CHAPTER 43
As Mara and Sam descended the stairs, they could see Ping and Diana standing in front of the television, staring down at it. Entering the room, Mara noted that Buddy’s apparition remained seated on the couch, apparently entranced by the screen as well. Sam tapped his mother’s and Ping’s shoulders, and they parted, standing back to reveal the news report in front of them. A reporter was doing a voice-over of a large hospital ward comprised of rows of beds with shedding victims standing next to them in their hospital gowns. A Breaking News label flashed at the bottom of the screen and below that scrolled: Just one minute ago at Northwest Memorial Hospital, “shedding” victims awaken from their comas to speak. More than twenty patients stood stiffly and stared blankly at the television camera with their wet black eyes.
“Hold on,” said the off-camera reporter. “My producer says we will have that video unstuck in a second. On a side note, a hospital spokesman says they have no comment on what is occurring with the patients and refuse to conjecture as to the meaning of what they are saying or why they are saying it. Here’s that footage.”
The screen flickered for a second, and the video resumed. Rows of patients looked through the camera and laughed a haughty belly laugh, and, perfectly synchronized, said, “Hurt me? You? You’re a child.” All twenty voices were the same, a deep baritone chorus of Juaquin Prado.
Mara’s blood ran cold. It was the conversation she had just had with him, coming out of the mouths of all the victims. Because her contribution was missing, it sounded nonsensical, like overhearing half a phone conversation.
“I am not your buddy, little girl,” the patients chanted in unison.
She couldn’t remember what she had said next.
But they replied anyway, “I was once.”
Another pause, another non sequitur.
“I am many people. I will be many more.” All the patients turned their heads to the right simultaneously, looking through the air as if they could see beyond the bed where Mara’s mother lay. “I will be your mother soon.”
“Shut up,” Mara whispered to herself.
“I am becoming many things, all things. I am Nemesis. I am Blight.” Their heads lolled slightly, dreamily in unison, and their black eyes looked around blindly as they spoke.
Another gap and then they said, “Yes, I am them as well.” Followed by “I am still becoming.” After a moment they all shrugged together. “We will see. Perhaps one day I will become you.” They paused for a beat and chanted, “Mara.”
Diana jabbed the remote in the air toward the television, but Mara held up her hand. “Wait a minute, I want to see if there’s more.”
The patients stared at the screen with their wet tar-colored eyes and said nothing more. The news anchor spoke over the image. “Continue watching. What happens next is fascinating.”
Nothing occurred for a few minutes. They just stared, then suddenly all the patients fell into the floor in a heap.
“Did you see that?” Mara said, pointing excitedly.
“Dear heavens, that thing knows your name,” Diana said.
“He may have simply picked up on her name by overhearing one of us, or perhaps he has tapped into Buddy’s familiarity with her in some way,” Ping said. “Although he’s been exposed to hundreds, if not thousands, of people through his victims. It could be significant that he chose you to name and to have a conversation with.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. Did you see all of them collapse like that? Like Buddy did upstairs when Sam prompted him.”
“If Prado is possessing all these poor people, maybe Sam’s promptings influence everyone he occupies. Technically he is only one person with one will,” Ping said.
“I want to know why he, it, was talking to you. Why you? Why not someone else?” Diana said, concern in her voice.
“I probably got his attention when I zapped him, I guess. That’s probably not something he’s encountering with his other victims,” Mara said. She noticed for the first time that her mother’s shirt was torn at the shoulder, and her hair was wild and bunched up on one side where Prado had grabbed a handful. “Anyway, are you okay? He tossed you like a rag doll.”
“I’m fine. The bed broke my fall mostly,” she said. “What we need to worry about is this thing spreading out all over the city. What can be done about it?” She looked to Ping.
Ping hesitated for a second and then said, “To be honest, I’m not sure what can be done. We don’t really understand enough about what is going on to do anything at this point.”
Diana turned to her daughter. “So what are you planning?”
