Wasteland Taxi part 4

Post apocalyptic taxi service

    I awoke in the evening to the sounds of Olivia babbling at Reesh. She must have liked him a lot. She was never this much of a chatterbox with other people. It dawned on me that I had probably caused her reluctance to be friendly with others. I had always told her not to talk to people, afraid that someone would try to hurt her because she had survived the plague. I had tried too hard to make her wary of the dangers of strangers. Reesh was a good man, and I was silently glad she'd met him. In just one day he'd shown her something I'd forgotten to. That some people would be just as likely to show her kindness if given half a chance.
    My hand was throbbing with ache. My head hurt and my stomach churned. "I think I'm gonna puke." I said without ceremony.
    "Yoush needsh water. Here." Reesh reached behind his seat and presented me with a bottle of brownish water. I took several gulps of the foul tasting liquid and choked.
    "How long until we're at Wolfsbane?"
    "Wolfcamp." Corrected Reesh.
    "Wolfcamp. How long?"
    "Few hoursh more. Not too long. Get dere after dark."
    I closed my eyes again and rested some more as we drove, listening to Olivia drone on and on about everything her little mind could think up to talk about. Reesh seemed to enjoy her company. Finally I saw some lights on the horizon.
    "Is that it?"
    "Yesh, Wolfcamp jusht over dere. We'sh getsh dere yoush don't talksh. Just me talksh. Dey not knowsh you, no likesh shity folk. Don't tell about little girl."
    "You got it. I won't say a word."
    When we got closer I saw that Wolfcamp was much more massive than I had anticipated. It was as big as one of our cities. Maybe even bigger. Some of it's inhabitants were sure to be bad people. There was a huge wall surrounding Wolfcamp, about thirty feet high, with giant floodlights posted atop it every fifty or so yards. I hadn't seen a city with electricity since I was Olivia's age. There were towers on top of the wall about every hundred yards, and as we drove past I could see turrets and guards in them. We drove up to a massive gate with two towers looking sternly down on it. On both sides of the gate there were machine gun nests with guards looking suspiciously at us as we approached. This place was a god damn fortress.
    An armed guard walked up to Reesh's window. "What's you'se need, old timer?" He asked.
    "Repairsh and fuelsh. Alsho flesh fixer for himsh." He pointed to my bloody bandages. God, my hand hurt. The guard looked at me and then looked over the Super Bee. He turned and walked over to a small gatehouse and spoke to a man inside it for a moment. The man handed a paper to the guard who then walked back over to us. He handed Reesh the paper.
    "Pass for's the one day only. Then you'se gotsta get gone. Okey dokes?"
    "Yesh, good, good." Replied Reesh. The guard turned to the man in the gatehouse and waved his hand.
    "Is okey dokes." He shouted to the gate operator. The gate operator threw a switch and I heard the gate creak as it's massive bulk started to slide open to let us through. Reesh slowly piloted the Super Bee through.
    "We'sh go'sh to friend garage. Getsh repaired and fuelsh. I take you to flesh fixer. Takesh care of hand." Reesh quietly said.
    "Sounds good." I replied.
    "Shh! Yoush no talksh, member? A body ashk you just tellsh dem yoush can't talksh."
    I chuckled in spite of the situation. "Okay, if anyone asks I'll tell them I'm mute." Reesh might be okay, but he was still very strange.
    I looked out the window taking in the marvelous wonder of Wolfcamp as Reesh slowly drove to the garage. The streets were paved. I mean really paved. Not just the remnants of asphault left over from a past civilization, but actually paved. Lights shined down making everything bright as day. Even though it was still night, Wolfcamp still had a bustling of activity. Some people were working, some were engaging in various recreational activities, armed gaurds policed the streets, and vehicles drove all around us.
    We arrived at the garage. A sign made of light declared it to be 'Weezles Garage'. Reesh pushed a button on the steering wheel and the Super Bee made a loud honk. An old man looked up from a work bench and his face lit up. He energetically waved us in. Reesh drove inside and parked.
    "Yoush shtays in motor. Me talksh to friend." Reesh left Olivia and I alone in the Super Bee as we watched him speak to the old man for a few minuites. Before too long, he came back to the vehicle and led us to an upstairs room. "Little girl be'sh shafe up here while we go'sh to flesh fixer."
    "I'm not letting her out of my sight," I objected. "You said this place was dangerous."
