The Wasteland Kings by Jaimie N. Schock

Author:Jaimie N. Schock [Schock, Jaimie N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-11-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Bast

When the world darkened and lights came on, Bast went upstairs. All he wanted was to sleep, but the sight of the bed he shared with Galeron proved too much for him. He grabbed a pillow and a blanket and headed back down. There, he curled up on the couch, facing the wall. Everyone let him rest.

He only slept a couple hours. When he awoke, every nerve in his body felt like it was on fire. He could hardly breathe or speak. He covered his face and sobbed once more.

The night dragged on. No one else slept except the youngest children. He envied them. They didn’t know what they lost, what he lost. They could sleep peacefully.

After an hour or so, he couldn’t cry anymore. He was exhausted. His abdomen hurt, his mouth felt dry, and he nursed a headache. Some of the neighbors dropped by to see how he and Delphi were doing. One look at Bast, and they knew. Delphi stayed in her room. He had no idea if she slept or not.

Mavis sat across from him. She didn’t say anything at first, but she gave him a compassionate look.

He didn’t think anyone in town would understand his specific brand of pain, even though quite a few of them lost people in the dog attack. He worked up the courage to say what kept repeating in his head. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”

“There’s nowhere else to go,” Mavis replied.

He shook his head. He meant that he didn’t want to be alive anymore, but he couldn’t make himself say it. “He wouldn’t want me to die,” Bast said, mostly for his own benefit. “But I’m afraid I won’t know how to live without him.”

This was Galeron’s town. The people saw him as a leader. Who would lead them now?

Delphi. They would likely look to Delphi for guidance.

Mavis broke into his thoughts. “We’ll bury him tomorrow,” she said, “along with the others.”

“How many?” he asked. In the rush, he didn’t count the number of workers that died.

“Four, plus Galeron.”

It would take all day to dig the graves, and it would be incredibly dangerous for the people who did it. Bast didn’t like the idea. “Maybe, maybe we should burn them.”

“What?”

“If it was that dangerous to work on the extension, can you imagine digging five graves out in the open? Having a gun barely did anything.”

She thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. “I’ll bring it up with the others. Some might be willing to take the risk.”

“As a group, I don’t think we can lose them. We have so few people now.”

“Yeah. It’s going to be rough, especially during the harvest.”

“That’s a long time from now.” At least they would have fewer mouths to feed.

Mavis sighed. “Galeron accomplished much of the work around here by himself,” she commented. “He built the water filter. He sowed the first crops. He helped construct the houses from nothing. We didn’t know how much he did for us. No one was more important to this community.

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