A Lawless Land

Swift Justice

In swift movements, Queen shot up to her feet and started grabbing as much as she could. She came running out of the unit, the bright headlights of a large vehicle flashed on and stunned her. She held her hand up to shield it, then peeked through her fingers to try seeing who was there. She could only make out silhouettes, but she knew these had to be the soldiers from the encampment.

"Looks like our little mouse took the bait, good job, Jerry," a deep voice said with a laugh.

Queen felt sick. She should've known better, but she had done this to herself. She felt a strong feeling of dread overcome her, though she didn't waver. She tried to look around for Duke and Darren, but they weren't around, so she desperately hoped they had gotten away.

Someone had grabbed her arms from behind, making her drop what she was holding. They took all of her guns and tied her wrists together, forcing her to her knees.

The one who appeared to be their leader, stepped closer and turned her face up, "you do have a lovely face, it's a shame really."

She clenched her jaw and jerked her face away, "what do you want from me?"

He smirked lustfully, "so many things... How long has it been since a man has touched you?"

She glared and stayed silent. She wasn't going to play their games. A semi-truck's horn sounded from outside the gates. Their leader snapped his head in its direction.

"You three, go check it out! You two take her inside!" He barked orders and they scattered.

She heard shouting and shots fired. She broke away and hopped up onto the crates. When they tried to follow her she kicked a crate at them.

Pulling her wrists apart as hard as she could, she broke the cords that bound them together, leaving cuts as a result. She quickly grabbed one of the assault rifles from another crate and loaded it, then started shooting them down.

Trent was the one lying on the ground, half-dead, holding her weapons. She swung the rifle's strap over her shoulder and took her guns back.

"Thanks for holding these for me, you're such a gentleman," she sneered sarcastically, snatching them away.

When she was bent over his body, her dog tags slipped out. Trent squinted his eyes as he looked at them.

"You're a soldier? D-Devereaux? I think I know you..." He started to say.

She took hold of her gun and shot him in the head, killing him instantly. The boss witnessed it as he was approaching her. She spun around and pointed her gun firmly at him.

"Devereaux? That's interesting," they could see each other more clearly now in the bright light of the moon. "People were wondering what happened to you."

"Who? What happened? What do you know about me?" She demanded, a million questions filled her head, but she stood her ground and kept her gun trained on him.

"You really don't remember? He must've hit you in the head harder than we thought," he laughed without feeling.

"Who are you?!" She shouted at him.

"Carlisle. You didn't like being the victim, you tried fighting them off, but he hit you in the head with the butt of his rifle. This all took place during a late night sentry duty, you don't remember?" he smirked, unfazed by her gun in his face.

"Who? Who hit me? And where is the son of a b***h so I can end him?!" She screamed.

"I'd tell you, but this is way more entertaining," Carlisle chuckled cruelly.

Darren had gotten away from the semi and the soldiers. He didn't know where Duke went. He stumbled across Carlisle and Queen facing off. She was yelling at him and demanding answers from him. He heard him call her Devereaux.

He remained hidden and continued observing in fearful fascination. The soldiers that had been after him before had now reached Carlisle's side. Queen wouldn't stand down. She took hold of the rifle on her back with her free hand, still holding her handgun in the other.

"If you won't give me the answers I want, then there is no longer a need for you," she growled.

She shot them, but left Carlisle unharmed to give him one more chance to answer her. He sighed and slowly put his hands up.

"I think deep down you already know, but it was Larkins, he's the one who did it... All of it. He left our crew months ago, last time I saw him, he was heading south. A few of the others went with him," Carlisle finally answered, realizing she wouldn't hesitate to kill him. "So, are we square?"

She lowered her gun slightly, Darren thought she might actually let him go unpunished, but then she quickly pointed her gun at his face again.

"You could've stopped him, you could've said something, but you didn't. Then after all this time, you've been committing the same type of crimes against other women, other soldiers. How do you live with yourself?" Queen seethed.

He remained silent. He seemed to know what was going to happen next and started backing away. He whipped around and started running.

"Where do you think you're going?! Hell is waiting for you!" She screamed at him, then pulled the trigger on the rifle.

It hit the back of his head and he came to a halt, slumping forward lifelessly. Queen let her arms fall to her side, her exhaustion had caught up to her and hit her hard. She started to sway as she put her hand to her head.

Darren ran to her side and grabbed her, she stiffened and hit him as hard as she could, knocking him back.

He picked himself up, "I need to remind myself never to get on your bad side. Are you okay?"

She looked at him, then remembered who he was, "sorry, I thought you were one of them."

She walked back to the storage unit and stared into it, contemplating what she should do about it. He stood next to her and waited for her to decide.

