush with dark, waxy leaves that gleamed in the brilliant sun. I focused on a bush and picked out low fruit hanging on it—they were round, dark red, and hidden under the leaves.

  “New to me,” I muttered, picking a route to climb the hill and investigate. No detail was too small for us to consider in the new world we were building, and that meant that a possible food or medicine had to be examined.