by Janden Hale
Dan coughs and wipes the sweat from his face. This is a little bit more than he bargained for. He wishes Dressler were here right about now. Or his uncle. He wonders if he should try to go get the Judge.
“There are things better left in the dark. We knew no one would understand, that’s why we kept the secret. Hidden.” She points at the cage. “We do what others cannot. Terrible things, necessary things. It is how we maintain what was left of the old world.”
Amy spits at her, fury boiling to the surface. “You fucking cunt. Who gave you the right to do this? This is my son.”
“Would you rather he be dead? Surely you’ve thought about it. Wondered if there’s a way for your child to not have to die. You’re not the only one with children. So you must understand.”
“Don’t speak to me about understanding.”
“The others couldn’t bear to let go. The Birkmans. Hector and Maria. Curtis. Shondra. Jack. Don’t judge them.”
“Fuck the others, I don’t care what they do. I’m talking to you, you wretched witch. You don’t even have any children. My judgement is for you alone.”
Dan whips his head towards Amy. “What? Am I missing something?”
They both ignore him. “No, it’s true. But Ed. He only wanted to give me the things I could not have. He wanted to give me a child. Can you understand that at least?”
“Shut up. Just shut up. You’re sick. You’re all sick. Are they keeping...children...like this, too?”
Jane Landry nods.
Amy shakes her head, then lets out a forced laugh, then starts pacing back and forth over the span of less than a meter’s breadth. She seems to have gathered some energy. “Look at you, raving about all these secrets. Everyone will know what you’ve done, I’ll make sure of it. And since we’re all baring our souls, maybe it’s my turn. You don’t even know, do you?” Amy pauses to let Jane contemplate. A little smirk pulls Amy’s lips to the side. She wants to relish this moment for as long as possible. Even Dan can’t take it. He raises his eyebrows. What is she talking about?
“Know what?” Jane answers, her own anger thickening. Several thumps from outside the house join the knocking of the cage. Now Jane smiles a little, stepping down one rung. She points upstairs.
“What was that?” Dan asks. Janes looks relieved and it makes Dan uncomfortable.
Jane’s smile widens. “You shouldn’t have meddled. You should have stayed away. In bed where you belong. But now we have to do something, damage control. Lest you two go and run your mouths off to the others.” She steps down another rung. “Half the town we kept it from. We had to. It’s all part of what’s necessary. We do what others cannot.”
“Clearly you can’t kill them. Clearly you can’t do what’s necessary. You’re full of shit, Mrs. Landry.” He makes a half-assed attempt at gesturing like he’s dropping a mic.
Jane diverts her attention to Dan, who immediately stops trying to gesture. His face is starting to lose color. He should be in bed. “Will you shut up? You have no idea what you’re talking about. You have no idea what we are capable of. No idea. The things we have done. But for a good purpose. Anyway, you’ll see soon enough. It’s nothing personal. It has to be done. I was considering letting the two of you go, letting you leave. I’m afraid that’s no longer an option.” She points again above them. “Too late now.”
“What are you raving about now, you fucking lunatic?” Amy asks.
“Edward. I’m talking about my husband. They’re back and now it’s too late.”
Dan doesn’t want to wait around to find out, his only desire is to get to his uncle’s. He lunges for the stairwell, but he has no energy. Jane intercepts him and shoves him over, ploughing him through a stack of boxes. Apple cinnamon candles go flying. Jane tries to follow up with where he landed, but Amy is already there, pulling her away from him by the hair and the two of them struggle together to the chorus of the twitcher’s new groans. Dan gets up and attempts to intervene, but he is too weak at this point to be of much use. Ed and the others file in through the stairwell carrying a hooded man who’s tied up. They deposit this other guy on the floor in the corner. Ed and Jack Rohn, whose nose is broken and swollen, tear Amy away from Jane and Ed turns to address his wife.
“What happened?” Ed demands.
“Everything is shot to hell on this end, but I have it under control. Is that him?” She nods toward the man they brought in.
Ed looks over at Dressler, hunched over against the wall with his hands and feet still tied behind his back. “We got him. But he got Curtis. Curtis is dead.”
“I told you he was dangerous and not to be trusted! Didn’t I?”
“He was cornered.” Cornered people are usually more dangerous. He doesn’t feel like explaining any Sun Tzu shit to her right now. “We caught up with him and followed him into Soquili. So he won’t be a problem anymore. We got the meds you need and now he’s no longer a threat. Problem solved. Hell, we even came up with two more out at the Pilot. For the Birkmans and Hector and Maria.” His eyes shift to the cage when he says that. They all have the cages. They all have the padlocks.
“Good. What about these two?” Jane asks.
Her husband looks at Dan and then at Amy. Whatever happened has just thrown everything into tremendous disarray. Clearly these two know what they’ve all been keeping in their basements, and that’s a problem. But Amy. He doesn’t mind handling situations and problems, but he doesn’t want to have to handle one involving her.
There must be another way. He hates having to make the hard decisions, always has. He’d always relied on Jane for those. She can make the decisions he cannot bring himself to make. He doesn’t feel like enduring the stress of having to make another decision tonight, not after everything. He’ll need to deal with the fallout from Curtis dying for weeks. His wife, Shondra, had been inconsolable the whole way here. They had to put her in the lead vehicle to avoid her killing Dressler. He needs Dressler alive for this. Caden won’t eat them when they’re already dead.
Ed looks again at Amy and clamps his eyes closed for a second. She’s staring at him, crying. Her face is pleading with him. He doesn’t want what has to happen.
“Ed,” Amy says. “Please.”
