AfterLife (16 page)

“Why didn’t Jezebel stay in
constant contact with him?” Seth’s tone told Blake he had every right to be
nervous. Punishment for poor performance was something Seth not only believed
in, but enjoyed. He made sure his soldiers always knew who was in charge. If
the Atumra of Chicago didn’t perform up to the Body’s expectations, Seth would
have to answer for it and he had no intention of showing weakness to the Body.

Blake looked back and forth between
Doc and Seth. “I was under the impression she was in constant contact with him,
sir. I would have intervened if I’d thought otherwise.”

“Blake,” Seth said, stepping closer
to the soldier, “do you understand what we are trying to do here? Do you
understand what you are lucky enough to be part of?”

“Yes sir. We are working to
reestablish Mortuis as the superior inhabitants of this planet. It is an honor
to be part of the Atumra.”

“You are correct, it is an honor.
Yet, you don’t seem to be displaying as much passion for what we are doing as I
expect from my soldiers.” Seth took another step closer to Blake and placed his
hand on the side of Blake’s face. Blake lowered his eyes toward the floor.
“Look at me Blake.” His voice was calm.

Blake raised his eyes to meet
Seth’s. Seth knew he could soul-sync with Blake if he wanted to kill him; he
had executed many of his soldiers that way. Death while in sync caused the soul
to sever from the body. However, today that was not his intention. Blake wasn’t
the only one to be punished for this incident, he knew, but right now he needed
to make an example of someone.

“The Atumra is not only trying to
reestablish Mortui dominance, we also have the obligation to ensure our
candidates are not picked up by other groups of Mortuis. They will only reach
their full potential with our organization. AfterLife is the worst of all the
factions of Mortui society. They do not allow their members to understand the
true nature of their heritage. Do you understand, Blake?”

Blake nodded. His expression was
firm. Seth knew he was bracing for whatever punishment Seth had planned for
him. Seth continued, his hand still on the side of Blake’s face. “I need every
member of our order to be aware of the threat other organizations pose. They
may be small, but they are threats nonetheless. It is a disservice to any
Mortui when we allow that person to be recruited by others.”

Seth stood there for a minute. The
room was silent. Then he took the thumb of the hand he had on Blake’s face and
dug it into his left eye. The eyeball popped out into Seth’s hand; gore and
rebirth fluid oozed from the socket. Blake stood there, his good eye still
fixed on Seth. Seth knew Blake couldn’t feel the physical pain from the
extraction of the eye, but the signal he was sending was clear. It would be
harder to feed with one eye, and with only one good eye, Blake was more
vulnerable.

Seth pulled his thumb out of the
eye socket, leaving a hole. “I expect you to be a little more observant of your
fellow soldier’s actions in the future. If not, your other eye will be mine as
well.” He tightened his fist, destroying the eye, as the contents oozed from
between his fingers. He grabbed a towel from a nearby table and wiped away the
remains.

Blake did not attempt to cover the
gruesome hole that remained in place of his eye. He just stood there. Seth
recognized Blake’s attempt at bravery, and felt a slight flicker of admiration.
Blake might still prove useful after all. Seth turned to Doc who had witnessed
the entire event. “Make him an artificial one would you? He’ll need it to keep
an eye on Jezebel.”

T
he stairs creaked
under their feet as they scaled the weathered wooden steps leading to their new
apartment. Located on the second floor of an old yellow house near the small
town’s downtown area, Emily said the location was great because of its close
proximity to the nearby university. The apartment itself was extremely small,
and only qualified as a two-bedroom dwelling because of the small closet-sized
space above an addition on the lower level.

They stood in the living room of the tiny space and assessed
what was to be their new home for an extended period of time. The landlord had
made small attempts to spruce up the place by adding a fresh coat of off-white
paint to the wallpapered walls. The underlying floral pattern was still
partially visible through the thin latex covering. The ceilings were low, and
the faucet dripped in the tiny kitchen off the main living area.

“Welcome home,” Emily said, moving her few bags into the
bigger room.

“Why do you get the nicer room?” Wes inspected the couch
that was included in the apartment’s furnishings,  and deciding it would be
safe to sit on, plopped down.

