The Queen of the Dead

by Peter Meredith

  Jenn would be on her own, dealing with the Coven and likely Eve as well—the idea of going into that alone made her blood run cold. Then a thought struck her: What would Jillybean do? The answer to this one was rather simple: She’d do something crazy. Hadn’t she already done something crazy in a similar situation?

  With a wild grin, she squeezed Mike’s arm and ran below, coming back in a second with one of Jillybean’s pipe bombs cradled in the crook of her arm like a football. “It’s a negotiating tool,” she told him. He had already been shocked by the sight of the bomb, but now his mouth came open. She laughed at him, and with the bomb in her hand she suddenly felt as crazy as Jillybean.

  This temporary insanity had a freeing effect on her and before she could stop herself she bent and kissed him on the lips. It was short and sweet and when she broke away, Mike looked even more shocked than he had a second before.

  “Oooooh,” the crowd at the now close dock said. Some cheered and some clapped and many moved in to help Jenn off the boat. She didn’t need help, and after a quick goodbye, she leapt down to the dock a second before the Saber touched.

  “Push me off!” Mike ordered in a captain’s roar. The Saber was pushed away from the dock by twenty eager hands and soon he was picking up a slight wind. It was so slight a wind that it barely fluffed his hair. Jenn had looked back at exactly the same moment that Mike had and they shared a fleeting moment before she had to turn away.

  “Where’s the Greek?” she demanded as she ran.

  “The Admin Building, second floor,” George yelled after her.

  It took only a minute to get there and she heard Miss Shay’s voice echoing the moment she stepped into the old building. The lower levels had wide windows and the lobby was full of morning light from one end to the other. The stairs up were another story; there was no light save for what bounced from the gleaming floor in the lobby.

  The eight people in the room were arrayed around a long table: the Coven on one side, Stu and Jillybean, or rather Eve, on the other. Gerry leaned against one wall, neither on one side or the other.

  Stu had his hands full. Miss Shay, Melody Rickman and Tammy Easterling were taking turns hissing things like “Wicked girl!” and “Why do we even listen to a murderer?” and “Hanging’s too good for her.”

  In between these outbursts Donna and Lois, both looking worried, sad and outraged, all at once, were peppering Eve with questions: “How do you know the Corsairs are coming? Why did you start a forest fire? Tell us again, why we shouldn’t run?”

  Finally, there was Eve looking black-eyed and hate filled, while at the same time smiling with the most evil loathsome smile Jenn had ever seen. Go on, keep jabbering away, the smile said, You’ll get yours from the Corsairs soon enough and I can’t wait.

  “Sorry I’m late,” Jenn said, breezing in and speaking so loudly that she cut off Melody in the middle of another snide remark. “Since everyone here seems just about equally confused I’m sure I didn’t miss anything.” She deliberately shut and locked the door. It was symbolic since any one of them could have turned the knob and walked out, though when she placed the bomb down right in front of Eve, the lock didn’t feel nearly as symbolic.

  “Do you think that is supposed to scare us?” Donna said, her voice remarkably calm. She knew Jenn Lockhart and she wasn’t afraid of Jenn Lockhart.

  Jenn held up a finger and then produced the detonator, noting the glee in Eve’s eye. “I don’t see why you would be. If you aren’t afraid of the Corsairs then why would a bomb frighten you?”

  Lois cleared her throat which had constricted measurably. “The Corsairs are a hypothetical threat coming from people who have a lot to gain by throwing us all into a wild state of panic. You don’t have a shred of evidence suggesting they are coming at all.”

  “And that could be just a pipe with some tape and wires on it,” Jenn countered. “Who here thinks I should give this detonator to Eve?” The only hand that shot up was Eve’s and it did so with such voracious zeal it half lifted the girl out of her seat.

  “Jenn, a bomb has no place at these proceedings,” Donna said.

  “Actually it does. It is a time bomb of sorts. If Eve can write down the first six digits of pi in order before we come to an agreement then I will give her the detonator. Starting now.” She slid over a piece of paper and a pencil and Eve started scribbling down numbers like mad.

