Sunburn21:07 Oct 01 2020
Times Read: 509
Sunburn
Chapter One: The Searcher
Jed worked the gearstick fast, staring through the windscreen and metal lattice covering it.
He feet worked the clutch and accelerator, gunning the buggy and it's big wheels, powering the vehicle down the slope and across the old river bed.
There were rusting hulks of ships to avoid, as well as other detritus left by man and, Jed steered himself around them at speed, careful to avoid a crash, as any mishap here would surely lead to his death.
It had been years since the burning had begun, as climate change, ozone depletion and a sun that had become hotter and destroyed much of the moisture that had given the earth its Life.
Now he bounced across the dry earth, driving ahead, his mind occupied with just one thought, 'would he find her?'
Jedediah Wilson was on a mission, to find his sister and, his heart beat fast. His heart pounded and sweat trickled down his scalp, as he twisted the steering wheel one way, then the other, in an effort to avoid any and every obstacle before him.
His hawklike gaze looked ahead, to his destination and the land of his birth.
He was slim and wearing simply a brown dust coat and combat trousers over long boots, a large brimmed hat and a neckerchief round his neck; worn so as to cover the lower half of his perpetually sunburned face.
At his side he carried a sidearm, a relic from another time, a heavy long-barrelled navy colt. The pistol was an anachronism; yet it was useful to him, as Jed carried a kit with him, that enabled him to make shells for it. And, through library-work, he had learned how to make black powder.
So it was, in this apocalyptic landscape he travelled, Jedediah was one of the few with a working firearm. Yet the Navy Colt was not the only weapon that the man carried, as another session or so, of library-time had enabled him to learn the basics of swordplay, so now wore a sabre at his side.
He had endured the heat and survived. He had encountered the riders, who brought fear and death to survivors living on the wasteland, that he had travelled through at speed; only stopping twice, to rest and refill his vehicle.
On the second occasion figures had approached his camp, as he had sat before a small fire, that heated his tin of baked beans, another one containing coffee, the grounds of which had been dried and reused several times.
He had turned as he drew his pistol, all-in-one motion. But he had not fired.
The men who had walked toward him were dishevelled, unshaven and carried homemade weapons, that all looked deadly and time had stretched taut, as their passage continued onward.
Seconds passed, then he had holstered his pistol and stood.
Jed had driven far and he was tired, yet adrenaline provided him with the impetus he needed to act.
There had been three, who had sought to encircle him, their faces full of hatred and he had looked to each, as he drew his sword, seeing no need to waste a bullet, on any of them.
He had swept his sword in a wide arc, splitting his adversary in two. And as guts fell, the man had simply looked to his comrades growling.
The two had ignored him, as Jed walked on and swirled his blade through the air, its fine edge ripping through material and flesh easily, causing blood and bone to erupt from thighs and arms.
Then as the two had fallen and died, he had swung round, breathing heavily.
Jed had not sought the death of another, but he would survive, he reminded himself. After all, he had a mission, to find his sister and deliver her from those who had taken her from their home, back where he had travelled from.
Serenity had been where they had thought they were safe. That was, until they were not.
And now he drove on, his hands moving fast as he moved the gearstick, his feet alternating between one and the other, as he manipulated the clutch and accelerator pedals.
He had miles to go until he reached the cliff-edge, that loomed before him and irritation bit at him, as he thought of Marielle, who had been held now for over six months.
Thoughts of her blue eyes and corn-yellow hair caught him out, as he manoeuvred the small vehicle across the rough terrain, its passage made easier as he found flat ground.
Finally Jed drove into then across the last of La Manche and toward the Strait of Dover, where he sought the purchase of the burnt solid land, which his large tyres managed easily enough.
At the top of the rise he killed the engine, then left the buggy, coat swirling, as the hot stifling air buffeted against him.
He drew khaki binoculars from the bag at his side, bringing them to his eyes.
The way ahead seemed clear, yet he knew full well that appearances could be deceptive and, for a brief second there was the taste of baked beans in his mouth and the memory of the three men he had needed to kill, so he could be here, now.
Jed was momentarily content, having achieved the first part of his objective and felt that for a little while he could rest, so as to be ready the for the next phase, Marielle's rescue.
He donned a pair of shades so dark they appeared black, then reached into the back of the buggy, hands seeking for his makings. Finally his roll made and lit, he stood quietly, enjoying the acrid blue-grey smoke, surveying the vista before him.
The journey would be long and, the short night was oncoming. He needed to eat, so sought his small stove and, a tin of beans. He almost regretted the lack of variety, but recalled the stack he had found with a grin, it'd been a fine find indeed; baked beans and peaches.