"Do you know how to use an assault rifle?" She asked without looking back at him.

"I've used a hunting rifle, does that count?" He asked with an awkward chuckle.

She handed one to him then gave him ammunition, then she grabbed as much of the food as she could. She spread bullets all around on the ground, found some whiskey, took a swig from it, and poured it around the unit, then pulled Darren away. She shot at it, and within moments, it exploded. She didn't want anyone else to experience such a horrific experience again.

As they walked away, Duke appeared at her side. He nudged her hand comfortingly, then she patted his head with gratitude. Darren found their bond sweet, the dog always seemed to know how she was feeling.

"So the story about you saving Duke from that dogfighting life, is it true?" He attempted to converse with her.

"Yes," was all she said.

"So where do we go from here?" He asked, though secretly he wished she'd let him stay with her.

Queen was too tired to talk about it in that instant and let out a sigh, "right now, we need to find a place to rest for the night. We will figure everything else out in the morning."

Darren nodded and helped her look around. They found a deserted house and borrowed it for the night. Queen found some candles and lit them, then she divided up the rations she found between herself and Darren.

He watched her eat in silence, probably thinking through the events of the day, he cleared his throat, "so, Devereaux is your last name. Is that a maiden name or...?"

Her eyes narrowed as she peered sideways at him, "were you the one who honked the horn on that semi?"

He nodded cautiously, "I actually had planned on driving it through the fence, but it wouldn't start, so did the next best thing I could think of," he smiled shyly and waited for her reaction.

"Then thank you, if you hadn't caused that diversion, I might not have gotten away. To answer your question, yes, Devereaux is my maiden name," she turned quiet again and finished her food.

"How did he know it?" He braced himself, wondering how many questions she'd let him ask, or if she'd even answer them.

"We were in different companies, but we were both soldiers," she answered vaguely.

"So you were once a soldier, I had heard that rumor, so now I know that's also true. Queen, would you tell me what happened to you?" He continued to speak as cautiously as he could.

She grasped her tags and actually considered it, but knew she wouldn't be able to even if she wanted to. She shook her head and hid her tags beneath her shirt again, signifying the end of answering his questions.

"Aren't you curious about me?" He forced an accepting smile.

"Not particularly, but I won't stop you from talking about it," she got up and lounged on the sofa, removing her sweatshirt and tucking it under her head.

Duke came over and laid his head on her. Darren finished his food, then made himself as comfortable as he could on an armchair. He watched her stroke Duke's head for a moment, then noticed burn scars on her arms.

"You were burned?" He looked intently at her.

"Huh?" She looked down at her arms, then remembered Leo. "Oh. Yeah. Because for some idiotic reason, I keep helping people."

"I don't think that's idiotic, I think that's amazing," he beamed. "It proves you really are a good person."

"It proves nothing, I saved him because I was the reason he was endangered in the first place," she answered sharply.

"How's that?"

"These assholes I messed with were looking for me, and they thought he knew where I was. I should've just killed all of those bastards in the first place," she had closed her eyes to rest them.

"You so casually talk about killing people. Wasn't there ever a time you regretted it?" So far the conversation had been informative, but frightening.

She paused for a moment, then replied very decisively, "no, I don't kill everyone who crosses my path, only the ones I think deserve it."

"It sounds like you have a very strong sense of justice, I admire that," he knew it was true, especially saying the words out loud, he really did admire her.

"Don't glorify it. Justice or not, I'm still a killer," she turned her back to him and exhaled deeply.

He started to reach for her, but thought better of it. He slouched deeper into the chair and leaned his head against the arm of it. The candle burned out, but he could still make out her figure on the couch. He wished she'd let him comfort her like she let Duke. The pain she kept bottled up inside sometimes crept into her eyes, he had caught glimpses of it a few times already.

She hadn't said anything else, so he assumed she had fallen asleep. He gradually drifted off. She heard him snoring and glanced over at him. He was still without a shirt. He hugged himself for warmth.

Rolling her eyes, she got up and went searching through the house to find something. She found an old wool blanket and a flannel shirt in a closet. They were both worn from use, but still useful. She covered him and put the shirt to the side of him, then she returned to her spot on the sofa to try sleeping again.

>>><<<

The next morning, he woke up and found the blanket on him, then spotted the shirt. He put it on and went looking for her. He discovered her sitting on the porch, staring off into the horizon.

He sat next to her and greeted her with a smile, "good morning, thanks for the shirt, and the blanket."

"It was nothing, don't mention it," she brushed some hair out of her face as a breeze drifted by.

"So, what do you want to do now?" He asked after an awkward moment of silence.

