Life is a Game on the New Frontier

Jack Barton stood on his water tower staring at the drama taking place. He could see her running through the forest on the outskirts of his field. Clothes half ripped and looking more dead than alive. The forms chasing her seemed to melt into the fabric of the green trees and late summer brown of the tall grass. Even as he peered through the rifle scope he used as a spyglass Jack knew he only had one option. If she did make it to his front door he shouldn't open it! The law of survival was as real to him as his life. To care meant your own demise either immediately or at a date more suitable to the wolves that prowled the landscape. Back when laws preceded survival Jack only followed them on the thinnest of lines. If he had his chance he should shoot all of them without a second thought. The girl would be better off dead anyway! The flotsam and jetsam of the last great worldwide influenza epidemic was a lost lot. He had more guns than he could shoot. The lack of ammo was the biggest drawback. If he was gonna win this he had to draw them all in close enough for a quick kill. The fact she was halfway across the field without a single person even close to her was the biggest clue. 

She was a fucking plant! Send in a scared, helpless looking girl, then wait! When his guard was down or his pants half off then came the knife to the back! He knew her story before she even had a chance to say it! Mother dead! Father dead! Still, he could hear her screaming bloody murder! It had been a while since Jack Barton played the survival game! He could easily kill her once she was inside and toss her corpse over as an example later on.  Racing down the spiral staircase Jack grabbed a .12 gauge shotgun and swung open the metal door. The girl froze on his small covered porch. With one hand he beckoned her in. With the other, he held the shotgun to her head! The girl walked in and the game was on...

As she raised her arms to show she was unarmed the look of utter contempt never wavered from Jack's face! She wanted him to care so they could betray him! There was a trail worn down from the bodies of others who had tried the exact same thing. Beyond the field was the New Indian camps! People who had given up and returned to the wilds to live with nature and become their own societies. Jack traded with them and respected them enough to not interfere with their customs. Technically he owned some of the forest they lived in! Technically since he hadn't paid taxes or a mortgage in years he was a squatter! It was a circle of life they had learned to live with!

Even as she began to say "My name is Ange..." Jack's face never changed. The rifle butt slammed into her face. Without a sound, she hit the carpeted floor of the water tower. Jack thought briefly about killing her. It would be simpler than playing games. Maybe his heart wasn't totally dead: Maybe he was just bored! Either way, he grabbed her by her rags and threw her onto a rickety cot. He handcuffed one of her arms to a pole and left a bottle of water within reaching distance. Then he went to the second floor and collapsed. As he slept he dreamed of days gone past and a future that went day today.

Outside they waited. With names like Animal, Ripper, Killer, Dandelion, Tiger and a score more than they could count. Even the ones that could remember their names had mostly rejected them. Orphaned and abandoned, thrown out of walled cities when they grew tired of taking orders, these were the new kids in America or what was left of it. Adults had used and mistreated them for most of their sad lives. Enslaved, sometimes sold, they were a generation of the unknown. Festered by fear and pushed by hate they marched on. Whatever stood in their way was a target. 

They called themselves Red Stars because it was the color star in their barracks in the government orphanages! Left behind when the others were secured into buses and trucks. They were considered willful and unteachable. Not controllable with standard methods was a more honest answer. They wanted children they could control and train. The saying children should be seen and not heard became popular among the elite and weary of cries of hungry mouths. Even the ones that tried to care were swept over by it all. There were just too many kids! The virus hit late twenty-somethings to mid-fifty-year-olds specifically! In many cases, both parents died. On a worldwide scale, the death count went into the billions. It wasn't the fault of the world government's or some judgement from God! It just was! In many cases, manpower was cut to nothing. People died in the scores! Pits were dug and bodies hastily buried! 

As Killer sat on the edge of the tree line he stared at the water tower. They had watched it for several days and knew it only had one occupant. He looked like a broke down old man who would either just bribe them to leave or fall into Angel's bed willingly. Once his guard was down Angel would know what to do!

The thing was they had never met anyone quite like Jack Barton. Even

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