“Doing what?”
“Tracking them, looking out for everyone. That sort of thing.”
“I’m not a tracker, Jim.”
“But you’re pretty good with that gun.”
“A lot of people are pretty good with guns.”
“Look, Keo—”
“You don’t need me,” Keo said, cutting him off. “There are thirty-seven able-bodied men in town for you to choose from. If you need more guns, just ask for volunteers. I’m sure you’ll get plenty.”
“I am. I’m asking you.”
“That isn’t me, I mean. Besides, it looks like you and Duncan got it all handled.”
“Because it’s been easy up till now.”
“So what’s changed?”
Jim didn’t answer right away.
“Sheriff,” Keo started, but this time Jim cut him off.
“I’m hearing about things going on out there that’s making me a little nervous.”
“Ghouls?”
“No. Other things.”
“Can you be a little more specific?”
“I wish I could, but I don’t have all the information. Something to do with Dresden and some other towns in our area. People are reporting gunshots. A lot of gunshots.”
“Where?”
“From up north. You know how gunfire travels these days.” He paused again. Then, “Dresden was also supposed to send some people over to trade last week, but they never showed up. I’m thinking about sending Duncan or someone up there to gather some intel. We could use an extra hand or two in the meantime.”
Right. “Intel.” Which always turns into a gunfight.
Keo shook his head. “That’s not me anymore, Jim. Sorry.”
“Does this have anything to do with what you did during the occupation? Because you’re not alone, you know. We’ve all done things we regret, but we moved on. And, if possible, when the situation offers itself, we make amends.”
Keo ignored him and kept walking, even picking up his pace.
“Keo—”
“No,” Keo said. “And trust me when I say this, Jim: You don’t want me.”
Jim stopped his horse in the street and looked after him. “Emma and Megan live in this town too, Keo.”
I was wondering when you’d bring them into this. Took you long enough, Jim.
Keo kept walking, turning at the intersection and continuing down the street that would, like every other time he took it, take him straight into the woods surrounding Winding Creek.
“Goddammit, Keo,” Jim said from behind him, but Keo had already tuned him out.
Sorry, Jim. That’s not me anymore.
He slipped into the woods and breathed a sigh of relief when there was nothing but shadows around him. Once upon a time the prospect of voluntarily walking into a forest of dark trees, with only the occasional shafts of moonlight to guide him, would have been unthinkable, but those days were long gone.
It was a brave new world, and a lot of things were possible again. Like, maybe, staying the night at a beautiful woman’s place when she asked, without worrying about the repercussions.
Maybe I should have stayed, Keo thought, just before he broke off into a run in case he did something stupid…like turn around and go back to Emma’s house to do just that.
Two
She was at his cabin at noon after school let out, climbing the biggest tree in his yard and walking along the largest branch as if it were a tightrope. His first time seeing her up there had nearly given him a heart attack, mostly thinking about what to tell Emma, but it didn’t take long before he recognized the natural climber that she was—just like he had been and still was when necessary.
“Get down here before you fall and break your neck,” he shouted.
“Never gonna happen!” she called back.
“That’s what they all say before they go splat.”
“Never, ever gonna happen!”
She tiptoed back to the tree, then slid down it, before walking over and plopping her backpack on the porch next to him. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?”
“It looks like you’re trying to teach a stray dog to sit.”
“Bingo.”
She spent the next ten minutes or so watching him doing just that—trying to teach a ragged-looking mutt that had shown up this morning looking for food to sit. Keo had made the mistake of tossing the animal a biscuit, and the thing hadn’t left since. There were plenty of wild dogs in the woods, much more now that there weren’t hordes of ghouls waiting to feast on them.
Eleven minutes later, Megan groaned and said, “Give it up. He’s never going to learn.”
“I don’t give up. You can ask anyone, and they’ll tell you, ‘That guy doesn’t know how to give up.’”
“I think there’s a word for that.”
“Resilience.”
“Nah, I think it’s something else. Starts with an S.”
“Stupendous?”
“Definitely not that, either.”
“What do you know, you’re only ten.”
“My birthday’s in two weeks. What’re you gonna get me?”
He smiled. Leave it to Megan to shift topics without batting an eye. “Why should I get you anything?”
“It’s tradition.”
“People make new traditions these days. Ever heard of the phrase ‘Out with the old, in with the new?’”
“No. Sounds stupid. Besides, I like the old ones better. So what’re you gonna get me?”
“You’ll see.”
“You got me something already?” she asked, not quite able to hide the sudden rise in excitement in her voice.
“You’ll see,” he said again.
Keo held up a piece of bread to let the dog see. It was a scruffy-looking thing—mostly brown fur with patches of white—and its nose was already wet before it wandered out of the woods and into his yard. Someone once told him that a dog with a wet nose meant it was a happy one.
“Sit,” Keo said.
The dog cocked its head to one side and gave him a long, curious look.
“Sit,” Keo said again.
“It’s never going to sit,” Megan said. “You should give up.”
