Post by MSS Productions on May 29, 2020 1:06:29 GMT
MMS Productions presents...
Beep. . . Beep. . . Beep. . .
The screen fades into darkness. A thick, inky darkness not from an absence of windows or lamps, but the pure kind of darkness that is only known by a select few. The blind, the sleeping, and the dead.
Beep. . . Beep. . . Beep. . .
Voice in the darkness: "Inform Colonel St. John that 16A, 17A, and 19A are all negative."
Second voice in the darkness: "Yes, Doctor."
Beep. . . Beep. . .
Beeeeeeeeeeeeee
Voice in the darkness: "...and 18A"
Second voice in the darkness: "...18 too...?"
And light the book viewed around the world as holy said, let there be light. Slowly like a blind was opening on the screen, the light began to appear. A thin line in the center of the screen, then it disappeared. It reappeared again and disappeared a second time; each time the light was a little less blinding. A little less bright. The light was coming from an intense fluorescent light sitting above the thin line of vision on the screen, stark white panels surrounded it.
Again, the light disappeared. Reappeared, disappeared, and reappeared. The fluorescent panel coming into frame and then disappearing again and again. The stark white reappeared, this time more of them as the visual on the screen widened. The view lowered from the white tiles down a white sterile wall, shelves of polished steel with glass doors appeared. the cabinet filled with stacks of thin white fabric and tiny vials of liquid of various colors.
The view turned to the right, following the sterile white walls past the steel, and two figures came into frame. Standing side by side were two women, both in their mid to late twenties. A tall blonde with a squat unattractive face wearing bright blue clothing and a medical object around her neck. The other a brunette nearly as tall dressed in a business skirt that hung to her knees and a white lab coat. Her hair was cut to her jawline and she held a clipboard in her hand which was where her attention was.
The blonde, however, wasn't looking at the clipboard. The blonde was looking directly at the screen, her mouth agape and her eyes wide.
Nurse: "D-D...Do..."
Across the screen came flashes of images. Someone brutally cutting into a body. Needles being pressed into flesh and DNA cells bulging and ripping before the entire screen exploded into a thick red blood. One word was whispered through the speakers. A voice that belonged to neither of the two women, but it definitely was female.
"Kill."
The blonde’s eyes moved from the screen off to its left and began to widen more, this time with more than just disbelief.
With fear.
Nurse: "Doc… DOCTOR!!!"
Doctor: "WHAT?!"
Once again, the screen goes red, this time matched with the "AFTERLIFE" logo appearing in the center of the screen. The red-tinted screen and logo are replaced by a vast beautiful landscape viewed from what appeared to be a cliff’s edge. A road of dirt wove downward back and forth in a serpentine pattern to a two-lane highway with a small match of trees and vegetation on the other side. The camera pans over the view, allowing a moment to breathe in the beauty of nature and the scene unfolding before the world.
Female Voiceover: "What happened?"
The camera pans back to find a platinum blonde figure sitting on the edge of the cliff. She wore a pair of blue jeans, slashed and cut at the shins, and thighs and a black sleeveless half top. Over the top, she wore a denim vest. On the back of the vest was a black tribal design of the titan Cronos with the word Texas beneath it. Above the giant was the word "Titans" in arching black letters.
Female Voiceover: "It's always the same. What happened? They always want to compare stories, and sooner or later, you'd think they'd all realize the stories were all the same. Confusion. Pandemonium. Bodies everywhere, coming from every direction, and of course… the screaming. There was always screaming. The military tried to do their best, but how do you fight something you can't kill? They were overrun. People ran out of food. Then ammo. Then hope."
The words came not from the woman sitting on the cliff’s edge, but from all around her as she stared down at the small notebook in her hand, the tiny pencil working and scratching across the paper.
Female Voiceover: "Weeks turned to months. Months into years. How long has it been now since ammunition was reliably replaced? Six months? A year? And those damned things just keep on comin’..."
Voice: "Abi?"
The voice came from behind the woman seated on the cliff and the camera turned to follow it. The cliff flattened into a small trail, behind which was a large oval cut in the rock where a campfire had burned down to nothing. Two sleeping bags were sitting in the shadow of the oval with a blonde woman standing at its mouth. She was shorter than Abigail but not by much and wearing a pair of jeans and a loose-fitting white top. The makeup on her eyes and lips said she took a great deal of time to apply it while she gave Abigail her time alone.
