by Poe, S. B.
“I didn’t fall asleep.” Ham said.
“Yes you did.” Scott said.
“No I didn’t.” Ham said.
“Will you two kids shut up?” A voice range out from the end of the bridge.
Both of them jumped to their feet and turned towards the voice. A figure stepped into the moonlight at the end of the bridge. Scott thought they were wearing a poncho but as the moonlight fell on the figure Scott could see the outline of fur. Like a tanned hide. Ham grabbed her spear and planted her feet. Scott grabbed the baseball bat and raised it above his head.
“If you don’t get quiet the Duhasata will come.” The man said.
“The who?” Ham asked.
“Duhasata, the dead.” The man said as he slowly stepped onto the bridge.
“That’s far enough.” Scott said.
“I’m sure it is. But I think I will go just a little further.” The man said. “I am Cyrus. I do not mean you harm.”
“Well, Cyrus, you can stay right over there and we’ll be just fine.”
“But you won’t. The Duhasata will come to this place tonight. I have already seen their horde. You must come with me.” Cyrus said.
“Pass.” Ham said. “We’ll just find our way home. Thanks.”
“Where is home?” Cyrus asked.
“Collier.” Scott said without hesitation.
“You are quite a few miles from Collier. Come with me. I will take you there in the morning when the sun has returned.” Cyrus said.
“You know where it is?” Ham asked.
“I do. Although I have never been there, the roads haven’t changed their paths.” Cyrus said.
“Does this road go to Collier?” Scott asked.
“It does not.”
“Why should we trust you?” Ham asked.
“There is no reason for you too except that we are all speaking, breathing and thinking. Those things are common bonds now. Those bonds are sacred. Sacred.” Cyrus said.
“We lost our horse.” Ham said. “She ran off.”
“Oddly enough, we found a horse. She ran up.” Cyrus said.
Ham straightened up and brought the hilt of the spear to the ground. Scott lowered the bat.
“He’s lying.” Scott whispered to Ham.
“What if he’s not?” Ham asked.
“You wanna go with him?” Scott asked. “That’s crazy.”
“My Opa chose to go with your brother one time and we thought that was pretty crazy too. But it wasn’t.”
“This is dangerous.” Scott said.
“What do you want to do? Just run off into the woods. He said he would help us get home.” Ham said. “I say we trust him.”
“No matter what, we stay together. Remember.” Scott said. “We stay together.”
“Deal.” Ham said. She turned back to the stranger. “Okay, mister.”
“Cyrus.” He said.
“Mr. Cyrus.” She said.
“Just Cyrus.”
“Okay Cyrus. We’ll trust you. But we’re staying together and I’m keeping my spear.”
“As you wish. Come now, the Duhasata will be here soon.”
Ham looked back at Scott one more time as he grabbed his backpack. He glanced around the fire and kicked one of the cans over. The last bit of water poured onto the concrete. He brushed at the embers with his boot and scattered them out. The moon slid behind the treetops as they walked towards the figure standing at the edge of the bridge.
Be Here in the Morning
Kate rolled over and blinked. The afternoon sky had turned purple and she could see a few stars winking through the window. She sat up and stretched before chuckling to herself. Maybe Bridger had been right. Maybe it was Sunday afternoon. She sure had napped like it had been. She swung her feet on the floor and walked down the hallway. She pushed open Scott’s door. His bed was empty and his room was a mess. She knew he was probably helping Ham with her horse, or doing whatever else it was he did all day. She went back to her room and slipped on her shoes before heading out the door.
Jahda sat on the porch shifting uncomfortably from side to side. Waiting was becoming more difficult. Cameron came around the side of the house.
“Anything?” Jahda jumped up and asked.
“She wasn’t there.”
“Shit.” Jahda said.
“It’s worse.” Cameron said.
“What do you mean?”
“Cheval is gone too.” Cameron said.
“She took that damn horse out. Didn’t she? Dammit. That hard headed little…”
“Easy now, she’s still just a child.”
“A hard headed child.” Jahda said. “Come on, we need to find Bridger.”
“He and Evelyn have just returned. I witnessed their arrival as I was making my way to the shed. I suspect they will be wherever Kate is.” Cameron said.
“We need to let her know too. They’ll be up at the big house. Let’s go.” Jahda started walking.
Bridger sat on the steps of the house. He heard the door swing open behind him and turned as Evelyn walked out onto the porch.
“Not here.” Evelyn said.
“Alright. I guess we’ll head across the street. Oh look, here she comes.” Bridger stood as he saw Kate step into the road. He caught movement to his left and turned to see Jahda and Cameron coming from the other end of the street. “Everyone’s coming to see what we brung em, like Santa Claus.”