“I never give up.”
“So you keep saying. But it’s less about you and more about the dog, isn’t it?”
He smirked. “Fancy English, for a kid.”
“My English teacher is pretty good.”
“Brian, Grace’s dad?”
“Uh huh. You remembered.”
“It happens.” Keo held up the piece of bread in front of the dog again. “Sit.”
The dog licked its lips, then lay down on its chin and began licking other parts of itself.
“Yuck,” Megan said.
Keo tossed the bread next to the dog. The animal gobbled it up, then went back to enjoying itself.
“Gross,” the girl said.
“It’s only doing what feels good. It’s natural.”
“Doesn’t make it any less gross.”
“So, eleven in two weeks, huh?”
“Uh huh. What’re you gonna get me?”
“I don’t know. I’ll see what I can find in the woods.”
She frowned. “So you didn’t actually get me anything yet?”
“Not yet.”
“I was hoping for something less dirty.”
“Oh, were you now?”
“Maybe something you might have gotten from the big cities while you were out there.”
There it is again. I told you the girl wasn’t going to give up, Emma.
“What do you know about the big cities?” he asked.
“I know they’re still out there. That there are people in them.”
“Who told you that?”
“Lots of people. Some who’ve even been there. Like you.”
“The cities are better left forgotten, wonsungi.”
“What’s that mean anyway?”
“
What?”
“What you always call me. Wha-what?”
He smiled. “Wonsungi.”
“Yeah, that.”
“It means monkey.”
“Monkey?”
“My mom used to call me that.”
“Why?”
“I was like you. I liked climbing trees when I was younger. I was pretty good at it, too.”
“As good as me?”
“Better.”
“I dunno. I’m pretty good.”
He chuckled. “Maybe you’re right. You might just be a better monkey than me. Happy?”
“I’m not sure,” she said, and seemed to think about it for a moment. Then, “Why are the cities better left forgotten?”
“They’re dangerous, that’s why.”
“Even to you?” she asked, looking over at him.
He nodded. “Even to me.”
“Why?”
“Because besides assholes with guns and too much time on their hands, there are giant buildings filled with chemicals and other volatile goop with names as long as your arm and mine, just sitting around waiting to spring a leak. When that happens, everything goes boom and people die.”
“You’ve seen it?”
“I’ve seen the aftermath. Trust me when I say you don’t want to go anywhere near the big cities. There’s nothing in them for you but trouble.”
She seemed to think about it for a moment. Then, finally, “What else about the big cities scare you?”
“Did I mention the crazies with guns?”
“Not ghouls?”
“There aren’t a lot of them around anymore, but there are still plenty of people. Trust me when I say this, kid; these days, the most dangerous thing you have to look out for are the creatures on two feet.”
“Grace’s father says sometimes the ghouls walk on two feet. He said they have blue eyes. Glowing blue eyes.”
Keo didn’t say anything.
“Have you seen them?” Megan asked.
Yes, I have, Keo thought, but he said, “Just make sure you don’t trust people you don’t know. It’s dangerous out there. More than you know.”
She nodded before tracing a dirty finger along the side of her face. “Is that where you got that? In the cities?”
Keo grunted. There were a lot of things in this life he couldn’t outrun, and one of them was the big scar that ran down almost the entire left side of his face. It was a gift from a man named Pollard. That man, like so many others who had crossed Keo’s path, was no longer among the living, but he had certainly left his mark while he was around, that was for damn sure.
Enjoying hell, Pollard? You and your kid? Good.
“You were really there, weren’t you?” Megan asked after he didn’t say anything for a while. “Houston? You were in Houston before The Walk Out.”
“Yeah,” Keo nodded.
“What was it like?”
He thought about it. Finally, he said, “It smelled.”
She waited for him to continue, and when he didn’t, “That’s it?”
“Pretty much.”
She frowned. Apparently, she had expected more of a story.
She was right—there was more to the story—but Keo didn’t feel like telling it. Houston was the past, and just like most of his past, he preferred not to relive it because they inevitably brought back memories he’d rather push into the background.
He stood up to stretch instead and stared past the tall tree crowns at the sun in the distance. Afternoons—the brighter and warmer the better—were always his favorite time of the day, though they didn’t always use to be.
“She does that, too,” Megan was saying.
“What’s that?” Keo asked.
“She stares at the sun. Sometimes her face would get really dark in the evenings and she reminds me that the night is still dangerous, that there are still things hiding in the woods waiting for some stupid kid to wander inside so they can gobble them up. That’s why we always lock all our doors and make sure the windows are closed tight, every single night.”
“You should listen to her.”
“I do.” Then, without a single hint, she shifted topics on him again. “How come you don’t live with us?”
Ah, there it is.
“Your mom never asked me to,” he said.
“That’s because she doesn’t want you to say no.”
“What makes her think I’ll say no?”
She shrugged. “She’s just careful.”
So am I, Keo thought, and said, “We never talked about it.”