Abigail Ryder: "You finally finished?"
She set the notebook aside on the cliff face beside her and folded her feet up beneath her. Pushing herself up she turned her gaze to her best friend and companion, finding, as usual, her make up was immaculate. Madison made a face and brought the fanny pack up clasping it around her waist.
Madison Chaney: "What? Some of us can't wake up looking like you do."
Abigail looked down at herself, ignorant of the assets that she had been given. The gentle curves of her face, the fullness of her lips. The roundness of her bust and thickness of her hips. All things she didn't need anymore as far as she was concerned. Not after James. When Madison saw that look, she knew without words where Abigail's head was. She knew her job.
Madison Chaney: "Not all of us are a ten without even trying Abbi.”
Abigail Ryder: “You sure it’s down there?”
Madison’s eyes turned to follow her best friends off the edge of the cliff and down the road path. At the bottom of the dirt road, where it met the concrete two-lane blacktop. Across the black asphalt were a group of tents, all surrounded by a thick chain link fence.
A refugee center.
Madison drew her bottom lip between her teeth and smacked Abigail on the shoulder.
Madison Chaney: “Come on then, only one way to find out.”
Abigail pushed herself up and brushed the dust off her backside. She slid the tiny notebook and pencil into her back pocket. Snatching the holsters and straps from the bedside beside the rock where she had sat Abigail applied one each to her thighs and pushed an AR-15 over her back.
Abigail Ryder: “Count?”
Madison slid a Glock into the holster on her hip and shouldered the strap of an all-black shotgun across her back.
Madison Chaney: “You’ve got two on the right, one on the left and two on your back. I’ve got three on the hip and two on my back.”
Abigail made a face and climbed on the back of a bike sitting off near the makeshift bed the blonde woman had been using. The bike itself was a patchwork made up of multiple bikes. None of the colors seemed to match and many of the parts of the engine seemed to be different shades of metallic. As if it had been built from the pieces of other bikes.
A single pat of her hand to the seat behind her and Madison climbed on wrapped her arms around the woman, and they began off. The shot followed them down the hill and around the corners leading from the camp to the refugee center.
As the scene watched the bike weave back and forth around the turns leading toward the asphalt words appeared across the bottom of the screen.
Bethany Kenyon as Abigail Ryder
Lilith Meadows as Madison Chaney
Adrien Cochrane As Josiah Crane
DiDi as Alice Cornell
Samantha Hamilton As Jema Delacroix
Special guest star-Morgan Payne
And
Guest starring Anton Crowley as James Ryder
Special guest star-Morgan Payne
And
Guest starring Anton Crowley as James Ryder
After the names finally stopped appearing the scene shifts to the inside of the refugee center. The tents were a deep forest green with tears along the length in places that flapped gently in the breeze. The sound of gravel and leaves crunching beneath a pair of feet sounded as the pair of women came around the corner, their heads on a swivel. Madison walked with a lengthened stiletto knife in each hand while Abigail held a baton length bat with long serrated blades through the head coming out each direction in one hand and the other hovering over her thigh.
At the spot where the tent openings met the two women split off, heading in opposite directions into their interiors. They moved through the large medical tents looking through footlockers, desk drawers, and cabinets, pocketing anything they could find. Bandages, medical supplies, and checking the clips, magazines, and chambers of any weapons that happened to be lying around.
Of course, all of them were empty, and the two women’s facial expressions upon seeing the lack of bullets were the same. Exasperation and fatigue.
Madison pushed the doors of a metal cabinet open to reveal the stack of MREs and blankets which only caused Madison to close the door with a frustrated grunt. As she moved through the tent a desk yielded a notepad, which she pocketed for Abigail. She’d surprise her later. Elsewhere in the room as she moved station to station she found unused IV bags and sterile syringes, a tin of Altoids, and a handful of walkie-talkies, all of which proved to be dead.
Abigail found much the same as Madison inside as she moved from station to station until she came to a steel shelving unit with glass inserts in the doors. Inside were bottles of various sizes and small clear glass vials of clear liquids.
Abigail Ryder: “Jackpot. Madison!”
