“You can’t have ‘em, Kayliss, they’re mine!” The boy, no more than ten and scrawny as a broom-pole, scurried backward until his back hit the outside wall of the church. He shoved the donuts in question into his mouth, one after the other. It was the only way he could keep them.
When one of her men tried to grab him, the boy ran to the side of the building to enjoy his treats unimpeded.
It’d been some time since he’d had a donut and he savored them as much as he could. They were supposed to last a couple days. The arrival of the Scavengers meant those last few morsels of normalcy were as good as gone.
They followed him to the side of the church and, in an act of defiance, he shoveled the last donut into his mouth whole and began to chew.
“You stupid piglet. Choke on your greed.” Her foot lashed forward, striking his chest and shoving him backwards.
He fell to the ground, near the sign proclaiming God is Good, with his mouthful of food now blocking the air from his lungs. Determined not to waste any of the fried delights, he spit them into his hand, coughed up the bit he’d inhaled, added it to the goo in his palm, shoved it back in his mouth, and swallowed it all before turning a wary eye toward his abuser.
“Where did you find them?” She swung her right leg over the back of her horse, slipping from her saddle and dropping to the ground. She stalked to the boy, removing her gloves as she moved.
“Coffee shop.” He eyed her with equal measure fear, disgust, and anger.
“Which coffee shop?” She placed her booted foot heavily upon the boy’s ankle.
“The one with the orange globe on the sign.” Fear won out as he answered her questions, afraid of what she had planned for his ankle.
“Were there more?”
“Yes, there was a lot more.” A lightning fast smirk ratted him out.
“Any still edible?” Her tone had taken on a hiss and she was in his face, leaning her weight onto his ankle.
“Maybe, a few, I guess. Stop, that hurts.”
“Well, it’s not meant to feel good. In order to feel good you have to be good; do you understand?” Her foot pushed harder on the bones, a crunch brought forth a whimper from the child.
“Yeah.” His face was white with pain and fear.
She smiled coldly at him. “Good.” Turning to two of her oafs she barked orders, “Get to that shop, find any food they have, and bring it all back.”
“Yes’m.” They hurried off, bumping into each other on the way through the alley.
“Now, what to do with you, Scrum?” She took her foot off his ankle, pulled out a pocket knife and began cleaning under her nails.
“I didn’t do nothing wrong!” The boy’s filthy face wrinkled in anger, his hands clasped his injured ankle and he stared daggers at the scavenger.
The boy scooched backward toward the door of the church.
“You found food and didn’t share with your clan, boy-o. That’s serious treason.” She stalked him, using the knife point as emphasis as she spoke, smiling at him the way a cat grins at a canary.
“You’re not my clan. You’re filthy scavengers, nothing more.” He pushed past her two goons and through the door and ran straight to the pulpit.
“Oh, ho, look at the little street rat. He’s got some bite.”
Scrum hissed at her, “It’s easy when your teeth ain’t rotted out of your head.”
“Derby! Come take care of this little rat. I’ve got other things to do.” Kayliss spit at the boy, turned, and walked out of the church when did she go into the church through the rear doors leaving Scrum to his fate at the hands of the giant beast, Derby.
It wasn’t going well for him.
Currently, he was trapped by his tee shirt. It was clenched in the man’s beefy fist, leaving him dangling a few inches above the ground. A well-placed kick turned things around slightly as the punt to his family jewels had Derby letting go of Scrum’s shirt and cradling his balls whilst evacuating his stomach.
“Ha! There’s more where that came from you creatine!”
“You mean cretin.” They turned to look at the door where a willowy woman leaned against the front doorframe, puffing on a cigar.
“Huh?” Scrum asked, confusion wrinkling his face.
“Creatine is an amino acid, a cretin is a moron.”
“So?” The boy kept his eye on Derby.
The mountain of a man was on his knees, flecks of vomit speckled his shoes and pants, and he was looking at Scrum with a murderous rage that made his desire to tear him apart evident.
“He will never make that or any other mistake ever again.” Derby moved for the boy but the woman was faster.
She put the boy behind her, cocked her hip, and dropped her hand down to her holster.
“You will not harm this child while I’m around, understand?” She stared Derby in the eyes until the man looked away.
“You explain it to her why he’s not dead, then. If I see you alone, Scrum, I will kill you.” His face showed not even the slightest trace of jest.
“I will. Nice to see you again too, Derby. Good dog.”
“Fuck off, Sasha.” He turned and snarled at the boy before he left, “Your insult will not go unanswered, cockroach, count on it.”
“Hey! Next time you leave, put some more flounce in it,” Sasha called after him.
“I guess you want me to thank ya.” Scrum narrowed his eyes, waiting for the grift to start. “People don’t do nothing for nobody without getting something in return. So, what’cha want?”
