Limbo's Child (Book One of The Dead Things Series)

by Jonah Hewitt

  “Hurt you? Are you jerking my chain?” Schuyler said mockingly.

  “NO, SKY, I am not bloody ‘jerkin’ ya chain’ and if ya don’ believe me just check out the scars ON ME FACE!” Miles screamed right in Sky’s ear. Sky leaned back, wide-eyed. Miles had never spoken to Sky like this before. He even surprised himself a little.

  Sky seemed taken aback by Miles’ new assertiveness and decided to just get back to the matter at hand. “Powers? Powers how? Powers like vampire powers?”

  “No, worse! Much much freaking worse.” Miles just sighed in frustration as he rubbed the soreness out of his neck and held on to his ribs with the other. It was hard to explain. “Every time she touched me it jus’ burned like ice, like she coulda reach her hands right inside a me.” Schuyler looked a little nervous. Miles just thought he didn’t believe him.

  “I know…it sounds crazy, but trust me it’s bloody true.” Miles put his hands in his pockets like he did when he was anxious. “The crazy witch knew about Hokharty. No, she bloody acted like she knew Hokharty woulda go an’ send us.”

  “Hokharty said there might be others,” Schuyler said, musing, but you could tell by his look he hadn’t expected this.

  “Yeah, bloody heck, but ‘e never told us it would be some crazy witch who could kill us jus’ by touchin’ us did ‘e?!” Miles looked sternly at Sky who, for once, didn’t seem so cocky. “And what’s more, Hokharty never didna tell us why we need the girl did ‘ee? If it’s the bloody en’ of the bloomin’ world, why wouldn’t ‘e tell us? Sumtin’s not right, Sky.”

  Sky just rubbed a small spot just below his sternum and looked as if he was remembering something. “Yeah…well maybe.”

  The three of them stood there looking at each other like beat dogs, afraid to move or bark for fear of risking another beating.

  Miles finally broke the awkward silence, “So what now?”

  Tim just shook his head and shrugged. “Hokharty’s gonna kill us if we don’t bring him the girl.”

  “Yeah? Well what in the heck are we supposed to do about that now, TIM?” Schuyler spat at the orderly.

  “I just think we need a new plan, that’s all,” Tim said.

  “A plan?!” Schuyler said in disgust. “Well how am I supposed to come up with a new plan if I don’t know where in the heck she even is?!!”

  “Well your last plan went straight to heck, Sky, so maybe we should start listening to Miles.”

  “That stupid mick wanted to tell her the truth! She would have run off as soon as he started talking!” Schuyler went back to talking about Miles as if he wasn’t there. It was his usual mode. In a way, for Miles, it was oddly comforting and familiar to be treated like a non-entity.

  “Look, I never asked to be part of this little party in the first place!!” Tim was beginning to lose his temper, but it was hard to look imposing when holding a bloody nose.

  “Well neither did I, you 1970’s retro-loser!”

  “Loser? Well at least I’m not some bleach-job, bloodsucking scumbag.”

  “bleach-job?!!” It figured that Sky would care more about the integrity of his hair color than the integrity of his profession.

  “I spent an hour in a metal morgue drawer!!”

  “Oh, boo hoo, poor Tim, why don’t you go cry to your two-ton girlfriend.”

  “HEY! You leave the Impala out of this!”

  “Why couldn’t the stupid culchies just shut their cake-holes!” thought Miles. The two of them continued to bicker endlessly. Miles just took a few steps away and banged his fists on the side of his head. The whole past two days had been one bloody disaster. The whole thing had just gone to pot and they had made a right hash of it. He closed his eyes, turned his back on them and put his hands over his ears, but he could still hear them arguing.

  “Without that Impala your butt would still be back in Rivenden.”

  “Exactly!! Without that Impala I could have taken the turnpike!!”

  Why couldn’t they just SHUT the BLOODY HECK UP!! Miles just needed somewhere quiet to think! He tried to retreat even deeper inside himself to get away from the noise.

  “I’m sick of your lollipops and stupid plans!!”

  “Why don’t you go paint yourself asphalt color and pretend to be something useful, like a speed bump.”

