The Pale Rider

by J B Trepagnier

  I really didn’t. I didn’t want to know one of those tests on me somehow paved the way for those corpses with red eyes who ate people. But I had to. I didn’t have the option not to. I had to know how I fit into all of this.

  “Yes, they do. Isaiah had been looking to create something like the Rage mutation for a long time.”

  I closed my eyes and braced myself.

  “Did he succeed when he started testing on me?”

  “Not right away. It had to be manipulated first.”

  I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, and I was trying not to let them fall.

  “The AB negative people who ended up immune are because I’m AB negative, right?”

  “Yes. But I can finally tell you this, Speedy. Your blood was used to create the Rage mutation. Leif has a theory he can take a blood sample from you to reverse it. If he can put it into a drone and release it into the air, the Rage Heads will all revert to corpses and drop dead on the spot.

  “After we kill Isaiah, Dice will swoop in and get rid of the other dictators in power. We’ll put the countries back to what they used to be. Asher can handle some more power-hungry militant gangs that like the status quo.”

  “How do you plan on doing all that with just the four of you? Why don’t you start doing that now and rally the people to help you storm the White House?”

  Aeron looked grim.

  “Because the Rage mutation and World War III is not the worst thing Isaiah can do. It’s just two parts of his plan. I can’t explain just yet, Ariel, but it can get much worse than this.”

  He didn’t need to paint me a picture. I couldn’t imagine what could be worse than this. If Isaiah was planning something, based on what I could remember of him, I knew he could accomplish it.

  I didn’t know how Aeron intended to accomplish this with just the four of them. I just knew my father used my blood to create this mutation, and Leif might be able to use it to end this.

  I was now totally on board with killing the President of the United States.

  Chapter 22

  I

  didn’t even get the chance to process the fact that something in my blood managed to animate corpses and turn them into cannibals. Someone knocked on the door. I didn’t care who it was. I wanted Aeron to ignore it and continue this conversation. Like he would ever do that. If there was a way of getting out of explaining things to me, he would take it.

  He jumped to his feet and nearly lost his towel.

  “That’s probably dinner. I know you want to keep talking, but we should take hot meals where we can get them. It’s better than the mystery cans we’ve been eating, and we won’t have to make any supply runs while we are in California. We can talk and eat. I promise.”

  Aeron was a lot of things, but he’d always kept his word when he made promises. I fell back on the pillow and waited for dinner. I ended up bolting back up when I heard the man in the room.

  “Jade wants to see your friend when you pass through Sacramento. She has a request.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “She saw your work at a convention. She says you won the top prize. She wants a tattoo.”

  “Does she know I don’t remember how to give one?”

  “She’s aware. She says it’s all muscle memory, and it will come back to you. She expects you both in Sacramento. She has the equipment. You just need to draw the art and tattoo her skin. I have your dinner. I hope it’s to your liking.”

  I would have taken hot anything over the cold canned shit we had been eating, but what the fuck? I was supposed to tattoo the gang leader of California with no memories? I already knew if I fucked this up, we were both going to get banished from California. I was all on board with killing Isaiah and helping Aeron and his friends fix this, but I still wanted to come back and live here when this was over.

  Based on how my life was going since I woke up from that coma, I would give a gang leader a shitty tattoo and get banished from California. Who wanted me to tattoo them in the middle of all this shit?

  “It’s fine. Tell her Speedy will be happy to do it,” the traitorous bastard in a towel said.

  Did he want to get us banned from California? Because that’s how you get yourself banned from California. The man with our food disappeared, and as much as my empty stomach was growling, I had to ask Aeron what the fuck he was thinking.

  “Aeron, I don’t remember how to tattoo anyone! I’m not even sure I can draw a straight line.”

  “Jade doesn’t take no for an answer, Speedy. Art is in your blood. You could draw with a blindfold on. In fact, I think if we could find a pencil and paper and just have you draw with your eyes closed, you might draw a memory. Jade saw your work, and now she wants it permanently on her body. Doesn’t that make you feel good a little? We will be banished if you don’t do this.”

  “She will murder us if I permanently fuck up her body, Aeron.”

  “You won’t, Ariel. I have this feeling it’ll all work out. Don’t you want to eat? I can hear your stomach from here.”

  Yeah, I was hungry, but could I have five minutes to lose my shit? I thought I was handling the end of the world pretty well so far, but that was because Aeron had this big plan, so I was following his lead. I had a healthy respect for the fact that I’d been in a coma since this started and had no idea what the fuck was going on. I was happy to let Aeron make all the decisions because so far, it had kept me alive.

  What the fuck had my life been like before that someone I’d never met before knew who I was, knew I didn’t remember shit, and wanted me to ink their skin permanently? Shit, was I famous before?

  Aeron handed me a Tupperware container of food. It was still warm.

  “A few things about California now. You can get takeout, but it’s served in reusable containers, and they expect you to return them. It’s not like anyone is getting paper or Styrofoam containers anymore. Almost all the food is vegetarian. You can still get eggs, but they are focusing on breeding farm animals for now. They only kill them for meat when they are too old to breed.

