The Copper Horse #1 Fear (6 page)

"Oh, yeah?" Reuben stopped on his way up. "Ya know what? I'll do the breads myself! Ya get yer fuckin' sleep! What do I care?" he said, determined to make it on his own. He had the boys to help. He would manage! Why wouldn't he?

Why not indeed? Reuben hadn't thought twice during the argument he'd had with his father, when he'd claimed he could take over the baking. The results proved him so very wrong. He coughed and squeezed his eyes shut to prevent the stinging smoke from getting in. When he opened the oven door, it released a cloud of hot air right into his face. He tried to quickly take the burned bread out, but the rush backfired, and he accidentally brushed his arm over the scorching door. The crate of fresh rolls dropped into the dirt before he could say Jack Robinson.

"Fuck!" he screamed, staring at the loaves at his feet. Defeated by the oven. How well it summed up his miserable life. "Tom, help me 'ere!"

The other helper was glazing the next batch on a nearby table. Oh, well. Maybe the loaves did turn out quite horrendous, but at least on time. And if Bylondon was as short on food supplies as Jacob claimed, people there wouldn't be too fussy anyway, would they?

His helper ran over to him. "Ya hurt? I 'ardly see anythin' in this smoke!"

"I know, I know. Just put your sleeves over your hands and push the bread on the tray."

"Where is Mr. Wark anyway?" asked Ben, scraping soot off the loaves as if he were playing the fiddle.

"Ill in bed." Reuben gritted his teeth. He wondered what time it was. He couldn't let the boys know that he was leaving. "We're almost done here. Just help me get them upstairs, and you're done for the day," he said, making sure nothing more was burning in the oven. They lost so much time on recovering the previous batches that he would have to leave the last one to his father.

"What? Only this much?" Ben opened his eyes wide.

"Yeah," muttered Reuben. "I'm busy today. With other things."

Fortunately for him, none of the helpers asked any more questions.

"I'll put out the fire." Toby ran upstairs to fetch some water, while Ben quickly gathered the loaves into a large basket. Reuben felt like he was betraying them, but he didn't have it easy either, and in the end, everybody had to make their own way in this world.

"I'll pay ya for tomorrow, too." Reuben walked up into the shop, silently counting how many of the loaves and pies that they had made today could be considered edible. From the look of it, he could easily gather two rucksacks from all the batches made this morning. Fortunately, the pies happened to turn out just fine, so he decided to have one for breakfast while waiting for Jacob.

He let the boys leave, and before putting all the breads and pies into the rucksacks, he packed them in tins to prevent them from absorbing the foul smell of the sewer. He took one more deep breath, looked back at the mess they'd left, and walked out. He didn't even want to look back. If Bylondon was not as bad as everyone thought, maybe he could start a life there.

It was the peak of summer and the sewer reeked even worse than Reuben's father by the end of the month. Reuben's only hope was that Bylondoners wouldn't pay much attention to the stink when he fed them fresh bread. The corridor was wet and so hot that Reuben was sweating through his shirt. He thought of his father, who must have woken up by now. Finding the store empty, with a crowd of hungry customers knocking at the door, no less, had to shock him. Now that Reuben thought about it, maybe he should have taken his most prized possessions along. Then again, he didn't have much anyway.

"Come on now, Ruby!" Jacob was well ahead of him, his bowed silhouette clearly visible in the light of a lamp he was holding.

"I'm coming!" Reuben's voice was muffled by the gas mask. He didn't want to dwell on how bad the smell would have been without it. His eyeballs stung from the putrid gases, as if someone was pinching them. "You be quiet. You don't know when one's gonna come." Reuben meant the zombies, but he didn't want to say it out loud in these circumstances. They were on pins and needles as it was.

"Sure, we're gettin' closer to the woods. That's where they come from, right?" Jacob stopped in his tracks to look back at him.

Reuben caught up and lifted the small lantern he was carrying. Its light gave the sewer walls a yellowish tint, which made the stone walls look like they were made out of rotting teeth. Reuben had mixed feelings about even having the lantern, as the glow could attract the attention of an undead lurking in the shadows. Without it, they could get lost or even worse: fail to notice a zombie lying on the ground.

"Yes. I'm pretty sure they must fall into the wells or open passages in the woods. There's not many of them around, but you still have to be careful."

