Stumptown Survival: The Complete Collection

by Noah Porter

  Mason laughed, “Absolutely, but more literal than figurative. He bested me.”

  “Not possible,” Dylan said.

  “Your estimation of my skill is flattering, but you are never the best at anything. There is always someone better, as this experience amply reminded me. I was just fortunate that he was … different than I had expected.”

  “How can a kid be better than a skilled assassin with decades of experience?” Andrew was baffled.

  “For me, it’s an occupation; for him, it was survival. It’s a lot easier to be better when your life depends on it.” Mason had pulled out a knife and was playing with it as he talked about the experience. “It took over a year to get close to him, and in the end it wasn’t enough. But I have to admit that I’m glad I failed. And that is what brought me here to meet all you lovely people.”

  “Wait, what?” The trio had no ability to follow this logic.

  “I was in the airport on a layover, much like beautiful Andrew, when I noticed I was being followed. My client knew I had failed and wanted his payment back.”

  “How could he get his money back? Wasn’t it all tied into your appearance?” Andrew was unfortunately well beyond his ability to follow at this point.

  Mason walked over to him, put his hands on Andrew’s shoulders, and talking like a teacher to a Kindergartner, the assassin said, “Some people think that taking a life is the same as getting their money back. He saw that as a fair trade.”

  Andrew mouthed the word Oh, then said, “Well, I don’t quite get how that is logical.”

  Mason moved back to his position, “And you have already pointed out there was no way for him to get his money back.” He raised his arms and stretched, and more than one of the onlookers couldn’t help but think his motions were reminiscent of a tiger. “Now. Mason is demystified and we can move on to other topics, yes?” He was satisfied that they would not view him as a threat, something that Lily had already expected would be the case. It was only his own insecurities that had kept him quiet for so long. Nor did he need to tell them not to spread the word; they had already figured out why he had been so reticent about his past.

  “Two more questions, if that’s all right,” Paige said.

  Mason rolled his eyes and dropped his head, but he gave a motion with his hand to continue with her questions.

  “How much of what you said is true?”

  “Oh, at least 75%, but no more than 83%.”

  She laughed, Mason was back to himself already, so she knew he wasn’t going to answer the next one honestly, “What is your real name?”

  Mason lifted his head and looked at her with his face tilted down, a mischievous grin on his face, “What makes you think Mason isn’t my name?”

  Ok, he wasn’t going to answer at all. Paige blinked at him a couple of times, then allowed a grin to spread across her face. She winked at him, “Glad to see you acting more like yourself. All of that almost honesty was surreal.”

  “Not to worry, I won’t let it happen again.”

  “Hey, I have some questions,” Andrew realized the window of opportunity was over, but he wasn’t ready to let go yet.

  “And you are more than welcome to ask away, but you will first have to tell us five detailed stories that take up at least as much time as I have just given you.” Andrew’s shoulders slumped. It was fair, but not something he was willing to do right now.

  Mason continued, “Didn’t think so. At this point, I do have something of real importance to discuss with you.” Andrew lifted his head. Mason moved to the other side of the roof, facing the river. The others followed.

  “Do you see the barge down there?” They nodded. “It appears to be anchored, smiley face and all, and I would say it is welcoming us to come and make use of it.”

  “Why wouldn’t we stay here?” Dylan asked.

  Mason pointed to the extension from the building that reached out toward the river. “Because that is made of glass, an easily broken material that provides little to no protection. We cannot stay here indefinitely. It would be safest if we made our way to the barge sooner than later, preferably today, because there are too many of those,” he pointed to the zombies, “and not enough of us to defend against them should they get inside. If you check out the map,” a map materialized in his hands as if by magic (“Man, he’s fast” Dylan thought, “How could anyone beat him?”), “the place is not easy to secure. The rooms are too open and there are too many doors. While it means there are more ways to get into and out of places, it also means that it is very difficult to find a truly safe place.”

  “I agree,” Dylan said. “Sorry, Andrew. I know it was different when you were young, but they have really changed it, and I don’t think that we can stay here. We need somewhere we can feel safer to plan our next move.”

  Andrew hung his head again, “I agree. I’m so sorry guys. This turned out to be a disaster.”

  Mason patted him on the back, “Yes, it did big guy. It really did.”

  Paige laughed, “Look on the bright side, we’ve really allowed Darwin to have his way with us. Everyone left has a purpose and at least enough brains to survive.” She started laughing uncontrollably. None of it was funny, but she could not help herself. It had been so long since they had really gotten to rest or do anything like relax. The few hours in Hood River had been it, and that had ended so poorly. She had held together better than almost everyone else, but now she was feeling the strain. What they had just learned about Mason was also a bit difficult to process because it did not match the way she had come to think of him. This man who had repeatedly saved their lives had taken far more. Did it even out in the end? Given the state of the world now, did it even matter?