He opens his eyes. Amy mouths his name. She mouths it again and then speaks. “Ed, tell her.” She mouths the word please again, her lips connected by a thin film of spit that bubbles around the corners.
“Tell me what?” Jane demands.
“Tell her, Ed.”
Ed looks at his wife. Dan looks at Amy.
“Tell me what, dammit?”
“He’s our son,” Amy says, pointing at the cage. Dan coughs into his sleeve a bunch of times.
Jane glares at Ed, who is staring at the floor. “Is it true?”
Ed nods. “Yes.”
“And that’s why you brought him here, isn’t it?” Jane wipes the froth from her lips. She puts her hands on her hips. “Well I can’t say I’m surprised.” She looks at Amy, shaking her head. “You’re not the first one, honey. He’s a rake, always has been.” She thinks back to what happened with the paralegal after she found out she couldn’t have kids. That woman had only been the first. There had been others, she’s certain of it, though she could never prove it.
Jane smacks her lips and taps her foot on the floor. She glares at Ed. “Did you think I’d be so stupid to think you’d stop at that whore all those years ago? Look at me. Did you tell her about Mike, then?” She grins now. “Go on. Tell her.”
Dan is trying to follow every bit of this exchange. Everyone is telling everyone everything. He can’t keep track of any of it. Now there’s more? Involving Amy’s husband? Amy’s knees buckle, already guessing at the answer. Ed hangs his head.
“Mike was the first, honey,” Jane says, cocking her head back at the cage, which is still teeming with activity from Caden. Amy dou
bles over and vomits, thinking of what’s going to happen to Dressler. Envisioning what they did to Mike. She wonders if they told Mike that Caden was Ed’s son before he died.
“Look at the mess you’ve made now, mayor.” Jane only ever calls him that when she’s pissed. The word is more appropriate now than ever. “What are you going to do? Oh, that’s right. You need me to make the call. Just like always.” She focuses on Dan, then Amy, the bound Dressler, the cage.
“Jane.”
“Don’t Jane me. This is your mess. Someone has to clean it up or everything we’ve worked for—everything we’ve done, all those terrible things—will be for naught. All the people we’ve taken from Soquili. The evil people we warn about, the rovers.” She looks at Dan. “Why do you think we were never attacked? Did you think it was because of our walls?” She laughs at the thought. “No. We are the rovers,” she says, jabbing herself in the chest with her index finger. She points to Ed, to Jack, to the other two. “We are the evil we spread rumors about.” She wags her finger. “But. When evil deeds are done for good purpose, are they still evil? Not to my mind. They’re justified. Circumstance can force the hand.” She glances at the cage again, then waves a hand at two of the others who had helped bring Dressler in. She points at Dan and Amy. “Take one of them to Curtis and Shondra’s house and the other to Jack’s.”
She glares at the men as they hesitate, unsure what to do. They know they shouldn’t hesitate too long or they’ll end up with the same fate. It’s the fate Ed Landry had threatened them with if any of them didn’t keep their mouths shut. The threat worked like a charm.
“Well? Go on.” Jane motions for them to get on with it.
One of them seizes Amy by the arm and she tries to shirk him off, but his grip is too strong. The other lifts Dan up by the armpits.
“Wait. No. Please.” Dan starts coughing again, which turns into gagging. Both Dan and Amy continue to protest as they’re hauled away up the stairs.
Jane stares hard at Ed. He can’t summon the balls to return her gaze. Once again, she had made the hard decision. Because he was too weak to do it.
But this is how they keep the twitchers alive.
“For the children,” she says. Then she motions for Jack and Ed to handle Dressler.
Jack nods. “For the children.”
Eternal
Gratitude
AFTERWORD BY THE AUTHOR
I feel that tremendous thanks is in order. If you’ve made it this far, it means you either enjoyed this story or you were forced to read it. Might be you were under duress, a menacing gun shoved in your face by some lunatic who gets off on watching other folks suffer through distracted reading. Maybe you had to write a book report. No matter what prompted you to read this, though, you have my gratitude.
I enjoy writing stories, among other things, and I really hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. This particular story was originally intended as an entry to the esteemed Writers of the Future Contest, but at a max limit of 17,000 words, I quickly realized it could not be constrained within those limitations. So I kept going. I did right by the story, and told it as best as I could. One thing, though, that sets this story apart from all my others before is that I did not stop after three or four revisions. I tend to get antsy, excited, impatient. I want people to read the stories, to have them in their hands.
I took my time with this one, and I hope it shows. I chose my words more carefully. And I think it paid off. So thank you, not only for your patronage, but for your patience. I know a lot of people were waiting for this one.
The stories are for you as much as they are for me. I’d love to know what you think of this one. What you loved about it, what you didn’t. Any thoughts you may have. They actually help me improve future stories. I’d love to hear your feedback. If you’ll indulge me, please take a minute or two to leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads. But before you do, please know this: I only want your honesty. Sure, the 5-star reviews are tremendously helpful, but in my opinion honest reviews are the best ones. I will never ask you to leave a 5-star review unless you feel the story is deserving.
And while you’re at it, feel free to hit me up on Facebook or Twitter. Come like my official page. Swing by totaldanarchy.com and join my forums. I’d love to have you. And since this book doesn’t have the luxury of being pushed by a major publisher (or even a small press; the small presses do amazing work!), I’m left to my own devices when it comes to promoting and spreading the word. If you think you know someone who might enjoy this story, please—do share it with them. I rely on your endorsements as much as I do your feedback.
In the meantime, I look forward to entertaining you in the future.
Truly yours,
Daniel Donche Jr.
(Janden Hale)