Apex

Chapter 3: Moving On

Chapter 3: Moving On

The large man glared at Lex as if she was some strange creature that they had never seen before. She wasn"t sure if they even spoke English but she needed to ask them about the police station.

“I need some information,” she began, speaking quietly and calmly. “I need to know about the town above.” The man gestured to his female partner to stay where she was as he stepped forward. He stood a good foot and a half above Lex, and she was tall at five foot ten.

“Don’t get many surface-dwellers in the Underground,” he told her. “You need something?”

“I do,” she confirmed. “I need to know if the police station aboveground is safe.” The tribal studied her for a moment.

“You expect me to know? Underground is our home. We haven’t seen the surface for a long time.”

“You must go out for supplies,” Lex said. “Some of you.”

“Indeed. Don’t venture to that side of town, though. Get our supplies from military camps and nearby towns. Sewer system runs for miles.” That reminded Lex of the military encampment Warden West said he got his supplies from. If there were any army vehicles left there, they would be invaluable. Lex even knew how to drive them. “Is someone here who might know,” the tribal piped up once Lex had quietened. “Stranger, like you. Wandered down here a few days ago. Didn’t talk much.”

“Where can I find this person?” In truth, the odds of finding this person were slim to none, especially if they had ventured further into the sewer tunnels. Theoretically, they could be anywhere right now. The tribal simply pointed towards one of the few tunnels leading out of the chamber. Lex nodded and thanked him before starting towards the tunnel.

“Hold,” the man commanded just before Lex could leave. “My mate wishes to give you something.” The woman he’d had his arm around earlier stepped towards Alexis, grasped her right hand and placed something in it. It was a necklace of some sort, made of supple leather and the engraved teeth of some unknown creature. “She believes it will bring you luck. She has seen something in you, surface-dweller, something my people do not see in strangers.” Lex nodded once more and draped the necklace around her neck to accompany her dog tags. “Be careful in the tunnels, many of my people have been killed there.”

“There are Titans down here?” Lex asked. The big man’s answer was as chilling as it was uninformative.

“Not the Titans that have me spooked.” He turned back to his own people, all of whom were still staring at Lex. Confused and frightened, she raised her rifle and continued onwards. The tunnel only became darker as it went on. The axe-wielder’s comment troubled Lex for the next half hour or so. What could be more fearsome than the Titans? It couldn’t be another group of humans. Even if it was, the group from the chamber looked savage enough to take them on. Now that she thought about it, the teeth on the necklace did not look as though they belonged to any known creature.

Thankfully, the tunnel Lex was in didn’t seem to branch off into separate tunnels. She decided that if she did not find this man within the next few minutes, she would make her way to the military encampment above and try to get one of the vehicles started. The chances that there were even any army cars left were fairly low. Lex knew that from experience, the Marines in particular had taken their trucks and tanks with them when the outbreak occurred. Still, she was desperate for something, anything that could help her and her companions. It was not long before she found herself beneath a manhole. This was the end of her trip in the Underground. She used the butt of her rifle to lift the manhole and climbed out onto the road, swiftly replacing the circular slab of metal out of respect for the safety of the Tribals.

From a quick glance around the area, Lex spotted the military camp not far from where she was. Tartarus, too, was in sight in the opposite direction. The police station could wait, right now the camp was a priority. She sped towards her destination with haste, doing everything she could to muffle her footsteps. The camp had high stone walls and a large iron gate that had been knocked down long ago. Naturally, there was not one vehicle in sight. They had all been taken long ago, whether by soldiers or survivors in her position. Still, there might be usable materials inside. Cautiously, Lex approached the door to what she recognised as the armoury. With her rifle raised, she opened it and peered inside. The building itself was small, consisting of one large room. It appeared to be safe enough. That was a relief. She entered and rummaged through the decaying and rotten wooden crates. There were no ammo or weapons. However, there were weapon modifications of all kinds, including those for the exact model of hunting rifle Lex now held. She took a thermal scope, an extended magazine, a silencer and a laser sight, all of which she could attach to the rifle using the materials in the armoury.

Once she had the modifications attached, she was very impressed with the weapon she held in her hands. It was certainly miles better than the inferior model she had discarded almost two weeks ago. Once she was finished, she turned and exited the building. The sky was surprisingly clear as the sun spread its light across the expanse of the surrounding area. Lex had no choice but to return to the house without any weapons. She stepped just outside the encampment when something red flashed across her eyes. There was a laser sight pointed directly at her head. She froze, rifle still in hand. She could spot the exact location where the laser was coming from: a crack in the wall across the road. From behind it stepped a man with an assault rifle in hand. His hair and beard were greasy but judging by his large frame, he was being fed well. He took a few steps forward until he was only feet from Lex.

