Chapter 2
I stood in front of the Law-keeper's office, right outside the front door, and thought for a moment about what needed to be conveyed to Irisa. Despite the long discussion with Rynn and my own feelings, I didn't know exactly what to say to her. I knew she told me early on that they never stayed in one place a long time, but I thought she'd inform me if she planned on moving on to another town. It was about eleven in the morning-lunchtime-on October twelfth, twenty forty-eight. The Bazaar bustled with business, and the Castithans gathered throughout the street, dancing and singing to some of their ancient songs. The sun ducked its head behind the thick clouds, but it was warm, really warm, and the sweat poured off my head. The air conditioner sounded loud, and I could tell Nolan had it on high. The Castithan slave girls waved at me as I looked at them meandering down the street. Often, their slave masters abused them, but due to the fact they never complained, the law keepers couldn't do anything about it.
I walked into the office, into the cool air, and Nolan sat at his desk, legs on the table, chewing gum, and smacking loudly. It was cold in the office, much colder than it needed to be. Nolan had on his ugly, tattered leather jacket with the broken zipper. I looked around the room for a moment, but I didn't see my paramour. Nolan continued smacking on his gum, and it took me a moment to get my composure. Irisa wasn't at her desk and probably patrolled the Hollows since it was close to lunchtime. Her chair was pushed out from the desk, but that didn't mean anything. I don't recall her simply pushing her chair against the desk when I worked with her.
"Councilman Tar," Nolan said as he took his feet off the desk, and tried to act like he had some decorum. "I want you to know I'm a busy man. Some miscreants attacked some Iraths, and we got a missing family."
"Do you have any clues to their whereabouts?" I asked with a grimace. It wasn't the first case of some missing Votans, and it bothered me. I thought back to when some men from Apostasy kidnapped my sister and held her in captivity.
"We're checking on it right now. I have Ja Ri Vega working on the case," he said while he smacked on his gum.
I fitted their office with brand new furniture, but I knew Nolan didn't have the sensibility to protect it. I spent a lot of time convincing the other council members that the law keepers needed the best equipment, and it was obvious Nolan didn't care one iota about my work. I realized that almost immediately when he damaged one of the new rollers. I looked the other way, voted yes to fix it, and then went back to the farm. But if I was a hard man, as hard as I needed to be, I would have taken the damages to the new vehicle out of his paycheck.
"It's just us, Nolan," I said, "No need for all the formalities." I walked over to his desk and stood across from him. Dirt crumbs from his boots set on his desk where he had his feet. He looked up at me, smacked his gum, and I think he was being disrespectful on purpose.
"I'm on duty," he said. He grinned ominously at me, but it didn't bother me too much because I figured he'd act salty with me. I just knew he was going to act in a passive-aggressive manner or come at me with several unpleasantries.
"It's like that?" I asked with a grimace. I used just about every calming technique in my arsenal because of the way my former boss was acting. I only came into Defiance to be with my paramour, and I didn't need any extra drama.
"You damn right," he said, "You road into the councilman's seat on Datak's name, and immediately started dictating to me on how to run my shop." It was like he didn't think my father's name belonged to me, and I didn't quite understand the logic behind that. My father's last name was Tar, but Datak's last name was Tarr. It wasn't my fault that the names sounded the same, but they weren't the same.
"I was raised as the son of Irocuz Tar. He rejected me when I became a law keeper, but upon his death, he brought me back into the family. My name has nothing to do with Datak," I said. I felt adamant about that too. I didn't care to be associated with Datak on that level, but my father's name was dear to me. "I fitted your shop with what Defiance needed. It's really that simple, Nolan."
"You keep telling yourself that, boss," he said like he didn't trust me. I'm not going to lie, but he upset me with that remark. I didn't think Nolan would ever say such a thing to me or about me, and it did hurt. I gave him more than enough time to find a new deputy when I left the job. I put in my two weeks notice, and never regretted it one day, but as far as I could tell, Ja Ri Vega-a male Castithan-fitted the role perfectly.
"So we're down to name calling now?" I asked. "Am I not family?"
He smacked on his gum loudly, but didn't say anything at all. For the first time, I truly saw myself as being apart from him. I didn't expected that. Maybe Irisa had seen me as Datak's lackey too. I didn't know how she felt at all. I didn't know anything. "So, what do you want?" Nolan asked.
