Read Wasteland Wonderland - Part 1 for Free Online Page A

starting to think
no one was home. I was starting to think we’d been left
behind.”
    “Maybe we have.”
    “No, they’re just waiting like the rest of
us,” he says quickly. “And besides, we’ve seen choppers flying over
the ruins, we’ve seen Spider Tanks crawling through the Wasteland.
But let me just ask you one question…”
    “Fire away.”
    “Did you kill her?”
    “No. I didn’t kill her. But someone did.
Someone poisoned her.”
    “Poisoned?” he asks, like he doesn’t already
fucking know.
    “Yeah. Wasn’t ordinary poison neither. I’ve
never seen anything like it. Only one place it could’ve come from.
Only one place she could’ve come from.”
    “What are you saying?”
    “I’m not the smartest guy around. My brother
got the brains and the looks. But I know when something is messed
up. And this right here, this whole situation… this is messed up.
The girl… Ruby… she was on the run. Don’t know what she was running
from. But it had to have been big and bad. Mean and scary. Why else
would she leave Wonderland? Why else would she come here to this
godforsaken city?”
    “You’re asking too many questions, Hector. If
you come quietly, if you make some promises, I can cut you a deal.
I can get you a ticket out of this city and off this rock.”
    “So you’re working with them?”
    “What the hell do you think this is? Them?
There is no them. We’re all in this together. It’s us. We’re the
last people on Earth. If we don’t work together, if we don’t follow
the rules, we don’t survive this.”
    “The last guy I killed, an Enforcer, he said
they sent an Overseer. I’ve never seen an Overseer in my life. And
I’ve seen a lot of things.”
    “Ark America. They can get you a place, your
own bedroom, your own bathroom. That’s more than a lot of people
ever get. They’ll forgive you, if you leave quietly, if you keep
your mouth shut.”
    “There’s no forgiveness. Not until I make
this right. Not until I make these people pay for what they did to
Ruby.”
    “She belonged to the Collector, you know. She
was a prized possession.”
    “So I keep hearing. But if you ask me, it’s
pretty messed up to think of people as possessions.”
    “These are powerful people you’re messing
with.”
    “Where’s the Overseer?”
    “I don’t know. I doubt he’s still here. He’s
probably gone back to Wonderland.”
    That’s a lie.
    “Humor me,” I say. “If he was still here.
Where would he be?”
    “Maybe the Library. Maybe the Casino.”
    “How are they moving between Wonderland and
the Buried City?”
    “However they want. They’ve got
transportation. Like I said, they’ve still got Spider Tanks and
choppers. You know that.”
    “No. I mean, how would they move
undetected.”
    The main entrance to the Buried City is a
massive train station. It’s located near the center of a once great
city. A great city that now lies in ruins. Half the danger of
transporting people to Wonderland was getting in and out of the
ruins. Lot of nasties hiding in the rubble, in the abandoned
buildings and skyscrapers. I cannot believe they were hiding a
tunnel from us.
    People died for crying out loud.
    A lot of people.
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the
Mayor says.
    “Yes. You do. There’s a tunnel. According to
my recently deceased friend, it connects this place with
Wonderland. I need you to tell me all about it.”
    The Mayor lowers his head. He is sweating
bullets. He is afraid.
    They’re probably watching him.
    The room is probably bugged.
    I don’t care.
    “Fine,” he says. “It’s beyond the Water
Treatment Plant. They call it the Long Tunnel. But it’s locked. And
you need an access code. No one knows it. At least, no one this
side of the door knows it. And no one on this side of the door has
a key. Not even me. Not the Sheriff. No one.”
    “Any of the bosses?”
    “No.”
    The Mayor finally tells the truth. Actually
didn’t take as long as I