“I’m the girl and your older sister, that’s why.”

“I’m telling you Emily, the longer I’m dead, the less I care
about being nice to girls.”

“Now, Wes, just because you’re dead doesn’t mean chivalry
should be dead as well.” Emily made her way from the bedroom and began looking
around the rest of the apartment. “This place is going to be perfect,” she
said, emerging from the bathroom and finding a place next to Wes on the couch.

“Perfect for a couple of convicts in hiding maybe,” Wes said
in a sarcastic tone.

“What’s not to like about it? It’s cozy.” Emily scooted
closer to Wes on the couch and leaned her head onto his shoulder. “Besides, you
get to be here with your big sister, Emily. You can’t ask for much more than
that, can ya?”

“I think that makes it worse.” Wes pushed Emily’s head off
his shoulder and she tilted the opposite way until she was lying sideways on
the couch. They both laughed.

Emily jumped up off the couch and turned toward Wes with her
hands outstretched to grab his. “Let’s go meet our landlord.”

Holding Wes’s hand, Emily ushered him back down the
weathered steps to the yellow house’s front door and tapped on it with her
fist. A minute passed as the two waited. Then a man, an older gentleman, came
to answer Emily’s knock. Opening the door the man paused to look at his
visitors, saw Emily, and immediately began laughing and hugging her.

“Ah, Emily, it’s so good to see you! I was so excited when
Oscar told me you would be coming to Charleston for training.”

“It’s good to see you, too.” Emily hugged the man back.
“This is Wes, but you know we’re going by Karla and Carter while we’re here.”

“Yes, yes of course,” the man said, then stepped back from
the door. “Please come in and we’ll have some tea.”

Emily and Wes stepped into the house, and after he closed
the door they followed him toward the rear of the house. “Wes, it’s good to
have you join us,” the man said as they entered the kitchen. He shook Wes’s
hand and then motioned for Emily and Wes to sit at a small table under a window
that looked out on the backyard. “Have a seat and we can talk while I get the
tea ready.”

“How have things been for you here, Ken?” Emily asked.

“So good, Emily, so good. Carol’s at work, or you would have
caught her too. She has a project she’s working on that’s taking a great deal
of her time.”

Ken was an older man with white hair. He looked Japanese but
spoke with only a slight accent.

“Wes,” Emily said, “Ken and Carol, who I’ll have to
introduce you to later, are professors at the university here. Ken teaches
geology and Carol is in the English department. Ken’s only been with AfterLife
for a few years, but he’s been a Mortui for much longer than that. Carol too.”

After placing the kettle on the stove, Ken joined them at
the table. “So Mr. Wes, how are you getting along?”

“It’s been an adventure so far, but Emily’s been great.”

“Isn’t she?” Ken stood up as quickly as he sat down and
began moving about the kitchen again. “I’ll tell you what, Mr. Wes, you’re
going to like AfterLife. I don’t know how I managed for so long without it.”

Emily adjusted herself on her chair and crossed her legs.
“Have you heard about the shift in focus from the Ancestors?”

“Oh, a bit, yes.” The kettle began to boil and Ken took it
off the stove and poured its contents into three cups he had prepared. “Oscar
filled me in a little when he called this morning. Carol and I are going to the
Hub this weekend to get caught up on our new assignments.”

“It’s an interesting turn of events, that’s for sure,” Emily
said, staring at a far-off point only she could see. “Anyway….” She shook her
head to break the daze she was in.

Ken brought Emily and Wes their cups of tea and then sat
down with his own. “You’ll have to let me know if you like it, Mr. Wes. It’s a
tea of my own creation.”

“Sure.” Wes lifted the cup to his lips. He figured Ken was
crazy since he must know they could neither taste nor smell the tea. Sensing
the liquid’s hot temperature, he barely sipped from the top of the small cup.
Then he felt it. As soon as he swallowed he could feel its effects. It was warm
and comforting, and a slight tingling sensation ran down Wes’s limbs that
caused his whole body to make one quick jerk. “Wow! What’s in it?”

Ken laughed at Wes’s reaction. “It’s my own blend and is
designed to work with the animal spirits they used in your body during the
rebirth process. Do you like it?”

