Black Market Merchant

Murky river water lapped the pilings under the dock as the distant humming-crackle of fires burning in the distance were the only sound to be heard as everyone braced themselves. A shapeless dark form moved closer from within the blackness of the doorway, but it was unclear as to what it was and even more so as another column of smoke drifted in the way. Lisa held out her hand to signaling for everyone to wait.

“Don’t shoot!” An old voice called out. Then from the dark entrance an old man leaning heavily on a cane came into doorway.

Lisa let out a sigh of relief. “Mr. Ulster?”

Seeing that the cause for alarm was just another human made everyone more relaxed. One of the men from the Skull even snickered seeing everyone else’s reaction to the false alarm. Yet no one bothered to indulge his action and instead focused back to the smoke-filled town.

“Yes, it is I.” Mr. Ulster answered as he shuffled out onto the dock. Then turning back, he called, “Tom, hurry up out here. The smoke is getting worse.”

From the dark entrance Tom, wearing a blue bandana around his mouth and lightly tinted goggles, came jogging out. In his hands were two suitcases that looked full. Lisa surmised what their intentions were.

“Mr. Ulster?” Lisa asked. “Are you planning on leaving your shop?”

Mr. Ulster sighed and nodded slowly. “Regrettably yes. It was a suitable place to hide from the Twisted, but from the smoke settling inside from the fires, we will have to abandon this place.”

Lisa raised an eyebrow curiously. “You two hid in there rather than flee town?”

Mr. Ulster gave her a crafty look. “Aye we did. After all you know what my profession is and having a place to lay low is to be expected.”

“Speaking of that profession.” Lisa said while glancing over the old man's head. “Is your son and his wife not with you two?”

“No, they left long before the Twisted showed up.” Mr. Ulster replied. “Ah, but don’t worry. They only told me you gave them a job but nothing about what it might be. Confidentiality and all that.”

Lisa chuckled. “I see. I guess that is one less thing to worry about then. Well, once we confirm that there are no monsters left, the townspeople are planning to ban together and put out the fire. You won’t have to abandon your shop.”

“You mean there are others that survived?” Mr. Ulster asked looking at the group of volunteers and gangsters behind her.

Lisa smiled with a prideful look while waving her hand in the air nonchalantly. “Yes, many from the town were able to escape while I and several other brave souls held the Twisted off at the dam.”

Mr. Ulster had a questioning look on his wrinkling face. “I am not going to bother asking about that. Seems like a long tale.” He then let out a heavy cough due to the ever-present smoke and gestured to Tom. “Ahem, give me a wet bandana boy.”

Tom set down the two suitcases and pulled out from a small pack on his back a water bottle and an identical bandana to his own. Tom then doused the bandana with the water and handed it to his grandfather. Mr. Ulster quickly tied it around his mouth and his coughing slowed.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any more of those bandana’s, would you?” Lisa asked. “If we are going to be putting out the fires everyone from the town is going to need them. It could be profitable for you in this time of need.”

Mr. Ulster instantly picked up on what she was hinting at. “Tom, get back in there and check for more bandana’s, rags, towels, t-shirts or anything else made of cloth. We are going to be providing supplies to these people.”

Lisa then asked another question as Tom went back inside. “What about buckets or any kind of items we can use to move water with?”

“Hmm.” Mr. Ulster replied while tapping the top of his cane in thought. “We have a handful of buckets, but nothing of much use for a fire of this size.”

Just then a sizable clump of burning ash floated between them. Its red fringed glow was dazzling as it flittered and floated about in the hot breeze. The two watched it as it landed on the ground nearby where a large patch of dead grass once grew. No sooner than it had landed a puff of grey smoke erupted from the grass as it burst into flames!

Acting fast, Lisa stomped on the newly budding fire and put it out. Seeing this happen, Mr. Ulster seemed to have remembered something. His finger wagged in front of his face as he spoke his thoughts.

“You know what? Just up the road two blocks away is the towns central fire station.” Mr. Ulster then cleared his throat. “It has, uh, already been looted long ago, but there might be hoses or hand cranking water pumps. No one probably had any uses for them until now I’ll bet. If they are still in working condition these fires might get put out much sooner.”

Lisa perked up hearing this. “We will head over there right away.” She looked up ahead and noticed that the large hand cranking crane that she had seen during her first time in town was right across from the forementioned road.

Turning back to address the group following her, Lisa pointed at the crane. “Alright everyone, we are going to reach that crane and set up that area as the place we are going to collect water from. Then we will investigate into town more until we reach the fire station. Hopefully we can get materials that we will need from there and if there are still no more Twisted, we can send word back to the rest of the townspeople to come and help put out the fires.”

“Sounds good to me.” Nathan replied. “We need to hurry lots more ash is coming down and I can see a few other little fires popping up.”

Then as if to emphasize his point a nearby desert bush began crackling as flames rose out from it. Gillian calmly went over to it and kicked sand over it killing the flames.

“Let’s get moving before the main town fire gets any closer.” John said pointing towards the black column of smoke ahead. “If the town is burned away that will leave us with no shelter and all of our stored food will be gone as well. We won’t survive the coming summer heat.”

