The Land of the Dead: Book Four of the Oz Chronicles (3 page)

“No,” I said. “I mean protect her.”

He nodded enthusiastically.

“Don’t tell her about this.”

He shook his head.

“Good.”

He grinned comically.

I patted him on the shoulder and relaxed as that gnawing feeling slowly disappeared.

***

I woke up the next morning with Kimball licking my face. I pushed him away and sat up, wiping the slobber from my cheek. The others were gone. I yawned and stood on unstable feet. I was weak. Maybe the time spent under the shunter’s “care” was finally getting to me. I reached up to open the door and noticed for the first time that the room was smaller. There were no windows. The door was slotted. It folded open and shut. It was a closet. I pushed the door open.

I was in my parents’ bedroom. I turned to look back in the closet for any signs of the convenience store. The floor was covered with clothes. Kimball was nowhere to be found. I heard a clicking outside the door of my parents’ bedroom. This was all very familiar.

I placed my hand on the bedroom door knob, breathed deeply, and then slowly pulled the door open. I stuck my head past the jamb and peered down the hallway. I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when a man appeared at the end of the hall. With his gnarled fingers thrust forward, he stumbled toward me. A purple blob covered his face.

“Archie!” I yelled.

“Oz,” a voice replied.

“Archie.”

“Oz!”

The voice was coming from behind me. I turned toward it, and was horrified to see Gordy’s dead Skinner sister staring back at me. I screamed and tripped over my feet as I attempted to flee. I fell to the floor face first with a thud. Woozy, I slowly rolled on my back and saw Lou looking down at me.

“Oz,” she said quizzically. “You okay?”

I jerked up. “What…” I was no longer in my parents’ bedroom. I was back in the convenience store. I hesitated and searched for an explanation. “Dream,” I said. “It was just a dream.”

Lou helped me to my feet. “I guess that means you were able to sleep.”

“I guess,” I said wiping my eyes.

“That’s good,” she said, handing me a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. “Found a secret stash of candy in a filing cabinet in the manager’s office.”

I examined the candy. “Probably should give this to April or Ty…”

“There was enough for everybody,” she said. “Eat it.”

Relieved, I tore open the wrapper. I was starving. I devoured the candy. I wanted to cry it tasted so good. “Where are the others?” I asked with peanut butter stuck to the roof of my mouth.

“Out front waiting for us.”

“Why did you let me sleep?”

“Even Creyshaws need their sleep, Oz.”

I nodded. “I guess.” I started for the door, but she stopped me.

“Are you mad at me?” she asked.

“No, why?”

She shrugged. “Kind of feels like you’ve been avoiding me.”

“Nope,” I said. We locked in a momentary stare. I could feel my heart begin to pound against my chest. I breathed in and marveled at how good she smelled.

“What?” she said.

Perplexed, I said, “What do you mean ‘what’?”

“You’re looking at me funny.”

“I am?” I hadn’t realized.

“Is there something you want to tell me?”

I shook my head. “Just that we should get moving.”

She smiled and brushed past me. The touch of her gave me goose bumps. My one true love, I thought. That’s crazy.

THREE

We spent the first half of our morning rummaging through a Walmart for supplies and a change of clothes. We all washed up with baby wipes. At Wes’s insistence, April and Lou went to one end of the store with Kimball and cleaned up, while the rest of us went to the other.

“Lou is like my daughter,” Wes explained. “I don’t need to see her business. That ain’t right.”

“Yeah, well if it’s all the same to you,” Gordy said, “I’d just as soon not see your business either.”

We each chose a separate aisle, undressed, and wiped ourselves down with the wet wipes. When we met back up in the middle of the store, we had new clothes and a clean baby smell.

“Now you people don’t make me want to throw up,” Gordy said.

“I wish I could say the same for you,” Lou said.

“Ha ha,” Gordy replied.

“Enough fun and games,” Wes said. “We need some essentials. Everyone grab a backpack and fill it with a change of clothes, some bottled waters. Ajax and Ariabod, you two get to carry the food.”

The gorillas nodded.

“Oz,” Wes said, “we’re going to need something to fight with. Come with me.”

Everyone dispersed. Wes and I headed to the sporting goods section to gather up some weapons. Much to our delight, we found plenty of archery equipment, hunting knives, and camp axes. We were in business.

“Don’t grab more than we need. It’s best if we travel light,” Wes said.

We gathered knives and axes for everyone, a couple of replacement crossbows, and plenty of arrows.