  “You didn’t say I had to figure out pi,” Eve laughed in triumph. “You just said I had to write the numbers down. I just have to write down every…what’s the word? Never mind. Don’t say it, Jillybean! Just shut up and let me write.”

  Jenn went to stand behind Eve as she scribbled and was secretly alarmed at how fast she was flying through the numbers. Eve knew the first three were 3.14 so all she had to do was add 159 behind it and as she had started with 001 she wasn’t all that far off.

  “You aren’t going to give it to her,” Miss Shay said. “I’ve known you since you were a little runt. You won’t do it. And if you do, there probably aren’t batteries in that thing.”

  To prove her wrong, Jenn armed the detonator and showed them the glow of the LED light. She then put it on the table just out of Eve’s reach, holding it there with a single finger.

  “The Corsairs are coming,” Jenn said. “I’ve seen the signs and they can’t be missed. But let’s look at this logically. We took just one of their boats and they chased us for three days and nights with a fleet of eighty-two ships and they attacked the complex without a thought. That’s who they are. That’s who they’ve always been and we all know it!”

  She slammed the flat of her hand down on the table. “You can pretend all you want, but the Corsairs have not changed. They know where we are and they know how weak we are. They are coming. It’s just a matter of when.”

  Miss Shay looked as though she were about to make a biting comment when Donna stopped her. She breathed out in a long sigh that was all age instead of weariness. “No. She may be right. I had hoped that since we’re so small the Corsairs wouldn’t care about us. I hoped we would be safe, but I don’t think we are.”

  “Then we run or hide,” Melody said. “It’s a big city we could hide anywhere.”

  Jenn explained why hiding was a poor idea and how running was worse, especially for them. “You’ll be running into a desert of ash that stretches for forty miles.”

  “A desert that she made!” Miss Shay snapped, pointing a spear of a finger at Eve. “I can never have her as my Queen, and I can never trust a liar like you, Jenn.”

  For nine years Jenn had been scared to death of the Coven and Miss Shay in particular. Holding that detonator, seeing her own signs and surviving adventure after adventure, had changed a great deal about Jenn and although many things still scared her silly, Miss Shay was not one of them.

  Jenn appeared completely unmoved by Miss Shay’s latest outburst, mainly because deep down Jenn couldn’t care less what she thought. “You don’t have to accept her. It’s entirely up to you. Of course, if you don’t, you won’t have the Queen’s…” She searched for a word that was just on the tip of her tongue.

  “Protection,” Eve said, absently.

  “Yes, that’s the word.” Jenn had to hide a smile. In her concentration, Eve was slowly slipping away. “If you don’t accept her then you will be asked to leave her kingdom. The same goes for all seventy of you. We will be stronger with you…”

  Eve cut in, whispering, “I did it!” Her eyes were tremendously wide and unblinking as she gazed happily down at the paper. At the top of one column of numbers was 3.14001 and at the bottom of another was 3.14159. “That’s pi! I know it. And you said if I could write down pi I could have the bomb, so give it over.”

  Now Jenn had to fake the same smile she had been just trying to hide. “As for being a liar, I think this proves that I’m not one.” With her pointer finger still planted on the detonator, she started sliding it over to Eve, whose eyes were wide and greedy for it. Everyone else,
including Stu was shaking their heads, silently begging Jenn not to give up control of the bomb.

  At the last moment, Jenn paused. “Are you sure? I’m not the best math person in the world and 3.14159 does sound familiar. Is there a way to check to see if it is right? You know like some sort of, uh number problem? Like adding or the timeses? What did you tell me in that tunnel back in Bainbridge? You said pi had to do with something about the ratio of a circle’s, uh roundness…”

  “Roundness?” This had Eve blinking. “It’s not its roundness, it’s circumference. That’s what pi is.” Although the words had come out soft, but certain, she herself looked far from certain about anything. She seemed quite unsure of herself.

  “Okay its circumference,” Jenn said, helping the transition along. “And what is that again?”

