by P. S. Power
"What? You knew Derrick? I... I mean there has been some talk, but no one said..." She trailed off which would have been fine, except that Cam started explaining what she knew.
"He was an Incubus, a man that could control women with sex. He had half the women in the House enslaved to his will when they kicked him out, or were going to. He'd tried to have Nate killed and the other men rose up against him. The whole time he was there he'd made it so that none of the women he slept with would like Jake, which led to all sorts of major trouble. Then he came back, you remember that, right? The big zombie attack at Christmas? It was him. How did you not hear his name? Anyway, Jake killed him, which saved us all. He'd been planning to go into the lower section, to try and capture all the women and then have the men killed. Real winner."
The blonde girl sat on the other bed pad, quietly for a while.
"I... No one said who that was. Derrick? Are you sure? He wouldn't..."
Except he did.
It wasn't anything to chat about though, the man being dead. It just wouldn't make a difference now.
A short time later, finally, the lamp was put out and Cam pulled him into bed next to her. They'd shared a bed before and she knew that, adult in her culture or not, she was too young for him. That meant they'd just sleep. As he drifted off he could hear Colleen softly sobbing in her own bed, for her lost love, but Jake was used to people crying themselves to sleep. It happened almost every night.
The morning was no better, the blonde girl looking miserable the whole time, but Jake got her back to the House, or rather Cam did, then they spent a few hours checking on everyone, finally ending up at the Lake, the Bawdri secret place, talking to Darian. There was a manufacturing set up there, and the materials had started coming in, but they hadn't released the compound yet.
That just made sense, Alyssian was infected after all and the second they did it, she'd die forever. He knew that to be the case, because she told him, walking up to him fiercely, but not coming too close physically.
"It is time then, Great One? You said that you would come and deliver me, if what we tried failed. If this became too much for me. I'd not take a life first, if that is allowable?" The words were polite, but Jake nodded, which got him scowled at by Darian, her father.
"I don't think we've tried everything yet..."
Alyssian started to speak, but Jake put up a hand, getting her to pause.
"No... Darian... She's suffering so much... can't you feel it? I know she looks alive, but what kind of living is it? She's in pain, agony all the time, her will is hanging by a thread and she asks for you to let her go. It won't be easy, but you need to do it. For her sake. I..." He started to go for his nine, to end it all right then, but had another idea. In his pocket he had a few dozen of the capsules, which he'd taken to carrying as a matter of course the day before. Cam had a pocketful too, for the same reason. He dug one out and handed it to her.
"Just squeeze it until it breaks, when you're ready. It will clean the whole area. Go on your own time."
Darian tried to hit him. It wasn't a clumsy blow, faster than a normal person could move in fact, but Jake shifted out of the way easily enough, feeling calm about the whole thing as the attack continued. There was rage in the older man's motions, thousands of years of practice showing in how he attacked. That things weren't landing had less to do with Jake than the fact that the man wasn't actually angry at him, just the situation.
"Damn you!"
It went on for a few minutes before Jake stopped moving, ready to let the man beat him if it was needed for him to feel better about the situation. Darian stopped too, just panting a little.
"Damn you... I'm not ready. She's barely lived!" He looked as his daughter closely, no tears coming, but the pain of lose already clear on his face.
Alyssian smiled though, looking at the thing in her hand.
"It's time father. Three hundred and sixty-two years is a life. I've lived and loved more than most beings are ever allowed. I've danced on the highest peaks and swum in every sea of this world. Now it is time to move on to whatever comes next, that's all." She turned to Jake, standing about ten feet away still, hunger for his flesh gnawing at her, even as she sounded perfectly fine.
Her skin was zombie gray though, lips a red black, not the pink of the living.
"Thank you... Jake. You were not what I expected at all, but you are exactly what I needed. Please see that everyone is assembled here?" She stood with her hands clasped, a grim smile on her lips.
It took a while for everyone that wanted to gather to arrange themselves. It was a few hundred people, the brave and those that liked her well enough to watch her passing. Some of her loved ones weren't there to witness it at all, which was a mercy no doubt. Sammi wasn't there though, and she deserved a chance to say goodbye. Jake whispered it to Alyssian, but she shook her head.
"No Great One. I must do this now, before I fail and lose control of my will. The time is past what I can stand by a good measure. I just wanted to say goodbye to you all, one last time. Tell my daughter that I love her? Father... Do not let this sadden you, or weigh your heart too greatly. It is my wish and by my own hand. That is a right all Bawdri have. Let all here witness this!" She got a little loud, raising her hand and squeezing until there was a soft click.
"By this action I set myself free and begin the process that will save us all!"
It wasn't instant, but ten minutes later she sank to the ground, smiling.
"It doesn't hurt. It feels... nice. The pain recedes." Her words were very slurred by that time. It took another ten minutes for her to stop altogether, but no one moved for nearly an hour, just looking at her.
A few sobbed, like the blond Bawdri man that Jake had seen before. Robert stood next to him, but the man moved to the body finally, speaking far more calmly than the tears on his face would have allowed most people.
