After the Ending (22 page)

Dani

“Cam, No!” I screamed
as my dead boyfriend’s decomposing body lunged at me.

 “You
abandoned me!” he yelled. Bloody spittle sprayed from his decaying lips. “You
said you’d stay with me! Why’d you leave? For him?” He was pointing at a man
suddenly standing beside me—Jason.

Cam altered his
trajectory, instead attacking Jason, who was utterly unaware of our presence.
As Cam pulled him to the ground, he began taking huge bites out of Jason’s neck
and face. Jason did nothing to defend himself.

“NO!” I leapt at
Cam but couldn’t grasp any part of his melting skin. I gagged.

He lifted his face
and swallowed. “I’ll make him part of me—you’ll see. Then you’ll have to love
me again.”

I gathered my
strength, preparing to attack the man I had loved with all of my heart.
Suddenly, I was crouched alone on a featureless, ash-gray floor.

“I’d planned to be
here sooner,” MG said above me. “Sorry.”

“Whatever,” I
rasped, standing again. “Not your job to look after me in my demented mind.
Don’t worry about it.” Swallowing roughly, I replayed the image of a rotting
Cam consuming Jason’s flesh. It was a new twist on the nightmare and almost
more than I could take.

MG smirked. “You
know…I think I might love you.”

“You’ll get over
it,” I told him. “I figured it out, by the way.”

He quirked his
lips, “You figured—ah…so what can you do?”

Like he didn’t
already know. I squinted my eyes, feigning deep thought. “Well…I can speak four
languages, and I’m really good with computers. And I can solve a mean
differential equation.”

“Dani—”

I swatted his arm
and strutted away. “Calm down, MG. I’m kidding! It’s the animals.”

“Which means…?”

Still facing away,
I said, “It means I can talk to them. And they can talk to me. Well, not out
loud—in their minds.”

He looked amazed.
“Both ways? I haven’t seen that yet. What about people? Can you do them too?”

With a hand on my
hip, I turned. “Did you really just ask me that?”

He smiled wickedly.
“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah. And I have
no idea. I haven’t exactly been surrounded by people lately.”

“But I thought
there were others with you?”

“Why would you
think that? Are you spying on me?” I stalked toward him.

He rolled his eyes.
“Calm down,
Beastmaster
. I could feel their sleeping
minds near yours. Kind of an amazing Ability,” he said, pointing to himself.

“Right…”

MG, without
warning, was instantly gone. Around me, a familiar expanse of beach replaced
the ashen surroundings. Feeling a warm breeze on my bare skin, I realized I was
once again in my bikini and was looking out at the vast expanse of the Pacific
Ocean. The rhythmic movement of the water was hypnotic. At least, it had been
before a certain unrequested dream visitor rose out of the swells and slowly
made his way toward the beach.

“You’ve got to be
kidding,” I muttered. Wearing only swim trunks, MG glistened as water streamed
down his upper body in rivulets. His pale, toned abdomen and shoulders drew my
attention—no matter how hard I tried to ignore them.

MG drank in my
reaction, stopping several feet away.

I blushed intensely
and narrowed my eyes. “Seriously? This is just too ridiculous!”

He chuckled, the
noise making me bristle even more.

“Who are you
anyway?” I snapped.

“I’m the only
person who can help you learn to use your special little skill,” he responded.
“Now, tell me why you’re suddenly alone.”

For some reason, I
wanted to tell him why I’d left—I just wanted to tell someone…anyone. I needed
another human to listen, to understand, and to say I’d done the right thing.

As I sat down on
the warm sand and hugged my knees to my chest, MG crouched next to me. The
words tumbled around in my head chaotically until I opened my mouth and they
spilled out. I couldn’t have stopped them if I’d wanted to. By the time I
finished speaking, MG knew everything about the situation with Cece and my
departure from Fort Bragg. He even knew a little bit about my unrequited
feelings for Jason.

At the conclusion
of my story he asked, “So Jason—was he the one in the other dream? The guy who
called you ‘Red’?”

