The Gate 2 Part 18

"So how's the old Batch.e.l.l place?" asked the toothless old woman behind the counter.

Abigail raised her tired eyes. "Fine," she said. "Not getting much sleep, though."

The old woman nodded. "The Howlers keeping you up at night, eh?"

"Yes."

"That'll happen." Her crinkled hands tied a knot in the bag of feed Abigail had just purchased and handed it over to her. "That'll be seven silver."

"How about four silver and ten copper?"

"Fine."

Abigail dug through her satchel and removed her coin purse. After dropping the last of her money into the old woman's hands, she asked, "What are the Howlers, anyway?"

The woman shrugged. "Don't know. Some folks say they're wolves, but bigger'n the ones you see in books. The Sickness changed 'em, they say. Made 'em huge, gave 'em a taste for human blood. They been wandering the borders since this place was repopulated four years ago, killing livestock. Not many folks've seen 'em and lived, but those that have swear they're giant demons that'll haunt them 'till the day they die."

Abigail's eyes widened. "That so? Who was the last one to see them?"

The old woman laughed. "Ernest Batch.e.l.l, actually. Left town soon after. Said they were stalking his farm." Her beady eyes narrowed. "Guess that'd be your farm, now."

"Oh."

"Ah, don't worry none." She placed her calloused hand on Abigail's. "You'll be fine. Old Ernest was bats.h.i.+t crazy, that's what he was. But maybe you should go get yourself a man. That'd help matters, wouldn't it? A man to protect you at night?"

Abigail grabbed the bag of feed, threw it over her shoulder, spun around, and exited the shop without the courtesy of answering her.

She grabbed her mule by its bit and led the animal through what pa.s.sed for Westworth's town center-a collection of dilapidated barns and sheds with hand-painted signs propped against their dry and dusty walls. There were few people out and about, but those who did brave the heat of late morning cast her suspicious glances from beneath their hats. Eyes stared at her like spotlights from the center of soiled faces. All were male, and there was an aura of danger about each of them. A s.h.i.+ver ran up her spine.

But maybe you should get yourself a man.

No. Wasn't going to happen. Abigail didn't trust men. Not anymore.

Abigail marched down the road. Draped over the mule lagging behind her were the butchered remains of one of her cattle. It had taken her nearly two weeks to build up the nerve to slaughter the poor thing, but her feed bins were running low, as were her supplies. She needed to trade the meat in. Old Man Hollis had promised that a properly butchered cow would fetch a pretty penny in the town proper, whether the meat was low-grade and diseased or not. She hoped he was right.

The sounds of people shouting came to her from over the dune to her right. In her state of exhaustion-the d.a.m.n Howlers seemed to get louder and louder every night, keeping her awake and scared-she a.s.sumed it was her head playing tricks on her. But then it came again, a human bellow followed by what sounded like the screeching of a cat. She looked around, her heart picking up pace. She was near the Mullin farm, the only other cattle wrangler in town. The Mullins were comprised of three brothers and their father, who ran the farm. She'd met them all once, at the market, and didn't walk away impressed. She was about to ignore it, but then the sound came again, and this time she made out a loud thwacking noise. Just ignore it, her better judgment warned her. Keep on walking.

Abigail didn't listen.

Grabbing her rifle from its pouch on the mule's saddlebag, she stormed across the sand, kicking up clouds of dust. The screams came once more, then again. She heard three distinct, frantic voices, other than whatever animal was screeching. Probably the brothers. Probably in trouble.

As she crested the hill, Abigail realized she was wrong. The Mullin brothers weren't in trouble. The three boys stood in a triangular formation, each holding a plank of wood. They took turns raising the planks over their heads, bringing them down hard as they could on whatever lay between them.

She inched closer, and her mouth dropped open. In the center of the human triangle, crouching and bawling, with its arms raised over its head while blood poured from the wounds covering its body, was her monster. It squealed in pain as another plank smacked against it, drawing a cut across the back of its hand.

Rage filled her. She raised her rifle to the sky and fired off a single shot. In the aftermath, all movement ceased.

The three Mullin boys stared at her as she trudged down the rise. They kept pa.s.sing suspicious glances back and forth. She stopped a few feet away and pointed the barrel at them.

David Mullin, the oldest boy, probably in his mid-twenties, grinned. Most of his teeth were missing and his gums bled, obvious signs of Sickness. "Well what we got here?" he said, his voice cackling. "How're you, pretty lady?"

Abigail didn't reply. She shrugged her rifle to the side instead, letting it speak for her. The boys complied, moving away from the poor, wailing creature.

"Aw, someone's got a soft spot for the freak," said Barry, the youngest.

"Shut your mouth before I put a hole through it," snapped Abigail. He obeyed.

