Burn

by Geoff North

  “Why… they become one with the Gods. They enter the earth and live forever.”

  Chapter 38

  Lawson, Cobe, Willem, and Jenny had entered Rust City.

  The Lawman found traces of hoof prints in the dirt soon after, and they didn’t belong to rollers. “They were here,” he said, looking down at the small half-moon shaped indentations. He pointed west, straight through the heart of black and orange steel skeletons. “Less than two days ago. I would’ve gone around, myself. It takes longer, but this place has a feel to it… empty, though you never quite feel alone.”

  “Felt like that in Big Hole,” Cobe said.

  “We weren’t alone in Big Hole,” Willem added.

  Lawson twisted uncomfortably on Dust’s back. “Maybe it wouldn’t hurt none to rest here for a while. Wildlife likes pickin’ through the ruins. Lots of clean water sittin’ in the hollows. We could find a rabbit or two, build our strength one more night, and push for the sky rocks early in the morning.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Willem said. “I’m starving.”

  They had rode hard and far the last few days. The last of their stored food had run out the night before, and most of the small animals out in the open plains had already been hunted down by bigger prey.

  “Me and Cobe will go see what we can find,” Lawson decided. Jenny slipped off from behind him, and Willem did the same.

  “I’ll build a fire while you’re gone.” The boy pulled a rifle out of one of the bags.

  “Build it, don’t light it,” the Lawman warned. “All this old metal and rock tends to scare them bigger animals off, but I wouldn’t risk any flame to draw them in. Wait until we get back.”

  “Look after my brother,” Cobe said to Jenny. “He can be an arse, but he’s the only family I got left.” He went to gallop off after the Lawman and stopped. “No, that isn’t right… You’re family too, now.”

  The cryer watched them ride out of view. She turned and looked at Willem, a huge smile had spread across her pale face—the first in over a thousand years. “You hear that? He said I was family. I guess that makes me your sister.”

  Willem grinned back at her. “I used to wonder what that might be like—havin’ a brother and a sister. Feels pretty good. Now help me find some wood.”

  She settled down into a dry patch of moss instead and watched him work. They had accepted her. After all they had seen and been through, Cobe and his brother wanted her to stay with them. Even the Lawman had warmed up to her in the last few days. The romantic feelings she felt for Cobe had grown into something more, or perhaps they had settled into something more real. She loved him. She loved all of them.

  Jenny had fully intended to end her life in the next few days and be reunited with her parents somewhere beyond their world of dreams. But now she was beginning to see a second chance at life with these people. Her mom and dad would understand. The afterlife was everlasting. They could wait for her. She decided then and there what she was going to do.

  “You just gonna sit there all day, sister?” Willem asked, depositing a pathetic pile of twigs at her feet. “They’ll be back soon enough, and I don’t wanna eat no raw rabbit.”

  She rested her head back. “In a little while, promise. I need to rest for a few minutes.”

  “You mean you need to go into them dreams of yers again.”

  “Just to say goodbye.” He gave her a puzzled look. “I won’t be long.” Jenny closed her eyes and drifted away.

  ***

  Hardo wanted all of their guns and the horse in exchange for one book. “It’s completely reasonable,” the old man argued. “We have so few books left to deal with. The price needs to be high.”

  “You want everything we have,” Sara said. “Those weapons are all we got to defend ourselves with.”

  “There’s nothing here you need to defend yourselves against,” he countered. “Boom Reach is a peaceful place, Victory Island even more so.”

  “Then what do you need the guns for?” Kay asked.

  “Others will come after you. We can barter with the weapons for more books.”

  “None of this makes any sense,” Hank said. He was sitting in a far corner of the empty library, his pink eyes glowing in the low light. “Why are you living inside this mountain acquiring and dealing out old books? What is the purpose of it? Why do you stay here?”

  Hardo’s friendly nature had vanished. The old man appeared desperate to make a deal, as if his life and the lives of his brothers depended on it. “The Gods are loving, but demanding.” He spoke softly, almost whispering, as though he feared someone might overhear. “We have come to cherish our lives here, but we can never leave. We must continue guiding new-comers to the Island, and it is our responsibility to send books with them. It is the only condition the Gods have set that is unbreakable. It is our holy duty.”

