The Pale Rider

by J B Trepagnier

  I could see three of them up ahead milling about in the trees. Aeron spurred Meremoth, and we took off towards the closest one. I knew I could hit a fastpitch softball. I held Smurfette with one hand as we went racing towards this rotting Rage Head. Meremoth raced by, and I swung away. I felt its head crack under my bat. I let out this maniacal laugh. I probably shouldn’t be having so much fun with this, but there were only three of them, and it was like horseback zombie polo.

  The one to our right let out that shriek they made when they were calling their kind. It was a little less fun when ten more of them broke through the trees and started racing towards us. Was I insane that I thought this was a good time when there were only three of them? I probably was.

  Now, Aeron was the one laughing like a maniac.

  “You asked me if this was a normal horse. Let me show you what Meremoth can do, Speedy!”

  Meremoth let out a snort, and I swear I saw steam come out his nose. Meremoth just decided to go zombie bowling. He plowed through the crowd of zombies and just started trampling skulls with his hooves. I was holding onto the pommel and swearing up a storm. If this crazy horse threw me into a crowd of Rage Heads because it was showing off, I would be upset.

  Aeron grabbed my waist in a death grip.

  “Hold on, Speedy!”

  When you were on top of a horse in the middle of a murder rampage, and its handler told you to hang on, grab anything. These brainless Rage Heads didn’t have a care that the horse was on a killing spree and just crushed several of their friend’s heads. They just wanted to eat us. They came at us again. I shrieked and flung myself forward when this fucking horse reared back on two legs like it would fight these zombies like a boxer.

  Okay, this was definitely not a normal horse. This was some sort of zombie killing murder horse. And he was my ride to Mexico. Maybe when we meet Aeron’s friend Leif in Mexico, he’ll have a nice bicycle I could ride on the handlebars.

  I had all this bravado about taking out these zombies with Smurfette, but when the horse started murdering the dead, it all went out the window. I had thrown myself over Meremoth’s neck, clutching his mane. There were two Rage Heads left, and they were coming right at us, but I was shaking so badly I wasn’t sure I could fight them.

  Aeron managed to produce his sword from nowhere again. Where did he keep that thing? He beheaded both of them and chuckled. He pat me on the back.

  “You okay, Speedy?”

  “That is not a normal horse. You’ve got some devil killer horse.”

  “Not a devil horse, Speedy, but he is a fighter. We will probably have to fight off a few more on our way to the train. You can’t freak out when Meremoth fights. He won’t throw you, and you are perfectly safe with me behind you.”

  A killer horse and a guy with secrets who could pull a sword out of nowhere. Yeah, I was totally safe.

  Chapter 16

  I

  got my shit together for the rest of the ride to the train. If I was the one killing the zombies, then I didn’t have to worry about crazy horses throwing me off. I needed to be focused. I guess Aeron got a cue I didn’t like it when his horse helped out because he kept that mysterious sword out and we killed our way through the woods as a team. Let’s do more of that and less letting the horse out to play when I’m sitting on its back.

  Meremoth brought us straight up to a train car. This wasn’t a passenger train. It was some sort of cargo train. If this place was swarming with Rage Heads and Aeron got surrounded when he slept in this car once, how was the horse still alive? Would he at least tell me that?

  Aeron flung the door open, and we climbed inside. It looked like Aeron had spent a lot of time preparing this car. The crates were stacked in such a way that it would make an additional barrier to the steel door for anything that wanted to get inside.

  He’d made this cozy little nest in the middle of the crates. He must have been looking for me or brought someone else here because there were two sleeping bags rolled out and a bucket at the very end of the car if we needed to go to the bathroom. I could see a case of bottled water stashed in the corner.

  “This is great, Aeron.”

  “It’s sleeping bags in an abandoned train car.”

  “Learn to take a compliment, dickhead. It’s the apocalypse. We will not have houses every night.”

  “You deserve a house every night,” Aeron muttered. I don’t think he intended on me hearing that, but there were great acoustics in an abandoned train.