When the boys were far enough away, she approached her tiny monster. It s.h.i.+vered while it lay crumpled in a ball, but at least it'd stopped screaming. It rolled over and raised its white eyes to her. The mirage of a grin formed on its thin, frayed lips. Streaks ran down its cheeks. The beast had been crying.

"It's okay now," Abigail whispered.

"Like h.e.l.l it is."

A shadow flashed behind her and she was knocked sideways. Her elbow struck hard sand when she fell, causing pain to flash up her forearm. Billy Mullin, the middle brother, ran past her, weapon in hand. The vulnerable creature yelped, its eyes bulging, as Billy brought the plank down once more, this time hitting it square in the face. A couple of sharp teeth flew from the thing's mouth, accompanied by a stream of blood.

Billy swiveled his head and stared at her, his expression gripped with rage. "This thing killed one of our horses!" he screamed. "And we ain't gonna take that from some mutie!"

Abigail's eyes s.h.i.+fted from Billy to the creature and back again. In her mind she saw Mitch.e.l.l standing over her dead son, a look of perverse satisfaction painted on his face. She gritted her teeth, squeezed the shaft of her gun as her own rage took over, and rose to her feet. Billy's expression went from royally p.i.s.sed off to rather concerned as she stumbled to get her footing and then charged full-bore at him, leading with the b.u.t.t of her rifle. He must not have expected her to carry through with the a.s.sault, for he simply stood there, gawking. The a.s.s end of the rifle slammed into his nose, and she heard an audible crack as the cartilage smashed. Billy careened away from her, wailing and holding his face. Blood seeped between his fingers.

She heard movement and spun around, swinging her rifle like a bat. Its stock caught David in the jaw. His head snapped back and he cried out in pain. Abigail bounced on her heels, holding the rifle upright, daring someone to make a move. The two injured boys stumbled about, not daring to approach her, while Barry stood as if frozen, his jaw hanging open.

Finally, Abigail swung the rifle around and shouldered it. She aimed it at each brother, one at a time, and said, "Now go away."

The boys turned tail, stumbling over the dune to their rear. David, holding his cheek (which was already purple and swelling), turned back to her. He spat a tooth out on the dirt and glared.

"Pa's gonna hear about this," he said, and then disappeared from sight.

Abigail stayed as she was, gun in hand, nerves on edge, for some time afterward. She feared the boys would circle around and attack her from behind, but after a while that worry evaporated. She threw the rifle over her shoulder and looked to the spot where the wounded creature lay.

It wasn't there.

Her head shot from side to side, but it was no use. She could see nothing but sand beneath a light blue horizon. Shrugging her shoulders and breathing deeply, she trudged back the way she came, hoping the mule hadn't taken off in her absence-especially since it still had a hundred pounds of valuable beef strapped to its back.

Abigail Browning s.h.i.+vered. She was sure she'd done a good thing. It wasn't right what they were doing to that poor little creature. The Mullin boys got what was coming to them, she thought. The beginnings of a grin spread across her chapped lips.

Evening came, and so did the howls. They pierced her eardrums with their shrill timbre, louder than ever. The dying sun cast glowing streaks across the ceiling of the shack as its rays slipped through the gaps in the shutters. She lit the candles on the table beside her, hugged her nightclothes tight, and slipped beneath her covers. Her hands were clenched and held close to her mouth. She sucked on her knuckles. That d.a.m.n wailing sounded so close now, as if it was right outside her door. She s.h.i.+vered with terror, imagining the Howlers, whatever the beasts might be, barging in and devouring her whole. With that thought, she kissed away any chance of sleep she may have had.

Something hard smacked against the door, as if her fear had been given life. She shot up in bed and pulled the blanket to her chin. Maybe it's nothing, she thought, but then it came again, louder this time. The lone cupboard in the room shook with the impact, and one of her two drinking gla.s.ses fell over. It rolled across the shelf, dropped over the edge, and shattered.

All sounds-the howling outside, the banging at her door, the breaking gla.s.s-swirled inside her head. Her heart raced out of control and she screamed. It felt like she could have a heart attack any moment.

"Miss Browning!" a panicked voice yelled. "Miss Browning, they're after us! Help!"

Abigail c.o.c.ked her head. She couldn't decide if the voice was real or in her head, but when it called her name again, followed by yet another loud bang, she jumped out of bed and sprinted to the door. There was someone out there. Someone in trouble, pursued by the Howlers. She had to help.

She gripped the bar across the door with both hands, yanked it from its moorings with a shrug, and tossed it aside. What followed was a prompt smack in the face as the door barged inward, sending her to her a.s.s. She bit her tongue when she landed, and blood pooled in her mouth.