  Miles took a few more steps. Slowly Miles managed to block it out. The insults faded away and he had a moment of peace, of utter blackness, when he unexpectedly saw Lucy. He opened his eyes and looked around. She was nowhere. He closed his eyes again. There she was. She was running through a park near the riverfront, checking behind bushes and hedges. He hadn’t seen her with his eyes, he’d seen her in his head! She was barefoot in her white robe and garish pink pajamas. She was searching for something, frantic, desperate. She knew she was in the right area, but uncertain of the exact spot. Suddenly, she found it, near the waterline by the bridge. She was alone, but she was calling out. No one was answering. She fell to her knees and looked at her hands. They were bloody. She was hurt! As she stared at her two hands it looked like she was about to cry.

  “I can’t believe I let you convince me to wear those rancid teeth!! I’m so glad I lost them.”

  “YOU LOST MY TEETH?!!”

  Miles groaned and opened his eyes. He had lost the vision. What had he seen? Was it his imagination? Or was it something else? Was it real? He had never seen the girl close up before just now, upstairs in the hallway, and he hadn’t gotten that close a look at her before that thing had showed up. He only remembered one thing really – how scared she looked – and he suddenly felt very ashamed that he had gone along with Sky’s crazy plan. That’s all this was. His imagination. He was just working out the shame he felt for scaring the poor girl…and yet…those pajamas. He hadn’t remembered those crazy, pink pajamas with the ruddy cats all over them. He wondered.

  Miles took a few more steps away. He thought hard and tried to shut out the sound of Tim and Sky fighting. He concentrated on those pajamas. He closed his eyes again. Nothing…then…slowly something came into view. He saw her again, still crying by the water – still in those crazy pajamas. She was pulling her hair back and forth behind her ears nervously. There was a swirl of darkness and then…a boy…a boy with a yo-yo? Now Miles knew he had never imagined that before.

  The little boy called to her softly, “Lucy?” She turned around. She was crying still, but now out of relief. She stood up and rushed to embrace him. He stood there a bit awkwardly at first, then fell into her arms and returned the hug. It made Miles feel a bit happy and a bit sad all at once. It didn’t last long before they broke up and started running, she was dragging him along by his hand, like a pull toy. She was running frantically, away from the hospital and down the street. The boy could hardly keep up, they were running and they were….

  Miles eyes shot open.

  “They’re coming this way!” he suddenly shouted.

  “If I wanted the opinion of some gamer, geek, drop-out orderly then I would…What?” Miles had unexpectedly interrupted Schuyler’s diatribe. He was building to a crescendo but never got there. What Miles had said sounded too urgent to ignore.

  “What are you talking about? Who’s coming?” Tim asked, confused.

  “They are! I mean the girl…she’s coming this way and she’s got a boy with her.”

  “What are you talking about?” Sky said dismissively. Tim looked equally stunned at Miles’ sudden revelation. “Can you see them?” Sky was scanning the horizon in all directions.

  “YES!...well…no…not actually, but they’re coming this way. Trust me,” Miles insisted.

  Sky gave Miles a look like he was drunk or crazy. “How could you possibly…”

  Miles walked back over to them, he didn’t have time to explain, not in a way that didn’t make him look bollocks so he just decided to bluster them both. “LOOK! Do you wanna go back to Hokharty empty-handed?! She’s coming this way, so if you still wanna grab her we can, but you better bloody well hurry!
!”

  Sky’s eyes danced around in his skull uncertainly. “OK, FINE!!” He threw up his arms in frustration. Schuyler paced around the fender of the Impala thinking. “Ok, Ok, we’re good. So we’re back to the old plan, right? She saw you two, right? She thinks you two are vampires and is running scared right?”

  Tim spoke nasally through his pinched nose, “More or less.”

  “Yeah, we bloody well scared her alright.” The look on her face still hung before Miles’ eyes, much to his embarrassment.

  “Good. Then I’m still the knight in shining armor. So you two gotta get out of sight before she gets here so I can work my magic.”

  “Well…I guess we could hide over behind those…” Tim was trying to get a bearing on his surroundings but it was hard with his nose in the air.

  “No stupid! I’m not gonna come back for you! Get in the trunk!”

  “The trunk?!” Tim was indignant. “Who’s gonna drive the car then?”

  “I am, moron. She thinks you’re the bad guys, remember?!” Schuyler yelled at Tim, exasperated, “She can’t see you two with me or the game’s blown.”

