Road to Babylon (Book 9): The Ranch

by Sisavath, Sam

  “Are we sure about Carlos?” Lara asked.

  Bunker nodded somberly. “There’s nothing left. I know that ranch like my own. We looked everywhere. Everywhere…”

  They had looked all over Carlos’s place, including some spots that Keo hadn’t even known existed but Bunker did, and there were no bodies to be found, not even in what was left of the fortified basement. There was no Carlos, no Jose, and none of their family members. As much as Keo hated to admit it, it made sense that the ghouls would take the family. People, even dead ones, were still useful. At least, for a time.

  “What reason would there be for her to lie?” Keo said.

  “I don’t think the kid’s lying,” Bunker said. He glanced back toward the infirmary’s open door behind them. “I think the creature that sent her is.”

  “It sent her for a reason. I want to find out what that reason is.”

  “You’re nuts.”

  “Probably.”

  Keo turned to Lara. She hadn’t said very much, and she didn’t really have to. He could read everything in her eyes.

  “You’re not seriously going to let him go, are you?” Bunker was asking her.

  Lara pursed a smile at Keo. “Yes.”

  “For the love of God. Tell me why?”

  “Because he’s right. This ghoul wants to meet for a reason. Something it doesn’t want the other one to know about. We should find out what that is.”

  Keo smiled back at her. He knew she’d understand. Lara, more than anyone out here, knew how hard it was to fight the Blue Eyes. She also knew that when you were offered a weapon that could be crucial to the battle, it was imperative you take it.

  And this one smelled like a potential weapon to Keo.

  Or maybe you just think that because it’s Jackson? a voice in the back of his mind said. Or it used to be Jackson, anyway.

  That was possible too, but he didn’t think so.

  He remembered another blue-eyed ghoul, not too long ago, who Keo would even call a “friend.” If he hadn’t taken the creature up on its offer of help, none of them would probably be here right now.

  “We know what we’re doing,” Keo said. “This isn’t the first time this has happened.”

  “Not the first time what has happened?” Bunker said.

  “That we’ve seen a ghoul go against its own kind. It’s happened before.”

  Lara nodded, because he knew she was thinking the same thing. She was also thinking about that “friend” from a long time ago.

  “Yes,” Lara said.

  “Seriously?” Bunker said. “They’ve turned on each other before?”

  “Yeah,” Keo said. “It’s probably one of the biggest reasons why we’re still here right now.”

  “You mean this ranch?”

  “No. I mean alive.”

  “How’s that?”

  “Because one of those blue-eyed ghouls turned on the others,” Keo said, his eyes focused on Lara’s, and vice versa. “It helped us turn the tide of the war.”

  “What war?”

  “The only war that’s mattered in the last century, Bunker.”

  “You mean the war?”

  “Yeah. The war.”

  “You weren’t there,” Lara said. “We couldn’t have done what we did without the ghoul. When it came over to our side, it changed everything. This one could provide us with the same advantage.”

  “Hunh,” Bunker said. “The more you know, I guess. But I still think this is a very dumb idea.”

  “You worry too much,” Keo said.

  “It’s called being smart.”

  “Paranoia is more like it.”

  “It’s not paranoia if there’s a blue-eyed ghoul out there sending, literally, human messages to you.”

  “It’s actually two blue-eyed ghouls, to be specific.”

  “Specific-schematic.”

  “Besides, I have the advantage.”

  “How you figure that, hombre?”

  Keo held up his watch. “You’ll be watching my back, and we still have five hours until nightfall.”

  “Wait. I’m going there, too?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “And who says I’m going there with you?”

  “Lara can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “She’s pregnant.”

  “She’s only a little pregnant. She can handle this.”

  Lara punched the rancher in the shoulder as hard as she could. “You’re going with him, Bunker, and you’re keeping my man alive. Got that?”

  Bunker rubbed his shoulder. “Yes, ma’am.”