Her forehead ached, and something wet trickled into her eye. Her vision grew wobbly as she sat there on the dirty floor. She lifted her chin slowly, watching the door swing open and four sets of feet clad in filthy work boots tramp into the shack. Her eyes went from the boots, to the pants, to the tattered s.h.i.+rts, to four grim, scowling faces.

"Well well," said Ennis Mullin, his sons looming behind him. "This little la.s.s the one who did ya?"

The three boys nodded; David with his jaw in a sling, Billy with his face wrapped in bandages stained red, Barry with his weasel-like nose scrunched up. All three glowered at her, hatred in their eyes. Ennis, however, simply looked amused.

"She's pretty."

With the front door left open, the howling ratcheted up a notch, drowning out the ringing in her head. Abigail tried to plant her feet and kick herself backward, but her heel found no purchase. Her vision wobbled and she felt close to pa.s.sing out. She leaned over and dry-heaved, drool trickling from her bottom lip.

"What should we do with her, pops?" she heard one of the brothers ask.

Ennis, c.o.c.ksure and sickening, replied, "Anything you like."

Hands on her. Beneath her armpits, under her knees, lifting her. The bed then beneath her, and a hard something striking her face. She collapsed, the back of her skull striking the headboard. She flailed her arms and legs as hard as she could, but the hands holding her were too strong. Then her nightclothes were tugged. She heard the fabric tear, felt the coldness of the open air on her bare flesh. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to focus on something, anything, to distract her from the here and now.

But all she could think of was the last man who'd seen her naked, Mitch.e.l.l, and then of how she'd come home and found him on top of her son, holding a cord around his neck while Nathan's little face turned blue and his eyes bugged out, of how she'd grabbed an axe and buried it in the back of Mitch.e.l.l's head.

She'd done so much-survived the War, then the Flood, then the Sickness-she'd brought life into the world, only to watch it get snuffed out by the man who'd promised to love and protect her.

Someone scratched her inner thigh. She came back to the real world, and that's when she noticed there was something missing. It took her a moment to realize it, but the howling had stopped.

Again something hard whacked her in the face, and blood cascaded down her nose. One of the brothers-she couldn't tell which, her vision was too hazy-grabbed her legs and tried to force them apart. She squeezed as tight as she could, but the pain seeping into her mind made her weak. Her knees buckled and shook, and whoever wedged his hand between them grunted. She wanted to scream, but nothing came out but a hoa.r.s.e, wet gurgle.

Footsteps now, fast and plentiful. It sounded like a million ants crawling around her, their spiked feet clicking against the floor. Wood breaking, gla.s.s shattering, people shouting. She felt a withering sensation, as if she'd been transferred to another plane of existence entirely.

It took a great amount of effort, but Abigail raised her head and opened her eyes. What she saw defied description. There were bodies in motion everywhere-some dark, some light. There were men screaming and beasts growling, and every so often a geyser of red would erupt and strike the walls. Bones snapped, teeth gnashed, and still the screams of torment persisted. She felt as if she indeed had been taken away from the mortal coil, and now resided in h.e.l.l.

Something crept beside her on the bed, something large and glowing. A pair of cold, coa.r.s.e hands touched her forehead. She glanced over at a muddled white oval with a torrent of red running down its bottom half. That was the last thing she saw before the blackness took her.

Abigail Browning lay with her knees drawn up to her chest. She was cold, so cold. She could've kicked herself for not starting a fire in the small stove that sat in the corner of her shack. It wasn't much, but at least it would've provided some warmth.

She reached down for her blankets, but they weren't there. She tried to move her head and was struck by a surge of pain that ran from the side of her face on down her neck. Her hand reached up and touched the sore spot. Her eye and cheek were swollen, and her nose felt like silly putty. With a groan, she opened her eyes.

There was no bed beneath her, only sand. And she was surrounded by sound-voices, quite a few of them, guttural and primitive, squealing. She gulped down the bile in her throat and raised her head.

All around her, creatures with gray skin sat cross-legged, their disfigured, horrendous faces aimed at the sky. They cried at the moon, their throats vibrating as the noises emerged. I'm dreaming, she thought.

Abigail gradually sat up, waited for her dizziness to subside, and then looked around once more. No dream. She glanced to her right and saw a female creature with gray, flapping b.r.e.a.s.t.s sitting beside her, eyes to the night sky. It acted like she wasn't there, and as its sunken jaw moved she saw droplets of blood drip from its chin and cascade down its belly, only to be licked up by the two smaller creatures it held in its lap. Abigail's eyes widened-really only the left one, since the other was virtually swollen shut-and one of the smaller beasts looked at her. There it was. The monster, her monster, the one she'd seen eating the dead calf, the one she'd saved from the Mullin brothers earlier that day.