"It's just something has changed between Irisa and me," I said in a strong voice. I paced the floor for a moment and thought about what I said. The aroma from the food market seeped into the Law-keeper's office, and I realized I wanted something to eat. "I don't know what happened," I said.
"Maybe she finally sees you for the dog you are," he said, "Maybe she sees how you manipulated your way onto the city council. Maybe she sees how you crept into Defiance like some little-lost puppy and manipulated everybody."
"None of that is true," I said. When I drove into Defiance, I didn't think Nolan would ever unload on me like that. Due to the fact I considered him a close friend, it hurt my heart.
"You speak Castithan, Irathient, English, and probably a few other languages, but you used it to manipulate your way to steal a seat on the council."
"You had one roller. Now you have three," I said, "I did that for you. You had those old, Po-tech guns, and now you have the good stuff. I got you the armor and everything. If I haven't been a friend to the Law-keeper, then tell me who has? You need to rethink where your loyalties lie because I've always been on your side, Nolan. Maybe you could show me some fucking gratitude."
"Thank you, sir," he said with a scowl. He continued to smack on his gum, and then I left out of the Law-keeper's shack in a mood. I stomped down the stairs, out into the street, and headed over to the Bazaar. It was crazy. I hated that the people I cared about the most had the greatest power over me. It was the ones I loved who had a direct path to my heart. If I didn't care about Nolan and Irisa, I could have easily brushed off his words with ease, but from what I could tell, they pained me. I felt like he dragged me across a sheet of sandpaper, and left me bleeding on the other side.
Down the road, about half a block down, I saw Irisa standing in the middle of the street with her, holstered gun, beanie cap, glasses, and apricot hair. She glowed for some reason. It was a special kind of glow I saw in her, but it had to do with my overall feelings. It had been a while, some ten to fifteen days since she had her hair braided. I walked over to her, and she took off her shades for a moment, squinted, and then kissed me. For that one second, the way she looked at me, I knew she loved me. I saw the softness in her disposition, and I liked the way it made me feel.
"Tommy! I didn't know you were coming to Defiance," she said softly. Her grin went from ear to ear. When an Irathient woman smiled at a man, it meant something because they rarely smiled unless they cared for him. It was love, a deep-rooted love, and I felt it from her. I could have left after that, but now I wanted to stay. I knew what I needed to know about her.
"I just wanted to see you," I said with a smile. Gently, I touched her face with my right hand, and she rested her cheek on it. She was comfortable. "Do you want to grab some lunch?" I asked.
"Okay," she said. Holding me by the hand, I walked with her through the Bazaar, and her hand was soft to the touch. She smelled like sweet peaches.
I held her left hand as we walked over to the Bazaar. Rory-the Irathient girl-cleaned the tables, and she had a fresh, new set of wounds on her face, arms, and hands. The reason I took a liking to Rory was that Mister Shooty's oldest child was named Rory, and she was a wild human being about six years older than me. We grew up together back in Arkansas. Her bruised arms bothered me a lot, and her left eye looked partially healed, but the right eye was freshly bruised. I couldn't very well sit in her section, and not acknowledge the wounds all over her body.
"Rory, Na inyee soya?" I asked in a calm manner, but with an authoritative voice. I asked if she was okay. The only reason I felt compelled to ask her anything was because the bruises looked severe in some places. Irisa looked over at her, but then buried her face in her menu. Most Irathient women experienced some kind of abuse at the hands of Irathient males. Like any culture in the New World, a certain amount of male on female brutality happened. In fact, if I went to the Irathient community with my gripes, the women would be the first to tell me to stop meddling. It was the way of things in the New World. I didn't know how she could take it, but abuse happened a lot in Irathient tribes.
"Ni soya," she said softly. Even though she told me she was okay, I just didn't believe that. She had abrasions all over her body, and it was too much to bear. Unfortunately, I felt her agitation, and I let go of the subject, at least for now. I didn't want to dig too deeply into her life around other people, especially since I wasn't of her clan. Even when it came to Rynn, she didn't understand why I didn't smack her to the ground when she broke up with me a few years back. She expected me to manhandle her because she was my wife, but due to how Irosa raised me, I avoided spousal abuse at all cost. In addition, she never saw her father beat her Mama, but when it came to the Spirit Riders, they acted violently towards each other, and especially the females.
