Baby's Journey Begins

The wallpaper was hideous. Ancient, peeling in multiple locations, Baby could only just make out the repeated imagery, a small yellow flower. A marigold, perhaps? She didn't know much about flowers; they weren't really a thing anymore. The extended Winter, though largely over, had lasted more than long enough to put an end to a large portion of the Earth’s flora.

The border post was a necessary part of leaving the domain of the Queen, all those passing through having to go through a visual inspection, checking for bites. It was more formality than strictly necessary, particularly for those wishing to leave, but for a new arrival it made sense to be as careful as possible, given the weight of numbers of humanity within the city. The stability the Queen offered coupled with the promise of regular food and hot water was a powerful draw.

The process for leaving was far less irritating than entering the Queen’s domain, however; simply strip for a visual inspection for bites, then you’re on your way. Generally. This time, though, Barbra had to wait while the guards checked a small group of Newcomers. No two of them were alike in appearance; one older man a seven-foot-tall purple skinned fellow, stood next to him was a young woman that stood perhaps as high as his waist. Her skin was dark, her eyes a piercing, icy blue. Barbra wondered what the worlds that they’d come from were like, smiling at the pair and their earthling guide as they were led in for inspection. A third, small and dark like the woman but clearly stronger than he appeared, laden as he was with their equipment, scurried after them.

Then there was a group of Dead to deal with. They still wandered by every once in a while, seeking fresh, warm, human flesh. Barbra itched to go out and deal with them herself, but the guards weren’t having any of it; it was their duty, and they would see it done as best as they were able. No, it didn’t matter that Barbra was the Sheriff’s Deputy and that she was on a mission; so were they. So, she sat, waiting with Postie, staring at the horrendous wallpaper.

“Not to worry, they shall be done directly,” The older gentleman’s voice had a soothing quality to it. “We’ll be out before lunchtime at least.”

“We’d better be. Otherwise, we may as well wait ‘til tomorrow before leaving.” Postie laughed gently at her cynicism. “I have to find this Alfred lookalike.” She pulled out one of many copies of the sketch that she’d made of the severed head found in the box addressed to her on her first day of work. “I need to know how he knew I was going to be there; I was sure we’d kept that quiet. Only my new boss, my mother and my friend Laura knew about it.”

“Mum knew, too.” Laura piped up, entering the room. “Sorry, I just heard that you were leaving. So soon? You only just arrived!”

Barbra stood quickly, hugging her dear friend of many years. Laura was a decade or more older than she, but that had little bearing on their friendship. The Princess grinned under her green fringe, her blue eyes twinkling.

“Something came up.” Barbra told her friend. Laura snatched the sketch out of her hand.

“Who’s this?” She waved the paper around. “What happened to him?”

“Just somebody I need to find.” Barbra was loath to tell Laura any more than necessary. The Princess had other things to deal with.

“I’ll come with, then. I’ve got nothing better to do…” Laura’s voice sounded certain.

“You sure? What would Her Majesty think?” Barbra was troubled by the thought of her friend getting into trouble with her mother. The Queen’s temper was legendary.

“Fuck her. Who cares what she thinks?” She grinned impishly. “Besides, as soon as I heard you were leaving, I cleared it with her. She’s not happy about it but she knows you’ll take good care of her precious little girl.” The sarcasm was so thick it nearly dripped from her chin. “Can’t let you go off on your own, can I?”

Postie cleared his throat.

“I suppose you can come along, then.” He clearly didn’t like the idea but knew that he was outnumbered. He also knew the Queen’s temper; he’d faced it once or twice before. “I should go and greet the rest of our guard.”

He stood, striding out the door with purpose. There was the sound of a muffled conversation, some laughter, then the conversation continued, fading away to silence in short order.

Barbra took that opportunity to fill her friend in on what had happened yesterday with the box and Alfred’s head, showed her the note, told her of her suspicion that the Cult of One might be involved somehow, or at least one of the members of said cult.

“So, let me see if I’ve got this right,” Laura said once Barbra’s exposition was finally over. “We get to search for somebody that… what, decapitated his twin and sent you his head? Man, people are fucked up these days.”

Barbra nodded her agreement. A knocking sound came from the door, which Barbra opened to one of the guards.

“You guys are free to head on out whenever you feel like it, now.” He grinned at Laura; she was very popular amongst the guards. Many of Adelaide’s guards had known and respected her father, who had run another sanctuary for survivors for nearly a decade before he just walked out into the Wastes one day. Nobody had seen or heard from him since. “You going out too, Princess?” Laura nodded. The guard showed the pair to the courtyard where Postie and the rest of the guards awaited them.

