Chapter 3
The next day was long. Asha slept fitfully and was awoken at dawn by Cade gently shaking her shoulder.
“We’re heading out,” he said. “Be ready to leave in five.”
He led her outside to a cluster of trees and turned his back while she squatted to pee.
For a brief moment, Asha thought of taking advantage of his turned back to hit him and run, but quickly dismissed the idea.
Where would she go? Her home was destroyed, and everyone she knew was dead—even Claire, who she’d escaped with.
An uncomfortable twist of guilt stirred in her gut at the thought of Claire, but she shoved it aside.
There was nothing she could do for her friend now.
She had to do what she could to survive.
There was no room for the kind of sentiment she would’ve felt before.
This was a cold, brutal Wasteland where having a conscience made no difference in one’s chances of survival.
Based on what she’d witnessed so far, it seemed to be a liability more than anything.
But even if she’d had somewhere to go, she couldn’t have convinced herself to hit Cade.
She may not have trusted him, but it seemed that he’d helped her when no one else would’ve.
He was in a gang, and was probably far from a good guy, but…
he also didn’t leer at her while she relieved herself—a shred of dignity denied her by her previous captors.
The bar is on the floor, Asha thought bitterly, but beggars can’t be choosers.
Once she’d finished, Cade approached her with a rope in his hands.
“I’ll have to bind your hands,” he explained, and she swore she heard a note of apology in his tone. “But we’ll keep them in front, so you can walk normally.”
“Not afraid I’ll use that to my advantage?” she asked wryly, eyeing his black tactical uniform. She was surprised when he snorted at her cheekiness.
“If you can take me down, by all means,” Cade replied. “You’ll have earned your freedom at that point.”
“Freedom is not something to be earned,” Asha replied with a sigh.
“Beg to differ, darling,” he said as he secured her hands. “The price of freedom is always death. Now, let’s get going.”
She frowned as she followed him. His words had triggered the odd sensation of déjà vu, though she couldn’t have explained why.
She probably should’ve been put off by his response, but his light tone made it clear that it wasn’t intended as a threat.
And his casual use of the word darling made her feel tingly, even as she berated herself for feeling one iota of attraction to a man who was holding her captive…
even if he seemed like a much less appalling option than anyone else in this wretched place.
Cade escorted her to the entrance to Little River, where they met a crowd of men gathered around a crudely-built carriage pulled by a single horse.
Built from logs, it had a tent-like structure stretched across its frame with curtains at its entrance, concealing its occupants.
She could only assume that that was where Angel would be spending the trip.
The crowd seemed split into two distinct groups: roughly a dozen men dressed as soldiers like Cade, and a couple dozen regular men wearing a variety of different outfits, but all seemed to display the feather symbol she’d noted earlier, either on their skin or their outfits.
The soldiers all carried rifles and handguns, along with tactical backpacks.
Only a few of the other men did; the others carried clubs, bats, and even swords.
She wondered at their lack of firearms, but then realized that most of the men in the Skulls hadn’t carried them either.
Two soldiers approached Cade immediately, looking for orders. The man on the left was light-skinned with blue eyes, and his fellow was the same soldier that Cade had spoken to the day before, when Asha had begged him to help her.
“This is Leo,” Cade said to her, gesturing at the light-skinned man, then turned to his brown-eyed, bronze-complexioned companion. “And this is Dom.”
“Good to meet you,” Leo said, in a far more pleasant tone than Asha would’ve anticipated. “I’m the resident medic. If you have issues during the trip or once we’re back, come to me.”
Medic? She wondered. She hadn’t even known anyone practiced medicine in the Wasteland. They were all supposed to be clueless, ferocious brutes.
“Oh,” Asha replied awkwardly. “Alright. What do we mean here by ‘medic’? You’re not going to tell me to piss on my wounds, are you?”
To her surprise, Leo laughed. “No. Promise.”
Dom didn’t react, just averted his eyes from hers. He seemed far less friendly than the other two.
“Orders, Captain?” he prompted, nodding at Cade.
“Move out,” Cade replied. “Each of you will take turns guarding the asset as we go. I’ll be up front as usual. Angel’s already boarded?”