  “You’re just trying to get back at me for making you ride in the trunk earlier.”

  “Will you shut up and get in the trunk already?!” Schuyler was impatient. Miles could see he was already checking his teeth in the side mirror, but just to smooth it over with Tim, Sky added, “Don’t worry. I’ll be gentle with your baby.”

  “And what about the girl?! Will you be gentle with her too?” thought Miles, but he didn’t think it would be helpful to say that right now.

  “C’mon, Tim!” Miles pushed Tim in the direction of the trunk. Tim opened it up and Miles helped Tim in before jumping in himself. Fortunately, the 1970’s sedan had plenty of trunk space.

  “Keys!” Sky clapped his hands once and held them out in expectation.

  Tim sighed. It was a bit awkward partially lying down while pinching his nose, but Tim finally managed to toss Sky the keys, but not before he gave a paternal suggestion, “Don’t rev it above 4000, I just put new compression rings on the pistons.” Schuyler rolled his eyes with impatience but said nothing. Sky was already closing the trunk when Tim had to offer one last admonition.

  “Oh! And you have to be careful shifting from second to third! It gets a little sticky.”

  “Yeah, yeah fine!” Sky shoved Tim’s head down rather roughly and slammed the trunk shut.

  It took a minute to get Tim’s Converses out of his spleen, but in the dark of the trunk it was easier for Miles to concentrate. He closed his eyes again. She was there, running up the street in her bare feet and crazy, pink pajamas. He had seen her! He had always heard that some vampires developed the sight, but he never imagined he ever would. It was like the car just melted away and he could see right through it and his eyelids to where she was. He had seen things before, but it was never as real as this. It made him wonder if the other things he had seen were true too.

  She was being careful, running from bush to bush or from bus-stop shelter to telephone pole. She was hiding, running scared. Running scared from that woman and from…Miles gulped…him. Miles had done a lot of low and dirty things as a vampire over the last hundred years, but this felt the lowest.

  She was dragging the boy along as fast as she could when Schuyler spied her and called out to her from across the street.

  “Lucy?!” He pitched it perfectly, right between surprise and concern. What a horrible liar he was. In his mind’s eye, Miles saw Lucy look back and forth frantically before finding the source of the voice. She and the boy with the Yo-yo looked at Schuyler, and suddenly a wall of darkness fell over Miles’ inner vision. He blinked his eyes a few times, but he couldn’t get the vision back. All he could make out now in the near total darkness of the trunk was the whites of Tim’s eyes, but she was close enough he could hear her now.

  “SKY!!” She called out in an expression that was a mixture of surprise and relief. “No, Yo-yo. It’s OK, trust me,” she said next. Then there was a brief pause as Miles assumed they made their way towards Schuyler and the Impala where he and Tim were hiding in the trunk. He had no idea what plan Schuyler had for getting them out of the trunk once they got to Rivenden, but he was sure Sky would think of something on the way. He always did.

  “Lucy, are you OK?” Schuyler sounded genuinely concerned and friendly, unassuming even. In other words, it didn’t sound like Schuyler at all. It was weird listening to Sky talk like that. It was like he was an entirely different person when he had his game on. What a piece of work he was.

  “GET IN THE CAR!” Lucy barked at him.

  “Um…Lucy, are you sure…are you in some kinda…”

  “Trouble” he was going to say, but he never got that far. Lucy just ordered him again.

  “GET IN THE CAR!!! DRIVE!” she said it louder this time. It was the voice of a stern schoolmarm, the kind that could liquefy your spine. Miles could already hear her opening the door and climbing inside.

  “Um…oookay,” Schuyler said, a bit chagrined, but he didn’t dare disobey. Schuyler was obviously expecting some sob story from Lucy, but he didn’t get it. He undoubtedly had a few “There, there, it will be alright” and “I’m here for you, kid,” lines ready to go, but they went unuttered. It made Miles smile a little to know that one of Schuyler’s patented monologues was never going to be heard.

  With a couple solid “ka-chunks” Miles could tell the car doors were closed and the car was off. Schuyler squealed the tires.

  “PISTONS!!” Tim whispered hoarsely. Miles gave him a small kick to shut him up.

