When the beast sat upright, the man scratched it behind its ear, which was the same height as his shoulder. He had to walk by the man and his beast to return to the gate. He passed warily, looking at the horror the whole time. As he came into earshot far enough away from the deafening pounders, he heard the brutish man say, “How do we know this new one is as good as your old one and will find the bitch who escaped?”
“He is still learning as he is still only a pup, but he is good enough and twice the killer. I can give you a demonstration if you wish?”
“Yeah, go on then. Kristoff, go get that bastard we put on furnace duty because of his attitude.”
A guard who had stood close by turned and left and, before Kyto had crossed the yard, returned dragging a slave towards them by his collar.
Kyto was let through the gate and walked over to the townhouse steps where the man with the pistol sat. He heard someone shout and turned to watch as the slave started running towards the gate. The guard at the gate opened it and allowed him through.
The slave turned out of the gate and sprinted as fast as he could toward the abandoned warehouses further down the block. He must have been two hundred feet away when Kyto saw the beast start to move. The beast sprang into action, hurtling toward the slave, ignoring the open gate. It bounded across the yard, covering thirty to forty feet at a time, then leapt up and over the fence. It sailed over it, clearing it easily. ‘Fucking hell’, Kyto thought. In under fifteen seconds, it had closed in on the slave and leapt, opening its vast jaws.
It twisted its head sideways as it captured the slave around his midsection in its open jaws. They clamped down hard, and Kyto heard the blood-curdling scream that left the man’s lips. The beast shook its head ferociously from side to side. Kyto physically gagged as he witnessed the slave’s body torn in half and fall in a bloody mess to the concrete. It howled a hellish guttural sound. For a moment, Kyto thought even the pounders had fallen silent in fear, and then it proceeded to eat the man's remains. There was a whistle blast, and the beast immediately stopped eating, turned, and trotted back up the road. He could see the gore hanging from the beast’s jaws as it headed towards the gate and its master.
“Fuck, that’s one hell of a beast.” The townhouse guard said.
Kyto turned and looked at him, nodding his head in agreement. He knew the colour must have drained from his face. The sheer terror he felt was unlike anything he had felt before.
“What’s the score with the machine?” the man asked.
“It is repairable, although I need to get a couple of parts from my place to fix it.”
“Alright, I’ll let the boss know.”
The man walked into the house, and Kyto watched as the beast jumped back up into its cage after the man had given it a pat on its head. He was awestruck and terrified by the thing. It was hideous, hellish, and looked so evil, but it also seemed to have a strange kind of beauty to it. The power and fluidity it showed was amazing for a creature of its size.
“The boss will see you now.” The guard called from the doorway.
Kyto walked back into the house, and silver hair stood in his office doorway. “So how much is it going to cost me?”
“I have everything I need back at mine and can start work on it today if you like. The parts are not too pricey. With parts and my time, I would say you are looking at twelve stacks. Half now and half on completion.”
“Twelve stacks, that’s not cheap!” He muttered under his breath about the contract and needing to finish the schedule. “OK, ten stacks, and I’ll pay five now.”
Kyto stood for a minute, considering how much he could get with five stacks. It was nearly equivalent to 3 months of scavenging. “Alright.” Holding out his hand, the silver-haired man shook it and returned to his office, returning moments later with five stacks.
“Could I possibly get a lift back to mine if that’s ok for getting the parts? Otherwise, I won’t be able to get back until the morning.”
“Yeah, alright, Heckles, get Dixon to give him a lift, will you? The sooner the sixth is back working, the sooner we can get back on schedule.”
Heckles headed towards the back of the townhouse while Kyto went outside and stood on the steps. He looked at the yard again and saw the beast lying down at the back of the truck. He saw the wiry man walk out with a canteen and poured it some water. The beast nudged the man and started lapping at the bowl. He was soon met by a scrawny-looking old man on the steps. He recognised him from the other day as Silver-hairs driver.
“So, where do you need to get back to?” The man asked.
