And there was Maylee.
Maylee
.
Carly blinked, her mind back in the present and her eyes staring at the floor. Maylee was leaving. She had to find her, and stop her.
She stood and rushed from the room.
* * *
Angie leaned on her cane and frowned at Dr. Graham. "What are you saying?"
Dr. Graham turned around on his stool. "I'm saying there's more of it. A lot more. Look."
He stood and went to a metal cabinet. The cabinet was old, beaten and rusted. He opened it and pulled out a large flask. As he carried it over, Angie noticed it was filled nearly to the top with liquid. Dark, red liquid. Blood.
Angie frowned again. "Did you collect more?"
"No, and this is the fascinating thing," said Dr. Graham, stepping over to the desk and placing the flask on it. "I noticed the sample I collected outside was about to burst out of the vial."
Dalton looked down at the flask, leaning in to look at it closer. "We didn't get that much. The vial was only a quarter full."
"Precisely," said Dr. Graham. "But there it was, almost to the top. So I poured it into this flask."
Angie looked between the flask and Dr. Graham. "You mean..."
"It expands to fill whatever vessel it is put into," said Dr. Graham. "That must be how your mystery woman was able to fill the trench without being noticed. She would just have to leave a few drops."
Park stepped over, looking at the flask. He raised an eyebrow at it. "So when did she dig the trench?"
Angie shrugged. "Who knows? Could have been any time before the winter."
Park shook his head. "Well this just gets weirder and fucking weirder."
"Oh, but that's just the start," said Dr. Graham. "Look at this."
* * *
Carly rushed outside, pulling her jacket around herself. The wind was strong and biting. Snow blew all around, obscuring her vision. It was late in the day, and the sun would go down soon.
"Maylee!" she yelled into the wind. The cold wind rattled the metal buildings in reply. "Maylee!" she tried again, looking behind her. The streets were empty. No Maylee. No anyone.
"Dammit," she said under her breath. She thought, trying to remember where Angie was. The medical shed.
She turned to head there. She had to tell Angie. Angie would know what to do.
She took a few steps and Elton walked into view. He stopped, standing in front of her.
"Where the hell are you going?" he said, walking closer. "And why are you shouting?"
"Get the fuck out of my way!" said Carly, walking to one side, aiming around him.
Elton stepped to block her. "You gonna talk to your grandfather like that?"
"I'm talking to an asshole like that!" said Carly, shoving him back with all the force she could muster. She was significantly smaller than him, but he stumbled back a few steps. "You ruined everything!"
Elton stomped back. "I'm protecting you!"
"I don't want it! No one wants it!"
Elton looked torn between rage and concern. "I'll make this place better. You just have to stay away from those people! Please."
Carly didn't have to ask who he meant. He meant Angie. He meant Dalton. And most of all, he meant Maylee, the one spot of warmth and love in this cold outpost.
"Fuck you!" she screamed, shoving him away again. She managed even more force this time, more than she thought she had in her.
He staggered back, his face turning red despite the cold. He corrected himself, whipping the rifle from the strap on his back. He pointed it at her, his eyes dark with fury.
Carly didn't flinch. She was too angry. "Really? You gonna shoot me now?"
Elton regained his senses. He lowered the gun, looking confused and shaken. "No, Carly, I...."
She shook her head at him, then stomped off. This time he let her. She pounded through the snow, wanting to cry, to smash things. But most of all, wanting to find Maylee.
* * *
Dr. Graham shut the filing cabinet and walked back to the desk. He held two twigs in his hand.
"You filed twigs?" said Angie.
"One needs to stay organized, Ms. Land," he said. He reached the desk and handed one twig to Dalton. Keeping the other one, he grabbed a hammer from a shelf overhead.
"Put the twig on the table, young man," said Dr. Graham.
Dalton did, frowning as if thinking the same thing Angie was. Where was this going?
Dr. Graham held out the hammer, handle first. "Now, hit the twig."
"Huh?" said Dalton.
