Home: A Post Apocalyptic/Dystopian Adventure (The Traveler Book 1)

Author:Abrahams, Tom [Abrahams, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Piton Press
Published: 2015-12-13T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

OCTOBER 14, 2037, 2:00 AM

SCOURGE + 5 YEARS

TEXAS HIGHWAY 36

EAST OF RISING STAR, TEXAS

Battle twirled a brown cowboy hat with his hand. He was sitting opposite a man calling himself Salomon Pico. Lola was wrapped in a sleeping bag in the bed of the pickup truck. She was snoring.

“I appreciate the information you’ve given me so far, Salomon,” said Battle. “But I’m gonna need a little more.”

Pico asked for water. He licked his lips. His head hung such that his chin touched his chest.

“We’ve been at this for a couple of hours now, Salomon.” Battle stopped twirling the hat and set it on his lap. “I’ll give you water when we finish. You’ve given me your name. You’ve told me you’re with the Cartel. You admitted you came here to kill me and take Lola. But you haven’t told me where she can find her son. You haven’t told me who sent you here or where you came from.”

Pico shook his head back and forth without raising it. “I don’t know where he is.”

“Where did you come from?”

“I told you.” Pico’s voice was raspy. “I came from local headquarters.”

“Which is where?”

“Near here.”

“Wrong answer, Salomon.”

He lifted his head. His lips were crusted white at the corners. “I can’t tell you,” he said. “They’ll kill me.”

“I’ll kill you if you don’t, Salomon,” Battle answered. “But let’s do this. I ask a question. You answer. I like your answer and I give you water or maybe something to eat. Sound good?”

Pico dropped his head again.

“If you don’t give me an answer that I like, I’m gonna hurt you. I’ve been really patient. But I’m tired of being patient.”

“Abilene.”

Battle played coy and leaned forward in his seat. “What’s Abilene?”

“That’s where we have our HQ,” Pico mumbled as if he didn’t want Battle to hear him. “We came here from Abilene.”

“Is the boy in Abilene?”

“I don’t know. Can I have water?”

Battle reached down and picked up a canteen. He grabbed Pico’s sweaty mop of hair and pulled back his head. “Open up.” He held the canteen above Pico’s mouth and poured in enough water to wet his whistle.

Pico slurped down the water like a baby bird in its nest. “Thank you.”

“Where in Abilene are the headquarters?”

Pico shrugged.

Battle held up the canteen. “C’mon, Salomon, help me out here. Where are the headquarters?”

Pico pressed his eyes closed and cursed. “An old hardware store. Bible Hardware. That’s where the bosses are set up.’

Battle nodded, working not to betray his disappointment at the fate of the old store. “How many?”

“How many what?”

“How many men are there? How many people in the Cartel?”

Pico hung his head and laughed before coughing. He shifted uncomfortably against the binds pinning him to the chair. “You really don’t know?”

Battle put the canteen on the ground, sat back in the chair, and gripped the hat in his hands. He set his jaw and glared at the intruder.

Pico picked up his head and lost the smile on his face. He licked his mustache with his tongue.

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