  “A lot of farms got destroyed by bombs, so building up livestock with the animals that survived has been an ongoing process. When they do slaughter an animal, they use every part. People have learned to eat things like brains and tongues because sometimes, it’s the only meat they can get.”

  I looked down at the Tupperware container in my hands.

  “Is there mystery meat in here?”

  “No, Speedy. People that could cook came together and started opening places to eat. They work with the farms, and they get provided grain, vegetables, and milk. You’d be amazed what they’d been able to do.”

  “I am amazed, Aeron! This place is amazing. That’s why I don’t want to get banished because I fucked Jade up.”

  “Forget the tattoo for tonight. Look what I got you.”

  Aeron looked like a little boy. He was giddy with excitement. I think he was more excited about what was in this Tupperware container than when we binge ate nachos. I might as well see what it was.

  I pulled the lid off and resting on a bed of lettuce was falafel and tzatziki sauce. My mouth watered at the sight.

  “You talked about this being your favorite food in the chatroom. It was right up there with Cheetos. When we were supposed to meet for me to take you to Mexico, you were supposed to show me the best falafel in Los Angeles. You ate it so much while you were chatting with us that Leif and I used to tease you about it.”

  I couldn’t deal with Aeron. As much as I didn’t like him at first, he ended up being so sweet. He could still be a grumpy fuck sometimes, but who manages to keep finding a girl’s favorite food during the end of the world? The fact that he knew and kept trying was making my anxiety slip away about that tattoo I had to give.

  Aeron went out of his way to do this for me, and I didn’t want to spend tonight making him talk me down from some ledge. I decided just to chill. I needed to be kinder to Aeron because he was going above and beyond for me
.

  I leaned back against the pillows.

  “What did you get?”

  “Stuffed peppers and falafel. That tzatziki sauce is fresh from the farm. I got extra for both of us.”

  “Aeron? I’m sorry I gave you a hard time before. You’re pretty great.”

  “No, I’m sorry, Ariel. I was so happy to find you that I wanted to kiss you right then and there, but you remembered nothing. I couldn’t risk telling you anything because of your memories, and I couldn’t touch you the way I wanted because I didn’t want to run you off. It put me in a horrible mood, and you took the brunt of it.”

  “Truce?”

  Aeron gave me this pained look. He wanted more than that. He wanted me to remember, and he wanted the same relationship we had in that chatroom. I couldn’t give him that yet, but I could try.

  “I know you can’t tell me everything we talked about in that chatroom, but tell me insignificant things, like my falafel obsession. What are things that we talked about that were just us?”

  Aeron gave me this sad smile.

  “For starters, you got Leif and I hooked on this insane cartoon on YouTube. Someone released a new episode every week. You would rave about every episode and kept insisting we watch it at least once. Honestly, we kept putting it off because when you would talk about it, it sounds like something Oscar Wilde would have written on LSD. Finally, we got curious and watched it. We got hooked. We would discuss the latest episode in the chatroom when we weren’t talking about your father.”

  “I was a falafel eating, cartoon watching, tattoo artist who named her baseball bat before all this?”

  “You were an award-winning artist, Ariel. Your tattoos won at several conventions, and your paintings hung in galleries. You’re allowed to be eccentric.”

  “What else did we talk about?”

  “You were a huge flirt. You demanded photos from both Leif and I. You hit on both of us all the time. Leif can’t wait to meet you too.”

  Well, didn’t me before I lost my memories just open up a bunch of cans of shit? If Aeron kissed me out of the blue, was Leif going to do the same? My blood started this entire mess. Was some internet flirtation I had before all this going to fuck things up because Leif and Aeron decided they didn’t want to work together anymore because I ruined their friendship?

  “Aeron, I’m sorry if I led the two of you on. I don’t want to break up your team because I teased both of you.”

  Aeron laughed in my face, and I had no idea what was so funny.

  “Oh, Ariel. It was far more than just teasing. You were our online girlfriend, and we were both totally fine with that. We chatted in that room, but you also had our phone numbers. We texted and talked on the phone all the time.”

  Well, wasn’t I just a kinky little minx before?

  “So, we had this whole ménage thing going on online? How is that going to work once we are all together? I remember nothing about any of you. I’m growing fond of you now that I’m getting to know you, but I might not feel the same when I get my memories back.”

  “I know, Speedy. That’s why I’m not trying to press you for anything.”

  “You’re sitting there all hot and half-naked in the towel that keeps looking like it’s about to fall off because you aren’t pressing for anything?”

  Aeron gave me this evil grin.

  “I didn’t say I would not show off. How is your dinner?”

  “I could see myself raving about falafel in a chatroom. Have I told you how sweet you are for getting these for me?”

  Aeron winked at me.

  “I wouldn’t mind hearing it again.”

  I already liked Aeron way more than I should. I apparently liked Leif too when I met him in that chatroom.

  What the fuck would happen if we finally made it to Mexico?