“We’ll need flashlights, batteries, and rope, too,” Wes said.

“On it,” I said. I moved to the center walkway and looked for the sign for flashlights. I spotted it six aisles down and hurried to the aisle. I found six of the smallest flashlights in stock and turned to find the rope when I stopped dead in my tracks. A Taker stood at the end of the aisle. It chattered and sprawled its arms to the side. It was just a tad shorter than the shelves on either side of me. Slime dripped from its body.

“Easy, boy,” Wes said from behind me.

I swallowed hard. “I’d forgotten how scary they are.”

The Taker growled at the sound of my voice.

“It don’t seem to like you much,” Wes said.

“Misunderstandings are bound to happen. I did kill its queen after all.”

The Taker opened its massive mouth and lurched forward. Thankfully it was too wide to enter the aisle way.

“I thought these things were overgrown pussycats now,” I said.

“All bets are off since the Délons have lost control,” Wes said. “We should assume that our friend here has bad intentions.”

“That’s not hard,” I said.

“Back away slowly.”

I did as instructed, and the Taker seemed confused by the narrow expanse of the aisle. It examined the shelves of goods on both sides. Placing one massive hand on the top of the shelves to its left, it began to rock them back and forth. The metal creaked and scraped as it began to give way to the Taker’s strength.

“Quick step it,” Wes said, a touch of panic in his voice.

“You said to back up slowly.”

“Changed my mind…”

A thunderous pop echoed through the store as the Taker pushed the shelves over. I turned and ran to the other end of the aisle, zooming past Wes. The Taker bounded toward us, shaking the ground with each heavy footfall.

“Any ideas?’ Wes yelled.

“Split up,” I said.

“Not a chance…”

“This thing’s after me, right?”

“So.”

“So, he’ll follow me wherever I go. You can get the others and take this sucker out before it eats me.”

Wes hesitated. “Fine, but if you get ate before I get the others, I’m gonna be pissed.”

“Hurry up then.”

With that Wes broke off to the right and headed down an aisle that housed small kitchen appliances. I took the first left and pumped my legs as fast as they would go. As expected, the Taker pursued me and ignored Wes. I wanted to be relieved, but I couldn’t really manage it. The Taker chattered and roared. I got the feeling it sensed that catching and eating me was just a matter of time. I hoped that it was going to be disappointed.

I rounded the next aisle to the right and stopped suddenly to prevent myself from running into an unexpected obstacle. I stumbled and fell to the floor. A hand reached down and helped me to my feet. Tyrone.

“Ty…”

He motioned for me to keep moving. “I got this.” He pulled a hunting knife out of its sheath.

“C’mon,” I said grabbing his arm.

He shook loose and ran in the direction of the Taker which by now was barreling down on us with more speed than I thought possible even for a mythical beast.

“Stop!” I said.

Tyrone dove across the floor and slid between the Taker’s legs, slicing away at the monster’s calves. The greasy beast screeched in pain and put on the brakes with such haste that it lost its balance and fell to the floor with a raucous thud. Ty was on his feet in a split second. He leapt on the Taker’s back and started hacking away at it with his hunting knife. He was possessed. Mad.

The Taker was only momentarily disabled. It flinched and, in doing so, flung Tyrone from its back and stood. It was panting. It extended its claws and slashed a display of stuffed teddy bears. Tyrone scrambled backwards, trying to get to a distance where he could stand and mount another attack. The Taker stomped forward, slashing as he did. I was no longer its primary target. I reached in my backpack and pulled out a crossbow. I prayed I still had decent aim. I loaded it and quickly fired. The arrow lodge into the creature’s lower back. It took no notice. In an instant, it wrapped its huge hands around Tyrone’s waist and picked him up. The monster’s mouth opened wide, and its jaws unhinged. Tyrone was about to be swallowed. I grabbed another arrow. My hands were shaky. I struggled to reload the crossbow. Hearing clicking behind me, I turned to see Kimball tearing across the polished concrete floor. He leapt through the air and buried his teeth into the Taker’s backside. The creature roared and swirled around, knocking display items to the floor as it did. Tyrone fought to free himself from the monster’s grip.

The Taker swatted at Kimball. The German Shepherd clamped down harder. The creature let out a nerve rattling howl as it stumbled and crashed to its knees. Tyrone wriggled free and instead of running for safety, climbed on the monster’s back. He raised the blade of the knife and brought it down with all his might into the back of the Taker’s head. The monster let out a pained squeal and then went limp, collapsing on its barrel chest.

