The Ruins Series (Book 1): The Ruins, page 1
Contents
TITLE PAGE
CREDITS
PREFACE
Background To The Ruins
Chapter 1 - Bray
Chapter 2 - Kirby
Chapter 3 - Kirby
Chapter 4 - Bray
Chapter 5 - Kirby
Chapter 6 - Kirby
Chapter 7 - Bray
Chapter 8 - Bray
Chapter 9 - Kirby
Chapter 10 - Kirby
Chapter 11 - Kirby
Chapter 12 - Kirby
Chapter 13 - Bray
Chapter 14 - Bray
Chapter 15 - Kirby
Chapter 16 - Bray
Chapter 17 - Bray
Chapter 18 - Bray
Chapter 19 - Bray
Chapter 20 - Bray
Chapter 21 - Bray
Chapter 22 - Bray
Chapter 23 - Bray
Chapter 24 - Bray
Chapter 25 - Bray
Chapter 26 - Flora
Chapter 27 - Flora
Chapter 28 - Flora
Chapter 29 - Bartholomew
Chapter 30 - Bray
Chapter 31 - Bray
Chapter 32 - Bray
Chapter 33 - Bray
Chapter 34 - Deacon
Chapter 35 - Kirby
Chapter 36 - Bray
Chapter 37 - Bray
Chapter 38 - Kirby
Chapter 39 - Kirby
Chapter 40 - Kirby
Chapter 41 - Flora
Chapter 42 - Flora
Chapter 43 - Deacon
Chapter 44 - Jonas The Collector
Chapter 45 - Deacon
Chapter 46 - Bray
Chapter 47 - Jonas The Collector
Chapter 48 - Jonas The Collector
Chapter 49 - Bray
Chapter 50 - Jonas The Collector
Chapter 51 - Bray
Chapter 52 - Bray
Chapter 53 - Jonas The Collector
Chapter 54 - Bray
Chapter 55 - Kirby
Chapter 56 - Flora
Chapter 57 - Kirby
Chapter 58 - Bray
Chapter 59 - Kirby
Chapter 60 - Flora
Chapter 61 - Kirby
Chapter 62 - Bray
Chapter 63 - Bray
Chapter 64 - Bray
Chapter 65 - Kirby
Chapter 66 - Bray
Chapter 67 - Bray
Chapter 68 - William
Chapter 69 - Kirby
Chapter 70 - Kirby
Chapter 71 - Kirby
Chapter 72 - Bray
Chapter 73 - Kirby
Chapter 74 - Bray
Chapter 75 - Bray
Chapter 76 - Bray
Chapter 77 - Bray
Afterword
Email & Facebook
Other Things To Read
Copyright Info
The Ruins
A Dystopian Society in a Post-Apocalyptic World
Book 1 of The Ruins Series
By
T.W. Piperbrook
Find him at
T.W. Piperbrook
www.twpiperbrook.com
www.facebook.com/twpiperbrook
©2016 Post Script Publishing
Cover Design and Layout
Alex Saskalidis, a.k.a. 187designz
Editing & Proofreading
Cathy Moeschet
Technical Consultant
John Cummings
Preface
Welcome to The Ruins.
If you're here, chances are you've read THE LAST SURVIVORS, and you're already familiar with the characters. If so, I want to thank you for continuing on this journey with me. I hope you are as excited as I am to find out what happens to Bray, William, and Kirby as they head out into the wild.
If you haven't read THE LAST SURVIVORS, you might want to check out those books first. A lot has transpired between the characters that leads into this story—events that have shaped and changed their relationships with one another, and, quite frankly, you might be lost without that knowledge, or the knowledge of the world.
In THE LAST SURVIVORS series, we explored many of the places in and around Brighton, but by the series end, it became clear that the world was much bigger than our characters imagined. Since the beginning of that series, Bobby (Adair) and I had the concept of a "last survivor," someone who could fill in some of the gaps of technology and information that had been lost to Brighton.
That's where Kirby came in.
Kirby stirred things up quite a bit. Not only did she give Bray some much-needed grief, but she brought Tech Magic and a whole new backstory to the series, and introduced information outside of what our characters knew. The dynamic between the trio of Bray, Kirby, and William was intriguing, and I couldn't wait to explore it further.
And a question kept repeating in my head: what else is out there?
THE RUINS is my attempt to find out.
Whatever happens, wish Bray, Kirby, and William luck as they head toward Kirby's settlement to get more guns. They're going to need all the Tech Magic they can get to face what's in THE RUINS.
-Tyler Piperbrook
December 2016
THE RUINS Background: Pertinent Recap of The Last Survivors
Three hundred years after the fall of society, the last fragments of civilization are clinging to life, living in the ruins of the ancient cities in nearly-medieval conditions. Technology has been reduced to legend, monsters roam the forests, and fear reigns supreme. Wind-borne spores disfigure men unlucky enough to be infected, twisting their minds and turning them into creatures to be feared. The survivors have different names for these creatures, but some call them the demons, or twisted men.