  “Aeron? Are you finally going to tell me the deal with your horse? It kills for you, and if you got swarmed when you slept here, why didn’t they eat the horse?”

  “I’ll tell you this, Ariel. There are only four horses like Meremoth in the entire world. Meremoth and his three brothers are the only horses of their kind. That is why you think he’s not a normal horse.”

  That made sense, but other things didn’t.

  “How do you make your sword just appear like that?”

  “Help me move these crates. We have to secure this place before we can sleep here.”

  I hated it when he did that, but I also didn’t want to get eaten alive, so I helped him move the crates to make a barrier around us. Aeron just pretended like I never asked him about his sword as he plopped down with his rucksack.

  “How do you feel about Cheetos and chicken soup for dinner? I’ve got some creamed corn, but I don’t know who actually likes that stuff.”

  “What are you going to eat?”

  “I’ve got ten more bags of Funyuns left. I would take the vegetable beef soup, unless you want it?”

  “Cheetos and chicken soup sound great.”

  “It’s cold, and we must eat it from the can.”

  “Aeron? I know. I won’t complain.”

  I was actually starving, but I’d never tell Aeron that. We had eggs for breakfast, and we only ate chips and water on our brief stop for lunch. I’d never tell Aeron that, and I’d be grateful for any food we had. There was no point in complaining about being hungry when the shit had gotten so bad outside. I knew Aeron was just as hungry as I was.

  We didn’t have any spoons. I ripped the pop-top off the can and just drank from it. I’d worry about bad manners later. I slurped up that cold can of soup like it was my last meal, then mowed my way through the Cheetos. I grabbed a bottle of water from the stash in the corner to wash it all down.

  I wouldn’t mind washing in a river. I was pretty sure I was ripe at this point, but what else was I going to do? I could stink, or I could get eaten.

  Aeron gathered the trash and stuck it in a corner. It was getting dark in the train car, and I was having difficulty seeing. I had no idea what all those bombs did to the atmosphere, but the weather had gotten weird. It was always sweltering hot during the day and so humid, it was like walking around in soup. When the sun went down, the temperature always dropped drastically.

  “We should get some sleep, Ariel. We have a better chance of avoiding the Rage Heads if we start early. The Rage Heads don’t sleep, but they go into a sort of a trance at night. It’s usually broken once the sun comes up. I learned that one the hard way.”

  “Good night, Aeron,” I said, crawling into my sleeping bag.

  I was about to wonder if I would have any more dream memories when Aeron pressed himself against my back and flung his leg and arm over me. What the fuck? He wasn’t drunk this time.

  “Aeron? What are you doing?”

  “Shut up. It gets cold in these cars at night, and you’ll get sick.”

  “Don’t tell me to shut up. You always act like you’re repulsed when you have to touch me. Now, you want to snuggle?”

  “I’m keeping you warm. That’s all.”

  Keeping me warm, my ass. This was the second time he held me like this while we slept, and he had his face buried in my neck like he was enjoying this. I could feel something pressing into my back like he was definitely enjoying this.

  Was it fucked up that I liked it too? There
was so much about Aeron I didn’t know, and I wasn’t all that sure I could trust him with that crazy horse, his mysterious sword, and all his secrets. But it was nice to be held. I felt safe like this. How fucked up. I wasn’t sure if I could trust Aeron and his plot to kill the president, but I felt totally safe with him holding me at night.

  And I wanted him to do it again. We fought all the time, and we just had a kindergarten teacher try to mediate for us, but this just worked.

  I’d fight with him until I found out the truth, but I wouldn’t mind sleeping like this every night.

  Chapter 17

  I

  don’t know how I slept through this. I woke up when Aeron started shaking me. I bolted awake and heard the sound of wails and hundreds of fingernails scrabbling against the side of the car. How did we both sleep through this?

