Death Whispers (Death Series, Book 1) (34 page)

I
hugged her to me, stuffing her face in my neck, silently thanking God
that I had worn cologne, “It's okay, he's not gonna hurt you,
ever.”

She pulled away, her tears shimmering like
diamonds on her lower lashes.

The Js looked away, feeling uncomfortable.

Sophie saved it. “We still haven't figured out a
plan.”

“I've been thinking,” Jonesy started, we all
groaned, a typical Jonesy Plan included us all getting our asses in a
sling.

He held up a hand. “Hear me out,” he looked at
us all. “I think we need a hideout.”

Cool!
That's
just
what we needed.

“A safe house,” John said.

Jonesy looked at John. “That's what I said.”

Sophie said, “I think we need a labor force.”

“What do you mean exactly?” Jade asked.

“Caleb, you can raise the dead, right?”

I think we determined that. I nodded.

“Slaves,” John breathed.

“Slaves,” Jonesy repeated.

Sophie nodded.

“Isn't this one of those moral things adults are
always blabbing about?” Jade asked.

Yeah it was.

“To recap then, you want me to raise zombies, to
what? Work on a hideout?”

“Safe house,” John corrected.

“Whatever!” I yelled.

This was wrong on about a hundred different
levels. Yet, it did have a practical feel to it.

Sophie said, “Do you not see the logic, Caleb?”

I did.

“But, I haven't really tried to raise anyone
(except Gran... oops), this would be really, really...”

“Premeditated,” John said.

Jonesy looked at him.

“CSI,” John expounded.

“The crime show, what, in their twentieth
season?”

“Yeah, they use walkers now!” Jade said.

“Okay,” Sophie made the cut-the-neck gesture
with her finger, “focus, guys.” They looked at her, shrugging.

She directed her attention back to me. “I'm just
saying, if you could, like, raise two or three zombies. Then make
them construct a lair...”

“Lair?” Jade repeated.

“A secret place,” Jonesy said, then added,
“maybe underground?” He pulled his shoulders up close to his ears
in an exaggerated shrug.

This was actually sounding pretty cool, in theory
anyway.

“I don't know,” Jade hesitated, “is it wrong
to make them work for us, like slaves.”

Those words hung in the air, sitting there.

John
finally broke the silence, “I don't think so. I mean, we need a
place to go. We don't know if Caleb is going to
have
to go into hiding.” I looked at him with skepticism. He saw me and
continued, “You never know, Caleb. Also, there are the dumb-asses
at school, this government agency,” he looked at Jade, who nodded,
“and the random parent who shows up and freaks. No offense Jade.”

“It's okay.”

“
John
and Sophie are right, Caleb. We need a place they'd
never
think
to look,” Jonesy implored.

“I don't like it, but there's degrees of
morality and we are just going to have to be more moral than the guys
that are plotting on using us,” Jade said, adding, “what about
the city dump?”

We all looked at her. The dump?

“Yeah, it's where I went when my dad got...”
she looked at Sophie, “bad.”

Her eyes sought mine like a compass. I held her a
little tighter. I was starting to hate her dad. Someday, he and I
would come to an understanding and that day was coming.

“I like it,” Jonesy said.

“How far is it from here?” Sophie asked.

I remembered that Sophie didn't know Kent like the
back of her hand. She hadn't always lived here like the rest of us.

“It's walkable,” John said.

Jonesy hopped up, brushing the grass off his butt.
“Let's do it!”

The rest of us stood. I noticed again the voices
were hardly more than a murmur. Weird. I told the others.

“Shouldn't they be almost screaming? Right in
the damn middle of corpse-ville?” Jonesy asked, twirling around.

“Yes, they definitely should,” John said
slowly, considering.

John snapped his head and looked at me, I stared
back.

The girls said, “What?” at the same time.

Everything
suddenly fell into place.
I
knew what John was.

Psychic
Null
.

Every ability was negated when he was around.
That's why I couldn't hear the voices!

John grinned so hugely I thought he'd push the
freckles right off his face.

“What gives?” Jonesy asked.

“I cancel everyone's powers,” John said, pride
creeping into his voice.

“You're a Null?” Sophie asked, incredulous.

“What!” Jonesy shrieked. “How does that help
us?”

“In a word... Carson,” Jade replied.

“And everyone else,” I said, stating the
obvious.

Jonesy's face took on a life of its own.
“Fantastic! That blows their juice all to hell!” he clapped his
hands together for emphasis.

“Try to raise a corpse, Caleb!” Jonesy cried.

“Right now? That wasn't really the plan.”

“We've gotta see!” Jonesy shouted.

“Shh!” Sophie said.

“Right, sorry,” he said, chastised for three
seconds.

Jonesy
said in a normal voice (translation: still loud), “Try it.”

John
said, “I don't know, whenever you say: I wanna see, I wanna do
it..
.
something bad happens.”

John was right on that, maybe we should find out
if our speculation was on. Could John zero-out my abilities? Could
he, if things flat-lined, protect us from one of these freaks that
were working for that government agency? Good questions. I wanted
answers, knowledge is power, Gramps always said.

“Jonesy is a little enthusiastic with
experimentation. But, it'd be good to know,” I said.

“Remember the last time he wanted to 'see'?”
John asked.

Yeah, that hadn't worked out real great. The whole
Carson-pulling-a-can-of-fire-whoop-ass on all of us. Geez. Internal
cringe.

“Let's try it,” Jade said.

How could I say no when my girlfriend was willing
to be brave.

Ah, hell. Okay.

“Alright,” I said out loud.

We looked around us, our pulses read almost five
o'clock. We had to get hot because parents were expecting us to come
home and eat soon. Crap.

John stood closer, looking down at me, his bony
elbows standing at attention. “I'm ready.”