After accidentally killing the mother of an infected boy, a Warden named Bray—a hunter of demons—vows to keep the motherless boy safe. He loses track of the boy, William, in the Ancient City, only to watch as the boy takes up with a band of demons, succumbing to the spore's madness. Before Bray can rescue William, a violent army captures the boy.
While tracking William, Bray encounters a woman named Kirby from a strange settlement, who carries several pieces of Tech Magic he's never seen—guns.
Telling some clever lies, Bray gets Kirby to join him, under the guise that William is his son.
They track the army to Brighton.
After surviving a bloody battle, in which Bray is shot and wounded, Kirby reveals to Bray that she is also infected. She also reveals that she has figured out some of Bray's lies, but she respects his bravery and his allegiance to William.
Eventually, they rescue an emotionally battered William, who has taken revenge on the worst of his abductors by commanding a pack of demons to kill them.
William swears off his demon brothers, and the three make a pact to leave Brighton for good, in the hopes of discovering what lies in the ruins.
Chapter 1: Bray
"Don't worry, I survived another night," Bray said, removing the bandage to check on the gunshot wound on his shoulder. "In case you were worried."
He grinned at Kirby, who was just stirring underneath her blankets, rubbing her eyes. She made a face at him, but didn't answer. William was lying next to her, still sleeping. Bray could see the thin outline of the boy's body, rising and falling as he breathed.
After escaping the battle at Brighton unharmed—except for Bray—they'd spent most of each day on horseback, working their way east over the mountains and hitting deeper snow, then heading north and following the coast toward the settlement where Kirby's people had all breathed their last breaths, leaving her alone in an unfamiliar land.
On the plains again, with the ocean east and the mountains west, they'd found places where the snow only thinly covered the ground and the horses were able to graze.
Bray, unfamiliar with the landmarks, and knowing he was in a part of the world he'd never traveled before, hoped they were getting close to the settlement.
Normally, Bray would've avoided traveling in the winter, preferring a warm bath and warmer women to keep him company, but he'd made the decision to leave Brighton, and he meant to stick by it.
Now, with the morning sun peeking through the forest, spearing the snow-covered ground and fighting back the cold that seemed to have deepened overnight, Bray watched William sleeping. He was still concerned about him. They'd had a few conversations about his mother, Ella, but most of them had ended with William looking away, seemingly lost in a swirl of thoughts that had plagued them all since leaving Brighton.
Bray couldn't blame the kid.
They were all dealing with things.
Kirby stood from her blankets. Bray glanced at the gun holstered at her side. Her rifle was on the ground, close to her. She'd refused to let him shoot either weapon, telling him that it would be a waste to spend the ammunition on anything other than killing demons.
"We should be at the settlement today, right?" he asked Kirby.
"Yes," Kirby said, looking around the forest. "It's a few miles away."
"Your Tech Magic hurts like hell," Bray said, as he continued cleaning the bullet wound in his shoulder with some water from his flask. "I can't wait to get one of those guns for myself and try it out on something other than me."
Kirby chuckled quietly. "Tech Magic. You people from Brighton really are backward."
Bray frowned as he pointed toward the horses, which were drinking from the brook next to where they slept. "Backward? You were the one who had never seen a horse."
"The people in my settlement never had them," Kirby explained, not for the first time. "Just like your people never had guns. Horses were the things of legend. The knowledge of the old world—the Ancients, as you call them—is spread differently, depending on where we come from. I think that's something we're both figuring out, as we travel farther from our homes."
"You're right about that," Bray agreed. He'd seen enough recently to question what he thought he knew about the wild, though he wouldn't freely admit it.
After he'd finished cleaning and tying off his wound, Bray stoked the remains of the dying fire they'd built the night before so he could cook breakfast. Kirby collected her things, falling into the dark mood that seemed characteristic of her since they'd been nearing her settlement.
Bray noticed she'd been eating less, staring between the trees while she rode, and even missing some opportunities to make a joke at his expense.
He wondered if she was looking for ghosts.
Kirby had told him several times that the people of her settlement were dead. She'd been very clear she didn't want to be there any longer than needed.
"Don't worry, you'll have food in your stomach soon," he said as he pulled a rabbit from his bag and started skinning it.
"I don't feel much like eating," Kirby said.
"You're not sick, are you?" Bray asked.
"No, nothing like that," she answered vaguely as she walked over to check on William, a habit she'd developed over the last couple of days. Bray suspected her sympathy for William—and the fact that she and him were both infected—was one of the things keeping her here.
Confirming William was still asleep, Kirby joined Bray by the fire. "Did you hear the demons howling last night?" she asked.
"Yes, but they never got close," Bray confirmed.
"With so many killed near Brighton, it's hard to believe there are any demons left," Kirby said.
"We'll be getting further away from Brighton. Who knows how many are out in other parts of the wild?" Bray shrugged. "All I know is, I'd feel a lot safer with an armful of guns." He grinned.
Kirby smiled back as Bray hung the skinned rabbit over the fire on a stick. Movement from William's blanket distracted them. William was finally waking up. He rubbed his eyes, cast aside his blanket, and pulled his shirt higher over his neck. It seemed like he was still hiding his warts, even though he was in no danger from Bray or Kirby.
