Night Betrayed Part 26

Still, she did nothing.

Sammy. Sammy. I hope you're at peace. I'm so sorry.

Oh, G.o.d, I miss him. The house was so quiet. It was as if a part of her heart had been carved away. A piece of her life ... gone. The house was so quiet. It was as if a part of her heart had been carved away. A piece of her life ... gone.

Seventeen years old. He never got to manhood, never got to fulfill the promise she'd seen in him: the kindness, the sense of reverence for the world and all living things. He'd have been a great father. The raw hollowing inside her wouldn't go away. It gnawed and sc.r.a.ped.

Selena peered west out the window, wiping her eyes and wondered where Theo was. If he was safe. What he and that old man Lou were doing, and whether they would ever return.

He'd insinuated himself into the household, into her life, and she missed him too.

Why did I send him away again?

And yet, when she closed her eyes, she saw his dark face, tight with fury and intent, his eyes flas.h.i.+ng violence. She saw the spraying of flesh and blood, felt the stirring of the air as he spun and clubbed and fought the monsters.

How could she ever get beyond that, when that same violence stirred inside her?

Selena turned from the window and the glowing orange eyes beyond the walls. She ignored her bed to go down the stairs and check on one of her patients.

Sleep was something rare and fitful now.

Reggie Blanchard's breathing was shallow and labored, and she sat with him, watching the gray fog swirl and mist gently above him. Even in the night, the silvery glint was evident, catching whatever bit of illumination was available. He was an old man, perhaps as old as Vonnie; and he was merely wearing down, easing from life into death. He'd been living in Yellow Mountain, working as a metalsmith for the last two years, since his wife died in Selena's care. Now she and his sister waited for him, hovering with the blue glow of the afterlife, in the corner, as the guides often did. Waiting.

Selena stared into nothing, enveloped by numbness and apathy, holding his large, gnarled hand.

And threading through the night was the sound of moans in the distance. "Ruuu-uuuthhhhh." "Ruuu-uuuthhhhh."

Mom.

At first she thought she was dreaming, that she'd finally found sleep. The sound was in her head, buried in her mind, and yet she looked up, searching. And there he was. Sammy Sammy.

In the corner, hovering with Reggie's wife and sister. The two women smiled at Selena, but she barely noticed.

I told you I wouldn't really leave you.

"Hi, Sammy. I miss you." Tears stung her eyes and she looked at him, hardly able to see any detail when she focused hard, except his eyes. Nevertheless, she knew it was him.

I miss you too. And I'm worried about you.

"I'll be all right. It takes time."

Reggie is going to go soon. We're here to help him, Mrs. Blanchard and me. He was always nice to me when I saw him in town.

"So is this your new job? Helping bring people over to the other side?" She felt a little smile waver at the corner of her mouth.

Like mother, like son. I'll be around to help sometimes. Like a conduit.

"Are you all right?"

Yes. You can't imagine what it's like here.

"Then that's all I can ask, hm?"

Mom. Try to start living again.

She frowned, tried to hold back the sting of tears. "I don't know if I know how."

They tell me you have to figure it out.

Easier said than done, she thought. she thought.

I have to go now. I'll be back later to help with Mr. Blanchard.

"Okay. I love you."

I love you too.

When Selena opened her eyes again, it was still dark. And the zombies still groaned beyond the walls. Her crystal still glowed upstairs in its box.

She stared at the corner where Sammy had been and her heart squeezed.

Try to start living again, Mom.

She visualized herself going up, getting her crystal, slinging it around her neck, and walking out of the grounds. She closed her eyes and felt the zombies surge toward her; she could almost smell their foul stench, and feel the desperate clawing of their hands grabbing for her.

And then she saw herself exploding into a vicious whirlwind, smas.h.i.+ng and hitting and clubbing at them, over and over and over until they were all piles of b.l.o.o.d.y bones and flesh.

She saw the hopeful light die from their eyes, the orange glow disappear as they collapsed at her feet.

Her stomach churned and rebelled, and she staggered to her feet, using Reggie's bed for stability, and ran for the toilet. When she lifted her face, wiping her mouth, her cheeks were wet from tears of confusion, frustration, and fear.

And Vonnie was standing there, looking down at her with worry and grief.

"Selena," she said, helping her to her feet. "Are you all right?"

