by North, Geoff
That was when the deal with the penal system was made. CRIERS took control of prisoners with maximum life sentences—in particular those with a hundred or more years left to serve. A legal—and highly secret—precedent was realized; if the prisons were unable to fulfill their obligation to care for inmates past the natural end of life, they had to release them to an organization that could.
The prisons didn’t fight the decision. Kelvin’s new company had paid handsomely for the custodial transfer of each inmate from over fifty penitentiaries throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico. Hundreds more were taken from asylums for the criminally insane.
“How many are there?” Lothair asked.
Edna had imagined her coffee-burned face whole again. She stared across the restaurant table at her great-grandfather through dark brown, human eyes. “CRIERS transferred over two thousand murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and terrorists into the Victory facility from 2042 until 2051. When the project was abandoned just short of its tenth anniversary, 1511 prisoner-patients were placed in permanent deep-freeze.”
“What happened to the other five-hundred?”
Edna shrugged. “The experiments went too far, too fast. We had done all we could with chemical enhancements and artificial blood replacement. Things got messy with the introduction of nanotechnology and quantum medicines. There was some limited success—total cerebral awareness, the integration of titanium and calcium phosphates creating a virtually indestructible skeletal system, organ regeneration—”
“Limited success?” Lothair shook his head disbelievingly. “You don’t give yourself enough credit, dear.”
“There are only so many improvements you can incorporate into a human body before it…protests. There was an incident…” Edna looked down at the table surface and almost giggled. “I guess you could call it a prison riot considering the men and women we were experimenting on. Some of the test-subjects revolted, tried to take control of the facility…It was a hard-fought battle, but they were eventually subdued. Victory was deemed too dangerous and locked up for good. The CRIERS project was dead.”
“But the results weren’t forgotten.” He reached across and took Edna’s hands in his. “You took some of that technology and placed it within us.”
“I had to be sure our family and the most generous clients survived…so much started happening in the second half of the twenty-first century. Wars, extreme climate change, abnormal solar activity…everything was crumbling all around us. It forced us into frozen hibernation.”
“You did the right thing. We have survived. But now that we are here the time has come to journey west for the Victory facility. Our bodies and minds are far stronger than they were, but I want more…I need us to become all that we can be.”
He tried to stand but Edna pulled him back down. “Don’t you want to know what became of your son—your grandson?”
Lothair settled back into his seat. “My son…Hans. The last time I saw him was in the twentieth century…the week before I was frozen. His wife and children had been with him. Kelvin was only a baby.”
“Haven’t you wondered why they weren’t in cryogenic storage with the rest of us at the Dauphin facility?”
Lothair sounded defensive. “I read about our family on the computer before reviving you. Hans died of natural causes in 2032 and chose not to continue. My daughter-in-law, Edith, was frozen a year later in the Chicago facility. Their daughter, Helena—your mother—was frozen at the same location thirty years after. There were no records at all about young Kelvin.”
“Young Kelvin—my sweet, loving father—led the Victory uprising in 2051. He experimented on himself with the nano-quantum improvements and went insane.”
“Did he…survive?”
Edna nodded. “Frozen. Locked away for all time. You scare me, great-grandfather, but what he turned into, the thing my father became…terrified me.”
“All the more reason to head west. We have family waiting.”
Edna squeezed at his wrists. “Please, don’t go, there’s so much more to talk about.”
Lothair twisted his arms until she released him. “You’ve been doing your best to avoid me ever since I pieced you back together. I find it odd that you’re willing to speak now.” He studied his great-granddaughter more closely. Something wasn’t right. “Why did you arrange to have Michael send me to you in this dream?”
“I… I knew there was no sense resisting any longer. You were right, we need to expand. We need to take all that we know and grow in this new world.”
“I don’t believe you.”
She seemed desperate. “Trust me, I’m telling the truth.”
