Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
“Ready?” Ronin asked.
Lara tilted her head back to stare up at the wall.
She’d only seen it from the outside, where the mismatched pieces somehow came together to form a sheer, imposing face that couldn’t be called pretty by any stretch.
But this side was much worse. There’d been no attempt at uniformity.
Pieces of metal sheeting and pipes jutted out of it in some places, wooden slats and chunks of concrete in others.
Seeing it so close, with light still in the sky, made the rest of the bot district uglier, like all its cleanliness was a mask hiding the rot and corruption underneath.
After cutting through alleys and backyards to avoid gearheads, this was supposed to be the easy part. But from here, the wall seemed more likely to collapse and crush her to death than support her weight.
Lara drew in a deep breath, released it slowly, and looked at Ronin. “I’m ready.”
He dropped to a knee and laced his fingers together near the ground. “I’ll pass up your bag once you’re on top.”
With a nod, she set her pack down and placed her booted foot on his hands. As he stood, she steadied herself by holding his shoulders. When he shifted to brace a hand beneath each of her feet and lift her higher, she used the wall for stability, trusting him more than she trusted her own balance.
The top of the wall was at her waist. She found handholds and lifted her leg over it, grateful for the padding of the coat as a metal edge pressed against her stomach.
Gritting her teeth, she drew herself up until she was straddling the wall.
The wind blew against her, lifting strands of her hair and making them dance on the air.
Ronin handed the bag up. She took it and settled it between her thighs.
After checking the area behind him, he passed her the rifle, which she laid over the bag and held in place.
Then, despite carrying two packs full of scrap, his belt of tools, spare ammunition, and another bag full of water containers, he climbed with no apparent difficulty.
The wall groaned as he neared the top. Lara sucked in a breath, hands tightening on the rifle.
When Ronin pulled himself up in front of her, a chunk of concrete broke off his last foothold, hitting the dirt below with a dull thump.
Lips lifting in a small smile, he met her gaze before scanning their surroundings. Lara did the same.
She’d never seen the human shacks from this angle. The contrast between the buildings on opposite sides of the wall was stark, and having both in sight made her stomach sink.
Within the barrier, everything was orderly, precise, and deceptively alive.
Green trees along the streets, electric lamps flickering on, well-maintained rooftops, all the buildings in neat rows.
Beyond the wall, the human shacks were small, rickety, filthy things, clumped together without pattern or planning.
The landscape surrounding them was bleak, a smattering of browns and yellows.
The only plant life came in the form of barren trees and the scrub grass poking up through the dust.
The sun was slipping away on the western horizon. It would be dark soon, and Lara and Ronin would be out there, in the shadows…
“Looks clear.” Ronin leapt down, and dust swirled around his boots as he landed. He held his arms up to Lara.
She lowered the rifle, and once he’d slung it over his shoulder, she passed down her bag. Ronin set it at his feet and raised his arms again. Without hesitation, Lara swung her other leg over the top of the wall and pushed off.
He caught her easily and held her against him. “Hard part’s done.”
Lara smirked. “Seemed simple enough.”
“Chance worked in our favor.” Ronin tipped his head toward the shacks she used to call home. “We just need to pass through there and Cheyenne will be behind us.”
He set her gently on her feet and bent to retrieve her bag.
She pulled it on her shoulders and adjusted the straps. It wasn’t terribly heavy, but she knew that would change, as she’d have to carry it a long way. “Should be easy. Most everyone beds down early.”
Ronin nodded, swept his head from side to side in another search, and began walking. Gravel crunched beneath his boots. Lara fashioned her scarf into a makeshift hood and set off after him.
It would’ve been easy to forget the danger now that she was outside the wall again, but they weren’t clear yet. Not until the lights of Cheyenne were nothing but a memory, lost beyond the horizon.
They didn’t talk as they followed the old trail across the no man’s land between the wall and the human settlement.
She’d walked it many times before, but it had never felt this way.
Last time, she’d been filled with uncertainty and fear.
She hadn’t known Ronin when he took her to the market, hadn’t known if she’d be okay, if she’d ever find Tabitha, if she’d survive her first night with the strange bot who’d stalked her through the ruins. It had been a journey into the unknown.
This was another trek into the unknown, but she wasn’t afraid anymore, and she wasn’t alone. Her companion wasn’t a dangerous but intriguing stranger. He was Ronin. She loved him, trusted him, would go anywhere with him.
Her eyes drifted to her old shack as they neared it.
Light escaped through the gaps around the closed door.
Oddly, Lara wasn’t upset about someone else living there.
She and Tabitha had shared it, but it had never been anything more than shelter.
Home had been with Tabitha, and now…it was with Ronin.
Lara hooked her thumbs beneath the straps of her pack. “I wonder how long it took.”
Ronin glanced over his shoulder. “How long what took?”
“For someone to notice I was gone.”
He swung his gaze to the shack. “In a way, you helped someone else who was in need. Just like Tabitha helped you.”