I don't know if I'll ever be all right again. "Thanks. I'm fine. Just ... not feeling too well." "Thanks. I'm fine. Just ... not feeling too well."

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked the only mother she'd ever known.

Selena shook her head, and at that moment, she realized the only person she wanted to talk to was Theo.

And he was gone.

Chapter 16.

A week after they left Yellow Mountain, driving in the Humvee that they'd retrieved from the ditch and running it on solar-charged battery power, Theo and Lou finally got a break. They'd been spending the last few days making larger concentric circles around the settlement, looking for any signs of recent Humvee tracks or any other evidence of the bounty hunters or the two missing people from the settlement.

It was slow going, prompting Theo to compare it to the long, boring segment in a book that had been published to great fanfare in 2007.

"It's like looking for a horcrux in a forest," he said as Lou navigated the Humvee along a nonexistent road.

There was a reason the common use of mechanized vehicles had gone the way of iTunes, shopping malls, and highways after the Change: they were no longer necessary, and they were difficult to maintain. Not only were the roads no longer navigable, cracked and potholed as they were, but no one felt safe traveling far from an established settlement. And by even ten years after the Change, what cars hadn't been destroyed by the earthquakes, storms, and weather were in no working condition. The gas pumps at the stations no longer had electricity to run them, and people were more concerned with food and shelter and the basic necessities of living than to try and rehabilitate them.

Within thirty years, they became impossible to find or fuel. And there were other impediments as well.

Thus, today, the only people who had access to trucks and cars were Strangers, or their bounty hunters. And the Resistance, who'd managed to obtain three Humvees, took care that they were kept in secret and only used judiciously.

Because of this, the sight or sound of a mechanized vehicle generally indicated the presence of a bounty hunter or the Elite. So when, on that eighth night after they left the settlement and were about thirty miles north of Yellow Mountain, they saw the jouncing beam of headlights in the distance, Theo and Lou knew they'd finally caught their break.

Neither of them had ever been this far north of Envy before-well over a hundred and fifty miles-and they were unfamiliar with the terrain and geography. But that didn't stop them from starting up their own vehicle and driving toward the other truck.

They'd readjusted the headlights so they pointed nearly straight down, which, although it helped keep their location and presence hidden from anyone else, it also made it difficult to drive through the overgrown environment. Everything from old cars to ma.s.sive potholes and unexpected b.u.mps in the ground, along with trees and bushes, could suddenly appear in their path.

Thus, trying to balance speed, safety, and stealth was quite a feat, and there was much swearing and giving of directions-mostly unwanted. They had to stop often, too, for Theo to climb onto the roof of the truck, or even a tree or other high location, to see which direction to go. For a while, he rode on top of the Humvee, holding on a la James Bond (although at much slower speeds), and gave directional advice from there.

Despite the danger and need for surrept.i.tiousness, they made good time and closed the distance between themselves and the other vehicle, staying far enough behind that they wouldn't be noticed. Their cause was helped when their quarry stopped for the night, giving them a chance to drive even closer.

"Better find a place to hide this," Lou said when they got close enough that discovery was possible. Theo had climbed back into the truck.

They found a spot to hide it and each of them sprawled out on a seat to sleep for the night.

As Theo lay there, trying to find relaxation, he found himself unable to dismiss thoughts of Selena from his mind. The last week of searching and driving, picking at Lou and discussing possible theories about Wobble and Brad Blizek's involvement in the Cult of Atlantis, had kept him busy. Not that she hadn't crossed his mind-she had.

Oh, she had. Continuously.

Lou had taught Frank how to use the computers in the arcade to communicate via messaging-after all, he'd been well versed in email and Google before the Change happened, and it hadn't been difficult to retrain him even fifty years later. Theo appreciated it because he at least got basic updates about Selena.

He knew that at least she hadn't gotten herself killed or injured saving zombies again.

He knew that she didn't sleep much. That she was busy with patients. That the harshness and grief was still etched on her face. That she'd been sick a week or so ago but seemed to be better now. At least physically.

He frowned in the dark. That was an awful lot of detail, coming from Frank. Maybe the guy was more verbose when he had a keyboard in front of him.

"If we find that woman, Remington Truth," Lou said, breaking into Theo's thoughts, "what are we going to do?"

"Try to talk to her. She must have some secret. Something to do with this whole mess. Otherwise why would she be hiding and running away all the time?"

