Authors: Daniel J. Williams
Mace smiled and countered with a jab and uppercut that briefly clouded Roger’s eyes as his head snapped back.
“Nice,” Roger said, as he shook his head. “You interested in seeing some legwork?”
Mace remained silent. The need grew stronger inside. He thought about stopping the demonstration.
Roger’s right leg suddenly left the ground and swept towards Mace in one fast, fluid motion. Roger’s foot nailed Mace squarely in the side of the head. The crowd booed as Mace stumbled to the side.
Mace felt something snap inside him and his mind went blank. He moved swiftly towards Roger. The crowd cheered at his forward progress.
“You're okay,” Roger said low as Mace swiftly approached. “It’s just a show,” he said loud enough for Mace to hear. “It’s the only way this will work.”
Mace didn’t stop. His eyes grew wide as he reached out with his left hand and grabbed Roger around the throat. Roger threw his forearm up, loosening Mace’s grip as Mace threw a roundhouse that landed directly on Roger’s temple. Roger’s eyes went fuzzy for a second before he gathered himself and thrust an open palmed shot straight to the bridge of Mace’s nose.
Mace stumbled backwards as blood poured from his nostrils.
Jade turned away, her heart pounding as she questioned the outcome. It could all go wrong so fast.
“You broke my nose!” Mace growled as he charged. Roger reacted swiftly and tried to use Mace’s progress against him. He tried to flip Mace, but Mace barrelled right through him, slamming Roger to the ground. Roger’s head bounced off the dirt and Mace was on top of him immediately.
Mace threw several hard punches at Roger’s face, and at the sight of blood the darkness took completely over. He needed to kill him.
Standing off to the side, Bowie suddenly tossed his knife right next to Mace. He wanted Roger gone.
Mace caught the blade out of the corner of his eye and quickly grabbed the handle. Roger saw the glint of shiny metal appear overhead and realized he’d been wrong. It was about to end badly.
Everything moved in slow motion as Mace raised the blade overhead and Roger prepared to divert the blade’s trajectory. Inside Mace’s head, a war raged. His whole being screamed at him to finish the task, to feel the release. As he began to plunge the knife towards Roger’s skull, Mace suddenly heard a voice from the past in his head. It was the last voice he ever expected to hear. It was the voice of Jason, the boy he once mentored. The boy he’d been forced to shoot and whom he'd named his son after.
“
You’re going down, Mace. You’re going downtown
.” The voice suddenly echoed throughout his brain. It was from the last time he’d seen Jason before the horrific event. It seemed like a different lifetime, when he was a better man and life still held hope.
They’d been playing a game at the mechanical museum in San Francisco. Mace pictured himself pulling the lever on the mechanical batter and the metal ball from Jason’s pitcher striking him out. Mace always let him win. It was nothing, but it was selfless. He'd loved to build the kid up. He'd loved him like a son.
Mace blinked as he felt the raging guilt wash over him. He’d become a monster.
His head suddenly grew clear and he witnessed Roger beneath him, trying to keep him off. The look on Roger’s face told of a life or death struggle. Mace suddenly realized the knife was gripped firmly in his hand and being thrust downward.
As the crowd roared around him, Mace felt the rage momentarily dissipate. Completely focused on it, the noise of the crowd disappeared. Back in his right mind, Mace heard Roger say,
“Wait!” as Roger grabbed a hold of his wrist. Feeling Mace hold back as the blade moved towards his face, Roger twisted Mace’s wrist and rolled their bodies to the right. Mace tumbled over too easily and purposely loosened his grip. The knife dropped. Roger grabbed it and rolled on top of him. The blade pressed close to Mace’s throat.
Roger quickly glanced at the shocked faces all around them. The crowd appeared stunned and was instantly silent. “You okay?” he whispered.
“Get off me before I change my mind,” Mace said roughly as he fought to keep the darkness in check. The fight within still raged.
Roger let the knife drop to the ground. He slowly stood and brushed himself off. The crowd looked confused as Roger reached down for Mace’s hand. Mace clasped it and Roger helped him get to his feet.
Feeling the sting of his ego as he witnessed the crushed faces of the kids around him, Mace said quietly to Roger, “You broke my nose, you prick. You're lucky I didn’t finish you off.”
All the kids' mouths hung low as they stared at Mace’s bloody face.
Glancing at Mace, Roger saw a peaceful look in his eyes. It was the first time he’d ever seen it.