“Yeah.” Her eyes lingered on the structure while they walked past. How could it look completely unchanged and yet so different at the same time? When it was behind her, she settled her attention on Ronin’s back and nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.”
They pressed on. Everything was familiar to her, even in the deepening shadows.
These were the paths she’d taken to fetch water, to head out to the ruins, to visit Gary and Kate and the other people she sometimes traded with.
The few people still outside cast them wary glances.
If anyone recognized Lara, they didn’t let it show.
Soon, the shacks were behind them. Had the settlement always been so small?
Ronin led her up a gradual embankment. At the top, it leveled off to form a wide, flat road stretching as far as she could see to the east and west. The grass and weeds growing through the cracked, mostly buried pavement swayed in the wind.
Only a hint of orange remained on the horizon, leaving the rest of the sky a muted blue-gray that rapidly faded to black as it moved eastward.
Ronin stopped at the edge of the road and turned to look north.
Lara stood beside him. The wind tugged at her, whipping the loose ends of her scarf, but the coat Ronin had given her blocked the worst of it.
She followed his gaze to Cheyenne. The bot district’s lights were already bright, casting a yellow-tinted glow in the hazy sky.
“I’m sorry to leave, if only because of what that place could have been,” Ronin said.
“What do you think it could have been?”
“A place with a promising future. A place worth staying in.” He turned to her, shadows deep on his face. “A place where we wouldn’t have to worry. Where we could just…live. Not only us, but everyone.”
Lara took his hand, lacing her fingers with his. “Bots and humans have never lived together.”
His hand was warm, his fingers firm but not ungentle as they closed around hers. “I don’t think that’s true.”
She furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”
“Our peoples have forgotten, but the way it is in Cheyenne isn’t the way it always was. Something changed it, a long time ago…”
“If all those houses are like yours, they have things in them for humans. Toilets and beds and refrigerators to keep food cold. Humans lived in those houses.”
“Yes. And in the clinic, there are dozens of rooms with signs pertaining to human care.”
A strange feeling spread through Lara, an unsettling mix of excitement and dread. She’d been right, but if people once lived in that part of Cheyenne…where had they gone?
Frowning, she briefly glanced at the lights. “What about the man who lived in your attic?”
“He lived in the house. People lived in all those houses. Until…” Staring toward Cheyenne, he shook his head, and even in the failing light, the tensing of his jaw was obvious. “Doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter. Until what, Ronin?”
“I will tell you, Lara, but only after there are many miles between us and this place.”
“You can tell me now. I deserve to know, don’t I?”
He turned his head and settled his unblinking gaze on her.
The wind filled in his silence for a long time before he spoke.
“The journal you found in the attic describes what happened in Cheyenne many years ago. It hints at there having been some terrible war, but the man didn’t write much about that.
He recorded the events unfolding in town. Right outside that window.”
Lara squeezed his hand. Somehow, she thought she knew what he was going to tell her, but she wanted to hear it from him.
Ronin stroked his thumb over her skin. “Warlord was there. I don’t think he was calling himself that yet, but he was there. He claimed Cheyenne as his own, forced the humans out of their homes, and started building his wall. He executed anyone who disobeyed…many of them in the park.”
Her stomach twisted on itself. That lush green grass, those tall, vibrant trees, all thrived where people had been murdered?
He met Lara’s gaze. “The humans rallied together to fight for their homes, to fight for whatever was left of their lives. But they couldn’t stand against him. They were slaughtered in the streets. After that, he and his bots went from house to house, killing every human they found.”
“Fuck,” Lara breathed. It was all she could manage to say.
“It was a very long time ago. Clearly, Warlord’s stance toward humans has not much changed.”
“It doesn’t surprise me, not really. Still makes me sick, but everything about him does that. I just…what the hell did those people do to deserve that? What have any of us done?”
“Cheyenne is capable of providing for your every need and allowing you a comfortable life.” Still holding Lara’s hand, Ronin resumed walking, guiding her into step beside him. “But it will not, so long as he is there.”
Ronin’s words about the humans’ futile struggle echoed through her mind.
People were still being slaughtered in Cheyenne, one at a time, for Warlord’s amusement.
They lived in constant fear and despair, with all the resources vital for survival filtering through Warlord’s hands.
And here she was, leaving without a word, getting herself to someplace safer.
Lara frowned, her guilt heavy in her gut. “Well…I hope you have some more pleasant stories to tell, if we’re going to be traveling for a while.”
Seeming to know where her mind dwelled, Ronin lifted her hand and kissed it. “Perhaps we’ll find ourselves in a comfortable place to camp soon enough, so I may suitably distract you.”
She stared at him, shaking her head. “That is such a man thing to say.”
“I can’t tell if I’ve offended you.”
“That’s another man thing.”
“Perhaps I can take some comfort, then, in human males being as clueless about women as bots are.”
“We’re not really that hard to figure out,” she said, grinning despite everything.
His only answer was an incredulous scoff.
Lara knew the events of the last few days would crash down on her as soon as she and Ronin stopped to rest, but for now, she would find contentment in traveling with him.