Chapter Six
The best barbecue in the mid-west.
Burner commanded his raiders from a raised platform, in the middle of an old world junk yard. The encampment was surrounded by a sturdy wall of old decommissioned vehicles and cubes of compacted metals, and the dusty ground was disturbed quite easily. Clouds of dust and grit floated around throughout the junkyard, and the forty-six raiders of the encampment were hard at work shoving their new captives forward.
Pipes, who was smashed forward by the butt of a hunting rifle, tumbled onward and then fell to the dust covered ground in front of an old rail car shipping container. There were other people inside, looking out at him from between the slats of the old metal box. Something didn't add up at all about the raiders keeping captives alive, and as the raiders opened the box to shove him inside he was met with the undeniable truth of his new situation. The other people in the box, all eleven of them, were fitted with mechanized collars around their necks, a little too sophisticated in appearance to have been constructed by the savage raiders outside.
Victoria too, still wrapped up in telephone cable, noted some key factors that were out of place. For all of the murdering that the raiders were supposed to do, they sure did take an unusual amount of prisoners. Also, their leader, Burner, who held fast to the collar of her dress- hadn't burned anyone yet with his considerably lethal flame throwing device. Besides Randall, who was being dragged behind two raiders without any sympathy towards him, the majority of the captives taken by Burner's gang seemed to be undamaged.
Burner shouted more and more orders at the men and women that shoved the helpless wastelanders around into various boxes and enclosed pens, until the last of the captured footballers was thrown into the final box car. Burner let out a whoop and the rest of the raiders raised their fists and their rifles in the air with a mad cheer. Then he shoved Victoria forward for the raiders to see more clearly. Another cheer went through the crowd and they all started applauding.
"How much?!" Yelled Burner to the crowd. The crowd of raiders all yelled at once in reply.
"Never enough!" They all yelled. Pipes peered out through his new prison and tried to get a better vantage point. He could see Victoria and Burner up on a stage made of old crates and smashed together metal cubes in the distance, and closer to him was Randall, slumped over and in pain. Pipes gripped the metal of the box car and called out to Randall, but a raider came over to the box car and hit the metal with his baseball bat. Pipes stepped back from the slats and gripped the sides of his head. He wondered if any of his team had made it past the raiders.
"How much?!" Yelled Burner again, even louder. The crowd shouted out again at an even more energetic pitch. He threw Victoria down into the waiting arms of the cheering crowd, and she was tossed around like a tiny rag doll. She came to rest at the front of the stage, held in place by three brutal looking men. Burner raised his flamer muzzle into the air and shot a stream of fire over the crowd's heads. They all cheered collectively one last time and then fell silent as Burner removed his helmet made of bone. The middle-aged Hispanic man eyed the crowd with a look of disdain and then turned off his weapon. "You are all without a doubt, the saddest looking bunch of sonsabitches I have ever seen!" He shouted to them all. The crowd went wild again and Burner leaned down to deliver a few hand slaps to the raiders close to the platform.
"Do you know that girl out there?" Asked an older woman in the box car to Pipes. "I'm sorry, dear, I hope they don't hurt her too much." She said. Pipes turned to look at the older darker skinned woman in the box next to him. She had old peppered gray hair in dreadlocks down to her back, and a scar across her right cheek. He wiped the sweat from his brow and turned back to look out through the slats once more.
"Two thousand caps!" Shouted Burner, as he pointed to Victoria. The three men lifted her back up to him on the platform. He grabbed the top of her head and spun her around for the crowd to see. "These miserable runts won't even buy us a can of pork and beans!" He said as he pointed to another box car full of captives.
Victoria turned her eyes over to the box car in question and saw that it contained mostly women and children. There were one or two men in the mix, and she reasoned out that the raiders had ran out of places to put them. Another quick scan of the other two box cars revealed much the same information about the raiders and their activities. She had miscalculated the motives of the raider gang under Burner's control. The people in the box cars were well fed, and even looked clean. The captives were not food or entertainment for the mass of raiders but rather a source of income. She turned her head towards Burner and he glared back down at her.
"Are you slave traders?" She asked him. The crowd erupted into laughter and Burner shoved her down to her knees. He smiled down at Victoria and lit his flamer with the touch of a button.
