Metal and Ash (Apex Trilogy)

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Authors: Jake Bible
to, synth-burlap, thin pieces of metal, rope woven together, and tanned, human skin.
    The Rookie didn’t need to ask who the driver was talking about; he had a very good idea.
    “He ain’t gonna like hows you killed Stemp back there,” the driver continued. “That’s gonna make him mad.” The driver looked over at the Rookie and his face was torn by his huge grin. “He’s fun when he’s mad. Makes the slits do dances and shit. Then we’s get to fuck.”
    “Sounds great,” the Rookie said through swollen lips. He could feel the blood on his face flake off. The blood was still flowing from the wounds in his legs and arms where he’d been hooked and yanked from the train. He knew he wasn’t going to get a chance to tend to the wounds. Not with what was in store for him.
    “He still eat his meals alive?” the Rookie asked.
    “Don’t everybody?” the driver asked. “Ain’t no fun less they scream and beg.”
    “Fucking shit,” the Rookie mumbled.
    He had grown up in a cannibalistic hell with a father that ruled his village like it was his personal feeding trough and brothel, handing out punishment on a whim and making sure everyone knew that living was not a right, but a privilege to be taken away at any psychotic moment.
    The man that lay ahead of the Rookie, waiting to embrace him in his own psychotic arms, was a million times worse.
     
    ***
     
    A rusted metal wall loomed ahead as the gang of ATVs sped across the wasteland. No cover, no hills, no mesas or plateaus gave the structure any shade or cover. The massive wall, several stories high, was as much a patchwork of materials as everything else with the Rookie’s captors.
    As the ATVs neared, the Rookie could see that the wall wasn’t just made up of twisted scraps of metal and iron. Bodies hung from various spikes, hooks and poles. Many were strung up with wire threaded through their limbs, just waiting for the rotten flesh to give way and let the corpses fall to the dirt below.
    And the dirt below was where the Rookie really focused. Deaders. Hundreds and hundreds of deaders, maybe even thousands, swarmed about the wall as it stretched for close to a mile in each direction before wrapping around and back, keeping those inside safe from the flesh-eaters outside. And captive with the flesh-eaters inside.
    “You been to Eden ‘fore?” the driver asked the Rookie.
    “No,” the Rookie said. “Didn’t know it existed.”
    The driver glanced over at the Rookie and grinned his idiot, tooth-free grin. “You’s in for a treat.”
    “I imagine I am,” the Rookie frowned, his eyes locked onto the mass of zombies that had turned towards them as the sound of the ATVs drew their attention. “We aren’t going through them, are we?”
    “I heard you’s from the wasteland,” the driver said. “You’s da Boss’s kid. You ain’t afraid of no deaders is ya?”
    “Not usually,” the Rookie said. “But that’s a lot of dead folk.”
    “They like the scraps.”
    “Right, I get that,” the Rookie nodded, humoring the driver. “But this isn’t exactly an armored vehicle.”
    “No,” the Driver replied. “It ain’t.”
    As the ATVs neared, the Rookie could hear the sound of metal scraping against metal. Then the ground in front of them erupted into flames, as a ten foot wide corridor through the deaders was scorched clear. Flames stayed on each side of the corridor, framing it and keeping the rest of the zombies from attacking the ATVs, as the vehicles sped towards the great wall.
    A small door opened and several heavily armed men poured out, taking a position on each side of what the Rookie started to make out as a gate. The gate opened and let the ATVs through, then was quickly locked into place behind them.
    “Home sweet home,” the driver said. Then punched the Rookie in the temple, knocking him out instantly.
     
    ***
     
    The mech was crouched low, almost sitting on the hard packed dirt. Jenny lowered her binocs and took a deep

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