Edgar was close.

Another fresh-off-the-keyboard-unedited clip from Rubberman's Cage, manuscript in progress:

~~~

“Oh.” Edgar said as they came to the nook of the Refuge, where he expected to find Six, “dead person.” A man in pants and nothing else was lying face down. A pool of blood seemed to come from the abdomen.

There was no way out, other than how they had come in. Lenth whirled to face behind them, and readied his sword. Getting the knife out of the glove's spikes was a little clumsier than he'd hoped, but he soon stood ready for combat with both blades ready. The guard who had come with them had the same idea, and had readied his spear.

“Boys, relax,” Marcy said, “that's a lot of blood, this happened a while ago. Edgar, who's this guy?”

Edgar knelt down by the body, and pulled him over by his shoulder. “Eh, I know him. Good guy. Is.. name starts with a 'D', I think. Eh, Daryl? Doug? Something like Doug. Dave?” Edgar's relaxed attitude led the guard to relax, a little.

“You don't even know?” Lenth asked, still facing away, scanning around for signs of Six.

“I'm going to go with 'Dave'.” Edgar said.

A woman ran in from around the corner. “Robert!” she cried, running to the body's side, collapsing to embrace him.

“I was close.” Edgar said.

Marcy goes to Edgar

I said I'd post here more, didn't I? Well, I missed a bit or two that I put on my FB page... but here's the freshest chunk, unedited, from Rubberman's Cage:

~~~~

The only way into this area was through the open gate, with a sign at its apex reading “Edgar's Refuge”. At the gate stood two guards, one on either side. They wore their clothing in similar ways, with extra padding around the shins, and stiff armour plates strapped to their shoulders and forearms. They each held a spear; just metal banged into a long, pointy shape.

“Edgar's refuse,” Marcy huffed as they came within sight, “Just try not to cause problems, Lenth.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. Don't volunteer where you're from if you don't have to. Unless you're asked. Be honest if asked, but if you're not asked, play it cool. As if you were born here. In fact, let me do most of the talking, yeah?”

“I guess, Marcy. Sure.”

When the guards saw Lenth and Marcy, and the fact that they were carrying weapons, everyone shifted their stance just a little. With Lenth half a step behind her, Marcy stopped in front of the guards. “Hey, boys.”

“Marcy,” one of the guards said with a respectful nod, “you and your friend look ready for trouble. Are you bringing us trouble?”

“Nope. Lookin' to solve some. Heard about the stabbings?”

The guard nodded with a smarmy look on his face. “Sounds like Mike pissed off the wrong guy.”

“Mike didn't do anything before Six had a knife to my throat.”

“Sure,” the guard answered.

“Think what you want, but the pile of people Six cut through on his way out sure didn't deserve it!” Marcy said.

That took some wind out of the guard's sails. “Ugh. How many people?”

“A dozen? Probably about four died. I didn't stay and count. We went to get some gear and get searching for Six before he hurts a pile of more people.”

“-and before he came to the Citizenry, he killed at least seven people.” Lenth added. He glanced at Marcy, who gave him a mild glare. A little 'shut up Lenth' glare.

“Before he came to the Citizenry?” the guard asked, “so he's a lofu? Been a while since we've had one of those around. Never a good sign. So, what, he killed seven lofus, and four or more Citizens? Eleven?”

“Congratulations,” Marcy said, “you can add. Any idea where we can find him?”

“She should probably talk to Edgar, the first guard said to the other, “kinda now. Okay, Marcy. You and your buddy can go see Edgar. No trouble, all right?”

“Got it.”

Oblivious Lenth picks his weapon.

I posted this on my facebook page a few days ago... and y'know what? I do much more there than I do on my blog. SO, I'd decided to TRY to share what I post there, with the blog. Oh, once upon a time, FB accepted RSS feeds, and things seemed to simple... except that it took forever to update itself. Meh. So, I'll just have to remember to bring some of my FB over here... for those who are interested, you can just follow me there:

https://www.facebook.com/ozerobook

You all know the story behind this? No? Well, it's actually the "Skulltree", and is part of the back cover for Rubberman's Cage.. but some ladies on FB decided to rename it.. and now.. and now this is a thing. So. Yeah.

Fresh off the keyboard, unedited, and.. UNRATED... (there's a bad word in it.. like THREE TIMES!) from Rubberman's Cage-

~~~

The next room over was fairly large, and badly lit. The middle of the room was a semi-organized pile of blankets, presumably with a mattress underneath. The far wall displayed a selection of items.

Tools, mostly. Lenth wasn't familiar with tools in general, but it seemed obvious that some were modified by Citizens, maybe Mike.

A ball-peen hammer had a few nails attached to the head. A claw hammer had its claw battered down to be sharper than the original design. A heavy pair of gloves hung with barbed wire wrapped around them with a metal plate attached to shield the forearms. A set of crude, spiked 'iron knuckles' hung near those. Some longer tool no longer had its original working end, and the metal shaft had been hammered down into a blade, like a medium-sized sword.

Several more items filled out the display, but Lenth was drawn to the largest item, a sledge hammer. It stood on its head, handle sticking up. He knelt next to it and felt along the handle, picking it up with a bit of a grunt. He looked at Marcy, who was looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Like it nice and big?” she purred with a sultry smirk.

Lenth heaved it up into both hands. “People fight with these? Seems kind of stupid, by the time you get it swinging, the person you're trying to hit would like... not be in that spot any more.”

“That was supposed to get a reaction out of you,” Marcy said, slightly disappointed and slightly frustrated.

“Huh? I answered.”

Marcy unzipped her top, past the navel, and arched back to nudge out a bit of cleavage. It was a motion she'd done many times in the past, but this time she did it with no seductive smoothness. Just quick, blunt, and almost clinical. “Okay, a girl unzips in front of you, alone in a room with a bed. What does that make you think?”

“Oh. Oh! I'm sorry, I'll pick a better weapon and leave so you can get to sleep,” Lenth said apologetically, turning back to the weapon display.

Marcy clenched her fists and shrugged. “It's no fun telling you I'm not interested in actually fucking you when you don't take the bait!”

Lenth dropped the sledge hammer where he'd gotten it from, and turned back to Marcy. “I'm confused.”

Marcy shook her head. “Yeah. Yeah, don't worry about it, I'm just wasting your time anyway,” she flicked her hands dismissively at the weapons. “go ahead, pick what you want. Don't rush on my account.”

“Well, hold on, what's 'fucking', and why would I do it to you?” Lenth asked.

Covering her mouth, and reaching out with her other hand to some imaginary audience, she turned about the room until she faced Lenth once again. “Sex!” she yelled, “fucking means sex! Have you head of sex?”

Lenth nodded, and pointed at Marcy. “Yes. I have. I leaned all about it, but I don't think creating children right now would help. Having more people helping me find Six would be good, but I also learned that children take a long time to grow inside-”

Marcy screamed in exasperation, leaving a silent void.

After a moment, Lenth rallied his courage to speak again. “I'm pretty sure I remember being one, and it was a long time to-”

“Hush.” Marcy said flatly, shaking her head.

“And I've seen some children recently in the Provi-”

“Just. Just stop now, Lenth.”

He obeyed. As long as his curiosity permitted. “Marcy. Have you done sex?”

She put her hand on her forehead, and nodded small quick nods, biting her lip. “Yeah. Yeah Lenth, I seem to remember doing sex a couple of times.”

“Oh! So where are your children now?”

Marcy squinted at Lenth. “When I first met you, I said I needed to educate you. I had no idea how bad it was. Just pick a weapon already.”