Human Nature (Book 4): Human Nature IV by Borthwick, Finlay (book recommendations website .TXT) 📗

Maylene’s assertion and looked to the ground in fear and hopelessness.

Crawling along the grass to avoid being blown away by the hurricane, Rajan had finally reached the rubble.

“Hello? Is someone there?” Garry called out distressfully.

“I’m here.” Rajan replied.

Due to being a lot closer now, they did not need to shout as severely, though they did have to speak loudly, as the rain was still drowning their voices out a noticeable amount.

“I see you!” Garry called out, though Rajan could still not see him. “I’m over here! Hey!” He continued to call out, though for some reason, was unable to wave or give any kind of a visual signal.

“Oh!” Rajan eventually noticed a head bobbing amidst the debris.

‘CRASH!’

Lightning struck once more, giving both of the men a great fright.

Once he had crawled all the way to where Garry was, Rajan pulled off his own jacket and threw it over their heads. “There we go!” He explained, “I know it’s hardly soundproof, but we should at least be able to hear each other a little better now!”

Though, in the truth, the pattering of the rain on Rajan’s jacket had actually, if anything, made hearing each other a little worse.

“Are you—Did you hear my transmission?” Garry asked, coughing in pain as he did so.

“Yes, yes we did. I’m here to rescue you!” Rajan jovially proclaimed.

Garry idly shook his head, “That’s not why I made that call—” He wheezed as he drew a deep breath, “I needed to warn somebody about them.”

Rajan was at a loss, “What are you talking about? You mean don’t want to be rescued?” Due to his sincere resolve of being a saviour, Rajan had completely ignored what Garry was trying to tell him.

“Listen-- Ugh!” Garry winced out in pain as he tried to elaborate on his warning.

Then, Rajan noticed what was causing him so much pain; aside from all the rubble on top of him, a sharp wooden beam had impaled Garry directly above his heart. Though he was no medical expert, it didn’t take Rajan long to realise that this meant the man in front of him was dying.

“I—I built this cabin—Myself…” Garry explained.

“Cabin?” Rajan lamented on what he had seen earlier, “That’ll explain the wooden beam then.”

Garry wheezed intensely as it became harder for him to breath.

Immediately, Rajan’s priorities were redirected to the man he felt obliged to save, “Take it easy! Listen, I’m gonna get you out of this--!”

But Garry objected, “No, no! You need to listen to me!” He demanded firmly.

“I’ll listen to you once you’re out of this mess, okay?” Rajan’s resolve was as firm as ever.

“For Heaven’s sake man!!” Garry’s voice bellowed, much like the thunder around them.

Rajan was taken slightly aback by this forcefulness.

Garry cleared his throat, “Please,” he begged with a softer tone, “Just listen to me, okay? What I need to say cannot wait, alright?”

Putting his stubborn nature to one side momentarily, Rajan yielded, “Alright. Go on.”

Garry nodded idly in appreciation, the pain upon the rest of his body hindering him for making any further gestures. “I was—Hiding.” He panted.

“Hiding? From what?”

“Not ‘What,’ ‘Who.’” Garry revealed irksomely.

“Okay, well,” Rajan rectified himself, “From who, then?”

“They call themselves… The Bandits.” Garry’s wheezing intensified the more that he spoke.

“Bandits?”

Garry nodded, once again idly, in affirmation. “A long, long time ago, they had a leader—His name was… Kye? Kyle? Something like that.”

Although he was listening to Garry, Rajan was still looking around desperately as he tried to figure out what the easiest way to save Garry would be.

“I don’t remember how exactly, but this Kye, Kyle, whatever his name is—” Garry was becoming lethargic now, “He died… And ever since that day, these bandits, they’ve been roaming the streets of London in his honour; like a cult, in fact.”

“Stay with me, Garry.” Rajan prompted him as he noticed Garry was beginning to pass out, “Keep talking. Come on, tell me more about these bandits.” He pushed him in order to keep him awake.

“…Their de-facto leader is called Euan.” Garry revealed, “He is merciless—They don’t call themselves ‘The Bandits’ for nothing.” His eyes became droopy.

Rajan lightly tapped Garry’s cheek, “Stay awake, Garry. You have to stay awake. Why do they call themselves bandits? Tell me, please.”

“They kill anyone they meet and loot things from their dead body.” Garry professed in one singular breath, fearing that his time was coming to an end, but still needing to get all the information that he knew out to someone.

“I appreciate your warning.” Rajan acknowledged. “Now, let’s get you out from under there.” His stubbornness had returned to him.

“No, no—Wait.” Garry wasn’t finished. Although he continued to cough and choke, he needed to hand all of the information over to somebody who was still alive.

Rajan was impatient, though respecting Garry’s wishes, he continued to listen to him anyway.

“A few months back, I saw this other group—I thought they were part of the Bandits’ clan, so I avoided them. But now, well, now I’m not so sure—”

Rajan nodded, prompting for Garry to continue his story in order to keep him awake.

“In the heart of the city, there’s an old survivors camp… I don’t know what happened to that group, but if they’re still around, you’d best bet that’s where they’ll be.” Little did Garry know that this hypothesis was absolutely correct. “The Bandits raided it many years ago, and as far as I can tell, they never went back there—They prefer to live out in the open streets, desperate to leave a mark on their territory.”

“Well,” Rajan gazed his eyes upwards, gesturing to the freak storm that was occurring outside of this little jacket-tent, “I think Mother Nature’s the one in charge of this place now.”

“All the same—” Garry gurgled; his nose began