  A wave of confusion swept Eve as she put her hands together in a hollow approximation of a ball. “It’s the way around, no it’s the distance around a circle. And the number pi is a mathematical constant, the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, commonly approximated as 3.14159.”

  “That sounds about right,” Jenn said. She then slid the detonator across to her as the Coven gasped. “This belongs to you, your Highness.”

  Jillybean was still awash in a haze of mathematics and hate; a most bizarre combination. She took the detonator, hiding her confusion. “Ah, thank you. I was wondering where I put that.”

  “I was just informing Miss Shay that anyone who does not accept your authority can’t stay in the bay area. It’s seems right that only the people who are working for the good of the Queen and her people be allowed to stay.”

  “Of course, it almost goes without saying,” Jillybean agreed. “Would any leader allow dissension to fester? No, they wouldn’t. Although execution would be considered a kindness for someone of Miss Shay’s advanced age and inadequate survival skills, I will allow for simple banishment if she would prefer.”

  Miss Shay was on the verge of hysteria, while the other members of the Coven couldn’t help themselves and had shied away from her. “You’re crazy!” Miss Shay screeched.

  Jillybean grinned. “It’s probably why they call me the ‘Mad Queen.’ Crazy or not, I’m the only chance you have. The Corsairs are coming! It’s time to make your choice.” She stood imperiously, kicking back her chair. “Move the table,” she ordered, not speaking directly to anyone.

  Gerry and Stu were quick to haul it out of the way so that there was nothing between Jillybean and the Coven. “Take a knee. Swear fealty or choose between banishment or execution. Now!”

  Miss Shay made gasping sounds as though she were choking. She looked to Gerry, begging him with her eyes to do something. And he did. He moved around his end of the table and knelt before Jillybean.

  “You are my Queen and I swear my life and my honor to you…just don’t screw it up.”

  Jillybean put out her hand slowly appearing to give it to him to kiss, but just as he bent to kiss it, she slapped him on the cheek, playfully. “That’s for impertinence.” She put her hand out again. “I’ll be the first to hang if I screw things up which is very good incentive not to.”

  He kissed her hand and then moved back to his end of the table touching his cheek where she had slapped him.

  Without their customary table acting as a shield or buffer, the Coven looked weak and exposed, sitting there with their ankles crossed, their fidgeting hands, and their faces lined in fear.

  Donna Polston was able to conquer her fear first and for a woman of forty-four in a world filled with Corsairs, zombies and mad queens, there was a lot to be afraid of. “I put my life in your hands,” she said, kneeling before Jillybean. “I’m trusting you to take care of it.”

  Jillybean only nodded but made no other move. Behind her, Jenn said, “I think you need to make the pledge like everyone else.”

  The one-time leader of the Coven drew up as straight as she could and made the pledge. She kissed Jillybean’s hand and then moved off in something of a daze. Lois came next, moving quickly and even managing a smile that wasn’t entirely faked. Being the youngest member of the Coven hadn’t been easy.

  Melody and Tammy followed after, each making their pledges with all the believability of highschool actors doing their school’s version of Romeo and Juliet. This left Miss Shay who hesitated so long that Jillybean said, “Why you make your pledge, be it through self-preservation, peer-pressure or abject fear is less important to me than actually keeping the pledge itself.”

  It was permission to be a blatant hypocrite which Miss Shay took. When she kissed Jillybean’s hand, the Queen had to lock the muscles of her back and shoulders to keep the cold shiver from flowing right down her spine. She didn’t trust Miss Shay and had they been in any other predicament she wouldn’t have let the woman within five feet of her.

  Pulling her hand back, Jillybean waited to wipe off that last cold kiss until after she had said, “Now we get to work!”

  Chapter 37

  With the eight of them waiting in varying degrees of eagerness to “get to work,” Jillybean went to the window and was surprised to see the Saber under a great press of sail bearing down on the Floating Fortress as it wallowed on a growing sea, heading straight for the great bastion of concrete that was the foundation of the southern tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. The tower rose out of the water and carried on going over seven hundred feet straight up.

