Night Beckons

by Colleen Gleason

  Sleep was something rare and fitful now.

  Reggie Blanchard’s breathing was shallow and labored, and she sat with him, watching the gray fog swirl and mist gently above him. Even in the night, the silvery glint was evident, catching whatever bit of illumination was available. He was an old man, perhaps as old as Vonnie, and he was merely wearing down, easing from life into death. He’d been living in Yellow Mountain, working as a metalsmith, for the last two years after his wife died in Selena’s care. Now, she and his sister waited for him, hovering with the blue glow of the afterlife, in the corner as the guides often did. Waiting.

  Selena stared into nothing, enveloped by numbness and apathy, holding his large, gnarled hand. Threading through the night was the sound of moans in the distance. Ruuu-uuuthhhhh.

  Mom.

  At first she thought she was dreaming, that she’d finally found sleep. The sound was in her head, buried in her mind, and yet she looked up, searching. And there he was. Sammy.

  In the corner, hovering with Reggie’s wife and sister. The two women smiled at Selena, but she barely noticed.

  I told you I wouldn’t really leave you.

  “Hi Sammy. I miss you.” Tears stung her eyes and she looked at him, hardly able to see any detail when she focused hard, except his eyes. Nevertheless, she knew it was him.

  I miss you too. And I’m worried about you.

  “I’ll be all right. It takes time.”

  Reggie is going to go soon. We’re here to help him, Mrs. Blanchard and me. He was always nice to me when I saw him in town.

  “So is this your new job? Helping bring people over to the other side?” She felt a little smile waver at the corner of her mouth.

  Like mother, like son. I’ll be around to help sometimes. Like a conduit.

  “Are you all right?”

  Yes. You can’t imagine what it’s like here.

  “Then that’s all I can ask, hm?”

  Mom. Try to start living again.

  She frowned, tried to hold back the sting of tears. “I don’t know if I know how.”

  They tell me you have to figure it out.

  Easier said than done, she thought.

  I have to go now. I’ll be back later to help with Mr. Blanchard.

  “Okay. I love you.”

  I love you too.

  When Selena opened her eyes again, it was still dark. And the zombies still groaned beyond the walls. Her crystal still glowed, upstairs in its box.

  She stared at the corner where Sammy had been and her heart squeezed.

  Try to start living again, Mom.

  She visualized herself going up, getting her crystal, slinging it around her neck, and walking out of the grounds. She closed her eyes and felt the zombies surge toward her; she could almost smell their foul stench, and feel the desperate clawing of their hands, grabbing for her.

  And then she saw herself exploding into a vicious whirlwind, smashing and hitting and clubbing at them, over and over and over until they were all piles of bloody bones and flesh.

  She saw the hopeful light die from their eyes, the orange glow disappear as they collapsed at her feet.

  Her stomach churned and rebelled, and she staggered to her feet, using Reggie’s bed for stability and ran for the toilet. When she lifted her face, wiping her mouth, her cheeks were wet from tears of confusion, frustration and fear.

  And Vonnie was standing there, looking down at her with worry and grief.

  “Selena,” she said, helping her to her feet. “Are you all right?”

  I don’t know if I’ll ever be all right again. “Thanks. I’m fine. Just…not feeling too well.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?” asked the only mother she’d ever known.

  Selena shook her head, and at that moment, she realized the only person she wanted to talk to was Theo.

  And he was gone.

  Chapter Fifteen

  A week after they left Yellow Mountain, driving in the Humvee that they’d retrieved from the ditch and running it on solar-charged battery power, Theo and Lou finally got a break. They’d been spending the last few days making larger concentric circles around the settlement, looking for any signs of recent Humvee tracks or any other evidence of the bounty hunters.

  It was slow-going, prompting Theo to compare it to the long, boring segment in a book that had been published to great fanfare in 2007.

  “It’s like looking for a horcrux in a forest,” he said as Lou navigated the Humvee along a nonexistent road.