Three people sat around the cart, loaded with deliveries and mail bound for the north. Two men, one woman, all scarred and battle-hardened. The woman was missing an ear, one of the men had a scar twisting his face into a snarl, though his manner was perfectly friendly and respectful. The third was so heavily scarred that it was almost impossible to define any other features. A bullet had grazed his cheek, there were numerous blade wounds covering his face and neck. He also had lost his teeth at some point, or else he’d come from the Empire far to the Northwest. It had been a novel way of limiting the spread of the Dead, and it certainly worked in its own way. Brisbane was safer than many places, but you had to lose your teeth if you wanted to live there permanently.

Chained to the front of the cart stood a dozen Dead, hooded and temporarily placid. Postie removed the hoods from each and Barbra noted that their mouths had had large rocks jammed in place that they continued to attempt to masticate while staring hungrily at the older man as he continued down the line.

“They need to keep the teeth in, apparently, or they just don’t follow along.” Laura told her friend. “It’s like they know they can’t eat, so they don’t even bother.” A part of a tooth broke out of the mouth of one of the Dead and fell to the dusty ground as she expounded.

“Rocks, though?” Barbra shuddered at the thought.

“Not how I’d do it either, but we’re not in charge here.” Laura tapped the contract that they’d both had to sign. Like it or not they were locked in for the entire journey. Barbra hoped the search for Alfred wouldn’t be too severely inhibited by the deliveries, but the pair wouldn’t be back behind the Rainbow Walls until several weeks had passed.

One-Ear and Snarl were both friendly with the fresh guards, greeting them both warmly enough, though Toothless just spat to the side and moved to the head of the column of Dead to encourage them to move towards him, tugging the cart along with the force of their motion.

Several hours travel later, they stopped for the night. Barbra and Laura, as the newest members of the caravan, had hooding duty. It needed to be done by two, as there were two lines of Dead. Starting from the rear, they had to gently but swiftly slip the hood over the heads in unison. The instant they were hooded they simply went dormant.

Joining the rest of the group around the campfire, Barbra sat next to Postie and asked if he had any clue where this ‘Alfred’ might have been. He smiled sadly.

“If only my memories were as fresh as yours, young lady.” His voice was distant. “The fresher ones are, unfortunately, much farther removed in time from our current predicament.”

“What do you mean?” Laura asked as she sipped on the soup that Snarl had just handed to her, sitting by her friend.

“I’m an old man. Most of what I choose to hang onto is from before all… of this.” He waved an arm, the gesture encompassing the entire world. “This road that we’ve parked alongside should have traffic on it, even this late at night. The deliveries that we’re taking nearly two months to complete should be over and done with inside a couple of days. My mind just wants to go back to before it all, and the more of all of this I experience, the more I just want to let it.”

Barbra nodded, not truly understanding and knowing that she never would. Barbra knew that there would always be a great gulf of understanding between those that lived lives when the dead stayed dead and those born after. Laura was silently staring into the fire, a morose expression on her face. Her soup lay on the ground beside her, steaming slightly still. Toothless stared at Barbra across the fire. The scars on his face made reading him almost impossible.

“Finish up and get to bed, girls,” One-Ear told them in a no-nonsense tone. “You’ve got the pre-dawn shift.” That meant watch and breakfast. Barbra nudged Laura, then moved to her bedroll.

Being nudged awake gently by Toothless, Barbra took position with her friend on top of the cart. They sat back-to-back and kept an eye on the horizon while they chatted softly. Nothing moved in the pre-dawn gloom, though in the distance the occasional distinctive shriek-howl of Dingoes could be heard.

Dutifully the pair cooked a large pot of porridge for the rest of the group. Spooning out the breakfast gruel they received grateful grins from each hungry traveller. At least Barbra assumed they were grins. It was hard to tell with Toothless and Snarl; their scarred visages deformed any emotion they attempted to express.

“Well now, we’ve got a full day’s travel ahead of us. We have an unusual delivery to make first, so we shall have to go out of our way a little bit.” Postie told his guards. “There is a Farm a short way to the Northwest, that is our first destination. We should be able to get a comfortable bed for the night at least!”

With that, Baby and Laura began removing the hoods from the harnessed Dead, Postie made his way to the fore to attract their attention, and the journey truly began.