There were few tins of peaches left now. Jed liked peaches. But, he needed to eat and, beans were a good source of protein, he reminded himself minutes later, as he stirred them in their tin, over the flames, a tin of coffee at its side.
He would eat and sleep awhile, before starting off again, before first light.
And that is what should have happened...
Chapter Two: Peaches & Dream
His face was covered by his hat and Jedediah Wilson ignored the sound; or appeared to. It had been a crack of a twig breaking.
He chose not to rise. He chose not to draw and shoot.
Instead, Jed looked listened carefully to the silence, finally locating the source: it wasn't far he knew.
“Before you go any further,” he drawled, “I figure you'd best know I can kill you within a heartbeat...”
He spoke in a loud whisper, that knew would carry easily in this quiet of night.
And then, there was a long pause. Silence.
Evidently the interloper had decided to stand still, he assumed.
Carefully Jed lifted the brim of hat and he stared ahead, seeing a shadow across from the dying embers of his small fire.
“You can die now, or live a long life,” he said in a loud whisper, then added, “the choice is yours.”
Another twig cracked, as the figure took form and turned him.
“Please, please don't kill me...” a small young voice called out, quivering with fear.
“Come forward,” he instructed, pushing his hat away from his eyes, so as to watch the figure walk toward him, shuffling its small feet.
“Please, please don't kill me...” the youngster had sniffled, nearing him.
It was a she, he realised; a young she, dressed in a grey loose coverall, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and well-worn boots.
“Here,” he told the girl.
Then as she neared, he noticed the girls face in the light from the dying fire.
Freckled, with red hair showing from beneath her hat, her eyes were dark and tearful, as she neared him.
She had two of his tine, one in each shaking, sweating clenched hand.
“Please don't kill me...” the youngster had sniffled, again.
“Why not,” he queried softly, “you're stealing, from me.”
The young girl cried long tears and she stammered her explanation, for Jed:
“I want to feed my Momma.”
Jed sat up, feeling very empty all of a sudden.
“You hungry girl?” He quizzed, trying not to sound too gruff.
The girl had nodded and, he made an effort to smile. It wasn't a warm smile he knew, but conveyed enough encouragement to entice the youngster to tentatively walk forward.
He sat up, allowing his blanket to fall to his knees.
“Why not sit down and give me those. We'll eat,” he suggested.
Nervously she had sat nearby, crossing her legs, beneath her robes.
Jed had stoked the small fire, opening the cans, pleased to find that the girl had picked out both beans and peaches.
He had cooked the beans and told the girl, “We'll share the peaches after.”
The girl had cocked her head, at his confident air and proffered a nervous smile.
As he stared he spoke, “I'm Jedediah Wilson little-un, what's your name?”
There was quiet. Silence that threatened them both, so she spoke.
“My name's Leaf,” she told Jed, in a quiet, so-quiet voice.
He leaned forward a little, ignoring the beans a moment and offered a hand, which the girl had looked at with apprehension.
He left the hand on offer, until she had accepted it and shaken his, with grand formality.
“I'm pleased to meet you,” she told him, in a voice that showed that she did not actually mean what she said.
She sounded as though she felt worthless and Jedediah didn't like that, so continued to speak as he offered Leaf, a plate of beans and a spoon: “And I'm pleased to meet you Leaf. Go on, take these and eat...”
She had done as bid and, for the second time in several hours he ate, this time in a sort of companionable silence, that the two of them seemed to relish, as the new fire flickered shadow flames across their warm faces.
He found that he enjoyed watching young Leaf eat and idly thought of times gone, when he would he with others, like this.
But, that had been then. Since then he had eaten alone. Until now... And, to his surprise, Jedadiah Wilson found himself smiling.
“So, tell me about your mother?” He asked in the awkward silence that followed the peaches, which both of them had relished: 'so juicy, so sweet,' he mused, trying to recall whether he had many tins left, after this one.
Chapter Three: in Harm's Way
“I left home,” she had begun in a little voice, “while Momma slept. She'd been sleeping for a long time and, I figured she'd need to eat when she woke...”
Her words drifted away.
And suddenly the girl seemed so very small and, all-of-a-sudden he wanted to hold her, comfort her and make the little girls next moment warmer.
Softly he asked, “Is your home nearby.”
Leaf nodded and smiled wanly: “Over there...” She told him, pointing.
Jed pushed his blankets aside and rose, rolling his bedroll, “Well, let's go see how things are Leaf, alright?”
He walked to the buggy climbed into his seat and opened the passenger door for his young friend; “C'mon little-un.”
Leaf entered and sat in the seat, next to the taciturn stranger, who already had sweat dripping down his forehead, as the early morning sun rose.
“Which way?” He asked.