  It was a traveling carnival, squatting at the bottom of a hillside about half a mile from the state highway that ran nearby, just over the horizon. There were no towns close enough to see with the naked eye, and the closest was Longmire over seven miles to the west. There was no reason for the group of buildings to be here, but there it was. It was almost as if the organizers had set up shop and were preparing to open when the world went to hell, leaving the rides in their partially unpacked states.

  Keo sat on Annabelle with Bunker beside him, the two of them looking down at the scattering of rides, trucks, and portable buildings that occupied the land below. The biggest by far was a 100-foot tower that sprouted out from the center like a tree made of steel. It was surrounded by smaller attractions—a pair of Tilt-A-Whirls, bumper cars, and game booths in various stages of being assembled. Semis and trucks ringed the place, while grass had continued to grow unabated. In a decade or more, nature would swallow all of this up.

  “You’re really gonna do this,” Bunker said. The rancher hadn’t said a word since they rode out and across the empty Texas countryside. Keo was starting to think he’d stay quiet for the entirety of their mission.

  “Mission.” Is that what you call this?

  Yes, that was exactly what he’d call this. As far as he knew, he had nothing to lose by taking this “meeting.”

  God, he hoped he was right.

  Keo glanced up at the bright sun staring back at them in the sky.

  And as long as I have that…

  “Yeah, I’m really gonna do this,” Keo said.

  “Hey, it’s your funeral,” Bunker said. “But just to be clear: I get to woo Lara and have your baby call me ‘poppa’ if you don’t come back, right?”

  Keo grinned. “Sure, if Lara will have you.”

  “I can be pretty charming.”

  “Since when?”

  “You’re just saying that because I’ve never put the moves on you. Trust me, buddy, when I want to, I can make the ladies drop the panties.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Honest to God.”

  “I totally believe you.”

  “Now why don’t I believe that you believe me?”

  “Gee, I don’t know,” Keo said.

  He tapped Annabelle on the flanks, and the mare began moving down the sloping hill toward the carnival. Sunlight glinted off the large 100-foot tower in the center like a lighthouse guiding him toward his destination.

  “You’re certifiable,” Bunker said as he followed Keo down the hill. “If we still had asylums, I’d commit you. That’s how much I think you’re nuts.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  “I can’t believe Lara let you come here. And here I thought you guys were experts on these blue-eyed fucks.”

  “We are,” Keo said. “That’s why she let me come here. She knows an opportunity when she sees one.”

  “Because you’ve done this before…”

  “Something like this.”

  “You guys are both Looney Tunes. Maybe I won’t woo Lara when you don’t come back with me after all.”

  Keo smiled, but he couldn’t help but wonder if Bunker wasn’t right. It had seemed like such a good idea back at the ranch. He was still pretty sure it was the right move on the way over here.

  But now that he was here, heading through the tall grass toward the carnival…

  “Having sec
ond thoughts?” Bunker asked from slightly behind him.

  “Not at all,” Keo lied.

  Fifteen

  A large puppy with white and black spots and a few brown ones that wasn’t supposed to be there hung from a beam that had rusted over a few summers ago. A fading red tongue sticking out of the dog’s mouth stared back at Keo as he passed it by. Kid-size monster trucks, VW bugs, and ridiculously rendered yellow alligators with green “scales” greeted him along the way to the meeting point. He didn’t think real alligators wore blue berets like these plastic ones, though.

  The building he was looking for was near the center of the carnival, squeezed between a ring toss booth and one with basketball hoops. Keo didn’t know what to expect when he found it, but he guessed it made sense why it had chosen this particular meeting point. It was one of the few buildings that had its own self-contained structure, with walls and a roof keeping the sunlight out. Two stories, with a bright red (or it used to be red, anyway) billboard on top, featuring the words: CRYSTAL LIL’S. There were balconies on the second floor and railings on the first to give it the impression it was some kind of… What? Saloon? A whorehouse? Or both?