The blonde turned at the shout, missing by a half a second the shadow of something passing outside the tent fast. Madison came around the beds heading toward the flap when it happened. Four figures came around the corner of the tent at a dead sprint. Two wearing the fatigues of the military, one the scrubs of a nurse, and one the street clothing of a civilian. All of their eyes were the same milky white but clearly focused. Each of them held a bladed weapon in their hands, three knives, and one a club made from the leg of one of the hospital beds.
Madison didn’t see the foursome until she exited the opened flap of the tent but it was already too late. They were nearly on her.
Madison Chaney: “Abbi!”
The shout was all she could get out before the first one hit her. Abigail wheeled around, pulling the black Glock from her thigh as she did and fired. The bullet ripped through the back of the creature holding Maidson’s head, just behind the ear. The second took the one pulling up the rear square in the side of the head sending it toppling sideways through the tent window flap.
Madison shoved the dead creature off her as she heard the click of the empty weapon in Abigail’s hand. She struggled back to her feet, heels scraping off the gravel. She caught the next one coming in on the side of the neck with the knife just as the other was coming in behind her with the club raised, snarling as they did. Just as it was about to connect the blades at the end of the bat erupted from its snarling mouth as Abigail took it in the back of the neck.
Madison hunched over panting as Abigail ripped the bladed bat from the back of the creature's head.
Abigail Ryder: “It mark you?”
Madison Chaney: “No...just surprised….”
Madison’s eyes widening was the only hint of a warning that Abigail got but it was enough to cause her to lean to the side. The knife only caught the side of her head, slicing into the temple. Without the warning, it would have taken her full on in the head.
Blood erupted from the wound and across the snarling face of the feral soldier but as he reared back for another strike while Abigail fell his entire head exploded. Abigail raised her head, blood running down her temple and found Madison standing with the Mossberg in her hands, smoke billowing from the barrel.
Madison Chaney: “Wasn’t expecting any to be here…”
Abigail Ryder: “Anymore around?”
Madison Chaney: “I don’t hear any footsteps…”
Abigail Ryder: “The blast would have brought um if they were. Come on, I found it.”
Abigail slid the empty Glock back into the holster on her thigh and led Madison back into the tent she had come from and to the rack she had been examining. Madison let out a happy squeal and pulled the door back. Taking the bottles off one by one she began to stuff them into the pack slung over the other shoulder and hanging over her stomach.
Madison Chaney: “There are antibiotics here, blood thinners, painkillers. Antivirals….this is exactly what we needed.”
Abigail Ryder: “I swear if Josiah tries to step in and screw us again...”
Madison Chaney: “I think the last time he tried and nearly got shot he’d have learned his lesson.”
Abigail Ryder: “Josiah? Learned a lesson? Fucking doubtful.”
Abigail motioned over her shoulder with her head.
Abigail Ryder: “Let’s go.”
Madison Chaney: “You don’t wanna check the rest? You know you never know what you might need to fill one of the requests on the boards.”
Abigail shook her head, her eyes already scouting the tent.
Abigail Ryder: “No, we know they are here….not worth it to risk on something that we may be able to trade. We have the big one...let’s go.”
The shot pulls back watching as Abigail and Madison both make their way through the deserted refugee center, both of them aware and alert to the presence of the creatures now that they knew they were here. Abigail climbed on the bike first and Madison climbed in behind her, one hand around the girl's waist and the other holding the bag close to her side.
It appeared that leaving had been the proper choice. As the bike roared to life another five of the creatures came around a corner at the rear of the camp behind them.
The creatures snarled, each holding a bladed weapon of one kind or another in one hand. Like the others, they didn’t shamble or stumble forward but came around the corner at a full sprint screaming in rage at the sound of the bike rumbling to life.
Madison patted Abigail's shoulder and the woman lifted the kickstand and started off before the charging creatures could ever get close. The shot then pulled out wide and followed them along the two-lane blacktop as they sped away from the fenced-in refugee center. It followed them from a birds-eye view around one corner and past an empty gas station, the ground littered with trash and other disposed of items.
The shot shifted from the birds-eye view to a series of shots of the two women on the bike either coming toward the camera or away from it, each time the sun was a little higher on the horizon showing the passage of time as they rode.
