Room to room, Kyle went until he had cleared them all, but came up empty handed. Finished, he proceeded back to the main bar. He peeked around the corner to see Frank talking with one of his men. “I don’t give a shit, find him and kill him, now!”
Kyle stepped out, his rifle pointed at Frank and hollered, “Frank, it’s over, all your men are dead. I’m here looking for a woman named Portia.”
Frank quickly raised his shotgun and pointed it at Kyle. “You’re a fucking dead man. You know that? The second the Republic finds out you attacked this place, you’re a wanted man.”
“Too late, I’m already a wanted man, now answer the question. Where’s Portia?”
“I don’t know any cunt named Portia!” Frank screamed.
Frank’s lone man, stood next to him behind the bar, his hands fiddling with something.
Kyle turned and shot him in the neck then trained the rifle back on Frank. “I said don’t move.”
Frank watched in horror as his man, gagged and choked, his neck squirting blood. The man stumbled back and fell down. “You’re a fucking dead man.”
“Where’s Portia?”
“I don’t know anyone named that!” Frank yelled back.
“She’s not here, she went south on the truck,” Candace said appearing from the red door.
Keeping his muzzle pointed at Frank, Kyle looked at Candace. “She’s not here?”
“No,” Candace answered fearlessly walking to Kyle and opening her hand to show Kyle the ring. “She gave this to me and said if someone came asking for her, this would prove she was here.”
Kyle glanced at the ring for a second then put his attention back on Frank. “Candace, go gather all the ladies, get everyone ready to leave.”
“Really?” she asked.
“Yes, you’re free.”
Candace turned and headed towards the Red door.
“You stop, Candy, don’t you dare get the girls. You’re not going anywhere!” Frank barked.
Candace stopped and turned to face Frank. “Fuck you, Frank!” she barked back holding up her middle finger.
Frank’s face turned red. He pivoted the shotgun in her direction.
Kyle was still trained on him and took the opportunity to fire. Several rounds blasted out of his rifle and struck him in the torso.
Frank reeled back, his finger pulling the trigger of the shotgun but the blast went into the ceiling.
Kyle ran towards him, hurdled the bar and found Frank on the floor coughing up blood. “You look like shit, Frank.”
“Fuck you,” Frank gargled.
Kyle let his rifle hang from the two point sling, he removed the axe, held it high then swung down, burying it deep into Franks’ face. “I told you I might come back.”
Candace rocked the swaddled baby in her arms and talked to her softly, “You’re so cute, yes you are.”
Seeing the tender and nurturing side of someone was a welcome reprieve for Kyle. Candace had agreed to take the baby girl, her gender finally identified. It was a happy ending for the child and for the girls from the Rusty Nail.
“You’re free, where will you go?” Kyle asked.
“Frank had a ranch, five miles up the road. We’ll go there for now. I know there aren’t any guarantees but we at least have a chance,” Candace said.
“That’s true,” Kyle said.
“I can’t thank you enough. Your friend said you were the hero type, I guess he was right after all,” Candace said flanked by twenty-two women and girls.
“I’m not so sure about that. You’ve got enough vehicles and weapons?” Kyle asked.
“Yep, we’ll be fine. And you’re sure you know where you’re going?” she asked referring to the Generate encampment.
“Yeah, I know it’s not exact coordinates, but I’ll find it and hopefully, Portia.”
Unable to resist, she leaned in and gave him a hug, “I hope you find her and if you do, tell her Candy did her part.”
“I will,” he said touching Portia’s ring that now hung from a leather strap around his neck.
“If you ever find your way back here, you have a place to stay, I circled it on the map.”
“Sounds good. I’ll say goodbye then,” Kyle said and hastily walked away. He wasn’t a fan of farewells so he always tried to shorten their duration.
“Goodbye… Kyle Grant,” Candace said.
Portia sat up and opened her eyes. Around her was open desert. “Where are we?”
“You have been out for a long time,” Jacob said.
Portia rubbed her eyes and stretched. “This is so barren, dry. Are we in Arizona?”
“That’s what it used to be called, it’s now called Sinaloa. How nice they name their new country after themselves,” Jacob quipped.
“I’ve never seen the desert,” Portia said.
“Nothing here, makes for a boring drive but the bonus is we can go a hundred miles per hour,” Jacob said.
Portia leaned close to the windshield and gazed towards the southern horizon. “Is that blue sky?”
“A sliver, we get more glimpses of blue the further south we go.”
“I’ve seen it, just not all that much in Prime. I remember the sky was always blue when I was a kid, now it all seems like a dream, like the gray has been there forever.”
“I hear the sky is a deep blue in Paradise,” Jacob said.
“I can’t wait,” Portia said drawing her knees close to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.
“Listen, when we get to Puerto Penasco, we won’t have much time to board the boat and leave,” Jacob warned.
“Why?”
“On the account I lied to our cartel contact.”
“What did you tell them?”
“They allowed the boat to dock in exchange for a large food shipment from The Collective that I’m sure we’re not going to get. Tommy, a Leviathan who was doing a job in The Collective, was bringing a truck load to us. I haven’t heard from him so I can only assume he’s dead.”
“Why don’t we wait?”
“It’s best to leave, get on the boat and set sail before the cartel knows we’ve lied.”
“Okay, whatever you say,” Portia said reaching up towards her neck to play with the locket that normally hung there. When she recalled it was lost, she sighed.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“You look upset,” Jacob said.
“I had a locket from Kyle but it was stolen. I’m just sad that I don’t have anything of his except memories.”
“Be happy, that’s more than most have. At least you had a decent life.”
“The Collective was horrible,” Portia countered.
“I know that’s your perspective but look at the world you were almost sold off into. Whatever you dealt with paired in comparison.”
She thought about his comment and concluded he was right. “Sorry, I’m just being a baby, I miss Kyle and just wanted to have something of his, something tangible.”
“It’s just about perspective, that’s all, soon enough we’ll be on our way to a new home.”
“I’m excited,” Portia declared.
“Me too.”
Just when Kyle thought he was lost he saw thin wisps of black smoke rising from the adjacent ridge line. He looked at the map and determined it had to be the Generate camp.
Unable to take his truck, he parked it in a thick massing of tall shrubs. Like he’d always done, he disabled the truck by removing the battery and several spark plugs. He could never be too careful.
The hike to the camp was a haul, after first descending five hundred feet, he made that climb plus another three hundred by his estimates.