‘Whatever happened to

Dear old Lenny?

The great Elmyra,

And Sancho Panza?

Whatever happened to the heroes?

Whatever happened to the heroes?’

The Stranglers

His head was throbbing and Jan could taste blood in his mouth.

‘We should have just shot the bastard in the first place,’ a male voice said. ‘Easier all round. The wastelander’s only gonna be trouble.’

Jan opened his eyes, squinting in the harsh sodium light. He tried to raise his hands to block the glare, but he couldn’t; they were tied behind his back.

‘How do you know he’s a wastelander?’ said another voice, a woman’s. It was coming from almost directly behind him.

‘Oh, come on Tuva. Some random looking like he’s just crawled out the jungle wanders into town, pisses off a squad of Enforcers and leads them right to our door. Who else is it gonna be, a bloody accountant? He’s either a liability or it was a set up and he’s working for Arco. Either way we should just get rid of him.’

Slowly his eyes adjusted to the glare. It wasn’t possible to make out much of the room – he was sat facing one wall – but it seemed big given the way their voices carried. That same mountain, stencilled on the wall in front of him. Except that the more he looked at it the less it looked like a mountain. There was something too purposeful about the slight curvature, its serrated edges too regular.

‘You’re not thinking straight. Why would Arco bother with the whole chase and a shootout shtick? If they knew where we were we’d have been infiltrated already. And whoever he is the guy took out two of them with a dotbow. He could be useful.’

‘Please,’ the first voice sneered. The man walked into the corner of Jan’s vision and shook him roughly by the shoulder. He felt the cold metal of a knife against his neck. ‘You a wastelander? Just nod; say one word and I’ll cut you.’

Jan nodded, sweat prickling his forehead.

‘You’re not working for Arco?’ his captor hissed. He was a big man, well-muscled by a lifetime of hard labour.

Jan shook his head, though he didn’t expect it to make much of a difference. He’d been in similar situations before, and the only thing to do was to watch for opportunities and stay capable of taking them.

‘Oh, leave it Pao,’ said the woman’s voice. ‘What kind of interrogation is that?’

‘You hot for him or something Tuva? Like a bit of rough?’ goaded Pao.

She laughed.

‘Seriously though, think about it. We keep him around we’re gonna have to spend every minute of every day watching him. Do you want that? We do it careful and the boss doesn’t even have to know – we use one of the Arco standard rifles we can make it look like he died from an earlier injury.’

‘I suppose…’ Tuva trailed off, as though she was considering the proposition. Jan tensed, looking at Pao out of the corner of his eye and wondering if he might be able to headbutt the man.

‘What do you suppose?’ came a new voice and the sound of a door swinging open. ‘Come now, this isn’t any way to treat a guest. Untie him.’

‘He’s not a bloody pet. We should find out what he knows and – ’

‘Untie him, Pao,’ the third voice repeated and Jan felt the ties cut as Pao stepped behind him. ‘Help him up, you two. Gently!’ The guards gripped Jan and lifted him into a standing position, sending shooting pains through his aching muscles, turning him to face the source of the new voice.

The man was tall and dressed in mismatched camo only slightly less patched and shabby than that of the others. A large bandolier, empty as far as Jan could make out, was slung over their shoulder, and a beret set at a jaunty angle sat on a thick shock of curly black hair. Jan was surprised by how young they all looked. Barely older than Eva.

‘I am Christo and this is the Revolution,’ he said, gesturing to the two others with a grandiose sweep of his arm. Jan suppressed a mad urge to laugh.

‘You’re going to bring down Arco; all three of you?’

‘Ha, no,’ Christo laughed. ‘What would the point of that be?’

Jan stared at him in utter confusion. ‘So you’re just bandits?’ Christo’s lips twisted down faintly.

‘I suppose you think Arco is the source of all your woes?’

‘My what?’

‘You blame Arco for all this,’ Christo swept his arm again, as if to indicate the world in general. Jan nodded.

‘Do you not wonder why Arco exists? Why our ambassador merely delivers the demands of those above, never negotiating? Why the false life spreads, never retreating? The answers are obvious if you think to ask the right questions.’

‘Christo, what the hell are you playing at?’ said Tuva. ‘We shouldn’t be telling him anything.’

‘This man will know his way around the jungle,’ Christo replied. He turned to Jan. ‘You’ve seen the reservations before right?’

Jan nodded, trying to ignore a growing sense of unease, just keeping his options open.

‘Of course he has,’ Tuva replied patiently, as if she was explaining something to a child. ‘Which is why we make him tell us the route, then leave him here. If the information’s good then maybe we’ll have a reason to trust him.’

‘And how would you make him Tuva?’ Christo asked, a hard edge creeping into his voice. ‘Hurt him until he cooperates? I don’t think so.’

‘Christo, you’re making a – ’ Tuva began, but Christo made a cutting gesture and she trailed off sullenly. He grinned suddenly, the tension dissipating.

‘I’m not interested in coercion. Jan is not going to join us because he’s made to. Jan is going to join us because he will want to. And besides,’ he grinned, spreading his arms, ‘That’s not what the heroes do!’

Christo watched Jan expectantly, meeting his gaze.

‘So if you don’t want to bring down Arco, then who?’ asked Jan hesitantly. He thought of Eva, of his frantic, hopeless fight against the Enforcers on that terrible day. ‘Why not Arco?’

‘Now those, those are the right questions. And isn’t the answer obvious? Who cares who rules the world when they own it?’ asked Christo. He pointed an accusing finger at the sky. ‘We’re bringing them down.’

Like a fool, Jan actually glanced up at the warehouse ceiling. Then he realised what Christo meant and could no longer help himself. He folded up, laughing hysterically.

‘You might as well try and bring down the sky,’ Jan said, trying to control himself. After everything he’d been through it was almost a relief to realise that they were all just crazy. ‘And I suppose you want me to help?’

‘You’ve got it,’ Christo winked, making a gun shape with his index finger and thumb, pointing it up at the roof and miming pulling a trigger. But something about his affect was deadly serious. ‘We’re going to tear them from the sky and end this nightmare.’

Jan’s laughter died in his throat. He searched for something to say.

‘What do you need me for?’

‘I need you to lead us back into the jungle, to a reservation. We’re going to meet the Dyn.’