Though he was still young, Scrum had seen enough to have become slightly jaded. The woman recognized this in him because it was something she saw in herself. Desperate to give the boy a sense of right and wrong, she’d stepped in.
“I want to know where you really got the donuts.” She grinned at him. It was kindly, there was no trace of threat to it.
“And if I don’t tell you?” His eyes were narrowed so far in distrust that he looked like he was facing the sun.
“Well, then I guess I don’t get any donuts. But, if you do tell me, you’ll get more of your own; and I’ll protect you from Kayliss and her goons.”
“You ain’t gonna threaten to kill me?”
“What purpose would killing you serve? It surely won’t get me donuts.” She took the Stetson off her head and ran a hand through dirty blonde hair.
“Who are you? Derby called you Sasha, so, I don’t mean just your name; what are you here for?” He stuck his chin up, determined to get the truth from her.
“I am Kayliss’ sister. When our parents died, I left. Only came back now because I was told our brother passed away.” She puffed on the cigar and locked eyes with the boy.
“Sorry for your loss. Pete was a good man.”
“Everyone keeps saying that! You all think I don’t know that?”
He recoiled at her vehemence. “I guess folks just try to differentiate him from her. Sorry.”
She blinked and her features softened, “No, I’m sorry. My brother’s death has been hard on me. Harder since our folks had passed too. I expect this is the last time I’ll ever see my sister. Been told she’s been doing far worse than threatening kids like you. Ain’t planning on allowing someone sharing my name to get away with such horrors.”
As she spoke passionately, Scrum watched to see what her angle was. Everyone had an angle. He’d also learned that at a young age.
“I figured it was my duty to stop her and so I will.” She smoothed her hair back from her forehead and returned her hat to its perch before walking over to the boy.
“I got them from the supermarket on Main. Someone’s been living in there.”
“I thought that was on a daily sweep?”
“It is but the squads miss it from time to time because it is so bizarrely laid out that it takes forever to clear. They’re lazy, so they pretty much just walk in and listen for a few minutes and move on.”
“How can they afford to leave food unguarded? And how is it you know this?”
“Most people think they took it all away. But they didn’t have anywhere to take it to so they left it there. I know all this ‘cos lots of things go on around here and I pay attention. It can save your life. My dad used to say that, during the war….” The boy choked up and broke off.
“I’m sorry, kid. I wish I had some words of wisdom but I don’t. Life sucks. It shits on all of us at one point or another. The key is in the way you handle the shit it tosses at you.”
“Sounds like words of wisdom to me.” Scrum had composed himself while she was speaking and he gave her a brave little grin.
“Be careful out there, kid. Watch over yourself.” She tipped her hat, turned, and left the old pharmacy they were in a church, spitting her cigar stub out on the weed-choked, busted-to-rubble cement walkway.
The boy watched her retreat and could barely contain his excitement. He’d grown up on stories of Sasha and how after the war she’d joined a band of freedom fighters in Mexico Proper and continued to aid in their liberation. He never expected to see her after Pete’s funeral. Her absence had everyone assuming she was dead or just too busy to attend.
He never expected to hear she was after Kayliss. It was better than he’d even dreamed. That woman and her Scavengers had been picking the county apart for too long. After the Great War the looting, robbing, and pillaging had destroyed what Korean missiles had not, and chaos reigned.
Kayliss rose up the ranks with her little wake of vultures and they promised safety from the waves of malcontents doing worse than looting. The truth was you paid them not to ruin your house/shop and they didn’t, unless they felt like it.
It was the same sort of protection racket that has been run in every city in the world. The thought that Sasha might help restore order and end the nightmare they’d been dealing with in Kayliss was enough to make Scrum smile.
He hoped telling her the truth about the donuts would go a long way to establishing trust and he wondered—not for the first time—who was living at the supermarket.
***
Sasha walked through the old market and stopped when she heard the rustling inside the store. She stayed still and quiet, up against the wall near the front door and listened. Whoever was inside was scrambling around grabbing things and bagging them up. The crinkle of plastic gave them away with each and every item they bagged.
Scrum had told her someone was living inside but she hadn’t believed it until now. She didn’t think it would be possible for them to outmaneuver her sister’s goon squad. Kayliss sent them around every building several times a day and never at the same times.
Her interest piqued, she advanced cautiously into the west wing of the E-shaped store, staying low and keeping her eyes moving to spot any trouble. She had just moved up near the snack food aisle when a loud bang made her stop and take cover.
A man walked by the end of the aisle, his hands loaded with full plastic bags. He was muttering to himself.
“Going to have to find a new home, not safe here. Damn kid stole my donuts.” Even though he was talking to himself his voice didn’t get much above a whisper. If the store hadn’t been empty and silent she never would have heard him.