  The surprise was short lived. Jenn’s presence accounted for the drama playing out in front of her. If the barge struck there was a good chance they would lose her and most of her people.

  Jillybean turned away; Mike’s sailing abilities were akin to her genius and she had full faith in him. Besides, she knew that if she even uttered a gasp, she would lose Jenn who would be so engrossed in worry as to be utterly useless.

  “My plan is very simple. We hit them very hard right off the bat and then make them pay every time they get close. I’m going to try to involve the Santas but if that doesn’t work out we have to do our best to deny them the southern part of the bay by positioning the Floating Fortress between Alcatraz and Treasure Island.”

  The plan had to be simple. On one hand she had a bunch of dull fishermen and on the other a few hundred sickly scavengers. If she tried to take them out of their tactical depth, which was shallow indeed, they would likely break and run.

  “I will need a minimum of twenty-five buoys and I’m not talking dinky mooring buoys. I need the large ones like that one out by Shag Rock. Thankfully we won’t need anchors but I’m going to need a good two miles of rope and another one of chain.”

  “Jeeze,” Gerry swore.

  He actually swore with a good deal of practiced profanity but it was all pretty much drowned out as Eve sang and laughed inside her, Ropes and floats and billygoats, Jilly is Queen of a bunch of dopes and now there ain’t no hopes.

  “Enough,” she said, speaking to the two of them. “This was one of the busiest harbors in America. There are docks and piers and boating equipment everywhere. There is even a Coast Guard presence on Treasure Island. Check there first.”

  She went to explain the first line of defense which consisted of twenty-five buoys linked by rope stretching under the Golden Gate Bridge. “We’ll trap as many boats as we can against it. Our sharpshooters will take out as many officers as possible and the rest will hurl down rocks.”

  Donna and Lois shared an approving look. Throwing rocks from high up on a bridge where they could expect a certain amount of protection was their kind of warfare.

  “We’ll station a hundred people on the bridge,” Jillybean went on only to pause as Donna held up her hand.

  “Why just a hundred? If we use more people we could stop them cold right there and drive them away for good.”

  There was a map of the bay area on the wall behind Gerry’s desk. Jillybean went to it. “First, we can’t afford to put all of our eggs in one basket, defensively speaking that is. What if the rope proves easily broken? Wha
t if the Corsairs possess artillery or something similar? Unlikely sure, but what is more likely is that their ships will come straggling in and those in back are not going to come blundering up to be trapped.”

  She paused and pointed to the land on either side of the bridge. “Whether we have a hundred or five hundred men on the bridge, the Corsairs will come ashore here and here in an effort to trap us. It’s why a hundred is a good number. We will position our best troops to make a fight out of the expected landings, giving the people on the bridge time to take out all the boats they can. They will then move down the south end of the bridge to this side of the city and hurry along the shore until they are opposite Treasure Island where the smaller boats will ferry them across to take up defensive positions.”

  “And where will the Saber be?” Gerry asked, thinking he was being nonchalant in the way he had formed question, when his eagerness for the ship was obvious to everyone.

  “That depends on the Santas. I don’t think we can expect the Saber to take part in this stage of the battle. From here the winds and tides will dictate the flow of the fighting. If the winds are against them, they’ll hold off, not wanting to tack back and forth with us shooting them the entire time.”

  Donna took on a hopeful look. “Did you come with a lot of ammo?”

  Jillybean dashed all their hopes. She had come with only a little more than two thousand rounds while Gerry had just about fifteen hundred and the Hill People only seven hundred.

  “And that’s one of the reasons why we band together,” Jillybean noted. “I am going to break you into work parties with each of you carrying out an assignment. If you can’t handle it tell me now.” She began reciting from memory forty different tasks that had to be accomplished as soon as humanly possible.

  The only person to question their orders was Stu—he hadn’t been given any. Jenn at least was told to run ahead to tell everyone the news that they were now the loyal subjects of “The Queen.”