“Not sure it’s best to draw attention to ourselves right now with talk of hearing thoughts,” Will said in a whisper, even though there was no one around them. He took off his jacket and handed it to Luca. “Cry into this, okay.” It was freezing outside, but Will would rather be freezing than heard, and The Sanctuary felt like it was growing ears.
“Don’t be silly,” Will whispered. “You had nothing to do with Scott dying. Nothing. It happened, and you have to be okay with it. It wasn’t like you knew he was gonna die and did nothing to stop it. And even then, fate’s gonna do what it’s gonna do. It’s easier to win an argument with Paola.”
Luca smiled, then surprised Will by dropping the subject. He surprised him more by changing it. “Do you think we should be here? I mean, right now, at The Sanctuary. Do you think it’s safe?”
Will looked at Luca for a while before he said, “What makes you say that?”
“Because this place feels wrong to me.”
“Can you tell me what you mean?”
Luca looked everywhere except at Will, before he finally said, “Just promise not to think I’m weird. I don’t want to be weird anymore.”
“Sorry, kid,” Will shook his head. “No can do. You’re definitely weird. We both are. That’s what makes us worth talking to in the first place.”
Luca laughed, but only for a second, then said, “Is it sometimes okay to do the wrong thing for the right reason?”
“Ah,” Will said, finally getting where Luca was going. “You’re worried about Rebecca, right?” Luca nodded, eyes still in the snow.
Will wondered which of the hundred things Luca wasn’t saying he should ask about first, then went for the shortcut. “What are you worried about? Are you wondering if Rebecca’s okay?”
Luca shook his head. “No, I know she’s okay. She told me. But I want to help her. I keep thinking maybe I could get her out of there if I tried. I keep thinking I should.”
Will raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean she told you? Have you been over there talking to her? You have to be careful, Luca. If you’re caught, you’ll be in trouble, too.”
“I can hear her in my head, but she can hear me, too.” Luca said. He closed his eyes and swayed back and forth for a second, before opening them again and holding Will’s eyes for the first time. “We talk to each other. I know it’s really happening, and that it’s not just in my head, even if you think I’m crazy.”
Will said, “What makes you think I think you’re crazy? Didn’t we cross the country together on account of a dream?”
Luca nodded. “But this isn’t in a dream,” he said. “It’s in real life. And when it’s in real life, with real people, it feels like I’m going crazy. Even though I know I’m not.”
“All of it is in real life,” Will said. “Even the dreams. And you’re closer to sane than almost anyone here, Luca. You’re not crazy; you’re gifted. And you can’t change who you are, so stop trying. You’re different than us all. Most likely better, too. Best you can do is not question the gift. Embrace it, and try to do the best you can for as long as you can. Nothing less will do.”
Will kept talking, but only in his head. “You’ve nothing to be worried about.. I hear a thought or two myself, here and there.”
“You have?” The words were already out of Luca’s mouth before he realized what that meant. They’d been speaking without words for a while.
“So you can hear me, too?” he thought. “Why can’t everyone else?”
Will shrugged. “Honestly, kid, I have no idea. My best guess is that they probably could. They just don’t know how, or even that they can. Like I said, everyone’s weird. Unless they know for a fact that they can do something, most people assume they can’t do something that sounds hard or impossible, even if it’s as simple as closing their eyes and getting it done. Tell you what,” Will put his hand on Luca’s shoulder. “Close your eyes and think of something, but don’t say a word.”
“Okay,” Luca said.
Will watched Luca as his muscles relaxed. When his face was placid, Will said, “Now, tell me what you see.”
Luca said, “I can see you, and the Man in the Middle. We’re all in the courtyard here. And there’s fire in the background.”
Will felt a cold chill. He could see The Man in the Middle, too. But his view was nowhere near as sharp. Will could see The Man, and Luca, but he could not see where they were, or even himself.“Do you know who he is?” Will thought.
Luca shook his head. In his mind, he said, “I saw him picking petals last night in my dream, or trip, or whatever it was. But I don’t know what it means. The dreams are always there, but they never tell me what’s going to happen.”
