by Bible, Jake
“I’m supporting you, Hoss,” Big Daddy says. “What I said before, the plan to make Asheville something again, is still a good plan. Whispering Pines is part of that, even more so now.”
“How do you mean?”
“What we learn from rebuilding Whispering Pines we can apply to Asheville,” Big Daddy says. “And with that Special Forces team around, we’ll have a better chance at salvaging things. They’ll lessen the loss of life.”
“But not stop that loss.”
Big Daddy shrugs. “It’s the world we live in. People are going to die. Big herds of Zs will come at us, up from Atlanta, over from Charlotte, down from Virginia. It’ll take them a while with the terrain, but we’d be fools to think those Zs won’t eventually make it up into our mountains. They have all the time in the world.”
“Okay, so we rebuild with Leeds and the boys watching our backs,” I say. “Critter never said where they came from.”
“Fort Bragg,” Big Daddy says. “They were up here for training when it all went down. They didn’t even bother to try to go back. They hunkered down and have stayed off the radar until now.”
“Lucky for us,” I say. “Hey, where is Critter? I’d like to have a word with him.”
“He’s off doing Critter things,” Big Daddy says. “Which I sometimes try not to think about. He’s my brother and all, but I’d say we are two sides of the coin when it comes to morals. What’s this word you’d like to have?”
“Why the hell he took off, leaving us to fend for ourselves,” I say bitterly. “The guy just ran.”
“That he did,” Big Daddy nods. “Ran to the river, swam across it, ran all the way to that Humvee then drove his butt right here. Then he drove me and the boys to his ‘garage.’ It took us all four of the Humvees he had, plus the three pickups and six cars, to get everyone back here safe and sound. So when you have that word, make sure it’s thanks.”
“Damn,” I say, “I will.”
I watch him and can see he has more.
“What?”
“Critter and I had us a long talk before he took off to his place,” Big Daddy says. “And Julio and Leeds confirm it.”
“Again, what?”
“They don’t think Vance is alone,” Big Daddy says. “I’m not 100% sold on it, but they have a theory that Vance was part of something bigger. That maybe Asheville was his territory and there are others like him out there, staking claim to theirs.”
He lets that sink in. I don’t like the sinking it does in me.
“What? Some type of cabal?” I ask.
“Maybe. Maybe not,” Big Daddy says. “Critter thinks more than a few of the crime bosses may have survived. Makes sense. If Vance can carve out a place, then why can’t others?”
“What does that mean for us?”
“It means we watch closely. Not just for Zs, but for signs of other organizations. Maybe from Atlanta or Charlotte. Maybe from over in Knoxville. Or as close as Greenville and Spartanburg. Critter is convinced. I’m leaving that element up to him. We have rebuilding to do. That’s our worry right now. If there are other mad men out there, then Critter will let us know.”
“Great,” I say. “Just great.”
Big Daddy nods then gets up. “Yep. Listen, we’ll talk more later for sure.” He looks past me to the end of the porch. “I think someone has been waiting to see you.”
I follow his gaze and see Elsbeth sitting on the railing. She is watching me intensely.
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” I say. “Thanks for the sunny info.”
“Oh, that’s just a fraction,” Big Daddy says. “But I’ll wait until you’re better so I don’t break that brain of yours.”
“Too late.”
Elsbeth doesn’t come over right away after Big Daddy leaves. She sits there, her eyes boring holes into my skull, until I throw up my hands.
“What?” I say. “Are you going to spend all day staring at me?”
She hops down from the railing and walks slowly over to me. When she gets to my side she looks down on me. I have no idea what the expression on her face means until I see the tears welling up. Then she throws herself against me and hugs me until I cry out. Some of the kids stop playing and spin about, their eyes on me, worried.
“All good,” I gasp. “Keep playing.”
They do; they’re kids.
“Elsbeth?” I say. “Hard to breathe. Crushing bones. Ow.”
“Oh, stupid me,” she says and lets go quickly. She starts to smack herself in the head then freezes, forcing her hands to her side. “I was scared.”
