Amazon Apocalypse: Chapter 12 Part two (Patreon)

"Sarah," I began, "I would like to follow you. Just in case your brother gives you trouble."

Sarah beamed at me. "Your support would be appreciated. This will make twice that you've helped me today. I'll have to think of a way to repay you."

Her smile had a certain toothy grin to it, making her reminiscent of a happy puppy. I smiled back at her in return.

We approached the circle of campers and responded from a distance once gain. I held up my hand to stop my party for a moment while I poured fresh powder and shot into my musket and the pistols on my hip.

"I'm not sure that's necessary..." Sarah said hesitantly.

I smiled back at her. "Humor me. Just in case."

"Who goes there!?" A voice unfamiliar to me asked. It was male but not particularly masculine. He sounded nervous, but like he was forcing confidence.

"Tom! It's me, Sarah!" Sarah shouted over the wall of campers.

"Sarah?" The voice belonging to Tom asked, with clear undertones of incredulity.

"Yes! Sarah. Open up." Sarah ran up to one of the campers lining the improvised fortress. I noticed the paint was chipped and there dents the size of a fist along the steel walls. Slings maybe? And were those a few arrow holes? They seemed about right for goblin weapons.

The doors to the nearest camper unlatched and swung wide, revealing a freckle-faced young man. He was heavy-set, but despite the excess weight, he had a certain charm about him that made me suspect he had dumped at least a few points into charisma.

"Who are your friends?" Tom asked, he didn't have kind eyes towards either me or Regina. He probably thought his glare was supposed to intimidate us, but Regina and I had faced down actual monsters over the past few days. An angry look wasn't going to scare us off.

"They're new friends. Craig knows them. We met them a few days ago. If you remember, they're the ones who sold us that bear meat."

Tom looks hesitant for a while. He ushered Sarah in and looked like he was going to slam the door shut before Regina and I could head in after her. I put a hand on the open door to stop him.

He pulled, but I had more points in strength than him. When Regina added her strength to mine to hold the door open, Tom stood no chance at pulling it shut.

Rather than admit he'd been trying to lock us out, Tom let go of the handle and turned to open the door on the other side of the camper. The driver and passenger's seat had already been pushed as far out of the way as they'd go, so this was probably the entrance this group had been using over the last few days.

Tom cast one last glare back at us as we followed Sarah in. He hopped down on the other side of the camper, holding out his hand to help Sarah down. When Sarah refused to take his hand, he furrowed his brows, squinting at her sleeves a bit as one of them slipped out of her pocket, revealing it was completely empty.

Regina stepped up to stuff the sleeve back where it belonged before Tom asked any questions.

Sarah came to a stop just on the other side of the camper, taking in the sight of the place she'd called home before she'd been captured. I looked it over with her. From the looks of things, the circle had a few tents set up in the middle. There was a cook pot over an open fire and a pit for waste leading under one of the cars. Altogether, the setup looked like it belonged in some third world ghetto.

"Where is everyone?" Sarah asked when she looked over the campground.

"Most are out foraging. Those that remain are with Craig."

"With Craig?" Sarah asked with undertones of suspicion in her voice.

"Of course," Tom said happily. "Craig managed to get a peace treaty signed and we're holding a feast in honor of our new friends!"

"Craig made allies?" I asked with surprise. Craig certainly hadn't seemed like the kind of guy who could solve problems diplomatically, so this news came as a surprise to me.

"Oh yes! The boss has done a great job since you've stopped getting his way." Tom shot a look at Sarah, and Sarah scowled. I could tell by now that this Tom fellow was more in Craig's camp than in Sarah's. I wasn't sure if that had been the case before Sarah had been captured, but it certainly looked that way now.

"We'll see about that," Sarah grumbled. "Where is my brother now?"

"Craig is meeting with our honored guests in the Royal camper," Tom explained.

"The Royal camper? I asked with eyebrows raised.

"Its usually for whoever's done the most work for the benefit of the camp that day," Tom explained.

"And let me guess, Craig sleeps there every night?" I chuckled.

Tom was silent, which I took to mean as a yes.

While I was outwardly at ease, a nervous tingle was running up and down my spine. I wasn't sure what the feeling was coming from, but I my hand itched for a weapon.

