CHAPTER THIRTY

DECIMATED

 

 

ONLY SIX OF the original twenty remained.

They were dazed shellshocked, and some of them were injured. The landscape was broad and flat, aside from a few derelict buildings. It was the site of the old overground railway station; somewhere below the ice sat the old tracks.

The Aux could see and hear for hundreds of metres in all directions. There was no threat outside. It was cold, and they were not dressed for it. They could not remain above ground for long. They stood or paced, remaining in a tight group, but no one stood guard. No one took charge.

Vanessa Hell was inconsolable. She could not believe that she had run, that she had left Frank Brangwin behind. She did not want to believe that he was dead, and she blamed herself. Dorothy Barker blamed her too.

They all heard the explosion.

“Ezra Pound, him deader and dead,” said Dorothy Barker. It was a statement of fact, to no one in particular. “Evelyn War, her dead too, and Oscar so Wild.”

“Alpha dog, him tougher and tough,” said one of the other Zoo Packers, indignant. But they all knew there was no hope for the Zoo Pack leader and his lieutenant, or for Evelyn War, who had been the beginning of everything.

“Holeman Hunt, him Alpha dog now,” said Vanessa Hell.

Dorothy Barker made a sound that bordered on disgust, but no one questioned it. It was not the time.

The six Aux turned at the sound, but none of them raised a weapon. They should have been on high alert, but they were tired and shocked. They were more curious than guarded.

Oscar so Wild and Evelyn War emerged from the station.

Dorothy Barker took a dozen long strides towards them.

“Ezra Pound?” asked Dorothy.

Oscar so Wild shook his head. Dorothy Barker threw a hard punch at the lieutenant’s shoulder. Then she looked sternly at him. She did not apologise for the attack, and he did not expect her to.

She put an arm around Evelyn War.

“Me, I’m glad to see you,” she said. “You both.”

“Yes,” said Wild.

“The Them, it is dead,” said Evelyn.

“Are there more?” asked Dorothy Barker.

Oscar so Wild shrugged.

“There will always be more of Them,” said Evelyn War.

They were still looking at one another, standing no more than a metre apart. The rest of the remnant of the war band had remained standing at a distance. They did not want to hear, or could not bear to.

Dorothy Barker glanced at Evelyn War and lowered her voice so that there was less risk of the others hearing her.

“There are no more of Them,” she said. “Us, we have to believe there are no more. Us, we cannot stay outside. We have to walk all-away around the tunnels.”

“To Hansa Pack?” asked Oscar Wild. “Or back to Hacker Pack?”

Dorothy Barker shook her head. She would have no part in that decision.

Oscar so Wild looked at Evelyn War. Their eyes locked for a moment.

“Oscar so Wild, you Alpha dog now,” said Evelyn.

The lieutenant looked over his shoulder at the ragtag group of Aux that remained from the original war band. Only eight of them, including himself, and no leader but himself. They could not kill the Them when they were fresh and there were almost three times as many.

“Us, we walk to Friedrichstrasse,” he said, “faster and fast. Us, we talk to the Hearer. Us, we talk to Holeman Hunt.”

Oscar so Wild puffed out his chest and made himself look as big as he could. He set his face, glanced once between Evelyn and Dorothy at the other scrappers, and then, holding his head high, he walked towards the shabby group of Aux.

“The Them, it is dead,” he said. His voice was steady, confident, rising from his chest. He had to lead these seven Aux back through the tunnels of Track Nine. He had to give them the confidence to go back underground. “Ezra Pound, Alpha dog, him gave his life. Us, we will return to Hacker Pack, regroup and return.”

He stood before the huddled group, Dorothy Barker and Evelyn at either shoulder.

“You, ready your weapons,” he bellowed.

One or two blinked at him and the rest stared. Oscar so Wild growled low, as if about to unleash a torrent of rage upon them.

All Aux scrappers had known the wrath of a seasoned, embittered lieutenant at some point in their training, and they all remembered it now. They readied their weapons; one or two fumbled, but recovered. They were all armed with loaded crossbows or blades within a second or two.

Vanessa Hell had the nozzle of her flame thrower clutched in both hands, the visor of her mask in place.

“You,” said Oscar so Wild, pointing at the big Aux dam, “bring up the rear.”

Oscar so Wild turned to lead the way back down onto Track Nine, Dorothy Barker and Evelyn War beside him. The remaining five Aux kept a respectful distance, half a dozen paces behind their new leader.

“Why her?” Dorothy Barker asked Oscar so Wild. “Her, she ran, she got Frank Brangwin, him killed.”

“Fire,” said Wild. “The Them is killed by fire. Blades and fire.”

Dorothy Barker slung her crossbow over her back and pulled her stilettos.

“Are there more?” asked Dorothy Barker again.

“Yes,” said Evelyn War. “There will always be more Them.”