The Seventh Day

by Scott Shepherd

  “I had nothing to do with her disappearing,” said Fixer.

  “Never said you did.”

  “I just wanted you to know that.”

  “I believe you.”

  “Really?” Fixer eyed Joad with a modicum of surprise.

  “You would’ve vanished with her.”

  Fixer considered this. “You’re probably right.”

  Every few minutes, Laura would whistle or call out Macy’s name. Her voice echoed in the mist, doubling back as it bounced off unseen trees and rocks.

  “That blood rain probably scared her off,” suggested Fixer.

  “Might of.”

  “You don’t offer up many opinions, do you?”

  “You wouldn’t want to hear them.”

  Fixer started to protest but then heard his name drifting through the air.

  “Fixxxxxerrrrr. . . .”

  “Crap,” said Fixer.

  “That’s the first thing you’ve said since I met you that I agree with.”

  They both tried to make out the direction from which the voice was coming.

  “Fixxxxxerrrrr. . . .”

  It was drawn out and bouncing all around them. Joad pointed into the murk. “Still coming from below. They’re a couple of miles off, I’d say.”

  “Sons-of-bitches are so cocky, they like to announce themselves,” said Fixer. “What happened to good ol’ sneaking up on people?”

  “No need when you can make it rain blood. Besides, it’s not like he’s the shy and retiring type.”

  “You’re right. I don’t want your opinion.”

  Suddenly, Joad realized he’d lost track of Laura and Sayers. The cold dark mist had gathered around him and Fixer, clutching so tightly that the doctor and his stepdaughter had vanished in a matter of seconds.

  “Laura. . . .”

  Joad called out a couple of times. But it was Sayers’s voice that came from somewhere behind him.

  “Back here.”

  He turned around and retraced his steps, as Fixer followed. The mist thinned out enough so they were able to spot the shape of Laura and Sayers astride Joad’s horse. They were rooted to a spot on the edge of a small lake.

  “You can’t fall behind. We have to keep going,” said Joad.

  But Laura wasn’t listening. She was staring across the lake at something in the hovering mist. Joad was about to repeat his warning when he noticed something moving on the other side of the water.

  “Macy!”

  Laura cried out the gray mare’s name and the clouds parted enough for Joad to see the horse was standing across the lake from them.

  Along with someone in a long dark coat.

  The mist and a hood made it hard for Joad to make out any features.

  “Oh my God,” said Sayers. “It can’t be.”

  Fixer rolled his eyes at Joad. “Great. Someone he knows. Five people and only two horses? This will never work.”

  Joad didn’t comment. He was too busy watching Laura, who had climbed off the horse and was inching toward the lake. The young girl looked like she was sleepwalking as she reached out a hand toward the figure across the water.

  “Mommy. . .?”

  “What the hell?” asked a visibly stunned Fixer.

  Sayers also looked flabbergasted. “I think that’s my wife.”

  “I thought you said she was dead,” said Fixer.

  The doctor could only nod as his stepdaughter screamed.

  “Mommmmmy!”

  Joad lunged forward.

  But he was too late to stop Laura from diving headfirst into the lake.

  EPISODE 3

  12

  Ice cold.

  The moment he hit the water, Joad felt his lungs collapse. He could have sworn there were glaciers in the lake; it was that damn freezing. He had to take a bunch of heaving breaths to get them functioning normally again. He was reminded of his basic training, in which they tossed the grunts into an icy pool and made them tread water until they turned a shade of blue or passed out. Now, like then, the numbness and tightness kicked his well-conditioned body into gear, and the survival instinct of swimming for all he was worth kept his system from shutting down.

  The lake was murky; he could barely make out Laura, even though she swam only fifty yards ahead of him. He had trouble gaining on the girl; she must have spent a lot of time in the water. He wondered how she was surviving the biting cold, but then put himself in her place—if he saw the person he loved more than anything else in the world, the one he thought had been dead for more than half his life—he would also throw all caution to the wind and keep going until his body just gave out.