"Thank you all. This is a hard thing, but not a shock. My wife will live in our memories and in our daughter, Samantha. We will have the funeral rights as soon as she arrives."
It was somber, but Cam disappeared without being told, coming back with Sammi ten minutes later, holding her hand tightly. She hadn't told her what had happened, leaving that to others, but Sam got the idea anyway.
"She's gone then? I hope... I hope it was fast and without pain."
Her father nodded, explaining the whole thing, how it had been her choice and how Jake had given her the ability to do it in a most gentle fashion. The man made it sound like a special gift, instead of something that anyone would have done if they could. If it hadn't been him it would have probably been one of the people from the House within a few days, releasing the compound by mistake. Or possibly on purpose even though it hadn't been the official plan.
They had one of the more reluctant people working there, since Darian would flat out execute them if they didn't do their job. He was known for not putting up with people that shirked their duty. Or who whined too much.
The procession took an hour, but Sammi sent him away after they had the body laid out, people coming to tend to it, Alyssian's favorite things placed around her in a gentle fashion, evenly spread around her body. She'd selected them herself, having given away those things she thought others might want, or need, already.
It would be days though, before they burned the body. She was a Princess after all. A real one, meant to rule after Darian stepped down. Now he'd have to wait until Samantha was ready for it. The whole thing was a mess, but better organized than any Bawdri funeral had ever been before. Alyssian had been planning it for weeks, and had everything ready. Even to the fact that Jake wasn't supposed to be there, after he killed her, if she couldn't do it herself. Not as a punishment, but so he'd know that she appreciated the gesture, and so that it wouldn't cause him any more pain.
Those that helped others move on were always held away from the mourning in their culture, so that no one would blame them, in their grief.
Darian would for a whi
le, no doubt, but Robert just looked at him and sighed, putting a hand on Jake's shoulder gently before they could leave.
"She was in greater pain than you knew. She hid it well, but it was a constant torment. I... She asked me to end it for her, over a week ago. I failed in the task. I tried, but I couldn't make myself pull the trigger. I guarded her life too long. Thank you for what you did. No one else can say it yet, but it was the right thing. The only thing left to try." He didn't cry, but his face looked as sad as any Jake had ever seen.
It was a hard thing to ask, but Jake had to find out where the military might be. He almost expected Robert to balk, or hit him, but the man just nodded and took him to a rather nice room in a very big house. It was a "cabin" but had electric lights and antique furniture that was very well cared for. Once inside he laid a map of the United States on large wooden table that was polished to a high gloss.
He pointed firmly.
"Here. It's only about six hundred miles from the House. Outside of Omaha Nebraska on the West. There is a fence around the whole place and it's heavily guarded. If you approach I suggest you do it on foot, slowly. The area still has deaders. So, you get the idea, make sure you look alive. I'd get close, release those nanos and pull back for a while, let them get used to the idea that all walking people aren't dead first. Maybe a week or so? Do you need to go overland or can your Scalli... Can our friend Cameron do it?" He turned to look at the girl who actually gave him a small, tight, smile.
"I can. We'll have to do it line of sight, but through a lot of that we can go fast enough. It will take a few days and we should probably clean the whole path we take, but... yeah."
That decided they left from there, leaving the man alone in his grief. He gave them a map though and marked the location first, so it wouldn't be that hard to find, hopefully.
Except for the cold and the fact that, as the next few days went on, they encountered dozens of zombies as they traveled, just coming out right on top of them a few times. That and three lone cannibals that were much different than the others he'd seen before. They were in ragged clothing, looked thin and pale, with longer than normal arms and legs. It might have been an illusion, but they were darned hard to hit, because they moved so fast. He could tell what they were. Windigo, like Sammi had said, but they didn't just seem like people that had lost it and gained power from not caring anymore. They were more than human somehow.
They also came out of the snow fast and hard.
It was kind of interesting to travel with Cam that way, since it was a lot faster than a car would have been, as long as she could see someplace to go clearly enough. It meant jumps of no more than eight miles, and less if there was snow in the air though. Plus she got tired after a while, so they only covered a few hundred miles a day. Once she knew a location she could go back though, so they stayed at her place at night, which was both warm and more relaxing than being at the House. It meant that she didn't get to have a lot of male company of course, but then they were both too tired for anything but sleep at the end of the day anyway.
On the fourth day it was snowing so much on the first jump that Jake just decided to call it a day and go off to check on the Linsters and the others again. Carley had taken over part of the manufacturing work for them along with burning trees from the jungle to make carbon. They were running out of that faster than anything else, it seemed, since no one was actively refining it. It was a lot easier to do in the jungle than the frozen ground of the House apparently.
"Hey Jake! Finally going to do some real work instead of traipsing all around the world with your little girlfriend?" The blonde was hot, probably one of the best looking people left, but she didn't like men much as a rule.
It wasn't that she hated them, but her culture, the Killgrades, they didn't have a lot of men and had traditionally made a living using their skills to kill the others of that gender they met. It didn't lead to a lot of positive male role models. Her words would have bugged him a month before, but now he could tell she was just trying, and failing, to be playful.