"We're cattlemen." He said, as another raider came up to the platform with a large iron rod in his hands. The end of the rod was a flat surface, with two backwards english letters raised up. Burner held his flame to the makeshift branding iron and sneered. "And this here is the rodeo." He continued. The other raider lifted up Victoria's dress and moved the now red hot brand toward's her hip.
"Burner!" Shouted one of the female raiders from the back of the crowd. The man with the brand stopped and Burner pointed to the woman, the crowd of raiders parted so that he could see her better. She stood with Victoria's open back pack at her feet. "This girl's from the Enclave!" She yelled up at the platform. She lifted Victoria's tablet from inside the back pack, as well as the hat that she had taken from the vertibird. The crowd began to loudly chat and laugh and Burner knocked the raider with the branding iron away from Victoria.
"Open your mouth!" He demanded. He grabbed her by the jaw and forced her mouth open. He inspected it and flashed his nasty smile at her. "Well, well, well. Looks like we caught us a little runaway." Said Burner. The crowed erupted into many voices, yelling all at once.
"Five thousand caps!" Yelled out one raider. "Eight thousand!" Shouted another. "Fuck that, burn her!" Shouted yet a different one towards the front of the crowd. Burner turned towards the crowd and waved his arms at them violently. The raiders immediately silenced themselves, except for the woman at the back. She held up Victoria's nickel plated colt for the crowd to see.
"Holy shit, look at this!" She yelled. Burner shoved Victoria into the hands of the other raider on the platform, and hopped down onto the ground below. He strolled up to the woman and took the gun from her. Burner checked the revolver and tried to open it's chamber, but found that it was a gun the likes of which he had never seen. He gripped the barrel and found that it could be tightened or loosened, and he began to unscrew it. The woman held more nickel pieces of metal in her hand and showed them to Burner. Three other modified barrels and two different chambers were in the bag, but they were too complicated for Burner to work out how they worked exactly. He reattached the first barrel and tightened it, and a mechanical clicking sound emanated from the gun as the barrel found it's place. The metal of the gun looked seamless, as if the barrel and the body were one inseparable piece.
Pipes watched from the box car, squinting to see the gun better. He tried to work out what exactly was going on, but found the glare of the nickel plating on the colt to be too disruptive to his eyes. He smiled as Burner tried to pull the hammer back on the old world revolver, only to hurt himself in the process. Burner cursed and tossed the gun back to the female raider, taking the unusual tablet instead and then he made his way back to the platform. He climbed up to Victoria and grabbed her by the neck.
"What's the matter kid, your daddy wouldn't let you sign up with all the rest of the assholes? You wanna know what we did to the last group of stuck-up soldier boys that came around here?!" He hissed at her, as he threw the tablet down to the platform and stomped on it. "Coming in here with their high and mighty demands and their holier than thou bullshit?! You ain't worth the caps- you ain't even fit to clean the brahmin shit off of my shoe!" Yelled Burner. He shoved her off of the platform and into the dust below.
"Oh lord..." Began the old woman in the box car next to Pipes. He turned to see her sink to her knees and begin praying with her hands held up to her mouth. Randall began screaming as the raiders started dragging him away towards the platform. Burner hopped off of the platform too and grabbed Victoria's collar again, leading her in an angry fashion through the crowd of laughing raiders.
"Hey!" Yelled out Pipes, as they dragged the two away. "Stop it! Leave them alone! She's just a kid! Randall!" He shouted out as the raiders disappeared from his sight.
They smacked Randall in his face as he was dragged past them, and they kicked at his gunshot wound, making him yell out in agony. The raiders dragged them out into the open outside of the junkyard's walls. They all came to a stop outside of a great metal container, that had small holes at the top of it, and a large blackened area at it's bottom. The container sat at an odd leaning angle and had the overwhelming smell of charcoal and cooked flesh all around it. Plates, knives and forks were scattered on the ground around the box, and a few bones and discarded bits of cloth littered the area.
"You bastards!" Screamed out Randall, as four of the raiders lifted him up onto their shoulders. Burner pointed to the container and two other raiders opened it up. The large metal door opened with a grating sound, and the four men dropped Randall inside. He screamed out again as two of the men began stripping off his clothes and punching him in the abdomen. Burner grabbed Victoria by the throat and lifted her up off the ground.
