The Winter Tyrant-Chapter 43: The Aftermath

Daniel arrived at the front door of Dean’s house with Todd carried on his shoulders. He did not have the time to sit there and think about the impressive physical feat he didn’t previously know he was aware of.

He simply stood there, prepared to knock on the door. Only for it to swing open, Katherine was standing in the doorway, prepped for surgery, she took one look at the victim on Daniel’s back and instantly knew, despite the boy being masked, that it wasn’t Dean.

She sighed and shook her head all while allowing Daniel inside.

"Follow me quickly!"

She shut the door behind Daniel before leading the boy down the hidden staircase to the infirmary built below the surface level.

Once inside, Katherine assisted Daniel with laying Todd down on the table, and quickly began to operate. Barking orders at Daniel as he did so.

"Go get Yuki now, she’s upstairs, first door at the end of the hallway on the left. Go! Now!"

Daniel didn’t hesitate and ran off to do as he was told. After warning Yuki that Katherine wanted her, and trying his best to explain the severity of the circumstances, he ran out back out the door to regroup with his unit and re-enter the fray.

Meanwhile, Katherine had immediately begun efforts to stabilize Todd’s condition and prep him for treatment.

Yuki rushed into the room and found Katherine there, but she couldn’t make a statement as Katherine immediately cut her off.

"As of right now, you’re going to be my nurse, I need you to do everything I say exactly as I see it. You can hate me all you want later, but we need to save this boy’s life right now, and I assume you can read English at a level that doesn’t require pause, yes?"

Whatever jealousy and resentment Yuki may have still felt towards Katherine evaporated o the spot as she realized the seriousness of the situation, dropping all pretense she jumped toward Katherine’s aid.

"If I weren’t capable of that, I wouldn’t have attended an English speaking University. Just tell me what you need and I’ll do my best."

The two of them actively worked to sedate and stitch of the wound to Todd’s leg that had landed dangerously close to the femoral artery.

---

Dean stood in the aftermath of his victory. He had ordered the boys to round up any of the survivors. As in any battle, not all the enemy had been killed instantly. Some were grievously wounded and breathing out in the snow. Others were wounded but stable. Even if incapable of getting back into the fight.

Securing those men and determining what to do with them was paramount now. As Dean needed exact intel on how many of them were left. And where they were currently located.

It did not take long for the boys to properly restrain the survivors and line them up properly. There, Dean found a face that seemed somewhat familiar.

The man was obviously of Roman descent, and though he appeared a bit more unkempt than their last appearance, Dean quickly recognized the man.

A smirk appeared beneath the lines of his balaclava as Dean leaned down in front of the man and stared at him directly in the eyes.

Though the man couldn’t recognize Dean, as his ballistic visor and balaclava completely concealed any identifiable features, Dean’s voice immediately sparked some degree of recognition in the man’s neurons that sent chills down his spine.

"Well, well, well... I have to admit, I didn’t think I’d ever see you again after I took your money... I should have known better... Men like you are uniquely equipped to survive the initial stages of collapse, but with your complexion, I figured the cold would have done you in first before you could properly adapt to the winter."

It took the former loan shark, and current warboss of the Raiders to recognize who Dean was. But suddenly it all made sense... The man who lived in Paradise Falls whom he couldn’t fully remember before, the amount of money he took from them. The weapons, the kit, the degree of discipline and profession of the militia they had come up against.

He was soldier... It was in the man’s paperwork when he was trying to gain money from the Salvatore family a month before the world froze over.

And that’s when he put two and two together, his expression increasingly shifting towards fury, his voice carrying elements of confusion, understanding, and rage all at once.

"You knew.... You took our money knowing that the world was coming to an end. And you spent it on all of this...."

Dean didn’t say anything, he simply rose to his feet sighing back and relaxing. The heat of his breath sifting through the finely spun merino wool of his balaclava.

"Now that is an interesting theory you have there, a shame you won’t live long enough to prove it. That is, of course one option... But it’s a bit messy, so how about we make a new deal instead? You know, now that the shoe is on the other foot and all I would like to... Restructure the nature of our original arrangement."

The former loan shark stared Dean straight into his visor, tying his best to pierce its dark abyss and look for some sign, any sign of the man hidden beneath its mire.

When he couldn’t he sighed heavily.

"What exactly do you want?"

Dean shifted his focus first towards the woods, and then to the camp. He had already confirmed with the drone that there were no additional thermal signatures remaining in the additional area. At least ones that confirmed the existence of human life outside those already accounted for.

But what he was really worried about was the enemy’s camp and its defenses. Of course, he couldn’t just reveal this, and was quick to hide it layered in a greater proposal.

"You tell me about how many men you have left, order them to stand down. If you do this, I might spare your lives, you’d be prisoners at first. Laborers, but eventually you could earn your freedom and become a part of our little community. What do you say? My conditions are quite generous. Especially when you consider I have no reason not actually keep you lot alive, now do I?"

The raider boss looked over at the men by his side. His army was dead, his supplies were largely wiped out. He was as good as dead.

But if he could survive a little bit longer, even as a laborer, he could eventually buy his time to escape. And then he would be back to enact hell upon the bastards who had so thoroughly defeated him.

With this in mind, he was quick to admit his defeat. Knowing that it was only a matter of time before Dean confirmed the truth, anyway.

"This is the last of us, We brought everyone we could in today’s assault knowing we wouldn’t have another shot at victory. You forced our hand, and we ran right into your trap. The camp has nobody left but slaves who would tear us apart even if you let us go. Are you happy?"

Dean nodded his head, the tyrant’s ledger confirmed more or less that the information he had given Dean was accurate.

---

"Name: Lorenzo Vitelli

Age: 30

Health: 25/100

Relationship: Cooperative but scheming"

---

The relationship being set as cooperative but scheming was all the information that Dean needed to know.

"I believe you, thank you for your cooperation Mr. Vitelli"

Lorenzo’s eyes opened with shock upon Dean speaking of his name aloud.

"Wait how did you-"

But he was cut off by Dean’s orders being given to the men in line.

"Phalanx, Present Arms!"

The line instantly raised their weapons and flicked off their safeties, aiming their sights down at the prisoners in front of them. This quickly caused Lorenzo and the others to break out into a panic.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! You said you would spare us if I gave you information! What the fuck is this?"

Dean raised his rifle along with the boys and fired the first shot precisely after giving the order to the rest of the militia.

"Fire!"

An echo of gunfire rang in near perfect unison throughout the suburban neighborhood now transformed into an Ice-Age city-state. And when the smoke cleared from the barrels, Dean lowered his rifle and switched the safety back on. Sighing heavily, he gazed at the crumbled corpses in the snow. Especially Lorenzo’s perhaps speaking to his departed spirit.

"I said I might spare your lives, I never said that I would."

Dean then looked over at his troops, and issues new orders.

"Sweep the area with drones one last time, and expand the search to their camp. Once we confirm the intelligence, we march on the enemy camp and secure whatever remains for the taking."

Just because the immediate threat was terminated, did not mean that Dean had yet earned the right to rest.