The Pale Rider

by J B Trepagnier

  “What happened to Derrick, the doorman?”

  “Well, I threatened the shit out of him to allow me inside when I realized you were missing, then I made him wet his pants, trying to question him who trashed your place. They did it without getting the broom treatment from Miss Mabel because I questioned her, too, when she stopped hitting me.”

  “Is he still there?”

  “He’s not. From what I understand, he died protecting the residents from a horde of Rage Heads before the gangs took to the streets and started fighting. Jade united all the gangs in California, and they’ve recruited. The new doorman is one of hers.”

  “Is he going to give me shit?”

  “Probably. Don’t give it back, or he won’t let you inside.”

  Aeron stopped in front of the building, and we both dismounted. Meremoth did that running off thing. We were in a more urban part of the city, and I couldn’t imagine where a huge fucking horse would sleep for the night, but Aeron seemed to think it wasn’t a problem, and he already admitted he wasn’t a normal horse.

  Aeron was right. The man at the door wasn’t someone I knew. I barely remembered Derrick, but I was sad he went out like that. I remembered us being friends. The man at the door must have been new because he didn’t recognize Aeron either. He barred our way carrying a substantial fucking machete.

  “Residents only.”

  “Her apartment is 5C.”

  “Bullshit. I’ve been watching this building for five months, and I’ve never seen either of you.”

  Aeron reached into one of his bags and pulled out his keyring. There was one of those fancy keys with a fox on it. The man at the door narrowed his eyes at it.

  “Where have you been for the last five months, then?”

  “Ariel?” I heard someone shriek. “Girl, get your ass over here and give an old woman a hug. I thought you were dead. George, push off. She lived here before all this, and I’ve been looking after her apartment. Aeron secured it after someone broke in. Let them in.”

  “You know these people, Miss Mabel?”

  “Yeah, I do. Let them in.”

  The man lowered his machete and let us through. Miss Mabel wrapped her arm around my waist and led me inside.

  “You don’t know how good it is to see you, girl. You haven’t kept up the pink in your hair. Did you want me to do it? You always said I was the only one you trusted to do your hair. I might still have some pink left.”

  I knew there might be answers in my old apartment, but my gut was telling me I needed to sit and visit with Miss Mabel. She needed it just as much as I did. From what I could remember, we had been close. I did her grocery shopping, and she did my hair.

  “Let’s just sit and chat. We need to catch up.”

  Miss Mabel pat my arm.

  “If I had known you would show up out of the blue today randomly, I would have had your favorite cookies waiting. Luckily yours don’t involve chocolate because they don’t give that out in your weekly basket. The only way to get chocolate now is to trade sex for it. I wouldn’t mind getting laid, but I’d have to question some of these children who will trade chocolate for sex with a granny.”

  “I can get you chocolate with no strings, Miss Mabel,” Aeron said.

  She just let out a little grunt.

  “You might be built like a stallion and brought my Speedy home safely, but you aren’t getting chocolate here without dicking someone.”

  I was trying so hard not to laugh. I ended up snorting, and then I laughed at the snort. I could see why I was friends with this woman. She was sassy, and she could even put Aeron in his place. He was the color of an eggplant, and he was usually unflappable.

  “How about you both come over for dinner? I’ve got fresh bread cooling, and I got some lovely vegetables with my eggs in my box this week. I made a quiche.”

  “We don’t want to eat all your food.”

  “Nonsense. I might not be able to get chocolate, but I get plenty of food. The world might be ending, and people have gone feral, but we don’t stand for that in California. A lot of the people who lived in this building before you went missing are dead. Aeron here got them to agree to keep your apartment as it was, and I’ve been tending to it. Most of the people who got assigned the empty apartments here were people that got injured in the war.

  “This building didn’t take a lot of damage, and there’s that medical clinic on the corner. They send me extra food because they know I host potlucks for the entire building sometimes. It’s not the same people, but this building is just as close as it used to be.”

  Miss Mabel had a ground-floor apartment. I was glad she didn’t have to deal with that staircase we passed. As soon as I stepped inside, I had a massive flood of memories. Her apartment was homey and full of knickknacks. I remembered this place. I spent a lot of time here.

  I moved in here as a fifteen-year-old runaway with stolen money for my deposit and no job. Miss Mabel caught me in the hall with my one backpack struggling to unlock the door and saw right through me and just adopted me right there on the spot. I think I spilled more of my secrets to her than I ever did to any of my girls on the softball team.

  I couldn’t help it. I was so glad she was still alive. I flung my arms around her neck and gave her a huge hug. I didn’t see my mother in any of my memories, and I just got this feeling she wasn’t around when I was growing up. Miss Mabel filled that role for me, and that was why I’d never moved out of this apartment.

  “Damn, Speedy. Not so hard. I missed you too.”

  I wiped the tears from my eyes.

  “Miss Mabel, so many of my memories are gone, but I remember the first day we met. I remember how close we were. I was so nervous about coming back here and not remembering anything. I’m so glad you’re still here.”

  She pat my back.