"Go on," said Dr. Graham, bobbing the handle at him. "Smack it with everything you've got."
Dalton took the hammer. He looked to Angie as if asking for permission. Angie shrugged in response.
Dalton slammed the hammer down on the twig. The twig shattered, sending splinters across the desk.
"Wow," said Park, "science has figured out a hammer can smash sticks."
Dr. Graham chuckled. "You joke, but watch." He took the second twig, still in his hand, and dipped it in the flask of blood. He dipped as far as he could without getting blood on his fingers. He withdrew the twig from the flask and placed it on the table.
He nodded to Park. "Now you hit that one."
Dalton handed Park the hammer. Park looked down at the bloody twig then whacked the hammer down.
Nothing happened. He pulled the hammer away and saw the twig hadn't broken. It hadn't even moved.
Park raised an eyebrow at it. "Lemme try that again."
"Go ahead," said Dr. Graham.
Park slammed the hammer down on the twig one more time. This time much harder, so hard the workbench shook. When he pulled away, the twig remained intact, undamaged.
"Huh," he said.
"Now look at the hammer," said Dr. Graham.
Park did, turning the hammer around to look at the head. Angie could see it too. A large groove had been knocked into the metal head, roughly matching the shape of the twig.
"Double huh with a side of fuck me," said Park.
"Holy shit," said Angie. She looked to Dr. Graham. "Make more of this. A lot more. Pour it into a bucket or something."
A strange look passed over Dr. Graham's face. It was gone in an instant. "What for?"
"I don't know yet," said Angie. "But this is the first time the living have had something weird on their side."
The door to the shed flew open. Carly came in, looking winded and shaken. She saw Angie and rushed to her.
"What is it?" said Angie, walking over.
"Maylee's gone. I tried to tell you sooner but—"
"Wait," said Angie, "what?"
Carly took a deep breath. She looked panicky, scared. "Maylee's gone."
Sharon stood hidden amongst trees, staring across the field at World Memorial. The sun was going down. Sharon was furious. She seethed. Where had Beulah gone? She wished she could kill her, but she knew it was impossible. She knew any wound she inflicted would heal. But it didn't matter. She soothed herself with thoughts of puncturing Beulah's skin, or tearing her spine from her back as she shook and blood poured from her mouth.
She breathed in and out, her heart calming.
That was better.
She returned her attention to the town, where the children were. The children Beulah had picked and corralled for the sacrifice that would end Sharon's plans. There were towns and encampments like this one all over the world, hiding the children from her. But she had flocks everywhere. Sharon reached out to them and joined their thoughts. She could feel her flock in England. She had convinced them the children were the source of a virus that had caused the dead to rise. Her English flock was rounding them up and euthanizing them, releasing their life essence in little isolated bursts. Not enough to threaten Sharon’s corpses. She could see her flock in Russia. She'd convinced them the children were the result of ancient curse, an old world mystery come back to haunt them. The flock rounded the children up and hanged them, their little legs twitching as they swung from ropes in the frigid Russian winter. It was beautiful.
Her flocks were doing good work, but Sharon could sense Beulah still had enough protected children. Sharon hadn't thinned their numbers to the point of safety. She couldn't sense the children, but she could sense her sister. Her sister was worried but not despairing. Not yet.
Sharon pulled her thoughts back to her surroundings. She was worried also. She bit her lip as she stared at the town.
The last child the local flock killed had glowed.
Glowed
. That meant the energy in the children was almost at its peak. That the time for Beulah's world-wide sacrifice was close.
But here in front of Sharon sat the only one of Beulah's outposts she had ever found. If Sharon could destroy it, if she could take the children away and neutralize them one by one, Beulah's plan would fall apart. Beulah's sacrifice required a chain reaction to spread over the entire world. If this town’s children were taken and killed safely, Beulah's sacrifice might tamp Sharon's work down for a few months, but it would spread again. It was a matter of time.
Which Sharon was running out of. She couldn't wait for her local flock to do the work. She'd have to move things along.
