22
ATTICUS
We weaved our way between buildings and down alleyways. Thais was having a difficult time keeping up; I noticed the heavy backpack she carried, and then I stopped her long enough to help her arms out of the straps, slid the backpack onto my own back; the smaller one I carried in my hand.
“Let’s go! One more block!” I pulled her along.
Shooting out into the street, I yanked Thais backward into the shadows again. Two patrolmen on horses were coming from the east, moving slowly down the middle of the intersection. They went past on their horses. Twenty-eight seconds felt like minutes, and all the time I didn’t think either of us breathed.
Once the patrolmen were gone, we dashed into a dark parking garage on the other side of the street.
“Stay here,” I told her as I slid one backpack off. “I’ve gotta get the horse.” I dropped both bags at her feet and then disappeared around the corner.
The old man who owned the horses was not at the stables. But the mare was there waiting for me, munching on grass that grew between the blacktop lots. I made my way over to her; a rope dangled from her neck, tied to a light pole. Carefully I unwound it, patting her on the backside to ease her, and then led her away from the lot. I went past a rust-covered car and noticed a quilt in the backseat. I reached through the broken window for it, and then draped it over the horse’s back to use in lieu of a saddle.
When I made it back to the parking garage, Edgar, Overlord Wolf’s brown-nosing leech, was waiting for me.
“Put her on a horse,” Edgar said, stepping from the shadows on the other side of the street, “and they’ll spot her a lot easier.”
Storming my way over to Edgar, I drew my gun and pointed it at his head.
“Thais,” I said, just as she emerged from the parking garage, “take the horse—now.”
I dropped the rope and cleared the last few feet between me and Edgar, seized his elbow and shoved him out of the street and into the parking garage, too.
“Whoa-whoa-whoa!” Edgar put up his hands in front of him; the barrel of the gun was pressed dead-center in his forehead. “L-Look, I’m not here for the reason you think I am!”
“Keep your voice down!” I hissed. “Thais, bring the horse in here so no one sees us.”
Thais moved quickly.
“What are you here for then?” I demanded.
“I came to help.”
“Fucking liar.” My jaw stiffened; my finger danced on the trigger.
“I swear to you,” Edgar pleaded. “Look, I’m not who you think I am either. I’m—”
“You’re an ass-kissing piece of shit.” I tightened my other hand about Edgar’s throat, knocking the back of his balding head against the concrete wall. “How’d you know to follow me? Who sent you? What else do they know? Answer me! NOW!”
Edgar’s pudgy hands shook.
“I-I’ve had my eye on you since I came here,” he said. “You’re not like Wolf, or Rafe, or most of the soldiers here. I knew it was just a matter of time before you cracked, got fed up with the shit that goes on in this city, and decided to leave it.”
“Who are you?” I growled.
“Atticus?” Thais whispered.
I ignored her.
“WHO ARE YOU?” I repeated.
“I’m from the Southern Faction; a citizen of the Texas-Louisiana State,” Edgar explained. “I came all the way from Shreveport City.”
“Go on,” I demanded; the gun never moved from Edgar’s face.
“My leader, Gordon Brant,” he went on, “is a good leader. He controls most of the Southern Faction: half the state of Texas and all of Louisiana. But what he doesn’t control are run by our allies as far as Mississippi and Alabama.”
“Why are you here, Edgar?” I was growing impatient. “And what does any of this have to do with me?”
“The only thing Brant asks of the citizens he protects and provides refuge for, is that we all contribute to the rebuilding of society. I was never good at anything—couldn’t hunt, or build, or grow a goddamn carrot to save my life. But I was good at pretending; I was good at manipulating people, letting them believe I knew my stuff, that I was a trustworthy kind of guy.”
My hand tightened around Edgar’s throat to the point of choking him; the vein in the side of his neck pulsed and raced.
“Atticus, please.” Thais stepped up, placing her hand on my wrist that held the gun. “Please, just let him talk.”
I glared into Edgar’s shrinking face.
“So, then what are you doing here?” I said. “What are you doing in Lexington City? But more importantly, what are you doing here, and how long have you been following me?” I released my grip enough that Edgar could talk.