“Yeah.” Dom didn’t blink often enough for Asha’s comfort. “We’re good to go.”
“Good.”
Cade turned to Asha. “This is where we part ways for now. I’ll be hanging back and guarding Angel’s carriage with a few of my guys. You’ll go ahead of us with the others.”
Asha nodded, then couldn’t help herself. “What’s the asset?”
His eyes shone with humour.
“That’s you, darling. Leo or Dom will be with you for the trip. Be a good girl for them.”
With that, he left, and Asha cursed him for the way her stomach flipped on the way he said good girl.
It should be illegal for a hot, muscular man with a gruff voice to ever utter those words.
The trip was long, much longer than the one to Little River, and after five hours of walking through mostly wooded areas, Asha’s feet were screaming for relief. The men didn’t seem as bothered; they must have been used to a lot of foot travel.
Leo stuck to Asha’s side, and she soon realized that this was as much for her protection as it was to prevent escape.
The soldiers in black only stole curious glances at her every so often, but the plainclothes gangsters openly ogled her at every opportunity.
She supposed she should be used to it, but she still didn’t enjoy being looked at like a piece of meat.
It was too much like she’d always been treated by past partners, and, eventually, her assigned husband in the compound.
Eric always been the ‘fuck her and fall asleep’ kind of guy, and he barely paid attention to her when he used her.
She doubted he would’ve noticed if she’d decided to read a book midway through.
After the first couple times of him essentially jacking off with her body, she’d refused him…
and that had exposed what a sham the marriage was.
He had zero interest in her when she wasn’t acting as a warm hole for him to fuck, and she had no interest in being his human sex doll.
It probably makes me a bad person since he’s dead, but I sure don’t miss that asshole.
“The Blackguard wouldn’t do anything to you,” Leo said conversationally at her side, rifle pointed at the ground as they walked.
“But we can’t be sure that a few of the regulars aren’t stupid enough to try something.
We’ve been traveling around for a couple weeks, so they haven’t been around women that much lately. ”
“Charming,” Asha replied sardonically.
“Hey, there’s only so much ball sack you can see before you get desperate for an alternative,” Leo said, amused.
She was surprised at his humour and openness with her, since so far, most of the Wastelander men had treated her like she was subhuman. Leo spoke to her like a person, perhaps even an equal. It was jarring after the last few days…but it was also nicer than she’d expected.
“What’s the Blackguard?” Asha asked. “That the name of this gang?”
He hesitated, then replied, “It’s complicated.”
She frowned. “The name of your gang is complicated?”
“Yeah. Short version: guys in black, like me, are Blackguard. The rest are Guardians, but technically, we’re also all Guardians.”
“That cleared up nothing.”
Leo grinned. “Told you it was complicated.”
“Who’s Cade, then, in this group? He acts like your leader, but isn’t Angel the leader?”
“Yes,” Leo replied, looking discomfited. “Cade is more like our commander. But I wouldn’t worry about it now. Just focus on putting one step in front of the other.”
She took his advice for a while, walking alongside him for a long time in silence.
“So, what’s the plan here?” she felt comfortable asking after a couple hours on the road. “Cade said we’re going to the old capital.”
“Yeah,” Leo answered. “We live in what used to be a gated community, I guess. For the elderly, in the Old World. Had a golf course. Must’ve been a nice spot, back in the day.”
She swallowed. “And it’s not now?”
He chuckled. “Well…it’s better than a lot of places.”
Not exactly reassuring, given the state of Little River, but whatever.
She tried not to allow her anxiety to win over her, which was no small task, given that she had no home, no family or friends, and no real idea of her future. She focused again on putting one foot in front of the other.
At noon, the men broke for a meagre lunch of dried meats, which they seemed to have no intention of sharing. The carriage was stopped, and Angel was consulting with his men as one of the others led the single horse they’d brought to water.
Asha’s stomach growled as she rested her back against a tree trunk, but she pretended that she had no interest in their food, even as her mother’s succulent butter chicken turned in her mind’s eye. She hadn’t eaten in more than a day.