“You didn’t look scared,” I say. “You looked pretty fucking impressive.”
“Not fighting,” she replies, shaking her head back and forth quickly. “When you were dying. I almost killed you.”
“You saved me,” I say. “You stopped the bleeding. That was a Desert Eagle. It took out a good amount of my side.” I’ve had a chance to look at the wound; I’m not exaggerating. There’s a lot less of me on my left side than my right. “You were my hero.”
Elsbeth keeps shaking her head.
“The doctor lady said that you were ‘fected. She wasn’t nice to me about it.”
“That’s just Dr. McCormick. Not exactly a huggy kind of lady. What did Reaper say?”
A small smile creeps onto Elsbeth’s face and I’m glad to see it. “He says I could be a medic person. If I want. John says he wants me to be a snipper person.”
“Sniper,” I correct, “not snipper.”
“Yes, sniper person,” Elsbeth continues. “Platt says I’m scary enough to be whatever I want. Is that a mean thing? I can’t tell with Platt. He frowns so much.”
“What does Leeds say?” I ask.
“He says he’d be happy to have me,” she smiles. “After some training. He calls me rough around the edges.”
“You are that,” I say. “So Special Forces, huh? You’re suited for it.”
The smile fades from her face. “But I have to pay for it.”
“You what? Pay for it? What does that mean?”
“Leeds and Big Daddy say the training comes with a price.”
“Oh. And what’s the price?”
“I have to show them where the rest of the cannies are,” she answers. “The ones I know about. They say cannies are too dangerous to keep around.” Her eyes tear up again. “Does that mean they’ll kill them? They ain’t all bad people. Just hungry people. Can I just tell them where the bad ones are? The sick ones?”
I shudder at the thought of what she defines as “sick.”
“You tell them what your conscience feels is right,” I say. She’s puzzled by this. “You know that feeling you get when you do something you know is bad?”
“You mean when Pa would hit me for being stupid?”
My heart nearly breaks. “No, that feeling inside you. You also get a feeling when you do something good. Like when you saved me. Do you remember what feeling you had then?”
“Yeah,” she nods, “it felt right. I had to save you.”
“Or what?”
“Or my guts would turn squishy and I’d feel all- Oh! That’s my cons-, that’s my cunsh-, that’s what you mean?”
“Yes, your conscience,” I say. “It helps you know right from wrong. Good people, like you, have a strong one. At any time you could have left me and Stuart to die. But you stayed.”
“You’re my friend,” Elsbeth says. “Stuart is my friend now too. I didn’t want you to die.”
“Well, there you have it,” I say. “Follow those feelings and you’ll do what’s right. We’ll help the cannies we can, and let Leeds handle the ones we can’t.”
She nods. “Okay.” She looks out at the front yard. I can see her focus go past the kids to the rows of fences and wires. And the ever present Zs beyond. “They keep coming because the life is here. The people and the animals. They won’t ever stop coming.”
“No, they won’t,” I say, “but we’ll manage them. We’ll fight
them.”
“Until we can’t.”
“Yep. Until we can’t.”
She turns and hugs me again then runs down to the kids, joining in the game. She is instantly “It”, a role I can see she loves as she runs about, chasing the other kids, the sun shining down on her.
“I think she’s adopted us,” Stella says as she takes the seat next to me where Big Daddy had sat just minutes before.
“Have we adopted her?” I ask, looking at my beautiful wife.
“As long as she doesn’t try to eat us,” Stella smiles at me. “Yes. We have.”
“Good, because she needs us,” I say.
“And we need her, if you’re going to get yourself fucked up like this again,” Stella says. “Which I expressly forbid to happen.”
“Fine by me,” I say and reach for her hand. She takes it instantly.
We sit there for a long while, watching the kids play, watching our son fail at flirting, watching life keep going. People come by now and again to see how I’m doing. People I know and don’t know. There is hope and expectation in their eyes. I hope I can live up to both.
