Warriors of the Redeemer

Save for the few who have noticed them, the group’s attention is focused on something on the far side of the fencing; something that Dakota, with her height, can only just see. Her stomach does a slow roll before reluctantly settling.

“What are they looking at?” Kirsten whispers to her. “Can you tell?”

“It’s….” Koda swallows. “…not pretty.”

Kirsten turns to her, wide-eyed. “What is it?”

“You’ll see soon enough.” Dakota’s face is set in a stony mask. “Whatever you do, don’t react to what you see. Just keep walking, no matter what.”

“I don’t understand….”

“You will.”

Koda begins walking again, spine straight as a plumb line, shoulders square, hands prudently away from her weapons, though she can retrieve them in a split second, should she feel the need. Her worn bootheels clack on the broken pavement, drawing the attention of the silent crowd. In twos and threes, heads turn to look at her, and beyond, where Kirsten walks, easily holding a leashed and softly growling Asimov to heel. The young scientist can feel the distrust, the hatred coming off the group of onlookers in waves, pressing up against her like some army of zombies she’d seen on television once upon a time. Goosebumps prickle her skin, and she moves, unconsciously, a step closer to Dakota’s side, almost—but not quite—touching. This close, she can sense her lover’s anger, can all but feel the coiled tension radiating from muscles, and tongue, held tense and still. She takes care to keep her expression neutral, returning hostile glares with mild interest and nothing more. Asi continues to growl, but, to his credit, does not strain at the leash, seeming to realize that doing so could earn him, and his humans, a quick death.

The gauntlet finally comes to an end, but any relief Kirsten might feel in that fact is immediately overridden by the horror now facing her. Her shocked gasp is cut off unuttered by the feel of Dakota’s hot, callused hand on her wrist, clamping like a vice. She wants to look away; even looks of hatred would be welcome over this.

Telephone poles, innocuous reminders of a world gone by, have been turned into crucifixes. Upon them, as far down the road as her eyes can track, hang corpses in various states of decomposition. Nailed above each corpse is a placard, spelling out in bold black lettering the crimes of the executed.

ThieveryHeresyAdultery

The “adulteress” can be no more than fifteen, and by the swelling in her belly, was at least six months pregnant when she was murdered.

Nearer to the crowd, a crude gallows stands. Three women and one man hang from ropes tied to the crossbeam, heads lolling from broken necks, hands tied behind them, lifeless feet dangling just above the tufts of wild-growing grasses. These corpses are fresh; undoubtedly the reason for the crowd lining the roadway.

Kirsten bites her tongue until she can taste blood, knowing the only things keeping her from being the first American President to open fire on her own citizenry are Asi’s leash and the hand Dakota has clamped over her other wrist. That hand gives the added benefit of keeping her feet steadily moving.

From beside the fence comes a large, shaggy bear of a man sporting a long blonde beard, deep black eyes, and a semi-automatic weapon that he cradles casually in one arm. “Goin’ someplace, Redface?” he asks, smirking as he comes up alongside them.

Dakota continues to walk until she feels a large hand descend on her shoulder, spinning her partway around. “Don’t you walk away from me when I’m talkin’ to you, squaw.”

With bared teeth and a ferocious snarl, Asimov leaps at the man, missing his neck by millimeters as Kirsten yanks hard on the leash. The man, red-faced with anger, releases Koda’s shoulder and grabs his gun, aiming it at Asimov’s large head.

Then finds the long muzzle forced up as the muzzle of another gun seats itself neatly against his temple. “I don’t need a reason to pull the trigger, maggot,” a low, vibrant voice purrs into his ear. “So don’t even think of trying to give me one.” Before he can even think to blink, his gun is easily wrested from his grip and tossed to Kirsten, who grabs it one-handed and aims for the now milling, dangerously murmuring crowd.

“Call your people off,” Koda orders, and when he hesitates, pushes the gun more firmly against his head. “Now.”

“All of you, get back inside the compound!” he finally yells, seeing from the corner of his eye a long finger begin to tighten against the trigger. “Now!”

Several of the women and men, and most of the children, obediently head for the gate while others unholster their weapons and start for the trio.

“I wouldn’t,” Kirsten comments, almost casually, as she aims at the oncoming group.

Several stop, but one man continues forward, smirking. “You wouldn’t hurt women. Or children.”

“Why not?” Kirsten asks, voice as flat as dawn-calm lake. “You do.”