Maybe he was ashamed.
"Did you sleep well?" Bray called over to William.
Confusion crossed William's face for a brief moment before he remembered where he was. "Yes," he said. "It was cold, though. I heard demons in the night." William stood from his blanket. "Did I, or was I dreaming?"
"It was demons," Kirby confirmed. "But we're okay. You don't have to worry."
William nodded, but he no longer seemed fearful of the twisted men.
And why would he be? William could talk to the vile, stinking things. Bray wouldn't have believed it, had he not witnessed it several times in the Ancient City.
A few times while they were traveling, Bray had seen William staring between the trees as the demons screeched far away in the forest. Bray had promised to keep William away from the twisted men. But with so many temptations in the wild, that promise was a continuing challenge.
Who knew taking care of Ella's boy would be so difficult?
"Thank the gods the demons didn't come near here," Bray said as he turned the rabbit in the fire, hoping to change the subject. "They stink like a corpse rotting in the sun. Nobody needs that stench ruining breakfast."
"We already have your stench doing that." Kirby laughed at Bray.
Ignoring her, Bray said, "As soon as we're done eating, we'll get moving."
**
After stamping out the fire, they rode the horses through several miles of dusted snow. Kirby led, while Bray and William rode behind, single file when the trees were too thick and clustered, or next to each other when there was room, following terrain that grew steeper, with more and more cliffs standing over the surf. Bray looked for signs of demons or men, but saw nothing except the small footprints of an occasional squirrel.
"There's been a lot less snow along the coast," William observed, looking at the ground.
"My settlement is on the water, north of the place you call the Ancient City," Kirby explained.
"I still can't believe you've never seen the Ancient City," Bray mused as he looked over at her.
"My people were so busy fighting off demons that we didn't have time to explore." Kirby shrugged. "We planned to, of course. But most days, we were lucky enough to just eat."
"I remember you said your settlement was built with wood."
"Yes," Kirby said. "We built it in a bowl-shaped valley surrounding a bay, protected by a wooden wall. Almost immediately after we landed our ships, the demons started attacking."
"Ships," Bray said, the word as much of a marvel as the concept behind it. "We haven't talked much about where you settlers came from."
Kirby looked away. "Across the ocean," she said. "I've told you most of what you need to know. The place I came from wasn't much better than here."
Kirby didn't elaborate, and Bray knew better than to push, especially with the mood she'd been in.
They continued riding until there was no more snow. The weather had warmed, but every so often, a frigid breeze blew, giving Bray a chill that made it worse than where they'd come from. Bray figured it was from the ocean. He'd felt similarly cold in the Ancient City.
Kirby was taking them up a hill, and the horses were working harder, bobbing their heads and keeping a steady pace. When they reached the crest of the hill, Kirby halted, putting up a hand so that Bray and William stopped, too.
Kirby pointed down the hill. "This is—was—my home."
Below them was a large, bowl-shaped valley by a bay, just as she'd described. The majority of the valley was blackened by fire. Within it were thousands of trees that had been cut to stumps, and the remains of what must be a thousand bodies, now skeletons.
"Those are the bodies of the mutants we fought over the years," Kirby explained.
Past the bodies and the stumps, to the right from their view overlooking the valley and the bay, were the remnants of the stockade—tall, wooden logs, many of which had been knocked over or burned, and a dozen or so tall, wooden towers that extended high into the air. On the shore, hanging half in and half out of the water, more incredible than anything else Bray had seen, were enormous, metal objects, the backs of them rocking with the swells of the ocean.
"Those are your ships," he said with amazement.
"Yes," Kirby said sadly. "All that is left of them, anyway."
"They carried you here?"
"Yes, but they're too rusted and destroyed to use. Most are tipped, as you see."
"What happened to them?" William asked.
"They were washed up by a hurricane we had years ago," she answered.
"A hurricane?" William asked, not understanding the term.
"A bad storm." Kirby fell silent as she looked across the valley.
After a moment of reflection, she trotted her horse down the slope and toward the valley. "Be careful," she warned, pulling her gun from her holster. "The mutants made homes of my settlement. I killed most of them before I left last time, but there might be more lurking within the buildings."
Bray and William drew their swords.
They led their horses down the hill, following behind Kirby until they reached the valley, riding through a maze of stumps and bodies, unable to pry their eyes away from the destruction. Everywhere Bray looked was a skeleton lying at some ugly angle, or scattered bones no longer in the shape of a person. William stared from one to the next, as if he was recalling something. God knew he'd seen enough.
"Most of these skeletons are from demons we fought over the years, as I said. The bodies you will see inside the settlement belong to my people. And there are fresher demon corpses there, as well."
"You're certain no one survived?" Bray asked.
"During the days after the fire, and after the demons attacked, I looked for some of my people," Kirby said quietly, as she rode. "Some of them ran into the forest. As I mentioned, some went crazy from the spore. But I thought the ones that were lucid would eventually come back to get more weapons, or to search for other survivors. None did. I'm pretty certain they're dead."