Irisa looked at the menu for a moment. She sucked her teeth as she went down the items on the menu, and I almost started laughing. She said, "Let me see. Just let me see for a minute. It all looks so good." I looked over at her, and she had the menu up to her face, and then she said, "I'm having the pow steak, mash potatoes, gravy, and corn."
"You get that every time," I said as I shook my head in disbelief." Irisa looked up at me, licked out her tongue, and then handed her menu to Rory. I looked over at our waitress, and said, "The same, please."
She laughed, and said, "You have that every time, Councilman."
It was true. Irisa and I loved the same foods. "Thank you, Rory." Irisa leaned back in her chair, somewhat away from my reach, and stretched. I could hear her back making a popping noise. When she scooted up to the table, I gently held her hand, and asked, "Why have you been so distant to me, Irisa?"
Her demeanor changed abruptly, and it was palpable. With her free hand, she took off her beanie, set it on her lap, and then said, "I'm frustrated, Tommy. I'm torn between Nolan and being with you on the farm."
At first, I set my head on the table because I couldn't believe she felt the way she did. I never once gave the impression that I would cut her off from Nolan like the farm was her imprisonment. The thought never crossed my mind. I scooted closer to her, and then said, "There hasn't been one ultimatum on my part, Irisa. I won't use threats in our relationship. Would I like you to live with us on the farm? Yes. Yes, I would like that very much. I would like to look into your eyes as you doze off to sleep at night, but you have your life here. I understand that."
She shook her head in disagreement, and then said, "I'm amazed how slick you are, Tommy Tar. You sound all so innocent, but for some reason, you failed to alleviate the tear in my heart over this issue. You're so deceptive with your words." She patted her chest as she said that, and I just listened for a moment.
I sighed and then said, "You're being silly about this. My motives aren't insidious, and you know it. I'm on the city council, so I have to travel to Defiance more and more now, but I stop by to see you, take you out, spend the night, and spend money on you every single time. It's just that simple."
"But why are you here today?" She asked.
"I'm here to see you," I said with a smile on my face. "Quit acting like you're not important to me." Rory set the plate of food down in front of me, and then set down Irisa's plate. She cut my pow steak into small squares because I liked it like that. I handed her sixty dollars worth of script, but the two meals only came to twenty scripts. Stuffing the forty dollars into her bra, she walked away and stood behind her booth. I took a toothpick from the holder, and stuck it into one of the cubes, dipped it in the sweet, whacky sauce, and ate the first bite. Irisa looked at me with an angry visage, and I sighed. "What's wrong?" I asked as I stuck a steak cube in my mouth.
"She cuts up your food now?" She asked as she sat across from me with her hands on the table. I looked at her as she complained about my meat cut up into blocks, but I didn't know why she had a problem with it.
"It's how I like it," I said. I penetrated another meaty cube with my toothpick, dipped it into the sweet, whacky sauce, and popped it into my mouth. The pow steaks were so tender that I could barely contain my pleasure with them.
"How much did you tip her?" Irisa asked.
"Forty scripts," I said. I didn't know why she cared because I always tipped Rory big.
"You just throw money away now," she said as she shook her head like I committed a grave sin. "Well. I'm behind on the rent for the apartment." I kind of looked at her with a befuddled visage for awhile because I didn't understand where she was going with that. I couldn't ascertain if she was trying to hurt me in some kind of way or just inform me that she was behind on the rent. I paid her housing dues because I couldn't trust her to pay them, but I knew that going into the relationship.
"Since when?" I asked as she cut up her steak. She sawed through the meat like it was tougher than it really was, and I just watched her as she wrestled with her food.
"Um. Since four or five months ago," she said. "Datak hasn't even complained."
I smirked. "I've paid three years rent on the apartment when he told me you missed a payment," I said. "I thought I told you that."
"I didn't ask you to do that, Tommy," she snapped. Her visage changed to one of anger, and I didn't understand the problem. She knew she wasn't going to keep up with the rent because I knew it. It was my responsibility to know the spending habits of my paramour, and I knew Irisa wasn't trustworthy in the money department with Nolan been her primary guide in life. "Why would you do that? Fuck, Tommy!"
"Calm down! You don't have to worry about rent, Irisa," I said. When Rynn and I made the decision on Irisa being my paramour, it meant that I took care of things like rent. It meant a lot of things. And when I brought her into my relationship, I knew her inability to keep up with the rent. "You're my paramour. What I give you is for you, and I have never held it over your head."
