Deadman

The rest of the trip was quiet. I heard a few random gunshots whistle by, saw a group of about six heavily mutated dogs with second jaws hanging below their first trying to run after me, but there was nothing I needed to stop for. When Fette came into sight, the sun was coming up, and the city was coming alive as well. I could hear the roar of engines, smell the exhaust starting to cloud the air, and saw a cloud of dust indicating the first group of riders driving out of the city. I saw the riders approach, tattooed in intricate patterns to indicate their rank, and gave them a nod of acknowledgement as they passed, which they returned. I’d found the Khan’s men to be much more agreeable than the average waster since I’d earned his favor. Inside the city I rode down a few of the narrower side roads until I came to the garage that was provided to me.

As I approached a mechanic, whose name I’d never learned, stepped out of the garage to meet me. He was covered, as all mechanics were, in piercings made of screws and bolts that reflected his rank in the same way that the tattoos did for the warriors. It was not uncommon to see people with a mixture of both, as the Khan’s personal guard tended to be since they were also the mechanics for his personal vehicles.

“I thought I recognized the sounds of Betty’s engine.”

I hopped off the bike and moved it a few steps towards him, allowing him to take the handlebars and move it into the garage.

“I’ll have her fueled and tuned up. Will you be taking her or leaving her when you go?”

“Taking her,” I responded, then silently scolded myself for referring to it as a ‘her’. I didn’t like to give tools names, but something about the mechanic's attitude toward Betty was oddly infectious.

He nodded. “Have her ready for you by the end of the day then. Just bang on the door if you can’t find me.”

I tipped my hat to him, and walked deeper into Fette, towards the Khan’s palatial tent. It was a structure of steel and leather, large enough to admit multiple cars or wagons at once. The walls and roof were decorated with runes painted using old motor oil. The tributes had not yet been let in, and several wagons were gathered with the tithes they paid to the Khan for their protection and relative independence. One of the Khan’s personal guards saw me and gestured for me to come to the front, then wordlessly gestured me inside.

I gave him a nod and entered, heading straight for the seat of the Horde, where the Khan held court with his wives and made decisions that impacted all those within his territory, and many far beyond it. He was seated on a raised stage, at a table with about six of his wives. They were eating a hearty breakfast with plates piled high with meats and vegetables. Hearing my approach, the Khan stood up from the table, wiped his face with the back of his hand and leapt off the dais, offering his hand for me to shake. I did so, and was surprised by the strength of his grip. He was a massive man, with broad shoulders, who nearly reached my height. No human’s grip was capable of making a deadman wince, but the Khan’s was close.

“Donovan. What brings you here?” he asked.

“One of your settlements, Jasper, was attacked by raiders in an armored bus. I’m investigating the raiders who did it, and wanted to collect any information that’s been gathered so far.”

The Khan took his hand and stroked his beard. “Jasper as well. That makes five targets struck. This is by the deadzone you live in?”

I nodded. I wasn’t surprised that he knew, from our last conversation I’d come to realize he had far more eyes and ears throughout his territory than people realized.

“Did you manage to stop it?”

I shook my head. “Killed maybe half of them. Wasn’t able to stop the bus from leaving.”

He nodded. “Come, sit.” He gestured with his neck for me to follow him as he leapt back up onto his stage and went back to his seat at the table. I leapt up as well, and sat at the opposite end from him, in the only empty seat. One of his wives handed me a plate, and then slowly I was passed each dish to take some of. I took a sampling of each, and tore into it. It was good, not as flavorful as the heavily radded meats I preferred, but likely the best a non-deadman could hope to have.

The Khan waited for me to begin eating, then gestured to the wife to his right. She was a middle aged woman, with dark hair beginning to have streaks of gray. “Carmilla, brief him.”

She nodded, took a slow deliberate sip of something dark and steaming, and started. “We had five settlements hit. Each of them are not typical targets of raiders due to their being more interior to our territory. They were all hit at around the same time, and with the same method. Armored bus full of female raiders, smashed through defenses, laid down fire, and stole everything of value they could. Daphne, numbers?”

Another woman, this one younger with blonde hair, paused halfway through bringing a hunk of meat to her mouth. “Each bus contained roughly twenty to thirty raiders, each settlement lost as many as twenty three or as few as seven in the case of Jasper. The value of the goods taken varies, but a breakdown of their effort expended indicates that they gained value in three of the five attacks, and the value gained outweighed their expenditure.”

Carmilla nodded and gestured to a third woman, this one had half of her head shaved and a few tattoos indicating she was a warrior of the Khan as well as a wife. “Fen, raider information?”

She ran a hand through the hair on one half of her head and sighed. “All women, members of ‘the widows’, no known central location, but they’ve been slowly ramping up all year. This was the biggest leap so far though. Based on the attacks that happened before they should not have that type of gear. Buses all fled in a northeastern direction, but nothing has been found by the patrols out that way.”

Carmilla nodded and took another sip of her drink. “That’s all we have for now until our patrols or other sources turn up more information.”

I was impressed, that was all solid information, some of which I myself hadn’t been able to gather. I’d always thought that the Khan’s wives performed more of a role than the one of warming his bed. Everytime I’d entered his tent one had been helping him with vehicles, administration, or fulfilling other roles. Maybe his marriage was just a way of maintaining a good talent pool.

The Khan broke some kind of bone and sucked the marrow from it. “Thoughts?”

“They were given those resources from the outside. Couldn’t have salvaged them themselves.”

The Khan nodded, stroking his beard. “Agreed. Who?”

“My theory? It was the Iron Horde.”

He stopped stroking his beard and leaned forward, giving me a slow discerning look. His wives all stopped eating, and were looking from me to him, and back.

“Armored buses already within your territory? I know that STAR has a few, I saw them recently, and maybe some of the larger raider groups too, but getting them that deep into Horde territory would take people from the inside. Between that and the fuel cost… Fette is the only place that makes sense to start looking.”

The Khan picked up his drink and held it for a moment, thinking. “A traitor?”

I nodded. “Likely more than one.”

“An inventory and a purge then. An accounting for all time, materials, and people. Then we quarter all involved.” The Khan’s expression didn’t shift even slightly as he spoke and he punctuated by taking a sip from his cup and beginning to tear at some of the meat on his plate again.

One of the wives, the only one at the table that hadn’t spoken, but who I recognized as the one who’d given me the letters to deliver to Pott’s, Sara looked at the Khan. “That could be dozens of people. Perhaps a more targeted approach? One that may yield more information in the long run?”

He paused, then looked at me. “I will give you three days to determine who was involved, starting today.” He chewed for a moment. “You should start at the pipeline. Determine if any fuel is unaccounted for.” He gestured at the table. “My wives will be made available to you.” He stopped to allow himself a small smile . “Within reason.”