“Yes,” Wes said, taking a second sip, “I do.” The sensation
diminished the longer he was exposed to the drink, but he continued to enjoy
its warmth.

Emily was drinking her tea with her eyes shut and she leaned
her head back with a look of enjoyment on her face. After a minute she opened
her eyes again. “Ken, I was wondering if you’d be able to work on some soul-syncing
techniques with Wes. You’re much better at creating mental environments than I
am. Wes could definitely benefit from your experience.”

Ken smiled at the compliment, causing his face to wrinkle
along creases that must have resulted from a lifetime of smiling. “You think
too highly of me, my dear Emily, but I’m happy to do it for you.”

“Thanks, Ken.” Emily took another sip of her tea.

After the three of them had finished the tea, they moved to
the living room and Ken turned on some lights to accommodate the setting sun.
Wes was directed to sit on the couch. This room belonged in the yellow house.
The furnishings were mismatched, but appeared comfortable in the space. The
couch Wes sat on was upholstered in a worn floral fabric that resembled the wallpaper
in his upstairs apartment. Ken sat down next to him.

“Alright, Mr. Wes, shall we see what’s in your mind?”

 Wes looked at Emily who had claimed for her own a wood and
leather armchair next to the couch. After getting a small nod from her, he
looked back at Ken. “Okay.”

Ken initiated the sync and Wes found himself walking down
the familiar dark corridor of nothingness he had walked down with Emily and the
girl from the bar. In the distance, he could see a much younger Ken waiting for
him.

“The mind is a powerful place, Mr. Wes,” Ken said as Wes
approached, “and in order to ensure you are as strong as you can be, you must
become familiar with the power of your mind and embrace it.” Ken took a step
toward Wes and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Here is your first lesson. It
may it be the most important one you learn.” With his free hand, Ken undercut
Wes in the stomach.

The pain was different than the bodily discomfort one felt
when punched in the stomach in the physical world. It radiated through him completely.
His vision blurred, and he lost his focus on Ken’s face. Wes buckled forward
out of instinct to diminish the pain, but the move had no effect on easing the
agony. The nothingness swirled around him and he tried to focus his thoughts
toward making the pain subside. After a few minutes he straightened up, his
vision returned to normal, and the pain dissipated.

“That, Mr. Wes, is how the mind interprets a punch in the
gut. Imagine how something like a bullet would feel.”

“How is that even possible?” Knowing this was happening in
their minds, Wes wondered how he could feel pain when he wasn’t attached to a
living body. Even his dead body wouldn’t have hurt like this.

“Discomfort isn’t sensed only by the body,” the younger
version of Ken said in an even tone. “Show me where you go when you sleep, Mr.
Wes, and I will try to explain it to you.”

It took Wes a few seconds to focus on his mental creation of
the Magic Kingdom with the residual aftereffects of the punch still distracting
him. The park appeared around them slowly. Part of it faded out of a fog, other
scenery appeared as if someone had slowly lifted the dimmer switch that was
lighting it, and the final pieces of the overall environment finally appeared
to take the place of the nothing that had surrounded them. They stood on the
upper deck of the Liberty Belle Riverboat, which was making its way past the
Haunted Mansion to the dock in Liberty Square.

“I like it,” Ken said as he walked around the upper deck of
the ship. “Do you have the whole park shaped yet?”

“What I can remember of it. I still have some gaps I need to
fill in.” Wes joined Ken, who was looking over the railing to watch the boat
dock itself at the pier.

“Phenomenal. Simply phenomenal. You’ve done all this
already. Mr. Wes, you have impressed me.” Ken smiled at Wes, his younger face
wrinkled just as much as his older one.

“Well, it’s far from done.”

The steam boat finished docking and Wes followed Ken down
the stairs to the exit ramp. They followed the ramp into the park and Ken
stopped again to look around. “This is simply phenomenal.”

Wes experienced a feeling of pride. He had briefly shown
Emily his theme park, but this was the first time anyone else had seen it.
Ken’s reaction was more than he’d expected.

“Can we walk around?” Ken asked, pointing down the walkway
that led to the wooden bridge and the center of the park.