“Give me your gun,” he told her in a chillingly quiet voice.

“You know that’s as good as a death sentence out here.” The man raised his eyebrows.

“I’m not gonna keep it,” he assured her. “If I can trust you, I’ll give it back.” Lex hesitated before finally handing him her rifle. He laid it at his feet on the ground, not once taking his aim off of Lex. “I saw you going in there. I already searched it, there was nothing then either. You got a group?”

“Why?”

“Can’t be too careful. Now answer me.” He wasn’t messing around, Lex could see it in his eyes. If she made one wrong move, said the wrong thing, he would kill her there and then.

“There are a few of us just outside of town. You?” The man lowered his gun. Lex would have tackled him there and then were it not for his next words.

“Name’s Mike. I’m part of a travelling group. We’re using a train to get around, the railroad’s just a bit to the north. You should speak to me there. Bring your people, we’ll wait until sundown.”

“Why? How can I know this won’t be a trap?”

“You don’t. But we need people. A big loud train charging through the countryside isn’t exactly safe if you don’t have people to defend it. I’ve been watching your group for the last day or so. Three trained soldiers would be invaluable to us. Think about it.” He handed her the rifle he had taken moments before and took off in the direction of the train tracks. A part of her was tempted to shoot him because of what he knew about her group, but this opportunity was too good to pass up. If it did turn out to be a trap, however, Lex would personally see to it that none of Mike’s people survived. She quickly returned to the house. Jake and Nat were surprised to see her return so soon. The disappointment that she had returned without weapons was visible on their faces. Before they could voice their concerns, Lex told them about Mike and his offer. Naturally, they weren’t exactly excited at the prospect. First of all, they didn’t exactly get much out of it. On the off chance that these people had a few weapons to spare, it might be worth going. Still they would have to leave the safety of the small house. Secondly, there was a high chance that this was a trap.

“Look, we don’t know how many of these guys there are,” Jake began. If there are only a few, we could take them. We should go and see just in case.”

“Maybe,” said Nat, obviously far less enthusiastic about the idea. The chance that they could acquire more weapons or ammo was appealing but the whole idea was risky.

“Look, even if they don’t have anything they can spare, we could go with them for a while,” Lex proposed. “There are other places we could search for weapons, other military bases. We could get them to take us as far as we want and then leave whenever it suits us.”

“I actually like that idea,” Jake concurred. “We could head up to one of these army places, get what we need and make our way back here. Hell, if push comes to shove, we could make our home in the base itself.” It was agreed, then. In a few hours’ time, they would join Mike and his group. If they truly did have a train and simply wished to employ the protection of Lex’s group, then they would comply. For a while, at least. When the time came, they stuffed as much food and ammo that fit into three duffle bags, took one each and left the house, weapons in hand. When they arrived at the railroad, the sun was still in the sky. It looked like Mike was telling the truth. There was a train on the tracks, ready to move with three carriages, one of which was open and had people in it. Mike stood with two other people, a grey haired, grizzled old man in a large jacket and a thin woman who held a sawn-off shotgun in her hand. Mike stepped forward when he saw Lex and the others approaching.

“You came. Good. This is Kenneth, who drives the train, and Jackie. The three of us are in charge of this train here.”

“How y’all doing?” Kenneth asked with a gravelly voice. “Mike tells me you three can handle yourselves. We need people like that.”

“Looks like you have people,” Jake retorted. “Five, not including you three.”

“Only four of us can actually handle a weapon properly,” Jackie explained. “We need people who aren’t going to be a danger to themselves or others when you put a gun in their hand.” Lex knew they weren’t going to like what she had to say next. She had no intention of staying with this train permanently. Her, Nat and Jake were just hoping to find more food and weapons, maybe a more secure place to stay. Lex had a feeling the leaders of the train group would not be happy about that.

“Look, Mike-”

“Before you say anything, just know something,” Mike interjected. “For as long as you’re with us, we’ll provide you with food and ammo. You see three carriages attached to this train. One has people holed up inside it, that much you know. The second, that one is packed with crates and crates of fresh food. The third? You guessed it. The best weapons and ammunition around. We stop at every large town or city we come across and scour it for supplies. You three would be in good hands with us.” Jake looked at Lex with a pained expression on his face. He still wasn’t fully convinced, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t extremely tempted. The fact that they would constantly be on the move more or less guaranteed safety. Being fed every day without having to worry about food basically sold Jake on the idea. Still, he wasn’t sure if it was the best decision.

“That’s, uh…that’s very generous,” Lex admitted. “But I’m not sure. That kind of life doesn’t sound right for us.”

“Alright, look, a couple of our people are sick at the moment. We don’t know how much time they have left.”

