To Be A Warrior

Chapter 20: A Castle Full Of Rascals

"Precisely. So our work here is important." Janine points up ahead, and I squint as I try to spot it in the shadows. "There's Fort Blackmoore, Five. The castle ruin, do you see it? It looks as if the inhabitants have repaired some of the fallen stone walls with wooden ramparts."

"Yeah..." I draw out the word. The way the wood is used to replace the stone walls seems to use a pattern that I would have used when I was boarding up walls during the beginning of the apocalypse, and just revamped as time went on and I gained experience.

Just how young are the 'young people' here?

"The sun is going down, but we can get there in minutes if we run. Go!"

Sunlight continues to leave, the sky turning shades of pink and red. It casts a beautiful glow on the two women beside me, but the shadows of the rocks and crevices of the valley keep me from appreciating the beauty of the sunset. I keep my pace steady, each step a step closer to this castle. Hopefully we can trade and get the clean version of A.N.N.I.E. for Veronica to use.

The faster we can get this done, the faster we can go back home.

I lurch, a horrible taste filling my mouth, a foul stench of the dead hitting my nose. It hits me so quickly that I can't do anything but breathe it in. My hand clasps onto my mouth, my nose, but it doesn't do anything. Maxine and Janine both look at me with confusion.

"Runner Five, what's wrong?" Janine asks, and I look at her with bewilderment.

"Don't you smell that? It smells like," I nearly gag, "like rotting flesh times a hundred."

Maxine sniffs the air. "I don't smell anything. Don't hear any zoms around either."

I don't like this.

By now we've reached the castle, but the smell remains. It's faded by the cleanliness of whatever remains inside, but I still keep my breathing shallow. It's hard not to focus on the metal and vinegar taste that burns my tongue. Saliva pools into my mouth, and I swallow, hoping to get the horrid taste out of my mouth, but it's no good.

Thankfully my thoughts are put to a halt when I see the portcullis of the castle rise up, and a tall man with brown hair and hopeful eyes steps out.

"Visitors! Thank goodness." He looks at the pistol at Janine's hip. "You even have a gun."

"Okay... well, not exactly the reception we were expecting," Maxine says.

"You're from Abel Township, aren't you? Even here, we've heard of those shirts. Please, come with me. Up the stairs to the battlements. Hurry."

He heads inside with quick, long strides. His pace is surprising considering his shoes are as worn as they are, and he has quite the stride for someone who's maybe five foot eight.

"I think there's been a misunderstanding," Janine says we climb the stairs. "We're here to meet with the local mayor."

"The mayor, that's me." He looks at us from over his shoulder and smiles pleasantly, not slowing his pace. "But there's no time for any of that."

I look at him in surprise. He looks rather young to be a mayor. I mean, he looks to be in his mid-twenties, maybe late twenties. That seems like a bit of a stretch though. And even if he was, most of the settlements' leaders in England are in their forties or above, with Janine being the exception at thirty-three.

We reach the battlements, and I gasp at the entire view of the valley laid out before us, with the sun slowly sinking on the horizon. The beams of light are so beautiful and powerful. They seem to sink into my very soul.

Maxine comments on it, just as awe-struck as I, but when the mayor speaks again, that smell hits me again with full force.

"The north wall's always been my favorite spot. But look at the north end of the valley, the other direction from where you came from."