  “We won’t give you our guns and our horse,” Sara stated. “We’ll wait right here for Lawson and the others. Maybe he can come to some agreement with you.”

  Hardo’s smile returned. “It will be nice seeing him again. You are free to remain with us as long as you want. We will share our food and water.” He went to the wooden door and pushed it open wider. “You can sleep here. I’ll have blankets brought down. Please… don’t touch the books.” And with that, Hardo disappeared up the rock stairway.

  Sara sighed. “At least we have a roof over our heads again.” She looked up into shadowy ridges. “A very substantial one.”

  “I don’t wanna stay inside no sky rock,” Trot said. “It’s dark and scary.”

  “And it’s safe,” she replied. “Safer than we’ve been in weeks. We stay until the others catch up.”

  They settled in. Blankets and food were brought to them, and they were allowed to roam about freely. Hank remained in his corner of the book room, biding his time. He had been frozen for centuries, awaiting this moment to reclaim his country and rebuild civilization. He could wait a few more hours.

  But when night fell, he would wait no longer.

  ***

  Her parents were seated at the picnic table. She knew they would be there, waiting for her. The children were still playing all around them, laughing, swinging, running, tossing balls and playing tag. Hundreds of happy boys and girls set free from a short life of pain and despair to continue on for eternity in pure joy.

  Jenny walked among them towards the table. Her mother poured lemonade into a sparkling glass and pushed it towards her as she sat across from them. “You’ve decided.”

  “I’m staying with them… I want to live.”

  Edna touched the back of her hand. “We understand. It’s alright. We can wait.”

  Jenny didn’t want to make it any harder than it had to be. The pull this place had on her was too strong, the urge to stay far too great to resist for long. She tried to stand, but her mother held her gently down. “Please… stay with us a little while longer.”

  “You’ve suffered long enough,” Her father said. “We all have. Let’s be a family again for a few more minutes.” His eyes brightened. “We’ll have a picnic.”

  A blanket materialized on the green grass next to the table. Food began appearing on it—sandwiches on plates, potato salad in bowls, wedges of chocolate cake resting on folded napkins. A silver platter piled high with steaming fried chicken appeared at the center of it all.

  The smell was intoxicating. Jenny could feel saliva running down out of the corners of her mouth.

  “It’s okay,” her father urged. “Dig in.”

  She slid away from the table and sank to her hands and knees. One last meal with my Mon and Dad. What can it hurt? She shoved a piece of cake into her face, inhaling the brown icing. The sandwiches came next. She shovelled potato salad from the bowl between her lips to soften the crusts. Never had food tasted so good. Jenny continued chewing and swallowing until half the food was gone. She belched out hot air to make more room for the chicken.

  Her mother held out the glass of lem
onade. “Here, wash some of that down.”

  Jenny drank it all. She burped again and started to laugh. “You better eat some of this before I finish it all.”

  Edna started to fade away. “I’m not hungry.”

  “I warned you,” her father said sadly. “I told you Eichberg was a liar.”

  Her parents disappeared. There were no children swinging on the swings or climbing through the monkey bars. There was no line-up at the ladder leading up to the metal slide where a thousand little bums had polished its surface a shiny silver. The horseless merry go round sat silent and unmoving. The blue sky had turned malignant grey.

  The playground was empty.

  Jenny closed her eyes and tried to wake up. “No! This can’t be happening.”

  “Of course it can… it was inevitable.” Jenny opened her eyes again. Lothair Eichberg was sitting inches from her, twirling a chicken wing in her face. “We can’t change what we are. Remember what I said… When you least expect it, you’ll become like us. The hunger will blind you to what’s real.”

  He shoved the wing into her gaping mouth.

  Jenny gagged and pulled the wing out from between her teeth. Except it wasn’t a chicken wing. She was holding the remains of a human arm in her hands. Her knees were wet, sunk into moss turned red with Willem’s blood. The boy’s armless body lay in front of Jenny, his lifeless eyes staring up into gathering grey of evening.

