Strange Days (Bill of the Dead Book 1)

by Rick Gualtieri

  “This is the underground complex beneath the public façade,” Gan explained as if reading my mind, proving she was every bit as creepy as I remembered. “It is, was, considerably more modern than the rest of the structure.”

  A large group – I was hesitant to call them all people – entered the frame from the top of the screen and began making their way through the ruined facility. All were heavily laden with supplies, carrying crates, backpacks and...

  Oh no! Please don’t let it be true.

  Sadly, the footage was of high enough definition that there was no mistaking Sheila as she walked onto frame in the midst of the throng of invaders. She was clearly unarmed and, for a moment, I held out both the hope and fear that she was their prisoner, but even without sound I didn’t quite believe that. She appeared aghast at the destruction around her, but so did many of the others. At the same time, the relaxed gait with which she carried herself, and the fact that she appeared at ease with those holding weapons, suggested she wasn’t being coerced.

  Nobody poked, prodded, or in any way did anything remotely threatening to her as she passed through the scene from top to bottom.

  “Goddamn it, Bill,” Tom said from over my shoulder. “Your dick is so limp you sent her over to the dark side.”

  “You’re really not helping...” I turned and the words died in my throat. Tom was flickering in and out, kinda like an old TV with a crappy signal.

  “Hey,” he replied, seemingly unaware that his batteries were running low, “all I’m saying is that if you had my skills, your woman would still be around with a smile on her...”

  “Enough!” Christy snapped, shutting him up.

  I could handle being dumped ... mostly, but this went beyond that. The Icon ... Sheila ... was a force for good, humanity’s shining beacon in the darkness. She didn’t do things like this.

  But that had been before. Apparently we were in unknown waters now, a future never seen or mentioned by the prophets of antiquity. The old rulebook had been tossed out the window at some point, and only now was I beginning to see that.

  “It was not my intention to cause you pain, beloved,” Gan said, that same chipper attitude coloring her voice. “Merely to enlighten you.”

  I rounded on her. “You knew about this, all this time, yet you kept it to yourself until now?”

  Her good cheer seemed to slip at my outburst, but I had a feeling it wasn’t because I was yelling. “I am embarrassed to admit I didn’t anticipate their success. Up until recently, I assumed they’d go mad with hunger, trapped as they are, until they eventually turned on each other. That would have solved the issue without any need for direct intervention.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing ... well, okay, I could. The thing was, I wasn’t sure which was worse: that Sheila was apparently helping to reopen the very doors we’d almost died closing, or that Gan would have happily sat back and let her starve to death if it hadn’t worked.

  “Face it, dude...”

  “I said that’s enough,” Christy repeated before turning to me. “Come on. Let’s go for a walk. You need to remove yourself from the situation, and I need a few minutes to think.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Tom and Dave both began to protest. However, before we could reply to either, Tom winked out of existence. Guess whatever voodoo they’d done to the prism had run its course for now.

  “Stay here with the others, please,” Christy said to the thin air. Then she handed her purse to Vincent. “Would you mind keeping an eye on this for me?”

  “I will guard it with my life.”

  “Hopefully it doesn’t come down to that for a wallet and some credit cards,” Ed replied, throwing us a quick wink. “I’ll help hold down the fort.”

  Christy thanked him while I turned to Gan.

  I expected her to insist on tagging along. Problem was, I doubted we could stop her. It was five against one, but I’d seen her fight. Vampire powers or not, she put the lethal into lethal combat skills. It was probably too much to hope she’d discovered the joys of chilling in front of the TV with a bowl of ice cream.

  However, rather than argue, she bowed and said, “My apologies, beloved. At times I forget that such matters can be overwhelming to a mind as young as yours. I will wait for your return.”

  “Um, thank you.”

  “For one hour. Then I will come looking for you.” She turned to Christy. “If my love is in anything less than pristine condition when next I see him, I shall be ... displeased.”

  Dave approached me as I backed away toward the door, but I held up a hand. “Go wait in your room or something.”

  “But...”

  “And try not to pawn off your hand cream on the teen titan again.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Christy waited until we were out on the street to speak, far outside the thirty foot radius Tom had told us about.

  “This week keeps getting better and better,” she said with a sigh.

  “I’m assuming Max Adventure is in your purse.”

  She nodded. “I’m glad I thought to put it in there before heading over. I’m really not too keen on certain members of our company finding out about it.”

  “Yeah,” I replied, figuring I should rip off the apology bandage as quickly as possible, “about Gan being alive...”

  “It’s okay.” She took my hand in hers, catching me by surprise. “I can’t say I’m happy, but I understand. Knowing wouldn’t have done anything but cause undue panic. And it’s not like we could have done much about it.”

  “Well...”

  “I don’t like her, but I get it. As far as you were concerned she was human, until recently anyway. Tempting as it might have been to do something distasteful to her, the war’s over. The ancient powers are cut off from this world. Holding onto old grudges is toxic.”

  “That’s very understanding of you.”

  “I’m still annoyed.”

  “As is your right.”

  “But I can’t imagine any of this is easy on you either, especially considering what we just saw.”