Sasha debated coming forward and talking with the man. He seemed tightly wound and she didn’t want any further trouble than what was already heading her way with Kayliss.
Her sister had gone over the line when their father passed away. She’d crossed it further when their mother had followed her husband into death. Pete’s death had certainly steeled her descent into evil.
She had tried not to be sore when Kayliss didn’t bother to call her about Pete until long after the funeral. She’d tried not to be upset when she found that her sister had sold their parents’ house and kept the money. She’d even tried to give her sibling the benefit of the doubt when she stole the painting her brother had made for her ninth birthday present. It wasn’t going well.
The painting was the straw for her. It been hanging in the old house; Pete had painted it when he was fifteen and Sasha was nine. She looked up to her big brother, and his painting for her had been something that meant a lot to her. She planned to take the painting back with her to Oregon.
If there was a back to Oregon.
Kayliss had sharpened her skills and hardened her heart since Sasha had last spent time with her. It was entirely possible her sister would murder her. She knew there was a chance of death but it didn’t still her from moving forward with her plans.
“I hope whatever is on your mind is important because it has cost you your life.” The man she’d been watching was standing behind her and she was mentally kicking herself for allowing her thoughts to occupy her so intensely that he could sneak up behind her.
“I was thinking about killing my sister.” Her honesty surprised the man who lowered his knife slightly and looked at her with his head cocked in curiosity, like a dog.
“Wow. That’s a new one. Most people go the whole “No, please, I have a family” way.”
“Yeah, well, I prefer honesty to begging.” Sasha shrugged.
“Honesty is a good thing; murder, not so much.”
“You don’t know my sister.”
“Try me. I grew up around here. Got here a decade before the clock tower was blown up by the Koreans.”
“My sister’s name is Kayliss.” Sasha watched as a myriad of emotions slid over the man’s face starting with shock and ending in rage. “I see you are familiar with her.”
“I’m Nick Pershing. That bitch killed my wife.” The rage filled him and she took a slight step back.
“She killed a few wives after our mom died. She had what they called a psychogenic fugue state and said, If I can’t have a mom, neither can they. Her plans were to kill off every mother in town. She’d taken out three of them when I stopped her and brought her back into herself. I don’t even think she understood what she’d done. I’d taken her to see a doctor, used all my money too. He said there wasn’t anything he could do. She was how she was and we just had to accept her.”
“Okay, acceptance isn’t ever going to be happening. Tell me about this plan you have to kill her.”
“I didn’t say I had an actual plan. I’m more just winging it as I go.”
“Oh, dear God. Okay, well, sometimes those are the best kind of plans. You got an idea of what you want to do next?”
“I want to go speak with her. If I can talk to her, maybe I can bring back the sweet kid sister I remember from before all the death and destruction of the war.” Sasha wasn’t entirely confident it was possible.
“I think that part of her is dead. She killed far more people than the three you think she did. There were twenty moms throughout the entire county that I know of.”
“Twenty? There is no saving her if that’s the case.” Her face whitened and she blinked rapidly. She hadn’t really made any plans other than simply killing Kayliss, but she had to admit now that there was a part of her which had been hoping that her sister could be the little girl she’d once scooped up off the playground and carried to the doctor when she’d sprained her ankle.
The news she was a mass murderer set Sasha’s resolve that she had to end her sister’s life. The thought that she had to destroy the very person she had spent so long protecting and nurturing as a kid was heartbreaking.
“She killed more than those twenty.”
“How many more?” She closed her eyes and awaited his response.
“Oh, I think she’s offed just over two hundred now. After she took out the wives, she went wild on those living in the outskirts of town. Anyone who didn’t bend to her will got their necks bent by the gallows. I’m sorry to say, you’ve come back far too late to redeem her. Good luck trying. I have a date with a long-range rifle and your sister’s head—but, because I like you—I’m going to postpone it. I’ll give you twenty-four hours to talk with her and get her to surrender or put her down. If she is still walking, talking, and free by hour twenty-five, I will end her.” Without another word, he stepped out of the aisle and began walking for the exit.
“Look, the war changed everything. It’s over now and the few of us that remain can decide to carry on warring or we can stop, come together, and rebuild. I’ll take care of my sister, if I have to, but I owe her the chance to try.” Sasha hoped he could hear her.
He didn’t answer.
She turned her attention to finding enough food for her and Scrum. She wasn’t going to let the poor kid go hungry. Though the way he’d shoved those donuts down his gullet he probably wouldn’t be hungry any time soon.
She filled several bags and found a cart to transfer them back to her hideout. She wasn’t comfortable calling it a house. Maybe once it had been but it’d taken a lot of damage during the air raids. The front half of the house was still mostly dust and water tight. Boards on the windows and doors kept out many types of scavenger.
