Daugher of Ash

by Matthew S. Cox

  Separated from imminent danger, the shaking took over. Her inner voice kept repeating Goddamn zombies!

  Kate had not paid attention to time, her mind lost amid the wandering rumination of what she had just witnessed. Sputtering noises from the engine pulled her out of the trance-like state. She frowned over her shoulder at the empty plastic container. The rising sun spread a bluish-orange tint across the horizon behind them. Feathering the pedal did no good. The tank was empty; the engine choked out a final gasp and died. She squeezed the clutch handle and let the silent vehicle roll forward until it squeaked to a halt. Alejandra had fallen asleep in the pod. Kate decided to join her, leaning back in the seat and closing her eyes.

  In what felt like seconds, the sun leapt to the center of the sky, hot and bright. Kate stretched, pulled herself upright with the roll cage, and climbed out. She felt neither reassured nor annoyed by the texture of paving under her feet. She swiped her hands over her body, discarding bits of charcoal that had once been bits of people, as well as several teeth embedded in her skin. Blood bubbled and foamed here and there where the errant tooth or fingernail had managed to leave cat-scratches before burning. The wounds were minor, but everywhere.

  She sank into a squat, gathering her knees to her chest. Her stomach wanted to vomit again, but held nothing to project. Their stench haunted her memory. Springs creaked; the buggy rocked. The delicate jingle of chain dragging on pavement announced Alejandra’s shuffle around the nose end, past tires thin enough to be from a bicycle.

  Kate stared at the road, glancing sideways at the woman’s feet when she got close.

  “You’re naked,” said Alejandra.

  “Yes. Thank you for noticing,” grumbled Kate. “Sorry I didn’t get dressed up for the ambush. I kinda got distracted by a throng of goddamn zombies.”

  Alejandra blinked, seeming unsure if she should laugh.

  “I’ve been stuck like this my whole damn life. Anything I try to wear burns, anything I try to touch… Anyone I try to touch…” Kate started to cry, but the sadness gave way to anger.

  “I’m sorry,” whispered Alejandra. “I cannot imagine how awful it is.”

  Rage weakened. Kate swiped her hand at the bracelet, activating her false clothing. “I know I have some kind of gift… I’d give it up if I could.” She laughed. “You know, I’m jealous of your looks.”

  “My looks?” Alejandra blinked, and blushed. “I am so plain. You are…”

  “Yeah, I know. I stand out.” I want to disappear.

  Jingling chain moved away to her left, followed by the dull clunking noises of the woman rooting around the buggy.

  Kate continued to gaze at the road between her feet. “What the fuck was that?”

  “The scout has no fuel. I am taking what I can.”

  “No.” Kate waved an arm to the rear. “Back there.”

  “We call them rad ghouls.” Alejandra shouldered the shotgun on its strap.

  “Are they dead?” Kate covered her face with her hands, trying to stop remembering that smell.

  “If they were dead, they would not be walking. Rad ghouls have a disease that turns their skin hard, like armor. They are in pain just to move.” Alejandra waved a hand around her face. “The pain makes them crazy. My grandfather said they were made by an old army, to be better soldiers.”

  Thinking of them as living, disease-ridden people was easier to cope with than the idea of returned dead. Alejandra shuffled up alongside. Kate stared at the shackles for a moment, sighed, and stood.

  “The shotgun would break the chain.”

  Alejandra flicked her thumb across the side of the weapon. “I am afraid to do it.”

  “We’re going to have to walk from here. Sit down, put the chain over the barrel, and fire.”

  “What if it explode in my hand?”

  “Explodes.” Kate pinched the bridge of her nose. “Sorry. Look… That chain is going to slow us down. I don’t have a lot of time left.”

  “Why are you hurrying?”

  “Battery is running low.”

  Alejandra shrugged. “Imaginary clothes are not important.”

  Kate cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t think so? Take yours off. We’ll both go naked.”

  The woman looked at the ground, red-faced. “I don’t want to.”

