RADIO

chapter 13

"Are you sure that's right? It looks unstable as fuck," Dibbs asked, peering over at Rider's creation.

"Yes I'm sure," she responded.

Dibbs couldn't help but look with curiosity at what she was doing. Rider was screwing in a piece of the exoskeleton of the prosthetic. She tightened a few gears and kept having to nudge the spring back in place, “would you hold still?” She huffed.

“I am” Monty replied, reflecting her tone.

She continued to hold the machine still and finally placed the last peice on. It was a small sheet of aluminum to cover the gears. "There," she breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Wow!" Monty gasped when she stood it up. The prosthetic was a deep shade of bronze and the foot was almost bird like. It had sharp tallons at the bottom and the spring was open for all to see.

"We can make modifications as we go but this is the test version, if I get this right then I'll be able to make it stronger," Rider smiled proudly. She then grabbed the robotic leg and hopped down from the cart, setting it on the dirt covered ground.

Monty shuffled over to try it on with the help of Tris, Dibbs and Jane. He climbed down onto the ground, holding onto the edge of the wooden cart tightly. Rider helped attach the test run of the prosthetic on with a belt attached to strap that buckled around his waist.

"I know Duchess said you can't have it on just yet but it's worth a shot," Rider mentioned, buckling the strap around his waist.

He stood there with his arms out, trying his best to balance. Monty then took a step forward. Hesitantly he put pressure on the mechanical limb, ignoring the dull ache that came shortly after. He lifted his foot and took a step forward.

A smile grew on Rider's face and she bounced on her heels happily. Monty became excited and started to try and walk around but the spring slipped out, shooting out of the limb followed by what sounded like a gunshot.

Everyone jumped and covered their head to avoid the bounce of the spring.

Rocky started to bark and growl at the air from the sudden noise.

Monty fell on his ass painfully and held his leg, "agh that hurt like a motherfucker," he groaned.

Dibbs came to his side and sighed, "Rider it didn't work, help me get it off," he requested.

But Rider didn't respond.

Instead she stood there. Blood dripped from her chin and she took her glasses off. "Uh oh" she gasped, examining the broken lens.

"Shit, Rider!" Jane gasped, running over to her.

"I-i can't see," she realized.

"Rider," Dibbs spoke, trying to keep her from panicking but failed.

"Holy shit," Rider gasped. Her breaths became shallow and heavy, the blood starting to pour from her left eye. She went to grab the edge of the boxcar to hold herself up but failed and ended up falling onto her ass.

"Get Duchess," Tris ordered.

"Why? She's out right now," Dibbs said.

"She can help get whatever’s in there, out! Before she ends up dying would be nice!" Jane butted in, her words full of panic, climbing into the train car and looking around for her radio. She eventually found it and immediately tried to contact Duchess.

—

The air was still and the sun beamed brightly from behind some clouds.

Wanderers roamed around but the three teens avoided them. "These guys are absolutely disgusting," Haze scoffed, watching as a wanderer walked into an empty store.

"Tell me about it," Everett muttered.

Duchess searched the drawers and cabinets of the small pawn shop. "Hey look," she gasped, pulling out two medical boxes. "It's my lucky day!" she chuckled to herself.

"Hey," Everett called, grabbing both Haze's and Duchess's attention. He leaned up against the wall and gestured over to the window beside him. The both of them ducked down and shuffled over to the window, peering through the dusted glass.

"Have you seen one of those before?" Everett asked.

They noticed a rather large wanderer. Instead of it being oversized, it was two merged together. "What the?" Duchess frowned.

"Ah yes, like the apocalypse couldn't get any better! No let's just merge the fucking things shall we?" Haze grumbled, he loaded the pistol that the two of them shared. He aimed at the Siamese twin of a wanderer and shot one on the face.

It turned to us, still moving.

"The fuck?" He muttered.

"What are you doing? You're gonna bring them all over here!" Duchess whisper-yelled.

The wanderer started to quickly scramble over to them. "They're not dying," he said.

He tried to shoot at them again as they reached the door but it didn't appear to do anything.

The merged beings reached and clawed for him. He fell back and kicked one of its legs, making it crack and bend backwards then collapse. It almost fell onto him but Duchess grabbed his arm dragging him away.

He scrambled to his feet and she took his sword that was at his side, slamming it down in-between the beings, separating them easily. Gallons of steaming blood and puss spewed out onto the velvet carpet floor.

Everett then shot the beings in the throat, finally killing them.

There was a moment of silence and Duchess dropped the sword. She turned away and tried to run from the scene but her legs became weak and she dropped down into a doorframe, trying to hold onto the white boards.

She gagged harshly but due to her lack of eating in the past few days nothing came up. "That's fucked up," Everett said, scrunching his nose.

"You okay?" Haze asked, rubbing Duchess's back.

She could only shake her head. Her body trembled and Haze helped her to her feet. She leaned against the doorframe and held a hand in front of her eyes to try and block the tears that arrived.

Haze glanced back at the dead bodies and forced his eyes shut. "Let's go, there's not much here anyways," Everett said, encouraging them to get away from the grotesque scene.

They walked out of the shop and saw the small crowd of wanderers that were heading towards the shop.

"I fucking told you," Duchess cursed, looking over at Haze.