She looked down at the table for a moment, ate her food quietly, and sighed a few, uncomfortable times. I pretty much did the same because the entire conversation caught me off guard, but for some reason, she resented me for more than one thing. She begrudged me, but I didn't know why. "Lately, you've been spending so much time questioning my every move that I think you've forgotten the love somewhere along the way."
"I'm frustrated," she said with a grimace. "You know what I want, Tommy."
"Why do you think I'm here?" I asked.
Looking up from her food, Irisa smirked evilly. "What are we doing here then?"
Later in the afternoon…
Irisa walked out of the hovel while I stayed bare on the bed, and she had worked me over the way I liked. The sweet aroma of her perfume was on my skin. She went back to work, and I knew the sex would be quick, raw, and stress relieving. I thought it was cathartic. It was fast and dirty, and we expected it to be fast and dirty. At first, I thought our relationship hit a moribund state, but now I felt everything was okay. Honestly, I thought an arcadian lifestyle on the farm, and doing farm-like things on a daily basis would be more conducive to a pregnancy than the city life of Defiance. Eating Momma's cooking, the serenity of the moon on the tarn and the comfort of being around family created an environment propitious to creating a new life.
I walked over to the shower, grabbed the bar of soap, stood under the nozzle, and let the water sprinkle on my head. Most of my products set behind her feminine products, but I didn't mind. Once I dressed, I made myself a green tea. I only added a tad of sugar in my tea while I sat on the edge of the bed. I pulled a wad of script out of my left pocket, placed five hundred of it on the night table, and thought that would be plenty of money to buy the perfect dress for Mister Shooty's day. I then stood on the balcony and drank my tea quietly. My watch read two o'clock in the afternoon, and it must have been nearly one hundred degrees. It was crazy hot outside, and I wanted to stay in Irisa's hovel under the coolness of the air conditioner. The busy streets had all types of races roaming freely. I watched some Irathients walk by in their traditional garb, and when the Irathients came into Defiance from the Badlands, the residents treated them like they carried diseases. I looked down at a roller slowly cruising by on the main thoroughfare. The hood had an image of a horned devil on it. The exhaust pipes protruded out the back of the car, and when the driver pumped the gas, black smoke billowed out of the monstrous machine. I looked at it closely because of the humanoid skulls on the front of the vehicle, and it doused my mind with a flood of memories. I had seen something similar on the Hooker Arkfall that took place when I was about fifteen, and about a year before Rynn returned to my life. I slit a man's face with my charge blade, and Irocuz put two rounds in the man's brother's chest. It was a band of brothers called the Busy Baker Boys, and in those days, they were notorious for hijacking unsuspecting Ark Hunters for their booty.
It happened in a small town called Hooker, Oklahoma, a strange town, with a strange name, and all the strange people were infected by the Irathient plague that caused zombism. I remembered we rolled past a sign that read Texas county. I thought most of the people in the area had fled the region because of the deadly outbreak of the Irathient plague, but I was wrong. We knew the government of Oklahoma put out an edict to flee the area because of the outbreak, but the people ignored the order. It was twenty-forty-one, August Fifth, on a Monday. It was an exceptionally warm day, and Irocuz told me to stop with all the yakking with the other Ark Hunters. He made it known they were not my family and not my friends, and it got to the point where he told me not to talk until he gave me permission. Tensions were high between Irocuz and me because we were standing in front of the Busy Baker Boys, a dangerous family from Miami, Oklahoma. I'm not sure why I became loquacious during that time, but life frustrated me nonetheless. Irocuz chewed on his pow jerky, ate some chips, and drank some beer, but he was on the clock the entire time. I had overheard an Ark Hunter by the name of Billy De Baker, a tall pink skinned man say, "This bitch with the Spirit Riders stabbed me in the gut. I nearly died." We were in an Ark Hunter haven called Blessed Falls right outside of Hooker, Oklahoma. The area had a lot of Ark Hunters camped around it, and we were on the fringes of the area.