"Nope. We just got caught in a snow storm so headed here to make sure you weren't getting pudgy on all the good food. Not that I'd blame you at all. As soon as this is all over I intend to gain a good sixty pounds myself." He grinned, knowing that this work would never really be done. If anything he was losing weight still, which wasn't a good idea. He was a walking stick figure already.
"As to Cam being my girlfriend... I don't know... you sound a little jealous. Are you sure you don't just want me for yourself?" It came from out of the blue and was as close to flirtatious as he'd ever managed with the woman, who actually blushed.
"Um... are you sure that Vicki would be OK with that? I mean... You are my favorite guy. You know, since you, Burt and Nate are the only ones that I can stand practically."
Nate was gay and Burt was pushing sixty, so that was probably her point.
"I don't know, remember to ask if you see her? She hasn't been around me a lot lately. Mainly my fault, but it's... well, I don't know that it's a real relationship." He shrugged, but Carley made a face.
"Heh. I was kidding goof ball. Like I'd want to sleep with you." She sounded pissed suddenly, and stormed off, but not too far away, just refilling the hopper on her machine.
Jake felt bad about having even tried to be nice then, wondering if he should just give up on women altogether. Maybe it was just time? Or past time. He'd pretty much made the decision to really do it for good when she walked back over.
"Can you take a couple of food assemblers to the House? I haven't had any of your people around to do it that I knew and the others were mainly men, so..." She addressed Cam directly, ignoring Jake.
The copper haired girl nodded.
"I think so. Let's do that next, Ba-Dehist?" She said it all while staring at Carley, who looked worried suddenly. It seemed to be what Cam had been going for, because she smiled as they walked over to the section of the cavern the things were held in.
It was a huge place, the ceiling hundreds of feet overhead and about a mile long it seemed like. It took a bit to get to the food assemblers, but they were smaller and easier to manage than the nano device for some reason, about the size of a large bread box. It meant that Cam could take him and ten of the things with them. They left Carley standing alone, a strange expression on her face as they vanished.
They came out standing in the back yard of the House, an area kind of designated as a landing zone for incoming teleported goods. They weren't there five seconds when Cam started chuckling. She didn't explain at first, just making sure that they got the things out of the circle they were in. That way no one would land on top of them, which depending on what was incoming could be fatal. A truck was a truck after all and would just crush them if it came at the wrong time. So far there hadn't been a problem yet though. Most of the good Teleporters could tell if something was in the way, if they paid attention. The problem there was that a lot of them didn't bother most of the time and a few seconds of carelessness could be a mess.
Jake helped move the things fast, doing most of the physical labor himself.
Once it was safe he looked at her and raised his eyebrows.
"What?"
Cam waved it away, still smiling, but she answered.
"Oh... Just that Carley wants you so bad. 'Oh, you're the only man I like Jake. Are you certain you couldn't make it happen, even though it would mean challenging Vicki for you?' Yeah, she should be a little nicer about it, but that's a Killy for you. She kind of expects men to beg her for the privilege, you know? Probably because that normally worked before. Did you see her face when I reminded her about who you really are? Priceless."
People started coming out of the House then, not really sure what they were looking at, but Jake had them set up in the front room quickly enough. The power source was something he didn't understand, but they didn't need to be plugged in or anything. They just needed some biomaterial to put in the top, which he collected from the
wood pile and the kitchen scraps. Lois gave him a skeptical look as he loaded the top, holding her ladle firmly and eyeing Cam as if expecting her to make a grab for it, but she softened when Jake asked the machine to make her a slice of cherry cheese cake. Out of some kindling and scraps. It made her a plate too, from the same material.
"Those just go back in the top again when you're done, so no washing. You can make food stuffs, flour, sugar, whatever, spices too, as well as whole foods. This isn't really enough devices for everyone, since it takes about five minutes to make a meal, but it should help take some stress off the kitchen if they're used right. Plus, out here people can use them to get snacks. We just need to make it a rule that anyone using them needs to be responsible for collecting the correct kind of bio-material." Not that people would, being more than a bit lazy.
That wasn't really fair though, a whole lot of them were just afraid to go outside anymore. If the new cannibals, like the ones he'd seen with Cam and couldn't even hit with a bullet so far, if they were coming, if that's what Heather had meant the whole time, then things were still dangerous enough that they needed to be scared.
Lois took to the new tech like she'd grown up with it though, sending Ken out to collect plants, corn husks and other things buried in the snow to replace what she was making, which were large portions of fancy sauces to go on the meat for dinner. Things she couldn't have made on her own it seemed, lacking things like cream and butter. Now they had it, as long as the work got done.
Something about the whole thing bugged Jake though. It took a while to figure out, but Ken didn't have a buddy with him. No one was supposed to go anywhere, even inside the House without one. Looking around he realized that a lot of people were kind of like that. All of them people that were "different". Cisco didn't have anyone either. It probably wasn't on purpose, but it was moronic. The regular people were sticking with their friends, who were mainly regular humans. The people that had collected at the House before the announcement by the military to get there had each other though, even if they weren't doing it right.