Life will never be easy. But when was it ever, really?
Just another day on the Farm. One day we’ll have to go back, but until then, Z-Burbia can wait. I’m cool right where I am for the moment.
The End
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About The Author:
A professional writer since 2009, Jake Bible has a proven record of innovation, invention and creativity. Novelist, short story writer, independent screenwriter, podcaster, and inventor of the Drabble Novel, Jake is able to switch between or mash-up genres with ease to create new and exciting storyscapes that have captivated and built an audience of thousands. He is the author of the horror/military scifi series the Apex Trilogy (DEAD MECH, The Americans, Metal and Ash) available from Severed Press. He is also the author of Bethany and the Zombie Jesus, Stark- An Illustrated Novella and the YA horror novel Little Dead. Jake Bible lives in Asheville, NC with his family. Find him at www.jakebible.com.
1. JIM
Jim had never been so eager to burn a person before.
“Shall I fire the body?”
He stood, torch in hand, waiting on the riverboat captain’s decision. They had tied the boat off a few hundred meters upstream, just past the tributary that led west, into Patusan’s jungle primeval. The boat’s captain, Charles Marlow, crouched over the bloated corpse of the islander they had noted from the boat, and stopped in order to examine.
“Hmm?” was all Jim got by way of a reply.
Perhaps taking liberties (but, then again, perhaps not), Jim put his hand on Marlow’s shoulder and tried to press him to stand.
“Captain Charles, you not lean so close,” Jim said, “there dysentery and malaria to contend with. And worse things. Bodies not for such close examining. For burning.”
Sighing heavily, Marlow stood, brushing Jim’s hand off his shoulder as though it were a mosquito or a speck of bird shit.
“It’s really not the disease which worries me, Jim,” Marlow breathed, “take a gander over yonder.”
Jim followed the invisible line of Marlow’s finger to the corpse’s neck. Jim had never been one to be queasy, but neither was he overly fond of the mutilated dead. He had up until now not closely examined the body, certainly not as closely as Marlow had been examining it, for what seemed like an eternity now.
The woman had at some point tripped and put her eye out on a low, sharp tree branch. She laid there, still, torso and legs flat, but head and shoulders propped up a few dozen centimeters off the ground. Jim had seen no cause to look for further means of death. Marlow had, and so it seemed, as usual, the captain was right.
The islander’s neck was unusual in that it was little more than exposed bloody meat. Thorns lay embedded in odd places throughout, and most of the skin had been stripped off.
“She got her throat caught in the underbrush,” Jim said, “and then a vine ripped a chunk of it away.”
Marlow had already wandered off as Jim was speaking. Hurrying, but not so fast that his torch would extinguish, Jim went after his boss. The Englishman seemed to be looking for something.
“I say, do tell me, Jim, if you were to get caught on a thorn right now, do you think that you would continue walking?”
“No,” Jim said, “I extricate it. Sloooowly.”
Jim dragged the last word out to three and a half syllables to indicate exactly how slowly he meant. Marlow nodded.
“You certainly wouldn’t keep walking until it ripped a chunk of your arm out,” Marlow said, “or, God forbid, your throat.”
Although he didn’t need to, Jim shook his head. Marlow whirled on the man, clearly eager to make his point. He reached up and scarcely glancing at it, plucked a chunk of pink, maggoty flesh from a tanglevine.
“And supposing you did all this, that, and the rest,” he said, “would you then proceed to walk a few yards more, until you…”
Marlow slammed his fist into his other palm, to indicate, presumably, impaling one’s eye on a tree branch. The poor dead woman’s neck flopped in his hand as he did so, splitting nearly in half. Seeming to notice the gruesome bit of viscera for the first time, Marlow let the throat skin slip from his fingers to the ground, and rubbed his hands together to get the bugs and bits of grime and blood off.