The table top had started to vibrate. The two coffee cups were rattling towards the edge. Lothair could feel the ground shaking under his feet. “You’re stalling…trying to keep me here.” One of the cups toppled over and smashed against the tile floor.
“I want to spend time with you. We’ve lost centuries. Tell me what it was like growing up in Germany… Tell me all about the children you murdered during the war.”
Edna was crawling across the table. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in. Lothair shut his eyes and willed the dream to the end.
Chapter 55
Cobe wasn’t sure if the Gods had kept them all alive up to this point or if it was just dumb luck. There had been a dozen different ways each of them should’ve died, but they were still together, still running. Divine intervention and chance weren’t helping any of them now. The only way out of Rudd—their only hope of escape—wasn’t being blocked by a crush of stampeding rollers, or the remaining grey-skinned monsters from Big Hole. What stopped them now was an ugly girl on a horse.
“You killed my Pa,” Angel said.
The lawman tried working Dust around her, but Angel and her nervous horse stood their ground at the narrow bridge opening. “We ain’t got time fer this, girl. Yer pa was a decent man, and he didn’t deserve what he got, but I didn’t kill him.”
“You may as well have,” she answered. “He couldn’t defend himself against them things once you was finished with him.”
Willem was sitting atop one of the horses and Cobe was behind him, holding his one-armed brother in place with both of his. He twisted around and looked back over Rudd. The town had gone eerily still since the two cryers had stopped crawling and twitching in the dirt. There were more of them in the dark, Cobe knew, and the longer they took arguing, the less distance would be put between them and the creatures. He called out to Angel. “We lost our father too. If it makes you feel any better, call the lawman Pa until you can find a better one.”
Lawson gave him a dirty look.
Sara was behind Kay on a white horse. “Two daughters in less than a week. Looks you’re making up for all them lost years after all.”
Angel smiled at Cobe. “I ain’t lookin’ fer a new Pa, but I can treat him like one if it makes you happy.” She dug her heels into the horse’s sides and yanked on its mane. The girl rode across the bridge and into the night. Kay and Sara shot off after her.
Willem looked back at his brother. “You sure you can ride this thing on yer own?”
“I figure the two of us can learn quick enough. You steer it by the mane, and I’ll make it run.” He leaned back and smacked the horse’s rear with the palm of his hand. The big brown mare exploded into movement.
That only left the lawman on Dust, and Jenny sitting quietly on the back of an equally subdued grey animal. Trot stood between them wondering what to do. “Get off the horse and help Trot up,” Lawson said.
“I’m going with you.”
Lawson shifted uncomfortably on Dust’s back. “I don’t think that’s what yer father had in mind.”
“I don’t care what my father wants.”
“Why should we trust you—after all yer people have done, why should I let you ride with us? What’s to stop you from killin’ us along the way?”
“I haven’t killed you yet.”
&nb
sp; He didn’t doubt for a second the girl could kill any of them with her bare hands. Maybe having her along wasn’t such a bad idea—especially where they were headed. He nodded and looked down at the bewildered Trot. “Go with the girl. We’ll be ridin’ hard and fast—Dust don’t need the weight of two big men slowin’ him down.”
“I…I can’t ride with her,” Trot blubbered. “She’s one of them…she’s a cryer.”
He tried crawling up Lawson’s leg and the lawman pushed him away with the tip of his boot. “Can’t be scared of shit yer whole life—Go on now, ride with her.”
A horrible shriek sounded back towards town. Lawson looked past Trot into the night and saw something big and black charging their way.
“Eichberg knows,” Jenny said. “He’s sending Eunice to stop us.”
“Go!” Lawson yelled at her. “Catch up to the others.” He bent over and struggled to help Trot up behind him. It had taken too long. The fat cryer was less than thirty feet away and she was moving fast. The lawman didn’t have to pull on Dust’s mane or kick him in the sides; the old horse knew what kind of danger was closing in. There wouldn’t be enough time for him to turn. The creature’s mouth was already open—Lawson could see strings of saliva whipping over her blacks lips and sticking to the rolls of her chins.