"Maybe ya should go first?" Jacob moved toward him in a squatting position. He seemed calm and relaxed, just like he always did. Since Reuben could remember, Jacob had been one of those people who could keep their cool even in extreme situations, like police raids, for lack of a better example.

"Fair enough," he whispered, mildly annoyed, and made his way to a corridor on the left, leaving Jacob behind.

"Yer sure ya remember the way?" Jacob's shoes were making loud, metallic sounds with each step he took, the unnecessary noise putting them even more at risk of attack.

Reuben frowned but didn't comment on it. "Yeah, we're getting closer now. I memorized the whole thing."
As much as I could.

"Ya know what? Give 'em to me, I feel safer with'em in my pocket." Jacob gave him a wide smile, and his eyes glimmered in the faint light

Reuben pursed his lips but reluctantly handed over the blueprints and continued the march. "Just stop walking so loudly."

"Can't. My shoes're strongnailed."

"Tell that to the undead." The tiny hairs on his back stood up when he heard a groan somewhere further on in the corridor. All sound behind him stopped.

"What the fuck was that?" hissed Jacob, grabbing at his arm. It looked like he'd finally lost his cool, and Reuben felt oddly superior.

"What do ya think?" Reuben pulled out a large knife he'd stolen from the bakery. For a brief moment, he couldn't force his feet to move, stiff with fear, but in the end, he took the first stride toward the sounds and their way out.

He felt the warmth of Jacob's body on his back, the man keeping awfully close to him as the growling sounds became louder. A move to the side caught Reuben's attention and he froze with the realization that it was the muddy water in the sewer channel. Small, rounded waves came one after another out of the pitch-black tunnel.

"Fuck! The thing's in the shit!" he uttered, backing up against the wall. His temples were pulsing like mad, body alert.

Jacob rummaged through his clothes, trying to fish out the gun.

"Must be deep here." Reuben's eyes went wide when a rotten, swollen hand gradually emerged from the debris like the fucking Loch Ness Monster. A bang ripped through the air, filling it with the smell of burnt gunpowder, and Reuben realized that Jacob had fired into the reservoir. A splash of dark mush shot up in the air, spraying them both. Jacob let out a high-pitched cry when two crooked arms emerged right before their eyes.

"All the bloody zombies in the area heard that! You out of your mind? Fuck!
Run
!" Reuben dashed forward, set on reaching the exit before they had a dozen monsters at their heels. He stopped at the sound of more gunshots, and his breath caught in his throat.

"Get off me! Ruby!" Jacob screamed for help as he fought for his life in the brown pulp.

Reuben let out a groan but turned back without hesitation, falling to his knees by the side of the stream of feces and reaching out to Jacob. His whole body was tense, ready to run or fight for their lives. He wouldn't hesitate to use the knife he was clutching in his other hand.

"Don't let 'im bite ya!" he yelled, though they both knew the danger of zombie teeth.

"Fuck! Get 'im! Get 'im!" Jacob's voice echoed in the half-rounded channel. Dirty water splashed all around and Reuben had to be careful not to get it into his eyes. In the shaking lantern light, he could see the monstrous head, its jaw hanging wide open, still filled with the brownish mush as it attempted to take a chunk of its prey.

Instead of trying to pull Jacob out, Reuben put all of his strength into one powerful stab, which hit the zombie where it once had an eye. He had hoped they wouldn't meet any undead, but faced with the danger, Reuben acted on instinct. Now though, with the immediate threat eliminated, his body was strangely numb, as if it couldn't take fear anymore and had simply given up. The shit-diving zombie growled, still as lively as it could be, and Reuben repeatedly jabbed it with the knife, failing to notice when the undead stopped moving. Everything became a blur in the yellow glow of the lantern.

"Hey! Hey, Ruby!" Jacob's voice brought Reuben out of the amok, and he was struck by the realization that the monster had drowned. All that was left of it were a couple of air bubbles on the surface of the disgusting pulp. He had been stabbing mushy water for the last couple of moments. "Ruby?" Jacob tried again, shaking Reuben's arm to snap him out of the stupor. He'd already crawled out onto the dry passage and was now eyeing Reuben with a frown.