After the series of shifting shots the pair are shown coming to a bridge leading over a fifty-foot wide river. The bridge itself is lined by cars on both sides with manned checkpoints at both sides of the bridge. Men and women dressed in ragged clothing and holding makeshift weapons stood on the barricade watching as the two women rode in, shouts of “It’s Ryder” as the gates opened signaled those at the wall that they were friendlies.
Past the bridges two gates, the land opens into a big sprawling camp. To the right of the bridge was a series of wooden stands where people would turn in their quarry of various tools, weapons, food, and the like. To the left, a field of crops stretched as far as the eye could see. People milled around the crops working, under the watchful eye of nearly a dozen men and women, all holding a weapon of one kind or another, usually clubs, one one hand. Madison and Abigail turned left and past the crops, some of the workers looking up at the pair showing off the bruises and stitched up cuts from the beatings they had taken to keep them working.
Madison purposefully looked away as they passed. She hated coming here but inside she knew they needed what this place was offering for trade. Abigail on the other hand kept her eyes on the road, but her jaw was set into a tight grimace. She didn’t like it here any more than Madison did.
The two rode past the crops and turned up a slight incline hill leading deeper into the camp. They continued past a large cluster of tents and other wooden structures serving as the main center of the camp. More people here had the same look at those in the fields, most of them with healing bruises. As they neared the exit, where the camp proper opened up into an opened range for training and the only real house in the area where Josiah and his other leaders lived, the pair passed a man who was being pummeled by the butt end of a shotgun to the back and shoulders.
The blows the man was suffering and his pain-filled grunts could still be heard as the bike slowed to a stop and shut off beside the porch of the house. Madison and Abigail climbed off the bike as a woman began to walk down the steps of the house to meet them. She was a slender woman with light brown hair wearing a clean pair of tight jeans and a sleeveless half top. She was someone who would have been considered beautiful before the world ended but had a little uplift of her lip stating she felt she was better than anyone else.
Alice Cornell: “Ryder.”
Abigail motioned with her thumb over her shoulder to the middle-aged man now being dragged by the arms toward the front of the camp.
Abigail Ryder: “Was that really necessary?!”
Alice Cornell: “You know the rules, Ryder. Everyone works.”
Madison Chaney: “And no one ever leaves.”
Alice Cornell: “They are safer here than anywhere else and they need to contribute. Some need more… motivation than others.”
Alice crossed her arms over her chest, staring a hole through Madison with a little smirk on the corners of her mouth.
Alice Cornell: “Wanna join them?”
Abigail lifted a hand, pointing a finger directly at Alice’s face as she passed. The gesture was a clear warning to keep her hands off Madison. Ryder climbed the stairs of the house two at a time until she reached the porch. Beside the door leading into the house proper, attached to the wall, was a board filled with handwritten notices. Abigail ran a hand over them one by one, her eyes scanning them until she found the one she wanted.
Abigail Ryder: “We’re looking for Jamie Hargrave.”
Alice Cornell: “What do you need her for?”
Madison Chaney: “That’s not your business.”
Alice Cornell: “Don’t tell me what’s my business in Iron Lake little girl. Everything here is my business. Everything. ”
The threat in her voice was clear but before Madison, or Abigail, could react to the statement another figure joined them. He was taller than any of the others but only slightly taller than Alice. His hair was blonde and cut short. He wore a pair of simple jeans, but a suit jacket with the top button of the undershirt left unbuttoned.
Josiah Crane: “Alice… that’s enough.”
The mere sound of his voice was enough to make Madison freeze and Abigail’s jaw to clench. It was clear the two women had hoped to complete this trade without running into him. He reached out and placed his hand on the small of Abigail’s back.
Josiah Crane: “Always a pleasure to see you, Abigail…”
The blonde spun around, slapping his hand off her lower back softly.
Abigail Ryder: “Josiah.”
Josiah Crane: “To what do we owe the… pleasure?”
The way he lingered on that word and the slight twitch of his lip was enough to send a shiver down Madison’s spine but Abigail just stared up at him completely unmoved. She motioned with a thumb to the board.
Abigail Ryder: “Jamie Hargrave. I have something she wants to trade for.”
Josiah’s eyes shifted from her to the board and then back.
Josiah Crane: “She’s out on a supply run. Should be back by tomorrow morning.”
He opened his hand toward the house behind him.
Josiah Crane: “You’re welcome to stay with us until then?”