  “Are you all right?” Dylan was trying to look her in the eyes, but Paige was laughing hysterically. Several of the zombies below them looked around trying unsuccessfully to find the source of the noise. They walked around, bumping into each other. One of them was so confused, it bit into one of the other zombies standing close by. Mason covered his mouth as he watched. It was the closest to a zombie fight he had ever seen. Humans, dead or alive, were after all still human. No one else noticed, and they wrote off his actions as a cough. Dylan, mostly concerned for Paige, was trying to quiet her down as he led her to a place where they could sit.

  “I wish I felt like laughing,” Andrew said, “All I feel like doing is crying.”

  “Finally, gender reversal. The women laugh while the men weep.” The short zombie show was over. Mason strolled back to his spot and stood with his back to the group.

  Dylan looked at Mason’s back, “We probably should give the others a day or two to rest up. I don’t think we can press ahead in our current condition.” Andrew walked over and dropped down on the ground.

  Finally, Andrew said, “I agree. We need to move on, but we need some time to recover.”

  Mason shook his head, “It’s up to you guys, but someone had best make sure that the intellectually challenged of the group are locked up until we leave. We don’t need to be driven out of another place before we’re ready.”

  Paige had stopped laughing and was rubbing her head. “Agreed. This is not going to be welcome news. You know that most of the group is going to think this place is fine. I think we should be fine for a few days if everyone is careful.”

  Mason stared out of the grounds watching the zombies, “I think we should all get some sleep then move before night. Then again, I’m not the leader and you guys know how to deal with the sheep far better than I. If left up to me, I would force sleep now and drive everyone out at gun point in a few hours; however, something tells me that isn’t going to go well either.”

  “You know there aren’t many hours of daylight left, right?” Dylan knew that it would be dark by 5 pm and it was already afternoon, leaving them very little time to rest before moving on.

  “Like I said, it’s not my call.” Mason continued to look out over the grounds, noticing some odd shifts in the behav
ior below. He knew it wasn’t his imagination. “It might be best if someone goes inside to make sure they aren’t doing anything stupid right now, actually. I strongly recommend you all go in, make sure people are acting rationally, and get people to start catching up on their sleep," he held his hand up as they started to protest. “It has been a long time since any of you has gotten adequate sleep. Daytime or not you should all attempt sleep, even if we aren’t leaving today.” He gave them a poignant look with the last sentence and they knew they should follow his advice.

  The three rose to leave and with no desire to argue with Mason. Paige and Dylan had a short exchange before he followed Andrew through the door. Instead of following them, Paige turned back around to Mason, “Actually, would you mind if I stayed up here for a bit? You won't have to talk. I just want to be outside without looking over my shoulder. “

  “Ah, interesting. After all that, you don't feel the need to worry when alone with me? “

  “There's no benefit for you in harming me.”

  “I love how you boil everything down to its simplest terms.” He clearly meant what he had said about being at his limit when it came to dealing with people. His speech was short and clipped with no signs of humor, “You may stay at a price.”

  Paige returned to where she had been sitting with Dylan.

  “And you will accept the price without even knowing what it is?” Mason turned around a little to watch her.

  Paige looked Mason in the eyes, “I've never seen you be unreasonable, so again, I’m not worried about anything you will do or request.” She swung her bow off of her back and began to string it.

  Mason turned back around and positioned himself behind Dolly. He was thorough and methodical in his approach as he began picking off zombies. Any creature that looked whole was the first target, and several others were always lined up behind it. He would align each shot against several heads then pull the trigger without any movement to the weapon. Paige stood and watched him work. She never saw him take down fewer than three at a time, and his most shot impressive took seven. She wanted to say something but felt it would intrude in his thoughts. She doubted anything she said or did would distract him completely, but she didn’t want to take the risk. She took a couple of warm up shots, felling a zombie with each release. She then tried to take a couple at a time. She shot at targets close to the building with the plan to join Mason when he went to retrieve his bolts.

  They stood side by side, quietly taking out the undead from their perch for the better part of an hour. Once, they heard the door open, but as neither acknowledged the presence behind them, Lily did not linger. She smiled as she shook her head and closed the door. The assassin and the firefighter, taking out the undead. It was a funny image, but she was glad that Paige had stuck around. Lily was at least sure how she would take finding out about Mason; having been a rescuer, her principals would have been more rigid than Dylan and Andrew’s, and potentially far less forgiving.

  Shortly after the brief and mostly silent appearance, Mason began to take down the setup. When he finished he lay down and got comfortable. "Are you ready to make that payment?"

  Paige unstrung her bow and replied, “Absolutely,” without hesitation.

  Mason was quiet for a couple of beats, “Will you please stay here while I rest?” His tone betrayed no uncertainty in her compliance, but he honestly did not expect her to stay.