“What do you mean?”
“You didn’t bring Buddy home to sit around and watch him die. I know that much about you,” she said.
The apparition on the couch stiffened. “Oh, no, you can’t do that, Mara. I don’t wanna die!”
“Now look what you did,” Mara said. She turned to Buddy. “No, Bud, we’re not going to sit around and watch you die.”
“So fess up. I don’t want any more sneaking around or surprises,” Diana said.
Mara glanced over to Ping, and he shrugged.
“Ping’s right. We don’t know enough about what is happening with Prado. Is he doing this intentionally, and what is he trying to accomplish if he is? We need to get more information before we can help Buddy and the rest of these people.”
“How do you propose to do that?” she asked.
“Ping and I are going to visit some of the victims’ families tomorrow and see if they’ve picked up on anything. Maybe Prado has talked to someone else, maybe before we picked up Buddy. Then we’ll see if there’s anything that can be done.”
Ping guiltily looked at the floor but didn’t say anything.
“I don’t know if I’m comfortable with you exposing yourself that way, but I guess I’m not going to be able to tie you down, am I?”
“I don’t see any other way to help Buddy. Sam can stay here with you in case Buddy or Prado or whoever he is decides to go all zombie on you again.”
Mara’s phone emitted a loud tone and vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out and glanced at the screen. “It’s Abby,” she said and walked to the kitchen.
“Hey, stranger,” Mara said as she flopped into a chair at the dinette table.
“Tell me those zombies weren’t talking to you,” Abby said without preamble.
“What are you talking about?” Even to herself Mara sounded disingenuous.
“I knew it! What have you gotten yourself into? What the hell is going on?”
“Abby, nothing is going on. I don’t have anything to do with those people with that shedding illness.”
“So you know what I’m talking about. You saw the news reports about how they are all chanting your name.”
“Nobody is chanting my name. It sounded to me like they were delirious. Nothing they said made any sense at all. It’s just this exotic disease going around, that’s all. I’m not involved with anything nefarious.”
“Only people who have something to hide use the word nefarious, dude. And diseases don’t make people move and talk in perfect synchronicity like some kind of water ballet team. You started your confession the other day, so finish up.”
“If I recall correctly, you freaked out and ran away the last time I tried to open up to you. If I were involved with this shedding thing, what would make me think I could confide in you about it? You’d run out again, wouldn’t you?”
“That’s not fair. You sprung this whole metaphysical-powers thing on me with absolutely no warning. How was I supposed to act?”
“I don’t know, but maybe it was best that you did run.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that for the time being, it might be a good idea for you to keep your distance.”
“So just like that. That’s it.”
“Yeah, that’s it.” Mara tapped the End icon on her screen. She wanted to cry but for some reason
couldn’t. She left the phone on the table and returned to the living room. When she got there, Ping and Diana were standing by the front door.
“You taking off?” Mara asked. Without waiting for an answer, she crossed the room and added, “Let me walk you to your car.” She opened the door and stepped onto the front porch.
Ping turned to Diana and said, “Thanks for dinner and an interesting evening.”
He followed Mara down the front steps and caught up to her. “I think your mother might have understood if you had told her about your plans on using the Chronicle.”
“Eventually she would come to the same decision that we have, but it would be much harder on her. Why make her stress over a decision that has to be made? Why make her come to terms with accepting that I might disappear and never come back? At least this way, whatever happens, she’ll be in a better position to forgive herself.”
“I don’t understand.”
“If I come back and things work out, she’ll be angry at me, but she’ll get over it. If I don’t come back, she’ll be devastated, but she won’t be able to blame herself for me having taken the risk.”
“You’re deluding yourself if you think parents don’t blame themselves for the risks their children take,” Ping said, stopping by the driver’s door of his Camry.
“If I’m going to jump into a ball of blue light and end up in another reality, let me have this one delusion,” she said, giving him a quick hug. “I’ll see you at the shop at one o’clock.”