  Chapter 23

  I

  am in my bedroom in front of a computer. I am in my twenties, and I’m in a group chat for fastpitch softball. A stranger enters the room. I know everyone on most of the teams, and I know most of the fans who come to our games. I don’t recognize this person. My stalker radar goes on high. I think every single girl on all the leagues has dealt with a deranged fan at one point. Girl’s fastpitch softball caught on and had a rabid fan base.

  This new user went by the name HorsemanD. He isn’t focusing on one player, and he seems friendly. Still, my hackles are raised. My team all dealt with stalkers the same way, and we just had to put a man in his place because he wouldn’t leave Pokey alone. This could all be some ruse. No one knew about this chatroom except my team and fans we trusted. How did this newbie find us?

  I question him. He pretends to be new to the area and wants to see a game. That sets off even more red flags. The only way he could have found this room would be if he had already been to a game, and one of us on the team let him in on how to get here.

  I wasn’t standing for this. I wasn’t letting another creep skeeze on my teammates. I click a few keys and get his IP address. I run a search. Why is someone in Mexico in our chatroom? I send him a private message demanding an answer.

  “I’m not in California now, but I will be. I do want to see a game.”

  “Bullshit. The only way to find this room is because one of us gives it to you.”

  “Not if you are looking for it. Just like you dug around on me and found out I’m really in Mexico, I found your chatroom when I was looking for something like it.”

  “Why are you so interested in fastpitch softball, Tiger?”

  “Are you this suspicious of everyone interested in coming to a game?”

  “When they aren’t even in California and find our secret chatroom, then yes.”

  “How about this? You can personally vet me. I was planning on bringing a friend. We’ll still be in Mexico for several months. Get to know both of us, and if you don’t like us, we’ll disappear, and when we get to California, we won’t go anywhere near a softball game.”

  “And if I say no?”

  “We’ll both find out your jersey number and show up to a game wearing nothing but tutus and your jersey number painted on us.”

  I find myself laughing. I didn’t know shit about this guy or his friend, but I have this feeling he would keep his promise. I almost want to tell him no, just to see him do it.

  “Fine. But we need our own chatroom. I don’t know if you joined to stalk one of the other players, and if I think it’s me you’re after, I’ll have you banned from the game. What’s your name?”

  “Aeron. My friend is Leif. Call our chatroom Revelations.”

  “You aren’t some weird-ass person trying to save my soul, are you?”

  “Not at all. We are just two awesome guys who are fans of softball.”

  “I have a feeling you are weird.”

  “You have no idea.”

  I bolted to a sitting position. Aeron groaned and tried to pull me back into his arms. I poked him in the side like he did to me, and I hated it when he did.

  “Revelations! You found our secret chatroom and pretended to be into softball. We made that chatroom so I could make sure you weren’t stalkers.”

  Aeron grinned and stretched on the bed.

  “We totally would have shown up to your game in tutus to get your attention.”

  I started giggling. “You might have met the bad end of Smurfette. It sounds like you’ve always been looking for me.”

  “Isaiah has been on our radar for a long time. Way before Armilus started pitching their water supplement. He kept you this big secret. He kept you close, but no one knew he had a daughter. His name is not on your birth certificate, and you never had his last name. All of your schools just thought you were his ward.

  “He slipped up. He’s a crafty asshole, but there’s no firewall Leif and I can’t get through. All the data from the clinic you were at as a child was on a cloud server. He sequenced his DNA and one other person. We looked at the DNA and knew right then and there he had a child somewhere.

>   “This was after you ran away, so it took some time to find you. We built a dossier with what we could find out about you. We decided the best way to approach you would be that chatroom. We didn’t want to bring Isaiah’s attention back to you by approaching you right off.”

  “What’s with all of you and Isaiah? You’re younger than he is. I know he’s evil because he raised me. How did he get on your radar?”

  Aeron looked uncomfortable. He was about to sidestep the truth again because he either didn’t think I could handle it, or he’d already told me this, and telling it to me again could trigger my memories and hurt me.

  “You could say Isaiah Nahum is my mortal enemy.”

  “Then what am I here for? Are you just going to kill us together when we get to the White House?”

  Aeron grabbed me and yanked me back down to my chest. He squeezed me so hard, I couldn’t breathe.

  “Never think that, Ariel. When we found out he had a child, we knew he experimented on you. What we managed to find out was that you got away. Isaiah left you alone for years, but we also knew he was moving pieces for something big. We were trying to find you to protect you from him.

  “We approached you in that chatroom because we wanted you to feel safe enough to come to Mexico and hide. Leif and I weren’t counting on us all hitting it off. Yeah, I guess you could say we fell for you, even though we hadn’t met in person. We told you the truth, and you agreed to come. I was the one that jumped the fucking gun and alerted Isaiah the three of us were coming together. If I hadn’t crossed the border to get you, Isaiah would never have known. We would have had time for you to cross to Mexico, where we could’ve kept you safe from him. It’s my fucking fault you don’t have your memories, Ariel.”

  I buried my face in Aeron’s neck and squeezed him back.

  “Aeron, it’s his fucking fault. He was the one who did all this, not you.”

  “You don’t understand, Ariel. It’s my job to stop him. When we found out about you, it was up to us to keep you safe.”