He subscribed to the old adage; three people may keep a secret – if two of them are dead.
Only Tala knew, but he did not even tell her everything. She was a smart girl, though. She kept her eyes and ears open, and her enhanced brain sorted things out.
Qaletaqa was certain she would identify the cave as the only possible location to find an answer to the curse of the skinwalkers.
Even he did not know if the caverns off Rattlesnake Creek held those secrets. But he did know that as long as they existed, there was a chance that what he had begun could be undone.
Behind him, four box vans rolled. Each was filled with crates of dynamite, well-packed and stable. Coils of fuse and the appropriate blasting caps lay ready to use in the other containers.
He had hoped Tala would not betray him; she had her mother’s heart, however. It would be her downfall.
The caravan of Qaletaqa, the vans full of explosives, his living army, his bait walkers, and the horde of undead, all continued their push through northern California toward their destiny.
As his army fed, it grew. They would arrive at the caves in less than seven hours.
Ω
Unincorporated Modoc County, Northern California
“Stop,” said Tala.
She really didn’t have to say a word; I wasn’t going any further, I’ll tell you that. I gripped Georgina Lake’s hand in mine and made sure she didn’t move forward, either.
In front of the cave, a hundred yards ahead, were motionless bodies. They stood there, swaying on lifeless legs, dead arms hanging limply by their sides. There were anywhere between seventy, to a hundred of them.
We all took several steps back until we had to peer around a rock ledge to see them.
I hadn’t understood why Tala had insisted only ten of us move closer to the cave’s entrance. Now I knew; it was because she knew her ancient father, and how he planned.
She’d told us on the way she suspected he’d station guards at the mouth of the cave. What I don’t think she expected was that it would be an undead watch force.
Of course, I insisted Lilly, Danny, Micky, Jimmy, Carla and Georgina be allowed up close. With us and them, we were exactly ten.
She stepped to the side of the rock again and stared at the dead people for a long moment. When she turned back toward us, tears ran down her cheeks.
“What’s wrong, Tala?” asked Micky. “I mean … besides the obvious.”
“I … I recognize many of them. They are people who disappeared from the reservation. Not all at once; that would have been too obvious. It took place recently, though. Over the period of a year.”
“You said Qaletaqa would station guards,” said Tommy Rivers. “Is this not what you expected?” The young Chief Silver Bolt stood beside him, his eyes fixed on the dozens and dozens of skinwalkers.
“The realization that my father lied to me – to the entire tribe – for so long, is what has upset me. As our numbers dwindled, he told everyone the missing people had left the reservation to set out on their own, to make their own lives outside the res.”
“But that’s not forbidden or anything, is it?” I asked. “Folks can leave when they want.”
“It was not the decision to go – of course we have freewill. It was the people who were leaving,” said Tala. “Men, leaving their families behind. Wives departing and leaving infant children. It didn’t make any sense. Even in today’s throwaway family society, it just … now I understand. He needed the strong.”
I looked back at them. She was right. Most of the rotters shuffling or standing by the notch in the rock that I assumed was the mouth of the cave were tall, if no longer big.
Some were close to emaciation, but I knew that didn’t affect their fighting spirit. The skinnier, the hungrier – it was common sense to me.
It was easy to tell the most recent recruits, though. They had cleaner clothes, more hair, and more meat on their bodies. “Any of your family there?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No. Father spared me that, though he could not have known I would ever see this. My betrayal may be the only thing that has happened to surprise him.” She looked the crowd over again. “I loved many of them. Some I did not recognize at first, but now that I take a moment to study them, I realize I knew them all.”
“Let’s hope we can spring a couple more surprises on your dad,” said Jimmy. “So. Are we going to kill those things and go inside?”
“I’m sorry,” Carla said to Tala, nudging Jimmy and flashing him a dirty look. “These are her friends and neighbors.” The last was said to him through gritted teeth.
“My apologies,” said Jimmy. “It’s been a long trip.”
Tala sighed. “Do not worry. And yes, most were friends or neighbors. Still, as Jimmy said, they must die a true death, nonetheless.”
Jimmy withdrew a machete from a scabbard on his side. “You shouldn’t have to be the one,” he said, and began walking forward.
Tala put a hand on his shoulder, and I saw his entire body stop abruptly, as though he got caught on a steel hook and jerked backward.
“Whoa,” said Jimmy, his eyes jerking right to her hand. “Easy there, Wonder Woman. That’s quite a grip you have there.”
“There are some things I have yet to reveal about the changes in me. After I saved Chief Silver Bolt and Tommy from the fire at the Hintoka reservation, I shared with them that I can walk among the dead,” she said. “As can my father, I assume, though he has never spoken of it.”
“Handy little skill these days,” said Jimmy. “I’ll admit I wish I had it.”
“Of course,” said Tala. “It means I can kill the undead watchers in advance of us entering the cave.”
“Wait,” said Georgie. “How does it work?”
“They simply do not know I am human. I might be one of them.”
