Wade staggered and cupped a hand over his bleeding nose as Charlie stood over him. She threatened to hit him again but then pointed back at July. “I don’t know why he stopped me but he won’t do it again.” She reached for her gun. Alice gasped with her hand over her mouth.
“Charlie, stop,” July demanded.
She turned on him frantically. “He lied to us! What if he made it back to Leah? Told her about this secret road and led the Raiders straight to Haven, your home, for Christ’s sake! This whole area would turn into a fucking bloodbath!”
“I know! Can you just stop, please?” July pinched his brow and paced back and forth a few times.
Thomas leaned close to him. “I’m with Charlie on this one. He could have slit our throats, man.”
“But I didn’t,” Wade anxiously pointed out.
“Shut up.”
With a deep breath July stood before Wade and quietly spoke. “Do you know Leah Mackenzie? Did you work for her?”
Wade’s eyes were suddenly glossy with tears. “Yes, but…”
“You’ve been to the raider Execution Grounds and Swinetown? You know exactly how the Raiders operate?”
“Yes. What do you want…”
July smiled curtly and faced the others. “Don't kill him. This isn’t the wasteland anymore. We're approaching a law-abiding independent settlement. If I remember correctly the outlines of the law here are still a little vague at best but he deserves to be tried by their rules.”
There was still a lot of walking to do before they reached the main settlement. July rolled his eyes at the thought of more travel. The lush trees around them and the grass at their feet, crickets chirping and wind gently sweeping through the branches, it was a pleasant change from the arid sandy terrain in the south. Although they couldn’t see it, they could smell the river; the humble body of water once curved around Haven and ran straight through Red-Rock Pass, that was before the settlers dammed and redirected it to run into the foothills and go underground. With the river gone The Pass could be set up as a permanent road. The thought of so much water put everyone, especially Thomas and July, and even Wade, in a very good mood.
“I wonder if Granny is still alive?” July remarked casually, glancing at Tom.
“Oh, geez I hope not. I mean, as much as I’ve missed not having her around, she’s been waiting ten years to give us the scolding of a lifetime. Going home might be the last thing we ever do.”
“And after we’ve come so far,” he sighed. “Remember that time, we must have been, what, thirteen or fourteen, our dads and Alister were out of town, Granny was looking after us, we snuck out, me, you, Sophie and some of the other kids, we went skinny-dipping in the lake that afternoon, Sophie took our clothes and we ended up running naked through the entire town?”
Tom chuckled. “Yeah, Granny beat the shit out of us for that one. How could I forget?”
A moment passed, serene as the memory dwelled in their minds.
“I suppose Alister is still there too,” said July. “I can’t imagine how he’s coping with playing host to the Royalists.”
“Alister’s a hard man but from what I can remember he was smart. Hopefully smart enough to realise he’s outnumbered.”
“Come on, Tom. You’ve read enough books to know it’s not about having more people, it’s about having the right people, and using them for the right reasons. We’re not barbarians. If you can remember, Alister was a stickler for good manners, hopefully whoever is in charge now knows some respect.”
“Thank god there aren’t any raiders there.” Tom smiled and glanced back at Wade. “Since when did you care so much about the law, anyway?” he asked July.
“Oh, just planning ahead.” July scratched his nose.
Based on the vague answer Tom knew not to address it further. “Another matter then. You barely mention her name for ten years and the first thing you bring up about her is skinny-dipping?”
July couldn’t help but grin. “One of my fondest memories of her. Dear Sophia, splashing around in naught but her skin.”
“I hope you’ve been working on your apology.”
The smile faded. “I bailed on her, without saying a word. You don’t forgive something like that. I don’t expect her to, anyway. I just hope after all this she’s okay.”
Before July had left Haven for what he expected would be forever, his Granny was considered by many to be a figure of immense wisdom, though to him she was just a cranky old lady. Granny was one of the few to have lived before the war, in fact, she was nineteen when it began, and her stories were some of the only true accounts of what it was truly like in that frightening and confusing time when all of modern civilisation came to a collapse.
