AfterLife

by S. P. Cloward

  “That went well.” Doc checked the antemort’s vital signs. The girl on the table was now Heather inside her new, twenty-something body.

  “Get someone to dispose of Heather’s old body in the cremator,” Seth said as he walked out of the room. He was elated. The new serum was a success, and he knew the reaction from the Body would be more than positive. This was a major triumph from him and the Mortuis he governed. The Atumra under his rule had made more progress than any other faction on the planet. His team’s progress with antemort possession was even now being readied for use in other countries across the globe.

  At the same time, his soldiers were recruiting record numbers of new Mortuis to be added to the Atumra ranks. In the previous three months, they had added over a thousand new members from the Midwest. These recruits were people in their prime. Young, strong, beautiful people were infiltrating antemort society faster than ever before. This reflected very well on Seth’s control over his part of the organization. It was control he needed to show the Body he had. Once he tended to the minor setback with the boy they had lost to AfterLife, he knew he would be in the strongest position he had ever been in. In the not-too-distant future the Body would certainly reward him with the leadership position he deserved once antemort society was overturned.

  Rahul was waiting for him in the sitting area of their headquarters as he had been directed. Seth stepped off the elevator and walked toward him. “Get your coat; let’s go for a walk, shall we?” He motioned for Rahul to follow him and the two men stepped outside onto the busy street.

  It was a cold day, and the wind picked up as they made their way toward the freezing water of Lake Michigan. Seth didn’t feel the effects of the cold, but he could tell Rahul’s antemort body was having difficulty dealing with the subfreezing temperatures. It didn’t matter. Today he was going to kill Rahul, and he would do it in public.

  Seth purposely took the longest route to Millennium Park he could think of to give Rahul more time to enjoy the cold weather. They passed the ice skating rink and went up the steps to the plaza that held one of the city’s most famous tourist attractions, The Bean. Its sleek, quick-silver appearance reflected the city’s skyline, morphing the heights of the nearby buildings into strange shapes. There were a few avid tourists braving the cold to interact with the large bean shaped sculpture. Seth found a bench just outside the plaza and they sat looking at the impressive mirrored piece of art.

  “Rahul,” Seth said, pointing to the sculpture, “Do you know what its real name is?”

  “No sir.” Rahul pulled the collar of his coat up around his neck and folded his arms. He was shivering from the icy wind.

  “It’s called Cloud Gate. Every time I look at it, I like to think that I could step through it to a world that is a mirror image of the one we live in. Mirrors are funny things, aren’t they?”

  “I’ve never thought about it, sir.”

  “Before you were put into an antemort body, Rahul, did you ever try to feed from someone by making contact through a mirror?”

  “You can’t sync through a mirror.” Rahul’s teeth chattered. He readjusted his arms, and then shoved his hands into his pockets. His breath was more visible in the frigid air than Seth’s was. It was clear he would have preferred to be anywhere but here.

  “No,” Seth shook his head, agreeing. “You can’t. Mirrors reflect light from the electromagnetic spectrum but they can’t reflect a person’s soul, at least not enough to sync with.” Seth reached into his pocket and pulled out a Snickers candy bar he had placed there before leaving headquarters. “Are you enjoying your body, Rahul?”

  “Yes sir. Every day.” Rahul paused for a second. “Except for one thing, sir; I seem to feel a little depressed. I don’t think I’m used to the chemical effects the body can have on the mind. I haven’t been very good at countering them.”

  Seth thought about the antemort test subjects they had used in the earlier stages of their possession experiments. They were unhappy people and the unhappiness was still present after the Mortui’s soul moved in. Almost from the first day of possession, Rahul began exhibiting symptoms of major depression and it was obvious Rahul’s Mortui mind was trying to battle it without success. The mind and the body acted as one in an antemort, which is what made antemorts inferior to Mortuis. In Seth’s opinion, this was just an additional part of Rahul’s punishment for wanting to be alive again.