  “It will take more than walking corpses and World War III to kill Mabel Eastman. I found this sexy drink of water going through your things the day you told me you would be going away for a little while. I gave him what for with my broom until he told me you were supposed to meet him and went missing. I helped him go through your apartment and clean it up. Your laptop was missing, and so was your cell phone. We both think you would have taken those with you when you left, so they would have had those when they grabbed you. We still don’t know what they were after.”

  I shrugged.

  “I don’t either. I don’t even remember what my apartment looks like.”

  “Let’s not talk about that right now. Let’s celebrate Aeron found you and brought you home safe.”

  Miss Mabel’s entire apartment smelled like fresh-baked bread, and her quiche looked delicious. We started serving ourselves, but I’d have to break the news to her we weren’t staying—this kind of changed things. I found a home in California when I ran. Miss Mabel was my family, and she was still here.

  I could stay here. California seemed relatively safe, considering what was going on with the rest of the world. Miss Mabel helped me find my first job and enroll in college. She brought me to set up my first bank account and taught me how to balance a checkbook. She had been there for me when I was totally lost.

  I had this feeling when I agreed to go to Mexico with Aeron and Leif, I had every intention of coming back. Miss Mabel had to be in her nineties now. She made it through the apocalypse and was still taking care of people. It was my turn to take care of her.

  “Aeron, I—”

  “Let me stop you right there, Ariel,” Miss Mabel said. “I know what the next words out of your mouth will be. You never could hide anything from me. You told me you were going to Mexico because your father was planning something big and you had to stop him. I know all about what that evil man did to you. The day after you went missing, the shit started hitting the fan. You had a plan with Aeron to stop him before you went missing. Now that he’s found you, you can’t rest yet.

  “The Ariel I know wouldn’t give up and hide in California over an old lady. She wo
uld fight to get her memories back and beat her father.”

  “What if I do beat him? What if I come back to California and you aren’t here? Someone needs to be taking care of you.”

  “I say this with all kindness. Shut the fuck up, Ariel. The day I turn into a helpless old lady who needs a nursemaid, I want a bullet to the head. If I die while you’re off taking care of your father, I’ll be an angel on your shoulder looking out for you.”

  I took in a breath and tried not to let the tears fall. I still couldn’t remember my apartment, but I remembered everything about Miss Mabel. She married her high school sweetheart, and he died in a tragic accident before their first anniversary. They didn’t have any children, and she never remarried. It didn’t seem fair that I wouldn’t get to stay here with her to make her life more comfortable.

  “But—”

  “No buts, Ariel. I made Aeron tell me everything. I know his friend can end some of this with your blood. That is way more important than hanging out in my apartment with me. I don’t like them as much as I like you, but I have friends and people who check in on me here.”

  “It’s just not fair.”

  “Young lady, you got kidnapped, your memories are going, it’s the end of the world, and that is what you think is unfair? None of this is fair. We do what we have to. Get your shit together and stop the apocalypse.”

  “You’re right. You’d better be here when I get back. I’ll be furious at you if you aren’t.”

  “That’s my girl. Now I know your apartment better than Aeron does. Now that we are done eating, let’s go see if we can get some of your memories back.”

  Well, here goes nothing.

  Chapter 26

  M

  y apartment was right next door. Miss Mabel and Aeron both had a key. Aeron was fiddling with the lock. I remembered that first day I tried to unlock the door. Miss Mabel stopped me in the hall and told me I had to jiggle it because the lock stuck. I guess no one decided the apocalypse warranted a lock change.

  I stepped into my apartment with my eyes closed. Who was I before this aside from a tattoo artist who played softball with an evil father? Did I decorate the place in some sort of gaudy décor? Did I have music in this apartment that would embarrass new me? Aeron held one hand, and Miss Mabel held the other.

  “Open your eyes, Ariel,” Aeron said.

  I cracked my eyes open. I had painted my walls a smokey gray, and it looked like I had gone for some vintage vibe with my furniture. I covered every surface in art. There were paintings and sculptures all over the place. The only wall that wasn’t covered in pictures had a wall to wall bookcase that was full of books.

  I was getting little flashes. This place was a total shithole when I moved in. There was a dingy floral wallpaper and shag carpet that was leftover from the seventies. Miss Mabel made some phone calls and got me hooked up with a few people in the art scene. When my art started selling, I had the carpet pulled up and hardwood put in. I ripped the wallpaper down and repainted. All my furniture was carefully from thrift stores.

  “Have my walls always been that color?”

  Miss Mable just laughed.

  “Sweetie, you painted the walls a different color whenever your mood changed, and sometimes, you could be a real moody bitch. You went through your blue period on these walls.”

  “Is all this art mine?”

  “The art on your walls changed too. You hung it in the living room until it was time to take it to the gallery to be sold. If I said I liked one, you always wanted to give it to me. I have several of your paintings in my apartment. The ones you liked too much to sell are in your bedroom.”

  I studied the paintings harder. They were themed. It was those fucking horses again. They were painted differently than what I tattooed on the pumpkins, but they still looked like fierce war horses. They were the same colors I chose for the pumpkin, and one looked suspiciously like Meremoth.

  I narrowed my eyes at Aeron.