“Yeah,” I
whispered, wondering if it had been mistake to include any details about my
feelings for another man. MG was right—I did need him to help me understand my
Ability, and I couldn’t risk driving him off with inopportune jealousy.

MG shook his head.
“He’d better appreciate what you’ve done for him.” Combined with the glint of
admiration in his eyes, his words implied approval. He thought I’d done the
right thing.

“Thank you.”

“So…what’ll you do
now? Stay where you are?”

“I really don’t
know,” I confessed. I wondered why he hadn’t invited me to join him wherever he
was, considering how much he seemed to like me.

“Whatever you do,
you need to learn to control your Ability.”

I shrugged. “I
don’t think it’ll be that difficult. Once I realized I wasn’t losing my mind,
talking to Jack and Wings became pretty easy.”

“I’m assuming
you’re referring to your dog and horse?” I nodded, and he continued, “You can
communicate with them, but what about other animals? Do you have to know them?
Do they have to be near you? Can you talk to more than one at the same time?
And what about people?”

Staring at the
ocean’s foamy edge, I responded, “I guess I don’t know as much as I thought I
did.”

“Which is why you
have me,” he said, draping his arm over my shoulders and pulling me closer. I
leaned against his warm skin, reveling in the first human touch I’d experienced
in days. It wasn’t real, but that didn’t matter.

“You need to
practice.” MG told me. “Seek out random animals with your mind, and try to
converse with them. Experiment with what you can do…maybe pick one type of
animal—preferably a harmless one—and call as many to you as you can.”

I nodded slowly.
“Okay, I’ll work on it. What about the people thing? Can’t I try it on you?” I
asked, hopeful that he would agree. If I could learn to talk to people in their
minds, I might be able to talk to Zoe!

“If, and it’s a big
‘if,’ your Ability works on humans too, I’m probably too far away.”

“How far? Where are
you?” I pulled away and looked into his pale blue eyes.

Studying me, he ran
a hand through his chin-length blonde hair—it was curling at the ends as it
dried. With a deep breath, he answered, “Like I said, too far.”

“Do you know
anything about the Colony?”

“Yeah, some.”

“Do you know if
it’s safe?”

He frowned
slightly. “I’m really not sure.”

“That’s where my
group is headed, eventually,” I explained wistfully.

After a long
hesitation, MG asked, “Will you follow them?”

I thought about his
question for a while. “I don’t know.”

He seemed to
consider my answer but didn’t respond. Instead he said, “I have to go.”

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll
see you again soon.” And with that I was alone.

I woke in the late morning and spent several hours readying
a stall for Wings and inventorying my meager belongings. My supply of food was
almost expended, with only two packages of freeze-dried meals and a few cups of
kibble for Jack. It was time for some scavenging. After checking the ranch’s
main house—a post and beam building that had been used more as an office than
as a home for nearly a decade and therefore held little of use, food-wise—I
knew I’d have to head into town.

Leaning against the white-washed pasture fence near the
stable, I watched the goats and horses graze peacefully. “
Wings
,” I
called silently.

The graceful Paint trotted to the fence.
        

“Jack and I will be gone for a few hours. We’re going to
look for food.”

“
Apples?”
she asked eagerly.

I laughed and spoke out loud even though I didn’t need
to. “I’ll look for apples. Will you be okay here alone?”

She snorted. “
Not alone. Many friends.”
She was
right—a small herd of friendly horses and goats were munching on grass in the
pasture behind her.

Remembering MG’s suggestion, I decided it was the perfect
time to practice using my Ability…to
experiment
, as he’d said.
Hesitantly, I opened my mind, attempting to reach out to all of the horses and
goats meandering within the pasture’s fences. “
Come to me,”
I projected,
and the thought reverberated like a gong.

In a small stampede, every horse and goat began to
purposefully move toward me.

“
Mother!”
Jack called with worry. “
Look!”

“Shit!” I hissed. More than just the ranch animals had
heard my call.