  It was good it had been discovered quickly so that Doc could continue his research to develop the new serum. Now content antemorts could be possessed. If Atumra was to possess people in high social positions, they needed happy, healthy people. The Body didn’t care about the mental state and health of Mortuis who were being put in antemort bodies to increase recruitment numbers, but it did care about being able to use the process to possess politicians and other targets.

  “I want you to do something for me.” Seth handed Rahul the Snickers. “I want you to eat this for me. I enjoyed it when I was alive, and I’d like you to enjoy it now for me.”

  Rahul opened the candy bar’s wrapper and took a bite. The candy was hard from the cold, but Rahul chewed until it softened and then swallowed.

  “Go ahead,” Seth said, motioning to the candy bar, “finish it off.”

  Rahul continued to eat the candy bar. After taking the last bite he slowly lowered his hand. Seth watched as Rahul’s eyes shifted back and forth from the wrapper to Seth. His face developed an expression of worry; then he went rigid, his eyes staring into the distance.

  “I have a confession to make, Rahul; I’ve never tasted a Snickers. I was dead long before they were ever on the market.” Seth smiled at Rahul. “It looks like you’re enjoying it though.” He chuckled a little to himself. “You know what else you can’t feed through besides mirrors, Rahul? You can’t feed through the eyes of an antemort. Too bad. You might be able to heal your body if you were a Mortui and could feed. I guess you didn’t know that Andre, the antemort you possessed, was allergic to peanuts.” Seth paused and shook his head. “The candy bar, infused with a mild paralytic, makes a deadly combination for someone with a peanut allergy. Someone like you. You will now be confined to this bench as you feel your throat close until you can no longer breathe. I don’t want you to worry though, I intend to stay here and watch. You wanted to live as an antemort and now you will die like one.”

  Seth could hear Rahul’s breathing grow heavy as his body struggled to push air through his swollen airways. After another minute, he was no longer breathing. Seth stood up and looked at the dead body with disgust before walking away.

  Chapter 21

  It wasn’t a day to be outside. It was bitter cold, windy, and cloudy. For the living, it was the kind of day where one would stay huddled inside and not even consider going out unless absolutely necessary. However, to Wes, that didn’t matter. He and Meri had made their way back to Chicago that morning, and it felt good to be in the city again. He always loved it here.

  Their apartment was a small two-bedroom flat with an open layout that included the kitchen, dining area, and living room in one space with two small bedrooms off one side of the main living area. Situated within walking distance of the Chicago Loop, it was a new apartment for Meri, too. For security reasons, AfterLife determined it would be best to move her following Jordan’s departure from AfterLife for the Atumra.

  After settling into their new living arrangement, Wes decided he wanted to go out and take a walk. It took some quick talking to convince Meri, but she finally agreed to accompany him. Before he and Meri left AfterLife that day, they had given him another makeover so no one from his previous life would recognize him, but when he’d offered to venture out on his own, Meri wouldn’t allow it. “We do things together,” she said. Either she was serious about that or she was worried Wes might try to contact people from his life.

  She didn’t need to worry, considering he didn’t have any intentions of contacting anyone he knew from his antemort life. If any of them cared at al
l, they would have already spent time grieving over his death. The only person he would even consider trying to talk to was his brother, Lyall. Sadly, theirs was a relationship Wes didn’t think he could fix as a Mortui.

  Each dressed to blend in with everyone else walking around in the freezing temperatures. Wes put on a heavy coat, scarf, and hood. Meri’s coat was longer and covered her knees and she tucked her hair under a knit cap. They started down Michigan Avenue and then headed toward State Street. Sticking to busier streets enabled them to go into some of the stores and shops to graze. Their conversation remained light and nothing of any significance was discussed until Meri changed the course of the conversation. “You like Emily, don’t you?”

  The directness of the question caught Wes off guard. He was slowly learning this was common conversational behavior for Meri – she always addressed the elephant in the room. In that respect she was similar to Ken. “I do,” Wes admitted, knowing he wouldn’t be able to hide anything from her. Besides Ken, she was the only other person to notice, or at least mention his attraction to Emily.