  There was a reason the common use of mechanized vehicles had gone the way of iTunes, shopping malls, and highways after the Change: they were no longer necessary, and they were difficult to maintain. Not only were the roads no longer navigable, cracked and potholed as they were, but no one felt safe traveling far from an established settlement. And by even ten years after the Change, the cars that hadn’t been destroyed by the earthquakes, storms, and weather were no longer in working condition. The gas pumps at the stations no longer had electricity to run them, and people were more concerned with food and shelter and the basic necessities of living than to try and rehabilitate them.

  Within thirty years, vehicles became impossible to find or fuel. And there were other impediments as well.

  Thus, today, the only people who had access to trucks and cars were Strangers, or their bounty hunters. And the Resistance, who’d managed to obtain three Humvees and took care that they were kept in secret and only used judiciously.

  Because of this, the sight or sound of a mechanized vehicle generally indicated the presence of a bounty hunter or the Elite. So when, on that eighth night after they left the settlement and were about thirty miles north of Yellow Mountain, they saw the jouncing beam of headlights in the distance, Theo and Lou knew they’d finally caught their break.

  Neither of them had ever been this far north of Envy before—well over a hundred and fifty miles—and they were unfamiliar with the terrain and geography. But that didn’t stop them from starting up their own vehicle and driving toward the other truck.

  They’d readjusted the headlights so they pointed nearly straight down, which, although it helped keep their location and presence hidden from anyone else, it also made it difficult to drive through the overgrown environment. Everything from old cars to massive potholes and unexpected bumps in the ground, along with trees and bushes, could suddenly appear in their path.

  Thus, trying to balance speed, safety, and stealth was quite a feat, and there was much swearing and giving of directions—mostly unwanted. They had to stop often, too, for Theo to climb onto the roof of the truck, or even a tree or other high location to see which direction to go. For awhile, he rode on top of the Humvee, holding on a la James Bond (although at much slower speeds), and gave directional advice from there.

  Despite the danger and need for surreptitiousness, they made good time and closed the distance between themselves and the other vehicle, staying far enough behind that they wouldn’t be noticed. Their cause was helped when their quarry stopped for the night, giving them a chance to drive even closer.

  “Better find a place to hide this,” Lou said when they got close enough that discovery was possible. Theo had climbed back into the truck.

  They found a spot to hide it and each of them sprawled out on a seat to sleep for the night.

  As Theo lay there, trying to find relaxation, he found himself unable to dismiss thoughts of Selena from his mind. The last week of searching and driving, picking at Lou and discussing possible theories about Wobble and Brad Blizek’s involvement in the Cult of Atlantis had kept him busy. Not that she hadn’t crossed his mind—she had.

  Oh, she had. Continuously.

  Lou had taught Frank how to use the computers in the arcade to communicate via messaging—after all, he’d been well-versed in email and Google before the Change happened, and it hadn’t been difficult to retrain him even fifty years later. Theo appreciated it because he at least got basic updates about Selena.
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br />   He knew that at least she hadn’t gotten herself killed or injured saving zombies again.

  He knew that she didn’t sleep much. That she was busy with patients. That the harshness and grief was still etched on her face. That she’d been sick a week or so ago but seemed to be better now. At least physically.

  He frowned in the dark. That was an awful lot of detail, coming from Frank. Maybe the guy was more verbose when he had a keyboard in front of him.

  “If we find that woman, Remington Truth,” Lou said, breaking into Theo’s thoughts. “What are we going to do?”

  “Try to talk to her. She must have some secret. Something to do with this whole mess. Otherwise why would she be hiding and running away all the time?”

  “She’s with the bounty hunters now, though. If she’s aligned with them, and she has whatever it is they’ve been searching for for fifty years…that’s not good for us.”

  “I know,” Theo said. “But if she was going to ally herself with them, why wouldn’t she have done so years ago? Seems like something’s wacky.” He stared at the ceiling of the Humvee, noticing that the fabric was coming undone near the windows, hanging like Spanish moss. “I’ll tell you one thing. If we find Seattle, I’m going to kill the bastard.”