  Someone was yelling his name. She could hear the approaching thud of hooves pounding against dirt. Jenny stared at the arm. Blood was still bubbling up from her final bite-marks.

  Lawson and Cobe rode up on the horses and saw her knelt over the boy’s body.

  The Lawman dismounted from Dust and drew one of his guns. “You filthy gawdamn animal.”

  “This… this wasn’t me.” She dropped Willem’s arm. “Eichberg made me do it. He got inside my head.” She felt something hanging from her chin. She wiped a strand of flesh away.

  Lawson pointed the weapon at her face and cocked the hammer. Cobe was beside him now. A dead rabbit slipped from his fingers and fell noiselessly to the ground. His eyes looked as devoid of life as Willem’s.

  “Please believe me… He tricked me. Eichberg tricked me. I was saying goodbye to my parents. He tricked me.”

  The Lawman hesitated. The gun started dipping down. He was listening to her.

  Cobe snatched the remaining six-shooter from Lawson’s holster. He stepped forward and shot Jenny between the eyes.

  Chapter 39

  Trot drifted off to sleep with the sounds of chants and deep hums echoing down the stairway and into the open book room. When he awoke, all was silent, save for Angel’s snores next to him. One candle in the center of the room was sputtering near its end in a puddle of liquid wax. The rest had burned out. Panic set in. The wooden door had been shut.

  He grabbed Angel’s arm and shook the girl. “Wake up, we’re trapped!”

  The others woke. Sara found more candles in an empty shelf. She lit one from the dying flame and handed it to her daughter. She gave another to Angel. Kay pushed on the door. It creaked open a few inches. “We’re not trapped.” She swung her candle back over the room. “Where’s Hank?”

  “He left us?” Trot said. “But he said he was gonna help us get to the island.”

  Sara studied the stone shelves. The leather-bound dictionary was missing. “He’s helped us as much as he needed. Now he’s looking after himself. We never should’ve trusted one of those… things.”

  They heard a low moan sound from behind the partially opened door. Angel rolled her eyes. “There they go with them awful chants again.”

  It rose in intensity and became an agonized shriek. Sara went to the saddlebag for one of the rifles. Angel placed her candle into Trot’s shaking hands and grabbed the other one. The screaming suddenly stopped. Kay found their remaining weapon—the small handgun her father insisted she carry—in the bottom of the bag. Rifles are fine at a distance. This is fer close-up fights. She pointed it towards the door with the others and waited.

  Sara crept forward after a full minute had passed and pushed it open all the way with the end of her rifle. The torch set in the corridor wall had been snuffed out. Dull pink light flooded down from somewhere above. Morning light. The sun had begun to rise. They followed her up the steps slowly.

  The first body they came across was laying on the ground, legs and feet sticking out from one of the small rooms the Bothers of Boom Reach used for silent prayer and sleep. The rest of him was gone. Stomach, chest, arms and head all missing. The rock floor glistened oily black with spilled blood. It was smeared on the walls, and splattered across the flattened bed of straw.

  Trot stumbled back, his head butting against rock wall. “No, no, no… Hank didn’t do this. H-Hank couldn’t have done this.”

  Sara clamped a hand over his mouth. She knew full well the cryer they’d travelled with was more than capable of committing such a horrific act, but something else had been worrying her since Rust City. She whispered loud enough for all of them to hear. “Hank didn’t do this. He has what he wanted. Whatever tore Spot apart has followed us here.”

  The remains of three more bodies were strewn throughout the next room. The rest of the brothers were scattered about in pieces along the corridor. They stepped over emptied carcasses, their feet settling in puddles of gore. Something was hunched over the body of Hardo in the center of the Jewel Room, its face sunk deep into the old man’s open throat. They could hear it chewing, crunching on exposed cartilage.