It looked as though the place would collapse at any moment but she’d inspected the foundation, and the support beams, and everything was solid and holding fine.
She rolled the cart to the side of the house and grabbed up as many bags as she could carry. Without missing a beat she stepped through the hole an ICBM had ripped through the back of the house and took her supplies to the cooler in what had been the living room.
She took note that she’d have to find ice, and soon, then she stepped back out to grab the rest of the food. Once everything was inside she went back outside and hid the cart in a dilapidated shed to the side of some overgrown rosebushes.
She took a good look around and ducked back inside the house.
As she was putting away groceries she heard a noise from the area near the shed and killed the lantern she’d lit. The sun broke through the boards covering the windows in small patches and dust danced in the golden light.
As if seeing the dust was enough to make one sneeze, her nose began to tickle.
A noise from the same hole in the house she’d used to gain entry meant she was no longer alone. She fought to control the urge to sneeze and won by plugging her nose shut. She grabbed the cooler with her other hand and hurried to the closet.
She didn’t want anyone stealing her food, but running with the cooler made a loud sloshing noise that she was sure would alert the burglar. She moved quickly and hoped for the best. She made it into the closet as someone came around the doorframe into the room.
“Hey, lady, you here?” She recognized Scrum’s voice and peeked through the crack she’d left in the closet.
He looked to be alone so she stepped out of her hiding place and set the cooler on the floor before turning to her guest. “What’cha doing here, Scrum?”
“I was looking for you. One of her Scavengers found me. He said Kayliss wants to see me. I think she’s going to kill me and I need you to help take care of my mom if she does. Please.” The eyes looking at her were not those of a ten-year-old. He had understanding far beyond his years and it hurt her heart to see.
“Just don’t go. Stay with your mom and I’ll deal with my sister. Here.” She shoved some of the groceries at him.
“Are you sure? I don’t want to get you into trouble.”
“Kid, I’m already in trouble. If you think she ever planned to let me out of this town alive you obviously haven’t been watching her.”
“I don’t understand. Earlier you planned to talk with her and try to change her. What happened?”
“I ran into your donut maker at the supermarket. It seems my sister is far worse than I thought. I still plan to try talking to her but I don’t expect it’ll do much good. If I don’t make it back, there is more food in the cooler and you are welcome to it. If I die, stay away from her and out of sight from now until you and your mom can leave. Best to leave sooner rather than later.” She walked to a suitcase on the kitchen counter and pulled out a rifle.
“I’m sorry. Nobody should have to kill their family.”
“Well, it seems that happens far too often around these parts. Hopefully Kayliss will be the last of that mess.” She opened the chamber and slid in three shots.
“I’m sorry you ain’t got nobody. I don’t really have anyone except Ma…so, I kinda know how hard it can be.” The kid patted her shoulder and a flit of a smile danced on her face as she thought of the absurdity of this child, this poor beaten-yet-unbroken child, comforting her.
She closed the bolt.
“Well, kid, you will. One day, when you least expect it, you’ll find you have more somebodies than you ever considered possible.” She clapped his shoulder and offered him a final piece of advice. “Get out of here while you still can. Move on with your mom and see where life takes you. Death ain’t no way to live and the outskirts have military zones; places where you will be safe. Before you say it’s a lie, I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Trust me; run while you still can. Once Kayliss falls, chaos will erupt. Someone meaner may take up her mantle.”
The boy started to speak and closed his mouth, nodding instead. There was no argument to be had; leaving was the best choice for him and his mom.
Sasha clipped her rifle to her backpack and shouldered it. Then she grabbed her hat and set it atop her head before turning for the door.
“Good luck, kid.”
“Good luck, yourself, lady.”
She chuckled and stepped into the evening. Dust devils swirled around her legs making her glad she’d worn pants. Her duster billowed for a moment before the wind caught the side of the fabric and whipped it back against her calves.
“She’s at the fights.” The voice startled her.
She turned to see the man from the supermarket.
“What?” She moved back and found a spot where she’d be able to defend herself if need be.
“She organizes an underground ring. They meet once a week and fight, sometimes to the death.”
“Jesus. Is there anything evil she hasn’t done?”
“Doesn’t much seem like it. Sorry.” He shrugged apologetically at her.
“Yeah, I’m sorry too. So, how easy will it be to get to her at one of these fights?”
“Are you planning on taking her on out there?” He raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.” She began pacing the porch.
“She’ll be in a private box. So, there’ll be a few guards to get through.” He leaned against a post and watched her.
“How many is a few?”
“Three or four. Varies. Tonight’s a new fighter’s debut. She might have an extra couple guys on just in case.”
