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There’s a low rumble of agreement.
“This will likely get some of you killed. Our strength has always been in staying together — but, the more Imperium moves into this territory, the more being together puts a target on all of our backs.”
“If they send a ship down here now, they could scoop us all up in a single go,” Fish says. “We’ve had far too many close calls. We’re splitting up all the time now anyway. We may as well do it on purpose.”
We call him Fish because he has a tattoo of a fish on his ass. He has poor taste in body art, but he’s right. Every day, the Imperium grows stronger, or perhaps, weaker. There’s no way of knowing, but there’s no doubt that the citizenry is starting to accept them as authority. At first the normal people were oppressed by the authoritarian invaders, but now they’re accepting the Imperium. They’re even starting to name their offspring Imperium names. I met a boy called Cicero the other week. Cicero. Ridiculous.
“Alright. Let’s do this. And if I don’t see y’all in life again, then you best be damned sure that I will see you in hell.”
A cheer erupts from my men, and the brew starts flowing again. This will be the last night we’ll be together for a while, and I can feel a sense of destiny in this moment. An era is ending as suddenly as it began. In the morning, we will scatter like the wind and a wave of crime unlike any before will consume the towns and cities of Cabbage Patch. We will be catalysts of a change we cannot predict. Every outlaw knows his final stand is coming sooner rather than later. The best he can hope is that he gets to choose the battleground. Each and every one of these men is going to have the chance to do that.
“What’s all the noise?”
Josie finally wakes up from what must have been a hell of a deep sleep. Her hair is in her eyes and she has an adorable sleepy look to her. A second ago, I thought we were the catalysts, but looking down, I know this is really all about her. This scrap of femininity turning everything upside down.
“End of the world,” I tell her. “Have a drink. We are.”
Chapter Five
Josie
The end of the world smells like unwashed men and sour brew. I guess I’m not surprised by that. I drink along with everybody, picking up what they’re putting down. From what I gather, they’re pinning everything on the two of us reaching the ranch. They must be more desperate than I imagined, though Orion still doesn’t seem worried. I don’t know if Orion is even capable of being concerned. He stays right where he’s been sitting this entire time, slightly apart from the party while still being at the center of it. That’s a hell of a trick.
I don’t know when the drinking ends and the sun rises. It’s all a blur, in which I fall asleep and wake up, then drink some more, and all of a sudden, it is over. The men are gone and the desert stretches out in front of us. There are faint strains of music coming from the radio, but that’s the only sound for miles around.
“Hey,” I say, going for the coffee brewing over the fire. I have an ache where my head used to be.
“Mornin’” Orion says, tipping his hat to me.
I get some coffee, and sit down near him, sipping it slowly. It’s hot. Rich. Dark. Just what I need.
“So. When are we going?”
“In a bit,” he says. “Just waiting for the news.”
“Good morning.” The music stops and a voice starts. “It is ten past ten and all is quiet on the Western, Northern, Southern and Eastern fronts.”
He makes an impatient sound and clicks the radio off.
“What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t think it would take them so long to start making reportable trouble,” he says. “We need to get moving. The desert is going to be too hot to cross by noon, and that sheriff will be gaining on us.”
“So let’s go, then. It might not happen right away. Some of them could have been caught, or maybe the reporting isn’t…
BOOM!
An explosion in the distance shakes the ground beneath our feet. From what seems like a hell of a long way away, a plume of smoke mushrooms into space, followed by great licking plumes of fire.
“Holy!” I stare, my mouth open. I’ve seen a lot of things blow up in my time, but I’ve never seen anything go up like that. “Did they blow up an entire city? What the hell?”
“Alright. There we go,” he says. “That’s what an Imperium power transformer looks like when it goes up. Mount up, Josie. We’re on our way.”
