After Life | Book 2 | Life After Life
Page 36
Mickey had turned the signal off. Celia felt her eyes go wide. “How did you do it?” she asked. “How did you … turn it off?”
He almost laughed. “That’s the other thing I figured out,” he said. “And I wager it would have taken you a lot longer than you ever might have had, because you didn’t know the man. Peter was a weird one. That switch you wanted flipped? It was actually a button. And that button wasn’t even in this room.”
Celia’s mouth fell open. This room felt like the obvious place for the switch. She hadn’t even been in the right place? “Where was it?” she asked.
Mickey nodded his head down toward the baseball bat. “You got so close,” he said. “His baseball shrine. There was a button along the wall just behind the baseballs. First place I looked after I shot the Z’s.”
Celia widened her eyes as she looked toward the display of baseballs, which, since it was hidden by the wall between that room and the living room, she couldn’t even see. “How did you know that?”
“Hidden-ball trick,” Mickey said. At Celia’s confused look, he went on. “Truth be told, I didn’t. But I had a hunch. I started thinking about Peter, about his ways, and I realized that you might not ever get close to wherever he’d put a button or a switch like that. Even then, the baseball display was only one of the places it could have been. Lucky that was it. A few more minutes, and I might have gotten the switch shut off, but you probably wouldn’t have fared as well.”
Next to Celia, Simon started to move slightly. He didn’t wake up, but he shifted weight. He’d be up soon.
“So … that’s it?” she said. “It’s over?”
Mickey shrugged one more time. “I suppose so,” he said. With that, he started to walk toward the hole in the wall. He ran his hand along the hole to the outside thoughtfully. “Damnedest thing,” he said. “Salvisa reinforced these walls. Every six feet or so, there’s a steel girder going down into the ground. My son never could have driven a truck through the walls.” He reached just a little into the space between the outer wall and inner, and Celia heard him rap on something metal. He nodded. “But you … used a grenade? Must be it. Explosion tore a hole in the wall. If the girders were, say, a foot different, you never would have gotten that hole. I never would have gotten in.” He examined the hole for another moment, then shrugged and started to climb out. “Make sure people know what happened,” he said. “Make sure this never happens again.”
“You’re leaving?” Celia asked.
Mickey stopped, one hand on the hole, the other clutching his album, getting ready to climb through, and looked back at her. “My story really is done now,” he said. “The rest is for you three. And the rest of the world.”
“Wait,” Celia said. Mickey paused, and Celia nodded toward the album under his arm. “What’s what?”
Mickey held the book up, and Celia could see tears form in his eyes. “Photo album,” he said. “I was looking at some pictures of my granddaughter.” With that, he climbed through the hole and disappeared from Celia’s view. A moment later, she heard a gunshot. She couldn’t be certain, but she felt sure that was the last she’d ever see of Mickey, at least alive.
She slid back and put her back against the wall. Her arm still hurt like hell. Michelle was dead. Who knew the status of Stacy’s baby. But the Z’s were gone. They hadn’t done it the way they planned to do it, but it was over.
Celia was ruminating over what Mickey had said. “Make sure people know what happened. Make sure this never happens again.” She was trying to figure out how to do that, and it was something she had been trying to figure out since they had made it their mission to come to Maine. People needed to know what had caused this, and what had caused it to go away.
Next to her, Simon opened his eyes. He appeared to go through the same emotions as Celia, finally meeting her eyes. “Celia?” he said, confused, as he sat up to join her against the wall.
She put her hand on his. “It’s okay,” she said. “It’s over. We’re okay.”
Simon rubbed his eyes, like a child who had just gotten up from a nap. “But … how?”
She reached over with her other arm, the one with the bite, and put it on top of her other one. She would explain it. She knew she had to. But for now, she just wanted to be happy they were alive. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “But it’s over.”
Simon looked confused. Even more when he saw the bite on her arm. But then he met her gaze again, and she could virtually see the tension melt away in him. “Okay,” he said. “Okay.”
The two of them sat there for a few minutes in silence. Simon scratched at his leg wound once or twice, then settled in and joined hands with her. They were quiet together. There was nothing to fear, no action to take. It was just the two of them.
It lasted maybe five minutes, during which neither of them spoke. Finally, on the other side of Simon, Stacy made a small moan and started to move. She went through the same confusion as the other two, but once they had convinced her that she was alive, that everything was okay, her hands as always returned to her midsection.
“My baby?” she asked.
Celia shook her head. “I have no idea,” she said. “I don’t even know how we would know. We’ll have to wait and see.”
Stacy nodded, like she had been hoping for a better answer but not expecting one. She hugged her midsection. Celia, though, stood up. It came as a surprise to the other two, but she did it with purpose, circling around the desk and pulling out Salvisa’s desk chair.
“Celia?” Simon asked. “What are you doing?”
Celia didn’t answer. She tapped Salvisa’s mouse around a little until the computer kicked back to life. Celia found the webpage she had moved aside earlier and brought it back up.
The Out Theres website, complete with its dashboard. Celia didn’t know computers well, but she knew enough to know how to use that. She erased the dire announcement on the top of the screen and replaced it with eight letters, in all caps: “IT IS OVER”.
Below that, Celia started to type.
“What are you doing?” Simon asked again, climbing up slowly from his spot on the floor and walking over to join her.
“People have to know what happened,” she said as she wrote the story as best she could. “We need to get the word out.”
Simon looked over her shoulder. “Will people see this?”
Celia shrugged. “Some,” she said. “For now, some. In time? Maybe a lot. But it’s the best thing we have to a way to contact the entire world at once. And people need to know.”