  The sides were murals featuring old timey cowboys wielding six-shooters and dancing girls in brightly-colored dresses doing a line dance. Like the Rockettes, but much, much cheaper and, well, less realistic. Steel flagpoles jutted out from the top of the building, but only one of them still had a flag to fly. The rest had either frayed and torn away long ago or were never properly put together before the end of the world.

  Signs up front, Velcroed to the first-floor railing, declared FUN HAD BY ALL along with GLASS AND MIRROR MAZE. Another sign promised FUN TRICK MIRRORS and TWISTY SPIRAL SLIDE INSIDE.

  “This is it?” Bunker asked.

  Keo looked back at him, standing next to Lucille. They had walked their horses through the carnival for the last fifty or so meters, and both animals were fidgeting restlessly. Annabelle moved against her reins as she glanced around the dormant rides and empty booths with suspicion.

  “The kid said a building called Crystal,” Keo said. “That says Crystal.”

  “It says ‘Crystal Lil’s.’”

  “Close enough.”

  Keo focused on the “house.” There were steps leading up to the front entrance, but the windows were boarded up. Paint along the walls had been stripped clean, exposing scarred and termite-infested wood.

  “You’re really gonna go in there?” Bunker asked.

  “I didn’t come here to turn tail now, Bunker.”

  “Why not?”

  That’s a good question, Keo thought.

  But he shook his head before handing Annabelle’s reins over to the rancher. “Don’t go anywhere.”

  “No promises,” Bunker said as he took the ropes from Keo.

  Keo grinned at him before sliding the strap of his MP5 until the submachine gun was in front of him instead of behind him. He checked the magazine, then made sure the safety was off, just in case.

  “Nuts,” Bunker said. “You’re nuts.”

  He’s definitely not wrong there, Keo thought as he took the first step up the stairs.

  All three wooden steps creaked dangerously underneath his heavy boots, but Keo made it to the porch without anything breaking. The front door was closed, a fading image of a buxom “bar girl,” her dress lifted to reveal white stockings underneath, blowing a kiss at him.

  Keo eased the door open with the barrel of the Heckler & Koch, letting sunlight reveal the hallway beyond slowly, one foot at a time—until it ran out of reach, leaving behind shadows about ten yards up the narrow passageway. Dirt-smeared mirrors on both sides of the wall revealed his hesitant form as he leaned in to get a better look at the interior of the place.

  “Dum de dum dum dummm,” Bunker said behind him.

  “That’s not helping,” Keo said without looking back.

  “It wasn’t supposed to help. It was supposed to snap you back to your senses. Ready to head back now?”

  Keo sighed, thought, Yes.

  But he said, “Not yet.”

  “You got balls of steel, I’ll give you that.”

  “I’m just trying to find a way out of this, Bunker.”

  “I don’t think it’s in there, hombre.”

  “I have to find out.”

  “Balls of steel,” Bunker said.

  Balls of stupidity is more like it, Keo thought as he looked for something to wedge the door open, but there was nothing on the floor but dust and cobwebs and rotting wood.

  Keo took out his backup knife, unsnapped it, and slipped it underneath the door frame. He tested the door just in case; it moved but wasn’t in any danger of closing in on him. It could, but it was going to take something way stronger than a gust of wind. As long as that didn’t happen, he had the safety of the sunlight at his back.

  Yeah, as long as that didn’t happen…

  “Holler if you want out,” Bunker said.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t,” Keo said.

  He would have liked nothing more than for Bunker to go into the building with him. Hell, he would have liked it even better if Bunker was up here holding the door open instead of standing out there, a good ten yards in the street. But the ghoul, through Abby, had made it very clear it was supposed to just be him and it inside.

  So you’re taking orders from a ghoul now, huh?

  I guess so…

  Keo didn’t look back at Bunker. He knew what he was going to find—a disapproving rancher asking him what the hell he was doing and telling him it was time to vamos out of there.

