A Lawless Land

Blythe woke up to the sound of a deafening boom. She rolled out of the bed and put her arms over her head as the building shook violently. She felt something sticking to her arm and frantically examined it; she was hooked up to an IV. Clenching her teeth, she tore it out. She crawled to the window where a red glow was flickering. There was another boom, another tremor. She carefully peeked through the drapes. There was smoke and fire everywhere, people screaming in fear and agony. The world she knew was crumbling before her very eyes. Everyone saw the signs, they should've prepared themselves better. At least that's what she was trained to do, but now that she was witnessing it, she realized, nothing could've prepared anyone for this. She looked down and discovered she was in a hospital gown, "where in the hell are my clothes?" Blythe glanced around the dim room and couldn't find any. Gunshots were heard and footsteps running through the hall. She tried to stand up, but felt a stabbing pain in her left temple, making her stagger back, and her eyesight blurred. Then she remembered, someone had caught her off guard and hit her in the head with something cold and hard. There was a bandage over it. She started to tear the room apart, looking for something, anything, that could help her. She spotted the table, and in one swift maneuver, knocked it over on its side and broke a leg off. Shortly after, she came across disposable paper clothing to wear until she could find real clothes. Her arm was bleeding from where she tore the IV from. She found a bag and grabbed any bandages and first aid supplies she could get her hands on. She crept into the hospital corridor and glanced around. The halls were empty. It appeared to have been evacuated. Something felt very wrong about the place. Suddenly, a scream echoed from around a corner. Blythe clinged as closely to the wall as she could and peeked around it to see what it was about. Two masked men had taken a nurse captive and were torturing her. She looked down at the broken table leg in her hand and gripped it firmly. She poked her head around the corner and screamed at them. Only one came running in her direction. Blythe ran from corridor to corridor, and finally came to a stop in a dead-ended hallway. The light was flickering and it got dimmer every other flicker. She stood in wait, listening to the footsteps get closer and closer. They stopped right before her corner, there was a click, then a cold metal object was pressed against her neck. She gave the man a sidelong glance and gave him an unsettling smile, "is it difficult to see with that ski mask?" "Why?" She quickly swung the table leg at his head as hard as she could, "because you let me lure you away from your pal while I was holding on to this." He groaned in pain as she hit him again, he knew he had been stupid to follow her when he didn't know who or what she was, and he was about to pay for it. Blythe hit him again and again, until he no longer moved. She grabbed his gun and returned to the spot where the other guy was holding the nurse. She ditched the table leg and held the gun up to the other masked stranger. "Step away from her" she demanded as she c****d the gun. He turned to face her and put his hands up, "you know how to use that thing, beautiful?" Blythe glared at him, "step away or you'll find out." He smiled and stepped away, "shouldn't you have checked your surroundings better before charging in like an i***t?" As soon as he said it, a third masked man seized Blythe from behind. He twisted her arm behind her back and made her drop the gun. She cursed herself, then without thinking, slammed her head back into his face. He shouted as he staggered back, "you're going to pay for that you little b***h!" She fell to her knees and quickly snatched the gun back up. She shot him as he lunged at her, then she turned back to the other one and shot him. The nurse was trembling in shock, "why are you helping me?" Blythe looted the bodies and found knives and ammunition, then cut the cords they had used to tie up the nurse, "because I need your help. Besides, I don't take crimes against women lightly." "What do you need from me?" "Do you know this hospital well?" Blythe asked as she grabbed her arm and pulled her along through the corridors behind her. "If we were in the maternity ward. I've been working there for the past few years." Blythe sighed, "I came from the ICU, for head trauma. I need my clothes." The nurse looked her over more thoroughly. She saw part of the bandage peeking out from beneath her hair. "Wait, I remember seeing the paramedics bring you in, you were in a military uniform, but that was a few weeks ago, did you just wake up?" Blythe came to a halt, "what else do you remember seeing?" "Nothing, I'm afraid, but you've missed a lot if you've been in a coma this whole time." "A coma? But that can't be, I had duties, obligations" Blythe reached up and touched the bandage on her head, it still hurt. "I'm sorry, they were probably assigned to someone else..." "That's what worries me... Can you help me find my clothes or not?" She stared down the nurse, waiting. "You did save my life, but I'm not sure if we still have them." "Any clothes will do, I need to get out of here as quickly as possible" Blythe quipped. The nurse nodded, then took her down to some type of storage room in the basement of the hospital. She pulled out any type of clothing she could find there. Blythe just grabbed whatever looked like it would fit. Once she helped the nurse safely out, she set off, newly driven and a goal in mind. She was going to find the person responsible for putting her the hospital, if it was the last thing she ever did. Blythe found it a little difficult recalling everything, like where she lived. Eventually, she remembered