Tyrone screamed and repeatedly smacked the now dead creature in the back of the head. I approached slowly. I was more frightened of him than I had ever been of the Taker.

“Ty,” I said quietly.

He continued to beat on the creature.

“Tyrone,” I barked.

He turned to me, his entire body heavy. His teeth were clenched together so hard that I thought they might crack. His eyes were blood red.

“It’s dead.”

He looked at the Taker and then slowly climbed off its back, stumbling when his feet hit the floor. He somehow managed to keep himself from falling over. Just before walking away, he kicked the Taker in the ribs as hard as he could. “Not dead enough,” he said. “Not dead enough.” With that, he strolled past me and headed for the front of the store.

Wes approached from behind me.

I barely noticed him. I was focused on Tyrone.

“How’d you kill it?”

“I didn’t. Tyrone did.”

“Tyrone? Goodness knows. The boy’s growing up.”

I shook my head. “I’m worried about him.”

“Worried? The kid just killed a thousand pound greasywhopper. You should be proud of him.”

“You didn’t see him. He was out of his mind.”

“It’s Valerie,” I heard Lou say. I turned to see her standing next to Wes. There was a pained look on her face. I knew what she was thinking. It was her fault. Valerie was dead because of her. Because she trusted a Silencer. That Silencer killed Valerie. I knew that’s what she was thinking because I was thinking it, too. I hated myself for it, but I couldn’t help myself.

“He’s going to have to get over it,” I said. It was cold and uncaring. I didn’t plan it that way, but it came out of my mouth that way. Wes and Lou looked horrified. Gordy and April had approached from the other side. They had heard me, but didn’t react. “This is war!” I shouted. I’m not sure why. I wasn’t mad. It was as if I wanted to make sure the entire world heard me. “People die in wars. People we know. People we love. People… we kill. We have to start accepting that. If we don’t, there’s no way we can win.”

Wes cleared his throat. “This ain’t war, son. This is survival. Dying kind of ruins that.”

FOUR

Leaving the Walmart was harder than I expected. After we got over the shock of the encounter with the Taker, we settled in and gathered up as many supplies as we could find. The store was in pretty bad shape, but it was familiar

The truth was that little by little, day by day, you forget about your previous life. The first time you realize you can’t remember a certain smell, or sound, or face as well as you used to, it bothers you. You’ll give yourself a headache trying to recall it, but the really bad part is when you don’t spend the time or effort to try and remember. It means you’ve totally given up without even realizing it.

The store was cold. I was cold. Numb really. I was back with my friends… my family. That’s what they were, my family. I would die for them. I would kill for them. But at that moment, I felt like I was a million miles away. Something was not right. I should have been happy because I was back with them after being away for so long, but I wasn’t. I drifted away from everyone else and found a corner in the stockroom where I could just sit and… not feel the others staring at me. It felt as though their eyes were always on me. Watching every move I made. I didn’t know why exactly, but if I had to guess I’d say they were wondering if I was the same Oz that I was before I disappeared. I wasn’t. Not by a long shot. But I wasn’t sure if that was a bad thing or a good thing.

I settled in behind a pile of overturned boxes. They had been ripped open and emptied of their contents long ago. I took a deep breath and was surprised when I felt a lump form in my throat. I choked and coughed. Tears started to fall. I was crying. For no reason, or maybe for too many reasons to count. I fought to cry in silence. The more I did, the more it hurt. I needed to just break down and have an all out crying fit, but I couldn’t let myself go. I could be discovered at any moment, and this wasn’t the time to lose control. If they saw me crying, they’d be even more concerned about me. They wouldn’t trust me, and I wouldn’t blame them.

I thought I was past crying. I wasn’t a kid anymore, not mentally. I was a warrior. “I am Creyshaw,” I whispered in between sobs.

The word conjured up an image of Scoop-face in my mind’s eye. Only I didn’t picture him as Scoop-face. I saw him as Archie. The Délons had him. That was almost certain. The Myrmidons wouldn’t be here otherwise. Those were the rules. Once a Storyteller is captured, their destroyer breaks through from… wherever it is they come from. The Myrmidons were little Bobby’s Destroyers. They were his creation, and Archie was his warrior.

I looked up and gasped at the sight of April standing in front of me. I didn’t know how long she had been standing there. I quickly hid my face and hoped she wouldn’t realize I had been crying.

“What are we going to do?” she asked.