“Okay, I have to go scope this place out but, the second I walk in, she’ll see me. So, Nick, what do you suggest I do?” Her tone was slightly acidic more from frustration than anger.
“Go in with a disguise?”
“What, like a nun or something?”
“I was thinking maybe as a man. We could cut up a wig and make you a beard.”
“Okay. If you’re actually Rick Baker in a mask, this could work.”
“I’m not but we will figure something out, trust me on this. You worry about a weapon, you won’t be able to get your rifle in.”
“It’s okay, I’ll adapt. Not to boast but it’s something I’ve become rather good at.” Sasha leaned the rifle against the doorframe—leaving it for Scrum—and pulled a couple knives from her waistband.
“Wow, you’re prepared.”
“Yeah.” She shrugged. “I’ve learned preparedness can be the difference between breathing and lying in a hole.”
“You ready for this?” He motioned for her to go ahead.
She held up her knives before re-sheathing them. “Yeah, see?” She stepped off the porch and into the street turning to keep a wary eye on him.
“I mean mentally. Are you prepared to kill your sister?” They began walking toward the town, sticking to side streets and hiding when
“If I have no other choice.”
“I don’t think you should face her until you are certain you can kill her without hesitation.”
“I don’t have a choice. I’m not talking to her for her sake, I’m doing it for me. This way if I do have to kill her I am assured that I tried—and though I will self-flagellate later—I can feel slightly less guilty about it.”
“I understand. I can’t imagine what you’re going through but, if you can’t kill her please know that I will.”
“Well, if I can’t kill her and she kills me I guess it’s reassuring to know someone will take her out. Though I can’t say I like the implication that even if I get her to accept help and turn herself in, you’ll shoot her.”
“I can’t say that I like the idea of a serial killer going free or getting three square a day and a roof. Some of these guys live better in prison than out.”
“I have to try.”
“I understand that too. I just don’t believe you sister is capable of saving. She has long ago left her morals behind and her sanity isn’t quite solid either. Frankly, I’m surprised she didn’t shoot you on sight. We need to go down here; there’s some folks you need to meet.” He moved down a side street to the right and she followed.
“I am the older sister. I inherited everything until she’s twenty-one. In the event of my death she’s given a custodian by the state. They could bleed the account dry before she gets to it so….” She shrugged.
“Oh. Jesus, I thought she was in her mid-twenties.”
“She’s nineteen, going on thirty-five.”
“Hell of a kill-count for a teenage kid.”
“Don’t I know it.”
He led them up to a house with the curtains closed and knocked on the door in a bizarre pattern. The door opened and a tiny woman led them through darkened corridors to a brightly lit living room with several people.
“Who’s she, Pershing?” A young man stood and looked over Sasha a little too thoroughly for her tastes.
“She’s going to help us. What’s Kayliss’ position now?”
“She’s at the theater already. Lots of folks coming from other towns. Not sure if tonight is a good night.” The young man who spoke looked spooked. “I don’t want to go to jail or die.”
“You won’t have any part of it, Max, they’ll never even know you knew us.” Nick did his best but couldn’t seem to calm the boy’s fears.
Understandable given that if their plan was ferreted out at any point they all faced death.
“So, what’s the plan?” A blonde woman in her thirties crossed her arms in front of her and looked to Nick for answers.
“Guys, this is Sasha Byrd, Kayliss’ sister.”
Panic rose up at his words and Sasha found herself staring at many a person holding a weapon looking at her with rage written clearly across their features.
“Relax, y’all. She ain’t here to hurt nobody. She’s a good ‘un, like Pete. Sasha!” A rotund little man with glasses ran up and gave her a big hug.
“Oh, um, thank you.” Embarrassed though she was to admit it, Sasha had no clue to the identity of the man.
“You probably don’t remember me. We saw so little of you after your father’s death. I’m Colin Meyers. Your dad was one of my best friends and you and your family were over quite a lot before he passed away.”
“Oh, Mr. Meyers, of course I remember you. You brought me orange sherbet for my tenth birthday.” The memory flooded in with a tidal wave of others—many of them including a young and loving Kayliss.
“Yes! So nice to see you again, dear. You look so much like your father.”
“Thank you. Nick, what is all this?” Sasha looked nervously around at all the townsfolk that had been gathered.
“We are coming together and rebelling against Kayliss and her vultures. We had a plan in place to kill her but, with your arrival, things will have to be sped up.”
“I told you I’d be the one to kill my sister, if she needs killing.”
A woman shrieked and grabbed Sasha by the shoulders of the duster. “If she needs killing? If? That cunt of a sister of yours killed my baby. He was five and she shot him in cold blood because he got mud on her shirt. There is no if.” She let go of Sasha’s duster and slumped to the ground sobbing. Everywhere she looked, eyes filled with rage and pain glared at her.