  “I thought clothes weren’t important.” Kate walked on. “Besides, the sooner I do this, the sooner I get cured. Shoot the chain out. I’m not going to slow down for you.”

  The rattling of guns, jingling of chain, and desperate gasping from behind as the woman tried to keep up brought Kate to a guilty stop not quite ten minutes later.

  “Thank you.” Alejandra sagged forward, catching her breath. “You are nice.”

  Kate stared at the white puffy clouds overhead. “I’ve been called a lot of things, but nice isn’t usually one of them.”

  Once Alejandra recovered her energy, they walked with the sun at their backs. She found the slow pace maddening. With every click of the chain between Alejandra’s ankles, Kate’s anger grew. As noon approached, Alejandra shuffled off the road to spare her feet from sunbaked paving. Even that few seconds’ delay in not traveling west made Kate want to hurt something. She felt like an impatient three-year-old who couldn’t wait to get her hands on her new doll―and rip its head off.

  What’s wrong with me? The irrationality of the rage floated through her consciousness and slapped her. With begrudging guilt, she tried to feel sorry for her traveling companion’s plight. That pity twisted into annoyance when a glint of sun flashed from the shotgun’s barrel.

  “What are you looking for?”

  Alejandra’s sudden question made Kate jump. “An abomination I have to destroy.”

  “I do not know what that is.”

  “Something unnatural that does not belong in this world.” Like me. Kate paused, painfully aware of how the road felt cold to her. “It has taken the form of a young girl to trick people into thinking it is harmless. I’m looking for a child with bright blue eyes.”

  “The Prophet?” Alejandra gasped. “You must be confused. The Prophet is not evil.”

  “You know where this thing is?” Kate pointed at the horizon. “I feel something strange pulling me in that direction. I… uhh… think God wants me to destroy it.”

  Alejandra made the sign of the cross. “I do not believe that. If He is involved at all, He has sent her to the world to help us. She is a healer. Tribes war with each other to claim her.”

  Kate stopped, palm upraised to block her companion’s advance. “So God sends her here to heal people, but they kill each other over her? Yeah, that worked out. Great plan. Maybe that’s why I’m supposed to destroy her. Maybe the world doesn’t deserve such a gift.”

  Alejandra’s thoughts contained only rumor and third-hand information. The woman had not met this ‘Prophet’ in person, but had a great reverence for her. In a land devoid of medicine, she figured such stories could easily take on a mythic quality. Whatever this thing was, its trickery had the natives wrapped up tight.

  I’ll be doing them a favor.

  he scent of cooking meat tugged Alejandra out of sleep. Kate knelt over the dead animal she had no name to call. It resembled a gopher, though its body looked larger than most dogs she’d seen. She pulled it apart barehanded, as she had done to all her meals since she was small. The lifeless head seemed cuter than deer; Kate couldn’t look at it without remembering her first desperate kill.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Alejandra as she scooted over. “Don’t like squealer meat?”

  Kate tossed her a hunk of cooked meat. “Nothing.”

  “You seem sad.”

  “I must’ve looked pathetic.” Kate sat back with a portion. “The first time I killed a deer for food I was seven. I was so ashamed of myself for hurting an animal, but I was starving. I remember jamming venison in my mouth and sobbing at the same time.”

  They ate without speaking for a moment.

  “It makes
no sense. I killed dozens of people to escape, but I only cried about a damn deer.”

  Alejandra shifted to rub her sore ankles. “The deer did not try to hurt you.”

  “A man once told me an animal gave its life to sustain mine and I should be grateful. It’s silly and superstitious, but for some reason I always do.” Kate tolerated eye contact with the dead animal for only a second. “I’m not sure I believe it was willing to do that.” She let out a half-hearted chuckle. “Somehow, I don’t think ‘thanks, little buddy’ will make the little gopher ghost feel better.”

  The woman rolled metal links through her fingers, shame and hatred clear in her eyes. “Wolves do not shed tears over what they eat.”

  “You know we’ll wind up having to run from something.”

  “Yes.” Alejandra let the chain fall. “They do this so we are too afraid to escape. It is… a bad way to die.”