  “What about Ian Marck?” Lou asked from where he lay on the back seat. He’d claimed the more comfortable one, citing his advanced age.

  “I don’t know what to make of him. He kidnapped Jade and locked Elliott and me in the mall with a bunch of zombies, but he didn’t kill either of us when he found us rescuing Jade. He could have—me at least.”

  Lou shifted, sounding sleepy. “He needed Elliott’s doctor skills, but you’re right. You could have been dead, even though Elliott bargained for your life. I don’t trust him. Simon doesn’t either.”

  “Simon should have killed him when he had the chance,” Theo said flatly.

  “Geezus, when did you get so bloodthirsty?” Lou mumbled. “Go to sleep.”

  Theo rolled his eyes. “You were the one who started talking.”

  But Lou’s words stuck with him, as jesting as they were. When did you get so bloodthirsty?

  Was that what Selena saw? A man fed by violence and who wanted to kill?

  Ironically, the only time Theo had ever killed a man had been during an incident just after the Change, when there were looters and people crazed from PTSD. A man had attacked a group of people—no one really knew why; he was crazy—and Theo had to shoot him.

  Other than that, despite the fact that the ways of the world had become more like every man for himself, he’d never taken another life. Unless one counted those of the zombies.

  But he still couldn’t fathom not slaying the feral creatures. They were freaks of nature who had no mind of their own and were bent only on accomplishing their two goals—to feed and to find Remington Truth.

  If they were left to run wild, humanity wouldn’t have a chance to survive.

  Ah, Selena.

  He missed her.

  The next morning, Theo woke just before the sun started to rise and slipped from the Humvee to see how close he could get to their quarry.

  Not that he’d slept, but at least he’d closed his eyes for a bit. Thankfully, there’d been no sound or sign of gangas, so at least his downtime had been restful. He trekked through the woods and toward where they’d last seen the other vehicle, silently and swiftly. The smell of something delicious cooking led him to the building where the other truck had been parked and he got close enough to see the two people moving around inside an old party store.

  Creeping closer, he used what was left of the fading darkness and some rusted cars as cover. Whatever they were cooking smelled really good. Theo and Lou had long gone through the food Vonnie had sent with them and had resorted to wild berries and carrots, as well as some dried venison and, two days ago, a couple of fish.

  He thought about making a distraction so they’d come running out and he could go running in and snatch up their breakfast, but in the end decided that remaining unnoticed was a better option than a good breakfast. Still, his mouth watered and the closer he got to the building, the more his stomach rumbled.

  Skirting a crushed Dumpster and a pile of rubble, Theo edged around the back of the building and finally could hear voices. Taking his time, he moved closer, using the broken windows to his advantage.

  “We’ll drop these two off and then meet up with Seattle. Should get’em to Ballard by noon, and back to meet Seattle a few hours later.” It was a man, and the voice wasn’t familiar.

  “He’s going to get rid of Marck?” said another, feminine voice. “Lacey’s not going to like that.”

  Theo edged closer, wondering if it was the female Remington Truth. He lifted his head, using a thick vine hanging over the window to peer through. No. This woman had much lighter hair.

  The guy, whose face was in better light, was one of the bounty hunters who’d come to Yellow Mountain. And the more Theo looked, the more he thought the woman might have been there too.

  “That’s the plan—he’s offing Marck. If anyone can do it, Seattle can. He’s a fucking crazy bastard,” the man replied. “And Lacey’s part of the reason he wants to get rid of Marck, you know.”

  “What about that girl with Ian? She doesn’t say much. What’s he want with her?”

  “I dunno, Lisa. What do you think? Ain’t you seen the way Seattle’s been looking at her?” The sarcasm in his voice was thick. “All’s I know is Seattle wants to find whoever’s left of Remington Truth’s family, and he wants to do it first. Getting rid of Marck is part of the plan. He’s scared ball-less that Marck’ll find the Truth person first and get crystaled before him.”

