A Winter Wasteland (Robotics and Necrotics Book 2) Read online

  On the other hand, well… Death.

  Survival Of The Fittest

  Erile pressed a switch on his helo-gun, and the calming blue veins morphed into an angry red.

  "Well, if they want to get to you and your son, they'll have to get through me." He said, and then began marching through the snow toward the cabin. Aisling and Saythe hung back a few seconds, long enough for Saythe to speak.

  "I like him, mommy. Why can't he be my dad?"

  The poor child didn't understand how painful his question would be, but then again… Erile was a nice guy.

  Aisling sighed for a moment and pursed her lips. "… I only just met him, Saythe. He's a nice man, and you're right, I like him too." She reached over to gently ruffle her son's hair. "But it takes a long time to fall in love. And I only like him as a friend." She cast him a slight smile before she looked up at Erile's back. She was glad he stuck around. It was nice to feel protected for once. To feel like she didn’t have to be strong all the time.

  "Now come on, let's go." She took a step forwards. "Stay behind me. You know the drill."

  With that, she began trudging through the snow behind Erile. "… You’d better be careful." She said after a second. "You don't know who's in there. Or… What's in there."

  "I know that I've got a gun from the future, and any man that aims a shotgun at my face is going to have his dick fried off."

  That… That was the most blunt and prudent he had been since Aisling had met him, and it was interesting to hear him curse. His voice was nice and kind, in contrast to the words that spewed from his mouth. It was kind of ironic.

  Eventually, they reached the front door.

  Erile, obviously not in the habit of the apocalypse, knocked.

  The bastard knocked. Geez, he's hopeless.

  A few minutes later, the door inched open, revealing what looked to be a man in his late forties. "Who the hell are you?"

  Aisling sighed at the sound of the voice. Ew. Men.

  "… We're trying to get to the NYC area." She spoke after a moment. "We're just passing through. We need a warm place to stay for the night away from the Aurans." She groaned internally. Good God. She knew exactly where this conversation was going to go. It was where it always went. "We won't do anything, I promise. We just need someplace secure and we'll leave as soon as morning comes."

  She glanced to Erile somewhat nervously. "… I- I assume this is the only place around here with proper shelter."

  The man hadn't seemed to notice Aisling before, but now that he saw her, his entire demeanor changed. He opened the door wider, to reveal a rather ugly, putrid man.

  He was, indeed, in his late forties. He had a protruding beer gut and wore a stained white tank-top. His hair hung long and greasy, and his eyes were small and shrewd. He smiled at Aisling, and his teeth were the most disgusting shade of yellow any of them had ever seen.

  "I'd be happy to let you stay, little lady." He said. His voice was thick, gross, and disgusting, and made Erile's blood boil. Saythe hid behind his mom, obviously afraid of the man in front of him.

  "But it's gonna cost you." His eyes began to wander over her body in the most uncomfortable way, pausing in places where he had no business staring.

  And that's when Erile smacked him across the face with his gun. Hard.

  The man seemed to recoil, and then fumbled for the pistol holstered at his belt. Erile was faster, however. He pressed the point of his gun to the man's head, and the disgusting creature froze. When Erile next spoke… The malice and anger in his voice was different than anything Aisling ever would have guessed possible. This kind man, this man who was nice to her son and gave her food for no reason. He was capable of this kind of malice.

  "Men like you make me sick." Erile spat, and the man recoiled. "Can't you fucking see that she has a son with her? A little boy, who was obviously born in the apocalypse, and you make those kinds of remarks in front of a child?"

  The man didn't seem to care that there was a pistol pressed to his head. "Oh, who cares if she's got a kid. Sluts like her probably have tons of them these days, considering sex is how they pay for ev-"

  The expression that crossed Erile's face at that moment was so severe, so violent, and so terrifying, that the man stopped talking on his own accord.

  "You know?" Erile said, his voice now scarily calm. The man's eyes widened, as he obviously knew what was coming. "Men like you are worse than the Aurans. I won't deal with anyone talking about my friend like that."