  “What?” was all she could manage. She hadn't really known what to expect but that was not even something she had considered as a possibility.

  “I'm not exactly well-liked, which means I’m not entirely comfortable leaving myself vulnerable with everyone downstairs. I haven't really slept since we left Portland. I would be more comfortable with the situation if you stayed than trying to sleep while keeping my eyes open.”

  Paige noticed he did not look at her while he spoke. Then again he was rearranging his weapons. For the first time someone got to see inside the man’s arsenal, as he made no attempt to conceal it.

  “What should I do?”, Paige asked. The whole thing had caught her entirely off guard. She was oddly unnerved to think of him needing anything, or even admitting that someone could help him. Paige was also deeply flattered.

  “Whatever you want, so long as it doesn't keep awake,” he was closing the bag.

  Paige watched him for a moment, then she asked, “Mind if I join you?” in her offhandedly way.

  “As long as I get to be the big spoon,” Mason replied getting the bag situated as his pillow, his tone more like his flippant self.

  “Deal,” it wasn't quiet what she had meant when she asked if she could sleep too, but she wasn’t going to point that out. She didn’t expect Mason to allow that kind of prolonged contact.

  Before he could respond, Paige had laid down and pushed her back against his body, resting her head on her arm, her hair cascading around her.

  “What kind of monster do you take me for? Here,” Mason lifted her head and moved his bag into the same spot. Paige was going to question the logic of sleeping on weapons, especially blades, but when Mason put her head on the bag she realized that everything was wrapped up, creating a very nice cushion for sleeping.

  Paige partially turned to face him, “Thank you, Mason. For everything.”

  “Your thanks is unnecessary, but you are welcome,” his voice was lower and softer than he usually spoke. Clearly he had not been kidding about being tired; she suddenly started to feel guilty for everything the group had put him through.

  “It is necessary. Everyone here should be treating you so much better.” She bit her lip, “It’s hard to imagine you as an assassin after everything you have done for us over the last few months. It’s just unreal,” she covered his mouth before he could say anything, the light in his eyes suggesting he was beginning to feel annoyed, “You are amazing and I hope that your new life is at least as good as your retirement would have been.”

  Mason laughed, “It’s actually a lot safer than my retirement would have been.” All traces of annoyance were gone from his face and eyes.

  “Who was Mason?” The question surprised Paige as much as it surprised Mason.

  He looked up at the sky, seconds later he had a gun drawn. Paige did not flinch, instead she waited for the answer she could see he was considering.

  Finally he presented a small gun to her, “This is Mason.”

  “I thought your guns were mostly dead famous women.” Paige held the gun, trying to strike a light tone.

  Mason would not look at her, “Not this one. She’s the only one with a personal name.”

  Paige looked back at the gun. It was clearly an older model that had been very well maintained, and looked like it had barely been used. He also had not kept it in the bag. She handed it back to him without a word. Clearly they had entered deep waters where he was not comfortable and she was not going to press him any further. She pressed her back into him and focused on sleeping.

  Within minutes Mason could hear Paige’s breaths slow down and knew she was asleep. He leaned over and gently kissed her cheek, “I was supposed to be the one who gets to sleep,” he muttered. He draped an arm over her side, then lay down with his face to the sky. It took a while, but he finally managed to fall asleep.

  *****

  A couple of hours later, Kyle and Ben came to the rooftop. They found Paige sleeping peacefully on the ground and moved toward her. They were started by a sudden “Don’t do that,” as they reached down to wake her up. Mason was sitting quietly looking over the grounds.

  “Whoa, we didn’t see you there,” Ben said.

  “Let her sleep; obviously she needs it.”

  Kyle looked at Mason then at Paige, narrowing his eyes, “Don’t you think she should be sleeping inside where it is warmer?”

  Mason shrugged still not looking at them. Paige stirred on the ground.

  Without turning around Mason said, “Oh, nicely done. She’ll probably have a rough time getting back to sleep once
she gets up and moves for a few minutes.”

  Paige sat up trying to remember where she was. She suddenly started looking around, “Mason?”

  “Right here, Paige. These two lads think you should go sleep downstairs.”

  “What on Earth made you sleep out here? It’s cold and the company isn’t exactly warming,” Kyle said still looking at Mason.

  “There’s no safer place in the world than where Mason is. Besides, it’s so much quieter up here, and I can handle a little cold.” She wasn’t sure when Mason had gotten up, or if he had even slept in the first place. She got up and walked over to him, “I’ll be right there guys, go on without me.” They headed to the door, but Kyle held it open and tried to wait for her. Ben grabbed his arm and pulled Kyle through, and they could hear the tussle at the top of the stairs.

  “Did you get any sleep?” Paige kept her voice low.

  “Enough. Thank you. Now, inside with you, before the idiots return with more questions, or worse yet, accusations about your virtue.”