Hearing this the other townspeople murmured in agreement. Then just as they were all about to head for the crane, Tom returned carrying loads of materials in his arms.

Tom let out a sigh as he dropped the cloths onto the dock. “I got all the bandana’s I could find and a few bed sheets that could be ripped to make more. Who wants some?”

Everyone looked at the pile of cloth and looked up at Mr. Ulster who was smiling slightly. They had been listening to Lisa and him talking and knew it was going to be a free hand out. However, the smoke was growing ever thicker, and it was only going to get worse. Even the healthiest of them wouldn’t last long without some breathing protection. Nathan sighed seeing no one else made a move and reached into his pocket for any change he might still have.

Lisa saw their reactions and held out her hand. “Don’t worry everyone, this one is on me. Mr. Ulster, just put the price of these bandanas on my tab.”

“Are you sure?” Nathan asked. “It won’t be cheap.”

Mr. Ulster laughed. “I’m not so cruel as to rob the woman. Besides, price gouging during a crisis has always been frowned upon by my family. So, I will be fair.”

Nathan stifled a cough by putting his closed fist by his mouth. “Very well then, I guess we really don’t have a choice in the matter.”

Everyone else quickly picked out a bandana or torn chunk of bed sheet and dipped the makeshift air filters into the river to soak. It wasn’t the best or most sanitary solution to stave off the smoky air, but it was all they had. Even Lisa picked up a pink bandana for herself to use.

A moment later everyone had gathered under the hand crank crane and began moving objects away from the dock to make the river more accessible. Boxes, crates, barrels, random assortments of rope or rusty chains were cluttering the wooden dock and were moved aside. The process didn’t take long, and they quickly made a path heading towards the road leading into town and back the way they came on the dock.

To better reach the river surface Lisa even had them remove portions of the dock itself just south of the crane. This would allow them to not have to rely on lowering buckets or leaning over the dock edge to reach the water. Though there was another reason she wanted the dock to be torn up. The fire was being pushed towards them by the wind and the dry, and in many portions, rotting dock was being consumed far faster than the buildings in the town.

As they all worked Lisa and Nathan were keeping an eye, as best as they could, on the black wall of smoke covering the entire town. A daunting orange glow pulsated within the smoke just above the tops of the buildings as the humming flames jutted up into the air. Even though it was still a few blocks away the heat it generated was already being felt on their skin. To say the fire was out of control would be an understatement.

“How did it get so bad so fast?” Lisa asked aloud in thought. “It was only burning downtown just a day ago.”

Nathan tightened the green and yellow bandana he wore higher up on his nose. “I heard from some of the townspeople that they caught sight of the Mad Dogs lighting some homes on fire. A few said it was to slow down the Twisted, but others said the Mad Dogs were claiming the Skull were to blame. In either case the fire was spread deliberately and now its beyond what anyone could ever imagine.”

Lisa squinted through the smoke at Gillian and some others ripping dock boards away. “I don’t see how we can stop the fires now with out any equipment or plan. Come on, lets get moving towards the fire station. If we’re lucky, we might find a solution there.”

Moments later they all were once again cautiously moving deeper into the town with weapons at the ready. Occasional chunks of smoldering ash floated around them, and it was starting to look like a grey snow was beginning to settle on everything around them. The sun was blocked by the thick smoke but the scattered patches of new fires sprouting around them lit their way well enough.

The choaking smoke hung low and danced about them casting fake shadows of monsters or creepy figures at every turn. Everyone was on edge and anxious when someone let out a shout. One of the men marching up front turned back and leaned over to start gagging. Quickly moving ahead to see what was going on, Lisa first spied the cause of the man's reaction.

In the middle of the road was a bloody mess of what once looked like a family. Clearly ripped apart by claws and fangs the bodies of a father, mother, and two children were scattered on the street. Their torsos and guts were already chewed away leaving only their scattered extremities behind to identify them. All four of their faces were slack jawed and contorted in painful fear, while their blank eyes stared out at nothingness. If not for the battle-hardened mind of Lisa, she too might have joined the man to throw up; though she wasn’t immune and hurriedly looked away.

“Go around to the right side of the street.” Lisa called back to the others. “You all don’t want to see this. Keep an eye out though, the blood on the bodies still looks wet and maybe there are still both people and Twisted still here in town.”

Moving somberly around the terrible scene everyone felt a renewed sense of dreed wash over them. It was clear to Lisa that many of the people were already showing signs of wanting to leave and give up the search through town. However, they had to move on together because she wasn’t sure that it was safe to split up just yet.

Fortunately, only a block later they spotted the red and white colored fire station. Being the central fire station of the town, it was by far the largest. Taking up the entire block it was built on, the central fire station was three stories tall with two sets of eight fire truck doors lining two sides of the building. A tall baby blue water towner was also situated on the far side of the station. Even the water tower was being obscured by the smoke they all could tell it was no longer capable of working thanks to a gaping hole at its bottom.

Lisa would have told everyone to hurry inside and start looking for supplies if not for one problem. Smeared on the road leading towards the fire truck doorways were blood trails. The Twisted had undoubtedly killed people and carried them inside to eat. The question was, were they still in there?