Hundreds of small critters, from birds to squirrels to
skunks, were scurrying through the grassy fields all around me. They were
heading straight for me. As the first few came close enough to touch, I worried
they would try to climb up my legs or gnaw on my boots, but my worry proved
unnecessary. Those who were close enough sniffed me and rubbed their faces
against my legs; the rest babbled eagerly in my head while they chattered and
chirped aloud.

 Within minutes I was surrounded by a multitude of
animals, and in the distance, more were approaching—there were a few llamas,
several dozen deer, and a variety of potential predators. At the sight of a
large bobcat, I began to panic.

I shooed the animals with my arms and exclaimed, “Go
away!”

They continued advancing, amplifying my panic.
What do
I do? Oh crap…oh crap…

It was time for some straw-grasping—I concentrated and
remembered how it had felt when I’d called them to me. A myriad of connections
snapped into existence between my mind and those of each of the creatures
huddling and scurrying around me.

“Leave me, please. I’m
really
sorry for
interrupting your day,” I said.
There’s no way this is going to work.

Luckily, I was wrong. Hundreds of greetings and farewells
flitted through my mind as the small horde of woodland creatures dispersed. I
sighed.
Great, I’m an apocalyptic Disney princess. Zoe is going to laugh her
ass off.

Both shaken and relieved, I gathered the one animal I did
want as a companion—Jack—and headed toward town with a large, empty backpack. I
patted my coat to reassure myself the pistol was still holstered underneath it.
Thank you, Jason
, I mused.

During the mile-long walk, I used the bushes and trees to
conceal myself as best I could. My self-defense skills were far from perfect,
but my stealth skills were razor-sharp from hundreds of high school nights
spent sneaking out with Zoe.

I was just creeping between a ragged thicket of
evergreens and a stagnant pond when I saw movement on the nearby road. I
quickly slipped behind the thick trunk of one of the pines and peeked around it
to watch two men pass. They were repulsively dirty and periodically shoved each
other, laughing whenever one of them stumbled.
Are they drunk? Or Crazies?
It
didn’t matter—either way, they were dangerous.

Once they were out of sight, I slinked to the next cluster
of trees. Very cautiously, I made my way to Grams’s backyard. Her house seemed
like the best place to start my scavenging, especially since I knew where
everything was. She’d always been a big believer in stocking up for a rainy
day, though I’d always wondered how much rain would justify twenty cases of
water and dozens of flats of canned tuna.

Crossing the barren winter garden, moving between redwood
planter boxes filled with rows and bunches of herbs, veggies, and dormant berry
bushes, I froze. Someone had just passed by the dining room window—their
outline showing faintly against the sage-green linen curtains.
Somebody’s in
my house! Dammit! But…could it be Grams?

Painfully slowly, I inched back to the planter box at the
farthest edge of the property and ducked behind an enormous rosemary bush.
Unable to resist, I poked my head above the shrubbery and watched the window.
Luckily, my green, cable-knit cap blended in better with the surroundings than
my crimson locks.

The shadow reappeared minutes later, but I couldn’t
identify the figure through the curtain.
Come on. Look outside. Let me see
your face.

Suddenly, the curtain moved to the side, and a familiar,
perplexed face looked out into the garden.
Crap! Jason! Crap!

I huddled closer to the ground, afraid to move…afraid to
breathe…afraid to even think.

Seconds later, the back door flung open, and heavy
footsteps thudded down the deck stairs. “Dani! Where are you?” Jason called
out. At hearing him, I squeezed my eyes shut and my heart skipped several beats.

More footsteps followed, along with Chris’s baffled
voice. “Jason, what are you doing?”

Jason’s voice was rough and insistent, a combination that
shredded my heart. “Dani…I thought I heard her. Did you? She told me to look
outside.”

He heard me. Holy crap…it
works on people!

Without my vehement command that he lay down and be
quiet, Jack would have launched himself across several empty planter boxes and
tackled first Jason, and then Chris. I was tempted to do the same thing.
Fighting against my own desperate desires was one of the hardest things I’d
ever done. It was a struggle just to keep my thoughts from calling out to my
friends.