  And then… He pulled the trigger.

  Aisling gasped, quickly clamping her hands over her son's eyes so he wouldn't see the man fall to the floor, dead. She bit the inside of her lip and studied his corpse before she looked back up at Erile. It had happened so many times, but it never failed to make her feel slimy and gross. She always wanted to shower after meeting some sleazebag like the man in front of them. She sighed, and shook her head as she glanced away.

  … Erile kind of reminded her of Shaun. He was always so overprotective- but this was different. No romantic feelings lingered with either of them. It was just… A mutual trust.

  "… You didn't have to do that." She said after a second. "I would've been able to take care of myself. I would've enjoyed kicking his teeth in."

  Erile glanced back to her, his upper lip twitching. "I know you would've. But I really don't like guys like him. Plus, it's illegal to do that where I come from. It's kinda nice to have a place with no rules."

  The three of them stared at each other for a good ten seconds before Aisling finally spoke.

  "… Come on." She sighed. "Let's drag that asshole out into the snow away from the cabin. He's gonna stain the carpet." She glanced back towards the cabin and started trudging towards it. She really didn't even want to touch him.

  He kind of smelled like he would sweat ketchup.

  The man had been absolutely fried, considering the helo-gun was set to its highest setting. Erile had subsequently flipped the switch once more, and the veins returned to their calming blue. He dragged the man out of the house and out into the woods, far enough away that if Aurans found him, they wouldn't smell the three living humans in the cabin.

  Contrary to the man's appearance, it was… Nice. Rather well put together and organized, except for the living room. That was a mess of beer stains, sweaty socks, shirts, and who knows what else.

  The thing that alerted Erile the most, however… Were the three pairs of boots next to the door.

  "There are more of them. They'll be coming back." He hadn't put away his gun yet, and kept it in his hand. He locked the door and began covering all the windows, which caused the place to be draped in a dreary blackness.

  The fire in the fireplace, however, raged on.

  "You're right." Aisling nodded, furrowing her brows. "I'm gonna take a look around the rest of this place. Saythe, stay with Erile. Don't go near the windows." She cast her son a stern look before pulling out her hunting knife and walking around the small cabin, looking from room to room. "Good God- this is gonna be a fucking nightmare to deal with." She sighed.

  Dealing with people sucked. She didn't like it before the apocalypse, and she liked it even less now.

  "I'll see if there's anything else around here." She said. "Shout if you need me, okay?"

  Erile nodded his head, but he couldn't help but think about those boots near the door.

  They were women's shoes.

  That meant a wife and a daughter, most likely. Erile growled to himself. To think about a man with a wife and a daughter, hitting on Aisling like that… He put his head down, allowing the red anger to slowly ebb away from his eyes.

  Saythe walked up to stand next to him, and touched his sleeve. Erile looked down to him and smiled. "Hey, sport. What's going on?"

  "When are you leaving?"

  The question caught him off guard, especially since Aisling walked into the room just as he said it. He looked in his bag for a moment and pulled out… Well, if the soul-catcher w
as beautiful, then this… It was literally made by the Gods.

  He seemed to check a dial on the side, and said quietly, "About five days."

  "… Five days?" Aisling said after a moment, furrowing her brows. "I- what do you mean?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. "… Where are you going to go? We're in the middle of nowhere. It's not like you can go anywhere."

  … Truthfully, she didn't want him to go. He had been protecting them. Actually giving a shit about her and her son.

  It was a lot more than she could say for a lot of people in the hellhole they lived in.

  Erile held up the device in his hands, a sad smile crossing his face. "Five days until this is recharged. I don't belong here, Aisling. My time is somewhere far away, and I made my peace with giving that up when I first traveled. There is never a guarantee that you'll be brought back to where you left from, especially with that bastard in the sky of yours."

  Saythe was beginning to cry, even though he tried his best to hold back the tears.

