by Sam Sisavath
Hold on, kid. Hold on a little longer!
A grunt from in front of her made Ana look back at the first Raggedy Man. He was clinging to her extended wrist with one hand while his other hand desperately groped at the knife sticking out of the side of his neck. Ana pulled her hand away, easily breaking his grip, and jerked the knife out of his throat at the same time. An arc of bright red blood sprayed the air.
The man made an odd, almost gulping sound before slumping to the floor. Blood continued to pour out of his neck, spreading like wildfire across the trash-strewn floor, but by then Ana had already stood up and spun around.
The second Raggedy Man continued to hold the girl against the wall, but he had looked over in her direction. Dark blue eyes zeroed in on her. Like the first, this one also wore dirty and torn rags that hugged his hulking frame, his face just as covered by a makeshift balaclava. But it was the similar-looking veins spitting from his eyes like erratic sunrays that got her attention. The ones she was staring at were much whiter than the first’s.
Jesus, what happened to them?
Ana held the bloody knife at her side, her other hand forming a fist. “Let her go.”
The man narrowed his eyes at her. She didn’t see anything that looked like fear, but there was uncertainty, as if he didn’t quite know what to make of her or this new situation. The girl was still flailing at the Raggedy Man’s arm, but he continued to ignore her. He was so much taller and bigger that she looked like a doll against his bulk.
Ana clenched her teeth. “I said, let her go.”
He did, unfurling his fingers from the girl’s neck. He simply let her go, as if she were little more than a bothersome flea. The teenager fell hard to the floor and grabbed at her throat while she fought through a series of choking coughs.
The Raggedy Man turned and attacked without a word.
There was nothing subtle or graceful about the way he charged her. It was pure aggression from beginning to end, and she could imagine that he’d never had to rely on anything else in the past. He could probably have crushed her head between his hands, and maybe that was what he was planning as he lumbered toward her.
Ana let him come.
She knew what was going to happen, because this wasn’t anything she hadn’t been through before. Men were too comfortable with their physical advantages over her, and this one was no different. Whatever had happened to him, whatever he had become, he was, and would always be, just another man. In his mind, he saw a short woman with a small knife, and the fact that she had already downed someone his size probably never even factored into his decision. She’d dealt with it all before, and it was the reason she was still standing and they weren’t.
They underestimated her. They always did.
She sidestepped at the last second and ducked under his swinging arm. He was a bruiser, a brawler, and she expected no less. The swoosh! as his fist went over her head, and she was suddenly behind him as he dashed past her, his momentum carrying him forward like the small-minded caveman he was.
Ana knew exactly where to put the knife where it would do the most damage. The neck. That was always the most vulnerable and least protected part of the human body, whether they were men or women or monsters.
She did that now, slashing at her target even before the man had begun to slow down, and got him in the back of the neck. Not quite where she had wanted the blade, but it was good enough for a first strike.
He jerked his head back in shock, stopped clumsily, and began to turn around. He was still halfway from facing her again when she threw herself at him and aimed the knife at his throat. His eyes narrowed and his mouth twisted behind the fabrics that covered it as she pushed until the guard of the knife bumped against his skin.
He swung wildly anyway, and with both hands, landing one against her chest. The air flooded out of her (Christ, he’s fast!) and she fell backward, pulling the knife out at the same time, and landed back on the floor on her butt. Getting struck in the chest should have hurt, but the pain was tempered by the sight of another satisfying arc of blood splashing the alley.
The man stumbled to his knees, hands groping at the side of his neck to stem the flow. It didn’t work, and his life force leaked out through his fingers and ran down along his arms and dripped to the pavement in thick rivulets.
Ana picked herself back up and looked past the Raggedy Man’s struggling form at the first one behind him. That man lay on his back, unmoving, blood pooling underneath him.
One down…
The second one was done for, too; it was just a matter of time.
The girl…
Ana turned around to see the kid picking up something from the floor. It was small but metal, and it looked familiar.
A gun.
Her gun.
Oh, great, Ana thought as the girl tightened her grip around Chuck’s SIG Sauer.
“Hey, hey, don’t do that,” Ana said.
The girl was breathing hard, every breath seemingly taking a lot out of her. Her neck was covered in welts and red all over.
“Let me help you,” Ana said.
The girl looked past her.
Ana glanced back and saw the second Raggedy Man kneeling on the floor behind her. He had lowered his head, his chin touching his chest and his hands hanging at his sides. Blood slurped out of the hole in his neck where she had stabbed him and continued to run down the length of his already smeared coat.
Ana turned back to the girl. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”
The kid didn’t say anything, but she also didn’t lift the gun and point it at Ana, either. Instead, her eyes dropped to the knife in Ana’s hand.
“You should give me the gun,” Ana said.
The teenager looked back at Ana but didn’t say anything. Ana wondered if she was even capable after what she’d gone through. She looked as if she was having trouble breathing, and those red welts around her throat seemed to have gotten even redder.