“Not far. I am based at an old farmhouse about four miles west of here. It shouldn’t take us long to get there. Grab what I need and head back. The roads are not great out that way, but it was the only decent place I could find to set up in.”
“Alright then, we will take that one.” The man pointed to one of several parked vehicles outside the townhouse and approached it. It was a large vehicle and quite boxy in shape. It had an open space in the back, and only the front seats were in it. Kyto walked around to the other side and climbed in.
He had only ever been in another vehicle once, and that was several months back. There had been a township that he had completed some work for, and he had needed timber to repair a stockade. They had used the town truck to take him to get some from a local wood. That vehicle was quite large and cumbersome. This vehicle was much smaller and more manoeuvrable in comparison. He watched intently as the man sat in the driver’s seat, placed a key into a hole at the side of the column with the control wheel on, and then turned it. The engine growled and sputtered into life. He watched as the man then moved a lever arm on the side next to the control wheel, and he pushed his foot down on a pedal on the floor. The vehicle started to move forward and slowly picked up speed. Kyto noted everything the man did as he gave him directions back towards the farmhouse.
“It's just here on the right,” Kyto said, indicating the overgrown path that led to the farmhouse.
The man slowed the vehicle down, and it came to a stop. He then moved the lever again, and the vehicle sat there. Kyto leaned as if getting out of the vehicle. “I’ll just be a few minutes.” At that instant, he spun, pulling his multitool from his vest pocket, flicking the blade open and pushing the sharp blade up underneath the man’s neck. The man shrieked and stared wide-eyed at him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Saving a friend, now slowly get out of the vehicle.”
Kyto reached and took the key out of the ignition and followed the man out of his side door while still pressing the blade to his throat.
“Sit down,” he said to the man. The man obeyed, groaning as he went down to the floor. Kyto felt guilty for making the old boy do this, but after seeing that beast back at the factory, he knew there was only one way he was getting Tabs clear from there.
“Put your hands behind your back, please.” The man did as he was asked, and Kyto took some wire from his pocket and bound the man’s wrists together. Only once he was happy that there was no way he was freeing them did he fold the blade in the multitool away and replace it into his vest pocket.
“You do know you’re a dead man. He will hunt you down and have you killed for this.”
“He may do it, but I need to get my friend to safety and a vehicle to do it.”
Kyto grabbed the man by his collar and hoisted him up; he then walked him towards an old bench outside the farmhouse and tied his ankles together around the frame of it. Once he was sure that he could not escape, he started for the farmhouse to get Tabs.
∆∆∆
Tabs heard an engine and went into panic mode; she listened to the engine stop and sat frozen with fear. She heard voices coming from around the front of the building, but all the windows were boarded up apart from the bedroom and the bathroom, and neither looked at the front of the property. She looked around for anything she could use as a weapon and picked up an old broken vase sitting on a table. She made her way to the side of the window and waited to try to listen to what was being said.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Kyto jogged around the side of the building and whistled. He saw a very scared-looking face of Tabs peek down at him. As soon as she realised it was Kyto, her expression relaxed.
“We need to go,” he stated as he climbed up the side of the house.
“What? Why?”
“Because I have seen the thing being sent to track you, and there is no way we are taking that on. Grab your gear and anything else you want, but we are going now.” He said urgently.
Tabs quickly picked up her few possessions from around the room while Kyto ran into the landing area and pulled down the clothes they had washed the day before. He also took her belongings and shoved them into the top of his backpack.
“OK, we haven’t time to mess about opening downstairs, so I need you to go out the window. Tie this rope around your waist, and I will lower you down.”
Tabs did as she was instructed and tied the rope around her waist.
“Ok, climb out, and I will try and lower you.”
Tabs climbed over the edge easily. She was agile enough. She couldn’t support her weight fully on her ankle to climb easily. She lowered herself as far as she could down the side of the wall, and Kyto took up the strain. Kyto lowered her the remaining distance to the floor, and then, dropping the rope out of the window, he swung out after it and descended the wall. Grabbing the rope from around her body, he stuffed it into the backpack.
“Ok, let’s go.”
“Where?”