  "Truth is, I can't stay. They know this isn't my place. But I… I can promise that I'll get you to your parents' house before I go. After that…"

  He put the machine back in his bag and turned away from the both of them, continuing to inspect the cabin.

  "I have to go."

  Saythe ran to his mom, pressing his face into her shirt and beginning to cry. He didn't want Erile to go. He was the only one his mom ever liked.

  "… Right." Aisling sighed, gently putting a hand on Saythe's back to comfort him. She'd have a talk with him later that night, when she knew it was safe for them to do so. She wasn't sure what the other people who lived there were like, but if they were living with that sleazebag… They could only be one of two things. And it made her blood boil. If that sicko was treating his daughter the way her father treated her, she would be very, very glad he was dead.

  "… Shh, s'okay." She murmured, gently leaning down to hug Saythe. "Come on. Why don't you help me take a look around?" She offered him a smile, and pressed a kiss to her son's nose.

  "… Oh, Erile." She fumbled her pocket open, standing up as she took something in her hand and held it out to him. "… This is yours."

  The bracelet.

  Tears formed at the corners of the man's eyes as he took the bracelet back from her. "I… Thank you." He said, turning away before she could see him crying. He made his way into another room, leaving Aisling and Saythe alone.

  "Why does he have to go, mommy? Why can't he stay here?"

  And then, another thought seemed to cross his mind.

  "He can take us with him! He can get us out of the apocalypse!"

  Aisling sighed, kneeling down in front of Saythe. "… The world is a lot bigger than just you and me." She lightly brushed his hair away from his face. "I'll talk to him, but… Sometimes people have to go." She gently took her son's hands in hers. "And I know it's hard. But he has an important job. And I don't even really fully understand it, I-" She paused.

  "Listen, people are always going to come and go." She tilted her head to the side. "All you can do sometimes is wish them the best, and hope you see them again soon. But for right now, we'll take everything day by day. There's no use in worrying about the future if we have to focus on the present right now."

  She glanced towards where Erile had gone. She wanted to make sure he was okay. "… Why don't you go look in the bathroom?" She asked. "See if there's any medicine. Do you remember all the names of the ones I told you were important?"

  Saythe nodded his head, muttering something about penicillin or ampicillin and then making his way to the bathroom.

  Erile was in the study.

  It was full of books, and he was sat at a desk, a bottle of scotch in his hand. It was unopened, but there was a glass next to it. Erile heard Aisling come in and smiled, beckoning her over.

  "Alcohol." For a second, she was scared he would take a drink. Her father, of course, had been a terrible alcoholic.

  But then Erile threw it to the corner, seemingly very surprised it didn't shatter.

  "Always hated the stuff."

  "Yeah, me too." She said after a second. "My dad was an alcoholic. S'why I took mom's last name. Aisling Grace." She said her name with a bit of a lilt, waving her hands in the air sarcastically.

  Grace.

  No. It couldn't be.

  Was she… The Aisling Grace? Daughter of Willow Grace? The technological genius who basically pioneered the rising of the FNA?

  "…You doing okay?" She asked after a moment, furrowing her brows. "You looked kind of upset when you left earlier. I wanted to make sure that you were alright." She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "… If you need to talk, I can listen."

  Erile's ears perked up when he heard that name, but he didn't say anything. He knew that it was significant, but at that moment, it didn't matter. He was in a haze that he didn't know how to come out of.

  "Aisling, you asked me once why I said I didn't want to have sex with you." He still wasn't looking at her. His beautiful eyes were focused on the wall in front of him, his hands clasped upon the desk. If she were to look, she would notice that his knuckles were a ghastly white.

  "I told you because I didn't want to leave you with a child, alone to care for it in a world without light." His voice was introspective, and then finally, he turned to face her.

  His eyes were sad.

  "That might have been part of the truth, but it's not the whole truth. The whole truth is because that always happens." He gestured over to the bathroom where Saythe was raiding the cabinets.

  "I always have to leave, and well… I've taught myself not to feel any sort of attraction. Because doing so always breaks me."