  And there was the rub.

  What were the odds this was really her mother? They were high up in The Fields, where the unexplained was commonplace and the rate of survival extremely low. It propelled Joad to swim even harder—worried about what Laura would actually find when she finished the frigid journey across the lake.

  Mommy!

  With each stroke, contradictory emotions raced through Laura’s head. There was the sheer delight and anticipation of being reunited with the mother she had given up for dead; the woman she thought she’d never see again until she left this world for good. There was anger at being abandoned and left with a man who didn’t want the responsibility of Laura, a man who grew increasingly distant year upon year.

  She swam as fast as she could, barely keeping her head above water as the lake’s dank cold tried to pull her down into its depths. But her energy was renewed each time she spotted the hooded woman. The familiar strawberry-colored hair and alabaster skin made Laura dig in with greater effort, even more so when the figure began to walk away from the water’s edge.

  “Mommy. . . !”

  This came out in a gurgle as Laura’s mouth was assaulted by the icy water. She choked it off and kept on stroking.

  No way was Laura was going to lose her again.

  “How can you just stand there?”

  Fixer stared incredulously at Sayers. The doctor was rooted to the riverbank, watching Joad and Laura swim across the lake. Sayers couldn’t look Fixer in the eye.

  “I can’t get to her any quicker than Joad.”

  “You could’ve jumped in before him.”

  The doctor whirled, desperation appearing on his face. “You think I don’t know that? That is my wife on the other side of the lake! And my stepdaughter running the risk of drowning.”

  “So, what’s stopping you, man?”

  Before Sayers looked away, Fixer caught the ashamed look on his face.

  “I can’t swim.”

  Fixer couldn’t help laughing. “Yeah. I see how that would be a problem.”

  Sayers walked past him.

  “Where the hell are you going?”

  Sayers pointed at Joad’s horse. “Round the lake to meet them on the other side. You coming?”

  Fixer didn’t respond. He was distracted by something on the opposite bank. Rays of sunshine dropped through the mist, casting a golden sheen over the shrouded woman. Fixer edged closer to the lake, trying to get his first real good look at the hooded figure.

  “This isn’t right.”

  Sayers stopped himself from getting atop the horse. “There’s so much wrong here I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

  “How ’bout that not being your wife?”

  “How can you say that?” Sayers crossed back to Fixer. “You’ve no idea what she looks like.”

  “I grant you that,” said Fixer. “But that woman….”

  The sunlight briefly fell onto the woman and illuminated her face and hair. Her skin wasn’t alabaster; her tresses weren’t strawberry red. Her countenance was much darker. Long raven locks framed her face.

  “I think that’s my sister,” Fixer declared.

  Joad was losing ground. Laura had picked up the pace while the icy lake chilled him to the bone. With each stroke, he became increasingly convinced peril lay at the water’s edge for the girl, and so
he pushed himself to the limit.

  He repeatedly thrust his face into the nearly frozen water, and was finally rewarded with the sight of Laura’s legs pumping just a few feet in front of him. He was reminded of those underwater shots every four summers on the Olympics, where you watched a swimmer chase and overtake the leader at the very end, emerging victorious by a hundredth of a second to a thunderous ovation. Joad knew there wasn’t a jam-packed crowd at this finish line, but felt this race had more life and death consequences than any of the relays that would never grace the world again.

  When he felt her legs were within his grasp, Joad lunged. Laura shook him off, kicking his hand so hard that one of his fingers snapped back. He lifted his head out of the water, the nauseating pain so intense that he had to tamp down the urge to scream. Instead, he called out, “Laura!”

  Her flurry of kicks assaulted his face with sprays of ice water, and he choked on the yell. Glancing over, Joad saw Fixer and Sayers riding around the lake edge on his horse, approaching the hooded figure. She stood with her back to the water, seemingly oblivious to the approaching swimmers and riders.

  Joad was dismayed to see Laura had reached the other bank and was climbing out of the water. The shrouded figure finally turned and stared at the soaking wet girl.