“Sounds to me like you have nothing to worry about,” Will thought.
“Do you see what’s going to happen next?” Luca asked. “I’ve had bad dreams, really bad. But when I wake up, I can’t remember much.”
“No,” Will thought, realizing it was much easier lying to Luca in his mind. “I’ve no idea what’s going to happen next.”
No point in telling Luca what he can’t stop from happening, or it will only make the goodbyes that much harder.
* * * *
CHARLIE WILKENS: PART 1
Dunn, Georgia
March 25
pre-dawn
Charlie’s feet were rooted to the floor, his eyes fixed on the reanimated corpse that used to be Vic, but was now a human-monster hybrid.
Vic’s right arm was wet and ebony from the elbow down, just like the monsters’ skin. His arm was misshapen into a twisted mockery of a limb, fingers fused together to form an oversized blade-like appendage. His face was corrupted by an army of black veins marching across his skin like spiderwebs, covering every inch and deepening every crevice. Something pushed at both cheekbones from beneath his skin, forming half circles of withered, darkened pits beneath beady, black reptilian eyes.
Vic opened his mouth and screeched an inhuman cry. The scream sounded as if Vic were trying to dislodge something, or many things, from a prison in his throat. Then he ran toward them, swinging his blade-hand at Charlie. Charlie rolled to the ground, as Adam jumped back, and dashed toward the gate.
Where the fuck are you going, Adam?!
Vic turned around and looked up at Adam, as though he might give chase, then turned back to Charlie, just as he rose to his feet. Something resembling a smile spread over Vic’s rotting face, revealing jagged, blackened teeth.
Vic screamed again, that sickly scream that ripped straight through Charlie’s brain, and leaned into another attack, this time with his normal hand. His punch landed on Charlie’s left ear sending a thunderbolt of pain between his eyes.
“Fuck!” Charlie screamed as he put his hand to his ear. He had no time to consider the pain as Vic charged again, this time landing a strike in Charlie’s ribs. Pain splintered through his side while radiating from his left ear.
Charlie doubled over and vomited onto the snow.
Vic stopped, staring at Charlie polluting the virgin white. Charlie wiped vomit from his mouth with the back of his hand, then looked up to consider his next move. Vic stood fixed between Charlie and the car, with its cache of weapons. Charlie chewed on his meager options for bypassing Vic and retrieving the guns, all the while wondering where the fuck Adam had run off to.
Charlie took a step back. Vic remained rooted, staring intently at Charlie with his beady black reptilian eyes, but did nothing.
What the fuck is he doing?
Charlie backed up again, this time with four long strides, but never breaking eye contact with the freak of nature. Vic still refused to budge.
He’s fucking with me; he’s waiting to see what I’ll do. Maybe he wants me to run so he can chase me down for more of a thrill.
Charlie took two more steps back, placing him steps from the front door. If he could run without slipping in the snow, then maybe . . . Once inside, he could get to the shotgun behind the front door.
&nb
sp; Vic continued to stare like a coiled viper. If there were an expression on Vic’s face, Charlie couldn’t discern it. Vic looked like someone who wasn’t home inside his head. If Vic was impaired, even momentarily, Charlie had to seize the chance and run — now.
Charlie spun around, planted his left foot, and exploded off of it into a dead sprint, not looking back.
Immediately, he heard Vic’s steps falling quickly behind him, fast, and gaining ground.
Fuck!
Charlie reached the front door, turned the knob in his hand, and . . .
Fuck! Adam locked it on the way out!
Footsteps punctuated the promise of death behind him. Charlie spun around just as Vic reached him, blade-hand on the down-swing toward his face.
Charlie inhaled his last breath and prepared to greet death.
A final flinch, then . . .
BANG!
The gunshot cracked like thunder in the pre-dawn darkness, hitting Vic in the back and knocking him forward off balance, causing his blade-hand to miss Charlie’s face by inches and decapitate the doorknob instead. Vic fell on top of Charlie, catapulting them both into the door, then onto the ground.
Charlie screamed, pushing and kicking at Vic, who was down but not out, arms reaching wildly to grasp Charlie.
