The Power Hungry (Mad Max: Fury Road Fanfiction)

7: The Baby

    CAPABLE

     "The fire's out."

     Right as the words left my mouth, Feral took off. A rush of air breezed past me in her wake.

     Nix and I just stood there for a moment, surprise at her unceremonious departure. I made a gesture with my hand for the war boy to follow me, "Come on."

    We jogged to the Black Thumb's cave, my heart pounding in my chest. So far we have counted zero casualties, and I didn't want to change that. The entire cave was covered in black streaks like that of a paint brush. My gaze flicked about the premises, but I found no trace of the war girl.

     Then, as of on cue, a shriek rose up from behind the war rig Jr. Nux and I exchanged grim glances and made our way back there with heavy hearts. My shoes splashed in the wet ash, what a waste. The guzzaline, the supplies, the water, all wasted because of Gastown.

      Nux was a few paces in front of me, and I could see the tension in his posture. He wasn't speaking either, which told me just how serious the situation was. My heart skipped away within me, as I wasn't sure what we would find when we came around to the other side of the rig.

     Nux ducked down into the darkness of the war rig. I lingered behind, my eyes wide and my nerves going haywire. When my vision came in to focus,  my jaw dropped.

     Feral, the girl tough as tails, the girl who volunteered to fight a man three times her size on a moving vehicle, was crying. A bundle of burned flesh and scorched chains was cradled in her trembling arms, and she was sobbing uncontrollably. My voice was robbed from me at once, like someone had landed a blow to my throat. Nux was at her side, trying to pry the dead child from her grasp. She had her forehead pressed to Hummer's, the same way the Vuvalini did to one another. It hurt to watch her like this, so my gaze found the floor. Poor thing, he must have suffered so much. How could anyone be so cruel to kill an innocent? I tried to recall the boy's appearance, a thin child with big brown eyes and a smile missing baby teeth. My chest began to ache with sadness at the sound of Feral's whimpering.

     Then, finally, I could pick up words between her gasps, "He's dead...."

     I looked up at once, watching the war girl touch the little boy's cheek with her hand, "They chain h-him up and bur...burned him alive..."

     I flinched, at the content of her words and at the sorrow coursing through them. Death was something I don't think I would ever get used to.

     "He will be awaited in Valhalla..." Nux murmured, his voice cracking.

     I suddenly felt as if I was intruding, and debated whether or not I should leave them alone to grieve in peace. I took no more than a few steps backwards when Nux turned around and held out the dead child to me with pleading in the blue sea of his eyes. I immediately understood and lifted Hummer from Nux's arms. My feet carried me away from the two and off to another corner of the cave. I could feel everyone's eyes training on me as I passed, for I was holding the only person Gastown managed to kill. I lowered the body down so it was safely tucked away behind a particularly large pile of car parts. Then, having dusted away the smears of soot. I headed out to the pups' sleeping quarters.

     One I made it in there, I was met with Cheedo and a war boy I did not recognize. They both were herding a flock of protesting kids backwards, as they were all trying to get out and see what was happening. My heart contracted in my rib cage when I spotted Nux's apprentices among the bustle. My ears couldn't help but pick out their squeaky voices, as if they rose above the others in a scream,

    "Were's Hummer? He didn't come back! We can't find him here!" One of them cried, a boy with crooked teeth and a black scarf around his throat.