The Exterminators Trilogy: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller Box Set by Mark Gillespie

Author:Mark Gillespie [Gillespie, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-11-11T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“A game?” Nick said.

Mackenzie’s eyes were like blocks of stone as he took in the worried reaction on each and every face across the table. His perverse smile endured. He walked around the table a little. The two bodyguards kept close, making suitable adjustments to maintain their position as his shadow.

“We used to play games in this room all the time,” Mackenzie said. “When the late Harry, his wife and lovely daughter still believed they could win the fight, we kept prisoners in here. They were brave people, some of them.”

“So it is a prison cell,” Cody said.

Mackenzie dismissed the remark with a lazy shrug.

“These are our headquarters,” he said. “We live here, we work here. When my superiors decided that it would be helpful to employ a human presence to help manage the situation in San Antonio, we needed a base. I found this building and went to work.”

“Went to work?” Nick said.

“I built a good team of people around me,” Mackenzie said. “We fought hard to put a major dent in the Resistance. It’s a waste of time fighting against the inevitable. Work with them and they’ll reward you. We captured many prisoners and brought them here to gather information. They all believed they could escape, every last one of them. It was a problem. And so they took great personal risks to try and get back to the fight.”

Mackenzie’s expression darkened.

“I lost some good people during those escape attempts,” he said. “One very good friend of mine in particular died at the hand of reckless fools trying to escape through that window.”

Mackenzie pointed to something that looked like a red wine stain on the cream carpet. The circular-shaped blemish had formed a few feet from the window ledge.

“In my experience,” Mackenzie said, walking slowly towards the window, “it’s fear that makes a model prisoner. They have to be afraid of you, of what you’ll do. We learned that the hard way. Nonetheless we learned.”

“We’ll be quiet,” Crazy Diamond said. Her voice trembled. “We’re not going to try and escape. There’s nowhere to go anyway, you’ve made it clear.”

Mackenzie looked out of the window for while. Beyond his reflection in the glass, a fog of darkness had swallowed the San Antonio skyline. There was nothing but a black desert to look at.

“That’s what the Resistance said,” Mackenzie said. He turned around and walked slowly back to the table, the bodyguards following his every move. “Almost word for word. All the prisoners say it.”

“We promise,” Crazy Diamond said. “We…”

“I don’t believe you,” Mackenzie said, cutting the young woman off. “I’ve seen what desperation does to people in here. I can see it in your eyes now. You’d be fools not to try something. Cowards even – and I don’t think you are cowards. You’ll charge at the guards, try the window, steal a weapon – the point is you’ll try something. Only fear can stop you. On top of that, you’re the most valuable guests I’ve ever had. I can’t risk losing Rachel.

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