the part of the city where it was located. She traveled by cover of darkness, trying to avoid trouble, if she could; it took her all night, but she finally reached her destination. There was no power in the apartment building, or any building, as far as she could tell. She couldn't see anything and had to feel her way around. The sun was starting to rise by then. Since she didn't know what had happened to her key, she had to Jimmy the lock with one of the knives she grabbed at the hospital. When she had gotten inside, it was an eerie feeling. It felt like it had been ages since she had last been there. There was still coffee in her pot from her last morning there. She could smell the spoiled food in her refrigerator, it was so putrid she had to cover her nose. Looking around her apartment, she realized how little she actually owned. Her picture frames were facing down and her dress uniform hung on the closet door with a wedding dress. She grabbed both of them and pushed them to the very far end of the closet rod, she had no use for them now. She changed into jeans and a long sleeved shirt, then found her extra combat boots. She grabbed her army pack and started putting things in it. She knew she couldn't stick around there. Then she pulled a heavy lockbox from a crawlspace in the walls of her closet, she found where she hid its key, then opened it up, revealing two pistols and a double holster. Then she pulled out a pack of bullets and put them in her pack. She raided her cupboards for food and water, before she left, she looked at her pictures, only taking one of the photographs out of her frames. She folded it up and put it in her bag. One last look around her place, then she was gone. She wouldn't look back again. >>><<< Six months after the fall of civilization, the population had decreased considerably, crime ruled. A man called Goldman ruled a good part of a big city. He ran things like a warlord and started a huge dog-fighting operation, and gambled for things like gold, weapons, and food. They were in the middle of one of their biggest fights between a German Shepherd and a Rottweiler. Without government or law enforcement to shut things down and lock people up, it was a very successful business for him. The German shepherd was his best fighting dog. Being half-starved and trained to be a vicious killing machine, he had ripped apart many other dogs just for a meager scrap of stale bread. Once the dog started showing signs of weakness, Goldman gave the order for him to be slaughtered by another dog, bigger and stronger than him, betting against him. On the day of this fight, a woman in a brown hooded sweatshirt had shown up to spectate. He noticed she wasn't participating in the betting or cheering. Her expression was cold, but one of the most attractive ones he had seen in a while. He wondered what she was doing there. He circled around the room and approached her from behind, "I've never seen you here before. Are you new to these parts?" "Yes, you must be Goldman. I heard you were the man to see for supplies" she answered plainly. "I need more weapons too." "Indeed, but I don't just give things away, and I don't make trades either" Goldman replied smugly. "Then what?" "You need a fighting dog to beat one of mine in a dogfight. Do you have one?" He felt like he already knew the answer. "It's not really my thing, what would you suggest?" She turned to face him, she could've guessed he would try something. Goldman got an idea, "you could use one of mine, if you'll make a side bet with me in addition to the supplies of course." "What did you have in mind?" "If the dog I give you wins, I'll give you supplies and weapons, if the other one wins, you stay here with me and do whatever I want you to do" he smirked. "I think I'd rather take my business elsewhere" she said as she brushed him off. She wasn't about to risk her freedom for something so questionable. She had a feeling it was rigged. She didn't like the idea of dogfighting at all, but she wasn't planning to just let it happen either. She waited for him to say something else. Sure enough, he was determined, "I'll throw in some ammunition. What do you say?" She was already formulating a plan, "before I make this deal, let me see this dog." Goldman felt a small wave of panic inside him, figuring she might be onto him, but he agreed to it, "he's one of my best fighters." He took her to a back room, guarded, and filled with cages of dogs. He took her to the furthest one and removed a blanket from it. As soon as the dog saw them, he growled and bared his teeth. He then started barking aggressively and pressed his face against the cage door, snapping. She gave a nod of approval to Goldman, then returned to the arena, waiting for the match to start. Goldman had a couple of his men keep an eye on her, in case she decided to skip out on their deal. She knew what was going on, and turned to one of them, "do you mind if I take another look at the dog?" He blanked, but didn't give it a second thought, "uh, I guess not. Mr. Goldman did give him to you." He escorted her to the back room and she lifted the cover carefully so as not to alarm him and whispered to him softly, "hey boy, you've certainly been through a lot, haven't you?" She glanced over at the guard who had started messing with one of the other dogs, he wasn't even paying attention to her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a bag of beef jerky. She pulled out the biggest piece she could find and threw it to him. He was cautious at first, but after a moment, he was too hungry to care. He wolfed it down like it was nothing. "We can't have you be too weak to fight now can we? You're a smart one, I can tell, there's plenty more where that came from, you just need to give it everything you've got" she secretly threw him