“But do you know exactly how it works?” asked the doctor. “Does it prevent a form of bromhidrosis from occurring within the body? Or perhaps it stops you from emitting any scent at all?”
“I do not know when that aspect of this began, and I do not know how it works,” said Tala. “I am assuming my father has the knowledge that he may walk among the creatures, but that is speculation on my part. He may not yet realize it.”
“That could slow him down,” said Micky.
Tala continued. “Because father and I never discussed this place after our time there, I do not know if he ever experimented with the skinwalkers – you know, somehow created some on a small scale in order to test his plan. If that occurred, he would likely know they would not attack him.”
“Had you seen one before all this started?” I asked.
Tala shook her head. “No. The skinwalkers are a legend among many Indian tribes, including the Cherokee, Apache, the Henomawi and the Hintoka. But to answer your question, no. I had never seen one until the black rain set father’s plan into motion.”
“So, you have no idea whether there was any gestation period between the ceremony you told us about inside there,” said Georgina, pointing to the cave entrance, “to when you could stand beside a skinwalker and not be enticing to them.”
“I do not,” said Tala. “It could be instant; it could take some time. That is a very good point, however. I had not thought of it.”
I leaned toward Georgie and whispered in her ear. “I gotta wonder if her father withheld information about his plan because he knew she had a good heart and would try to stop him. He’s gotta know she’s missin’ by now.”
She put her lips to my ear, which to be honest, made me horny. Her breath puffed its warmth on the side of my face as she said, “I’m guessing he only changed her to protect her from the creatures he intended to create.”
“We must hurry,” said Chief Silver Bolt, his eyes darting between the skinwalkers and Tala. “I have no doubt that Tala’s father discovered she stole the book – the book that he wrote and planted long ago so that this would all be set in motion. When he sees it is missing
from his quarters, he will set out here to find her.” He turned to Tala. “You must do this now.”
“Are all of us going inside?” said Danny in a low voice as he nudged past me to get a look at the cluster of undead. “Or just a team?”
“In order to fully understand the power that created this world of the living dead, I believe it is crucial that you all see its origin. Your entire group. Therefore, we must all enter. Through the ancient texts, both known and unknown to me, I may be able to affect changes to all of you as well.”
“Changes?” asked Georgina. “What kind of changes?”
“I shared with you the story of my father’s visit here with me as a girl. While I was present, obviously, I was very young. It may take me some time to study the markings and compare them to the book, to recall the words he used. I will never forget his actions, for I stood in the water and watched him.”
“Tala, what are you talkin’ about?” I asked. “I thought you said these caves might hold the secret to … I don’t know, stoppin’ this thing. What changes were you hopin’ to affect?”
She said, “The ceremony I have in mind would make you like me. All of you. You would age very slowly from this day forward, and you would have extraordinary powers of recall and strength.”
“Of recall?” asked Georgie.
“Yes,” said Tala. “Despite what I do not know about the ceremony in these caves that day, I attribute it to my young age – it was a lack of understanding at the time, not forgetting what I knew. I never knew it. So, if you do not mind being like me, come inside after I have made it safe to do so. If anyone does not wish to do this, I ask that you move far away from here; east, west. I do not care. If you are anywhere near here when my father arrives, he or his warriors will kill you. He will not come here alone.”
Nervous looks and nods all around. There were no more questions. Her most recent words, combined with Chief Magi Silver Bolt’s urgent tone, were enough to get us on board.
With that, Tala, daughter of Qaletaqa – a self-absorbed asshole by my account – set off with a single, long-bladed knife to dispatch the contingency of undead guards.
We watched in fascination as she approached each one. She moved fluidly, like a leopard or bobcat stalking its prey. The knife was inserted beneath the chins of the skinwalkers. She approached each one, appeared to make sure it was facing her, then she looked into their mad, soulless eyes and said something before jabbing the knife upward.
As she killed each one, black goo repeatedly ran down onto her hand; had she not been wearing gloves, I’m pretty sure her skin would have become so slick she wouldn’t have been able to keep a grip on the knife.
I watched and counted as a full ninety-three former members of the Hintoka Tribe were sent to their final resting places by a girl who was destined to become a reluctant hero to us all.
I hadn’t noticed her strategy when she was killing them all. I was just watching her move from one to the next. It turns out her turns and timed thrusts weren’t just fluid movement.
Tala had left us a winding walkway through the carnage, bordered to the east and west by two berms made exclusively from the fallen bodies of dead skinwalkers.
Ω
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Lebanon, Kansas
Roxy was numb as she sat there listening to the voices of the dead below. She only realized both Terry and Liam were squeezing her hands in theirs when they went numb.
“Guys, give me a second?”
“Oh, sorry,” said Terry. “Rox, I’m just so done being up here. I’m done being scared. I liked it way better on the boat.”
“So did I,” said Liam. “At least we could fish sometimes.”
“Well, maybe if mom and the others figure out how to stop this, we can do that again,” said Roxy.
“Do what? You were all on a boat together? Why’d you come here?”
