Controlling the Dead (35 page)

I run my fingers along the screen door hinges. My eyes burn as I stare at the sheen of oil emphasized by the moonlight on my trembling fingertips. Climbing down the steps, I walk around the house. All the air rushes out of me as my hope dies. Pain slices through my chest, and I clutch the sheet tight. I lean against my house and let my tears escape within the confines of the shadows. It’s late, so it’s not like anyone will see me anyway. Of course, I don’t sleep the rest of the night.

The next morning, my resolve has strengthened. I can’t take it anymore. It was him last night. I know it and he wants me to know it. My body starts to tremble at knowing he was so close, which only pisses me off. Why didn’t he say anything? What was he doing here? I’m tired of keeping this from the team and getting nothing out of it. I need them on my side like I know they will be if only I spill the truth.

I wait patiently for Reece to make an appearance outside his house. “I need to talk to you,” I tell him, standing next to his garage door.

He startles at seeing me awake so early in the morning. “Shit, Kan!” He’s still angry at me for not knowing what happened to Rudy or myself, probably because everything I’ve spewed out to them is complete bullshit and he knows it. His grudge thickens our air. I’ve tried to hold it together, but I’m scared of the consequences this conversation will wreak and tell him so.

He glances at me sharply and peers around. Finally, he grabs my arm and leads me around to his backyard. “Kan, you look like you’ve eaten some bad peyote. What the hell is going on?”

As everything I’ve been holding in rises to the surface, I start trembling. “You’re the only person I can trust right now. This has to stay between us until we can figure out how to go about things.” He nods his affirmation. Taking a deep breath, I start with, “Rudy’s alive.”

K
AN’S
S
TORY
C
ONCLUDES IN
L
IVING WITH THE
D
EAD

A
G
IFT FROM THE
A
UTHOR

Everything I found in the house is the least of my worries. Her soft sobs float between the houses, through the shadows, and straight to my heart. My back stings as I slide down the stucco of a house next door. I’m not leaving this spot until she’s okay, even if it makes this fire burn through my chest for the rest of my life. And she will be okay. Eventually. It’s what makes Kan, Kan—her ability to adapt in any situation is no surprise because of her strong will.

Something bumps my leg, and I startle a bit as Dex sits next to me. He must have followed Kan or me out. I run my hand down his back and he lifts himself with the movement.

It grows silent for long minutes and I watch the shadow she disappeared into. I get a shock when she steps into the moonlight with her head held high in determination. I’d smile at her tactics, but it’s quite tempting since the sheet is now in a ball as she carries it toward the clothesline in the nude.
This isn’t a nudist colony, Kan.
I try to will her back inside like she wills zombies to do what she wants. There’s nothing to do but sit here and soak in the scene as she tries to lure me out. Coyote howls carry through the air from the distance, reminding me that at least it’s the middle of the night.

She tosses the sheet on the line, straightening it out as if it needs to dry. I quickly catch on when she bends toward the tin can full of clothespins. My body jerks at the sight, and I want to do something that would make her scurry back inside, but knowing Kan, it wouldn’t happen that way. She makes her way around the line, slow and purposeful, making sure to bend over in all directions. Fucking vixen.

I don’t miss any of her subtle actions. Her eyes scan around constantly, and she stays quiet to catch any sound. Nothing to catch, however, because as much as I want to, and fuck knows I want to badly, I can’t make myself known even if she knows I’m here. Even with the information I gathered inside the house. I’m counting on her loyalty and her love for me to wait. She will, she’s proven it already.

She saunters up the steps and pauses for a long time, and I let out a breath when she opens the screen door and walks through.

Giving Dex one last pat, I whisper, “Take care of her.” I stand, gripping my bow and slipping my quiver on as I make my way through the field behind the line of houses.

“Gotta hand it to you, man. That’s control.” Chauncey steps into my view. I clench my jaw and say nothing. I move to stalk past him, making sure he doesn’t see it coming when I kick out, sweeping his feet out from under him. His back hits the ground with a hard thump. Alarm flashes on his face as his lungs learn how to work again. A gasp finally makes it’s way into his chest. “Fuck!” He rolls over, coughing. “I fucking hate it when that happens.” He breathes hard, mumbling something that sounds a lot like
fucktard bastard
.

“You got the bastard part right, but fucktard? By the way, that was for following me, but mostly for not keeping your eyes to yourself.” I keep moving in the direction of the squad’s camp.

Chauncey catches up to me a few minutes later. “You’re gonna pay for that, and for the Sarge’s bad headache.”

I can’t help it, I flash him my teeth, although far from a smile. “You guys think you could bring me here and not go and see her? That’s just ignorance.” The ancient camera weighs heavy in the cargo pocket of these stiff fucking pants that I long to soak in a bucket of salt to soften up. I stride the two miles toward the small campground with resolve.

Upon entering the camp, there’s an automatic uproar, but I ignore them all in favor of ripping back a tent flap and pushing under it.

The Sarge sits at a card table, glaring at me. The cots set up in front of him hold two sleeping bodies. He notices my glance and sinks in his chair. “I guess I don’t have to ask where you’ve been.” Digging the camera out I pull up the pictures I took and drop it in front of him on the table. He picks it up, looking through it.

I give him a mirthless scoff when he says nothing. “Why does she need a room full of equipment? Get Stevenson on the phone. Now.”

He opens his mouth, but a groan from a cot cuts him off for a brief moment. He waves the phone. “Honestly, I had no idea…about this.”

“
Mierda, es como ver un fantasma.” The foreign words make me turn to the cot they came from. Sander stares at me with wide eyes.

“Nice to see you, too. Welcome to the land of lies and omission,” I tell him, wondering what he just said.

Sander shakes his head, “Chingona thinks you’re dead.”

I know Kan doesn’t think I’m dead but… “Why the hell would
you
think that?” I ask Sander.

The Sarge gives me a tight smile, waggling the camera. “I think we need to talk.”

It doesn’t matter what he what he’ll say, I have names burned into my brain from Kan’s computer.