Dead Frontier/Issue 139

This is a preview for Issue #139 Dead Frontier, titled ''Vagabond. ''This is the premiere of Volume 24. The entire issue is planned to be posted December 07, 2013.

Issue 139 - Vagabond (Preview)
Elliott runs through the alleyway with the two strangers, an odd pairing. An English guy with a messed up eye and a striking woman clutching onto that bag like her life depends on it.

Lucy takes another look at Elliott and notices the stitching on his uniform. "You're from LA?" she asks.

"Yeah," he says. "We got brought over to help with this fucking mess. There's a couple trucks waiting by the gates for us."

"You're bringing us there?" Hunter exclaims. "Oh, shit--that's great but we kind of have an entire group we got separated from."

"Do you know where they are?"

"Maybe about a block away. The streets got really hectic and we just--we lost them."

"I don't know if we can go back," Elliott says. He tries to sound gentle, but mixes some authority into his tone as well.

"Yes, we're fucking going back! I'll go alone if I have to!"

"Look, I know--"

Lucy slows to a stop while they're still in the relatively calm alleyway. She turns toward Elliott and looks at the name on his uniform. "Black--"

"Elliott," he says.

"We're going," she says. A bruise has begun forming on her cheek, and she uses her thumb to wipe the last bits of blood from her chin. "You can come with, or you can leave. Either way, we're not leaving until we find every single one them."

"Yeah, and then you get me, you, and your friend killed for that stupid fucking--!" He gestures to the bag, then throws his hands up in the air in an exasperated gesture. He places his hands on top of his head and sighs. He turns to Lucy again, his stare serious, angry. "I'll help you out. But listen to me--" He looks between the both of them and finally points a finger at Lucy. "--you, especially. Stay behind me, and don't pull anymore stupid shit. Alright?"

Lucy nods, followed by Hunter doing the same. "Here," Elliott says. He walks over to Hunter and shoves the pistol in his hand. The strap over Elliott's shoulder secures a rifle; he grabs the gun in both hands. "Let's go."

Harlow curses under her breath--she can’t believe Elliott’s stupidity. She told him too many times, before they came here and right outside the gates, to stay by her side. But now he’s gone. She even circled back around to see if she could find him, called his name wildly, but no luck. She eventually decides she’s going to have to move on without him.

Apparently, the sight of her rifle gives her some kind of authority. Although she’s alone, a quick sweep of her barrel has rioters speeding out of her way. If things went awry, she was told to head deep into downtown; the situation was clearly worse there, and that’s where most of the units were sent. She could regroup with another unit, if she's lucky.

But maybe that was a mistake. The high-rises around her indicate downtown, but she doesn’t see much of anyone she knows. Rioters, yes, and innocents hoping to get to safety, but only the occasional Humvee.

There’s a high-pitched whistle that causes Harlow to look up. Something flies through the sky, hits the top of its arc, and begins its descent. It hits the ground, shrouding the area in thick smoke. Harlow, and everyone around her, delve into uncontainable coughing fits. They attempt to squint their eyes and cover their mouths with whatever cloth they can find, but it doesn’t matter--the smoke is too strong, and the hysteria only increases tenfold.

Harlow tries to make her way through. She stops when, unusually, the crowd begins to part. A group of men in uniforms identical to hers are stomping through in a rectangular formation, and in the middle of the pack, a familiar woman scurries along with them.

Harlow recognizes the woman instantly as Dr. Heidi Kastner. It’s not the time for her anger to build, but it does, and Harlow files in with the group flawlessly. “You saved her?!” Harlow shouts to the man next to her. His uniform reads “Oddo.” He can’t hear her. “Oddo!”

“It’s Oh-do!”

She doesn’t make the effort to correct herself. “There are innocent fucking people who need to be--”

“It was an order! Johnson told us to her to get her out, no matter what!”

Harlow is astonished. This entire ordeal was caused by her and her heartlessness, her boneheaded decisions. Keeping up her sprint, Harlow looks toward Heidi, hiding behind a wall of protection. It makes Harlow’s stomach churn, and one final look at the chaos around her makes her lift her gun.

Harlow points her rifle at Heidi’s leg and shoots. Heidi tumbles to the ground with a scream, and her convoy of soldiers come breaking to a stop. They don’t know who fired the shot, and Harlow appears oblivious. But she locks eyes with Heidi, who stares right back up at her, her hand pressed against her bleeding calf. The crowds are getting reckless, and the majority of the soldiers have fled. They completely abandon Heidi, the woman it was their goal to save in the first place--the cause of it all. Good, Harlow thinks, and she flees, too.

Harlow takes one more moment to look back. Oddo is the only one who bothered to stay and assist Heidi. He reaches down, tries to pull her to her feet. But the crowds are too big, too strong, too violent, and they’re both lost under the stomping of boots.