“As far away from here as we can get. Come on.” He moved to the front of the building. She followed quickly, turning the corner and seeing the old man tied to the bench. She recognised him immediately from the factory.
“He will kill you for this”, the old boy yelled.
“You can tell him to go fuck himself” Tabs shouted back.
Kyto walked up to the vehicle, throwing his backpack into the back, then walked around to the driver’s side and climbed in. He signalled for Tabs to get in. She climbed into the passenger seat as Kyto placed the key in the ignition and turned it. The engine kicked in straight away, and he moved the lever as he had seen the man do. The vehicle jumped slightly and started to move backwards. He quickly moved the lever again, then placed his foot onto the pedal and pushed lightly, and the vehicle lurched forward, slowly picking up speed. Grabbing the wheel, he turned it, and the vehicle started to turn. ‘This does not seem too difficult’, he thought.
“I can’t believe you have stolen one of his vehicles!” Tabs exclaimed.
“Well, we were not going to get far on foot with your ankle the way it is, and if that thing picks up your scent and can track you, we don’t want to be anywhere near here when it does.”
Kyto pulled onto the road and turned West, heading toward the country and the mountain range.
“What thing?” Tabs asked.
“It’s a damn beast that they have brought in to track you down. The thing is enormous. It is violent and precise, and I watched it tear a man in two.”
“What the fuck? It tore them in two?” Tabs replied.
“As I say, it's huge. Its head is as large as one of the wheels on this vehicle, and it stands about four feet tall at its shoulder if not nearer five. It is pure muscle. I had to walk past it within twenty feet. I have never been so shit scared before in my life.”
Congratulations, you have learned the skill of driving.
Kyto’s ocular display flashed. He discarded it straight away and focussed on the road ahead.
They had been driving for a while. When they reached the base of the mountains, he had chosen a road that wound up the mountainside and across the range. He had never travelled this way before, always sticking to the east of the mountain range and low down, but a vehicle would make the journey much easier. He was glad they weren’t doing this by foot. It would have taken days, if not weeks, to travel the distance they already had.
They had travelled through several deserted and dilapidated towns and even what he thought must have been a city on the route. All were overgrown and wild, with no signs of human life. He planned to head North eventually. He had heard of a place called New Talisia, which had the best trading in the East and was said to be the largest township.
He would never have even been able to consider it without the vehicle, but now they had it, and it seemed like as good an option as any. He had seen a few maps over the years, and he could vaguely remember having to follow a river once they dropped down out of the mountains, although he was not sure if it was the right one.
They sat in virtual silence for most of the drive, and Tabs dozed off several times. Kyto had no idea how far they had gone, but he was sure they had put a decent distance between the factory and where they were now. The roads were treacherous, and they were becoming even harder to travel. He continually had to slow down to work his way around obstacles, whether they be trees that had grown in the middle of the roads or where roads had entirely collapsed over the years, never mind the number of abandoned vehicles that littered them. They continued for another hour before the light started to fade.
“I don’t fancy driving in the dark. We better find somewhere to stop for the night,” he told Tabs.
She looked over at him, nodding her head in agreement.
They came to an overgrown and battered old building a short distance down the road. It was single-storey and had a long, flat front with several doors. It looked like there used to be a larger building behind it, but it had collapsed over the years. Kyto could just make out the word on a sign, “Mount Heights,” he said out loud.
“What’s that?”
“I think it is the name this place was once called. It looks deserted enough. I think this will be as good a place as any to stay for the night.”
He pulled the vehicle before the building structure and stopped turning the engine off.
“Ok, you stay here for a minute while I go and check it out and find us somewhere to spend the night,” Kyto said.
“Why don’t we just stay in the vehicle?” Tabs asked.
“I would prefer to be behind something solid. I am not sure this glass is very strong, and if there are Wild Ones in the area, I am not sure it could stop them from getting to us, " he said matter-of-factly.
“Fucking hell, you do know how to put fear in someone.” She replied.
“Sorry, I think it’s better to be safe than sorry.” He replied.
“I agree. I could have done without you explaining how easily a Wild One could eat us.” She said, smiling at him.
