“We were not romantically involved, if that’s what you’re getting at,” she reassured me. “He didn’t make my insides spin when I looked at him, you know?”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“But he was the only human male in the Scavengers who is my age,” she continued. “By default, we would have ended up together, and he was a good one.”
“Why’s that?” I raised an eyebrow. “Do the Scavengers do arranged marriages or something like that?”
“It’s against our traditions to mate outside your age range,” Natalie explained. “We believe that, to create the strongest offspring possible, you must create a child when you are at your physical peak.”
“I guess I’m confused… ” I admitted. “You’re what? In your twenties? Are there really no other men in the group who fall into that category?”
“Not anymore,” the blonde woman sighed. “We’ve been losing people left and right lately, mostly because the Rubberfaces are becoming more and more sentient by the day.”
“Wait, they weren’t always sentient?”
“Not from what I’ve been told,” Natalie explained and shook her head. “Apparently, when this all went down, they were little more than mindless, crazed zombies who moved around without rhyme or reason. Since I’ve been of fighting age, however, they’ve at least been able to band together and do simple tasks like use weapons, patrol territory, and communicate verbally.”
“Iktuna,” I chuckled.
“Their word for ‘human,’” Natalie warned. “I’m way too familiar with it. But today was something else… This is the first time they’ve ever been able to get across the river. The Scavengers made sure to blow up all the roads that would have let them cross, other than the bridge we went over. But they somehow managed to find their way to the other side… ”
“Which means they’ve probably figured out how to use vehicles.” I nodded. “At least boats. That, or they finally figured out how to do the backstroke.”
Natalie let out a slight chuckle, but then she instantly went back to being stern.
“It’s worse than that, Hunter,” she clarified. “They not only got across, but they also knew exactly where we’d be, and they waited for us. I’ve never seen them have the deposition to plan out an ambush like that. Ever.”
I wanted to put my arm around the woman and try to comfort her, but I was getting the vibe that maybe this wasn’t the best idea. I wanted to let her know it would all be good in the end, and I was here to save her and her people by eliminating the mutant threat.
Again, that probably wasn’t the smartest idea.
Also, I had no clue how I was going to do that.
So, I did what any trained PCT would do when they didn’t know something… I changed the topic.
“I gotta ask,” I said as I motioned to the ship, “what’s up with this boat? I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“This thing?” Natalie perked up a bit. “We call it the Scavenger’s Revenge. But it was some sort of commercial vessel before Doomsday. A transport for some sort of special traveler my mother liked to call ‘tourists?’”
That made perfect sense. This was one of those ferry boats where people could park their cars and then sail across the lake, instead of trying to drive all the way around it. Actually, the fact the Scavengers had one of these things as their main transport vessel was ingenious. It definitely had all the amenities you could need for a quick getaway by sea.
“Strange,” I continued to play dumb as I pointed back to the dune buggies behind me. “I don’t know what this thing was for, but it’s pretty lucky you found a boat that can carry your vehicles, huh?”
The blonde woman glanced over at me and smiled.
Suddenly, the noise in my head increased tenfold. What the hell? Was this chip programmed to go off whenever a pretty girl started talking to me?
“I guess so,” she mused. “It’s even more fortunate we found a vessel with enough space on the deck for our helicopter.”
“Helicopter?” I whistled as I tried to push past the distraction in my head. “You have a helicopter? Why didn’t you use that to rescue me?”
“Because it’s for emergencies only,” Natalie chuckled. “It only has so much fuel, and once that’s gone, it’ll be a pain in the ass to try and replenish. Besides, we already had the dune buggy out and about when we saw the flames go up.”
“Fair enough.” I shrugged. “Now, be straight with me… What do you think Marcus is going to do when he sees you’ve brought back another human?”
“Marcus?” the blonde woman laughed. “He’ll be through the roof when he meets you. Especially when he sees you’re in the age group that keeps dying off.”
Again, I didn’t know whether to be flattered or concerned.
One thing that did cross my mind, though… I was the same age group as the beautiful blonde woman. Did that mean we were potential mates? I couldn’t help but think about running my hands along her fit body and kissing every inch of her soft neck…
Now, the buzzing in my head went crazy, almost to the point where I couldn’t even hear my own thoughts.
Natalie must have had similar sensual thoughts, however, because her face quickly turned red as she snapped her mouth shut. Then she quickly hoisted her legs back over the side of the boat, stood up, and placed her hands over her chest.
“Leaving so soon?” I teased, even though my head was now filled with the droning noise.
“On second thought, I am going to go get some food,” she obviously lied. “We should be arriving at camp in a little over an hour. Try not to fall overboard in the meantime.”
I watched the woman in the denim jacket saunter away. The second she was out of my sight, I pulled myself over the edge of the boat and laid down on the deck.
“Karla,” I grumbled as the droning beep continued, “I think your father’s chip is busted. I keep hearing this awful beeping noise!”
A beeping noise? Karla’s voice questioned. The only way the chip would be damaged was if you experienced some sort of brain damage. Did you take a hard fall or anything like that during your escape?
“Not at all,” I reassured her. “Well, we did roll the dune buggy, but I don’t think I hit my head. Plus, the noise started when Natalie and her friend first pulled up, and now it’s getting to be unbearable. I don’t know if I can keep going if this gets any worse.”
Let me check with my father, the voice promised. Give me a few minutes.
The other line went silent, and I was left alone to stare up at the dusk sky.
After a few minutes, I sat up and instantly buried my face into my hands. Now that I was alone, I could think back on what kind of crazy shit I’d just been through.
Not even twenty-four hours ago, I was sitting in my apartment, playing video games in my underwear, and eating cold leftover pizza. Now, I was in a post-apocalyptic future filled with nuclear fallout, intelligent killer mutants, and punk pirates.
And for what? Money?
What good was this money going to be if I wasn’t around to use it?
That didn’t even get into the main part of my mission, though. I had to eliminate every single one of those mutants from Chicago.
Every. Single. One.
How was I supposed to do that, especially when there were allegedly thousands of them in the city? Was I supposed to go along with Natalie on her scavenging trips until we somehow wiped out all of them?
That would take years, if not an entire lifetime.
If only there was another nuclear bomb I could drop on these grotesque abominations.
Oh, well. I was here now, and I needed to figure it out for myself.