Abigail Ryder: “We’ll stay in the camp.”
The answer came without so much as an instant of hesitation and Abigail turned to descend the stairs but before she could Crane’s hand closed around her bicep.
Josiah Crane: “I insist!”
Abigail’s head turned and she looked down at the hand around her bicep and then up at Josiah’s face. Josiah smiled a sheepish smile and removed it immediately, holding it up in surrender. Ryder descended the stairs without another word and turned Madison by the arm to lead her back to camp when a voice stopped her dead.
Alice Cornell: “If you are going to be staying here, you’ll have to contribute. You’ll both be working in the fields.”
Madison Chaney: “Yeah, that’s not happening.”
Alice Cornell: “I can provide the necessary… motivation… if need be?”
Abigail turned her head to look back at the smirking woman and her hand lowered to the Glock on her left thigh. She didn’t pull it, just rested her hand on the grip.
Abigail Ryder: “And which of your goons do you intend to lose?”
Alice didn’t like being challenged and it was clear in the way her expression darkened and her eyes nearly popped from her head. Josiah laughed softly and waved his hand in the air in front of him.
Josiah Crane: “I think we can make an exception, Alice.”
Alice spun around to face the man standing on the porch incensed.
Alice Cornell: “The rules! Everyone contributes. Scavs are no different, Josiah!”
Josiah Crane: “Call it a professional courtesy.”
Alice wasn’t at all happy about this as the two women disappeared back toward the camp. In the camp proper the pair found an empty tent and unloaded their gear inside before filing in and quickly closing the flap. The fewer people who knew which tent they were using the better.
**
Back at the house at the top of the hill, Josiah had disappeared back inside. The house itself was filled with boxes of supplies, medical and edible alike. The living room filled with dozens of boxes, some opened and some not. Crane passed them by without a glance and made his way behind a large wooden bar where he placed a dust-covered glass on the counter and uncorked a bottle of bourbon. As he poured himself a generous amount of the now precious liquid, Alice stormed in, slamming the door behind her.
Alice Cornell: “What was that about?!”
Josiah Crane: “I gave them a pass.”
Alice Cornell: “You’d never stepped in and overridden me, Josiah. Not once. I use whatever means are needed to keep those in the camp working and you just walk by with a smile. Why now? You know those two need to pull their weight if they are gonna be using our grounds, supplies, and food for the day.”
Josiah Crane: “You got a look at the board recently?”
Alice Cornell: “I’ve got more important things to do than look at people’s requests for bubblelicious Josiah.”
If Crane was amused with her answer it didn’t show. He took a long drink from the glass and sucked in a breath through his teeth.
Josiah Crane: “Mrs. Hargrave came to us a few days ago with her husband and teenage daughter. Mr. Hargrave had a nasty leg wound that we are treating with Antibiotics and bandages...and in exchange, they work off the tab.”
Alice Cornell: “I’m aware of the debts owed by the Hargrave family! What does that have to do with Ryder and Chaney?!”
Josiah Crane: “Jamie Hargrave asked a Scavenger to find Antibiotics and medical supplies. She’d trade bike parts for them. You think I’d let that happen?”
Alice Cornell: “Are you gonna steal them from the Scavs?”
Josiah let out a barking laugh.
Josiah Crane: “Rob Abigail Ryder. Right.”
Alice Cornell: “Then what are you gonna do?”
Josiah raised the glass and stared at the dark liquid contents a moment before raising it to his lips and finishing it. He set the glass down on the counter with a burning grunt.
Josiah Crane: “Make her a better offer.”
**
The sun was shining brightly in the lens, nearly so bright that it was blinding. The soft sounds of birds chirping in the distance filled the air. The camera shifts down and finds a pair of heavily tattooed arms around a flat blanket-covered stomach.
Voice: “Miss me?”
The camera lifts and Abigail’s face appears. The purple streak isn’t in her hair and the tattoo on her bicep and shoulder are done...and she had a smile on her face that people in the world hadn’t seen in years.
The shot pulls out to show a bedroom decorated in white and purple. Abigail was lying in a bed draped out in purple with the sheets and blankets pulled up to her chest. Lying behind her on the bed was a man, long black hair, and heavily tattooed with the holes in his lip denoting snake bites piercings.