CHAPTER 44
Sneaking out of the house hadn’t been difficult since Mara had transported Buddy’s body back to her bed, and she had told her mother she would prefer to sleep on the couch in the living room than share a bed with her. Diana and Sam had gone to their respective rooms shortly after midnight, making a point of locking their doors, while Mara stacked a bunch of empty soda cans from the recycling bin in front of her bedroom door to alert them if Buddy were to get up in the middle of the night. Not a very elegant solution, but it would work since Diana tended to be a light sleeper.
Mara glanced into the rearview mirror of her car. Her reflection in the green glow of the dashboard lights reminded her of Buddy’s apparition. Surprisingly he had grown tired like the rest of them and had retired to Mara’s room to watch over his slowly decomposing body. Mara had to remind herself that he was simply dispossessed, not deceased. There was still time to do something. It was that something which caused her chest to tighten and her stomach to roil.
Thinking about using the Chronicle to cross over into another realm, especially one where people turned into infectious diseases, caused Mara’s heart to beat faster and sweat to break out on her forehead. She could not get enough breath, no matter how deeply she inhaled. The jitters made her want to jump out of her skin. Even the constant drone of her Subaru’s tires beating out a rhythmic lullaby on the interstate pavement could not calm her nerves. For a moment, she tapped her trembling fingers on the steering wheel, staring out into the empty night, and then reached for the radio’s On button. Some smooth jazz might calm her down.
The radio panel winked on, and the hiss of static filled the car. She hit the Scan button and frequency numbers flashed on the panel while the radio sought out a station. It stopped on 00.0. As Mara frowned, a tiny voice echoed around her. “I’m coming, Mar-ree. I’m coming!”
“Oh, no, not you again! Go away. Leave me alone!” She smacked the radio face with her palm, and it went black.
Rapid-fire thumps under her wheels alerted Mara that she had veered out of her lane onto the shoulder of the highway. She yanked the wheel to the left and jerked the car back onto the roadway. Raising a shaking hand to push a loose strand of hair out of her face, she wondered if she was up to this. How is she supposed to confront something that can possess dozens of people and taunt you through a car radio?
A blur from the side of the highway caught her eye, a momentary smear of green. Mara snapped her head around to look out the side window. For a second it looked like a green man, fluorescing and walking along the bike path that paralleled the interstate. The image whipped by and disappeared before Mara could focus on it. A vision of Buddy’s apparition danced across Mara’s thoughts. No, it couldn’t be. Mara looked down at the dashboard panel and squinted into the green light, causing the rays to elongate as they played along her retina. See, just a trick of the light.
More light, this time red and blue, up ahead over the next rise, played against the low clouds above the interstate. Probably a wreck. She glanced at the clock. Ten ’til one. An exit sign with an arrow to a ramp approached quickly. She thought it was the Johnson Creek exit, but she had not paid attention to the large green signs whipping by. Jerking the wheel to the right, she took the exit. It didn’t really matter. It was easy enough to drop onto Eighty-Second Avenue which paralleled the highway.
Though she didn’t recognize the area in the dark, it turned out to be Johnson Creek. Unfortunately the intersection with Eighty-Second Avenue appeared to be clogged with cars, cops and rescue vehicles. Only one lane moved through, slowing traffic to a crawl. And why was there traffic at one o’clock in the morning on a weekday? The stoplight at the intersection ahead changed from green to red twice before Mara could inch up to make a right turn. As she glanced to the left to make sure the way was clear, a large woman in a bathrobe sauntered across the pedestrian crosswalk in front of Mara’s car. She was transparent and glowed green, like Buddy’s apparition.
“Oh, my G—” Mara said, interrupted by the tone of her phone. Looking down the screen she saw it displayed Ping. She tapped it.
“Mara, where are you?”
Ignoring him, Mara’s gaze continued to track the fluorescing woman as she stepped up on the curb.
“Mara? Are you there?”
“Do you know what I’m looking at?”