  “Why was I working on those horses, and why was the first thing I tattooed on those pumpkins when I went in a trance four horses? You said Meremoth wasn’t a normal horse, and there were only four like him. One of those horses looks exactly like your horse.”

  “Ariel, you always painted what was going on in your life unless it was a commissioned tattoo.”

  Miss Mabel smacked Aeron on the back of the head. She hit him pretty hard too. God, I loved that woman.

  “If you won’t tell her, I will.”

  “You will scare her.”

  “Oh, shut up. I’ve known this girl longer than you have. She doesn’t scare easily. If she hasn’t figured it out yet, she has a right to know. It could probably help your happy ass right now.”

  “Someone better tell me, or I have a feeling I can throw a pretty epic temper tantrum.”

  Aeron ran his fingers through his hair and started pacing.

  “You know how long I looked for her, right? When I finally found her, she didn’t even remember her own name, much less me. I can’t just tell her everything without hurting her. I’ve been spending this entire journey here trying to ease her into everything and gaining her trust. You could ruin everything, Mabel.”

  I blocked Aeron’s path. I crossed my arms and tried to stare him down.

  “If you want me to trust you, then you will let her tell me why I keep painting those horses. If you want to keep making a stink about it, you can turn around, walk out that door, and go to Mexico without me.”

  “Ariel—”

  “No, Aeron! Every time I’ve had a memory, you’ve explained things to me and given me more of my past. I haven’t been hurt. Those horses came from somewhere when I tattooed that pumpkin, and now, they are all over my apartment. I want to know what it means!”

  Aeron grumbled and plopped on my couch. This huge, horse riding, sword-wielding man was pouting like a child.

  “I would tell you when you had more of your memories back,” he muttered.

  “You said you tattooed these horses on a pumpkin? What in hell were you doing tattooing pumpkins, Ariel?” Miss Mabel demanded.

  “Well, Jade wanted a tattoo from me, but I didn’t remember how. She sacrificed one pumpkin from her basket for me to practice on.”

  “Let me guess. Your vision blurred, and you had no idea what you were drawing until you finished.”

  “Yes, exactly. I had no idea I had drawn those four horses until I finished.”

  “That’s how you created all your art, Ariel. Until you learned to disguise it better, so it wasn’t as obvious, a lot of things in your paintings eventually came true. It’s why you ran away from your father. After he stopped bringing you to that lab, there was a room he would lock you in. It was a padded room with a drawing desk. He’d lock you in there after school and terrorize you until you drew something like it was some sort of exact science. You made him a rich man until you ran away.”

  Why didn’t I see any of that shit when I was getting flashes? And how exactly was I drawing the future in these trances? How did something in my blood cause the Rage mutation? I really needed a fucking drink.

  “If Meremoth is not a normal horse, then I guess I’m not a normal girl either, am I?”

  Miss Mabel clapped her hands.

  “We need supplies. Aeron, go back to my apartment and get the cigar box on top of the fridge. I know exactly how to handle this.”

  I was glad someone did because I sure as hell didn’t. I could remember that I talked to Miss Mabel about everything. Fuck, we even talked about my sex life. I trusted her enough to tell her about the visions in the past.

  “Did we talk when I painted these horses? Did we ever figure out what it meant?”

  “You painted those right around the time you met Aeron and Leif in that chatroom. You kept asking if I thought they were creeps, and you should ban them from the softball game. Then, you got to know them. You became obsessed with the Book of Revelations trying to figure out why you kept painting different versions of
those four horses. Those four horses are from the bible.”

  “But from what I can remember, I wasn’t religious at all.”

  “No, child, you weren’t. You took the Lord’s name in vain all the time, and the fucking church would have exploded if you set foot inside without getting doused in Holy Water first. But those visions of yours came from somewhere, and I don’t think it was from down below.”

  “So, the horses are important. I don’t remember a fucking thing about the Book of Revelations.”

  “No, but I do. I watched it play out. That right there is the Black Horse. His rider brings pestilence and famine. We saw that with the Rage mutation. One rider down. The Red Horse is said to bring war. We already had that. World War III wiped several countries off the map. The White Horse is supposed to bring conquest. After governments started falling during the wars, people were swooping in and seizing power. Entire countries were getting absorbed into other countries and renamed. The Pale Horse brings death.

  “Rage Heads outnumber humans and food is scarce unless you happen to live somewhere people decided to work together instead of fight. There are other states like California, where they have rebuilt homes, are breeding livestock, and planting. They’ve walled up the entire state to keep the Rage Heads out, and their rules may even be stricter than Jade’s. It’s not everywhere because some people don’t want a community, they want to rule the roost, but they are out there.”

  Aeron had a pale horse that wasn’t a normal horse. He said several times his specialty was death. Could I trust Aeron? How did I know he was trying to get me to Mexico so his friend could figure out why the AB negative people didn’t turn with the rest of the population when they poisoned the water?

  Suddenly, my traveling companion, who I was pretty sure I was starting to have feelings for, was starting to seem pretty dangerous. I knew him before in that chatroom, and I agreed to go to Mexico with him for some reason, but he was in that chatroom just to get to me. He sought me out and planned for us to go to our private room, eventually.