Man: “Morning…”
Abigail Ryder: “Mmmm…”
Abigail leaned back into the man behind her tilting her head back at an angle exposing her neck to him. He grinned and leaned down planting a kiss to her neck followed by a little nip to the skin with his teeth which got the faintest little whimper from the woman in his arms.
Abigail Ryder: “Don’t start something you can’t finish, James…”
The man’s hand slid under the sheets over her stomach.
James Ryder: “Who says I can’t? I ever left you hanging before, Abs?”
Abigail sucked in a surprised breath, caused no doubt by actions unseen beneath the sheets and blankets.
Abigail Ryder: “... Sunny… is expecting you…”
James snorted, blowing out a deep exaggerated breath through his nose. He leaned forward placing his forehead on the back of her head.
James Ryder: “Fucking Sunny…”
Abigail Ryder: “See…?”
The blonde woman turned, shuffling and twisting until she was facing him and leaned up planting a kiss on him.
Abigail Ryder: “...Told you.”
James moved a hand behind the blonde's head and pulled her in for a deeper, more passionate kiss before turning to sit on the edge of the bed. On his back was the Kronos design with the Titans arched above it and Texas beneath. Behind him, Abigail rolled onto her other side and reached out a hand running it over the flesh of his back while the other reached for the remote.
A TV sitting on a large dresser against the wall across the bed came to life as James got to his feet. He slipped a pair of jeans over a pair of black boxers and a plain black shirt over his chest while on the television a young Asian reporter was discussing something about unrest in DC. James slipped the sleeveless denim Kutte over the black shirt.
Abigail Ryder: “You seeing this? Riots in DC?”
James Ryder: “There are always riots somewhere. Some idiots trying to hurt some other idiots.”
Abigail Ryder: “Usually sitting on motorcycles.”
James turned and looked at the beauty on the bed behind him and flashed her a lopsided grin.
James Ryder: “Haha. Very funny.”
James slipped off his shoes, leaned down, and gave the beautiful woman another kiss and left. Abigail drifted off to sleep with the report of riots now happening in North Carolina and Tenessee. The camera shifted to black and in the darkness, the sound of distorted yelling began. It sounded so far away, matched with the sound of extremely distant gunfire.
“Abs!”
The shout echoed in the darkness. First once and then a second time and a third before she was shaken awake. James appeared in the shot, blood on his chest and the side of his face. Abigail sat up sharply, the sheet falling down to reveal the lacy purple bra that barely held in her breasts.
Abigail Ryder: “J? What’s going on?”
Outside the screaming was now in full focus but mixed in with the screaming was a strange rabid snarling and the sound of flesh cutting, the wet sound of metal hitting bloody flesh, and the sound of skin tearing.
And something pounding hard on the door to get in.
James Ryder: “We have to go Abs! Get dressed now!”
**
Abigail sat bolt up, sweat running down her forehead and the sides of her neck. Hair sticking to her sides of her throat. The sun was shining up over the horizon through the mesh at the top of the tent. Abigail panted, her eyes wide and confused for a moment about where she was. Or more accurately, when she was. It wasn’t until she looked to her side that she remembered she was in Iron Lake in one of the tents in the camp. It wasn’t until she saw Madison.
The younger blonde was sitting up as well, eyes wide and the mussel of the Mossberg pointed at the door of the tent panting. The girl had woken up out of a dead sleep when Abigail sat bolt upright and had gone into defensive mode to protect her best friend.
Madison Chaney: “Abbi?”
Abigail didn’t answer, she just sat there panting. Madison sighed and slipped from her bed still wearing only a long t-shirt and sat in front of the panting woman. Arms slipped around her and hugged her tight.
Madison Chaney: “What was it this time?”
For a moment Abigail was silent, her eyes vacant as she stared at the nearly black fabric of the tent wall before finally speaking.
Abigail Ryder: “The… first night.”
Madison sucked in a deep ragged breath and shook her head.
Abigail Ryder: “The night he lost his whole crew.”
Abigail Ryder: “How could they have known what was happening? They tried their best to keep the Ol ladies safe….how could they have known?”
Madison Chaney: “No one back then could have known Abbi. It was a miracle that you and James made it out at all, let alone all those years you two spent on the road before….”
Madison fell silent but it was too late. Abigail’s jaw clenched and her hand closed around the blanket balling into a fist as the memories came flooding back.