“Either one of Prado’s zombies or an apparition would be my guess,” Ping said. “I’ve encountered both on my way to the bakery.”
“The bodies are moving again? Are you sure?” Mara said. She hit the gas and made the right turn onto Eighty-Second Avenue, now heading north. Pressing the pedal to the floor, the Subaru spun for a second and then jumped forward. She wasn’t worried about the speed limit. “I’ve got to call home. Buddy might be after Sam and Mom again.”
She hung up and dialed Sam’s number. After one ring he picked up.
“I can’t talk right now. Buddy has escaped,” Sam said.
“He’s not chasing after you and Mom?”
“No, he got up, kicked over the cans and had walked out the front door before Mom and I even got out of our bedrooms. We’re getting dressed to go find him now. I’ll call you when we do. Oh, and Mom says you’re grounded until you’re thirty.”
Sam hung up.
Mara dialed Ping with one hand and jerked the steering wheel back to the left with the other after hitting the curb.
“What’s going on? Why are we seeing apparitions all over the place? Are all of them visible now? How is that possible?”
“Apparently, when you made Buddy visible, you made everyone’s spirit visible. That would be my guess. Do you think you can reverse the process? It appears to be causing quite a bit of disruption around the city.”
“Ping, I don’t even have a clear memory of how I made Buddy visible. Hold on!”
Mara slammed her brakes. A glowing teenage couple holding hands stood in the middle of the roadway. Mara rolled down her window. “Get out of the middle of the road. What are you people thinking? You wake up transparent and green, and decide to go on a date?”
The girl gave Mara the finger and then shoved her boyfriend forward across the road. They disappeared into the dark.
“Are you okay?” Ping’s voice came out of the phone.
Mara pressed the Speaker icon. “Yeah. What were we talking about? Oh, no, I can’t reverse the process. Sam prompted me to do this, and I have no idea how or why these people are visible. Plus it may freak Buddy out if I
can’t see him again. Look, I’m six, seven blocks away. I’m going to hang up. I think I better keep both hands on the wheel with all these freaks running around out here.”
“Meet me at the back of the bakery. I think it might be safer.”
Mara hung up and glanced at the phone for a second. “Safer?”
* * *
The stoplight at Woodstock Boulevard was dark, so Mara took the left without slowing down since there was no approaching traffic. The first couple blocks were unlit and quiet, until she came to the overturned bus in the middle of the street. Clouds of dust billowed under a nearby working streetlight and a large African American man in a blue uniform was lifting himself out of the upturned doors at the front of the bus. Someone else banged and yelled at the doors in the center of the bus but had yet to wedge them open.
Mara slowed and considered stopping to see if anyone needed help, but a cluster of three green apparitions standing on the other side of the road made her think it would be best to get to the shop. She continued down the street, thankful to see the streetlights on again, scanning the blocks ahead, making sure nothing jumped into her path again.
A couple blocks from the shop, all the streetlights went out, and the entire area plunged into darkness. From the corner of her eye, she saw a green someone dart across a side street. In the next block, she saw an old potbellied man, green and transparent, riding on an ordinary bicycle, only visible beneath him because of the glow he radiated.
On the corner before the shop, she saw her first shedding victim. She could not bring herself to think of them as zombies, even though they had that look about them. This one was a tall, wiry man, standing stiffly at the corner staring vacantly into the street in her direction. Her paranoia made her think that somehow this guy was a sentry for Prado, or Prado being a sentry, but it was too dark, and his eyes were too blackened to actually tell where he was looking.
Continuing past the Mason Fix-It Shop and Ping’s Bakery, Mara took a right at the corner and saw another gray-skinned, vacant-eyed man swaying and staring at the corner on the next block. She continued until she came to the alley behind the shop and turned. A few feet into the dark road, she stopped and got out of the car. The door behind Ping’s Bakery opened, and a narrow shaft of light came from it.
Broken Souls (The Chronicles of Mara Lantern, Book 2) Page 24