  “You can tell me to butt out if it’s none of my business. I know that sometimes I can be too forward, and I’m not trying to make you talk about anything you don’t want to. Emily’s great, but just don’t get your hopes up.” She tucked some stray hairs that were hanging below her knit cap behind her ear.

  “You don’t have to worry about me, Meri. I already told her I liked her and she doesn’t feel the same, at least not that she’ll admit. I’m just living on the hope that someday I can change her mind.”

  “The thing is that I think she does reciprocate but can’t quite let go of her past.”

  Wes could understand that; he carried his own relationship garbage around. It was a thought that occurred to him when Emily turned him down under the fireworks. Part of him knew she reciprocated the feelings he had for her. What was holding her back though? It was possible Meri held the answers to his questions. “What would she be holding on to?”

  “I can’t say for sure. It’s possible that it has something to do with her death. I only know what others have told me. AfterLife is kind of like a big family and it’s sometimes hard to hide things about yourself. You’ll see what I mean when you’ve been with us awhile. It sometimes seems like everyone knows everyone else’s business. Usually, no one really minds.”

  They passed by a street corner and redirected their walk onto State Street. “How did she die?” Wes asked.

  “She was murdered by her husband shortly after they were married. He drowned her at a beach in Texas near their home.”

  “I’ve seen it, the beach that is,” Wes said as he thought about the first night he met Emily. Emily told him the beach meant a lot to her and that she would go there regularly to think and clear her head. Why would she willingly go back to the place where she was killed, and why would she use it as a sanctuary? It almost seemed like self-torture. “I’m sorry. I would never have known.”

  “I imagine she’s still trying to cope with her husband’s betrayal. I know it would take me a few thousand years to move on from something like that.” Meri stopped to look at a pair of boots in a store window. “A little too pricy for me,” she said, confusing Wes until he realized she was referring to the boots. She resumed walking.

  Meri’s information did help clarify some things. Emily had said she couldn’t have feelings for him. She never said she didn’t. If she was still holding onto her past it would prevent her from being able to establish a relationship with someone else.

  As Wes was processing this information his eyes fell upon a woman walking in the same direction on the other side of the street a few yards ahead of him and Meri. It was mere coincidence that Wes saw her face at all, but as she turned her head to look up at the man she was with and laughed, a gust of wind blew her hair back and gave him a snapshot of her face. He immediately recognized Jez, and she had her arms wrapped around the arm of a man whose face he couldn’t see. Meri noticed her at the same time and placed her hand on Wes’s arm to steady him.

  “This isn’t the time to confront her,” Meri said with a tone of command in her voice Wes hadn’t heard before, “but, it might be a good idea to follow her for a bit to see where she’s going. We’ll stay on this side of the street.”

  “Can you see who she’s with?” Wes strained to see the guy’s face. “Is he a Mortui or another one of her antemort recruits?”

  “I don’t know.” Meri shook her head. “I’d have to see his eyes and sync briefly to know for sure if he was Mortui or not.”

  “We have to find out. If that man is an antemort, I can’t let her kill him.” Wes felt a sense of urgency to protect the life of this stranger. If he was already Mortui, Wes wouldn’t have to worry about it, but if he was an antemort Wes would do everything he could to prevent Jezebel from killing him.

  “Wes, we can’t—” Meri said and then stopped herself. “I know what you’re thinking. You feel responsible for this man because of your history with Jezebel.”

  “You’re right about one thing. For whatever reason I do feel responsible for his life. Let’s at least follow them until we find out if he’s an antemort or not. Besides, maybe we’ll find something out about the Atumra. That is our assignment isn’t it?”

  Meri shook her head and nodded at the same time, which looked like she was rolling her head in a small circular motion. Her eyes searched for an argument to counter him, but Wes could tell she couldn’t find one. “It is, you’re right. It’s both of our assignments though, so remember I’m here with you and don’t do anything stupid.”