  I couldn’t help but shake my head. “What a fuckery. My ex colluding with the enemy, whoever they are, while yours is back from the grave. Although, just for the record, I’m pretty sure my issues don’t hold a candle to yours.”

  “Maybe. But yours might be responsible for mine.”

  “There is that. Speaking of exes...” I held up our intertwined hands. “Where does that leave us?”

  Christy shook her head. “Honestly, I don’t know.”

  “A fair answer.”

  “But not a simple one.” We turned the block and kept walking, the commuting crowd starting to fill up the sidewalk around us. “The fact that Tom could actually be a part of Tina’s life overjoys me. Nothing is certain, I know that, but...’

  “You have hope?”

  “I’ve always had hope, but this is different.”

  “Because you still love him?” Yeah, I was leading the witness. Sue me. If I was going to get dumped, I wanted it to be sooner rather than later.

  She chuckled, but it held very little humor. “That’s the part that’s not so simple.”

  “How so?”

  “I thought it would break me when Tom died. Between that and losing my powers, it was almost too much. But I had all of you by my side and then I had Tina, and at some point I knew I’d make it. Giving up wasn’t an option. Still, for the longest time, the only thing I wished for was a few more moments with him, a chance to say goodbye. Some nights I’d wake up in a cold sweat certain he was there in the room next to me.”

  “All things considered, he might’ve been.”

  “I realize that now. But regardless, I grieved for him. It took me a long time, but I finally made my peace with it. I moved on.” She glanced at me. “We both did.”

  “We didn’t have a choice.”

  “Of course we did. Don’t be silly. At first, I thought whatever we have was just because we were both lonely, bu
t now I’m not so sure. We’ve always been close ... outside of maybe that short stretch when I was trying to kill you.”

  “I seem to vaguely recall something along those lines.”

  She let go of my hand long enough to elbow me in the side. “It was a different time, a different me. And that’s kind of my point. I’m older now. I’ve lived my life, endured my pain, and it’s made me stronger. But then, seeing Tom again and listening to him talk...”

  “It all came rushing back?”

  “No.” She stopped and shook her head. “Yes, some of it. But not all. As I said, I’m older, maybe even a bit wiser. But Tom, he’s still...”

  “Tom?”

  “Yes! It’s like he’s been in stasis these past five years. He’s a ghost in our world. There’s been no chance for him to live and grow, and also no reason to. Don’t get me wrong, I’m amazed he hasn’t been driven insane by his isolation. It speaks to an amazing amount of willpower.”

  “I was going to say base dumbassery.”

  She smiled. “Maybe a bit of that, too. I won’t lie. He still has that same ... innocence, let’s say, that drew me to him to begin with. And now that he’s back...”

  “It’s kind of weird?”

  “Weird doesn’t begin to explain it. The only thing I know for certain right now is I can’t leave him like that. I have to do everything in my power to...”

  “You don’t have to explain. I agree one hundred and twenty percent. And, just for the record, it seems like you’re making progress.”

  Christy turned away for a moment.

  “What is it?”

  “That’s another problem.”

  “What is?”

  “What we did. It shouldn’t have been possible, not in the time we had. I’m not complaining, don’t get me wrong, but it shouldn’t have worked.”

  “Oh?”

  “Creating the prism was the work of a full coven combining our powers over the course of several days. Even then, I’m fairly certain the only reason we succeeded was because the walls between realities were in the process of being knocked down thanks to the war. But I only had Kelly to help me this past week, and she’s only a catalyst witch.”

  “A catalyst what?”

  “It doesn’t matter. It’s a Magi thing. Regardless, with only a few days to create a ritual to modify the prism, then barely an hour to perform it, it should have failed outright, or at least taken several tries. But it worked.”

  “That’s good.”

  “But only because we cheated.”

  “How do you cheat with magic?

  “Tina.”

  Oh. “Really?”

  “I didn’t want to involve her, but Kelly convinced me that we could act as the foci while she merely provided some extra power for the incantation.”

  “And that worked?”

  “Far better than I ever expected.” From the tone of Christy’s voice, I got the impression she was less than pleased.

  “So why isn’t that a good thing?”

  “It is good, for Tom anyway. When a pulse hits, the prism not only taps into the extradimensional power it normally channels, but it now stores some, too. In theory, the more it charges, the longer he’ll stay with us. The problem is Tina. Or, more precisely, the sheer amount of energy she’s able to instinctively summon.”

  “Let me guess, she’s a bit of a firecracker?”

  “More like an atom bomb.” She saw the look I gave her and pursed her lips. “I mean it, Bill. I’ve met some powerful mages in my time, grand mentors with decades more experience than me. But none of them even remotely approached the raw power I saw my daughter channeling. It was as if we had a whole coven assisting us.”

  “Okay, but didn’t you say you could bind her until she was older?”

  “The truth is, I’m not sure I can.”

  “Oh please. I’ve seen the things you can do.”

  “This isn’t false humility,” she replied. “I was once considered a prodigy among my people. But this goes beyond anything I’ve ever heard of. The only other witch I’ve seen who could blow away the bell curve like this was...”

