Fall of the Cities: Putting Down Roots by Huxley Vance

Author:Huxley, Vance [Huxley, Vance]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Entrada Publishing
Published: 2016-03-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7:

Levelling Up and Betrayal

At least Cadillac came to collect the weapons and buy more beer for his private use, which meant Harold didn’t have to visit again just yet. Cadillac traded beer and hops at below the price TesdaMart now sold them for, which with the sacks from the GOFS topped up Nigel and Berry’s stores nicely. He also brought a large quantity of screw top bottles, and bargained for beer. Harold told Cadillac to bring any bottle caps even if they were bent, he’d not get much each but they’d add up. That had become another shortage now.

The teams were working through Orchard Close’s territory again, re-checking the houses already checked three times. Now the scavengers wanted glass jars even if the tops were rusted and the contents ruined. Many metal tops had been pierced to help open them but now several women thought even the lightly rusted ones could be used. The preservation squad would use a bit of plastic bag inside the lid to get a seal once they had jam or pickle to fill the jars with.

Orchard Close sent out larger groups now because of the occasional shots at them, singles or small volleys. The shooters would run while the scavengers took cover, which puzzled everyone. One bullet went clean through the minibus but whoever fired ran towards the GOFS and Ogou later reported they’d shot a trespasser from this direction. Visitors from all three other gangs claimed they’d exchanged shots with small groups of armed strangers moving through their territory.

Eventually the Hot Rods caught one and solved the mystery. The survivor of a small group trapped and wiped out claimed they were looking for someplace not claimed by anyone else. Elsewhere other gangs were also agreeing boundaries and squeezing all the loners and small independents out. A large area of the city to the south, badly damaged during the original riots when the Army sealed the city, was allegedly uninhabited. Cooper gleefully related how he’d stripped and caned the man, and sent the prat south towards the allegedly unclaimed areas.

The Geeks seemed to have let dead dogs lie, and traded two-way radios for gun repairs and cement for beer. Wellington came for that trade and despite the scars and his mouth being twisted up at one side, seemed genuinely grateful. With cement available the windows in the perimeter houses were finally bricked in properly, though the plywood remained as well. As the nearest ruins were slowly cleared the wall around Orchard Close thickened and grew taller.

Eventually the scavengers found the answer to the gate problem, four short thick steel girders. Two days of hard digging drove four deep holes into the approach road, and the girders were concreted in with about three feet protruding. At last the car could be retired, and a real, steel-faced pair of gates put in place. The visitors were impressed, but none of them thought the same method would work in their stronghold. The top men were too fond of their motors to leave them outside.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.