“Give me the gun,” Ana said, and held out her empty left hand.
The girl stared at it, then at her.
“You’re safe,” Ana said, even as she thought, What a load of crap. She’s not safe. I’m not safe. Not while we’re still in Talico.
Ana didn’t think the girl would ever move, and images of the kid back at the farm came rushing back to her.
The revolver in her hand, like the gun in this girl’s hand…
Not again. Please don’t let it happen again.
“Please,” Ana said. “Let me help you. Please.”
That did it, and the teenager walked over and held out the SIG. Ana took it and put it away in her jacket pocket.
“We should go,” the girl said. Her voice came out husky, and with difficulty. “There’s more of them out there.”
“How many more?” Ana asked.
“A lot more,” the girl said.
Seventeen
“Who are they?”
“I don’t know.”
“I heard shooting earlier. Was that you?”
“That was George and Justin.”
“Where are they now?”
The girl frowned. “They’re dead.”
“What happened?” Ana asked.
“They attacked us. I don’t know where they came from. One second it’s just us, then the next, they’re everywhere.”
“How many of them were there?”
“I’m not sure. A dozen. Maybe more?” She paused to think about it. “It was like they came out of the walls.” She shook her head. “I wouldn’t have gotten away if Justin hadn’t…” She stopped herself and didn’t continue.
Ana didn’t keep asking stupid questions. The look on the girl’s face told her everything she needed to know about what had happened to George and Justin and whoever else was there during the attack. There had been more than just the three of them, but Ana hadn’t said the others’ names.
They sat across from one another, flanked by student desks. The classroom was near the
back of the building, far enough from the front doors that Ana felt safe to use it as a temporary refuge. Not that she felt “safe” anywhere in Talico, but it was better than braving the Oklahoma countryside on foot. Night was already falling over the high windows to their left, leaving the two of them to sit in semidarkness that was getting darker by the minute.
Ana did a quick check of the only door into the classroom, to her right. It had a simple lock, and they had shoved a large heavy oak desk against it. Not that she thought those things were going to keep anyone from coming in if they were really determined, but they were a good first barrier. Mostly it was about staying unseen if anyone peered through the small security window in the door. After all, if no one knew they were inside, no one would try to come in.
The girl’s name was Chris. Short for Chrissy, she had told Ana, but everyone just called her Chris.
“How did you do that?” Chris asked her now.
“Do what?”
“Back in the alley.” She looked down at Ana’s left hand—at the knife hidden inside the sleeve. “I’ve never seen anything like that before. You weren’t even scared.”
I was terrified, Ana thought, but she said, “It’s survival, that’s all. You learn to do what you have to, in order to survive. To keep going.”
“That’s what we did. Survived.” She looked down at her own hands. Ana couldn’t see it now with the growing darkness, but earlier she had glimpsed specks of dry blood on Chris’s palms. “Me and the others. We survived.”
“You’re not from Talico…”
“We were passing through. It looked peaceful from the outside.”
But it’s not, and the slayers knew it. They put that big X over it for a reason.
I guess I know that reason now.
She replayed the image of the Raggedy Men over in her mind’s eye. First the three she’d spotted in the streets; then later, the two in the alley. They were two completely different groups of Raggedy Men, which meant Chris was right and there were more of them out there. The two from the alley hadn’t been armed. Either that or they’d lost their weapons while they were looking for, then chasing the girl.
She had so many questions about them. How many more of them were there? What did they want? And what had happened to them that made them the way they were?
Their eyes stuck in her head. There was something wrong with them, along with the sometimes grayish and other times blue or white veins that crisscrossed the exposed parts of their face.
That’s not normal. That’s definitely not normal.
“Did they say anything when they attacked you and your friends?” Ana asked the girl.
Chris shook her head. “They just attacked.” She paused briefly, before continuing. “George and Justin shot at them.”
“Did they get any?”
“I don’t know. There were bodies everywhere…” She paused again, this time for a longer period. “I thought I’d gotten away, but they still found me. I guess I’m not as good at hiding as I thought.”
There was just enough light left in the outside world that she could make out the chairs scattered around her and Chris. The classroom looked identical to the dozen or so they’d passed as they walked through the school earlier. Opened lockers—some pried open—and old posters and banners had greeted them. There was even a sparsely decorated trophy case. Apparently Talico High School wasn’t very successful when it came to competition of any kind.
She focused on the windows and the dwindling lights coming through them. There was something peaceful about the world outside, but Ana knew it was deceptive. Besides the Raggedy Men, she kept thinking about the sniper who had shot the chestnut out from under her. Was he still out there? Was he working with the Raggedy Men? Was—
Her stomach growled. In all the chaos of fighting, running, and surviving, she had forgotten how hungry she was. She couldn’t, now, sitting in the dark waiting for something to happen.
“Here,” Chris said.
