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The author “Chance” is me, “Larkin” This is an effort to re-compose my old roster into a new roster comprised old and new works, re-written and done with more careful editing. (omitting junk) I hope you will understand.

Please send comments to larkin@tutanota.com...And I will respond

Max. Newt and Raif

by Chance

part 5

Kidnapped

It was a desperate option but Phil thought the only thing to do was to rush in and direct all of his energies towards Max.

Before entering he muttered to himself, "I have to kill him, now don't fuck-it-up!"

Max and Newt stood there stunned. Phil ran up to Max and brought the butt of his pistol down hard on Max's head. He collapse in a pile at the man's feet. He had to tackle Newt to bring him under control.

Newt was flailing and trying to get away. Phil put a slip knot of rope over Newt's head and pulled tight choking off his air.

Newt's face was red but he continued to scream and struggle. "Listen you little fucker, I have been traveling day and night tryin to track you down and you're goinback with me and I will beat the shit out of you every time you give me a hard time. You're my property, I paid that sick mother of yours fair and square!

He dragged Newt down the flight of broken stairs and pulling him along with the rope to get as far away from the house as he could fearing that the other one would return. Newt was like a wild cat scratching and clawing at everything.

He screamed, "I hate you, You killed Max! I hate you!"

The man smacked him again and again to get him to shut up.

Staying in the woods just out of sight of the road on the way out of town. Their progress was slow because Phil had to stop and struggle with Newt, hitting him to make him compliant. Newt didn't give up trying any possibility to get away from the man who had stolen him. Phil sat and tied the end of the rope to his own wrist to tether the two of them together. The rope around Newt's neck amounted to a choke collar.

"If you want anything to eat or you want water, you better fuckin mind me or you get nothin!"

It was not easy, nor was it a fair fight. Phil was much bigger, eventually it exhausted Newt. The sun was setting and the man and the small boy walked towards the inter-state.

Vengeance Fortress

Raif met the two men at the overpass. Their rifles still slung on their backs. The three walked on the road towards the Vengeance.

"You ready for a good time?"

Raif was playing a role for survival but he had more than himself to care about now. He was also doing it for Newt and Max. The three found themselves starving and in many days they had only just enough. Every bit of food was important. No opportunity could be discounted. It really was life or death.

Raif acted silly and dumb because the two men liked that sort of thing. They treated him like a woman or more specifically, like a whore.

"We've been savin it up for you. Ain't that right Lenny?"

The two guards at gate waved them into the fortress.

Clark said, "He's wid us!"

What used to be the center court of a large shopping mall was now dark, torch lit and cavernous inside. There were people coming and going in all directions. They were met with an assortment of strong smells the most luxurious of which was the smell of cooked meat.

"Raif, you want sumthin to eat?"

He nodded yea and they stopped at a stall and got meat for all three. Raif took 2 bites and concealed the rest fearing that the rich food would cause chaos to his system. Clark and Lenny chomped on their portions like barbarians from olden times.

They went into what was once a large department store with high ceilings. These days it was dark like the interior of some medieval castle. Inside covering the entire floor was a village of small, hand built, plywood houses. They were all individual in shapes and sizes. There were narrow walkways like little streets connecting to others, meandering around and around. Many people lived here, men, women and children crowded here and there. In spite of this being in the belly of the Vengeance Clan, these were all common working folk. Everyone had chores and duties. Like the people on the outside, they were bound together for survival.

Lenny and Clark had their own house that was no more than 8 x 8 foot square. The interior was all bed. The two men squeezed in and began to undress Raif. Next to the men, Raif was skinny and frail. His ribs were showing and he was helpless in the company of the two well fed, animalistic men. The ensuing event was no better than an ugly porn video.

Two hours later, Raif was on the road home with a bag of valued goods as payment. He was thinking of the fine meal he and Max and Newt would have together. For Raif, Max and Newt made life worth living. The tension of being in the fortress began to lift and without meaning to, semen had suddenly poured out of him soaking his pants. It ran down his legs calling to mind the nasty episode he had just gone through.

 The Chase

Max heard a voice in the darkness. It echoed like he was in a well or some sort of cave. Gradually his vision began to return.

"Max, are you ok?"

Raif's face slowly came into focus.

"Where's Newt!"

He sat up and was burdened with pain..

He looked a Raif and could see his frantic concern. "Raif, he stolled Newt!"

He buried his face in his hands hoping that it wasn't true.

This time Max shook his head to wave away the pain. "I gotta get him back."

The older boy was trying to tend to the bloody lump on Max's head. "I have to go right away."

"I'm goin with you!"

Max said, "No you don't, I know where he is going and I can run day and night and I'm am going to catch that motherfucker and you don't wanna be there when I do!"

"I'm goin with you!"

"No you're not because I can't risk losing both of you. One way or another I'm gonna survive and I gonna kill that motherfucker."

He looked up at Raif, "Newt belongs to us, he's what made us into a family.."

Raif helped him to his feet. Max was shaky but he began to organize his backpack.

"Maybe you should rest a bit?"

"No, I can't let them get too far ahead of us. How many hours after sunset is it?"

Raif told him it was still early. He put the can of tuna that were saving and some other cans along with the last remaining pack of cigarettes into his back pack.

Max said, “Raif, I don't need no cigarettes.”

"Yeah you do! They're to trade with, they're like money."

Max was at the door ready to go. "Raif, you gotta let me take your gun."

He retrieved it from its hiding place and gave it to Max.

"There only 3 bullets so mind how you use them."

"Max, how far you think it is?"

"It's in the River Clan territory, maybe 40 miles."

They hugged and Max was out the door and then,.... gone.