The Busy Baker Boys entered into the campsite from the rear end of the area, spotted Irocuz, and didn't travel deeper into the campgrounds. Earlier in the day, they had called Irocuz a dirty slag, so we were already on edge. It was only two of the brothers, and we expected the rest would show up later. Billy Dee Baker's forehead protruded outwardly, and he looked somewhat like Frankenstein. The radiation deformed him, and it was palpable. We knew they were in the area, but we didn't think they'd enter into our site. We didn't trust most hunters, but the Busy Baker Boys were mutants out of northeastern Oklahoma and notorious for attacking other Ark Hunter. About a month earlier, the brothers attacked and killed two of the three Jones' brothers, and pillaged the booty of other Ark Hunters over the last few months.
Another Ark Hunter named Aaron Baker stood beside his brother, but he wasn't near as tall. Billy stood approximately six-foot-two inches, but Aaron was only about five-foot-six inches. At the age of fifteen, I was only an inch taller than him. The smaller brother laughed about the girl stabbing his brother, and then he asked, "Was the bitch scarred?" He raked his right index finger over his left eye. When he mentioned the scar, it immediately piqued my interest.
"Yeah. Evil whore," Billy De Baker said. "The scar ran down and over her left eye. I praise the son-of-a-bitch that did that to her, but when I get the chance, I will beat her head in with a brick, and cut out her dirty slag womb."
"Did you fuck her?" I asked calmly and disgustingly. Immediately, I had an idea of who the girl was, but I wasn't sure. I stood up and looked over at their vehicle with the humanoid skulls on it. I assumed they were real so I became concerned about what kind of animals Irocuz and I faced.
He gave me a hostile stare and then said, "Mind your business, boy. Men are talking!" Aaron looked at me out the corner of his eyes, and it was disrespectful not to look an Ark Hunter directly in the eye.
"No disrespect, but you called her a whore. Did you rape her?" I asked.
"Fuck no," he said with a scowl on his face. "A dog wouldn't rape that feral Irathienth bitch." He laughed as if he said something clever, but it caused me anger because I thought it was Ynn, a girl I loved dearly from my childhood. In my early years, I called Rynn Ynn because I couldn't pronounce her name correctly. I just knew that I missed her deeply, and now that the two mutants threatened her life, I felt they jeopardized my chance of finding her.
"Perhaps you're the dog that would," I said with a scowl on my face. I was basically telling the man that he was the lowest form of human being, and when an Ark Hunter slighted another Ark Hunter, it meant something in the Badlands. Besides, the anger in my face telegraphed to the other two Ark Hunters that I meant to kill them. I wanted them to know they crossed a line with me.
Billy De Baker grabbed his Po-tech pistol, and Irocuz blew him away instantly with his sawed-off, double barrel shotgun. We weren't leaving the area without somebody dying, and it was something we knew without saying. The blast ripped through the man's upper torso, and I quickly pulled out my charge blade. I was at the ready when Aaron Baker tried to attack me, but he moved like molasses compared to me. I sidestepped his wild swing, and sliced off half his face; it slid on the ground in front of me, and it looked like melting butter. He didn't die, but he screamed and screamed and screamed, and it was so loud and forceful of a scream that Irocuz and I quickly absconded in our roller before his other brothers descended on the scene. As we drove down the street, he smacked me in the face a few times and said the following to me.
"Chinoc, Tommy. Inyee na chinoc," he screamed over and over again. That translated to, "Stupid, Tommy. You're stupid."
I didn't say anything at all. I knew I messed up, and I knew he wouldn't forget I messed up. "We weren't getting out of there without killing one of them," I said, "It was the Busy Baker Boys, Daddy. They stopped at our campsite for one reason. To kill us."
"Ni presana," he said, 'Ni presana." He agreed that he knew, but he still held anger for me, and I assumed it was the way I went about things. But when he said he wanted to bash the Irathient girls head in with a brick, I didn't see how he was going to leave the campsite alive. I would have shot him in the back if I needed to at that point.
We drove around the city of Hooker but didn't enter it until daylight. I ate a bit of my sandwich, and Irocuz fell asleep while we were parked on a hill. We didn't expect to see the Busy Baker Boys for a while because of what I did to Aaron's face. I deformed his face completely, and there wasn't any coming back from that.