“We’ve been thinking of stopping for a while,” Kenneth said. “A month or two, maybe. About two-thousand miles down south is a military hospital, was set up when all this s**t started.”

“Place is apparently teeming with Titans,” Jackie added. “But that just means the medical supplies are still there. You three stay with us, get us to the outskirts of the city this hospital is in, you can go free.”

“What about our food?” Natalie pointed out. “We left some of it back at the house.”

“We’d be willing to give you some of the food we have here,” Mike offered. “Especially considering you three would be helping us search any cities we passed on the way.” Now that was a far more appealing offer. They could go their own way after a while and have their food restocked.

“You two okay with this?” Lex asked.

“s**t, it’s better than anything else we’d be doing today,” Natalie said in agreement. Jake simply nodded.

“Alright, then.”

“Welcome aboard,” Mike said. “We leave in five.” When everybody was ready to leave, the three of them climbed aboard. Mike and Jackie stood on either side of the main train, on a walkway that circled the entire vehicle. The carriage that contained people had both side doors opened widely, something that was not smart. Still, Jake stood at the left one, shotgun at the ready and Natalie took the other. Nothing would touch the train if they did their job. Lex and Natalie would swap every hour, as Jake would with the other person who could actually wield a gun. When Lex climbed aboard, she was greeted with the sight of a man attending to one of the sick. He wore a surprisingly clean denim jacket. He was bald, like Jake, but not as tall. His eyes were a striking shade of yellow, something Lex assumed was a similar mutation to her hair. There was strange looking crossbow at his feet, with what looked like the magazine of a gun attached to it and no visible bolts. When he was finished with his patient, he turned to Lex.

“Hey, there. My name’s Linus.” Lex introduced herself and the others. The train was moving now, albeit not as fast as it could have been. Perhaps that was to lessen the noise. Or even still, maybe Kenneth was just preparing to stop at the next town or city. “You met Mike, I assume?” Linus spoke with a thick English accent.

“You could say that,” Lex replied, referring to her rather confrontational introduction to Mike.

“Ah, don’t mind him. I don’t think he’d ever actually hurt anyone. Just likes to threaten people, let them know he’s in charge. Did the same thing to me when I first met the bloke.”

“You’re not from here,” Lex noted bluntly. “America, I mean.”

“Well, I could say the same to you,” Linus argued. Indeed, Lex’s accent was not American, nor had she grown up in the country. Strangely, Jake had not asked her about it when they first met.

“I’m South African, originally. Father was American, mother was Irish. I was born in America, just moved around a lot before moving back here when I was fourteen.”

“Similar to myself,” claimed Linus. “Spent most of my life in England but my parents, being American, decided to move back here once I’d grown up a bit.” The man Linus had been attending to earlier coughed up blood into a handkerchief, prompting Linus to go to him and help wipe the blood from his face. He returned to Lex momentarily.

“You a doctor?” she asked him.

“Hah! Not bloody likely,” he laughed. “I spent some time with one, she showed me the basics in case I got into trouble or got sick. Not nearly as skilled as she was, though.” The sun was coming closer to setting each minute until finally it set and everything got just a little bit darker. For the meantime, however, they could still see. When it got truly dark, Lex suspected Kenneth would stop the train and everybody would turn in for the night. “So what’s the deal with these two?” Linus asked quietly, pointing to Nat and Jake.

“Jake, well…,” Lex began. “I’ve only known him a few days. He’s a good man. And he can take care of himself. Just don’t get him talking.”

“Likes to chat, does he?”

“Heh. Yeah, you could say that.”

“Do you trust him?” Linus asked then. That caught Lex off-guard. She had never actually thought about it until now.

“I don’t know him as well as Natalie. But, yeah, I think I trust him.”

“And her?”

“With my life. I’ve known her since before the cataclysm. We’re good friends.” Linus grunted.

“I understand why you’d place such trust in these people, girlie, but I wouldn’t if I were you. No matter how trustworthy people are, no matter how brave or loyal, people will do anything to keep themselves alive. People will do anything in the name of survival.” Lex didn’t much care for Linus’s thoughts. He was, however, right about what he said. People were dangerous, even the ones you thought were closest to you. Lex knew that first hand, recalling memories of an abandoned farmhouse.

“Look, Linus, I understand where you’re coming from,” she told him. “Better than many, in fact. But I trust these people more than anything. I genuinely don’t believe they would betray me. Not for anything.” Though Nat and Jake couldn’t hear their hushed voices over the sound of the train, Lex was sure they felt the same way.

“Well, that’s admirable,” Linus admitted. “Just think about it. It’s about your safety and whether your friends are going to value it above their own.” The train came to a slow stop as darkness swept in across the world. Linus swapped places with Jake and Lex did the same with Nat. They would keep first watch. It would be a long night.