  “We’re surrounded, Ariel. I have a plan. Can you run and carry a bag? If we leave these behind, we will be without food and water, and we must make a supply run. Most of the stores from here to the next stop are picked dry, and we have to have water.”

  I felt my heart beating in my throat. Shit just got real. I could hear them out there. It sounded like there were hundreds of them surrounding all sides of our car. How were we going to get out of this?

  “I can carry whatever the fuck you want me to if you get us out of here.”

  “Good. Grab that bag and follow me.”

  I grabbed the bag, and I would do whatever the fuck he wanted me to as long as I didn’t get eaten. Aeron put his finger over this lip like he wanted me to be quiet. He pointed upwards towards the roof, and I saw a hatch up at the top. He pulled some crates over so he could climb up and get the hatch open.

  “Come here. I’ll give you a boost and throw the bags up.”

  Aeron was a lot gentler with me as he gave me a boost through the hatch. I was not prepared for what I saw when I climbed on the roof of the car. I think every single zombie in this town was surrounding us, and they all wanted to eat us alive. They were wailing, and the sounds of their nails against the car were like nails on a chalkboard.

  Aeron tossed the bags up, and I pulled them next to me. Aeron hauled himself to the roof of the car. He saw the look I was giving him. I’d never seen this many Rage Heads in one place before. I don’t think we even brought this many down on Scooter’s gang. Aeron pulled me into a massive hug like he was a huggy person. It surprised me, but I really needed a hug right now.

  “Follow me, and I’ll get you out of this alive, Ariel.”

  I didn’t know much about Aeron. I had a bunch of weird theories about him and his horse, but there was one fact about Aeron I knew. He always kept me safe. Aeron could get us out of this or die trying.

  “I know, Aeron.”

  “This is the plan. We will run along the top of the roofs and jump across until we get to the caboose. Meremoth will wait for us.”

  “Won’t they chase us?”

  Aeron whipped off his shirt. I had no idea why, but I got an eyeful.

  “They hunt by smell and sound. I’m giving us a head start.”

  Aeron pulled a pocket knife from his back pocket and sliced his forearm. He rubbed his blood all over the shirt and tossed it into the rabid herd of Rage Heads.

  “Run, now!” he hissed.

  We took off running, flying over train cars. A few Rage Heads followed us, but most of them were still fighting over his bloody shirt. Don’t ask me how that horse got the memo to be waiting by the caboose, but there he was, just like Aeron said he would be.

  I wasn’t even going to ask or question that fucking horse at the moment. I was just grateful it could magically appear where needed. I followed Aeron down the ladder clutching Smurfette. Aeron was on the back of the car, killing the Rage Heads that followed us.

  I felt fingers brush my ankle. Oh, fuck no. I didn’t just run across the roof of a train just to die at the end. I let go of the ladder with one hand and bashed its brains in. I hopped on the platform and joined Aeron.

  Aeron practically threw me on Meremoth and jumped on behind me. He spurred the horse, and we took off running. We didn’t stop until we got to a road sign covered in graffiti. Meremoth abruptly stopped, and Aeron jumped down. He practically yanked me out of the saddle and started examining me.

  “Are you okay? Were you hurt at all?”

  “Aeron, I’m fine. I’m not hurt.”

  Aeron was holding my cheeks, and his gray eyes bored into mine. There was this look on his face like he didn’t know what to do next.

  “Fuck it,” he growled.

  Aeron pulled me to his chest and crushed his lips to mine. I didn’t fight it. It was weird. I kissed him back with just as much passion as he kissed me, and I loved every minute of it.

  That’s when I remembered him. I hadn’t met Aeron in person before. I couldn’t remember what we talked about, but I knew Aeron from a chatroom. He was my friend, and we were close. I talked to his team too. Well, I talked to Leif. I couldn’t remember talking to the other two people on his team.

  We were all friends. I liked them, and they liked me. But what the fuck did we talk about? Was I plotting to kill the president when someone kidnapped me and took me to that facility so they could wipe my memories?