  “Let me guess. The White Mother?”

  Christy nodded, a shadow of bitterness crossing her face. “Exactly. And there’s no way of knowing how much of her power was artificially augmented by The Source. I won’t lie. It frightens me.”

  “Tina?”

  “No, I’m not scared of her. She’s my daughter and I love her with all my heart. I’m scared for her. What if...” She trailed off.

  “What if what?”

  She shook her head. “Never mind for now. I’m just wool gathering because I’m worried.”

  “Tina’s a peach. The people we should be worried about are all at the center of the Earth, fucking with things they shouldn’t be. God, I can’t believe Sheila is actually helping them. I mean, she’s the one who blew it all up to begin with.”

  Rather than tell me I should give her the benefit of the doubt, Christy instead said, “About that...”

  “What?”

  “I have ... a confession to make.”

  “Let me guess,” I said with a mirthless laugh, “A part of you hopes she succeeds?”

  “Not quite. The truth is ... I sort of knew this was coming. Not this exactly, but I knew what had been bothering her.”

  “In retrospect, I guess I did, too.”

  “No. I mean I really knew ... including that she was planning to leave you.”

  “What?! How?”

  “Because she told me.”

  I stopped on the sidewalk as her words registered in my addled brain. “She told you? When?”

  “A few weeks before she left. I tried to talk her out of it.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  She looked me in the eye. “Because I knew it wouldn’t fix anything. Her mind was made up. And then, after she was gone, I thought it would only make you feel worse.”

  “Holy crap.”

  “I swear, I didn’t have any idea how far she’d take it. I thought she just needed to find herself. Maybe volunteer or do some missionary work – things to help ease her conscience. I never guessed she’d ever do something so reckless or dangerous.”

  We stood there for several long minutes, silence passing between us on the rapidly filling sidewalk.

  I was tempted to scream at her, but the truth was, her sins weren’t all that different from me keeping Gan’s survival a secret for so long. And deep down, I hated to admit it, but I knew she was right. Who could have ever suspected that Sheila’s guilt would manifest itself in this way? Hell, even if I had known, what could I have done? Gone with her?

  I wasn’t sure I saw myself traveling the world, like some half-assed Kwai Chang Cain, counseling depressed mages. Even if that had happened, there’s still no fucking way I would’ve agreed to some crazed plan to open our world up again to the things beyond.

  And Sheila probably understood that, which is why she’d slipped out without even saying goodbye.

  Holy shit, what a fuckery.

  But Christy wasn’t at fault for any of it.

  Instead of yelling, I put my hands on her shoulders and smiled. “Is it me, or do we both suck at this communication thing?”

  She actually laughed, her eyes bright with moisture. “When it comes to the fate of the world? Maybe.”

  “Ain’t we a pair?”

  She leaned in for a hug. “I guess we are, Freewill.”

  WORLD BUKAKKE CHAMPIONSHIP

  As much as I had tried to convince myself that a clean break was best, I was happy to find myself still in the running. The truth was, I had no idea where my relationship with Christy was headed, especially now, but I was glad we weren’t simply hitting the off switch and pretending it never happened.

  At the same time, we had to acknowledge there were trying times ahead for us all. And with Gan in the picture again, it was likely to be coupled with bouts of unnecessary bloodshed. Because of that, we talked a
bit more and decided it might be safest to forgo any public displays of affection – for now anyway. Assuming we didn’t get lucky and return to find Gan dead from an overdose of smugness, there’d come a time when she’d inevitably find out about us, but hopefully we could attend to the matters at hand before that happened.

  We finished our circuit of the block and decided to head back. The others had been kept waiting long enough. Besides, it was probably only a matter of time before Gan lost her cool with my friends.

  As we approached the top floor apartment, I began to suspect we might have already been too late. Loud voices could be heard coming from inside.

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh, for Christ’s sake.”

  “We better get in there before they kill each other,” Christy said.

  I opened my mouth to reply, just as my key turned in the lock, but it was as if all the air had been sucked out of my lungs.

  For fuck’s sake. Not now.

  One of my legs buckled beneath me and I fell into the door, pushing it open as that strange lethargy overtook my body. Another of those magical pulses had begun.

  “For the last time, do not speak to me. I have no interest in you or your paltry wares.”

  I staggered in the doorway for a moment, long enough to see Dave standing in front of me with Gan a few steps beyond.

  “But it’s a great opportunity,” he replied. “Trust me. You’ll make back ten times your investment, guaranteed. It’s ... whoa. Hey, watch it!”

  Gan snatched up one of the boxes of Dave’s hand cream and, perhaps not realizing her powers were back, flung it at him. My former DM somehow managed to dive out of the way. I, currently possessing all the strength of a newborn kitten, wasn’t so lucky.

  All I could do was watch in morbid horror as the box flew at me like some sort of cardboard missile. It slammed into my chest, sending me stumbling across the hall and causing the contents within to splatter out in a greasy arc.

  A wave of white goo covered my face, quickly fading to black once my head collided with the far wall.