  Well, that was interesting. If the female Remington Truth was with the bounty hunters, why didn’t these guys know about it? Was it possible they didn’t know who she was?

  “What are you going to do with us?” came a third voice, which sounded thready and frightened.

  The man replied, “Oh, you’ll be all right. We’re not going to kill you.” He laughed, and even from where he was, Theo felt a chill.

  “I’m hungry. Can’t we have something to eat?” the scared voice said again, with a little more force.

  The man laughed again. “You don’t need to eat. You’re gonna be all set in a few hours. Ballard’ll take good care of you. Goddam, Lisa, what’s takin’ so long? Want to get on our way now, okay?”

  And that, Theo realized, was his cue to move his ass.

  But he waited another minute. He wanted to see who the third person was, because he suspected it might be one of the guys missing from Yellow Mountain. He also wanted to search the Humvee and see if there was anything interesting there. Like guns.

  Making a quick decision, Theo traced his path back around to where the truck was parked. Ears cocked to listen for approach, he opened the door on the far side of the truck and looked in. And smiled.

  Just what he wanted. The automatic rifle was in his hands in a moment, along with a pouch of ammo. The sounds of approaching voices raised the hair on the back of his neck, but he took another moment to check around and see if there was anything else worth taking.

  And then, when the heat got too close, he shut the door carefully and darted off into the woods, just as they came out of the store. Fifty yards in, he stopped and slung the rifle over his shoulder. Then he scrambled up a tree where he could see the male bounty hunter and his companion, Lisa, dragging out two people behind them.

  Yes, that was definitely Wayne from Yellow Mountain. The red hair gave him away. Probably going to sell them into slavery. We’ll have to put a stop to that.

  Theo pulled the gun from his shoulder and tried to get a bead on them, but they were too far away and there were too many trees for a good shot.

  That’s okay. We’ll follow the bastards.

  He clambered down the tree and took off back toward Lou.

  “Let’s go,” he said, jumping into the truck. “They’ve g
ot Wayne and Buddy. They’re taking them somewhere a couple hours from here.” And he filled his brother in on the rest.

  In some ways it was more difficult to shadow the truck during the day, and in some ways it was easier. But using the same process as the night before, they managed to follow Lisa and her companion to their destination.

  They knew they’d arrived at the destination when they caught a glimpse of a massive, solid metal fence through the trees. Theo hopped out of the truck and climbed up the nearest, tallest tree to see what he could find.

  Holy shit.

  “It looks like the Black Gate of Mordor would have looked if they’d had electricity and our technology,” Theo told his brother when he got back to the ground.

  “Instead of magic, you mean?” Lou replied dryly.

  Theo ignored him. “We can’t do anything in the daylight, but I’m betting it’ll be a piece of cake for two fucking computer geniuses like us to disarm whatever they have for security. I saw cameras and electric wiring across the top, but I doubt there’s much more. Why would they need it? I haven’t seen a sign of any settlements or people in the last three days. There’s no one around.”

  “Could you see anything else behind the wall?”

  “It’s sheer metal; I can’t see through it. There’s a main door where the truck went through and a smaller one to the side. I’m betting that’s the one we want.”

  “Okay, then, let’s see about taking out a couple of the cameras in the mean time.” Lou hefted the rifle Theo had acquired.

  After a short time, the truck left through the gate again. Lou and Theo looked at each other. “I could stay here and you could follow them,” Theo suggested. “Wouldn’t you like to know where they’re meeting Seattle? And see what happens to Ian Marck?”

  Lou nodded. He looked tempted. “Could you tell if Wayne and Buddy were in the truck?”

  Theo shook his head. “Windows tinted. Couldn’t tell. But my guess is no. They said they were dropping them off.”

  “Then let’s stay here and wait for nightfall. I don’t give a shit what happens to Marck. I want to get those kids back home.” Lou said. “And in the mean time, I’m going to get a temporary NAP set up and get us into the network—pretty sure we’re in range from here—and message back to, uh, Sage and let her know what’s up.”