  “Shoot it. If you nick yourself, I’ll burn the wound closed so you don’t get sick.”

  Alejandra shivered. Kate followed her stare at the distant sunrise for several minutes. Eventually, the woman found her nerve and stretched her legs out. She placed the tip of the barrel at the center of the chain and rocked back, legs in the air. Kate scurried around, away from the field of fire.

  “Forgive me if I don’t put my arm around you.”

  “I understand.” Alejandra steadied herself and slid her finger over the trigger.

  Boom.

  The sound fell on them from above, crashing to the Earth upon a wave with tangible presence. Alejandra screamed and fumbled the shotgun as the sky burst into a brilliant cloud of orange, yellow, and white flames. A massive sphere of fire and smoke expanded among the clouds, pierced on one side by a spiraling thread of burning. Kate tracked a sparking object hurtling through the sky, generally southwest. After a moment of quiet, a distant crack reached them.

  “The sky is on fire!” screamed Alejandra.

  “Calm down.” Kate held out a hand, keeping the woman from standing. “It was some kind of aircraft. From the sound of the crash, it landed far enough away for us not to worry about it. We barely heard it.”

  “Aircraft?”

  “I’ll explain later.”

  Once again, Alejandra assumed the position. She seemed afraid to put her finger on the trigger, staring up as if another great explosion would occur. She pushed forward on the gun, extending the top of the barrel past her feet.

  Crack!

  The chain split in a spray of dust and metal. Alejandra fell limp, panting.

  “See, all that fear and nothing happened.”

  Alejandra rubbed her ankles. “It hurt.”

  Kate wandered away. “Yeah, but you can run now.”

  Alejandra sat up, scowling. “I wish I could make fire like you. Then I could protect myself.” She tugged at one of the dangling chains before dropping it with contempt. “I would not be treated like this.”

  “If I could give it to you, I would.”

  “That is foolish.” Alejandra stood and gathered the blanket, machete, two pistols, and the shotgun. “Would you rather be a slave?”

  Kate considered it for a moment. “No, but there’s other ways to defend yourself. I could use a gun, or a knife.”

  Alejandra laughed. “You are so skinny. The raiders, even their women, would overpower you… gun or not. You should be thankful you have such power. It makes you strong out here.”

  “Yeah well…” Kate frowned at the battery meter. “I don’t plan to stay out here much longer.”

  “The land may not let you leave.” Alejandra used the machete to cut the remnants of the strange creature into steaks.

  Kate moved to the road and adjusted her clothing to a patternless black bikini top and short skirt to use less power. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Alejandra gathered the food, making a sack out of their one blanket, and jogged over. “My grandfather told us stories about the land, about a great war many generations ago.”

  The odd pull tugging at her mind led Kate away from the angle of the road onto open scrubland. Alejandra followed without protest beyond the occasional curse when she stepped on one of the loose chains dancing around her feet.

  “Yeah, the Corporate War,” said Kate, some moments later.

  “Many were killed. The land was wounded as well, and it is angry.”

  Oh, boy. Native superstition. “The land doesn’t get angry.”

  “There are too many stories. Machines stop working for no reason. People wander into the dust and return savage, wanting only to kill.”

  Kate smirked, unable to think of something to say that wouldn’t sound patronizing.

  “Do people in that city of yours kill each other like this? Do they make slaves of the weak?”

  “Not in the same way. They don’t call them collars and chains there… more like jobs and taxes.”

  Alejandra shot her a confused look. “So it is the same there?”

  That got a laugh out of her. “No… I’m making a cynical metaphor.”

  “A what a for?”

  She’s ignorant, not stupid… just uneducated. Not her fault. I used to be primitive too. “Forget it. No, it’s not the same. But it’s not because of some ‘angry land spookery,’ there are police in the city that keep law.”