The other Ark Hunters were nearby, and we knew the hunt would be brutal. We expected a cluster of arks to hit the small town, and the fortune would be monumental in size. A rumor reverberated throughout the Ark Hunter community that the Irathient plague had wreaked havoc on the citizens of Hooker, but we didn't know if that were true. Momma spent quite a bit of money having the Votans inoculate me, so I would be immune to the disease. As far as I knew, the scientists hadn't found a cure for the plague in humans, and if a human was infected, they would go on a murderous rampage. I didn't know one person who survived zombism once infected. That was the reason for the inoculations. In addition, I don't think one Irathient has ever been inflicted by the disease, but the humans and Castithans suffered from it in the multitudes, especially in enclaves of people who refused the inoculation.
Suddenly, four tattered ships tumbled erratically through the air, hit Hooker, Oklahoma, and sent out a shockwave throughout the immediate area. I felt the vibrations. After that, about a thousand tiny pieces of the metal hit against the earth, and Irocuz ordered me under the roller for safety. The metal pieces hit all over the place, and if they hit anybody in the head, it meant a quick death. Erocuz was in the front of the roller and I was in the rear of it. The debris rained down on us sparking little fires throughout the area. The electronics peppered Hooker for about two hours, and for a while, I thought it wouldn't ever stop. A swarm of deer raced by the vehicle in a mad attempt to escape the deadly shards of metal pouring out of the sky. Several of the beasts met a horrific death as the metal bits sliced them in half. Never in my life did I appreciate the sanctuary of the roller more than that day.
After the broken metal stopped its assault on the small town of Hooker, Oklahoma, I slid from under the roller, and we raced down to the first ark fall. It took us about twenty-two minutes to find it, and when we did, we immediately backed the vehicle up to the front of the ship and speared the door. An electrical pulse caused the door to open, and then the machine retracted the hook. Irocuz was the first one into the vessel, and then I ran inside.
I hated what I saw inside the alien ship: dead bodies, blood, and hopelessness. The dead Castithan children bothered me more than anything else. I didn't realize how much I truly cared for the children until I saw such a hopeless situation. I told myself I wouldn't cry, but I did cry. I cried for some kids I didn't know, but I empathize with their pain. My father ran directly for the wiring, and he removed it quickly, but the sight of the children gorgonized me. I couldn't remove it from my mind. Their emaciated faces saddened me, and it angered me that I couldn't do anything for them.
"Tommy! Miat na inyee yannai?" I looked at him with tears in my eyes, and he walked over to me, held me, and then he continued to collect the wires. He asked me in Irathient, "What are you fucking doing?" Throughout my childhood, I wanted my father to hug me like he did on that day, but it never happened. Rynn eventually told me years later that my father was the epitome of toxic male masculinity, but at that moment, he was a caring father and that was one of my best memories of him.
When I started taking the wiring out to the roller, I heard a scream in the distance. I looked left and then right, and then I saw a gaggle of horrid creatures racing towards the vessel. I could hear the cries of the walking dead, and regardless of my sadness for all the lost souls, I knew if we didn't leave the area immediately, we wouldn't survive the sickness. Their erratic movements frightened me. Their cries saddened me. The smoke from the small fire caused me to lose sight of the gaggle of monsters at times, and I knew I needed to alert Irocuz of the impending doom.
"Irocuz, wai hena nae," I screamed, "Irathient plague." In Irathient, I said, "Irocuz, we have to go."
He ran out the ship without the cabling, down the stairs, and to the roller. We left the wire behind, all of it, and took off in the vehicle. Racing across the Badlands of Oklahoma, the sea of sick almost seemed endless, and Irocuz repeatedly screamed, "Viti veeri."
I looked over at him for a moment, and said, "Veerae."
He looked at me in disbelief that I would waste time correcting him at a time of such a great loss, and said, "Veeri, veerae. Wai veerae fi quajo." He frowned for a moment and shook his head in disbelief. We drove out of town and then headed back home. It was going to be a long ride. He was upset with me because I said, "Veerae." That was the formal way of saying, "Loss." He said, "Veeri." When he said, "Veeri" in that manner, it meant, "Fucking loss." He basically said, "Fucking loss or loss." The transliteration was, "The fortune was a fucking loss." Unfortunately, it was a loss because we wasted tons of fuel, time, and money on the Hooker Arkfall, but returned with nothing. Irocuz killed a man and I deformed a man, and when looking back at those days, it was a sad time for the Tars.
