Free Rage by Matthew Costello

to the top.
    Green.
    The nanotrites. The small biomechanical engines. One showing heart rate, the other … his body functions? His health? Could they show other things? Did the scientists who planted them know all they could do?
    When he blinked again, their work done, they vanished.
    He sat up on the wood plank covered with a thick blanket that had been his bed. On the floor, a plate with a roll-like thing that Dan had brought over. Cheese, or something like cheese. No meat.
    Meat was rare, Dan had said. But there was soy.
    He took a breath.
    Day One, he thought. He cleared his voice, wondering if Halek was around. That sound brought a jumble of noises, as gun parts were pushed away and a chair scraped the floor.
    Halek walked back to him.
    They sat at the table again after Halek had gone to get Dan.
    Dan’s face seemed set. No repeat of the handshake. No smiles. They sat down facing Raine as if this was an important meeting.
    Dan let Halek start.
    “You’ve got to do a … 
service.
”
    Raine nodded. “Sure. Of course.” He took a breath. “A service. Mind telling me what the hell a ‘service’ is?”
    “Easy there Ark man,” Halek growled. “This is the Hagar Settlement. You can be tossed out as easily as Dan dragged your ass in here.”
    Dan put a hand on his brother’s beefy forearm. If they ran this place together, Raine thought, then Dan was the brains and restraint … and Halek got what was left over.
    Though from the look of the guns all around, Halek did pretty well putting bits and pieces together to make weapons.
    “It’s the code here. Hell, not just here. All the outer settlements, and Wellspring—”
    “Wellspring?”
    “It’s a city,” Dan said. “Or, what we call a city. No one survives here without help. And without everyone
helping
each other, you might as well just let the muties have you.”
    “A
service
 …” Halek repeated, getting Dan back on track.
    “To stay, Raine, you have to do something that helps the settlement. And then to keep staying, there will be other things. It’s either that—”
    “Or leave?”
    “Yeah. Pretty much.”
    “Tell him, Dan. Tell him what it is.” Halek leaned close. “What
he’s
got to do.”
    “So I talked with some of the others here. They got something for you. We lost someone on a patrol a few days ago. Never came back. He was on the road that runs northeast from here. It goes a way out, ultimately turning into a jumble of rock and rotting buildings. With the disappearance, we are down a man.”
    “So—what do you want me to do?”
    “You go check out that road,” Halek said, a gleam in his eyes. “Bandits are always trying to creep close to us, especially of late. It’s like they’re getting ready for a raid on us. We need to watch all the main roads here—so you check it out.”
    Raine saw Dan watching him. His easy manner—the smiles, the “welcome to the future” stuff—gone.
    Is this why he rescued me?
    “We’ll set you up with a buggy. Won’t be much.”
    “It’ll run. That’ll be enough,” Halek said.
    “Right. It will run,” Dan said. “We have a radio. Not too reliable. But you can communicate. When the wind’s right, at least. Keep your eyes peeled for deep ruts, stray boulders … you don’t want to blow a tire out there or crack an axle. You go out there, and if you see signs of bandits, you radio it in. Then we’ll come out and—”
    “We’ll rub the bastards out,” Halek said.
    “Weapons?”
    Dan looked away. Raine guessed that he and his brother had discussed that issue as well. “You got that rifle I gave you.”
    “Maybe something else?”
    Dan looked at Halek.
    “Shit. Damn. Okay. I can give you a handgun. Think there’s a piece of what you used to call a Glock in it. Fires .44s. Your people stockpiled a ton of them. God,” he said, shaking his head. “What we could really use is some serious shell power againstthe bandits. RPGs, you know? Yeah, I’d give
anything
for a