Kyto jumped out of the vehicle, went to the low-fronted building, and started moving from room to room, seeing what was in it. Every door was open, and all had been ransacked and abandoned. By all accounts, each one at some point had contained a double bed, and a couple of pieces of furniture, and it looked like they each had a small bathroom area with a shower, sink, and toilet- not that anything worked, of course.
The room he chose was closest to the vehicle and the main road at the end of a row. He turned the vehicle around so it faced back where they had come. If they did need to run, he wanted to be able to do it quickly. The room contained a double bed with a rotten mattress, but it was better than sleeping on the floor, and Tabs still wasn’t fully fit due to her ankle.
“Ok, Tabs, this one will do.” He called to her.
Creepers had broken through parts of the crumbling walls, and it was like being under a jungle canopy the way they stretched up and over the ceiling. Tabs entered, and he closed the door as best as he could. The hinges were warped, and it would not fit back into the doorframe properly, so he dragged an old cabinet over and stood it in front of it to secure it as best as he could.
He took out the blanket and placed it on the bed. “We better not light a fire tonight. We have no idea what’s in the area, and this place is so overgrown there could be any sort of Wild Ones around these parts”. Kyto said.
“Do you still have some of that dry fruit?” Tabs asked. Kyto dug into the pack and took out two small pouches, handing her one.
“We perhaps have enough supplies for about a week, but we may have to ration back a little or go foraging or hunting. I do not know exactly how far the next township is. I saw it on a map a few months back, but I am uncertain. I also did not salvage anything new to trade where we were. I only have one bundle of copper left, so I need to try and scavenge once we are far enough away.”
“I don’t know how you remember half of what you do.” She replied.
“I don’t know, I just find remembering things easy. I think that’s why I can normally repair most things because once I’ve seen it and had a chance to tinker, it stays in my head.”
“You should get some rest. Since I have slept so much already today, I will do the first watch if you like,” Tabs offered.
Kyto contemplated what she had said for a minute and then agreed he did feel tired. It was strange how driving a vehicle had seemed to tire him more than a typical day had. “Ok, but anything happens, and you wake me.” He lay on the bed and pulled up the earlier notification on his retina.
Driving level 1 achieved – you now have a basic understanding of operating automotive vehicles. This skill can be developed further through practice and driving different vehicle types. Warning – just because you can drive this vehicle variant does not mean you can automatically drive others.
He thought some of the skill notifications did not make sense, so he cleared it again. He turned over onto his side and closed his eyes, pulling the blanket under his chin. It did not take him very long to fall asleep.
She sat in the darkness, pulled her sweatshirt high up, and tucked her head into her shoulders. There was a dampness and chill in the air; without a fire, it wouldn’t be the warmest night. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about what she would do. While in captivity, she had always dreamed of being free and able to do this or go there and see that. She had heard so many tales of wonders from other slaves over the years and would dream her nights away, making up stories about what she would do if she ever got free. The problem was she was now free and had absolutely no idea. She knew she was happy for the first time in a very long time and enjoyed spending time with Kyto.
She had never felt anything towards any man before. She disliked men because of how badly many had treated her, but he was different. He was kind and thoughtful. Even in their few days together, he had amazed her with his knowledge and ability to think things through. Everything he did had a purpose. He never seemed to waste a moment of time or energy unless he had something to achieve. He was smart. He could read and understand how some of the weirdest contraptions worked and even seemed to know what most of them had been used for previously. He seemed to see value in everything, and she supposed, being a scavenger, he had learned early about what were the best items to look out for, but since he had told her about his past, it did not appear to make sense that he knew so much being abandoned at such a young age.
Kyto started to snore gently, and Tabs moved over and sat on the edge of the bed. She ended up lying beside him, looking towards the doorway and listening for unusual sounds. The problem was there were so many. She made herself jump, thinking she saw something move, but catching one of the creepers had just been a breeze. ‘I will wake him up in a few hours,’ she thought. She could feel his body's warmth against her back. It was not long before she also fell asleep.