She turned to face him, "I have been thinking about that actually. Do you have any particular place you're trying to get to? Friends? Family?"

He lowered his gaze to his hands, "no, I don't have anyone, or anywhere to go. All of them got wiped out..."

"Wiped out? How?" Queen remembered how sad he was when they met.

"Some bad people, burnt my town to the ground. I was coming back from looking for food, my parents, my siblings, they were trapped inside and I couldn't get to them. The people who didn't get burned alive, they were shot dead. There were bodies everywhere," his voice cracked as the images flashed through his mind.

"How long ago did this happen?"

He took a deep breath, then answered as he rubbed his eyes on his shirt sleeve, "a few months ago. I've been wandering aimlessly ever since."

"Do you know the people who did it?" She asked next, full of anger and hatred.

"No, I wasn't there when it happened, only when they were driving away," he said regretfully.

"Oh. I'm sorry," she pulled her knees to her chest and thought it over, she knew what she had to ask, "well, here's an idea, I know of a community who could use someone like you, would you be willing to give it a chance?"

Darren gave her a look of surprise, "someone like me? What do you mean?"

"You seem helpful, and sturdy, you seem to follow instructions well. You could be a good addition to them, and they're good people, they'll give you shelter, food, any necessities you might need, and they look out for each other. They have a good leader too," she added, though she wasn't sure why.

"Oh. Would you stay there too?" He surprised himself by being so straightforward with his question.

"I don't know about that. I'd come back every once in a while I guess, just to check up on everyone, but I'm the type that can't stay in one place for too long, I need to keep moving," she waited for his answer.

Darren hesitated, "alright, I'll give it a try."

A few days later, Darren was following Queen. They were backtracking now. They had long since passed the encampment. They found Jerry's body, beaten to a bloody pulp. Queen buried him and marked his grave. Even though it had been a trick, he did try to help her, he had warned her.

He was still trying to figure her out. She kept herself distant from others, but in the moment she told him about the community, she seemed like she actually cared about them.

"So this leader of theirs, what's his story?" Darren asked as he struggled to keep up with her.

"From what I understand, he used to be a cop. I don't know all the details, but he's brave, and very protective of the people who depend on him. I don't really know how else to describe him" she ducked under a tree branch, then heard him run into it. "Oh my god, are you okay?" She asked as she turned around and covered her mouth to hide a smirk.

Darren was rubbing his forehead trying to make the pain go away. "Does it look okay?" He asked with a groan.

"Let me look at it" she gently pushed his hand aside and felt around it, "it's a little red and puffy, but I think you're going to be fine."

Her hands were warm, he felt his face heat up. As he stared into her face, it was the first time he noticed her eyes were green. She realized how hard he was staring at her, she stepped back and continued walking on.

The awkward feeling was heavy as they traveled in silence. He knew he was the one who had made things weird. After several days of traveling, they stopped to rest.

He made a sweep of their surroundings with his eyes, "so how much farther do we need to go?"

"A couple of days maybe, we'll stop here for today to rest up and recharge. Are you doing alright?" she looked over at him and found he had already leaned against a tree and closed his eyes.

She smiled with amusement, she had to give him credit for keeping up with her as well as he did. He clearly wasn't used to traveling such long distances. He seemed fairly young, maybe 21 or 22 years old, with light golden hair and blue eyes. She went searching for wood and kindling to build a fire with.

As she collected dry branches and dried moss, she thought about Leo, wondering if he would be okay with her bringing a stranger into their community. She still wasn't completely sure if she was doing the right thing by bringing him along, but she couldn't just ditch him somewhere.

During the whole stretch he was napping, she had built a fire, had hunted down some rabbits with Duke, and finished preparing them for the fire. Darren woke up to the smell of her cooking and watched her turn the meat over the fire.

"You've been on the road for a long time, haven't you? You seem like a professional outdoors-person. If you don't mind my saying so," he said sheepishly.

"Why would I mind that? Besides, it really doesn't matter how long I've been out here, this is the way of the world now, we have no choice but to learn how to survive," she stated numbly.

"That's a pretty bleak perspective. You can't be that much older than me... What are you, 24? 25?"

She didn't answer him, and just focused on cooking the rabbit meat. He kept his eyes fixed on her, hoping if he stared long enough, she'd answer him. She finally peered back at him with annoyance.

"How long you gonna keep that up?"

"Keep what up? It was just a question, and seeing that you avoided answering again, I'm just standing here, enjoying the view," a playfulness danced in his eyes as a smile lit up his face.

She just blankly peered over at him, she didn't realize in that moment that his admiration was turning to something more.