  But he couldn’t do that. He had to find out.

  It’d worked once before, with Frank…

  He took a step inside, the floorboard creaking loudly underneath him. He didn’t mind that. He wanted whoever was in there to know he was coming.

  He took another one.

  And a few more…

  He stopped about five yards inside the building, leaving himself five extra yards of sunlight in front of him. The building was constructed in such a way that carnival goers were supposed to enter and walk through a long corridor lined with mirrors on the walls, beginning with about five feet from the doorway. It took Keo a few steps to notice that the reflections weren’t all the same; they distorted his image into different shapes and sizes. Fun house mirrors.

  He couldn’t see very much ahead of him—just darkness, with the end of the hallway somewhere on the other side. Not too far from where he was standing. Maybe twenty—

  His fingers tightened around the MP5 and he lifted it slightly, pointing it up the corridor at the darkness. He’d heard the unmistakable soft rustling of clothes, even if he still couldn’t see what had caused it.

  “Come on out,” Keo said.

  It moved in the darkness to reveal a silhouetted figure.

  Here we go…

  It stood in the shadows, safe from the reach of sunlight, wearing some kind of hooded robe that covered its head. Keo wouldn’t have really been able to tell where its body ended and its head began if not for the two glowing blue eyes that peered back at him.

  There was a noticeable change in the air around him, a slight warmth that hadn’t been there before but was now filling up the moldy hallway. Something scurried past his boots, but Keo didn’t bother looking down to see what it was. It was big enough to be a rat, furry enough to be a cat, and it was scared of what stood in the building with him.

  He didn’t blame whatever it was. Keo wasn’t sure what the hell he was doing here, either. Suddenly this didn’t feel all that good of an idea.

  The presence of the MP5 was reassuring, as well as the brightness at his back. The narrowness of the hallway, in a lot of ways, gave him the advantage. If this was a trap and the creature came at him, there was only so much space for it to maneuver. Even if the submachine gun’s thirty silver-tipped rounds didn’t kill it, they would slow it down enough for him to use the machete he’d brought along to take its head
off.

  That was the plan, anyway.

  What was that saying, though, about plans going to shit once you made contact with the enemy?

  “So I got your message through Abby,” Keo said. “What do you want to talk about? It’s not about the weather, I hope. ’Cause I can get that kind of boring conversation back at the ranch.”

  “Father,” it said. Hissed.

  The unnaturalness of its voice was a reminder that this was a bad, bad idea. Why had he come here? What was he doing? Just because this had worked once, with Frank, why did he think it would again?

  He should run. He should turn around and run.

  Right now. Right now.

  Or, better yet, he should shoot it. Then decapitate it.

  Yeah, that was definitely the better plan. Make sure there was one less blue-eyed ghoul out there.

  So why didn’t he?

  “Don’t be scared,” it said.

  “Who’s scared?” Keo said.

  “You.”

  “Why would I be scared of you? Can you smell the silver on me? Or on my pal out there in the street?”

  “I can hear your heartbeat…”

  “Must have been the breakfast I had this morning.”

  “No, I don’t think it was.”

  Keo smirked. Somehow the creature not “getting” his joke made it even more inhuman.

  The already stale air in the hallway around him was fluctuating now, going from hot to cold, to hot again. It shouldn’t have been that hot with the chill coming through the open door behind him, but it was.

  And the door was still open behind him. Keo knew that much. If it wasn’t, then there wouldn’t be a pool of sunlight between him and the creature. He thought he could feel Bunker’s eyes out there watching him. The rancher was being amazingly quiet even though he could undoubtedly hear Keo talking, and had probably already figured out the ghoul had finally made its appearance.

  Stay out there, Bunker. Stay out there…for now.

  Keo concentrated on the shadows in front of him. On the blue eyes as they pulsed as the creature peered back.

  “I remember you,” it hissed. Its words weren’t threatening; it was just making a statement. “I remember…”

  “Is that right?”