An Uncertain Fate

  An Uncertain Fate

  An Ungoverned World Book 3

  Kip Nelson

  Copyright © 2018 by Kip Nelson

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter One

  Tori ran through the woods as fast as she could. Her feet caught in the broken twigs and she stumbled. Her hands were cut. Her knees were skinned. Sweat poured down her face, stinging her eyes. She could taste the saltiness as the drops trickled along the corners of her mouth. With a throat aching from thirst and a body still recovering from the trauma underneath the bridge, all Tori wanted to do was stop and rest, but she could not.

  It only had been minutes since David had been standing before her holding a gun to her face. She thought for sure she was going to suffer the same fate as Max and have her life robbed from her. Tori had made her peace with it, though. This world wasn't made for her. It was a cruel place, a deadly place, a hell made for people with twisted, dark souls. There still were bruises and scratch marks on her body from where the men had brutalized her and demeaned her. There still was a red ring around her neck from where the rope had been tied, keeping her bound to a pole like a dog. She had been forced to live on her hands and knees, eating scraps off the ground and lapping up water from a bowl.

  Tori had almost lost her sense of identity. If that torture had gone on much longer she surely would have let her personality drift away into the dim recesses of her mind. David had been ordered to take her away and make use of her, but he hadn't. She'd let out all her anger on him, hoping he would just shoot her and end the pain. It wasn't noble, but she couldn't stand another day of being subjected to the physical abuse and degradation. The only person she loved in the world, her brother, was gone. There was nothing left to live for. Any hope that humanity could redeem itself was lost, and with it, Tori's will to live.

  The gunshot echoed through her mind. David had fired the gun and she thought for sure she was dead. Then she opened her eyes. His hand quivered and there was a bullet hole in the tree just behind her. Tori didn't understand why he had done what he did, but there wasn't any time for her to find out. She turned and sprinted away as fast as she could, worried that it was some kind of strange game David was playing. From everything she had seen of him she didn't believe he was capable of a merciful act and was sure she quickly would feel the searing heat of a bullet in the middle of her back.

  It had not come. Neither had the other men. Nobody was chasing her. She was free. It was a strange thought after so much time being held captive. How much time had it been really? Tori wasn't sure. The days had blurred into one another. It could have been weeks or months, she had no idea.

  Why David let her go had been a mystery. He was a vile man. The thought of his hands touching her almost had made her retch. Those same hands that had been responsible for killing her brother. God, she wished Max still was alive. He'd always been there whenever she needed help. Back in the old world he'd let her stay with him after she'd been recovering from a breakup. Even when she was younger he'd always been there with advice or a shoulder to cry on or just anything. In many ways he had been more than a brother and she had been closer to him than she had been to her parents. Sometimes it was impossible to believe he actually was gone. When she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine he was beside her. Inevitably, she had to open them again and face the grim reality of the world.

  After a while of running Tori’s lungs burned and her legs ached. Her entire body throbbed, and she had to stop. She rested against a tree. Her lungs heaved, and the air scratched her throat as she gulped it down eagerly. Tori wiped the sweat off her brow and looked down with disgust at her tattered clothes and her bruised body. She was glad there wasn't a mirror around because she didn't think she could face looking at her reflection. She wasn't sure who she would see looking back at her. It didn't feel as though this was her. She wasn't made for this life. She liked comfortable things, like wrapping herself up in a blanket and reading a book by candlelight or soaking in a hot bath with a face mask on, not this.

  Everything about the world had changed, and nobody had a choice about it. Wait, that wasn't strictly true. People did have a choice in how they acted. David had a choice. He had chosen to be an evil man. He had chosen to kill her brother in cold blood. He had chosen to give her to that group of men. Anger and resentment and rage burned inside her. Tears welled up in her eyes. She choked out sobs and her fists balled up so much that her arms began trembling.

  Breathing heavily, she looked back at the way she had come. The trees lined her view, and as she peered through them she just about could make out the gleaming blue of the sea, and a little bit of the bridge. She wondered what David had told the other men. Would they believe him if he said he killed her? Maybe they would punish him themselves, but it seemed like that was something Tori should do. Part of her wanted to walk back from where she had come and make David pay for everything he had done to her and her brother, and for all those other poor people he had terrorized. Not just them either, but the people he would go on to terrorize.

  It almost felt like her responsibility to do so and yet her knees weakened, and she sank to the ground. Her hair fell around her face as she placed her head in her hands and roared with frustration. She wasn't a soldier. She wasn't a fighter. She couldn't do all the things she wanted to do. Max would have been able to. It should have been he who survived and her who was laying on the ground with flies buzzing around her corpse. The indignity of it all made her stomach churn. She wanted to take revenge on David, but she did not know how.

  Tori was helpless.