“I know my sister is a monster but if I don’t give her a chance to turn herself in and face her crimes than I’m as much of a monster as her. You all can hate me for that if you want but I’ll sleep just fine knowing I’m not killing first and regretting later. You should have told me about all this before bringing me here.”
After admonishing Nick, she backed to the door and attempted to open it.
It was locked.
Panic set in for a moment and she took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down before grabbing the key and turning it. The door opened and she stepped into the night.
She tried to still the uncomfortable feeling rising in her at the woman’s grief and anger fueled words. Had her sister actually killed a young boy? Was she truly that far gone? A hard lump of misery sat heavy on her heart and she knew that killing Kayliss was the only option she had.
She still intended to attempt to talk with her first, Sasha felt she wouldn’t be true to herself if she didn’t try, but she had zero hope that it would do any good. Her sister didn’t seem the sort to turn herself in. So, death was the last gift Sasha could give her.
“I’ll have buried every member of my family.” She was quiet but was overheard.
“Most of us have thanks to Kayliss.” Nick stepped out to check on her and in all her turmoil she’d not noticed.
When he spoke she jumped and whirled around, pulling a knife from its holster as she moved. When she saw it was Nick, she resheathed her knife and gave him a solemn nod.
“She wasn’t always this…thing. There was a time she was a sweet little girl who liked to run barefoot on the grass and chase butterflies.” Her heart broke to think of it.
“She’s no longer that little girl, Sasha. You can’t allow your past to cloud your present. She will kill you if she gets the chance. I’m sure she’s got goons looking for you to bring you to her.”
“Probably. I really wanted to believe there was a chance, you know?”
“I do. Kayliss was my wife’s best friend. I had hope once too.”
“I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have left when Dad died, but I couldn’t stay. It was too hard to deal with people. I just wanted to be alone. Maybe, if I’d stayed, she would have turned out different.”
“You can’t put this on yourself. You lost just as much as she did and I don’t see you out there terrorizing the citizens.”
“I save it for Tuesdays.” The joke was half-hearted but they both smiled. “I know it’s not my fault she is how she is but if I’d made different choices than maybe we wouldn’t be here right now.”
“Do you have a time machine I’m unaware of?”
“No.”
“Then you can’t do anything about it. Dwelling on the past isn’t going to do any good. She is how she is and now we must deal with her as she is. She needs to die. We need law and order around here and all Kayliss brings is death and destruction.”
“I know.” Sadness and heartbreak had colored her words.
“If you would rather I do it, so you don’t have to shoulder that, I would be glad to. Many of us would.” He gestured back to the house.
“No, she’s my sister, it’s my duty. I guess I just need to work up the nerve.”
“What if I told you she killed Pete?”
“What?” Ice slipped through her veins and her stomach twisted.
“Pete was trying to keep her off the wrong path and when she set up a meeting with scavengers from Northwood he tried to stop her. He didn’t want those carrion eaters here. He went out and rode ahead to tell them to go on back home. That their help wasn’t needed. Kayliss found out and tracked him down. She shot him, left him where he was, and went on to her meeting. The next day the scavengers were here and we were at their mercy.”
“No. No, she wouldn’t have killed Pete. She idolized him.”
“Maybe little Kayliss did but—like I said—she’s not that girl anymore. You have to let that image of her go. She is not the person you knew, she is the person who killed her brother because he stood in her way and who kills children, women, and men without compunction.”
“Fuck. I don’t know anything anymore.” For the first time since her father died she felt a loss of control.
“Look, I get you have to talk to her, I do. Just be careful. Don’t allow your emotions to cause you to slip up. She doesn’t have those emotions anymore and she will try to play yours like a fiddle.”
“You don’t know me.”
“I know enough to know that you care about her and she doesn’t care about anyone but herself. I know how painful that must be for you.”
“I left. I was out and happy in the world. I left a good life behind to come here and pay my respects to Pete. I was hoping I still had a sister left. You all are telling me I don’t and I am not sure exactly what to do aside from the fact that if I have to kill her, I will.”
“You will. Please, Sasha, steel your resolve now. Make sure when you see her you don’t give her the chance to bury you too. You seem like a nice lady. Don’t let this destroy you.”
“Thanks, Nick. Nice to have met ya. Sorry about your wife.” She gave him a sad smile and began moving toward the theater.
She tried to stay quiet and stick to the shadows but that plan failed when Nick came up behind her and startled her.
“I’m going with you. In case you can’t kill her, I’ll be sure to do the job. Sorry, Sasha.”
“It is what it is. Just stay out of my way when I’m dealing with her. You do what you have to afterwards but I need to talk with her first and you promised me that.”
“Fair enough. I just hope she doesn’t put a bullet in you while you are talking.”