The mother ceased her howling and her dotted black pupils turned Abigail's way. The female opened her arms, and the young one burst from her grasp, its malformed p.e.n.i.s dangling. It barreled into Abigail, and for a moment she feared the thing would rip out her throat. It didn't. Instead it nuzzled its huge, bald cranium into her neck. Hesitantly, she brought up her hand and stroked its head.

The mother, apparently satisfied with the result, wrapped her arms around her remaining child and resumed her primal song.

Abigail sat there in amazement, holding the strange little life form. All around her she noticed it was the same scene, over and over again-female monstrosities with their young ones, weeping at the sky. She looked straight ahead, saw her farm in the distance, nothing but a speck, and gazed at the thing in her arms.

The child cooed, and then placed his crooked palm on her chest. That hand rose up and bony fingers wrapped around her jaw, moving it up and down.

In that moment Abigail understood the purpose behind the strange chorus. She mimicked the rest of the clan, gazing at the ugly yet precious thing in her arms while she sang.

"Hush little baby, don't say a word Mama's gonna buy you a mocking bird And if that mocking bird don't sing Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring."

The mutated child's eyes began to close, and a smile stretched across Abigail's face. After years of searching, she'd finally found a place to belong. She was home.

- Chorus, a story inspired by the ill.u.s.tration by Jesse David Young that accompanies it in this collection, originally appeared in Dark Tomorrows: Second Edition, a collection of short stories by J.L. Bryan.

THE ONE THAT MATTERS.

Bonus Story by Robert J. Duperre.

Ash covered the landscape like cold, dead snow. Small lumps scattered throughout the yard, buried in the piles of blowing dust. They might have been objects forgotten during the rush to beat the easterly wind, the old feed buckets, or perhaps the remains of the chickens those buckets used to nourish. A cold wind blew, revealing a blackened joint. It might have been the elbow or knee of some poor soul who'd come in search of help; help they obviously no longer needed.

Guido grunted and turned away. Nothing he hadn't seen before. He continued around the old farmhouse, back creaking, lungs wheezing. Placing a hand on the back porch's stoop, he rested a moment. His eyes looked skyward. Dark clouds still loomed ominous overhead. They billowed deep and low, yet seemed to stretch for miles into the atmosphere. Water fell on the s.h.i.+eld of his gas mask. He whisked the drops away with a wipe of his gloved hand, leaving trails of black soot. Another gust of wind caught him unawares, and he s.h.i.+vered at its biting cold.

Turning back to the task at hand, Guido circled his house until he found what he was looking for-a thick, curved metal construction that jutted from the foundation. He dipped beneath its lip, knelt in the mounds of wet, gray powder, and took a large brush from his belt. Originally used to clean the horses' hides, it had gained a new purpose, much like everything else since the eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera. He swept the bristles from side to side against the grate beneath the steel casing, clearing ash from the gaps in the filter. It was tough work, and his back ached with each stroke, but Guido Malfi was nothing if not a diligent man. Before long, he'd cleared the filter as best he was able. In another three days he'd have to come out again, but that was still three days he could spend inside, warmed under the cover of many blankets. Three days that he could spend with Her.

Guido slid the lock through its catch after he closed the bunker's overhead door. The sound of metal scratching against metal echoed through the small entryway, like fingernails over a chalkboard. He winced, waiting for the reverberations to cease. When they did, he moved to the second door and slid it open.

She was waiting for him. She sat on the couch, still wearing the Bratz pajamas she'd had on when she first arrived. Her brown hair was clumped and ratty, but to him, in the dim yellow light, it looked silky and beautiful. Her eyes lifted. She recoiled for a split second and then smiled. Her teeth were crooked, in bad need of braces she would never get.

He slid the gas mask from his head and took a deep breath. His lungs rattled, but that was okay. He'd lived with worse than that before.

The room was small, barely ten feet by ten, entombed by concrete walls four feet deep. This was Guido's pride and joy-a bomb shelter he'd constructed over the last twenty years, a bomb shelter folks a.s.sured him he'd never need. He chuckled. So much for them.

He'd stocked the cubby beneath the shelter with enough canned goods and water to last two years, though the girl had thrown off his initial estimations. Grabbing a flashlight, he lifted the hatch and looked inside. The gas generator that powered the lights and the air filter chugged along below the earth, its exhaust piped out to the surrounding woods. He smiled upon hearing its guttural purr. s.n.a.t.c.hing a couple cans of peaches from a shelf, he shut the hatchway and turned.

"Do you want some food, Alyssa?" he asked.

The little girl nodded.

"Yes please, Mr. Malfi," she replied.

They sat down to eat.

"Tell me one of your stories," said Alyssa. She picked up a syrupy peach with her bare hand and plunked it in her mouth.