If she knew I had been crying, she didn’t let on. “Settle in for the night,” I said. “We’ll hit the road in the morning.”

“That’s not what I mean,” she said.

I studied her face. I had not really looked at her before. She was older than me, but the lost look in her eyes made her look years younger. “About what?”

“Bobby… Archie, they’re still alive.”

I sighed, brought my knees to my chest and wrapped my hands around my legs. “No way of knowing for sure.” I knew in my heart that they were, but I wanted there to be doubt among the group to make my decision to go on without them easier. These are the tough decisions warriors have to make. That’s what I told myself anyway.

“Yes there is,” she said. “We should go back.”

I was surprised by her assertion. I didn’t know her well, but from what I did know about her I got the idea she wasn’t the type to go all Marine on me and not leave a man behind. “Too risky.”

“We can’t just leave them.”

“The Délons got Bobby. We know that because of the Myrmidons. If they got Bobby, that means…” I refused to go on.

“But you said they might not have been captured.” she insisted.

“I was trying to be… optimistic.” I stood. “It just doesn’t make sense to go back.”

“But Archie…”

“Stop,” I said sharply. “Archie is either dead or… praying for death. Either way, we can’t help him.”

She started to shake. “I don’t want to be the only one.”

I furrowed my brow. I had no idea what she meant.

“They’re gone.”

I cleared my throat. “A lot of people are gone…”

“They’re gone!” she screamed. “Tank, Bobby… Archie. I’m the only one left.”

I understood. She had lost her family for the second time. I knew how that felt. I guess I should have told her that the fact that she survived meant she still had work to do, that she was destined to do something important, but I didn’t believe it, and she would have heard the doubt in my voice. So I told her something I did believe. “You’ll be gone soon enough.”

She looked at me, horrified. “What do you mean?” “I mean what I said. You’re not going to be around much longer. None of us are.” With that, I walked away but not before catching a disappointed look from Lou. She had been standing in the shadows listening to our conversation. I had a feeling she was sorry she had.

***

We dipped into bags of trail mix for dinner. The expiration date had come and gone long ago, but we were hungry enough to chance it. Beyond being a little chewier and stale, they were edible.

Tyrone ate with a faraway look in his eyes. No one really talked during the meal, but Tyrone somehow made his silence more noticeable than the rest of us. I caught a glimpse of his profile and was struck by how old he looked. Not older, but old. His complexion was gray, and he had huge bags under his eyes. Of course, I’m sure I did too, but I know they weren’t as noticeable as his. He didn’t just look tired. He looked like he was on death’s doorstop.

Wes crumbled his empty bag of trail mix and tossed it aside. “That ain’t gonna do for a big boy like me.” He grabbed his extended stomach and shook it. “This belly is getting harder and harder to maintain.”

Ajax grinned and nodded his massive head.

“How do you stay so fat?” Gordy asked without any malice.

Wes wasn’t offended. He thought about the question and then said. “Don’t know. Slow metabolism, I guess.”

“It’s because Stevie drew you that way,” Lou said.

“Huh?” Wes said as he stood and stumbled over to the nearest overturned rack of snacks. It was slim pickings but he was determined to find something.

“That’s the way Stevie drew you,” Lou said. “Fat…” She gasped and cupped her hand over mouth. “Sorry.”

Wes waved her off. “It’s okay. Fat is fat. I ain’t got nothing against it.” He found a bag of peanuts and opened it with his teeth. “So I’m still fat because this is the way Stevie drew me?” He popped a couple of peanuts in his mouth. “How come you all are getting older? You’re all ‘bout a foot taller than when I first laid eyes on you… ‘cept you, April. Don’t know if anything’s changed on you since all this began because we ain’t known each other that long.”

“I lost weight,” she said proudly.

Wes sneered. “Good for you.”

“I think it’s all the Twinkies you eat,” Gordy said. “I’m surprised that creamy filling doesn’t ooze out of your ears.”

Wes shrugged. “Can’t help it if Twinkies keep for forever and a day. They’s the only thing we find on a regular basis from overturned store to over-turned store.” As if the universe was trying to prove a point, he spotted a box of Twinkies near the stack of snacks he had just combed through. “You see!”

“Just because you find ’em, don’t mean you gotta eat ’em,” Gordy said.

“Son, food ain’t something you pass up during end times,” Wes said ripping open the box. He took out a Twinkie and tossed the box to Tyrone. “You better take one before I go through the whole box.”

Tyrone handed the box to April without even considering taking one.