The kid was holding out a see-through bag to her. Ana took it. There were brown chunks of something inside. About twenty of them, though it was obvious the bag had held more than that not too long ago.
“What is it?” Ana asked.
“Pecans,” Chris said. “Nancy found a bunch of them when we spent two days at this farm outside of Tulsa. We had bags and bags of them.”
Had, Ana thought, opening the bag and taking out one precious kernel and savoring it between her teeth.
She handed the bag back to Chris, who grabbed a couple of nuts before handing it right back. Ana would have argued if she had the strength, but she didn’t, and shook out two more pieces and put them into her mouth. They weren’t much, but God, were they tasty. Probably the best pecans she had ever eaten in her life, but of course that was likely the hunger talking.
“I’m sorry about your friends,” Ana said.
Chris nodded but didn’t say anything.
The kid had been through a lot. Everyone had, who had survived The Purge. She had, and Emily certainly had. Even Wash, who was out there somewhere, maybe already in Texas right now while she was stuck in Talico, Oklahoma, trying to survive the night.
Goddamn you, Wash, you should have waited for me.
“Are you from here?” Chris asked after a while.
“No,” Ana said, and told her about the sniper. “Did you see him?”
Chris shook her head. “We didn’t hear any shooting when we got into town. It looked like a nice place. So quiet.” Something occurred to her, and she looked over at Ana. “You think he was forcing you in here on purpose? The sniper?”
“I don’t know.”
“Those others—the ones you call the Raggedy Men—they weren’t carrying guns. I don’t think a single one of them were when they attacked us.”
Ana took out another kernel from the bag and chewed on it slowly, trying to make every bit last. “What were you guys doing out here?”
“We move around a lot. We tried sticking to a couple of places, but it never worked out.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged. “People always wanted…things from us.”
“Things?”
“Things that we didn’t want to give. So we kept moving around.”
“How long have you guys been doing that?”
“A long time, I guess. You sort of get used to it after a while.” Another long pause. “We thought we were prepared for anything. George and Justin were really good with their guns. But there were just too many of those Raggedy Men. I wouldn’t have gotten away the first time if it wasn’t for Justin. He saved my life. He’s always saving my life…”
Ana handed the bag back to Chris, and the girl pinched a couple more nuts out of it. They didn’t say very much after that, and Ana didn’t ask any more questions about Chris’s friends. She didn’t think the girl wanted to talk about it, and Ana didn’t blame her.
It was quiet inside and outside the classroom, and pretty soon Ana found Chris curled up on the floor, snoring lightly.
She’s got the right idea.
Ana felt bad for the kid. God only knew what she’d seen and been through today. Ana herself was sore from head to toe from all the running she’d done. There was nothing like fleeing a sniper, then having to fight two brutes for your life to tire you out. It wasn’t until she had sat down an hour ago that she realized just how much everything hurt.
Watching Chris sleep made Ana wonder why she ever thought the kid reminded her of Emily. They couldn’t have been more different. Where Emily was tall, Chris was about Ana’s height. They also looked nothing alike, though maybe that had something to do with Chris’s nose. The teenager had broken it recently, and there was still a scar along the bridge. Even the shape of their faces was night and day.
What was I thinking running out there? I must have been crazy.
But it was too late to change any of that now. She was stuck with the kid, and whether she liked it or not, she had to keep taking care of her. She
’d taken that responsibility on when she stepped outside the Dairy Queen.
Told you, it’s not always about Emily, that annoying voice in the back of her mind said.
Yeah, yeah, Ana thought as she lay down on the floor.
A sound from the hallway woke her up.
What was that?
Ana glanced down at her watch.
Five past ten. She’d slept for almost four hours.
She picked herself hurriedly up from the floor and looked over at the door, while at the same time reaching into her jacket pocket for the SIG Sauer.
There it was again. She wasn’t entirely sure what it was, but she had definitely heard it again.
What was that?
She sneaked a look over at Chris. The girl remained on the floor, sleeping on her side, both hands folded underneath her head as a pillow.
Ana stood up. The now-empty bag of pecans, which she had forgotten was in her lap, fluttered to the floor. She tiptoed over to the door and leaned against the wall next to it, keeping out of view of the security glass. Anyone on the other side wouldn’t be able to see her, but Ana could look out at…not much.
It was dark in the hallway, even more so than in the classroom. There weren’t very many lights—artificial or natural—and she could just barely make out a large white banner celebrating an upcoming dance that was draped over a row of lockers.
Ana waited, slowing down her breathing so she wouldn’t miss—
There it was again.
What is that?
It was some kind of soft tap.
Then again: Tap.
She changed up her grip on the gun and gave the big desk pressed against the door a long look. It had been heavy as hell when she’d pushed it over with Chris’s help, so she was sure it could withstand some measure of attack. Not forever. But then, nothing really lasts forever these days.
She looked out the security window—
A shadow stood on the other side, staring back at her.