The other significant figure in the village was Alister Preevy, once he was a general who fought alongside July’s father in the conflict that pushed the first of the Royalists east beyond the mountains. Little did they know that their war and the absence of the Royalists would grant a perfect opportunity for four underdog organisations to bloom; The Raiders, The Church, The Fascists, and The Anarchists. Alister directed his military power south and quelled the Fascist uprising before it could reach his home, turning them back into an independent settlement. When the Nazis were gone the soldiers went home. The Raiders weren’t a serious threat at the time. Any fighting men left at Haven formed a small militia led by July’s father to protect the town, and then when he died and July left, it was up to Alister to keep the people safe.
Of course, the person July was mostly looking forward to seeing again was Sophie Bennet, who was as beautiful as she was brilliant, and whom July had loved more than anyone else. They had grown up together, played together as kids, had lessons together with Granny. The only person July had ever been closer to as a friend was Thomas, but he and Sophie eventually became more than friends. Unfortunately, it all ended when July accidentally burned down a barn while trying to make fireworks, an incident that left Sophia badly injured.
July had never believed in his father’s cause, never intended to fight under Alister’s command, he preferred to make trouble for others to serve his own purposes and was otherwise considered useless by many. Hurting Sophia pushed him over the brink. He couldn’t bear to face her so soon. He hated himself as much as everyone else did. So he left.
Now, as the group’s journey came to an end the trees and shrubs cleared and were replaced by fences and plots of land. Charlie smiled approvingly. “It looks homie.” They passed swiftly through the crops to reach the main town. They hadn’t considered how they might have looked; five armed men and women, a man in chains, and a dog. The people kept their distance at first, went into their homes and shops or rushed across the street. July noticed some new faces, Royalist’s who watched them from a distance but refused to act. Then the people started to talk.
“Who are they?” said a frightened woman. “Where did they come from?”
“I swear I know that one,” another man uttered.
Soon the eyes of the people were crawling all over them. “Wait… could it be?”
An old man jumped and pointed. “July? And… and Thomas?”
“Look at his leg though,” someone whispered.
“What happened to it?”
“But who are the others? Looks like they have a prisoner.”
“July and Thomas are back!”
“Back? I thought they died.”
Charlie nudged July on the shoulder and said, “Some welcome party.”
A pale old woman bending over a walking stick shuffled from the crowd, her features expressionless. July recognised Granny immediately, as if he saw her just yesterday. Despite everything he hadn’t realised how much he missed her until now. “Granny,” he called, and moved to embrace the old lady.
Granny slapped him harder than any woman her age should be able to. July opened his mouth and rubbed his stinging cheek, utterly stunned.
“You have some nerve coming back here, young man!” Granny’s lips were thin as she glared up at him. “How dare you!” Then, as quickly as it appeared her glare faded as she turned to Tom. “Thomas my dear, I’m so happy you’re alright.”
Tom cracked a smile. “Nice to see you too, Granny. We have a lot of catching up to do.” He gestured to Biscuit and the others. “But first you should meet our companions.” He introduced them one by one, including Wade, who he asked to be put under guard.
Granny addressed them in a gentle voice. “I should be able to find a place for you to stay, dearies, of course you will all have to go through Sal first, including you two.” They didn’t have to ask before she answered. “Sal is the Royalist officer in charge of this region. I’ll tell you all about it soon.”
As Granny spoke July scanned the surrounding area but couldn’t find the two people he wanted to see. “Where is Alister?”
Granny’s expression became grim. “Oh, I’m afraid poor Alister is in a spot of trouble right now, got himself locked up in a Royalist prison, along with the rest of the old militia, been there about six months now, I’d say.”
The news was bad but if July and Tom were being honest they weren’t exactly surprised.
“Um, what about Sophia?” July asked. “Is she here?”
Granny’s expression became grimmer. “Come with me, dear.”
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