"She's with the bounty hunters now, though. If she's aligned with them, and she has whatever it is they've been searching for for fifty years ... that's not good for us."

"I know," Theo said. "But if she was going to ally herself with them, why wouldn't she have done so years ago? Seems like something's wacky." He stared at the ceiling of the Humvee, noticing that the fabric was coming undone near the windows, hanging like Spanish moss. "I'll tell you one thing. If we find Seattle, I'm going to kill the b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

"What about Ian Marck?" Lou asked from where he lay on the backseat. He'd claimed the more comfortable one, citing his advanced age.

"I don't know what to make of him. He kidnapped Jade and locked Elliott and me in the mall with a bunch of zombies, but he didn't kill either of us when he found us rescuing Jade. He could have-me at least."

Lou s.h.i.+fted, sounding sleepy. "He needed Elliott's doctor skills, but you're right. You could have been dead, even though Elliott bargained for your life. I don't trust him. Simon doesn't either."

"Simon should have killed him when he had the chance," Theo said flatly.

"Geezus, when did you get so bloodthirsty?" Lou mumbled. "Go to sleep."

Theo rolled his eyes. "You were the one who started talking."

But Lou's words stuck with him, as jesting as they were. When did you get so bloodthirsty? When did you get so bloodthirsty?

Was that what Selena saw? A man fed by violence and who wanted to kill?

Ironically, the only time Theo had ever killed a man had been during an incident just after the Change, when there were looters and people crazed from PTSD. A man had attacked a group of people-no one really knew why; he was crazy and Theo had to shoot him.

Other than that, despite the fact that the ways of the world had become more like every man for himself, he'd never taken another life. Unless one counted those of the zombies.

But he still couldn't fathom not slaying the feral creatures. They were freaks of nature who had no mind of their own and were bent only on accomplis.h.i.+ng their two goals-to feed and to find Remington Truth.

If they were left to run wild, humanity wouldn't have a chance to survive.

Ah, Selena.

He missed her.

The next morning, Theo woke just before the sun started to rise and slipped from the Humvee to see how close he could get to their quarry.

Not that he'd slept, but at least he'd closed his eyes for a bit. Thankfully, there'd been no sound or sign of gangas gangas, so at least his downtime had been restful. He trekked through the woods and toward where they'd last seen the other vehicle, silently and swiftly. The smell of something delicious cooking led him to the building where the other truck had been parked, and he got close enough to see two people moving around inside an old party store.

Creeping closer, he used what was left of the fading darkness and some rusted cars as cover. Whatever they were cooking smelled really good. Theo and Lou had long gone through the food Vonnie had sent with them and had resorted to wild berries and carrots, as well as some dried venison and, two days ago, a couple of fish.

He thought about making a distraction so they'd come running out and he could go running in and s.n.a.t.c.h up their breakfast, but in the end decided that remaining unnoticed was a better option than a good breakfast. Still, his mouth watered and the closer he got to the building, the more his stomach rumbled.

Skirting a crushed Dumpster and a pile of rubble, Theo edged around the back of the building and finally could hear voices. Taking his time, he moved closer, using the broken windows to his advantage.

"We'll drop these two off and then meet up with Seattle. Should get 'em to Ballard by noon, and back to meet Seattle a few hours later." It was a man, and the voice wasn't familiar.

"He's going to get rid of Marck?" said another, feminine voice. "Lacey's not going to like that."

Theo edged closer, wondering if it was the female Remington Truth. He lifted his head, using a thick vine hanging over the window to peer through. No. This woman had much lighter hair.

The guy, whose face was in better light, was one of the bounty hunters who'd come to Yellow Mountain. And the more Theo looked, the more he thought the woman might have been there too.

"That's the plan-he's offing Marck. If anyone can do it, Seattle can. He's a f.u.c.king crazy b.a.s.t.a.r.d," the man replied. "And Lacey's part of the reason he wants to get rid of Marck, you know."

"What about that girl with Ian? She doesn't say much. What's he want with her?"

"I dunno, Lisa. What do you think? Ain't you seen the way Seattle's been looking at her?" The sarcasm in his voice was thick. "All's I know is Seattle wants to find whoever's left of Remington Truth's family, and he wants to do it first. Getting rid of Marck is part of the plan. He's scared ball-less that Marck'll find the Truth person first and get crystaled before him."