Lost & Found by Alex Andre

Author:Alex Andre
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9798520068570
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: 2021-07-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Buck

September 25, 42 PE

The caravan trundled west, leaving The Station behind.

Not fast enough. Marc’s stories prompted irrational dread that defied logical arguments. Buck resolved to be extra vigilant until they cleared The Station’s lands, in case the Chief Inquisitor changed his mind.

Some of Marc’s accounts sounded too far out there. Could the Locksviller’s descriptions be slightly exaggerated? His visceral rejection of everything Stationer would explain that. But even the most believable parts were bad enough to make Buck’s skin crawl.

He had woken up countless times throughout the night, listening to the sounds outside the wagon. Humans snoring; horses neighing; wind howling; the wounded moaning… While not comforting, none of these had spelled troubles. He’d strained his eyes, ensuring every member of the team was where he’d last seen them. Janet. Marc. Jackson. The lieutenant. Lundy. All had been accounted for, not quietly abducted and dragged to a brothel.

In the morning, shortly before departure, the caravan received its weapons back. Marc skillfully field-stripped his rifle and checked the parts, paying special attention to the striker. Then reassembled it and cycled the action a few times, leaning with his ear to the gun. Satisfied, he put it aside and met Buck’s inquisitive stare. “Making sure they didn’t sabotage it. Filing off the tip of the striker is all it takes to turn a gun into an unwieldy melee weapon.”

Buck hurried to check his. It looked perfectly fine, as far as he could tell.

Lieutenant Kossowsky surprised everyone, demanding their machine gun. His request led to a commotion involving a confused Stationer soldier, a gloomy Stationer officer, and a patient explanation by the lieutenant that the members of his team had taken out the operators of said weapon and that, by rights, made it his trophy. The net result of these negotiations was a bulky firearm with two tins of ammo, now resting comfortably on the wagon’s tailgate.

Once on the road, Marc had provided the promised explanation. Which ended up exceeding everyone’s expectations—not just Buck’s, but even Jackson, judging by his long face. Under the crushing burden of one of the best kept, darkest secrets in the realm, Buck wished he hadn’t known something, for the first time in his life.

Until three days ago, Buck had not heard of The Station. It would have been a monument to human resilience, had it not been run by gruesome slavers. Its history had begun with a passenger train stranded by the E in the middle of nowhere. Not even a station had existed, never mind The Station. Nothing but endless vineyards and orchards. Like everyone else, the survivors had lacked self-propelled transport. Unlike everyone else, they had a railroad. The original train had grown into an entire city on wheels. The residents had put to work the scores of prisoners of war they’d locked up after skirmishing with roving gangs, rural zombies, and unfortunate stragglers. Using the relatively well-preserved pre-E railroad network, The Station sent trade parties as far as Michigan to the west and Rochester to the east.

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