“That way,” she assured in a trembling voice, pointing to the left.
Jed started the motor and directed their travel, following the path indicated.
“Why is the engine so quiet?” Leaf asked, curiously.
“Solar power,” he answered absently, checking the way ahead, as he did so.
The nights were short and the days long, with danger aplenty for any hardy enough to exist at this time, which was why those of Serenity had endured, having endured much together, forging ties that allowed them to aid one another, in a way few other villes succeeded in doing.
Yet then, the raiders had found the community, taking what they wanted and, the sister of Jedadiah Wilson.
As he drove, swerving to avoid the deserted remnants of another time, he asked his passenger, “Have you heard of raiders attacking communities, both here and over the river?”
Turning to look at him, her watery eyes streaming, Leaf replied; “Yes.”
His curiously piqued, “Can you tell me more?”
“There were many of them, the last time I saw them. But Momma looked after me and kept them safe, as they rode by... Then we'd come out of hiding...” Leaf told him, her memories bringing forth more tears, as she recalled all that had happened that night.
The raiders had attacked many homesteads on the plain and, the valley beyond; killing many that night and burning all that stood in the path.
Suddenly Leaf drew her knees up to her chin and begun to rock back and forth, her body racked by the memories that tore at her.
Jed drew the buggy to a halt, turning toward the young girl tentatively.
“You alright?”
He didn't place his hand on her shoulder, that was too much. His presence here was part of his obsession and, this young girl was part of her Now and he felt as though he were intruding.
He was and, it was a welcome intrusion for Leaf, who needed his company.
Jed started up the engine again, “C'mon honey, let's get there soon; before the sun guns get much higher in the sky.”
So saying, he gunned the motor, his feet working the pedals, his left hand busy with the gearstick, as he steered the little vehicle ahead.
“Let's get you home honey,” he drawled, wishing it were his sister he were talking to for a moment.
Chapter Four: The Longest Day
Arriving at the small white building, surrounded by a small fence, Jed turned to Leaf and asked of her, “This is where you came from?”
He glanced to his left to see the girl nod, as he continued to drive toward the small homestead.
Finally he parked, emerged from the buggy and made his way to the passenger side and opened the door for his young friend.
“You stay here,” he assured Leaf, “I'll just go see how things are.”
The little girl looked up to this stern looking man and nodded, offering him the vestige of a smile.
Jed turned and made his to the small home, opening the small gate, that creaked and nearly fell off its hinges.
He walked up the path, ignoring the scorched yellowed grass, that would have been a verdant green lawn, before The Sunburn had begun.
The front door of peeling yellow paint was open, the room ahead dark and, Jed walked forward slowly, cautiously.
He pushed the door further open, pausing for a millisecond as it creaked, then suddenly his nose was assailed by a stench that was quite overpowering.
Inside the front room was in gloom, as the little light that entered did so by the gaps left in the drawn curtains.
Yet it was the smell that caught Jedediah Wilson's attention: it was a smell he recalled from his return to Serenity, after the raiders had visited.
It was the smell of death.
So walking forward, Jed was already aware of what he might find, as opened a door to his right, a door that kept within the fetid smell which permeated the dark room.
Jed walked across to the threadbare curtains which he parted, before turned too find exactly what he expected to, the young girls mother dead in the middle of her large bed, eyes open and staring.
He walked forward and gently closed the woman's eyelids, prior to leaving the room, his gut churning at the prospect of informing Leaf. As it transpired the girl realised, as he walked toward her: She realised, drew her knees to her chin and wept, rocking back and forth.
Jed opened the passenger door and knelt before Leaf, resting a tentative hand on her left shoulder;
"Guess I don't have to say anything..." he said in a soft voice.
"I think I already knew," she muttered through her tears.
At a loss for anything to say, Jed stood and turned back to the house, which he through a lit match into.
When it did not catch straight away, Jed threw another match, then another.
Then as the fires grew, he walked back to the small vehicle and his new companion.
"Can you recall which way the raiders went?" Jed quizzed Leaf, as he got behind the wheel.
Chapter Five: Trouble Along The Way
Jedadiah Wilson steered his buggy across the scorched grassland, toward hills where he felt assured that the raiders had headed.
His belief was proven correct, when he came upon first one burnt out homestead, then another and a witness.
Jed had parked by the gateway outside the pile of embers and cautiously got out of the buggy, patting Leaf's shoulder.
"I'm just going to have a little looksee," he explained.
Walking toward the remains of the blackened homestead, Jed heard moaning.
He walked among the ruins,listening carefully, for the sound, that issued from nearby.
Finally he knelt, kicked aside the detreus and saw the handle in the floor. He grasped at it, then pulled a small hatch-door up.
