Skin Trade
Page 23
Mr. Theo recognized the chance for escape. “Let’s go before they decide to try again.”
And so we left the screaming and shrieking behind us, left the devastation and terror, left the blood-soaked town of Newton burning to the ground in the distance as we turned tail and ran. Even the old goat recognized the signs of trouble, for he was much lighter on his feet than normal, putting both Mr. Theo and me to shame as he pulled away ahead of us, wagon and all.
We were miles away before either of us spoke again, Mr. Theo returning to his usual stoic self and I working up the courage to talk about what passed between us. How could I ask him what lay upon my heart? Why he let me go. Why he told them I was a girl. Why he said the things he said.
Mr. Theo must’ve sensed my apprehension. “I’m not asking for your forgiveness. You have every right to be mad at me, girly.”
I couldn’t speak. He was right. I was mad at him.
“I just ask you hear me out,” he said. “Will you give me a chance to explain?”
Again I couldn’t speak. I nodded, unsure if he saw me, as I kept my eyes to the ground.
“I tried to keep them from taking you,” he said. “I know you’ll have a hard time believing that, but I did. I did everything in my power against letting them take you from me, but if I hadn’t told them about your little secret, then they would’ve killed you just to spite me. Same for Mr. Tindsdale. I had to make you both valuable. Understand? Too valuable to waste by just killing.”
I huffed, frustrated by his casual tone. “So letting them have us alive was easier on your conscience?”
“No. Letting them take you alive meant I could come back for you. I couldn’t rescue a dead apprentice. Or a dead scientist.” He paused, and even though I wasn’t looking his way, I could tell he was smiling. “I should’ve known you wouldn’t just sit still and wait for rescue.”
“I was taught better than that.”
“By me?”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t, not without a long explanation. The truth was, he did teach me better, but only part of my learning was from him. I think my time at the bordello had more to do with my pluck than Mr. Theo’s mentoring, as did my experience at the workhouse, and even that terrible time with Boudreaux. The whole of my life, I suppose, was why I didn’t just sit and wait for rescue.
The whole of my life was what made me who I am.
My life shaped me, and so I chose to shape my own fate.
Once again, Mr. Theo sensed my uncertainty. “I see. It’s just as well. Darlene always said I never taught her anything useful either.”
The instant he spoke the name aloud, I was struck by a revelation. The last thing Mr. Theo said to me before they dragged me off rang out in my mind with such clarity that I wept to realize my mistake.
No heroes, darlin’.
But no, that wasn’t what he said. I could hear him now, understand his true words as clear as the day was long. What he really said was, No heroes, Darlene.
Darlene.
As he watched them dragging me away to God knows what awful fate, he had called out to me by his own daughter’s name.
And in that instant, I almost came to believe that he had planned it all from the beginning. Not just our daring escape, but everything. Allowing Clint to catch up with us, selling Mortimer and me out while he feigned his broken state of being, everything. Which meant he always intended to come for me. At the very least, he was right; he did make the scientist and me too valuable to kill outright.
How could I stay mad at him when he was only trying to protect me?
The Bible tells us that we should forgive and forget. Perhaps I couldn’t forget his kindness masked with cruelty, but forgiveness was too simple a word for the absolution my heart extended him. I didn’t know if I could ever find the bravery to tell him in words, but I think he could feel it between us. I hoped he did.
“Mortimer died for me,” I said.
“That he did,” Mr. Theo said. “I didn’t know he had it in him. He was a good man.”
“He gave me the name of a contact back east. A man he said will help make the cure.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I do. They were his dying words. Sort of a lousy time to lie.”
“Are you joking? A man’s deathbed is the best place for a man to start lying. Who’s gonna quarrel with a dying man?”
How could I argue with logic like that? “Where are we headed now?”
“The border, I suppose.”
“Then you’ll carry out Mortimer’s last request?”
“We. We’ll carry it out.”
I smirked, secretly pleased by this. “Yes, sir. We.”
“Besides,” he added. “I think we owe it to him. Don’t you?”
“That and so much more,” I said, thankful for the life Mortimer had given me by sacrificing his own. “Do you think we’ll find his man?”
“I hope so. God knows this world needs the cure.” He thought about this a moment, then added, “If it’s real.”
“You don’t think it’s real?”
“I don’t know if it’s even possible. But I pray to the good Lord it’s real.”
“Me too, sir. Me too.”
We slipped into silence as I followed my mentor through the winding countryside.
Just as I would follow him to the ends of the earth, should he but ask.
The End
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About the Author
Tonia Brown is a great lover of weird fiction, coffee, and Victorian dead things. She has cranked out several novels, including Lucky Stiff: Memoirs of an Undead Lover and Badass Zombie Road Trip. Her work appears in a variety of anthologies and periodicals. When not writing, she fights crime with her husband of many years under the code names “Doctor Weird” and his sidekick “Butternut.”
You can find more about Tonia or read more of her sordid scrawling by visiting:
http://www.thebackseatwriter.com
http://www.facebook.com/backseatwriter
http://steampunktrain.blogspot.com
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Philip R Rogers, pusher of pixels, lives in the frightening wilds of western North Carolina. His wife, Janet, constantly inspires and encourages him. They share their home with a passel of cats and one skeleton affectionately referred to as “Mr. Bones.”
To contact him or to see more of his work go to:
http://artbyphilip.com
Other Works by Author Tonia Brown:
Badass Zombie Road Trip
Jonah has seven days to find his best friend’s soul after losing it to Satan, or risk losing his own. Before it's all said and done, he drags a zombie across the country, picks up a hitchhiking stripper who has an agenda of her own, and is pursued for a crime he didn’t commit, all while dealing with the occasional visit from The Prince of Lies himself.
2,000 miles. Seven days. Two souls. One zombie. And Satan.
It's going to be a hell of a trip.
Lucky Stiff: Memoirs of an Undead Lover
Meet Peter Lyles, a young man unremarkable in life but unforgettable in un-death. After he accidentally overdoses while on spring break, Peter's friends do him the dubious favor of bringing him back to life. Or rather, they turn him into a zombie with the help of a little old fashioned Voodoo. Peter's journey through the unlife takes him from the homebrewed sex magic of a mysterious swamp-dwelling Madam, to bouncing from bedroom to bedroom all across the globe, and finally leaving him with a career as the hottest gigolo not alive. All the while, he must deny his hunger for human flesh while sating his passion for, well, human flesh. At turns humorous, at times touching, but always sexy, sexy, sexy.
"Lucky Stiff" will leave you wanting more Peter. He's just that good.
Railroad!
Railroad is a weird western steampunk story of gadgetry, gunplay and grit!
Join us as we follow the strange stand-alone train known as the Sleipn
ir; eight cars of free traveling steam powered might. Able to lay her own tracks, as well as pick them up again, the train is a marvelous feat of engineering, and as an unbound entity she can travel anywhere her master desires. The only trouble is the trouble she attracts.
Enter Rodger Dodger, dead-eye marksman and all around vexed soul. At the request of a restless spirit, Dodger takes on the work of security for the train, straps on the biggest guns this side of the Mississippi and soon finds his life will never be the same again. (Which is just fine with him because he didn't like the one he had anyways.)
On a train that can go anywhere, anything is bound to happen!
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
About the Author