Reuben shook his head, shutting his eyes just for a moment to regain his calm. "You not bitten?" He finally looked up at Jacob, whose chest moved as if his heart was banging straight into his breastbone with each beat. He smelled terrible, covered head-to-toe in mush, and having a gas mask of poor quality didn't help with the odor.

"No." Jacob finally exhaled, scraping the excess dirt from his face with one hand. At this point, Reuben couldn't care less that he was just as covered in filth.

"Let's just go. If there's more in the area, they'll be here any moment. They're hungry fuckers in the sewers!" Reuben stood up, though his legs felt like jelly. Now he was even happier that he'd secured the loaves inside the tins. There was a chance at least some of them would still be edible once they emerged from the sewer.

"Fuck. How far away are we anyway?" Jacob seemed to try and get back to his usual cool, but the tremble in his voice was a dead giveaway.

"We're almost there." Reuben sighed as they turned into yet another corridor. His whole body was tense and anxious. For him, Bylondon was virgin territory, and it wasn't like he could go back to the bakery after what he had done today. Jacob followed him in silence. Contrary to their initial worries, they didn't encounter any more undead, although a lost frog caused a false alarm once. Finally, they entered an even narrower tunnel, which, to Reuben's knowledge, should lead them out of the sewer.

Reuben let out an excited yelp when he spotted the steel railings of a ladder. He rushed toward the round cover above him without a minute's thought.

"Ya sure it's this one?" Jacob's voice echoed in the tunnel.

"Yeah, just come on. I'm sick of this place!" Reuben opened the latch with a crowbar, just to close his eyes and protect them from blinding light.

Suddenly, someone grabbed his hand, helping him up.

"Are you Ruby?" asked a pleasant, male voice.

"God, yes!" He smiled underneath the gas mask, noticing there were three other men in sight. This had to be Jacob's contact, which meant they'd found the right exit. His eyes stung with relief when his feet touched solid ground. The man who helped him up patted his back before kneeling down to look into the sewer. There was nothing out of the ordinary about him apart from a horizontal scar running across his forehead, clearly visible on his bald head.

Now, that he was safe, Reuben could take his time to examine Bylondon, and he found it somewhat disappointing. They were in a small backyard framed by low, wooden huts with thick, straw roofs. There hadn't been any rain for a few days, so the naked earth they stood on was very dry and dusty. It was quiet, so unlike the inner city.

"Good work, but ya smell like a happy swine." An older man came closer with two young ones. The whole party looked strong and well fed.

Reuben took off his rucksack and squatted, checking if the bread was alright. The men were strangely intimidating, so he greeted Jacob's emergence with a wide smile of relief.

"Oh, fuck, Jake! You're even worse!" said one of the men.

"We got into some trouble down there, but all's good," said Reuben as he got to his feet, studying the old man, whom he assumed was the leader.

"And I bet you were excellent." The aged man patted Jacob's dirty shoulder in a gesture of appreciation and then wiped his hand on a grey handkerchief.

The group gathered around them, and only now, in bright daylight, could Reuben see how bad Jacob looked. He was covered by dark brown residue and drenched to the bone. The snuff-colored wetness clung to his skin, creating sickening, uneven patterns. It made Reuben want to vomit the rat-meat pie he'd had for breakfast.

"He was." Jacob straightened his back. "He's got some experience."

"Ah, that'll come in handy!" chuckled the oldest man.

"How com—," Reuben didn't get a chance to finish his question, because someone pulled a sack over his head and yanked his arms back, despite Reuben's instinctive struggle. He didn't know what was happening and why.

He managed to rip his arm from the grip and hit the attacker with his elbow, only to get a blow to his stomach, so strong that he fell over, breathless.

"He has some spirit," he heard right above his ear.

He could see some light through the thread, but not enough to recognize what was happening around him. The thick fabric left him light-headed, and he stiffened at the clear clatter of coins. All of a sudden, it occurred to him that no one had even mentioned the food. He felt a wave of nausea, all his senses screaming in fear. Jacob must have planned this all along.

"Fuck you!" He bucked up again, only to be forced to the ground with a push of the knee that knocked all air out of his lungs. "I've done you no wrong!" he mumbled, breathless. He couldn't believe it was happening to him.

"Feisty. The public will love that!"