Raif

A huge hole had been torn in Raif's life for the second time. First it was the break-up of his family and now this. He cried not only at the loss of Newt but now, Max. He knew now that he loved them both.

He wished that Max had let him go with him. Anything is better than being here not knowing anything.

Raif lay on the mattress in the dark room littered with old blankets and clothes, alone. Time went by and the candle slowly flickered out.

"Raif, come on, get ready, we're going to the waterpark!" It was bright and sunny and the car was in the drive way. He looked around and saw green lawns and sprinklers and kids running and playing. There was a light breeze and it was as if it was distant music in the air.

"Raif," He looked up and saw his Father smiling. He was holding a multi-color beach ball. Raif tried to speak but nothing came out. He looked down at his clothes and they were still rags.

Then he saw his Sister and his Mother they all came up to him together. They were smiling and happy, but then, like an old photo tossed into the flame, they turned brown, curled up in the flames and then soon became sooty black ash.  He woke up alone in the dark and empty room.

The Farmers

Max hadn't bothered to sleep and kept going all through the night. It was late afternoon when he approached a town that had life in it. It was a medium town that, like all the rest, had fallen into ruin. The tendrils of suburbia had withered, many of these towns had become useless to the outside world. Most small towns were destroyed by warring fiefdoms. Burnt out buildings, wrecked cars and the aimless ones, wandering, always wandering, Max was indistinguishable from anyone else. The specter of hunger was always on every face and the greatest fear was that down the road, lay famine.

But this town was a little different. It was encouraging to see small slightly disorganized gardens here and there. In the past, people thought about trivial things and lived from day to day without regard for the future. Now, even in Spring, they thought about the Autumn and the Winter that lay beyond.

Some people began to work together gathering, hunting and stockpiling. The most successful gave up their single family homes and formed communes in the large commercial buildings that had lost their purpose. They offered shared protection during the nights. There they could organize, share food, defend and protect. This town had had one large a supermarket and an attached what used to be a strip mall. The Clans showed up with a convoy of trucks and they removed any and all of the nonperishable's leaving the rest to rot. After that the local people moved back in, forming a strong unified group was the only defense they had against lawlessness. This town like many others had fallen under the protection of the River Klan and tribute obligations had to be met or there would be murderous reprisals and raids. There were those that cooperated and those that didn't.

The fire had been lit and people began to line up. A man began to stir up the dregs of the pot with a stick so that it would heat more evenly. The smell coming off the vile mixture was not appetizing. Next to it was a pile of mostly unwashed plastic vessels of many assorted sizes and colors. People ate it anyway, including Max. He closed his eyes and with up turned head, tried to swallow without tasting.

The man stirring the pot hadn't seen Max before so he assumed that he was a wanderer.

He looked at Max and said "I hope you're the right kind. If you're not you better keep on goin."

Max didn't understand what he meant.

"We got two kinds of people here, The "with us people" as in "are you with us" and all the others. This soup is brought to you by us in the Defender Tribe. We are a sub-clan under the protection of the River Clan so don't fuck with us!"

He pointed at the large boarded up super market. "We don't turn no one away but if you fuck up, we all come pourin out of there like a swarm of hornets and we will hunt you down and kill you if we have to. But if you are a good person and you are willing to work, you might consider joining us and become one of the Defenders!"

The man elevated his fist to the sky.

Max stayed around hoping to catch sight of Newt or Phil. The town was fairly peaceful and there wasn't any sign of trouble. Towards evening, an old mother woman came along pulling a hand wagon load of vegetables and some pieces of suspicious looking meat to add to the stew. She relieved the man tending the pot.

"David, you can be off now, I'll take over."

Someone yelled, "Throw that shit out and start that stew all over again. It's fuckin putrid!"

She ignored the taunts and started dropping the vegetable and raw meat chunks into the stew.

She turned and faced the sullen crowd. "It won't be ready to eat until well into the evening so go get lost!"

The unspoken truth is that if the Defenders didn't feed the useless ones, they would have a whole lot more trouble on their hands. Who knows, they might begin to rob and steal and maybe start killing. At the worst, they might rise up and join up with the enemies. It was just good business to feed the useless lot.

The man's name was David. Max followed him over to the boarded up super market.

"You look pretty good to me. I will check with the Tribe leaders and see if there is an opening for someone like you."

Max went to interrupt the man when...

A truck pulled up alongside of them. It was from the River Klan. The man behind the wheel wore shades and was accompanied by a rifle bearing guard. He was sort of tax collector. David approached the vehicle. The driver opened a note book and took out a small calculator.

The Driver spoke. "David, how many chickens you got up to now?"

"Not more than fifty, we lost about a dozen to a pack of dogs."

The driver pulled his shades down a bit on his nose. "You wouldn't be lying to me now would you?"

"No I wouldn't do that."

The driver studied David's face and then his notes. "The way it stands now, you're givin the Clan 100 eggs a week and we've waived the chicken meat so that you could increase the size of the flock, right? Well, stop fuckin around and get busy!"

David appealed to the driver. "Can you try to get us some grain, the chickens strip everything off the ground till there's just mud and chicken shit."

The driver didn't answer, he just drove off in a shower of gravel. David spat on the ground. "Motherfuckers!"

Max was anxious to get going. "I'm looking for someone kidnapped from my family and I have to find him."

He described the man and Newt.

"They came through for the morning meal. That kid of his was disobedient and a right nuisance."

The man laughed. "He had to keep the kid tied to him to keep him from running off. Kids today got no discipline. They're like animals. They rested over there so we didn't have to listen to their arguing and bickering. Yeah, I saw 'em, they headed down the Post road about 4 hours ago.

When the man looked up, Max was gone.

Next part, the conclusion

Please send comments to larkin@tutanota.com...And I will respond