Abigail Ryder: “Before the grimey fucking pretty boy took his generosity for weakness and shot….”
Before she could even finish the statement the flap of the tent flew back revealing the early rays of the morning sun. Standing in the flap was the silhouette of Josiah Crane, who was staring alternatively between Abigail’s barely covered upper torso and Madison’s bare thighs.
Josiah Crane: “Well, what do we have here? Who says a man can’t have a double breakfast….”
Abigail Ryder: “Josiah, I will shoot you if you don’t stop looking at her.”
Josiah Crane: “Someone jealous I'm not looking at her instead?”
Abigail Ryder: “I’ve had pricks like you looking at me since I was fifteen, Josiah!”
Without a word of warning Abigail threw the blanket off and rose from the cot that served as her bed wearing only a matching black set of underwear. She held her arms out, defiant and unapologetic.
Abigail Ryder: “Go ahead and soak it in, Josiah. You’ll never so much as get within sniffing distance.”
Whatever Josiah had been expecting, this wasn’t it. He choked back a half a dozen replies that started and stopped before Madison chimed in.
Madison Chaney: “Is Jamie back yet so we can get this over with?”
Josiah Crane: “...Yes. That’s what I'm here to…”
Abigail didn’t even wait for him to finish, simply barked out a quick thank you and shoved him out of the tent flap before swinging it closed. The two women both dressed quickly with Madison finally strapping on her gun belt as Abigail was pushing her arms into the denim Kutte.
The two women both exited the tent with Madison holding the bag over one shoulder and the Mossberg over the other and headed up the hill toward the house. When they reached it Josiah and Alice were standing there with a blonde woman who dwarfed both of them. She was slender for being so tall and wearing camo jeans, boots, and a t-shirt with her hair up in a bun beneath the brim of a camo hat. She had a spiked survival tomahawk strapped to each hip and a sheath wrapped around each thigh with a long buck knife in each.
Madison Chaney: “What is Jema doing here?”
She whispered to Abigail but her friend said nothing. The woman was speaking frantically to Josiah and walked away angry, passing by the two women as she did, snapping.
Jema: “Jax wants to have a word with you both. I’ll wait for you at the gate.”
Abigail glanced behind her, but when they neared Josiah and Alice brought her attention back in full. The two stood near the porch of the house with a woman of perhaps forty dressed in all white, the clothes ripped and torn in places and covered in blood and muck.
Josiah Crane: “Abigail Ryder, Jamie Hargrave. As promised.”
Jamie Hargrave: “...You are here about my posting?”
Abigail Ryder: “Yes Ma’am. You wanted to trade bike engine parts for antibiotics and bandages?”
Jamie cast a quick glance back at Josiah and Alice but nodded. Abigail smiled reassuringly and Madison opened the bag on her shoulder to show the woman what was inside.
Abigail Ryder: “What kind of parts are we talking about here?”
Jamie Hargrave: “I’ve managed to scavenge pretty much a whole engine, minus the plugs… I’d be happy to trade it all for…”
Josiah cleared his throat suddenly before Abigail could accept the deal and all eyes turned to him. He opened his hands apologetically and Abigail snapped.
Abigail Ryder: “Why are you even here?! What does this have to do with you, Josiah?”
Josiah Crane: “Alice and I have to look out for the well being of all of Iron Lake Abigail. You know that and…”
Madison Chaney: “And what does that have to do with….”
Alice Cornell: “AND!”
Alice snapped, cutting Madison off and glanced at Josiah to continue. Jamie’s face was getting paler and paler by the second.
Josiah Crane: “And Jamie is only one person. You don’t think I could allow….”
Abigail Ryder: “You know what happens to people who try and rob me Josiah. Community leader or otherwise.”
Abigail’s hand dropped to her thigh again, to the grip of the loaded Glock. A look from Alice was all it took for five men who were working in the general vicinity to reach for their own weapons, spears, and in one case a pump-action shotgun. Josiah however just laughed and shook his head, raising his arms in surrender once again.
Josiah Crane: “Now, now….let’s not get excited. You know I’d never try and rob you, Abigail. I just thought...I couldn’t let that kind of medical supplies come into Iron Lake and not at least….try and make a play for them.”
