Book 5 - Chapter 7 - Copperhide's Family (2/2)

Copperhide or Stonepetal had no solution to their predicament. They’d tried everything, but food was scarce. This was the wastelands, after all, so sustenance was hard for everyone. Another day alive was good enough. But it didn’t escape them that the amount of food they were bringing back was decreasing by the day, and with it their strength. It was a vicious cycle. Eventually, Copperhide wouldn’t have the strength to hunt and they would die.

No one knew what would happen from one day to the next, even in a community like this. You had to have the strength to protect yourself. Copperhide was urged on by a strong will to survive, something every wasteland felt through their whole lives.

The next day, before dawn.

Copperhide heard steps outside their shack, drawing closer. He instantly went on alert and all grogginess fled his mind. It was a skill anyone who lived in the wastelands learned. He went to the door and pulled it open, only to find a dozen armored soldiers waiting outside.

These were the demon leader’s own men. They were terrifying killers in their own right.

“We’re the Governor’s men,” one of the soldiers said, identifying himself. “We heard you were hiding a child here and didn’t want him to undergo training.”

Copperhide was nervous. “No! You heard wrong!”

But they had already looked into the shack and saw the child huddling inside. “Under the Governor’s new rules, every child under fourteen must submit themselves for training. We’re here to enforce his orders, so please give us your child.”

Copperhead angrily reached for his cudgel. “That demon wants to eat my boy!”

“What are you talking about?” The soldiers looked at one another, puzzled. “That’s a ridiculous rumor. The Governor’s gathered these children so we can train them. We see to their growth and make sure they’re fed. This is a good thing we’re doing. You need to trust us.”

But Copperhide was no fool. No one got anything for free!

The Talon soldiers had begun to run out of patience. This wasn’t the first place where they’d encountered trouble like this. Better to just force the mutant’s submission. “Our patience is limited. Bring the child out now, or we’ll go in and take him.”

Copperhead looked them over. These weren’t typical wastelander thugs, they were soldiers from Skycloud. Average Skycloud warriors were bad enough, much less this lot which trained under General Skye. Any one of them were the cream of the crop. If they really wanted to cause harm, Copperhide couldn’t stop them.

“I’ll go!” Ironspike strode forward.

Copperhide looked at him in fury and surprise. “What the hell are you doing?! Get back here!”

“Maybe they’re telling the truth. I saw Blackswine the other day and he said the exact same thing.”

Copperhide and his wife weren’t sure what to do. Blackswine was another child who lived nearby and had a friendly relationship with their boy. He was an orphan who survived by collecting scraps. They knew he’d been snatched up early when they were first starting to take children. Were the ones that demon captured really still alive?

Were the rumors he was eating their hearts untrue?

Ironspike had chosen to ignore his parents. He made a decision to follow these soldiers. If he stayed in that shack eventually he would die of hunger. Better he saw the truth of these rumors himself.

So terrifying were these rumors that Copperhide never made an effort to see if the story was real. When they went with the soldiers to deliver Ironspike and saw the place for themselves, their faces were stiff from disbelief.

The doors were etched in simple wasteland script: Greenland Institute.

It was the name for an entire campus where hundreds of children were housed. There weren’t any walls, nor guards, nor anything to make it seem like they were being forced to stay here at all. They arrived around morning and saw soldiers cooking up gruel from enormous pots.

Lines of children were waiting obediently for their portions. The inviting scent of food made Copperhide and Stonepetal dizzy.

All of this… put together after just a few days? Copperhide stared wide-eyed at this paradise. All at once, the nasty rumors about their new leader were put to rest. Stonepetal was sold when she was assured that her son would be given all the food he needed for free every day. And what’s more, he would then be trained and made strong by these mighty soldiers.

With the truth in plain view, Stonepetal immediately started shouting abuse at her husband. If that idiot hadn’t paid attention to those outlandish rumors they’d have found this out much earlier! All these days of hunger and fear for nothing!

Copperhide didn’t lose his temper this time. He also regretted listening to the stories. All of this only made him more curious about their new leader. What sort of person was he really? How was he so different from the ones who came before?

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.