    "Shafe here. Weezel me'sh friend. No ouch little girl." I suspiciously looked at the eyes that hid behind the thick glasses for any hint of deception. "Member, shity man, not all dushtersh ouch for moneysh. Friend Weezel watch, no body ouch little girl."
    "You didn't tell him who she was, did you?"
    "Nope. And yoush not tellsh him neether."
    I definitely didn't want Olivia to be left alone, but the pain in my hand made it feel as if it were about to fall off, and I wasn't about to take her with me. I came to the conclusion that once again, I didn't really have much choice but to give Reesh all the trust I had.
    "Allright, I'm trusting you here."
    "No fretsh, all be'sh good in the end. Yoush seesh. We go'sh to flesh fixer, then right back. Motor be'sh fixed by morn, then we go."
    Reesh and I left the garage on foot. As ordered, I kept silent as we moved through the streets on the way to the doctor. Or at least I hoped it was a doctor. 'Flesh fixer' didn't really sound too promising, but the way my hand felt now, I'd take what I could get.
    By the time we got to the flesh fixer I was pale and sweating. I hadn't realized how much easier it had been to cope with the injury while sitting in the vehicle, but now even the short walk was making me exhausted. Reesh reminded me to remain mute as we went inside.
    Reesh told the flesh fixer (who did not look much like a doctor, by the way) that I was his grandson, but from there told the truth about my hand. I sat in a chair beneath a bright light in front of the flesh fixer. He was a large, fat man with a bulbous nose and very little hair left on top of his round head. He wore some sort of magnifier on his glasses which was used to examine patients. He was dressed in a stained lab coat that I assumed used to be white. The whole thing made me a bit nervous. He seemed to know what he was doing, though, and removed the wrapping on my hand gently. As the bandages came off, I became more and more horrified by what I saw. The skin and flesh around the smashed area was mostly a grey color with blotches of green near the healthy area.
    "Dey's put da rot in 'im." Said the flesh fixer. "Gots to whack hand."
    "No'sh, we need fix." Said Reesh.
    "Can't. Not gots da dote. Not can gets it, neether. New kinda rot. Can't fix, gotta whack." Reesh looked at me strangely for a moment. I wasn't sure what the two had said, but it hadn't sounded good. Reesh turned back to the flesh fixer.
    "Okey dokesh, do'sh what hashto."
    The flesh fixer looked at me and said "Have to tie arm down. No frets. All norm." With that he tied my wrist to the armrest of the chair. "Nurse! need yous!" He called out as he tightened the restriants a little tighter than I thought was necessary.
    The nurse was a big, strong young man. Very strong, I could feel as he put his hands on my shoulders from behind me. His voice was very soothing in contrast, though. "No frets, friend. All be's good for yous after dis. Yous gon be okey dokes." Something in his voice made me feel like I was in good hands as the flesh fixer turned and gave me a cup with some orange colored liquid in it. "Gulps dat down to belly." He said. I looked at Reesh, who just nodded. I drank the liquid and choked on its fould, burning taste.
    "This be's over in no tocks," soothed the nurse. I started to feel warm. My hand didn't hurt so bad anymore. I felt the room beginning to spin around my head. The flesh fixer began to rummage through a cabinet behind him. When he turned back around he held a vicious looking serrated machete. "What's he got that for?" my fogged mind thought. He brought the blade up over his head and the nurse tightened his grip on my shoulders.
    "No, wait!" I shouted just before he brought the blade down, but it was too late. A moment later and I was staring down at my diseased hand, lying on the floor as the flesh fixer and nurse were doing something to my arm. I sat there, unable to move or even really understand what had just happened. Then my mind went even foggier. I heard voices for a while, but couldn't figure out whose they were or what they were saying. It was as if the whole world was very far away, and I was just a dream.
    When I began to come to, Reesh was all but dragging me through the streets. He had my left arm slung over his shoulder and I was barely moving my legs to help us along. I had no idea where I was or why. I looked down at my right arm. The hand was gone, and the stump was neatly bandaged.
    "Where... where hand at?" I slurred.
    "Gone. Dey'sh hadda whack it. Yoush getsh better now. Keep quiet."
    "Where am I?"
    "Going back now. Keep quiet! You talksh already, me talksh already, flesh fixer knowsh."
    Soon after I was tossed into a cot and left alone. The last thing I could hear before I passed out was Olivia's voice talking to Reesh about me.