Wes stuffed then entire Twinkie in his mouth and shrugged. “You don’t know what you’re missing,” he mumbled.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Lou gesturing with her head for me to follow her. I stood and did as she requested.

“You need to talk to Tyrone,” she said once we were outside the building.

“About what?”

“Valerie,” she said hesitantly.

I peered through the dirty glass door and got a glimpse of the group. Gordy, April, and Wes were deep in conversation while Tyrone stared off blankly.

“What can I do?” I asked.

“Help him deal with her… what happened,” Lou said. “We need him, and he’s useless to us if his head’s not right.”

“He’ll work it out.” I started to walk away, but she grabbed my arm and forcefully pulled me back.

“I don’t get you,” she snapped.

Normally her angry tone would have triggered an angry response from me, but for some reason, it didn’t faze me. I honestly didn’t care, and that bothered me. “It’s not your job to get me, Lou.”

“Job?” She looked hurt. “Why are you being such a jerk?”

“I’m not in the mood…” My plans were to storm off, but she stepped in front of me.

“Too bad for you because I want to know what’s up with you… I heard what you said to April.”

“I know.”

“It was cruel.”

“I know.”

“You weren’t like this before…”

“I disappeared? I know.” I sighed. “I don’t know what you want me to say. I’m a kid. I can’t take responsibility for everyone else. If Tyrone doesn’t get that people die in miserable ugly ways in this world then I can’t help him. Same goes for April. It’s not my fault they got Archie and Bobby. Archie is the same as me. He is Creyshaw. He had a job to do and he failed. I’m not going to go looking for him. I’m not!” My voice was getting louder and louder. “You want to know what happens if I find him?”

I could see real fear in her eyes as she backed away from me.

“I would have to kill him if he’s not already dead!”

“What are saying?” she asked with a tear rolling down her cheek.

“The Délons have him. He will be marked, and he will be turned. You remember how they turn people, right?”

“I…”

I cut her off. The anger that had escaped me earlier was in full force now. “A shunter crawls out of its solifipod while you’re sleeping and attaches itself to your face to suck out the part of your brain that makes you human.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Because you weren’t there. You didn’t see what I did to him. I pulled the shunter off. I tore his face off. I can’t do that to him again.”

“Again?” She approached cautiously, reached out and gently took my hand. “None of this is real, Oz. You didn’t do anything to Archie. I need you to see that. We don’t belong in this world. The only way we can get back to where we belong is if we are all focused on getting home. We can’t do this without Tyrone… or you.”

I looked down at her hand holding mine and collapsed to one knee. “I’m tired.”

She squeezed my hand. “That’s allowed.” She smiled.

I chuckled and looked up at her. “Wes is right. There’s a chance that we’ll never get home no matter how hard we fight.”

She nodded. “Yeah, but there’s a chance we will, too.”

I stood and stared at her eyes. If I could, I would have never stopped looking at them, but a crashing sound in the parking lot diverted our attention. My body went stiff. Lou reached out and grabbed my arm. Her breathing was heavy and fast.

“What was that?” she asked.

I swallowed. “Wind…”

Another crash came, followed by the wap-wap-wap of feet on the ground. Wap-wap-wap. Wap-wap-wap. Lou and I backed toward the store entrance. Neither of us had any weapons. A conversation carried out in whispers drifted through the darkness.

“Not the wind,” Lou said.

A cry, “Whoop!” sounded out from the back of the parking lot.

“Augh-wee-op!” was the reply. Whoever or whatever it was was just on the edge of the darkness.

“Whoop-whoo!” Another call.

I stepped forward.

“Where are you going?” Lou asked.

“Sounds like… a couple of kids,” I said.

“Yeah, well the last bunch of kids we ran into tried to feed us to a bunch of locusts.”

I turned to her and gave her point some thought. “Carl’s group?”

She nodded.

“I remember. That’s when you lost Tank.”

“How did you know about Tank?”

Before I could answer, another call came from the darkness.

“What do you want?” I yelled.

I could hear the faint sound of whispering. They were bickering.

“Show yourself!” I yelled.

Nothing.

“You chicken?” I provoked.

The whispering got louder. Finally a single voice emerged. “We are the Throwaways!”

“Throwaways?” I mumbled. “You heard of ‘em?” I asked Lou.

“No,” she said.

“What do you Throwaways want?”

There was a long pause. “We are the Throwaways!”

I chuckled and Lou shrugged her shoulders.