“If she does then you can go right ahead and shoot her without having to worry about me.”
“I’d planned on that anyway.”
“What about when she’s gone? Some other asshole will show up to take over at some point. What will you do then?”
“Whatever we have to. I’m more focused on right now. Look, the old movie theater was gutted years ago and Kayliss had several MMA rings installed. They pay to fight, winner take all—minus her fees of course.”
“Doesn’t surprise me. The fact she’s paying and not kidnapping people for it is what’s really surprising.”
“When you get in she’ll probably be in or around the center ring. I don’t yet have a plan for how to approach her without being seen.”
“It’s alright. She knows I’m here. I’m sure Derby told her I ran into him.”
“We should wait until the fights are over and she’s leaving. We go in there and we’re stuck. After we kill her there’s no doubt we’ll be strung up if we just march in there and demand to see her.”
“I think she’ll be waiting for that. Hitting her while she’s preoccupied makes the most sense. As for the others, once she falls, I’m fairly certain most of them will walk away.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“If not, get out of there and let them focus on me. Hatch a new plan with the others. Don’t stop fighting.”
“Don’t you have a life to get back to?” He raised a quizzical eyebrow at her.
“Yes. I have a son. I’ve seen to it that his life will be a happy one, even if I don’t return.”
“I didn’t know.”
“I left for a reason. My boyfriend died in the Offensive, right after my dad. I was pregnant and didn’t want my baby to be raised in the Outzone. I moved Northwest to the city where my boyfriend’s family came from. I found them and introduced them to my boy. They’ve accepted me as family and I have lived these last few years in peace and happiness until I got the call about Pete.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through.”
“Thanks.” They walked along in silence for some time. “Why do I have a feeling you’re not planning on going back?”
“I never make plans I can’t keep. I came here to pay respects to my brother and visit my mother and father. I was hoping to save my sister but I realize that is impossible, though I still have to try.”
“I’m starting to see that you’re of the tenacious sort. I think you’ll get home to your son again.”
“I hope so, but I’m not counting on it. I learned a long time ago not to plan on anything.” She was about to round the corner to the theater when Nick stopped her and pulled her into the doorway of a building.
“Wait, she has someone sitting on the top of the bank building keeping a lookout. Keep your head down and keep walking with me at your side as normally as possible.”
“Okay.” She linked her arm in his and leaned in close to him. “Better?”
“Yeah. Sorry we don’t have a disguise for you.” He escorted her to the theater and opened the door, grateful that no alarm had been raised.
“It probably wouldn’t have worked any…what the actual fuck?” She looked around and her heart broke at what they’d done to the old theater.
“Kayliss doesn’t care about cleanliness as much she does her fights bringing in cash, or her Scavengers bringing back loot.”
“I don’t get it, this place was beautiful ten years ago. The Historic Society had completely refinished it after the war.”
“It was. When the government fell and Kayliss rose to power things began falling apart. She used the money collected from taxes for her own purposes. The theater and a few of the other historic landmarks fell into disrepair and she even began selling bits of them off.”
“I used to love this place. We came here for Three Stooges marathons, it made things like the bombings less scary somehow. It sucks seeing it all torn up like this.” There were holes in the walls, missing chandeliers and other furnishings, and what was left was covered in dust.
“Hurt a lot of us. My wife and I had our first date here, hours before the Koreans took out New York City and hit us on the way inland.”
They looked around at the three rings they could see. The central ring boasted Kayliss and a few of her scavengers. They sat watching and mocking—or cheering—the other fighters. In one ring a woman beat the tar out of a man who looked too afraid to hit back. In another two men were beating each other bloody and both looked about ready to fall over.
Taking a deep breath Sasha moved over to where Kayliss sat, screaming at the man to hit the bitch, and sat behind her sister.
Her breath shook as she leaned forward and said, “Hello, Sis.”
“I’m glad you came to see me. I didn’t think you’d show since the funeral already happened.” Kayliss sat back in her chair and kept her head high, showing no sign of surprise.
“Well, I did happen to love our brother. I wanted to say goodbye, so I came.”
“Too bad. You really should just go on home. This isn’t your town anymore.”
“It will always be my town. I hear you’ve been a bit of trouble for the people here.”
“The people you left behind?” She turned and smirked at her sister.
“I did what I had to do for my son. The people who love me understand that.”
“That’s bullshit. I don’t love you and I understand perfectly. Every bitch wants her spawn to have a good run.”
“Are you truly so dead inside, Kay?”
“You don’t get to call me that.” There was a growl to her tone and pure hatred was welling behind narrowed eyes and the snarl on her lips.
She swung at Sasha, who ducked and kicked her sister in the knee.
“You cunt!” She turned to her vulture squad. “Fucking kill her. What are you waiting for?”