  “Okay, okay.” They continued to follow Jez and her mystery man from the opposite side of the street. “Why don’t you wrap your arms around me too?” Wes grabbed Meri’s hand and wrapped it around his arm. He was trying to break the tension that had mounted since they’d seen Jez. “You can pretend to be my girlfriend.”

  “I’m too old to be your girlfriend.”

  “This is Chicago,” Wes said. “There are much stranger things than a young guy with an older woman.”

  Meri did as he suggested, but Wes felt it was more to maintain a tight hold on him and keep him from doing anything that would alert Jez to their presence. He was supposed to meet with her at some point to gain information, but they didn’t want Jez to know that and he’d hardly expected to see her his first day back in the city. If she suspected they were using her as an informant, they might not get anything from her at all.

  “I’ll call Oscar and see if he can help us track her. Maybe he’ll be able to use a traffic cam or something to see who she’s with.” Meri pulled out her phone and called Ops. She retained her hold on Wes as she made the call. After a brief conversation, she put her phone in her pocket and put her earpiece in. “Oscar, can you hear me? Good, we’re still following a few yards behind her on the opposite side of the street.”

  Wes looked down at Meri. “Does he have anything yet?”

  “Not yet,” Meri responded. She adjusted her earpiece under her knit cap. “He’s checking the cameras in the area to see if there’s one he can use. So far he doesn’t have anything.”

  “Does he have our location?” Wes felt strangely agitated that he still didn’t know who the man walking with Jezebel was.

  Meri squeezed Wes’s arm. “Calm down, will ya? Of course Oscar knows where we are. The phone has GPS.” She slowed her pace, forcing Wes to slow down also. “Now slow down, please. If you keep walking so fast we’ll be right next to her and she’ll see you.”

  Wes listened to Meri and slowed down. He didn’t have much choice since she was clinging to him.

  “Oh good,” Meri said into her earpiece.

  “Oh good what?” Wes looked down at Meri. “Does he have a visual on them yet?”

  “No,” Meri said. “Anne Marie and Zach are with him. They’re helping.”

  “Good.” Wes kept his eyes on the pair on the opposite side of the street. At any moment they might walk into a st
ore or turn a corner, and Wes wanted to make sure he’d be able to stay close to them.

  “They have them on the traffic cam from the next intersection,” Meri said, pointing to the top of the traffic light ahead of them at the next street, “but they’ll have to wait until they get closer to see any detail. The camera is a digital black and white one so the picture isn’t very good.”

  Jezebel and her companion approached the intersection and crossed the street to the far side. Wes and Emily were about to cross the street when Jez turned to walk down the intersecting street away from them.

  “Did Oscar get a look at them from that intersection?” Wes asked Meri sharply.

  “No, his face is buried in his coat,” Meri said. “They weren’t able to get a clear enough picture to identify him in any of our databases.”

  “They’re going down that street. We’ll have to cross here to stay up with them.” Wes pulled Meri along like a rag doll as they dodged cars on State Street to get to the other side of the road. Then suddenly it didn’t matter that the team at Ops couldn’t get a good look at the man Jezebel was with. Jez walked out to the road they were walking parallel to and hailed a passing cab. A cab pulled up, and Jez turned to the man she’d been walking with and kissed him. As he followed her into the cab, Wes saw the man’s face and knew instantly who Jezebel had been holding onto. As he broke into a run, his horrified whisper said it all. “It’s Lyall.”

  Chapter 22

  “You can’t help him right now,” Meri called as she sprinted after Wes.

  Wes was already running after the taxi and for once the street was clear of the usual heavy traffic, but before he could catch it the cab turned a corner and was gone. He ceased running to stare after it, frustration evident in every motion of his body. Of course Atumra would try to recruit his brother! Why wasn’t that something he had considered before now? If he was of interest to them, it only made sense that his brother would also be a candidate for recruitment.