So, I stood on the balcony, watched the roller with the skulls crawl down the Main street in Defiance, and I knew who owned that roller. I knew the vehicle, and I probably knew the occupants too. I was fifteen when I sliced Aaron Baker's face, but I'm sure he remembered me. I'd remember if somebody put a nick on my face, so I know he remembered me because I took off half his face with that charge blade. The Badlands bred brutality, and I was a child of it. If not for the love Iroza had for me, I'd be a stone cold killer if not dead. But when it came to the Busy Baker Boys, they never knew civility and was a notoriously, evil entity in the Badlands. I don't expect Aaron died from the wound Inflicted upon him, but I know he thinks about me. I took enough meat off his face that he probably thinks about me everytime he looks in the mirror.
I walked down the stairs of my old hovel on Main Street and drove my roller into the Hollows. The ordinary noises of the Hollows consisted of loud talking and screaming and somebody always playing loud, annoying music. Some of the Castithans, the Castithan lower classes, the indentured, Castithan servants walked along in their dowdy clothes, and minding their business, but impeding the slow-moving traffic nonetheless. The dismal souls stood directly in front of the Busy Baker Boys' roller, and I saw approximately four of them. They honked the horn of their roller, but the Castithans stayed the course, the pace, and continued their journey while impeding traffic.
Big Joe Baker exited the vehicle with a large stick. He sat on the driver's side of the roller with his thinly blond hair, thick eyebrows, and long, brown trench coat. His forehead stuck further out than what was considered normal. He had a limp about him because his right leg was noticeably shorter than the left and he always had thin hair. It was conducive to life around Miami, Oklahoma. I'm talking about deformities, small but noticeable deformities, but deformities nonetheless. The government told the humans to leave Miami, Oklahoma, but they refused. They kept refusing until it was too late, and a multitude of women gave birth to deformed babies. Due to the fact Irocuz and I came across them on several occasions, we knew about them. The Busy Baker Boys had their ways, and most of the time it ended badly for unsuspecting Ark Hunters.
When Irocuz shot Billy De Baker in the chest, he had already planned on shooting him. The Busy Baker Boys crept into an Ark Hunter's campsite, caught him off guard, killed him, and then ransacked all the dead Ark Hunter's possessions. The Busy Baker Boys' signature trademark was the skulls on their rollers, and when most Ark Hunters saw them coming, they left the area.
So, I range-walked down the street, across from the NeedWant, and to a good spot so I could keep my eyes on the roller's occupants and Joe's activities. I unholstered my Po-Tech pistol, and when Joe crept upon one of the young, indentured servants, he whacked her on the back with the stick. When she fell on the ground, I realized it was Tre La Tian, one of Datak's servants who accompanied his family during their baths. The thrust of the stick knocked her forward, and she dropped Datak's provisions on the ground. I became incensed when I saw what had happened because she was a friend to me. Immediately, she stood to her feet, she squatted, picked up the fruits and vegetables, and then Joe kicked her out of the way. It angered me so badly that I ran up to him, and struck him across the face with a right hook. He flew backward. When his brother, Aaron, exited the vehicle, I pointed my Po-Tech pistol at his deformed face.
I looked at Tre for a moment and checked her over as I pointed the gun at Aaron's face. She looked down at the ground sheepishly as I ensured she wasn't harmed. "Zwaysu, Tre," I said. I simply told her to leave in Castithan. I looked at Aaron. "Don't make me finish the job I started on your face," I said with a grimace. He stood in front of me wide-eyed as if he saw a ghost. Tre La Tian absconded down the street, and Aaron's eyes watered with anger.
"I hate you more than any human on the planet," he said calmly. "Your demon of a father killed my brother, and you ripped off my face with your alien tech. I will pay you back."
"I'm grown now, mutant," I said, "I'm my father's son, and Defiance isn't the town for you. Joe, leave the damn stick on the ground, and get out of my town."
"You best watch your back, Tommy Tar. You've wronged our family, and we're going to make you pay," Joe threatened. "You owe us for Billy's death and Aaron's face."
"You killed the Jones' brothers, and they were friends to the Tars," I said, "If you mess with my town, I will kill your unholy clan." I kept the gun trained on Aaron while Joe backed over to the roller. "You're parasites. You were planning on killing my father and me and loot our booty all those years ago. We killed Billy in self-defense."
Aaron laughed. He hopped back in his roller, and so did his brother. They turned around the vehicle and left out of Defiance.