As she spoke she scrambled back to the other side of the ring, shoving her scavenger’s now-empty chairs at her sister as she went.
“Kill me? You’d do that to your own sister?”
“I did it to Pete, what makes you so different?”
Sasha recoiled. “I’d heard the rumor but, how could you?”
“With a gun; why, how would you have done it?” She sent a nasty smirk her sister’s way.
“You’re despicable.” Her little sister was gone and her resolve to destroy the demon that remained was hardened.
There was no doubt in her mind that Kayliss was going to have to die and that she wouldn’t feel as horrible about putting her down since she was little more than a rabid dog.
“No, what I am is intelligent. See, I wouldn’t walk into your turf and think I’d have a chance in walking out. These people here? They’re my family. Them, not you. These people will do what I tell them and won’t treat me like a child.”
“These people don’t give a rat’s ass about you.”
“Goodbye, Sasha. I’ll send my nephew your love. Go on, Derby. Take care of her.”
“You take care of her. She’s your sister.”
“If you want something done right, I guess.” She pulled her gun from her holster and aimed it.
Sasha pulled the knives from her sheaths and threw one, hitting her sister in the neck. Before she fell, Kayliss pulled the trigger, shooting her sister in the shoulder. Neither hit was fatal, but the shot in the shoulder meant Sasha wouldn’t be able to throw the second knife easily. She rushed her sister before she could get another shot off and swung her blade trying to slash Kayliss across the stomach.
Her sister jumped back, missing the slash by a hairsbreadth and clocked Sasha across the skull with her gun.
She fell to the floor in a heap. As Kayliss stood over her—blood streaming from the cut on her neck—she looked around for Nick and found him looking worried off to the side of one of the rings.
Everyone in the theater had stopped and were staring at her.
The click of the gun chamber brought forth her instincts and she kicked up at her sister’s hand, hoping she’d drop the gun. Instead, Kayliss steadied her hand and shot through her sister’s thigh. “You do not rise up to me in my territory, bitch.”
Sasha’s vision swam as Nick rushed Kayliss from behind and was promptly shot in the face for his efforts.
Dealing with Nick had distracted the wannabe warlord and allowed Sasha to creep up behind and plunge her remaining blade into her sister’s gut, ripping upward.
Kayliss’ dropped her gun and pressed her hands to her abdomen, trying desperately to hold in her innards. A few loops of intestine dangled between her outstretched fingers and the scent of feces spread through the air. The panic and fear on her face was unmistakable as she looked at her murderer.
“You’ve killed me.” She blinked and sat down, trying to stop the bleeding and the further advance of her intestines.
“Someone had to.”
“Fair enough. One good turn, sister.” Kayliss reached into her boot with one bloody hand, allowing a foot or two of her own intestine to slip through her fingers, and pulled out a derringer. She quickly shot her sister in the head. To her lackeys she yelled, “Get me to a doctor, you morons!”
Nobody moved.
Several of the Scavengers ducked out after Sasha had partially disemboweled their leader.
“I still have a chance, get me to the fucking doctor!”
Derby acted as though he was going to help then he grabbed her hand, took her derringer, and handcuffed her to the turnbuckle. “Sorry, Kayliss. We think it’s time for a change in management.”
“You can’t do this to me! It’ll take me hours to die like this,” she screeched.
“I think you’ll find we can do whatever we like. You taught us that.” He smiled icily. “See, with you gone we have more money with every take and, truth be told, you were a fucking shitty leader to work for.”
“I will make sure you all suffer for this.”
“You won’t live long enough.” Derby shot her in the gut with her own gun. “See, now it won’t take hours. Don’t say I never helped you.” He turned and walked away with the others following him.
The woman who’d been fighting the man stepped in front of Derby. “No way, man. You promised us payment for what she did to us.”
“If you don’t think being disemboweled and gut shot is payment enough, feel free to enact your own revenge upon her. I, however, am done with Kayliss Byrd, now and for eternity.” He turned and spat at the woman who had thought him a dear friend.
He turned back and left, pushing the female boxer out of his way.
She ignored the push. “Hey, what do you say, guys? Shall we take our pound of flesh?” The fight earlier seemed only to serve her lust for spilling blood.
“I have money.” Kayliss offered up a large wad of cash—besmeared with her blood—from the fights.
The fear on her face fueled their excitement. She held on tightly to the bright spark of hope she could buy her way out.
But their, “we don’t care” broke that hope and the last of her reserves.
Four souls took their vengeance out on the woman who had oppressed them for so long. They didn’t care that she was grievously injured and bound, they only knew that freedom was theirs and they celebrated in a bloody way; raining blows and stabs down upon the source of their rage. Her death was an echo of the life she lived; full of violence, fear, and hatred.