“You should move in,” the girl said, looking at the dog as it went to work on a dirty patch of fur along its hind legs.
Keo smiled. The way she had said that, “You should move in,” like it was a statement of fact and not a question.
But it wasn’t that simple for him. Out here, by himself, with only the cabin behind him to worry about, things were simpler. It didn’t pay to become too attached to things, places, and most of all, people. It hadn’t paid before The Purge, and it really hadn’t paid during it, and it still didn’t now.
He sat back down next to her. “We’ll see.”
“You should move in before my birthday,” Megan said. “You already spend most of your time at our place anyway. Also, Mom smiles more when you’re around. She doesn’t think I notice, but I do.”
Going in for the kill, huh, kid?
He admired her persistence, but he said, “We’ll see what happens.”
“My birthday’s in two weeks.”
“You’ve mentioned that.”
“Just in case you forgot.”
“I haven’t.”
“I know. Just in case. Get me something good, okay?”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Keo said, when two figures stepped out of the surrounding woods and into his front yard.
Ah, dammit, Keo thought as Jim and his deputy, Duncan, led their horses over by the reins.
Like his boss, Duncan wore a simple khaki uniform with his name stenciled on his chest and sported a gun belt. But instead of a six-shooter like Jim, the rangy twenty-something wore a 1911 pistol.
“Keo,” Jim said.
“Jim,” Keo said. He exchanged a courtesy nod with Duncan. “What brings you guys out here?”
“Just out for a stroll,” Jim said.
Yeah, right. Out for a stroll, my ass.
Megan hopped off the slightly raised porch, brown leaves crunching loudly under her Nike sneakers as she landed. “I gotta be getting home anyway, before Mom puts together a search party. See ya.”
“See ya, wonsungi,” Keo said.
She said to the dog, “Come on, boy!”
“I don’t think he’s going—” Keo said when the dog snapped up to its feet and jogged after her. “Or maybe he will.”
“Tell your mom I said hi,” Duncan said as Megan passed him.
“Sure, whatever,” the girl said, before jogging into the woods.
“I don’t think she likes me,” Duncan said to Keo.
“Nah, that’s just how she treats everyone she likes,” Keo said.
“Yeah?”
“Absolutely.”
“I don’t think that’s true.”
Keo shrugged. “Probably not.”
“Still haven’t fixed that yet?” Jim asked, nodding at the cabin’s broken window.
“I got an extra hammer, if you’re interested in helping out.”
“Maybe after we’re done.”
As smooth as molasses on silk, Jim, Keo thought, and said, “After we’re done with what, Sheriff?”
Jim glanced back as if to make sure Megan was really gone. Then, turning back to Keo, “We found them.”
“Them who?” Keo asked, even though he already knew the answer.
“Ghouls,” Duncan said. “A whole nest of ’em.”
Keo sighed. He had a feeling Jim wasn’t going to give up after their chat last night.
“What exactly do you guys want from me?�
�� Keo asked.
Three
Keo didn’t want to go with them, but he did anyway. Besides, they had a point when they said ghouls in the area were a danger to everyone in town, including Emma and Megan. But especially the girl, who regularly walked across the woods alone to see him at his cabin after school. Not that ghouls were any kind of a threat in the daytime, but Keo had seen how something small, like a single nest, could balloon into something bigger.
At least, that’s why he told himself he was doing it.
“You sure you don’t want a horse?” Jim asked.
Keo nodded. “I’m good.”
“What do you have against horses?” Duncan asked.
“Nothing,” Keo said. “I just don’t like riding anything bigger than me.”
“We can get you a pony.”
“Funny. You’re a regular comedian, Duncan. Duncan Comedian. That should be your stage name.”
The deputy chuckled. “I’m just messing with you, Keo. Don’t take it too personally.”
“The last person who told me not to take something too personally hasn’t said a word since.”
“Oooh, tough guy.” Duncan snorted, but Keo noticed that he snuck a wary glance in his direction.
Keo smiled and kept walking.
They had been moving through the woods around Winding Creek for the last hour or so, and by Keo’s guess they were almost on the other side, with the farms and the stream that provided the town with all of its water nearby. It made sense that the ghouls would target the areas around the farms—that was where the livestock, the easier of the two types of prey (humans being the other), were.
It was around two in the afternoon when they finally reached their destination: a rundown shack smaller than the one Keo was currently living in. He knew of its existence because he had scouted this part of the woods long before he decided Winding Creek was worth taking a look at. There were three other habitable buildings in the area that had long been abandoned, and any one of them would have made just as good a nesting place.
They approached the house from the front, the two lawmen on horseback and Keo on foot. Keo was mindful of the tall grass around him, signs that no one had bothered to maintain the property for a few years now. The dead giveaway that someone (something) occupied the building were the filthy white blankets over the two windows flanking the door, blocking out the only thing the ghouls feared more than silver weapons—sunlight.
Road To Babylon Box Set [Books 1-3] Page 3