Jamie’s face, once paling by the second was now turning shades of green. She needed to get her husband and daughter away from this place and this was their only chance other than working here for years to pay off the debt for his treatment.
Abigail Ryder: “I’m listening…”
Josiah Crane: “I know why you wanted to bike parts. You and Madison got separated on a run-up near the state line and had to abandon her bike in the process. You’ve been scavenging but….finding working parts is hard anymore. I’m willing to offer you a trade for the entire bag, Abigail. Depending on what’s in the bag...of course.”
Madison glanced at Abigail who set her jaw and nodded. Chaney handed the bag to Alice who pulled the flap open and whistled.
Alice Cornell: “Antibiotics, bandages, blood thinners, pain killers, antivirals….hell of a hall.”
Abigail Ryder: “You want the whole bag? It’s gonna cost you more than you can afford Crane. Plus a surcharge for walking the fuck into our tent this morning and staring at Madison as you did.”
Jamie Hargrave: “Miss Ryder, please… I need those…”
Alice Cornell: “She’s heard your offer. Gentlemen, make sure that Miss Hargrave gets safely to her tent. She is going to need her rest, she’s on quarry duty tomorrow.”
Jamie’s face turned a darker shade of green at the mention of the quarry. She knew she was being assigned to it as a punishment for what she was attempting. All she could hope was that Abigail would see reason as she wasn’t so much led away, as dragged away. Josiah motioned with his hand for the two women to follow him as he walked the length of the house toward the overhanging awning on the other side.
Josiah Crane: “You remember Ted? Rode with you and James for a few months before…..”
Josiah looked back at the pair, obviously choosing his words carefully.
Josiah Crane: “...That coward did what he did? Well, he finally decided that he had had enough of Iron Lake and wanted to square up his contract. Not so bad. He wanted to set out on his own as a scavenger so he needed food, water, weapons, and supplies. Now, he didn’t wanna work another four or five years to build up the credits so he traded….”
Josiah ripped the tarp on the overhang back and revealed a fully built black and silver motorcycle. A bit smaller than the one Abigail rode, as that one had been James’s.
Josiah Crane: “This. And I’m willing to call it square. The entire bag, the…we’ll call it wrong place, wrong time surcharge, and the AR for the bike.”
Abigail Ryder: “Done.”
She pulled the AR off her shoulder and held it out to Alice. Cornell checked the mag and immediately snorted.
Alice Cornell: “One in the magazine and one in the chamber?! Really?!”
Madison Chaney: “Hey, he never said it had to be fully loaded.”
Abigail and Josiah shook hands and Madison handed the bag to Alice who took both it and the gun inside. Josiah watched as the two women pushed their bikes past the tents. Abigail refused to even look at Jamie who was openly weeping that Abigail had taken the other deal. Josiah knew her too well. Ryder didn’t care about Jamie or her family. She didn’t care about the debts they had built up or how badly Iron Lake would work them to pay them off. All that mattered to her was keeping Madison safe and what she could get to get by another day. She was a Scav through and through.
Josiah Crane: “Alice dear?”
Alice Cornell: “Yeah?”
Josiah Crane: “All of this tension and haggling has given me a horrible knot in my back. Go down to the Hargrave cabin and inform Jamie that I’ll require Penelope’s services later to work them out. And that she’ll be….adequately compensated for her time.”
Alice couldn’t hide the smirk which appeared on her face as she began to bark orders to the men around the house to bring Penelope Hargrave up the hill.
At the bottom of the hill, Abigail and Madison met Jema at the gate as she’d promised. She was leaning on the fender of a beat-up looking pick-up truck.
Madison Chaney: “Jax say what he wanted?”
Jema Delacroix: “Does he ever?”
Madison giggled and pushed her leg over the bike as Abigail did the same to her own.
Abigail Ryder: “Well, let’s go then, Delacroix. It’s a six-hour drive to Hessberg and I suddenly...don’t wanna be here anymore.”
Madison gave a nod and kicked the bike to life as Gema climbed into the truck. Abigail gave one glance back at the tents and the back of the cabin where the Hargrave family was living and sighed biting her lip. She hated what she had to do, but Madison came first. She lost James and she wasn’t about to lose Maddy.
The truck pulled out in front crossing the bridge and the two bikes pulled out behind it as the scene faded to black and the credits rolled across the black screen.