  "… It's okay." She said after a moment, and then took a step forward and gently wrapped her arms around him. She was hugging him from behind, and as such gently rested her cheek against his back. "I get it. I do, trust me." She sighed, giving him a light squeeze. "It'll be hard to explain to Saythe, but… I'll try. He'll be alright. Please, don't feel guilty." She sighed, biting the inside of her lip. "You've already done so much, I…"

  She was quiet for a moment.

  "Where are you going to go?" She asked. It wasn't accusatory, no. It was curious. "… Could you bring us with you? I mean-" She sighed. "I don't know- this shit is all over my head."

  Erile smiled a bit, and shook his head sadly.

  "If I knew that you weren't instrumental to the future, then maybe I could attempt to get the Gods to let me bring you along. But… You're Willow Grace's daughter." Wait. He knew who Willow Grace was?

  "You inherit her business when she dies, and you turn it into something even greater than she could have imagined. I… I know you have a husband, but for the life of me, I can't remember if his name is Shaun or not."

  … What was he saying?

  "All I know is that you get out of this. Alive. I can promise you that."

  "I- you know who my mother is?" She furrowed her brows. "How do you know who my mother is?"

  She hesitated for a second, and then shook her head as she squeezed him a little tighter. "You promise to visit at some point then?" She asked after a moment, sighing as she closed her eyes. She didn't want him to go, but… She understood. "Maybe when this has all blown over. Then you won't have to worry about getting bitten by anything. Or eaten alive by hordes of the undead." She sighed.

  "… You're a good man, Erile." She said softly. "I want you to know that."

  Erile didn't turn to look at her. He merely let her hold onto him, and frankly… It was the best thing he'd ever experienced. No one had ever held him in such a comforting way before, and he wished he could hold onto the feeling forever.

  But he knew he couldn't.

  "I… I can't control the time I come out." He said, his voice sad. "Only the Gods decide that, and considering the God of Dark controls when I come out in the Rith in most cases… I can't promise that I'll be able to see you again."

  He finally
turned around, and threw his arms around her neck. He stood and held her close, not romantically, but in a way that made her feel secure. Protected. He wanted her to feel that way around him.

  "But I can promise I'll jump between times until I either find you or die."

  She hesitated, and then hugged him back tightly. She closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest. It was so, so nice to be hugged by someone her own age after so long. She hadn't realized how starved she was for human affection until he had hugged her back. Even if it was just out of comfort, just out of friendship, it was still something. And it was still nice. "Well tell our dumb God that he’d better spit you out around me again or I'll come kick his ass myself."

  She sighed, relaxing as the tension slowly eased out of her. "… Is my mom alive? And my dad? Not Marcus, Nych. The guy who raised me, not that alcoholic fuckwad." She asked hesitantly.

  Her mom and dad meant the world to her, and she… Well, she really needed the comfort they brought. She needed someone else to help her raise Saythe, and she needed to make sure that no matter what, he'd be shielded from the horrors of the world.

  Erile looked to her with desperation. He wanted to be able to tell her that both of her parents were alive, but… He didn’t know about Nych.

  “Your mother is alive. She becomes incredibly influential in the world after the Auranis ends. Nych, however… I just don’t know.”

  Erile stopped abruptly as he turned toward the door. It was cracked up a bit, and standing there with a huge, stupid grin on his face…

  Was Saythe.

  "I told you that you would fall in love. Come on, just tell me. I can take it."

  Erile chuckled. "Hello, Saythe."

  Aisling snorted, rolling her eyes as she buried her face in Erile's chest. She shook her head, gently pulling away from Erile even though she kept her hands on his arms. "Nice try, kiddo. But your mama is a strong independent woman who doesn't need a man." She snickered somewhat. It was nice to hear her laugh. "As much as you think it's gonna happen, it's not going to happen." She turned towards her son.

  "… Did you find anything?" She raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I don't know when those other people will be coming back. But we should be ready for when they do." She sighed nervously. "I'll stay up if they're not here by the time night rolls around. We should probably eat for right now, though."