"It's too bad. You could have been worth a lot of caps too." He growled at her, as he brought her close. "Damn, I might have bought you out myself. We could have had a hell of a time with you!" He said, as he shook her. The other raiders grabbed at Victoria's dress, but she kicked them away. Burner scowled at her and slammed her down into the container, shutting the doors behind her. Victoria landed at Randall's feet, and she stood back up, freeing herself of the cables around her. She jumped up to the doors just as the raiders on the other side locked it securely. Victoria gripped the door and peaked out from one of the holes near the top of the container, looking up at Burner.
"You still might." She said, in her strangely monotone voice. Burner stomped on the door, sending Victoria back down into the depths of the container. The raiders laughed and she could hear them climbing down the side of the lopsided metal box, stepping away into the distance. Then she heard Burner shout.
"Who's the best cook?!" He shouted. The raiders all replied in unison.
"Burner!" They all exclaimed.
"What?!" Shouted Burner back. The raiders shouted even louder.
"Burner!" They screamed.
"WHAT?!" Yelled burner at the top of his lungs. The raiders all screamed back.
"BURN HER!" They all screamed. Randall began screaming as the sound of Burner's flame thrower kicked on, and the temperature in the box began to rise. The flames stopped and the raiders all laughed and cheered as they walked away.
"Hope you like it medium well!" Yelled out the distant voice of Burner, as he too left the area. Victoria looked around and scanned the box. The metal was solid, and much too thick for her to punch through. The bottom of the box heated up further and further, and Randall tried to stand to his feet, huffing out in pain as he steadied himself against the walls of the container.
"Damn it." Said Randall, as he leaned back, away from the heat. "Why did you stop running?" He got out between his labored breaths. Victoria turned to him and looked at his wound. The slug that had buried itself in Randall's ribs would have to come out if he were to survive. She ripped the bottom half of her dingy dress off and then grabbed the coil of telephone cable from the bottom of the container. She snapped off some of the steel and wrapped the cloth around it.
"Bite down on this." She commanded. Randall's wiped his sweaty forehead and pointed down at the telephone cable.
"Holy shit, how did you d-" He began to ask. Victoria shoved the wad of cable and cloth into his mouth before he could finish.
"Bite down." She reiterated, in her calm but harsh monotone accent. Randall muffled out, and she pressed his jaw upward with her left hand so that he couldn't spit the cloth out. "This is going to hurt, a lot." Said Victoria. She placed her hand over his wound, and he began screaming and violently pushing her away.
Victoria scanned his body for the bit of lead, and she jammed her index finger and middle finger of her right hand into Randall's wound. He screamed out through the cloth and tried shoving her away, but Victoria over powered him. His screaming continued and Victoria eased her fingers to the slug and then she carefully pulled it out. It hit the metal of the floor and dark blood oozed out of Randall's side, his screaming lessened and he blacked out from the pain and the shock. She carefully grabbed the now hot end of the telephone cable and brought it up to the wound, then wasted no time in cauterizing the wound. Randall's head snapped forward and he screamed out, dropping the metal and cloth out of his mouth.
He slumped forward again and Victoria caught him carefully over her shoulder. She ripped off more of her dress and made a bandage around Randall's midsection. She inspected her work and found it more than acceptable, especially seeing as how the scope of her medical experience until that point had been entirely based off of old pre-war television shows. The beaten and bloodied naked man babbled something and then began to stir.
"I'm going to get us to the top of the container, you have to hold on." She told Randall. Randall nodded his head weakly and didn't protest. Victoria secured him over her shoulder and then she vaulted into the air with all of her ability. She reached out and clung onto one of the holes of the container with her one free hand, and then turned her face to see if Randall was awake. "You have to hold on to me, I have to let go of you." She said, without sounding very sympathetic to his plight. Randall gripped his arms around her neck and she instantly went to work.
She stuck her other hand into the same hole that had been cut out of the container, and then lifted her body along with Randall's up into a horizontal position. She brought her knees upward and placed her two feet into two separate holes close by. Randall coughed out and suddenly, he became fully aware of the situation.
"Whoa!" He yelled out, as he gripped onto her tighter. "What the hell!" He yelled, as panic set into his eyes.
"Hang on tightly." Demanded Victoria, as she began to strain. The metal of the container above them started to whine and creak, until finally Victoria's shaking arms ripped up just a tiny portion of the metal hole. "This is going to take a while." She said. The scent of cooking flesh filled Randall's nose, and he began coughing and gagging.