It is that tone, even more than her words, that confuses him and causes his steps to slow. “You wouldn’t….”

“In a heartbeat.”

The man stops and looks askance at his distracted leader. “Moses?”

“Aaron, take the others and get back behind the fence, now.”

“But—.”

“Do as I say, damnit!!”

With a last, hard, hateful look at the women, he abruptly spins on his heel and walks toward the gate guarding the compound, waving for the others to join him. They do, thought not without a lot of grumbling and threats muttered beneath their breaths. Finally, the street is empty save for the slowly rotting corpses and the three who stand in the midst of the carnage.

“Well?” the man asks, careful not to move so much as a muscle lest he join the rest of these infidels in their eternal damnation. “What are you gonna do now?”

“We’re goin’ for a little walk,” Koda growls into his ear, wrapping her free hand around his neck and pulling backwards. Given the choice between strangulation and having his brains blown out, the man wisely decides to get his legs in motion. Kirsten silently follows, also walking backward as she eyes the murderous glares being thrown her way by the group now safely behind the compound fence.

A mile or so down the road, Dakota finally stops and pushes the man against the tree with a spine-rattling thump. “We’ll be coming back this way, maggot, and when we do, your little wacked out religious commune had better be gone.”

“Or what?!” he shoots back defiantly.

The smile he receives would have looked perfectly at home on a shark. “Trust me, little man,” Koda replies, patting his furred chest, “you really don’t wanna go there.”

“I don’t trust no women,” he spits, narrowly missing Dakota’s face. “Especially dirty, heathen squaws.” He looks past Dakota, leering. “And their pretty little play toys. How ‘bout it, squaw-lover? You like what this Injun does to you? You make me sick, defiling your race with this dirty, stinking….”

“That’s quite enough out of you, little man,” Koda replies smoothly, pulling him up by his matted chest hair.

“Or what?!” he gasps around the pain she’s causing.

“Or…this.”

Dakota’s right fist lands squarely on his chin. His eyes roll up until only the whites are seen as his knees buckle, dumping him to the ground, out for the count.

“Damn,” Kirsten mutters.

“What?”

“I wanted to do that.”

“I’ll let you have the next one, alright?”

“Deal.”

*

Darkness has fallen when Dakota finally leans back against a fallen log, looking over their weaponry by the light of a small, smokeless fire. It’s a meager lot—a few hand grenades, six guns with five boxes of mixed ammunition, assorted knives, and a bow and arrows. Barely enough, she thinks wryly, to knock off a bank, nevermind trying to storm a well-guarded compound. With a soft sigh, she glances over at the closed tent where Kirsten has ensconced herself almost from the moment they had set it up. The young scientist had been unusually quiet since they left the religious killing ground behind; no amount of small talk had been able to spring her loose from whatever dark hell she’d gone into and, after a few failed gambits, Koda decided to give her what she most seemed to need: space.

“Guess it’s just us tonight, guys,” she murmurs to the dog lolling by the fire and the hawk perched comfortably on her shoulder. “I hope you have full bellies, cause I’m not in the mood to cook anything.” Asi and Wiyo don’t appear to be worried overmuch by the statement and, with another sigh, Koda picks up a cloth and oil and begins cleaning their tiny arsenal.

In less than an hour, she’s finished and the small stash of weapons gleams mellowly up at her by the light of the small fire. With a quick shake of her head, as if flinging off unwanted thoughts, she carefully repacks the weapons and ammunition into the bag she’d appropriated for this purpose. Once the bag is packed safely away, she pulls another one free, opening it and dumping out two battered cups and two cloth-wrapped bundles of tea-leaves. Kirsten prefers her tea with a bit less bite, and so Koda has taken to keeping their stashes separate. Taking the small pot from its place on the rocks next to the fire, she pours water over the leaves, then sits back, crossing her long legs and stretching her arms out over the log-cum-backrest as the tea steeps.

Her sharp hearing takes in the sounds surrounding her, knowing she’ll never tire of nature’s music even if she lives to be a hundred and ten. Crickets chirp out the temperature from their hidden beds. Nearby, a shrew scuttles for food, emitting a high-pitched squeak of alarm as the triumphant cry of an owl sounds overhead. Hearing the cry, Wiyo lifts her head from its nest under her wing, sharp eyes scanning the sky before dismissing the threat and tucking her head back down. Asi continues to do his impersonation of a dead cockroach, four paws splayed and all.