  Tears fell to the ground. Hunger gnawed at her stomach. All she wanted to do was sleep, but there was no time. Suddenly she looked up, aware that she was alone and vulnerable, without any weapons to defend herself. Tori gulped and began moving again, peering all around her for any sign of other people. It all seemed to be quiet so far. It was strange to not hear men laughing or heavy footsteps approaching her. That same feeling of revulsion that spread over her body like a thick layer of grease still was there, and she didn't think it ever would go away.

  As Tori walked along she foraged for berries and fruit that hung from trees. She started to feel better after getting some food in her belly. Even though it wasn't exactly a feast, it was far better than the scraps she had been fed while being held captive by those men. There didn't seem to be a water source around, aside from the river that meandered through the city, although here it opened to the sea. So, she was sure if she made the long walk it would be saltwater and she'd have to boil it, collect the steam, and distill that back into drinking water. Except there was no way to boil water. She'd never learned how to make a fire out in the woods. There were so many things she never had learned. Max knew quite a lot about it.

  She wasn't looking forward to the oncoming night. The chilled veil of darkness would offer no respite to her suffering, and the days that beckoned only promised misery and struggle. Tori was afraid of return
ing to the city because she knew what dangers lurked there, but the unknown dangers of the woods made her equally pensive. For a moment she stopped and looked up at the thick green leaves of the trees and groaned loudly. All she wanted was to be back in her apartment and not have to worry about any of this.

  There was a sound behind her. Tori froze. A chill ran down her spine. She was almost afraid to turn around.

  “Who's there?” she asked.

  There was no reply. Her eyes widened, and she swallowed loudly as she slowly turned around, worried that she had been too complacent to stop running. She should have run away as far as she could until her legs could have taken no more. Closing her eyes for a moment out of fear she didn't see what made the noise until she opened them. She was surprised and somewhat relieved to see a dog standing before her. It looked thin. The outlines of its ribs were visible. Tori crouched down and held out her hand.

  “Here boy,” she said in a cooing voice.

  She and Max had not been allowed to have pets in their apartment. Maybe this was a turn in the right direction. It might be nice to have a pet and a companion to keep her safe. She tried to cajole the dog into coming to her again, but then it bared its fangs and snarled. She looked into its eyes and saw the red bloodshot rivers. Saliva dribbled around its lips and its teeth looked sharp. It was ferocious and hungry. Tori was prey. She held up her hands and backed away slowly.

  “Now, now, it's okay, let's just take things easy. We don't need to do anything rash,” she said in a soft voice, attempting to soothe the dog.

  It barked and lifted its head to the sky like a wolf. As it did so she could see the gleaming gold of a tag. Once upon a time this beast had been someone's pet, but like so much else in this new world it had been broken and twisted. It was just a wild animal now, and it was after some meat. Tori continued backing away. Then the dog leaped forward. Its powerful legs ate up the distance to Tori, and then its snapping jaws were against her. Its paws scratched her. Tori could feel the hot breath and the rabid drops of saliva against her skin. She shouted and screamed as she flailed her arms and tried getting the dog off her. She pushed away its face trying to avoid its teeth. The dog’s momentum carried it forward and it managed to get Tori on the ground. She scrambled around and closed her eyes, turning her face away as much as possible. Her left arm was extended against the ground. She searched for anything she could use, but all she felt was soil.

  Then her hand clasped a rock. Without a moment's thought she brought it up and smashed it against the dog's head. It yelped, and the shock of the blow stopped it for a moment, but then it came at her again, so she hit it again. The reverberations shook through her arm. She struck again and again, as a red mist fell over her eyes and all her pent-up anger, frustration, sadness, and all the other emotions that made up a potent cocktail poured out of her in a venomous and deadly attack. As she subdued the dog she held the rock with two hands and brought it down again and again. Blood spurted upward, and soon there was nothing left but a sack of flesh.

  When it was over she was panting. Her throat was raw from screaming even though she did not remember making a sound.

  Then she cried. She collapsed to the ground beside the dog and wept, for how long she did not know. Eventually she pushed herself up and spent a moment looking at the dog, disgusted by what she had done. This world had changed people and made them all into monsters. She wasn't going to let that happen to her.

  Tori left the dog behind and staggered through the woods in no particular direction. She didn't want to go back and get revenge on David. She wanted to spend some time on her own and figure out what she was going to do next. She wanted to find some safe corner of the world and not have to worry about anything else.