She stared at the town for a few more seconds, then turned and walked deeper into the woods.
* * *
Angie hurried through the snow, as fast as her limp would allow, followed by Park and Carly. She knew they were walking more slowly than they needed to so they wouldn't leave her behind. It embarrassed her. It almost made her mad. She forced that down. She wasn't mad. She was scared. Maylee was gone. She'd driven her daughter away. All this fighting and she'd finally driven her away.
The town was dark, but barrel fires lit most of the alleys. Angie kept hoping she'd see Maylee sulking in one. She knew she wouldn't.
They finally reached the square. The gates. Angie walked up to April, the guard manning the gates that night.
April nodded to Angie as she approached. Angie did her best to smile, not wanting the news to spread too quickly. "Did Maylee come through here?"
"No, Ma'am," said April, shaking her head.
"Okay, thank you," said Angie, keeping her smile as she turned and headed back.
"Something wrong, Ma'am?" said April.
Angie stopped and turned again. She forced her smile to stay put. If she lost the faith of the Guard, she'd lose the town. "No, nothing. Just need to tell her something."
"Alright then," April replied.
Angie turned, hoping it was for the last time. She, Park and Carly walked along in silence for several moments. The others seemed to understand they had to keep this between themselves for as long as possible.
"Maybe she hasn't left yet," said Carly, looking down at the snow as she walked.
Angie considered it. She couldn't fool herself into believing it. "She’s resourceful. I wouldn’t put it past her to just climb up a wall and jump over the side."
A cold realization was coming on. It had been fifteen minutes between Maylee telling Carly and Carly getting to Angie. It was more than enough time for Maylee to slip out.
She was long gone.
She had no choice. She'd have to tell the Guard. They'd all have to work together to find her.
"Carly," she said, fighting not to be mad at the young girl, "what took you so long, exactly?"
Elton stomped over to them, his boots crunching into the snow.
Angie saw the way Carly looked at him. It was not the warm look of a granddaughter. "Never mind," said Angie. "I think I got it."
Angie stepped toward him, leaning on her cane as she went. "Elton, Maylee’s gone. Get the rest of the Guard. We need a search party, now."
Elton stopped, raising an eyebrow at her. "You seriously going to talk to me like that right now?"
Angie stopped right in front of hm. "If you mean this or me punching you in the throat, I'd rather be doing the throat thing, but we have more important things to worry about right now."
Elton snorted. "If you think I'm forming a search party to search for her, you're crazy. If she wants to get herself killed, the little bitch is welcome to it."
"And there we go," said Park, stepping over to Elton and shoving him back. Elton stumbled in the snow and fell, landing on his rear.
Elton clambered to his feet, quickly for his age. "You wanna finally go, son?"
"I believe I would," said Park.
"Not now!" yelled Angie with such force that both Park and Elton stopped. "We're forming a search party!"
She looked to Carly. Carly nodded, as if knowing what Angie would ask. She ran for the nearest alarm rope. Angie watched her go, feeling lucky to have her there.
Elton regained his composure. "The fuck we are! This place is poorly defended enough as it is!"
Carly reached the alarm and yanked it down. The clanging of metal on metal rang across the town. She pulled the rope again and again. Townsfolk and guards gathered quickly, like they'd already been coming. Angie suspected they'd heard the shouting and were coming to see the drama.
Elton stood there shaking his head as townsfolk and guards gathered around. He looked at Angie. "You really gonna waste all our time with this shit?"
Park stepped closer to him. "I'm sick of
your
shit. I say
you're
the one letting things in!" He blinked, an idea occurring to him. "Where the fuck is your place?"
Elton moved back close to Park. "You listen here, hillbilly—"
"Over there," said Carly, still by the alarm rope. She pointed across the square to the camper.
Park looked at Carly, then stomped over to the camper and up the steps. He wrenched the door open and stepped inside.
Elton gave her a murderous look. Carly stared back without blinking. She was strong, Angie thought. She knew why Maylee liked her.