He kicked Vic in the face as more footsteps came toward them. Adam appeared with a rifle, the one they kept near the front gate. He fired again at point-blank range, this time blowing Vic’s head open like a grotesque melon, spewing a blackened bloody mess.
“What the fuck was that?!” Charlie asked, getting to his feet and looking at the thing that had been Vic.
“I thought you killed him!” Adam said, staring at the corpse.
“I did!”
“So, not only do we have to worry about these monsters, but the dead rising from their graves as mutants?” Adam said. “Fuck. Me.”
Charlie looked up, bug-eyed, and laughed. Adam didn’t curse much, so it was funny to hear the words coming from his mouth. “Maybe he wasn’t dead? Maybe one of those monsters got to him before he died and turned him into one of them?”
“Like in zombie movies?”
“Yeah,” Charlie said. “Unless this is more like that Invasion of the Body Snatchers movie, where Vic was some kind of pod person, and had been this way for a long time, just hiding and waiting to come out of his human shell.”
“Yeah, but you saw him. He didn’t seem right. I think if he were some kinda pod person all along, we would’a picked up on it a long time ago. Besides, I don’t think pod people would be such assholes.”
Charlie laughed again, “When did you get so funny? Wait. You’re not one of them pop people, too, are you?”
“Ha. Ha,” Adam said, and then his eyes locked onto Harry, lying on the ground, disemboweled from Vic’s blade-hand. Charlie’s eyes followed, and instantly, the joy he felt in being alive was severed as they remembered Harry’s grisly death.
“I didn’t know him that well, but he didn’t deserve this,” Adam said.
“No, he didn’t,” Charlie agreed, taking a moment of silence, before turning to Adam. “Come on; we need to get the hell out of here and go find Boricio.”
“We’re not gonna bury Harry?”
“We don’t have time; we need to find Boricio if we’re gonna save Callie.”
“How are we gonna find him?” Adam said. “He could be anywhere.”
“Harry said something about a compound, remember? How many other compounds are around here? That we know of?”
“You think he went back . . . there?” Adam asked, fear cracking the man from his voice.
“We’re about to find out,” Charlie said, as he grabbed the sack of guns from the car and loaded them into the cabin of the F150. “Let’s roll.”
* * * *
DESMOND ARMSTRONG: PART 1
Kingsland, Alabama
The Sanctuary
March 25
morning
Desmond walked a step behind Mary and Paola on the return march from the funeral, back behind the The Sanctuary walls. He was burning to talk to Mary, but he had no choice but to wait. They were flanked by the congregation on all sides; Desmond couldn't help but feel that he was a dissenting buoy in a sea of similar thought. And in a world where The Prophet, Rei and John all had the power, the wrong word at the wrong time, overheard and reported, could get them all in trouble, or maybe a box.
The congregation scattered at the gate, everyone going to get out of their black clothes and into the day’s chores. Desmond felt a swell of hope, now seconds from finally being able to talk to Mary. He turned to Paola, so he could ask her if she’d mind if he and Mary had a few minutes alone, when Will was suddenly beside them.
“So, how did that go?” he asked.
Desmond felt a flash of irritation, but it wasn’t Will’s fault. Desmond said, “Oh, you know Brother Rei, such an elegant speaker. I haven’t been so moved since I evacuated my bowels this morning. Scott deserved better than that. How is Luca? Everything okay? The kid seems to be taking this especially hard.”
Mary pulled Paola closer to her and shot Desmond a look.
Will leaned down toward Paola and said, “Hey, would you mind going and checking on Luca for me? I’m sure he’d love that. He’s okay, mostly just nerves. It can’t be easy to be small inside, walking around in that big body. But I’m sure he’ll open up to you. Always has. Besides, he’s worried about you. Even mentioned it to me earlier at breakfast.”
Paola looked down, then quickly back at Will. “I feel bad about this morning,” she said. “I wasn’t trying to make anyone upset, especially Luca.”
“Sometimes it’s best to simply say what’s on your mind. You did get the table talking about Scott, after all, right?” Will winked at Paola and she smiled. “And I don’t think Luca’s upset, but I know he’d love to talk to you. He’s over at his Quiet Spot right now.”