Jed peered down into the dark and called out, "Anyone down there?"
"You come back to finish me off?" He heard a man call back, in a quaking voice.
"Am just here to help, if you need it," Jed clarified, as he began to climb the step ladder downward, into the cellar, a torch held between his teeth.
Steering the beam around the cellar, he found the figure huddled in a corner, his arms wrapped round his thighs.
The man was in tatters, bloody cuts across his arms and face and, he was shaking.
"Please, please don't hurt me..." he begged, with watery bug-eyes.
"Fella, thats the last thing I want to do. I want too find who did this," Jed told him in a soft voice, as he knelt down.
"Raiders came here and burned us all down, killing everyone. I escaped..." the man explained, tears pouring down his cheeks.
"Who led them?" Jed asked.
"A wild-eyed red haired man, in leather. His men called him..."
"The Colonel?" Jed queried, already knowing the answer he'd hear.
"Yeah, that's right," the man retorted.
It had been The Colonel who had visited Serenity and taken his sister and thus prompted his journey's.
"Jedadiah Wilson is my name fella. So might I know yours?"
"Ivan. My name's Ivan," the man answered.
"Well Ivan how 'bout you come upstairs with me and have some water and share a can of beans, with a small friend of mine. Or maybe a can of peaches?" he said, a light grin on his face.
Ivan nodded.
Chapter Six:True Grit
"I can't bring you with us Ivan," Jed told the man, as he joined Leaf in the buggy.
The man had been fed and banaged and was thankful for that; but he was still scared.
"I wouldn't want to go with you two, even if there was room for me, not where you're going?" Ivan answered in turn.
"I have a sister to find and find her I damn well will..." Jed muttered, as he turned on the buggy's engine.
He gunned it, heading for the hills and the trail ahead, as Ivan looked on.
"Truly that man has true grit," he muttered.
Chapter Seven: The Spoilers
The sun had scorched the earth and, powered the buggy, through the solar panels on the vehicles roof.
Months had passed since he left Serenity, heading into the scorched wasteland,looking for The Colonel, who he sought to kill, for all that he had perpetrated.
His pistol, sword and Leaf were companions to Jed, on his journeys, across the burned and scorched lands, trailing the raiders path of destruction.
It was an arduous time for Jed and Leaf, as they travelled, beneath the broiling hot sun, constantly onward.
Finally they came to the town of New Frontier.
Chapter Eight: Adventures End
Atop the tall walls surrounding New Frontier several men stood, their bows aimed toward the little vehicle as it approached.
"Things might get rough Leaf," Jed told the young girl, patting her on the shoulder.
He powered the engine, steering the vehicle towards the large main gates.
At his approach arrows rained down.
He turned the buggy around, throwing dust up, as he steered maniacally, his gun in hand.
"This is going to get bumpy!" Jed laughed, as he drove the little vehicle toward the gates.
"Now?" Leaf asked.
"Yes now," he told her, pleased he had brought the girl with him.
She had come far with him and now was being helpful, as a slew of arrows headed toward them.
Leaf passed him the dynamite, the fuse already lit and, Jed turned the buggy, just before he hit the gates. He threw the dynamite.
The gates did not stand the massive explosion and blew inward, with a large thud.
Jed steered the buggy around and drove into New Frontier, shooting every man he saw, into a bloody pulp, with high-explosive bullets.
Finally he came to main street, where a series of small shacks faced one another, with a man standing in the middle, a man that Jed knew.
Wearing a black leather waistcoat, well-worn and stiched leather jeans, the powerful looking man wore a vivid scar, beneath his shock of red hair.
In his right hand he carried an automatic, his left hand holding Marielle at the end of a leash, that connected with the collar round her neck.
Jed brought his little vehicle to a halt and, threw his door open, rolling onto the dusty mainstreet, his gun aimed toward The Colonel.
"Little man, you came a long way to die!" The raider snarled, a millisecond before Marielle bit his muscular arm.
She clutched at him and tore at his flesh with her teeth. Then as he turned to strike her with his gun, Jed shot at his legs, blowing then clear away in a shower of blood and bone.
"It's over," he told his sister, as she clutched at him and, The Colonels men left them alone, leaderless and very confused
"And we're going home," he told her with a broad smile, swinging his sword, which he brought down hard, on the chain that held her attached to the raiders wrist.
Chapter Nine: The Long Voyage Home
Turning away from New Frontier the little buggy drove at an easy pace, Jeds eyes fixed ahead, as he headed toward The Channel.
It had been months since he began his journey and now he was content, to be with his sister, Leaf curled up on the small back seat, asleep.
Jed had sought and then found... Serenity was a long drive away. But it was a long journey he relished; his long voyage home.
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