another piece of jerky, then covered up the cage again. The guard saw her stand up and turn around, "you finished here?" She walked ahead casually, "yep, I trust Goldman's dog is ready?" "Sure" he smiled to himself and was aware of Goldman's plan to rig the match. They brought the dogs out in their cages, placing them at opposite ends of their improvised ring. They were released and immediately started attacking each other. The guards had their eyes back on her. She brushed away some hair from her forehead, revealing a scar. "Oh s**t, the stories are true" one guard nudged the other, "tell Mr. Goldman who that woman is, this isn't good." The guard tried to push his way through the crowd to where Goldman was sitting, but the crowd was thick and aggressive. She looked straight at him and smiled eerily, they had finally figured her out. It was already too late. The German shepherd clamped down on the other dog's throat. She made her way through the crowd and jumped into the center of the ring to stop it. Everyone went quiet as the dog obeyed her. She lifted her sweatshirt, pulled a gun out from inside her sweatshirt, pointing it at Goldman. Goldman just laughed, "you really thought you could just waltz in here and pull a gun on me?" He snapped his fingers and within seconds, she had several guns pointed at her. The guard finally reached Goldman's side and whispered into his ear. He smiled wickedly, "gentlemen, it appears we've captured the infamous Queen. Tell me something, for someone with your experience, how were you stupid enough to get yourself into this situation? Or are they just stories after all?" Queen showed no concern for her situation, "maybe they were just stories, maybe they weren't. But is that a bet you're willing to take? No pun intended." Inside her mind she was stalling, until she could find a way out of it. The dog jumped in front of her and growled at the people pointing their weapons at her. While they were distracted by the dog, she looked around for a way out. She looked above, past Goldman, and saw tall stacks of crates, then she looked up to see a pulley with another crate hanging from it, right above Goldman. Creaking from the weight it was holding. "You'd best put your weapon down, Queen, if you know what's good for you" he threatened with a snicker. She raised her gun like she was about to surrender, but instead of dropping it, she aimed high at the pulley rope. Without looking, she pulled the trigger, and it snapped the rope in one shot. It came crashing down on him. Everyone scattered, leaving enough of a distraction for her to get what she needed and then leave. She put her gun away to save the bullets. If anyone dared to take her on, she was ready for hand-to-hand combat. She had plenty of that experience in her travels. Each time, she made more of a reputation for herself, and with that, once they realized who she was, the more challengers she would get. What they didn't understand though, was that she wasn't doing it to make a name for herself. She had goals, and she wouldn't stop until she got what she set out for, no one was going to get in her way. One of Goldman's guys stepped into her path as she was heading for the door. He was the one who had taken her to the back room the second time. He pulled a knife on her. "I should've known you were up to no good, what did you give that dog?" He snarled at her. "You were helping Goldman run a dogfighting operation, rigging matches, ripping off people, and I'm the one up to no good? I don't think so. And I gave the dog something to eat, which he desperately needed. You're scum," she kicked the knife out of his hand, rolled to grab it, then knocked him down and held it to his neck. "If you've heard the stories, you should've known better than to face me head on. I'll be keeping this." She punched him in the jaw, then hit him in the head with the knife's handle as hard as she could, rendering him unconscious. She fought off a few others, then looked over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes at the rest of them. "Anyone else?" She demanded. None of them made a move at her. The spectators had already taken off. It was just her and Goldman's men, as well as the remains of his lair. Before she left, one of them shouted to her, "you really think it's that easy?! You kill one, there will always be another to replace him! And we will rebuild and become stronger than before!" Queen laughed and turned to him, "there's just one problem with that, I'm not here to be the hero. I needed some things, and I got them. You only have to worry about me if you have something I want. If you're done now, I've got other things to do." They watched her leave, relieved, then one of them spoke, "seems the stories are true then. She is ruthless and always gets what she wants." Queen reached into her pack and pulled out a grenade. In spite of what she told people, she could not condone so much evil in the world. The dogs were already half-dead, Goldman's stash was nothing great, and all those men who stood in there were heartless creatures who would continue to harm and deceive others. She pulled the pin out and tossed it over her shoulder into the building behind her while diving for cover. After the explosion, she looked to her left and saw the dog sitting a short distance away from her, "so you made it out, huh? Just so you know, I have no doubts you would've won that fight. I couldn't have pulled any of this off without you." She pulled more jerky out and set it down on the ground. The dog tilted his head at her, she stood up and saluted him. As she walked away, she glanced over her shoulder and smiled at him, he was eating the jerky contently. With a deep breath, she set off again. She wasn't sure where she was going, all she could do was follow her survival instincts.