Last Man Standing by Vance Huxley

Author:Vance Huxley [Huxley, Vance]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Entrada Publishing
Published: 2019-11-03T22:00:00+00:00

7 – Offers and Options

A sense of abnormal normality settled over Orchard Close. The General and his army were still out there, a huge steel-plated other shoe that might or might not drop, but any immediate danger from the neighbours had eased. The Hot Rods were keeping quiet, hoping everyone left them alone, while to the north the Geeks had invaded their neighbours and were winning. Despite rumours of an alliance while trying to get the tanker, Wellington had captured an estate belonging to Kurt’s Kutters and held it. Kurt was missing, presumed dead, leading to other rumours there’d been a fight, not an alliance. Harold kept quiet about the surge in firearms the Geeks wanted him to repair. Between the repairs and what Vulcan told him about Wellington slaughtering Kutters, Harold felt sure Kurt was one of the heap of stripped bodies.

There were several small celebrations in Orchard Close as the news spread about Darwin, tempered by a few regrets that they hadn’t killed him themselves. The recovering Riot Squad were very happy when the Geeks paid for gun repairs with new crossbows, though Caddi had also donated quite a few. Between crossbows, pistols, machete-type blades and Rambos, the forty-three new recruits were learning plenty of ways to kill a man, even if they might need several tries to finish him off. Those too badly wounded to practice properly, along with anyone else the Coven could round up, repaired the damaged armoured vests that Harold hadn’t sold to Dealer. The expanding Riot Squad either altered them to fit or wore extra clothes underneath to pad them out.

Now that Henry could sit and keep her company, Liz used her lovely new forge to ramp up the production of crossbow bolts and produce new helmets. Henry held things for her, sometimes, though the wicked smile when Liz told Casper stopped any further enquiries.

Casper had started a few rumours, though he seemed oblivious. Some people had noticed that he sort-of had a personal nurse. Although Casper had pulled the crossbow bolt out of his leg, the big thigh muscle would take a long time to heal. Josh, a quiet refugee from the Murphies, volunteered to fetch and carry. When Josh moved in and slept on Casper’s couch a few wanted to know if he needed a muzzle, like Fury, while others looked for any hint of a romance. As the days passed without any fuel for the rumours, most people settled for Josh being a friendly, helpful type.

Casper definitely needed help when Harold decided that sections of the walls needed to be higher. “Cripes, Harold, we’re still thickening some of them. How high do you want?”

“A lot higher, but only along those stretches. Just a couple of bricks thick, front and back, as long as nobody realises the centre is hollow. If we’re going to be attacked they’ll go for the lower sections so we can concentrate our gunfire.” Harold almost mentioned Dealer, and his emphasis on Caddi not needing a way through the walls.

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