  I touched Aeron’s cheek.

  “We met in a chatroom.”

  Aeron beamed at me and kissed me so hard, my knees went weak.

  “Yes! What else do you remember?”

  I shook my head. I wanted to give him something, anything, that I remembered more about him than just a chatroom. I didn’t even know what we talked about.

  “Just that we met there. There were three of us in the room. I knew your team before all this. I can’t remember your usernames, but I know you told me your real names at one point. I don’t know what we talked about. How did I meet you and Leif, but not the other two?”

  Aeron kissed my forehead and stroked my hair.

  “It’s a start. If I had known kissing you would have brought something back, I would have done it way before now. Keeping you at a distance was so hard. I couldn’t deal with it anymore. I could have lost you back there if my plan didn’t work.”

  “Aeron, if we had some online thing before, why were you acting like a dick to me before those zombies almost ate us? You were acting like just touching me grossed you out.”

  “Let’s get back on the road. It’s not safe to stay here, and we need to reach our next stop. I’ll explain, I promise.”

  This time, when Aeron put me on the back of his horse, it was like I was breakable. He climbed up behind me, and it was a lot more intimate when he wrapped his arm around my waist and rested it on my thigh. I didn’t speak when we started moving. I didn’t want to ruin whatever this was.

  “It was my fault you got taken, Speedy. We were all talking in the chatroom and planning. You were just supposed to disappear one day and meet us in Mexico. I was the one that didn’t want it to play out like that. I was the one that insisted on crossing the border to get you. I brought attention to you. You were supposed to meet me at your favorite restaurant. We would eat, and then I would take you back with me.

  “When I got to the restaurant, your car was there, but you were nowhere to be found. I searched everywhere and tried calling you. Your cell phone had already been disconnected. I didn’t think you had changed your mind or your car wouldn’t have been there. I went to your apartment, and the door was ajar. Someone had gone through your apartment looking for anything you might have left behind on the way out.

  “You didn’t meet Dice and Asher because they weren’t on the team yet. We really could have used their help to find you. You just disappeared the day we were supposed to meet, and there were no clues in your apartment. The day after you disappeared, the first signs of the rage mutation started showing up.”

  “How does an artist and softball player factor into any of this shit?”

  “I swear, when the time is right, I’ll explain everything. We’re making pro
gress, Speedy. The more you remember, the more I can tell you.”

  I smiled to myself.

  “Since you’re in a sharing mood, Meremoth is not a normal horse, is he?”

  Aeron chuckled.

  “No, he’s not, but that’s a story for another time.”

  I knew it.

  Chapter 19

  T

  he change in Aeron was pretty fucking drastic. He was still locked up tight when he came to telling me anything about him, and he was still acting like he didn’t have a last name. He wasn’t telling me anything about my past, and I got that part. I totally did. I got that it was the apocalypse and people were renaming themselves, but maybe it would trigger something if he would just tell me more about himself. I still had no idea what we talked about in that chatroom.

  Still, even though there were things that were a big nope with him when it came to a discussion, Aeron had become a chatty bastard since that kiss. He was pointing out things on our ride and explaining my surroundings instead of taking me on a ride through the unfamiliar and leaving me to figure it out.

  I could just make out something in the distance. It looked like a broken-down car and a woman holding what looked like a baby on the side of the road.

  “Look, Aeron. I think there’s someone in trouble up ahead.”

  Aeron’s hand tightened on my waist.

  “No, we’re the ones in trouble. That’s not a helpless woman on the side of the road with a broken-down car. She’s the bait, and she’s holding a weapon in those rags disguised as a baby. Her gang is probably in the bushes waiting to ambush us.”

  What a cynical fuck.

  “How do you know?”

  “People don’t survive on their own anymore. Rage Heads outnumber humans, and if you don’t have someone at your back, some living are even worse than the dead. The only way to survive now is to align yourself with a gang or community. She would be dead or a Rage Head now if it were just her and a baby.”