  “There is evil in the dark,” said Alejandra, with too much conviction for Kate’s peace of mind. “Some can resist it, but most cannot. It wants pain, suffering, and misery. That is why I refused to hate my husband for what he did. It is like a hole in the screen.” She wiggled a finger in midair. “It is small, but it lets bugs in. Then, before you know it, you can put your whole hand through.” She made a fist, held it for a few seconds, and let her arm fall.

  Kate knew something pulled her in a specific direction. The old priest warned her about a demon, told her she was capable of doing God’s will and he would reward her with freedom from her curse. Alejandra’s tales of evil land seemed so far from plausible, yet the presence pulling her west was undeniable.

  It couldn’t possibly be the influence of a demon, or of the land.

  I’ve always been this angry.

  ate felt ridiculous wandering the Badlands in a black bikini top and micro skirt, but it resulted in a welcome uptick in estimated battery life. For the past several days, they had walked in the direction of the inexplicable pull. Kate had learned the names of Alejandra’s extended family and the peculiar habits of the black chicken with the bum foot. She learned more than she cared to know about prewar weapons, like the shotgun and 9mm handguns they had scavenged. The local woman had grown up with guns; everyone in her home village had to help defend it. Alejandra used the topic of danger as an excuse to slip in more mention of the ‘evil land’ stories, claiming that anything with electronics in it could fail at any moment―if the land so desired.

  An unprompted description of the difference between ‘dry’ rad ghouls and ‘wet’ ones that were skinless and coated with a layer of clear slime had given Kate a case of insomnia, even more than usual. Her condition could kill diseases, but would do nothing about radiation poisoning.

  Out of sheer boredom, Kate had reluctantly opened up and shared her story. By the time she had gone from lab escapee to Syndicate killer, Alejandra seemed torn between pity and fear.

  “Your city is not so different from here. Those who have power and strength attack those who do not.”

  “Okay, so if this whole evil spirits thing is true, why does this thing still work?” Kate held up her bracelet.

  “Is it a weapon or something that can help you travel?”

  Kate frowned at her reflection in the rectangle of black amid the heat-resistant band. “No. It just keeps people from seeing me naked and getting stupid ideas.” This skimpy shit is almost worse than not wearing anything at all.

  “Then it is not important enough to break.” Alejandra looked up as if she would say more, but remained quiet.

  “What?”

  “Y
ou do not believe, and I do not want to make you angry with me.” She hesitated for a moment. “You do not seem like the kind of person who can kill for money.”

  “I hide my anger well…” Sometimes. She sighed. “I guess it wasn’t about the money. I felt like I owed El Tío for helping me. I did what he asked because he asked, not because he paid me.”

  “Oh.” Alejandra stared at the distant horizon.

  “What were you thinking?”

  “The evil grows stronger with hurt. If it would cause you sadness or rage for that machine on your arm to break, it will break when it is most painful.”

  Kate looked down at her body. “I didn’t care about not having clothes until I read lust in people. Being naked doesn’t bother me, being looked at like that does.” Mostly because I can’t…

  “How did raiders not find you?”

  “I stayed in the forest, far away from people or anything worth stealing. I didn’t even know such a thing as bandits existed. I hid during the day and hunted at night. After that man disappeared, I lived alone for years before I saw another person.” Kate’s somber expression shifted to a smile. “I used to play in the streams, trying to swim… but all I did was make a lot of steam. Once, when I was little, I thought I could ‘put myself out’ if I jumped into a deep spot. I hoped the water would cool me off and make me normal. My brain wouldn’t stop trying to fight the cold; I got so tired I almost passed out and drowned.”

  Alejandra reached for Kate’s shoulder, but pulled her hand back. “I’m sorry your life has been so cruel.”

  “Yeah, well. Damn scientists never know when to leave shit alone. Profit margins and deadlines got in the way. They didn’t have to kill me. They could’ve studied me… Those bastards only saw a project in a cage to be poked and prodded, not a little kid, not a person. I’m like this because of them. I’d do anything to get rid of it.” Kate sank into a squat, close to crying. “I want real clothes. I want to be touched and not have people scream. I want to be able to enjoy something I eat, not have to stuff it down my throat before it turns into charcoal.”