“Exactly,” huffed Terry. “A luxury yacht, too. Self-contained with power, water, air conditioning, refrigerators.”
“Terry, stop talking about it!” said Liam. “Now I really, really miss it.”
“Shush,” said Roxy. “They’ll never leave if they hear us. That’s why I go so long without saying anything. The minute I do, it’s like a crescendo builds and next thing I know, you guys are yelling.”
“Sorry,” the two whispered in unison. Nina said nothing, and her son was out like a light. Roxy thought he must be absolutely drained.
The conversation gone for the moment, Roxy let her mind run. The impossibility of everything she had seen over the past several weeks and months had changed her.
The impossible – the implausible – had become the norm. Surely there had to be a contingency of government stashed away somewhere, uninfected and ready to resume power and authority once things were set right again.
There just had to be. It would be too much for individuals to come together and try to create something out of nothing, even with the knowledge of what once was.
Roxy had always needed a guide to which to turn. Someone to just say, “Let’s do this. First, we’ll do this.”
Terry had been that guy for her. She loved him like a brother, but if she were honest, she found him attractive and sexy and handsome. The first moment she heard his voice, though, she knew he was gay.
There are some gay men that just sound like men. There are others who play it up like Robin Williams in the movie, Birdcage.
Terry was among the more flamboyant of the gay men Roxy knew. Damnit, he was gay and he wanted everyone to know! He accentuated his movements and his voice to make that clear.
And as a result, he was funny and outgoing, and he made making friends a snap. Secure men and pretty much all women were drawn to him at parties, and when Terry was in the room, he was never alone.
Roxy realized this was the first time – well, since the crap all started at Hemingway’s place – she’d ever seen him scared, or anything but happy. She’d never even seen him truly reflective and introspective. He seemed to skim over his innermost feelings and just put on a show for the party’s sake.
And as outgoing and fun as he was, she knew he was lonely. Often she looked at themselves as alone together. They both longed for love, and of course they appreciated that of the other, but a double date would be nice.
She reached over and took Terry’s hand again, squeezing it. He looked up in the shadowed light inside the box and said, “What, Rox?”
She shook her head. “Nothing, Terry. I’m just thinking of the future. We both deserve one.”
“No shit, sweetheart,” he said. “Our time will come. But now that I’m talking about it, I say we make it happen on a nice yacht. I need to find a man who knows how to dock it, though.”
“Don’t think CB wants to shack up?”
“Oh, he’s smitten with your gorgeous mother,” said Terry with a smile. “I have a feeling he’ll take her back to his swamp cabin for some Cajun lovemaking.”
Roxy closed her eyes and shook her head. Checking her watch, she realized they had maybe four hours of light remaining.
Ω
Unincorporated Modoc County, Northern California
Once we got a few yards inside the cave, the daylight behind us faded fast. We had some LED flashlights, but they were no good for lighting up the large, cavernous areas we found ourselves in, much less the narrower tunnels leading down to them.
The rocky floor was dry and smooth, so it wasn’t difficult to maintain our footing. As the light faded, though, I was relieved when Tala turned into a notch in the wall and opened a faded, wooden box. I was shocked to see it there.
Inside the box, which was about four feet wide by four feet deep, were stacks of well-wrapped torches. They had the faint smell of some kind of oil or other flammable agent, and at the touch of a lighter, they caught right away.
“Good,” I said. “This serves as a weapon and light.”
“You will not need it as a weapon down here,” said Tala. “The dust rem
ains undisturbed.”
“You got really good eyes, too?”
“My eyesight is what it was when I was changed,” said the girl.
“Well, shit,” said Danny. “Woulda been nice to go through this change before I needed contacts.”
“You lost your contacts long ago, and I’m glad of it,” said Lilly.
“Why’s that?” asked Danny. “That’s not nice.”
“Oh, if you could see what I look like these days, you might think it is,” she said. “I’d prefer you see me in a blur until I can fix my hair and put on a little makeup.”
Danny just laughed, took a torch from Tala, and shook his head. In what seemed like an afterthought, he said, “Then why do my hands find you so pretty in the dark?”
I don’t see my sister blush very often, but that was a good one.
Every other person took a torch. I held mine as high as I could and saw the dark shapes of what had to be bats hanging about fifteen feet above our heads.
I also spotted the first markings on the cave walls. Most were pictures, like hieroglyphics, I guess. Others were clearly words, but there were fewer of them here.
“This tunnel leads into the main cavern where most of the shaman would come and meditate, connecting with the spirits. Beyond that is the cavern that fewer of them knew about.”
We followed behind her for ten or fifteen more minutes. A cool breeze hit me from somewhere ahead, and I shivered. It was already cold, but it felt almost like I’d stepped into the vegetable room at Costco.
“This is the main cavern. Stay here for a moment.”
We all obeyed Tala as she moved away from us. In the next ten minutes, she walked around the interior and lit several torches secured to the wall with some sort of bent wooden mounts that looked ancient.
“Be careful,” she said. “There is a pool to your left.”
Judgement Page 23