"Oh God! This isn't happening!" He sputtered out, nearly retching at the smell of the human meat all around him.
"Please don't do that." Said Victoria, as she continued to strain and push the metal sides of the hole away from each other. The metal buckled and creaked but would not give way. Victoria looked around at the walls of the container and saw other hand prints towards the top of the walls. Black greasy soot gradually rose from the bottom of the box to the top, and the smell of flesh did indeed permeate the air. She strained again and more of the hole opened up, several inches wider than it had been. "Breathe!" She demanded of Randall. Randall lifted his head to the hole and breathed in deeply for several seconds before lowering his head back down. The box got hotter and hotter.
The two of them continued that way for the better half of twenty minutes, with Victoria slowly but surely increasing the size of their eventual escape route, and Randall holding onto her for dear life. All the while the smell of the burnt and sizzling human meat filled the air around them. Randall went through a series of coughing fits but remained silent. Some of the smell of cooking flesh was now coming from him, but soon there was another feint smell.
Randall had only smelled the particular odor once in his life, when a fire had broken out in the old university hospital. A strange odor burnt off from some unseen source from within the halls and rooms of the vast building, and he remembered that the town doctor had said that it was the smell of plastics in the fire. Expensive polymers, that was what he had said. Randall lifted his head again and breathed out into the fresh air above, that was also becoming almost too hot to withstand.
"We're almost through." Said Victoria, as she wrenched more of the metal away from the hole. "I'm going to need more leverage, you're really going to have to hold on now." She said. Randall nodded and clung tightly to the girl, or whatever it was that was bending the metal above them. Victoria grabbed onto the sides of the hole tightly and then pushed her feet off of the other holes in the container. She spun her body around so that her feet could take hold on the other side of the ever widening opening of the giant human cooking oven, and then slammed her feet upwards. The container buckled and groaned, and Randall almost lost his grip in the whole process.
Randall was burning up, literally. His skin was now pink and blistering at his legs and feet, which dangled downward from Victoria's body. He began blacking out from the intense heat and his grip slightly lessened. Victoria brought her knees and elbows together, as she hung from the singular hole. With one full bodied massive push, she ripped the metal up and out of place, widening the hole large enough so the Randall could get through. He slipped and nearly fell off of her, only catching himself with her ripped up and torn dress.
"Get out." Said Victoria simply. Randall scrambled to try and get a hold of the metal, but it burned his flesh to the touch. Victoria shook her head. "Just stand on my chest." She commanded to him. Randall silently nodded and brought his partially cooked legs up and over her legs, and then tried to get to his feet. The pain was too much, and he couldn't stand.
"I can't!" He choked out, as he gathered his legs beneath him. "I can't! I'm sorry!" He said. Victoria let go of the hole with her feet, and Randall nearly tumbled down. She caught him with her legs by his arms, and then steadied him, slowly moving him back towards the top of the container until she was waist to waist with him.
"You're really not going to like this." She said. Randall coughed out and gagged, pained by the wound on his side and the knee that was pressing against it. "When you go airbourne, try to remain calm and loose. You'll have less chance of injury if you don't constrict your muscles." Said Victoria. Randall wretched up, and he tried not to get anything on her, but his stomach emptied itself all over Victoria's dress and legs.
"I'm sorry..." He sputtered out. Victoria sighed out, and shook her head. Then she brought her legs and Randall back, before bringing her legs back up into the air and releasing the man out through the opening. She heard the man hit the container with a thud and a complaint, and then the sound of him hitting the ground outside. Good enough, she thought, and then she too swung herself out of the container.
Victoria landed feet first on the hot metal container and then hopped down to the cooked man below. He was slowly turning himself over and smiling wide. She walked up to him and tilted her head in curiosity as to what he could possibly be smiling about.
"What's so funny?" Asked Victoria, with a furrowed brow. Randall coughed up and then turned himself over onto his back. He looked down at his abdomen, and the fork that was sticking out of his ribs.
"I'm done." He said, and then he let his head hit the ground behind him. Victoria grabbed the fork out of his flesh, and saw that it hadn't caused any critical injury to him. He began to giggle and cough some more.
"I don't get it." Said Victoria, as she tossed the fork away. She was not amused.