No Man's Land by Jeff Conner

Author:Jeff Conner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: IDW Publishing

THE WALL

Bobby Nash

MIKE MCGINNIS HAD lived in the shadow of The Wall so long that he had almost forgotten what it felt like to wake up to the morning sun shining through his window. No matter that he couldn’t see it, he knew the morning sun had risen in the east. Within a few hours it would rise high enough to blanket the small community he called home in its warm embrace.

It had been so long since he’d actually seen the sunrise, almost ten years now, but if the only cost of protecting those nearest and dearest to him was not being able to watch the sun peak over the mountains then it was a small price to pay. And one he would gladly continue paying until his dying day.

His morning began the way they always did. He rose, dressed in the dark to save the candle, splashed some cold water on his face, and headed out for inspection detail. Not surprising, Jabber was waiting for him.

“Good morning, Father Mike,” Jabber said as he held out a cup of steaming tea. Mike took it and thanked the younger man. The tea was as good as it had ever been, which was to say not very. Mike had always been a coffee man himself, but it had been years since any of them had seen a single coffee bean. He was surprised that after all this time there were still mornings when he craved a hot cup of java. The tea was made from the leaves of a plant grown in the gardens. He wasn’t exactly sure what it was called and really had no desire to find out. Ignorance was bliss, after all.

“Thanks, Jabber,” Mike said as they started walking across the cracked concrete, the younger man lessening his stride because Mike’s limp made it difficult to keep up. “Anything in particular I should be aware of?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. The tower on the southern face is acting squirrelly again. We were hoping you’d take a look at it.”

“Of course.” Mike pointed toward a section of the wall in front of him. “Let’s start here and work our way over to it.”

“Sounds good to me,” Jabber said.

Mike liked Jabber. That wasn’t his real name of course. He was born Jacky Ray Zimmer. When Mike met him he was seven years old and full of energy. He could talk and talk and talk for hours on end without ever seeming to take a breath. There was even a pool once upon a time on how long he could prattle on without taking a breath. One of the other kids had nicknamed him “Jabber Jaws” early on and it stuck. Now, with a little age on him he talked a lot less, but the name remained, minus the “Jaws” part.

Much like the kids calling him “Father Mike” had stuck. In those early days it had bothered him becaus2e he thought it made him sound like a preacher or something. If there was one thing Mike McGinnis definitely was not, it was a holy man.

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