“How does this work? I mean, do you know?”

John
shook his head. “Not really, I mean, we just put it together that I
may be a Null. We still don't know for sure. But, it would explain
some stuff.”

Like all the times the voices had been bearable in
the five classes we had together. Not for Biology though.

John read my mind. “I don't think I've had it
long.”

That would mean that it fully came on line just
recently. Would have been sweet to miss the whole frog dissection
catastrophe.

“Okay, you two just stand where you are. Caleb,
you let your,” Sophie moved her hand back and forth, “stuff go
and we'll see if something happens. And! If it doesn't, we'll know,”
she finished.

“Wait a sec. Shouldn't we see how far away John
has to be before Caleb can use his powers again?” Jade asked.

Good point.

I stood facing Clyde's grave. Again. John stood
beside me and I felt his nervousness like a cloak. It floated around
me on the wind and settled uncomfortably on my shoulders. I sighed,
breathing out deeply, trying to relax.

The fist that was my power loosened inside my
body. Fingers lengthened until they became tendrils, a ghostly
octopus, reaching out to the ground, stroking the grave like a lover.

Then, without warning, they choked up like vomit
up a throat. It was as if a steel wall, high and impenetrable had
been erected. They swirled and sought, looking for a small hole, any
opening, a way to invade. There was nothing.

I looked up at my best friend, who was grinning
like he won the lottery.

Putz.

Jonesy
was rubbing his hands together. “Now
that's
what we're talkin' about!”

Jade
was rubbing her hands up and down her arms, it was
that
intense.

“Move a couple of feet away,” Sophie said.

We parted a little.

“No, I think it's gonna have to be,” Jonesy
moved us away from each other, his grip vise-like.

“Hey!” I said.

“Sorry... Caleb, stand here.” Now I was on top
of Clyde's grave.

“That's not right,” Jade said, looking ill.

“Quiet,” Jonesy said and I looked like I would
deck him. He looked back at Jade. “Please,” he added.

He
looked at me like,
happy?
I
nodded, better.

Now we were ten feet away from each other.

I tried again. John looked at me and grinned.

Kinda frustrating. But, I had to admit, useful.

John recovered first. “Okay, we've got that I
can cancel out Caleb.” He turned to Jade. “What about you?”

Jade
scowled. She wasn't really “feeling” her power. That was the main
reason people had the wrong impression of her. She stayed away,
because she
didn't
want contact.

“Come on Jade, just use me, touch me and then
we'll get John into play,” I wheedled.

She began to relent.

“Everybody knows that a Null negates all
paranormal talents,” Sophie said.

“That's what they say, but I want to know for
fact,” John said.

“Yeah, what he said,” Jonesy supplied.

Jade gripped my forearm and gooseflesh ran up from
the point of contact.

When she was using her power, it was total
weirdness. John moved toward us in slow motion. His arms swinging
like windshield wipers, frizzy hair bouncing on his head, late
afternoon sun lighting his head on fire, torch-boy.

The moment became surreal, climbing power crawling
over my skin like fire ants biting, sizzling electricity building,
building; John touched my other arm. An electric spark shot off
between us, we jumped, then... nothing.

Jade made a perfect “o” with her mouth,
looking at John in wonderment.

“That was great,” she said. “Finally...
silence.”

John was nodding his head. “That's just how cool
I am.” He took a small bow.

I punched him on his bicep. “Chill the self-love
Terran.”

“Hey! You're stealing my moment.” John made a
face.

“
Let's
congratulate ourselves later.” Jonesy grinned,
he
was definitely digging this new turn of events.

We stepped off Clyde's grave, walking away to our
separate houses, the graveyard at my back.

For once, the dead still resting.

CHAPTER 22

“How did it go today?” Dad asked.

My
mouth was full of Mom's baked salmon. I held up my index finger,
hang
on a sec
.

Dad and Mom watched me.

I swigged a gulp of milk down the hatch and
replied, “It was okay.”

“Did I gauge the dose okay?”

I smiled. “Dad, I was still kinda high.”

Mom laughed and Dad looked puzzled.

“I based it on your weight, age and all the
other parameters. Doesn't make sense. Wait... how much did you say
you weighed?”

“One thirty-five.”

“I thought you said one forty-five...”

“Nice Dad, you overdosed me!”

“Kyle, aren't you the scientist?” Mom asked,
teasing.

Dad ducked his head then regained the “dad
composure.” “I am not a pharmaceutical representative, that's
for sure.”

“Well, let's not make this a trend,” I said,
feeling like I had tagged him on this one. How often was that gonna
happen? I was taking full advantage!

Dad looked at me, nonplussed. “Humph!” he
grunted. “I'll make a supreme effort.” Picking up his fork, he
stabbed a chunk of fish, throwing it into his mouth, chewing
aggressively. Mom chuckled, enjoying his discomfort, she had an evil
streak.

“We received your results in pulse-mail,” Mom
informed me.

I put my fork down, waiting.

Dad
looked at me, smug. Okay, so I was high but maybe, just maybe, it had
worked. Of course it had! I mean, the choppers weren't showing up
with guys-in-black, dangling from ropes in kidnap mode.

“Two points,” Dad said, triumphant.

“Really? Hot damn!” I jumped up and aimed my
hand towards Dad's. A resounding high five sounded.

Mom didn't, miraculously, correct my language,
she thought it was great too.

Mom nodded. “The drug worked.”

“It did. But,” Dad waggled a finger at me,
“we're not out of the woods yet.”

I looked a question at him.

“The threat is still there, but isn't
immediate,” Mom expounded.

Right. I got that.

I explained how we'd all gotten separated from the
other kids; paranormals in Delta Building and mundanes in the other
buildings.