believed in things, he had principles and morals, and he stood by them, even when nobody else would. Even when we had to steal so that we could eat, or cheat a tradesman out of his wares, he would make amends somehow. He’d leave a cloth full of bread crusts under a nearby tree, or send help back for them when we came to the next village. He was a seer from before the End. He thought we could be something again, live in the big skyscrapers and drive motorcars again someday. He hadn’t given up.” Charlie’s eyes flickered to Lucian, and his gaze bore through to Lucian’s memory of the night he had gunned Charlie’s father down. “And then they came and took us and made my father go out on those little jaunts into your city every night. During the day, he would rest real quiet and tell me everything was going to be fine. Meanwhile, every now and then they took one of the other families outside and shot them while they grovelled in the dirt. But he was my dad. He’d never lied to me. And he said we would be fine.” A twisted mutant of a smile flashed upon Charlie’s lips, threaded with pain. “I believed him.”
The expression vanished suddenly. “Then he ran into you. I know he wouldn’t have done anything to hurt anyone. He was just doing what he had to.” He inched closer to Lucian, stinking of grease and other people’s spilled blood. “I know you must have sensed that he wasn’t one of them. But you still shot him in cold blood.”
Lucian eyed Charlie’s hand, hovering close to his belt, where a rusted old pistol hung in its holster. He waited until Charlie’s fingers had stopped spasming over the handle before he said, “I did what I had to do to protect my family. They attacked us, put Norman on crutches, killed Ray, scared hundreds of people half to death.”
“And for that you murdered an innocent man.”
“I made a mistake, Charlie. A lot of people got hurt that night. And your father was among the enemy.”
“He had no choice!”
“Neither did I!” Lucian surged forward against his restraints, ignoring the pain of the wire cutting into the flesh of his wrists. “People were desperate. You know how things were then. Anyone would have slit a stranger’s throat for a bag of grain.”
Light erupted from his peripheral vision, and Lucian gasped, blown sideways. Nausea sent his guts heaving and he vomited bile across his shoes. Through the stars flashing before his eyes, he saw Charlie with his fist raised to strike again, teeth bared. “That was your fault! If you and your kind hadn’t scoured every nook and cranny across the whole country and stolen every scrap of food for your towns and cities, maybe so many wouldn’t have died.” He scowled. “Maybe now you wouldn’t have an army of orphaned kids, grieving widows, and childless parents burning and killing everything and everyone you hold dear.”
“Like I said, what had to be done was done.”
“You starved people to death. Your brothers and sisters, those to whom you’re so fond of preaching, about how you’ll save us all, bring back the power of the Old World. But because we’re not part of your little clique, because we don’t live in the wreck of some creaking city and spend all day reading dusty books searching for answers, we’re not worthy. We’re just dogs, cavemen.”
Lucian said nothing.
Charlie sneered. “You can’t even deny it to my face.”
“What do you want me to say?” Lucian muttered. It took all he had to meet Charlie’s gaze, because those hurting eyes hanging over him were the spitting image of his father’s, the same ones that had silently pleaded for peace around the campfire, before the shooting had started—before Lucian had put a round in his chest. “I can’t change what I did.”
“All I want is justice.” Charlie’s fingers waggled close to his belt once more.
Lucian felt sweat break out on his neck. He knew the drawn, haggard look stealing into Charlie’s face all too well. It was the look men got when they were fixing to kill. “That could put you on a dangerous path, Charlie. Your father wouldn’t want this. You’re right. He did try to stop what happened. And I bet he wouldn’t have wanted this for you, signing up with the enemy on some revenge kick.”
Another blinding blow caught him across the temple, and yet more stars