Something slammed into Eunice’s shoulder. The force of it knocked her off balance and the obese woman fell to the ground. She sat up and cursed. “Fucking arrow! Some fucking asshole shot me with a fucking arrow!” Another one thumped into the middle of her chest. She looked down at disbelievingly. “Fuck.”
Two more flew into her great gut. Eunice stood back up. Her immense legs were quivering, her arms whirled about for balance. “Stop it,” she wheezed. “Please stop shooting.” An arrow lodged in the center of her throat and black blood squirted out. “It hurts, it hurts.” Her voice was weak and had a pronounced whistle.
Lawson, Trot and Jenny remained at the foot of the bridge and watched with fascinated horror as the cryer fell again. She was back on her knees, clawing at the air between them, pleading soundlessly for mercy.
From the town-side of Rudd’s moat Eunice’s attackers emerged. They scrambled over the rocky edges covered in shit and piss, carrying their bows and arrows, their vicious clubs, and their stone knives. They ignored the horses and the riders and went straight for the shaking hulk of blob crying in the dirt.
“We don’t need to see this,” the lawman said. He turned Dust south and they clomped across the bridge, picking up speed out on the plains.
Eunice was covered in a press of wet, stinking bodies. She had managed to pull the arrow out from her throat and the one that was causing the most agony from her chest. It wouldn’t end like this. She wouldn’t allow it. Eunice reached out and found a throat. She tore the flesh and cartilage free and was sprayed over in warm blood. She drank it down and felt a surge of energy. Nothing like getting your second wind, she thought. A thigh pressed into her face and she bit down. Self-preservation and panic washed through the crowd causing the bodies to move off of her.
Eunice was back on her feet, shrieking and whistling. “Fucking cowards! Dirty, inbred cocksuckers! Eichberg should’ve let us murder all of you back in your goddamned hills!” She was covered in excrement and dripping blood. A dozen of her attackers were circling around, waving their clubs and knives but keeping their distance. Dozens more were climbing up from the moat. One was holding a lit torch in front of her and moving slowly.
Eunice knew instantly who it was. “You filthy old whore.”
Dirty Gertie waved the fire back and forth between them. “You got spirit, girl… I’ll give you that. Might’ve been a time when I let somma my boys diddle you. I could’ve used some strong daughters.”
“Fuck you. Fuck your boys, and fuck your daughters.”
“Too late fer that.”
Someone with a wooden bucket ran forward and threw its contents over Eunice’s head. Something vile-smelling and pungent sloshed down her shoulders and into the crack between her heaving breasts. Gertie jerked forward and smacked the end of Eunice’s nose with her torch. Her face and hair erupted in blue flame, and Gertie’s children let out a collective gasp. They danced around the thrashing woman as the fire spread down her arms and caught in the remains of her dress. Eunice tried to scream one last time but Gertie jammed the torch into her open mouth.
Lothair watched dispassionately from the shadows as Eunice Murrenfeld went up in flame like a mountain of melted marshmallow. His centuries-long obligation to one of ABZE’s most generous contributors had come to an end.
“We gonna let them get away with that?” Leonard asked.
Lothair placed a finger over the young man’s lips. They knelt down further behind the old well. “I don’t care about them.” He pointed towards the bridge behind Eunice’s smoking remains and Leonard watched his finger trail slowly southward. “I’m more concerned with the lawman.”
Leonard shook his head. “We can run real fast, but horses can run faster. We’ll never catch them, and we don’t know where they’re headed.”
“I have a good idea where they’re going, Leonard. And when we catch up, what will we do with them.”
“We’ll make them pay. We’ll make them sorry they ever crossed you.”
“What happens to people that cross me?”
Dutz started to speak again, but Lothair stopped him. “Don’t tell me…Show me.”