Edgar coughed. “In the…Southern Faction, I volunteered to…be a spy,” he said, catching his breath. “I was sent to Kentucky to get in good with Overlord Wolf, to feel him out and see if he was as bad as he was rumored to be—he is, no surprise there—and to gather information on his operations.”
“What about all of that information you gave to Wolf about the Southern Faction?” I challenged. “You expect me to believe you were just filling Wolf’s head full of bullshit? How do I know you’re not lying to me now?”
“I came alone,” Edgar said. “Do you see anyone else here other than us? I followed you earlier today when you went to talk with Granger about the horse. I knew you’d probably leave with the girl before the week was over, and most likely in the middle of the night, so I made sure to be here so I wouldn’t miss you. And I heard the soldiers talking in the bar; heard them planning something tonight”—Edgar’s eyes swept over my injured face—“I see they pulled that off, at least.”
I released Edgar’s throat the rest of the way and stepped back next to Thais, but kept the gun trained on him. He coughed again; massaged his throat with his fingertips.
“And that’s exactly what I fed Wolf: a lot of bullshit,” he went on. “The Southern Faction is twice as large as what I told Wolf it was—bigger than Wolf’s army. And they’re definitely not weak—it’s the fucking South, Hunt. What do you think went on down there before The Fall? They had more guns than the rest of the country combined. I told Wolf only what he needed to believe: ‘They’re nothing down there’; ‘Their armies are a bunch of kids with slingshots and BB guns’; ‘Don’t waste the time and energy going south when you have the North-Central Territory to worry about before it gets any bigger’; ‘Go toward Ohio and Illinois and the Great Lakes’; ‘Worry about the South later.’ As much as Wolf pretended to be annoyed by me in front of everybody else, he sure asked for my opinion a lot when no one was around.”
I didn’t want to, but I was beginning to believe Edgar. Had Edgar been playing a role for nearly a year since he’d come to Lexington City? Was he that good at manipulation that he could fool someone like Overlord Wolf? I hoped Edgar wasn’t so good I was the one being manipulated right now.
“Now, why are you here?” I asked one last time.
“I wanted to tell you and the girl to head southwest from here,” Edgar answered promptly. “Don’t go through Memphis—there’s nothing but chaos there—but find your way to Shreveport. The girl will be safe there; she can have a real life. Tell them I sent you.”
“I’m taking the girl east,” I lied; I didn’t know where I’d take Thais, but thought I’d at least tell Edgar I was heading in the one direction I wouldn’t go.
“There’s nothing east and you know it,” Edgar reasoned. “There are cracks and savages all over Virginia. You take her east and through the Appalachian Mountains and she’s as good as dead. Not to mention the U.Z. waiting for you if by some miracle you make it past Appalachia.”
U.Z. was short for ‘Uninhabitable Zone’. A portion of the East Coast was a wasteland of failed nuclear power plants, and the only people that lived there anymore—if they were still alive—were those who didn’t get out before the meltdowns.
“Listen,” Edgar said, stepping up closer. “I’ll do what I can to keep Wolf’s men from following you. I’ll tell them I saw you going west, that I overheard you talking to the girl about making it to Topeka, or something—whatever; I’ll make something up. But please, if you want to help this girl, then you need to head for Shreveport City.”
I made eye contact with Thais standing beside me. Her eyes were soft and pleading, but mostly she looked frightened. What should I do? Should I trust Edgar? Edgar, of all people?
After battling with my thoughts, I reached out and grabbed a fistful of Edgar’s shirt. “If you’re lying to me,” I growled, our noses almost touching, “you’ll regret you ever met me.”
Edgar’s neck-fat jiggled as he nodded.
I released him.
Voices rose on the air, and the three of us glanced nervously at one another.
I hooked my hands at Thais’ waist and hoisted her onto the horse’s back; she grabbed hold of the neck and mane for balance.
“Tell them whatever you want,” I told Edgar as I slipped one backpack on my back, and then grabbed the other.
“Southwest,” Edgar recapped. “Gordon Brant—and stay away from Memphis.”
As the voices of soldiers moved closer, Edgar hurried through the dark parking garage and slipped out through the back side.
I jumped onto the horse behind Thais, grabbed the reins, and we took off, heading southwest, together as fugitives.