“It’s an improvement,” Roger said quietly, keeping his features tight. “Plus it goes with the scar. Chicks love scars.” The light scar that ran across Mace’s cheek was from a bullet-graze in San Francisco.
Mace and Roger stood quietly together, staring out at the stunned faces of the crowd. Mace suddenly grabbed Roger’s hand and lifted it above his head. They both held their hands up in victory.
“We’ll call this one a draw,” Mace said loudly as he watched Woody smile from the roof. “We’ll never know who could have won for sure,” he said, nodding towards Roger. “And we never will. We are going to live together in peace.”
Roger walked over to Bowie and handed him the knife. “I believe this is yours. It’s a beautiful weapon.”
Bowie took it and remained silent. He didn’t know what to say.
In the back of the crowd, Lisa trembled with a strange sense of joy. She clutched Tom’s hand tightly. Her nails dug into his palm. “I don’t believe it,” she said, unsure what to think. “Maybe we can beat this. Maybe we actually can.”
Inside one of the barn stalls, Travis milked Betsy, their lone cow. Squatting down, he whistled as he squeezed down on two of the teats, squirting milk into a bucket. On the wall above him, Herman’s head twitched as he watched him intently. The lizard blended perfectly into the wood; its mottled skin-folds pressed against the beam. Travis never noticed it.
Betsy quietly mooed as Travis squeezed, and Herman suddenly leapt off the wall. The lizard glided around the barn once before coming back and landing securely in the middle of Travis’ back.
Travis screamed, causing Betsy to jump. She kicked over the bucket and bumped Travis off his stool. Herman jumped off Travis’ back as he tumbled over and soared to the middle of the barn, clasping onto a large 4 x 4 beam.
Travis jumped up and twisted around in all directions, desperate to see what attacked him. There was nothing there. “Who’s there?” he yelled nervously as his eyes darted around.
“Somebody grabbed me!” he said out loud, a slight tremble to his voice. As the realization hit him, he knew he needed to get out of the barn immediately. “It’s a ghost!” he declared with fright as he ran towards the barn door. “The barn is haunted! I’ve got to warn everyone!”
Exiting the barn, Travis spotted Chelsea, Maya and Kelly all moving in his direction. He rushed up to stop them. “I wouldn’t go in there,” he said shakily. “It’s haunted! I got attacked by a ghost!”
“What?” Maya asked, shooting a quick glance at Chelsea. Chelsea shook her head tightly. They had a pretty good idea who the ghost was.
“Something grabbed me in the back!” Travis said excitedly. “I turned around and nothing was there!”
“That’s horrible!” Maya said, trying not to laugh.
“I’d tell everybody!” Chelsea added, looking wide-eyed at Travis. “I think it would best if everybody just stayed out of the barn!”
Kelly watched her two friends slyly. “Something scared the hell out of me in there the other day, too,” she offered. “I’m scared of the barn. Really.” She tried to look convincing.
His heart now racing, Travis’ imagination started spinning as he recalled the event. “It was huge!” he exclaimed. “It felt like it was ten feet tall!”
Maya giggled for a split-second before getting herself under control. “You should tell Mace!” she said. “He should definitely know about this.”
The other two girls nodded in agreement.
“You’re right,” Travis said. “This is big!” He rushed off and the three girls broke into laughter once he was out of earshot.
“What a dork!” Maya laughed.
Walking into the barn, they all giggled at the absurdity of Travis. As soon as they entered, Herman pushed off the beam and glided straight for them. None of them saw the lizard. Maya screamed as Herman’s feet suddenly tangled in her hair as he attempted to land.
“Get him off me!” she yelled as Herman scrambled around on her head, trying to hold on as she jumped about.
“Stay still!” Chelsea yelled as she tried to grab Herman. He finally jumped off Maya’s head and glided back to the middle beam.
“What is wrong with your dragon?” Maya squealed as she ruffled her hair with her hands, trying to remove all traces of dragon cooties.
“Nothing’s wrong with him. He just likes people,” Chelsea said calmly as she watched him scramble up the beam. He stopped halfway up then turned around quickly to watch them.
Sitting across the table from Roger, Lisa said, “I still can’t believe it." Staring at him in awe, her head shook from side to side. Tom sat quietly next to her, listening closely to the conversation. They held hands under the table.