Kate crossed the street and came down the side walk.
“Ho, Ho, Ho.” Bridger said. “Unfortunately no gifts this time. But we did have an interesting outing, nonetheless.”
“Well, you’ll be glad to know I took your advice.” Kate said smiling.
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“I took a Sunday afternoon nap. It felt great. Now if I can get something to eat, I think I might just go right back to sleep.”
“Well good for you.”
The footfalls behind them interrupted the conversation. Kate turned and the smile vanished from her face when she caught Jahda’s expression of worry and fear.
“We’ve got a problem.” Jahda said. “Ham’s missing.”
“Her horse too.” Cameron added.
“Missing? How?” Kate said.
“I don’t know but she’s no where to be found. I’ve been looking for an hour. No one has seen her. She isn’t hiding and even if she was, she isn’t hiding a horse inside a parked car. She’s gone. She took the horse.”
The screen door behind them opened and Kate turned around to see Cody step out onto the porch.
“The little girl?” Cody asked.
“Yes, the little girl. Ham.” Kate said.
“You don’t think she did what she said she was gonna do? Do you Cam?” Cody asked.
“What’s that?” Cameron asked.
“You know, the other day, she said she was gonna take that horse out there to them alfalfa patches. When she though we were gonna use her horse for fertilizer?” Cody asked.
“I forgot about that. But it is possible.” Cameron said.
“Yeah, but how did she get the horse through the gate though?” Cody asked. “I mean someone is on guard at the gate all the time. There’s nowhere else she could have gotten a horse out. She had to go through the gate.”
“Someone had to have let her out.” Cameron said.
“No one’s seen her. I asked everyone. I talked to Charlie and Jennifer at the gate. Josh, Lori, Ed and Vernon were hanging out down by the creek. Those are the only ones that have been on gate duty today.” Jahda said.
“No it’s not.” Kate said. Her face blanched and Bridger leaned towards her out of fear that she was about to fall over. “No, someone else was on gate today. Someone who isn’t here now. Scott wasn’t home when I woke up. He had guard duty with her this morning. He could have let her out and then slipped out with her.”
“Now hold on Kate. We don’t know that.” Bridger said. “We need to get everyone together.”
“How?”
&nb
sp; “Ring the bell.” Cody pointed over to the VFW.
The group headed across the street, even Emma Grace and Devin followed them over. Kate grabbed the rope and started ringing. She paused for a minute and wait. Ed and Vernon came across the field. Lori and Josh came out of their house. Kate looked around. As every face emerged from the darkness, she felt the lump in her stomach grow. By the time Raj and Tilly showed up she felt desperate. She looked at Bridger and her bottom lip trembled. He reached his arm around.
“My god Bridger. Ham and my baby boy are out there, alone.” Kate said. “We have to find them. We have to go now.”
“We’ll find them.” Bridger said. “But we can’t go now. There’s no chance of finding them until the sun comes up again. If we go out there right now, we’ll all be stumbling around in the dark, lost and fighting the dead.”
“Just like them?” Kate asked before she slowly collapsed to a sitting position on the ground. Josh knelt down beside her.
“My baby boy.” She sobbed into his shoulder.
“We’ll find him, mom. I’ll find him.” Josh said as he wrapped his arms around her.
Bridger stood and walked away from the crowd. He looked up at the moon as it smiled it’s half smile back at earth. The tail of a meteorite winked out against the blackened sky. Tilly walked up beside him.
“You really think we have until morning? You think two kids out there stand a chance?” Tilly asked.
“I don’t know.” Bridger said.
“I hope so.”
“We’ll find them.” Bridger said.
“How can you be so sure?” Tilly asked.
He turned and looked back at Kate and Josh. Both of them still knelt together on the ground and he could see the streaks of dirty tears running down her face.
“Because, I can’t contemplate what happens if we don’t.” He turned and walked towards his home.
Music for From the Darkness
The Dirty River Boys
The Be Good Tanyas
Thieving Birds
Deer Tick
The Dead Tongues
Lee Dewyze
Carolina Story
Skeeter Davis
Passenger
Joe Pug
Rock Plaza Central
Stoney Larue
John Moreland
The Wailin Jennys
Ben Nichols
Lyle Lovette
Karen Elson
The White Stripes
Alison Mosshart
Bob Dylan
Jackie Greene
The Crooked Still
Coming Soon
The Time Between
Book 11
The Marionette Zombie Series
By
SB Poe