“I saw dog once,” Jim said, “a mangy animal, yellow, with big spots rubbed out of his fur, walking through the streets of Manila with foam on his mouth. I not think to notice such an animal, but he, ah, walked along the cobblestones with his ear to the ground. The whole left side of his face rubbed off, all just muscles and protruding bone, and a sightless eye rotating in its socket.”
“Rabies,” Marlow guessed.
Jim nodded. A twig snapped behind his head and Marlow’s hand went instinctively to his hip. He slowly, but forcibly, undid the button on his brown leather holster.
“I dislike these woods,” Marlow said. “If I didn’t know any better, and I was a bit of a superstitious man, I might swear we were being watched.”
Jim nodded.
“There no settlements here,” the Filipino said. “The jungle said haunted in these parts. No one comes here.”
“She came here,” Marlow said, cocking his head towards the corpse, “so that’s quite evidently not the case. Unless you should think she’s a specter and not a real corpse, eh?”
Jim held his tongue this time. He had already made his point about the rabid dog. Far sadder was the tale of a person afflicted by some disease that wasted away the mind. Jim had always been taught to respect his elders, but he had seen far too many whose brains had turned to goat cheese, who began calling him “Bill” or not recognizing him at all.
“Let’s make our way back to the boat, shall we?” Marlow said, not taking his eyes off the wood line behind Jim.
No doubt it was his imagination, but Jim was sure there were shadows all around, watching them. He proffered the torch to the riverboat captain again.
“What about the corpse?” Jim asked.
Marlow eyed it with rather visible distaste.
“Yes. Well. Leave it for the gulls, I should think,” Marlow said. “As it so happens, I’m worried about my own corpse right this very instant.”
Without turning around or drawing his pistol, Marlow walked backwards towards the boat. Jim joined him, almost reflexively turning his back in the same direction that Marlow had his. He thought better of it, though; figuring at least one of them should be looking in the direction they were actually travelling. He put another libertine hand on Marlow’s shoulder and led the suspicious white man all the way back to the boat, his torch the only pinprick of light in the dark.
Jim refused to breathe again until the boat was motoring down the river and the dead woman was out of sight.
“I thought I might have heard it said somewhere that it was not the custom to bury the dead on Patusan,”
Marlow said, once the cool night air and thin spray of river mist had calmed their nerves.
“No,” Jim agreed, “but neither is it to leave the dead for the birds. Now, in Persia, I hear it done…”
“So, it’s cremation that’s the custom here, then,” Marlow concluded, cutting him off. “That might go some way towards explaining why you were so eager with that firebrand.”
Jim nodded, and almost as an afterthought, tossed the torch into the water. It sizzled where the oily end struck the water, and sank with a thunk even before the boat was out of earshot. Marlow’s eyes were twinkling with a sort of perverse glee.
“I say, Jim,” he said, lowering his voice for no particular reason, “is it true what they say? That the locals in this island chain also burn the sick before they die?”
Jim cast his eyes down on the water.
When he lifted them again, he said, “True that they say that.”
“Might be that the locals have convinced themselves that it may just be safer that way,” Marlow mused. “In order to ward off the spread of malaria and the like.”
“And the like,” Jim agreed.
It was almost midnight before they came upon the burned-out skeleton of the old wooden mission. Marlow slowed the boat to a crawl and kicked Jim until he woke. It was his first trip downriver, but it was not Jim’s, so Jim was serving as a guide of sorts.
“Jim, old boy, gather your wits about you. What is that?” the white man asked.
Bleary, rubbing the oh-so-precious little bit of sleep out of his eyes, but not betraying his tiredness in his voice, Jim replied, “That the old Christian mission. Pastor Coughlin abandoned it six months ago when it burnt down.”
“During a funeral service, no doubt,” Marlow said.
Jim shook his head.
“I don’t think so,” he said, “the Bugis claim it was the Malays, and the Malays claim it was the Bugis. But all agree it was arson. Only one was killed: a woman.”
“Was she a missionary?”
Jim nodded.
“Sad. They said she beautiful.”
“Well, where is the preacher now? Not dead as well, I trust?”