  The hood fell back.

  “Mommy,” Laura cried, reaching a hand up in the air.

  Joad thought it might have been a woman hovering over the girl.

  Once.

  A very long time ago.

  All Joad saw now was a bloody, breathing bag of bones.

  She was just as Laura remembered her. The luminous pale skin, the radiant red strawberry hair that had been passed from mother to daughter, the smile that made her want to cuddle up in those arms for the rest of eternity. She was so happy to see her mother that it never dawned on Laura that she hadn’t aged a single day.

  “Where have you been, Mommy?”

  There was no answer. The woman cocked her head in a curious pose, staring at Laura like a zoologist coming upon a rare species for the first time. Laura tried to wipe her hands dry on her soaked skirt, then cautiously reached out once again.

  “It’s me. Laura. Don’t you recognize me?”

  Again, silence. Laura began to tremble, not just from excitement and anticipation. Trepidation and more than a little fear had begun to sneak in.

  “What’s wrong, Mommy? Why don’t you say something?”

  Laura turned her head at the sound of approaching footprints.

  “Laura!”

  It was Fixer and Doc on Joad’s horse, cantering along the edge of the lake.

  “Doc! There’s something wrong with her!” cried Laura.

  She swiveled back toward her mother—just as the woman grabbed Laura’s arm and yanked unbelievably hard. Laura yelped in pain as she was suddenly pushed to the ground.

  By Joad.

  He had burst out of the water. Shoving Laura out of the way, he leapt on top of her mother, who let out an ungodly screech.

  “What are you doing? Stop it, stop it!!”

  Joad ignored Laura’s pleas, as he continued to wrestle with whatever-the-thing-was writhing on the ground beneath him.

  One thing was certain—it wasn’t Laura’s mother.

  Maybe that’s who Laura saw when she looked at the shrouded figure. He presumed the same was true for Sayers. But not Joad. He understood this was one of The Fields’ mysterious inhabitants. All doubt had been removed when it latched onto Laura’s arm in a violent motion that was anything but a gesture of motherly love.

  The woman-thing wriggled beneath his grappling hands; sinewy exposed muscle, torn tissue, and pulsing blood made it hard for Joad to get a firm grip. All the while, it screamed and lashed out, trying to throw him off its writhing body.

  Laura kept on screaming behind him, as Joad finally got his fingers laced around the wraith’s neck. Heaving gasps accompanied its shrieks, and he could start to feel it weaken beneath him the longer and harder he squeezed.

  “Get the hell off her!”

  Joad whipped his head around just in time to see a fist hurtling at his face.

  A seething Fixer stood over Joad, holding his already aching hand.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  Joad tried to catch his breath, startled and hurting from Fixer’s surprise attack.

  “What does it look like I’m doing?” grunted Joad.

  “Choking my sister to death.”

  “Your sister. . . .”

  “He means my wife.” This came courtesy of Sayers, who had jumped off the horse and was racing toward them.

  “That’s impossible. She can’t be both your wife and my sister,” said Fixer.

  Joad struggled to his feet. “You’re forgetting where you are.”

  A loud raking sob pierced the air.

  Their attention turned to the thing lying on the ground. Its body gasped in agony, gulping for air as it tried to recover from the death grip that Joad had around its throat.

  But Laura was the one crying. Tears rushed down her face. Her voice began quaked as she pointed down.

  “I . . . I don’t think that’s my mother. . . .”

  The woman-thing lashed out and grabbed Laura’s ankle.

  Laura screamed and tried to wriggle free.

  Joad jumped forward. This time, Sayers was right beside him.

  The doctor pulled Laura from the wraith just before Joad threw himself upon it.

  He yanked with all his might, and rolled away from Fixer, Sayers, and Laura.

  They tumbled down the riverbank and landed in the water with a humongous splash.

