Chương 26: I Count to Three

Vane and Reed stood almost at the same time. Jack immediately understood that they had sensed the approaching group too. He put on a confused look.

"What's going on?" Vane frowned without answering. Elias answered instead.

"People are coming. More than one." Marlin nodded.

"Yeah." Jack was genuinely impressed. Jack had not smelled anything, but they already knew it was a group. Then he noticed the look on their faces. This was not just a few travelers passing by. Jack knew five people were coming, but he still had no idea who they were. Elias, Marlin, and the others clearly did.

"What is it?" Jack asked. Marlin kept his eyes on the distance.

"Most likely raiders." Jack went still.

"You all think they're raiders?" Cass and the others gave small nods. Jack frowned.

"How can you tell?"

"Blood," Marlin said.

"A strong smell of blood." His face tightened.

"Looks like this stretch of wasteland isn't peaceful anymore either." Jack's grip tensed. Five people. If they really were raiders, this was going to get ugly. He looked at the others. Marlin had already drawn a short knife from his waist. Vane had also pulled out his dagger. At some point, Reed had a hammer gripped in his hand. Finally, Cass reached behind his back and pulled out a pair of sai. Only Elias did not move. Jack stared. Where the hell had they been hiding all those weapons?

How had he not noticed any of them earlier? Jack turned and rushed back into the convenience store. Behind the checkout counter, he grabbed his handgun and shoved a box of bullets into his pocket. As he turned to leave, something on the shelf beside the counter caught his eye. Brake cleaner. A whole row of it. Jack stopped. He remembered how it had ended up there. Some automotive supplies salesman had talked him into putting it on the shelf as a trial sale. Jack would get a commission if any of it sold.

Back then, he had agreed mostly because it did not take up much space. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Now, somehow, it had become useful. Jack grabbed several cans. If things went bad, having one more option could not hurt. Then he carried everything back to the tent. Elias noticed the gun at once.

"You have a gun?" Marlin turned at the words, and his gaze landed on the handgun first, then on the box of bullets sticking out of Jack's pocket. For a moment, he could not quite look away. In the wasteland, a working gun was already enough to make people jealous. A gun with a full box of bullets was another matter entirely. Elias coughed. Marlin seemed to snap out of it and quickly looked elsewhere, though his eyes still drifted back once or twice. Jack noticed.

"Don't even think about it." He lifted the gun slightly.

"Or I'll use it on you." Marlin opened his mouth, then gave an awkward smile.

"I was just looking."

"Better be." Jack ignored him after that and set the cans of brake cleaner on the table. Vane glanced at them.

"What are these?"

"Brake cleaner," Jack said.

"Chemical stuff. If we really end up fighting, spray it at their faces. It might make things harder for them." He paused, then added, "No idea how well it'll work. Spray first, ask questions later." Vane nodded and accepted one without asking more. Jack handed out the rest of the cans. Marlin took one, turned it in his hand, and immediately looked interested.

"Do you have more of this? If it works, can we trade for it?" Jack stared at him.

"Seriously? This is what you're thinking about right now?" Marlin looked completely serious.

"If it's useful and you have extra, why shouldn't we trade?" Jack looked at him for a second. He had to admit, the man really was a merchant.

"Fine," Jack said.

"But we deal with what's in front of us first." Marlin nodded quickly.

"Of course. Of course." Everyone turned their attention back to the distance. They were not walking fast. That somehow made it worse. The five figures came across the wasteland at an easy, almost lazy pace. They did not hide. They did not lower their bodies or check the ground around them. They simply walked straight toward the tent, as if everyone waiting there had already been counted as theirs. Jack's grip on the gun tightened a little. These people were not cautious. They were confident. No, not just confident.

Arrogant. The one in front was huge enough to stand out even from a distance. Something heavy dragged behind him, scraping a faint line through the sand. Beside and behind him, the others followed with the loose, careless posture of people who were used to seeing others back away before they even arrived. It was not the confidence of people who expected a fight. It was the confidence of people who expected surrender. No one under the tent spoke. Even Cass had stopped joking.

The air seemed to tighten as the five figures drew closer. The five figures were close enough now to make out their shapes. Marlin's face changed.

"It really is them." Elias looked at him.

"You know them?"

"I do." Marlin swallowed.

"They're well known around this stretch of wasteland." He lowered his voice and spoke quickly.

"The big one in front is Barak. People call him Bonecrusher. He's terrifyingly strong, and that hammer of his can cave in a man's skull." Jack looked over and saw the giant at the front dragging a massive hammer behind him. Marlin pointed next to the thin figure beside Barak, then to the woman in scrap-metal armor.

"The skinny one is Scar. They call him Hyena. He's the craziest of the lot. And that one in scrap armor is Valkyrie. Queen of Scrap. She's their leader. Don't underestimate her. She's crueler than most men out here." Marlin went on, "The hunched one is Mort. Locksmith. Another killer who won't blink before cutting someone down. The one keeping to the side is Jagger. Scorpion. Scout and assassin." Jack tightened his grip on the gun. Barak stopped a short distance from the tent.

His gaze moved over Jack, Elias, and the others, and a crooked smile spread across his scarred face.

"Well, well." His rough voice carried across the open ground.

"I thought this stretch of wasteland had already been picked clean."

"Turns out there was still a nice fat piece hiding out here." He brought the heavy hammer down from his shoulder and slammed it into the ground. The dull thud rolled across the wasteland.

"Listen up." Barak lifted his chin.

"Hand over the food, the water, and anything valuable. Do that, and I might give you a quick death."

"Make me come over there, and I promise it'll be ugly." He grinned and slowly raised the hammer again.

"I count to three." Just then, the system's voice rang out in Jack's mind.

"Emergency mission issued."

"Mission objective: eliminate the current raider threat to the convenience store."

"Mission failure: this system will say goodbye to you."

"Mission success: you may designate one existing supply item inside the convenience store and convert it into an unlimited supply."

"Mission countdown: twenty-three hours and fifty-nine minutes."