Free Reddened Wasteland by Kyle Perkins Page A

waited there the whole time?
    “Yeah, no kidding. I wonder if he even ate…” she said
as they climbed into the vehicle.
    “Where to?” the driver asked. He didn’t seem affected
at all by the long wait.
    “I need to see Aemon,” Alerik leaned back in his seat,
daydreaming about the fun they had while below the surface. He knew he wouldn’t
tell Aemon of what had happened or where he had been, but he would be able to
give him more information on Liberty’s Hammer without betraying the Children of
Old. He didn’t know if he could trust Aemon, but knew without a doubt that he
couldn’t trust The Union. Not after all that he had just learned.
    Velar laid her head in Alerik’s lap as they made the
short journey back to the office. He put his hand on her head and started
playing with her beautiful hair. He bent down and kissed her forehead and thought
of how lucky he was for a girl like her to be interested in someone like him.
Thoughts of returning to the vault with Velar and forgetting the world on the
surface did cross his mind, but Cinine’s people were running out of oxygen and
he didn’t want to add to their burden. Plus, there were all the miners on the
surface unknowingly working for a corrupt organization that didn’t give a damn
about any of them.
    A war was definitely coming, and it needed to happen
for the Children of Old to survive.
    For the time being, though, Alerik had to stop
Liberty’s Hammer. Though their heart was in the right place, they were willing
to kill innocents to get their point across, and that was something Alerik
couldn’t stand for. The world might even be better with them in charge, but if
they had to be fanatics to do it, then they were no better than The Union. At
least The Union had the tools to stop them.
    They vehicle halted at the office and both of them
stepped out. The driver parked around the side in case he was needed. Alerik
gave Velar a quick kiss goodbye as she headed into the mine for a long day of
work, and he went into the office. Hopefully she’d have no trouble today.
    Aemon was sitting in his usual spot behind Bragog’s
desk. He smiled as Alerik walked in.
    “I suppose you have news?”
    Alerik nodded, “Yesterday, we pulled this flask off of
one of the assailants. We believe they were all linked with Liberty’s Hammer.
Not much of a surprise, there. We don’t have any more leads at the moment.”
    “Very good, Alerik. We now have a lead. Once we test
the metal, we will know where it came from based on the composition. There are
only a few mines in the settlement, and this will point us to where the
majority of them are coming from, or at least give us more clues.” He said with
a huge smile. “I will get back to you in a couple of days once we know more.
Now off you go,” he dismissed him with a wave of his hand.
    Alerik hid his annoyance at the man’s flippant tone
and remained silent as he turned to leave.
    “Oh, and Alerik,” he said with his thumb up, “Good
work!”
    Alerik slammed the door behind him.
    ***
    The day in the mines had been like any other as of
late. Dirty looks, discreet whispers, and blatant insults. The new normal for
Alerik and Velar. At least nobody charged them with makeshift daggers this
time. If only people could see the big picture, if they could only see what the
pair was trying to do for them, they might change their tune. But people were
people, and people had a tendency to be shitty about things they didn’t
understand. He didn’t blame them though, go back a couple of weeks back and if
he were in their shoes, he’d be giving the dirty looks. So he didn’t hold it
against them.
    After work, their driver took them back to the new
apartment. Alerik walked through the door and quickly took off his sweaty
shirt, dropping it on the floor before collapsing in the bed. The last couple
of days had made his head spin and he wasn’t sure that he fully understood what
was going on. So many pieces of the puzzle were still