  Laura clung to Sayers and watched in horror as violent surges of water erupted into the air. Joad found his footing while managing to keep the thing under the surface with his muscled arms and strong feet. Fixer was transfixed, able only to bear witness to the thrashing water that subsided when Joad eased up and stood knee-deep in the lake. The creature floated motionless beside him.

  Joad flipped the body over. The remains of its face stared up dead-eyed at the misty sky.

  Fixer was the first to find his voice.

  “It looks like a skeleton with its insides ripped out.”

  “That’s what I saw when I got near the shore,” Joad said.

  “But why did I see my sister?” He looked at Sayers and Laura, who were equally shell-shocked. “And why did she see her mother? His wife?”

  “You’d have to ask The Strangers,” asked Joad.

  “I’ll pass.”

  Joad moved to check on Laura and Sayers.

  “We better get going. They’ll be here soon.”

  “Too late.”

  Joad turned to see Fixer pointing across the river—just in time to catch four jet-black horses with three hulking riders emerge from the mist on the other side of the lake.

  13

  “They’re persistent, I’ll give ’em that,” said Fixer.

  They stared across the lake at the three brothers astride their jet-black horses, towing an identical fourth steed by a heavy rope. The horses kicked and stomped at the water’s edge. When Primo’s mount snorted and blazed red hellfire from its snout, Laura audibly moaned.

  “What the hell do we do with that?” asked Sayers.

  Joad, as surprised as the others seeing the flames, swiveled to check out the surroundings. Sticking to the lakeshore wasn’t an option—it was one big circle and no matter which direction they went around it, the brothers could head straight for them. And Joad knew they were ill-equipped to take them on directly, and being down two horses was the least of the reasons.

  The only option was to head deeper into The Fields. Trees, five times taller than skyscrapers that no longer existed, rose into the mist behind them. The forest was dense and foreboding, but Joad thought that could be a good thing. It might provide the cover they needed to put some distance between themselves and the brothers.

  “We ride,” said Joad. He reach
ed out to Laura. “You’re with me.”

  She didn’t need to be told twice. Laura was up on Joad’s horse in a flash. Fixer and Sayers sensed it was no time to argue and climbed aboard Macy. As Laura threw her arms around Joad’s hips, her voice quivered.

  “I’m scared, Joad.”

  “I know.” He spurred the horse toward the forest. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Laura.”

  “I believe you.”

  In that moment, bolstered by her unwavering confidence, Joad knew he would do everything in his power to deliver that promise.

  Or die trying.

  Trey was the first one to see the thing floating in the water.

  “What is that?”

  Primo and Secundo pulled their horses to a halt beside Trey. Quattro’s horse, tethered to Secundo’s hip, snorted flames, spooked by the corpse at the river’s edge.

  “Maybe a better question is what was it,” said Primo.

  Secundo dismounted and found a stick on the ground. He poked the body through its soaked shroud, pushing the hood back to expose a bloodied, sinewy head. His face scrunched in revulsion.

  “Doesn’t look human.”

  Primo stared long and hard at the floating body. “Probably isn’t.”

  “Maybe it’s one of The Strangers,” suggested Trey, nervousness lacing his voice.

  “They’re long gone,” said Primo.

  “You don’t know that for sure,” countered Trey.

  “No reason for ’em to stick around. They took everything that wasn’t nailed down—and even some of that.” Primo turned toward the dark forest. “This has to be something that rider left behind.”

  “Seems a good reason to stay out of The Fields,” said Secundo.

  Primo studied his brothers, sensing a wave of reluctance forming. “We’re here. And not leaving without Fixer and the rest of them. Is that understood?”

  Thunder rumbled, as the mist above them started to darken.

  Secundo and Trey didn’t need any more urging. They knew better than anyone not to provoke their oldest brother.

  Secundo shoved the body with the stick until it dipped below the surface. Then he remounted and motioned for Primo to lead the way.

  As Trey brought up the rear, he glanced at the lake one last time. His expression betrayed the struggle within: loyalty to his siblings, dead and living, and the fear of the unknown that lay ahead in The Fields.