Stacy moved over to the desk as well and watched as Celia typed. For a few minutes, it was quiet other than the noise of Celia tapping keys. In time, she hit sentences that she couldn’t word just right and she asked for help. Eventually, all three of them were working together, a tag team effort at the computer to figure out the best way to post the story of what had happened on the website.
When they were finished, Celia published the page, then spun around in the desk chair. “That’s it,” she said.
About the Author
Daniel Kelley is the editor-in-chief of FTN Networks, a family of fantasy sports and gambling sites. He has written for the Washington Post, SB Nation, Pro Football Focus, Observer, and Parent Co. He is a journalism graduate of the University of Kentucky. He and his wife Laurie live with their daughter Abigale and twin sons Jordan and Lucas in Lexington, Kentucky.
From Three Furies Press:
https://threefuriespress.com/
A Flutter of Darkness
Jason LaVelle
A flutter is a gathering of butterflies. Elegant, ethereal, inspiring joy and wonder. But not all butterflies feed on flowers and light. Some are drawn to decomposing bodies and trickling pools of blood. Some, are drawn to darkness.
This collection of short stories and novellas is the perfect place to admire those creatures. Whimsical and beautiful, splattered with terror, these stories show the darkness that lies hidden within us all.
Pathosis
Jason LaVelle
A sloppy extermination. Evidence mismanaged. And all of America is at risk.
Coast Guard Lt Emily Brisbane is in charge of a strange ship at her dock. Everyone on board has been ripped apart. Even more disturbing, some of the bodies show teeth marks. Human teeth marks.
Before she can conduct a full investigation, she needs to clear the ship of aggressive spiders attacking her investigators.
Jack Wolfgang has seen a lot of strange things in his pest control job, but nothing like this ship. Picking through the bloody decks is bad, but spiders who hunt men is just too much. The government lady isn’t paying him to risk his life, so he does the bare minimum before heading home.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087DXWG7K
The Suffering
Robert Cano
After twelve long years of ongoing warfare between the Fae and the Satyrs in her kingdom, Devani is finally heading home. The war was on the doorstep of her father's land when she was sent to stay in Yor’lon, where the king and queen were supposed to treat her kindly. The war has shifted now, and it is time to go home.
But the princess soon finds herself in a position she never expected, especially so close to returning. Struggling against death itself, her will to survive is overwhelming. She finds a way to freedom and relative safety, but at what cost and for how long? It seems the gods have other plans for Devani.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084HPHH4T
The Dark Archer
Robert Cano
All he wanted was the safety of his princess. What he received was eternal torment. Bereft of a soul, a wraith who should have no ties to humanity, Bene wants nothing more than release from his twisted existence. Trapped between life and nothingness, he hopes to reclaim his soul and find the death he so desperately desires. Bene finds rare solace in the company of Feorin, a satyr war hero who chose exile over continuing the centuries long war with the Fae. He doesn't look at Bene with fear or contempt, but rather hope. If a wraith can find a path to redemption, perhaps he could as well…
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0851TCMZQ
Augur of Shadows
Jacob Rundle
Destiny. Adventure, Prophecy.
Grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old Henri moves to New York City after he loses his father. Vivid dreams and visions lead him to meet a wise young man, Simeon, someone who means more to him than he wants to admit. He also reconnects with an old friend, Etlina.
The three of them venture on a journey to fulfill their intertwined destinies in order to bring forth a cataclysmic event that's meant to hold back the Primordial Evil.
With guidance from supernatural beings, Henri and his friends will do what is needed to save the world from the Old Ones.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08C8PVJ2G
Road to Jericho
Mark Reefe
No good deed goes unpunished.
Finn McCallan is a genuinely good man. The type of man who steps in and helps when he sees a dying woman. But his good deed draws the ire, and interest, of the devil whose plan he thwarted. Wearing the mask of a human named Leonard, the devil tricks Finn into a deal, which leaves him marked.
The brand in the center of his right palm isn’t the worst of it. His eyes can see the true face of everyone he encounters - frightening him more than anything in life had prior.
Now no matter how far he runs, how determined he is to lay low, calamity seeks him out.
Torturing him, testing him, provoking him. Destroying everything good in his life. He will not be allowed to live a peaceful life until the bargain is fulfilled. To what end? And for what purpose?
Only the devil knows, and he’s not telling.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CL64ZR3
Shattered
Frank Martin
Prophet. Savior. Freak.
Gifted with visions and voices of the future, Jonathon Chambers has always been special. But that information comes with a price. His gift is also a curse, tormenting John and leading him to a life as a patient under the care of Dr. Scott Houseman. As World War III rages across the globe, Dr. Houseman struggles to treat John’s unique and perplexing condition. But the world has other plans. A whirlwind of events sucks the doctor and patient into a race against time. Half the planet believes John to be an oracle. The other half views him as a threat. And stuck in the middle is his doctor, a man who only sees a sick young boy teetering on the edge of madness and willing to do anything to keep him safe.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08G7LPR6M
Passenger
Mike Feria
It preys upon your guilt and your grief.
Instances of demonic possession have long been blamed for the atrocities mankind inflicts upon itself. When a demon latches onto Marshall Lison, a child, it torments, and it corrupts. Those who stand in the demon’s path are swept aside or used as pawns to commit violent crimes of escalating brutality.
As years pass into memory, the fractures in Marshall’s psychological health grow, as does the demonic influence. Is it possible to fight an intangible evil? By the time the demon’s ultimate plan is unveiled, it may be too late for what remains of Marshall’s sense of self.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08G51JV67