Leonard opened the burlap sack between his feet and lifted a severed head out. He held it up by the hair and wiggled it back and forth before Lothair. “You kill the people that cross you.”
“That’s right, Leonard. Now put that thing away. I want to be halfway back to the Dauphin facility before the sun rises.”
Leonard poked at the head’s cold face. “Can I eat one of the Colonel’s eyeballs first?”
“No. Cannibals eat their own kind, son… We’re not savages.”
Chapter 56
It had been a long, hard ride, just as the lawman promised. They had traveled through the Dirty Hills during the darkest hours of night without stopping, fearful a few of Gertie’s kin had remained behind. They didn’t meet any resistance. The forests were empty, and that seemed to unsettle them even more. It took another six hours to cross the southwestern plains with the morning sun fast on their tails. The horses were exhausted by the time they reached the crater wall.
Cobe didn’t want to believe the lawman when he’d told them where they were headed. Big Hole was the last place on earth Cobe wanted to visit for a second time in his life, and he was certain his brother and Trot were of the same mind.
“I won’t be long,” Lawson said as he slid off of Dust’s back.
Trot followed him down, although nowhere near as graceful. “That’s what you said last time.”
Cobe was already on the ground. “If you’re going for weapons and water you’ll need as many hands as you can get. Me and Willem are coming with you.”
Kay was in agreement with the boys. “I’ve spent the last few days wandering out on the plains by myself—Angel’s been through worse. Neither one of us wants to spend any more time out here alone.”
Sara nodded behind her. “Where she goes, I go. I’m not going to lose her again.” She pointed at Lawson. “Or you.”
“I’m coming too,” Jenny said.
Lawson looked at her warily. “I don’t see the need.”
“You’ll need me. My mother showed me things in the last few days…how the facility is laid out, where we need to go and what we’ll need to do.”
“I know the place good enough. All we need is guns and water, and I know where to go fer that.”
“We need to do more than just defend ourselves.” Jenny started up the slope. “We have to end this.”
The others followed her, leaving Lawson and Trot alone with the horses. Trot tugged at the rope-belt strung around his waist. “You don’t want me to come, do you?”
“Things didn’t go all tha
t well fer you last time we went down, did they?”
“I won’t wander off…I’ll stay with you every step.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Lawson put a steadying hand on the man’s shoulder. “We need somebody to watch the horses. If Eichberg comes while were below I’ll need you to take them away from this place, take ‘em somewhere safe.”
Trot was conflicted, more so than he’d ever been. “I don’t wanna go back inside Big Hole, but I can’t stay here all by myself. The horses will run off without me.”
“Dust won’t leave you.” He smacked the big horse’s side affectionately. Dust turned his head and snorted at the two, the scarred-over hide where his eye once was seemed like a permanent wink. “You see? At the first sign of trouble, get on up and ride out. Them other horses will follow.”
Trot was blubbering once again. “I can’t do it… I don’t wanna be alone.”
“Remember what I said about bein’ scared of shit yer whole life?”
Trot nodded. “Just words… It doesn’t change who I am.”
“A man don’t need to change so much, he’ll do what he’s gotta do to stay alive—heroes, cowards, there ain’t no difference. Yer still alive, Trot, even after all we’ve been through. I reckon you can survive another hour or two.”
Trot nodded slowly and wiped the tears from his cheeks. “I reckon I’ll have to.”
Lawson left him there and went after the others. When he’d reached the top he saw the six of them already picking their way down the crater’s inner wall. Something wasn’t right, something had changed. The big black lake of water sat in the hole’s bottom third, stinking and motionless. The smell of it always made his eyes water, and today was no different. Lawson dug his boot heels into the steep slope and started down. The air had a heavy, hazy feel. The lawman swiped at his eyes again, trying to focus on where he was placing his feet and the movement of the slow-moving group further below. It was more than just the reek of polluted water stinging his eyes and scratching at his throat. The lawman could smell smoke.