  She walked for a while, picking off fruit from the plants she passed as she walked. She was almost in a daze and wanted to find somewhere to rest rather than stay out in the open through the night, although she still had a few hours until darkness fell. However, she did not have the woods to herself. In the distance she heard muffled voices. There were definitely a few men, and her heart sank once again. She tried skirting around the edge of them, but only grew nearer, and as she did so, their voices became clearer. By what she could hear it was evident they were a hunting party, and from the sounds of it they were tracking an animal. Tori couldn't hear anything else, though, so she didn't know what kind of animal they were tracking. She continued moving, stealthily she thought, until she realized it was she they were tracking, for they were reacting to her movements. Her eyes widened in panic as she heard one of them ready to fire. She screamed and covered her head with her hands.

  “Hold on!” a man's voice yelled. Tori heard the cracking of twigs as heavy footsteps pushed through the bracken and bramble. Tori looked up and saw the towering figure of a man.

  “It's lucky you screamed. We thought you were a deer or something. You had a lucky escape. Let me help you up.” The man held out a hand. Tori took it and felt the leathery flesh press against her. She got to her feet and peered behind him at the other men, who all were wielding crossbows.

  “How long have you been out here by yourself? It looks like you've been through hell. You've gotta come with us. We've got some food and water you can have. I'm Joe, by the way.” Tori nodded and followed him, unsure whether to trust him, but the promise of food and water was too good to resist.

  Chapter Two

  “It's going to take us a little while to get back there. We have a pretty far reach through the city, or at least we try to,” Abe said.

  Nick wasn't worried so much about himself, but he didn't like being out in the open for too long, especially when he still didn't know if he could trust these people. There was a genuine warmth to Abe, but Nick had been wrong before. From everything he'd seen, though, they were the real deal. After all, he couldn't imagine that anyone would make up this elaborate story just to trick them. If they wanted Nick and the others prisoner, there had been ample opportunity to capture them.

  “I'm surprised that you're willing to spread out so far,” Nick said.

  Abe shrugged. “Not everyone wanted to, but some of us pushed for it. When this all began we had people coming from all over the city. So, I figured we needed to get out as far as possible. There are a lot of people who are still alone and don't know if anyone else survived. Personally, I'd love to send people to neighboring cities and states, but we don't have the manpower for that, and I'm not sure anyone would be fool enough to go with me. This city is bad enough. I can't imagine what other places are like.”

  “I'm not sure I could leave this city without making sure everyone is safe. I used to be a firefighter. Swore my life to protecting the people here. I never could bring myself to leave it then and I'm not sure I could now, even though everything has changed.”

  “The more things change, the more they stay the same. Nice to know you were part of a brotherhood, though. I was, too. Well, used to be. I'm a retired cop,” Abe said.

  “Does that make us cousins?” Nick said, laughing. “It explains the pistols at least.”

  “Oh no, these are a family heirloom. Passed down from my great-grandfather. They were always ornamental really, but I figured I could use anything to defend myself. I'm not as young as I used to be, so guns are the way to go. Had to make my way through gun shops to get ammo, though.”

  “Did you try getting back to the station? Were there any other cops around?”

  Abe sighed heavily. “I wanted to, but there were too many people to help. I saw some here and there, but they were scattered, and they just couldn't cope with it all on their own. I swear, I was on that job for about forty years and I always thought that the majority of people were good, and it was only the minority who were bad. After seeing the first few days of this world I’m not so sure. Everyone was too ready to give up on life. I was glad when I found these people because we all shared the same philosophy.”

  “I know what you mean. I made it to the fire station, but there wa
s only me and another guy there. I don't know what happened to the others. I had hoped to run into them at some point, but if I knew them, they'd be out there helping everyone else. I guess it was the same with the cops. Unfortunately, I haven't had the best experience myself. There's a group of men who found us and we couldn't fight them off. Luckily, I found Tanya and Cosmo here, but everyone else we've met...I don't know if this world has caused everyone to go crazy, or if it was always there lurking underneath the surface.”

  “Well, humans always have been a special case. You know, I saw so many dark things in my time on the force, but there's always hope. I still believe that if we just try being better we can make the world a better place. Some people call me naive,” at this he glanced at Gina, “but I don't know how I'd go on if I didn't believe that. You'll like it where we're going. People realized that the best thing to do was to work together. I think once everyone had accepted that no help was coming we all realized we had to pitch in and make it through this ourselves.”

  “I knew someone once who was adamant the government was going to sort out this mess,” Nick said quietly, thinking about David.

  Abe scoffed. “I love our country as much as the next red-blooded American, but even I didn't think we could rely on them. Too much of world today relied on electricity. There was no backup in place, you know, and everything was chaos. That was the big downfall really. Nobody could talk to anyone else, so we all had to do our own thing. It reminds me of the Wild West. Things are going back to the way they used to be. Can't say it's the way I'd have chosen things to go, but that's the way they've gone. So, we have to make the best of it. We want to show people there is a force for good in the city as well. I figure if I was out here alone thinking that nobody was there to help I'd be going crazy.”