Paola nodded, then hugged her mom and headed toward the Quiet Spot.
Desmond was grateful to Will for taking care of Paola, even if that wasn’t what he was trying to do. With Will, you never really knew. Now if only Will would disappear, too, he and Mary could finally start talking.
“Everything okay?” Will addressed them both, but he was looking directly at Mary.
She nodded, then said. “I think I’m like Luca – a heavy case of nerves.”
Will told Mary everything would be okay, that it was always hardest in the valley of a dip, and a few more random things that made little sense to Desmond. He had no idea how much they meant to Mary, and until they were alone he’d have little space to find out. Will seemed even weirder than normal. Though, if he thought about it, Desmond thought everyone seemed a little weirder today. That meant it was probably him. No one was weird in a way he could put his finger on, except Mary.
Mary was weird because she’d never seemed so far away.
Will said his goodbyes.
To Desmond’s relief, Mary said, “I really need to talk to you, Des,” a second later.
Desmond smiled. “Thank Christ, I’m not crazy. I could tell something big was on your mind. What’s up?”
“Not here,” she shook her head. “It’s big and I want to know we’re alone. Let’s find somewhere less crowded.”
“Fine by me,” Desmond said, taking her hand.
They made it two steps before they were stopped by John, with the new stranger standing beside him.
“Desmond, Mary,” John bowed his head after each name, “there’s someone I’d like you to meet.” The stranger stepped forward and John said, “This is Boricio. The Good Lord has led him to us. He feels he is home now, here at New Unity, and would like to contribute to the congregation and The Sanctuary as much as possible. You two remember what it was like to be new; I was hoping you might oblige to make Boricio feel as much at home as you were made to feel upon arrival.”
Perfect.
Desmond stepped forward and shook Boricio’s hand, then in
troduced him to Mary. Something about the stranger made him bristle, but Desmond had no idea what, and couldn't exactly trust his instincts since he was smart enough to realize he was acting paranoid. He should at least wait for the guy to give him a reason before hating him automatically. Of course, Desmond would have disliked pretty much anyone that John introduced him to at the exact moment he was about to finally get some alone time with Mary to find out what’s had her acting distant all morning.
“So what brought you here?” Desmond asked.
Boricio looked around the compound as though he owed his breath to the safety of its walls, even though he’d only been behind them for a few hours. “I have to confess that I believe Brother John here hit a home-run at the batting cages. The Good Lord must have led me to you just this morning. There’s no other explanation. I was lost, and figured I’d probably never be found again, wandering through the woods with no idea where I was or where I could go.”
Boricio shook his head and rubbed the crease in his forehead. “Had a bad run-in with a group of wild folks not too far from here just a while back. It was a guy and two girls, took me in like we was family. Lived there a while, until they got all sorts of sinful ideas and tried to lure me into the rat’s nest of their evil ways. I left as soon as I could, straight out the back, but they gave chase. Tried to kill me. I managed to escape, but just barely. And only because The Good Lord saw fit to deliver me here.”
Boricio looked around The Sanctuary in silent gratitude again.
John said, “Boricio has fought off many of the Demons, too.”
Boricio nodded like his neck had fresh batteries. “Sure did, been fighting them since the late of last October. Should’ve known there was evil in the house of sinners since there were so many Demons around their part of the woods.” Boricio waved his arms around the courtyard. “Aren’t none of them here, though. In fact, I was getting chased by two of them Demons just this morning while I was following The Good Lord’s path to your blessed doorstep. But soon as I was spitting distance from the gate, both them Demons turned back around, screaming that horrible scream, like a banshee ripping off a bandaid. They went running off in the opposite direction like they found a shortcut back to hell on the far side of the forest.” Boricio looked solemn as he finished his story. “I’ve made war on maybe a hundred of them Demons since October, but I ain’t never seen ‘em run scared like that before. That’s how I knew I’d found my home. I’d be safe in the bosom of The Good Lord. I’m lucky to be here.”
Yesterdays Gone: SEASON TWO (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER) (Yesterday's Gone) Page 36