I held myself back through sheer effort of will. This was Sarah's problem to deal with right up until the moment it wasn't. If she could handle this on her own, then all the better. If she couldn't, then I still had my musket over one shoulder and both my pistols tucked under my jacket. Until then, I wanted to see how Sarah handled herself.

"This Royal camper? It's the big fancy one we found in the parking lot when we got here, isn't it?" Sarah asked Tom.

"Yeah, that's the one."

Sarah turned away from Tom without asking another question. Regina and I followed along behind her towards the most impressive camper in the circle.

Unlike all the others. It had two floors. The window by the driver's seat was smashed covered up by a piece of fabric presumably so Craig could gain entrance to the fancy camper in the first place. Inside, I could see fine leather furnishings. There were solar panels on the roof and I could hear music emanating from the car itself, along with the hiss of a coffee maker.

I was curious just how many luxuries Craig was keeping from his fellow survivors and had half a mind to take a peak when the man himself opened the door.

"Craig! Sarah's back! Weird, isn't it?" Tom asked. "Did you--"

Craig placed a hand over Tom's mouth to shut him up. Tom took the hint, abruptly taking a step back and clamping his jaw shut. Craig jerked his chin to the side and Tom took that as his cue to leave.

Craig repeated the gesture while looking at me and Regina, but Regina only crossed her arms and stared him down. I tucked one hand into my jacket, wrapping it around one of my pistols.

Seeing neither of us were about to leave, Craig turned his attention to his sister. He didn't look happy to see her.

"Sarah? What are you doing back? Didn't the goblins take you?" Craig frowned, looking worried.

"Yes, they did," Sarah said, with more than a hint of bitterness in her voice. "But I escaped with the help of a few new friends. You've met them both already." Sarah nodded back at Regina and me. She turned her shoulders to gesture with her hand before remembering both of her arms were bound behind her back. In the end, she could only shrug in our direction.

"Hello again, Craig." I forced a small smile to my face as I fingered my pistol. Regina took up a step behind me into my right, glaring Carter down.

"Yes, they're the ones who sold us one sack of overpriced bear meat. I remember they took your earrings for that, Sarah." Craig said, staring at me with narrowed eyes.

"Where is everyone?" Sarah asked. "I only see Tom, Jerry, and Michael. What happened to Abby, Samantha, and Megan? Tom said they were out forraging, but surely you wouldn't send my friends out alone."

"Megan was going to bring trouble down on us sooner or later. Thankfully, our new freinds were willing to give us far more than a little bear meat in exchange for her. As for Abby and Samantha? Well, our new allies have promised us a full diplomatic treaty for the two of them, so they've agreed to sacrifice themselves for the greater good of the collective." Craig stood straighter, almost bragging about this treaty of his.

"Treaty?" Sarah asked again.

"Yes. The treaty. You made it possible, Sarah. Without making good on my promise to give them you, they wouldn't have taken be seriously." An impish smile crossed Craig's lips, and he tapped on the side of the camper with his knuckles, knocking to get the attention of those inside.

"What do you mean by that?" Sarah demanded. "Where are my friends?"

I slipped the loops of my pack off and let it fall to the ground. I gestured for Regina to do the same. Then I unslung my musket from over my shoulders and pulled back the flint, suddenly glad I loaded all my guns before entering this camp.

"Your friends, Craig began," are now the property of my friends. Speaking of, I really should be giving you back to them. I wouldn't want them to think me ingenuous by stealing back a gift I've already given."

A small sigh escaped my lips as I swung my gun about and took aim.

The door to the camper behind Greg swung open and a half dozen goblins sprang out of it.

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Authors note:

Hey everybody! One more half-chapter or so of Amazon Apocalypse before we started diving into Paladin of the shield. I'm finishing up chapter 10 for now, which is where I wanted to be before I started posting it. I have already changed a few things about the early sections though so I still need to read through them and rewrite a few segments before I can share them with you.

I'm trying to stick to at least two posts a week while we're between books, so  I went ahead and finished up the half-chapter we left off on.

One more reminder: Paladin of the Shield is the sequel to Paladin of the Sword. You may need to read the first book to fully understand the sequel.

The first book is available on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GYRNC1R