Lisa continued with her amazement over the fight. "I honestly don’t think I could have held back, and I’m a damn pot-head!” she added excitedly.
Tom squeezed her hand in understanding. He was completely baked.
Mace couldn’t help but laugh. “I wouldn’t want to try it again, Leese. It was pretty much touch and go, I’ll tell you that.”
“There was that one moment,” Roger said, smiling at Mace, “when you had that knife in your hand. I thought I’d totally misjudged the situation.”
Mace nodded as Jade broke in. “Even I thought you were dead, Roger.” She turned to Mace, who sat next to her, and she studied his face. “What changed? The moment I saw Bowie throw the knife in, I thought it was all over.”
Taking a few deep breaths, Mace felt oddly at peace as he tried to explain the situation. “I heard Jason’s voice in my head.”
Jade cocked her head at the mention of Jason's name. Mace saw the look and clarified. “Jason from the past. I heard him taunting me at the mechanical museum.”
Jade remained silent, watching him closely, waiting for him to continue.
“I always let him beat me at that stupid game. It never mattered how badly he teased. That moment made me remember who I used to be. Who I hope to be again.”
Lisa’s face grew slack as she thought of her own past. “You can’t return to your innocence, though,” she said quietly. “You can’t undo what’s been done.”
Remaining quiet through most of the conversation, Woody spoke as he leaned his back against the front door. He always felt more comfortable with a little separation. “No, you can’t,” he said, recalling his own actions in Kansas. “But you can learn to live with them. Become stronger because of them.”
Roger nodded. “Exactly. You can’t hate yourself for your past, only learn from it. You do the best you can until you know better. Forgiving yourself is sometimes harder than forgiving others.”
“I still feel like I’m living on borrowed time,” Mace said as he contemplated his condition. “I used to feel that way because of the things I did. Now, with the infected almost all gone, I feel a need to make sure this camp is safe in case it takes me down as well.”
“That’s one way to look at it,” Roger said in acknowledgement. “There may be another way, though. The original toxin was so strong it killed and then reanimated the dead, right? What if the toxin breaks down over time? In that case it may not be the toxin making them drop, but nature taking its course as the toxin weakens. In that case, you would actually get better, not worse.”
Jade’s jaw dropped at the statement. She’d never thought of that before. “Who are you?” she asked Roger incredulously. “Where do you come up with this stuff? That’s an amazing way to see it.”
Roger smiled in response. “I’ve always enjoyed looking at all angles and trying to determine the most positive outcome. If you look at life that way, it often creates pathways for positive outcomes to follow.”
"I love that," she said. "It's brilliant."
Watching them, Mace witnessed the chemistry between them. The peace he felt instantly turned to bile in his stomach. A part of him wanted to reach over and strangle Roger.
Several frantic knocks on the door stopped everything. Woody turned and opened it. Travis entered quickly, beside himself with excitement. “There’s a ghost in the barn!” he said frantically to Woody until he noticed all the adults sitting around the table. He suddenly shrunk back. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”
At the sight of Travis, Mace felt himself lighten up a smidge. Travis was the camp goofball. “What happened in the barn, Travis?” he asked, wanting to take his mind off the rage fighting to surface inside.
The boy lit up again as he told his story. “I was milking Betsy when a ghost attacked me from the back! It hit me!”
Seeing the look of doubt on everyone’s face, he repeated the statement. “I got punched by a ghost in the barn. I swear it. It hit me in the back and when I turned around there was no one there. It’s haunted I tell you!”
Mace decided to go investigate. After seeing sparks of interest between Jade and Roger, he needed to remove himself before he did something he'd regret, like murder the both of them. “Let’s go check it out,” he said to Travis. He turned briefly to his companions. “I’ll be back.” He found that he couldn’t look directly at Roger or Jade.
Inside the barn, the girls were plotting their adventure for the following morning. “You just need to sneak out before Roger wakes up. I do it all the time,” bragged Chelsea. “There is some cool stuff outside these walls.”
The barn door suddenly opened and Mace strode in. Travis hung outside the entrance, too scared of another run in with the ten-foot ghost. At first sight of the girls, Mace figured they’d pulled a trick on Travis. Walking towards them, he never saw Herman push off the beam above his head and glide around from behind. Herman smacked against his right shoulder, and he turned his head to spot the lizard right next to his face. “Yow!” he yelled out as he jumped away from it. The lizard hung tight.