  Sitting on the front car seat, Lucy couldn’t believe her luck finding Sky like that. She didn’t really have a plan, but now she had someone to at least drive her to Ephrata, and that was loads better than trying to find a bus home while in pajamas with no pocket money.

  “It’s all right, Yo-yo, everything is going to be fine now,” she kept saying. Yo-yo was sulking in the back seat where Lucy had shoved him. He hadn’t wanted to get in the car with Sky at all, but there was no time for disagreements. She was only just now realizing how hard she was breathing, when she recognized to her horror that Sky was driving back past the hospital.

  Lucy ducked and laid down on the front bench seat out of sight.

  “Um, Lucy…are you ok?”

  “SHUT UP! And just keep driving!!” She hated being this rude to Sky after he had saved them, but she didn’t have time to explain. He seemed to take it in stride and trust her. He was a really great guy. She would make it up to him somehow and explain everything later.

  “Hey…isn’t that your aunt?” Schuyler said not a half a minute later.

  Lucy didn’t think her heart could beat any faster, but it went from a rapid percussion to a jet engine-like hum after that. She dared a peek over the dash. It was Amanda, standing on the street corner, just outside the lobby, her head whipped around in flash. “Crap!” Lucy thought as she ducked back down, but she knew Amanda had seen her.

  “What the?” Sky exclaimed as Lucy peeked over the dash again, but Lucy could already guess what was happening. Amanda had walked out into the street and was standing directly in the path of the car. Schuyler started slowing down. There was nowhere for them to go except maybe into the path of oncoming traffic.

  “DON’T STOP!!” Lucy screamed.

  “But?!” Sky stammered and Lucy saw him ease his foot off the gas pedal.

  “NO!! KEEP GOING!!” She slid over on the bench seat, scooted forward as far as she could and stomped right on top of Schuyler’s right foot. The car surged forward.

  “WAIT!!” Schuyler yelled. Lucy shut her eyes and braced herself. Even with them shut she could see Amanda standing defiantly staring them down, unmoving. As the car came within inches of her, Amanda instantly transformed into the specter – hollow eyes, wild flying hair. Lucy braced for the impact but it never came. Instead, it felt like she passed through a waterfall of ice water. There was a skidding sound
as the undercarriage scrapped on the pavement and bounced through the intersection. A car horn blasted. It sounded like someone yelled, “My pistons!” and then nothing. A few seconds later Schuyler yelled at her, “LUCY! GET YOUR FOOT OFF THE GAS!!”

  Lucy shook herself back to reality for a moment and looked down at her foot still firmly pinning Schuyler’s foot and the gas pedal under it to the floor.

  “Oh!” she cried and instantly lifted her foot and slid over. Schuyler brought the car back down to a safe speed and swerved to miss a car ahead of them in the lane. Lucy whipped her neck around to look out the rear window. Yo-yo was plastered to the vinyl seat in one corner clinging on for dear life, but Amanda was still there standing in the same exact spot looking over her shoulder back at them. It was like they had passed clean through her.

  “You ok, Yo-yo?” she asked. Yo-yo just nodded a smidge, his wide eyes vibrating in their sockets.

  “What was THAT all about?!!” Schuyler said angrily. Lucy watched Amanda diminish into the distance for a moment before speaking.

  “Nothing. We just have to keep going.”

  “And WHERE exactly are we going?” Sky sounded annoyed and peevish. He looked different too. He was the same guy, same hair and t-shirt, but his face was harder and tensed. Lucy turned forward in her seat. She didn’t know how much she should tell Sky. Earlier she had felt like she could tell him anything, but as she looked at him now she realized he was just shy of a complete stranger. She got quiet and looked away from him and pulled her hair behind her ears. After a while Sky spoke again.

  “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, Lucy, and I don’t know what kind of trouble you’re in, but I want you to know… you can trust me and I’m here for you.” He looked right into Lucy’s eyes with those big, blue eyes of his when he said that last part. Then he smiled a disarming smile that lit up the whole car. He seemed more like himself just then, concerned, noble and charming, just like he had been in the gift shop. That whole stomping on his foot thing had probably just scared him. Heck, who wouldn’t it scare, come to think of it? He smiled at Lucy knowingly. She smiled back and felt far more at ease now that the crisis was over and Amanda was far behind them. Lucy would try to explain it to him somehow, just not yet, not until they were safely away.