  Trot retched, and the thing spun around. It was completely naked and coated in blood. Its eyes glowed a terrible blue. Kay squeezed the small gun in both hands and held the trigger down. The first four bullets ricocheted off stone but the fifth and sixth punched into its shoulder and upper arm. The thing dropped to one knee, and Sara blew a hole in its chest large enough to push a fist through. Angel took aim for its nose and shot the entire head off. The creature toppled back onto Hardo’s corpse.

  Trot ran for the doorway and vomited outside. Angel stepped out past him, preparing to do the same, and saw more creatures headed their way. “There’s more of them! A whole lot more coming up the trail!”

  Sara cursed. “Gawdamn. This one here was hard enough to kill.”

  “We got enough bullets to finish them all?” Angel asked.

  A hundred screaming cryers released from half a dozen ABZE facilities throughout the northwest were scrambling up along the mountain’s narrow path. Some were climbing over others, clawing into scalps and backs in a frenzied rush to get ahead. Grey bodies were being crowded off the trail and plummeting down the mountain side.

  “Not even close to enough,” Sara finally answered. The creatures were still five hundred feet below, but they would be on them soon enough. There was nowhere to run.

  Kay threw her gun down and pulled at her mother. “We can lock ourselves in the book room! That door was thick enough to keep the sound out of all them men being killed.”

  Sara was still staring hopelessly at the advancing line of creatures. “But it won’t hold for long… not against all of that.”

  “I ain’t goin’ back down into that hole,” Trot cried. He gripped his fingers into the exterior wall of the Jewel Room and started to climb. He dug the toes of his worn boots into the cracks and hoisted himself higher. Trot pulled and grunted all the way to the snow-covered top of the ledge. He plopped down on his belly and called down to the others. “Don’t just stand there. Climb!”

  Angel and Kay climbed, placing their fingers in the same cracks and ridges. Angel held her rifle by the strap with her teeth. Trot reached further down, almost sliding from his perch on top of them, to grab it away from her. He strapped it over his back and helped them the rest of the way. Sara aimed her weapon into the advancing horde and shot her remaining bullets off. A leg blew off one in the front, but the others behind it kept climbing over.

  “Fuck.” She tossed the rifle away and started climb
ing. Trot and Kay pulled her to the top.

  “Sittin’ here won’t do us no good,” Angel said breathlessly. “Them things will climb over one another to get up here.”

  Sara craned her head up at and beheld the remaining peak hanging over them. The ‘thumb’ of Thumb-Up shot up forever into the blue morning sky. Its vertical black surface, riddled with cracks, resembled diseased skin, the tip a thousand feet above was like a thick white nail, capped with a hundred feet of blowing snow. She walked across the remaining top knuckle and touched the rough rock. “Then we keep climbing.”

  The first cryer spilled up onto the ledge. Half a dozen more climbed over it, crushing its face into the ice. Kay and Angel climbed up after Sara and Trot, already twenty feet above. They continued ascending, fingers frantically searching for cracks and jagged protrusions, feet digging for solid stone.

  Trot pulled himself up next to Sara. “I can’t climb no sky rock,” he whimpered. “I’m too fat and dumb.”

  “You’re doing better than the rest of us,” she panted. The creatures below had begun to climb. Their eyes glowed and their teeth snapped. They were less than ten feet from Kay’s heels.

  Trot pushed the side of his face into a hollow of cold stone and started to cry.

  Sara yelled at him. “Stop that! Lawson told you to look after the kids. And that doesn’t mean just Cobe and Willem. Quit your bawling and act like a man.”

  He remembered the Lawman’s words. I need you to be strong.

  Trot was going to die here. He would fall a hundred feet and splatter into the ledge, or the things would catch up and eat him away from the feet up. He wouldn’t let his life end crying like a baby.

  He would die strong.

  Trot dug in and started pulling again. He passed by Sara altogether and kept on going. His fingers fell into a deep opening another thirty feet up. He pushed with his legs and threw his entire arm into it. Another ledge. Trot’s other hand grabbed onto the sharp edge, and he hoisted his entire body into the narrow cavity. He rested his back against it, heaving for breath. The space wasn’t large enough to stand in, and his legs dangled out into the sky at his knees. He looked to either side, hopeful there might be just enough room for the others to squeeze into.