A Very Good Man (39 page)

Chapter Eight

  Once outside Jake kept walking for a bit, just in case things got violent. Normal people didn't walk around with glowing eyes, so who knew what she'd do? What powers she might have. Kind of sad too, Jake realized, because, all in all, the girl was one of his favorite people at the old house.

  Sammi followed but didn't say anything until he stopped and turned around, a good bit away from the small house in the early light, next to the tree line. She stood close to him, he noticed, not three feet away. Conversational distance he'd heard it called. Back Before.

   Lately he'd thought of it as death distance. At this range a zombie could kill you with a single lunge and nibble. Sometimes with a little bit of ragged nailed flailing if you got unlucky. What were the odds that this little girl, in her pink and gray shirt and tiny blue jeans could take him from this distance as well? It didn't seem very likely, except he'd seen hundreds of kid zombies already. He'd killed nearly half that many. Small didn't mean safe.

  It never had probably.

  The only thing keeping him safe before were the social rules. Once those left, well, who knew what would happen? He stepped back slowly, one foot at a time careful not to trip, trying not to spook her. He didn't draw a weapon, but probably should have. It was her damned looks that did it. Innocent. A little thin. Delicate. He'd be upset if he had to shoot her.

  She sighed a little, a nearly silent thing and shook her head just enough for him to notice it happening.

  “So, you probably wonder what you saw in there?” She said calmly, staring at him in a way that caught his attention, made him go blank, if only for an instant, he shook his head, fighting clear of whatever she was doing. Some kind of mind trick? It felt like it. He shook his head a little more.

  “No... I saw that all pretty clearly. So, you know... world full of zombies... I'm kind of willing to buy just about anything right now, why don't you speak? Only without your little trick there please, we're friends aren't we?” Then he thought a lot of people had been his friends that weren't. Maybe he was too open and nice? The idea nearly made him laugh, but it only came out as a small smile. That seemed to make Sammi feel better, since she smiled back, nodding a bit.

  “Yes, we definitely are that. I'm glad you remembered. I don't want things to get all tense. People can forget things like that sometimes, when surprises come like this.”

  In front of him the eyes still glowed, instinctively Jake had moved so the sun would be in her face as it rose. That may not do anything to her, but at least it wouldn't be annoying him. The little girl gave him a slightly patronizing smile and stepped back herself. For a moment she looked ready to run, but then just relaxed again. Tiny shoulders shrugged.

  “Alright then. I was born... well if I told you that, you just wouldn't believe me at all, even now I don't think. Let's just say I'm a bit older than I look? Easily the oldest person in the house at any rate. I was born in York. That's not New York by the way, the place that redoubtable city is named after. Anyway, my family, my entire kind, is a little different than regular people. Longer lived for one thing. We do age, but at a slower rate than most. Better night vision, faster healing. I was licking Burt's wounds because my saliva has antibacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral properties and can speed healing in others.” She spread her hands slowly.

  “Will that do? I'd rather everyone not know yet, if possible. I really don't want some legend to start that my immunity to zombie bites is transferable if my blood is drunk, or if I'm anally sodomized while people chant and burn a white candle. True this isn't Africa, but desperate people will try anything and I'd really not have Dave's good work with Bill be undone now.”

  That... yeah, Jake could see it. Early on people had tried drinking bleach, cutting off bitten limbs and a whole host of other things that a normal person wouldn't have even thought of a few weeks prior to that. He could see someone thinking that about the girl. Woman. Old, old woman? He nodded.

  “I can see that. Are you a threat? I noticed you didn't eat dinner, do you drink blood or something? I don't know, live off of life energy pulled from other peoples soul's or whatever?”

  The girl giggled at him and took a step closer, he responded with a step back. She stopped and smiled. Her face looked slightly put out, but not too much. Mocking him almost.

  “I'm really not a threat, I eat food, just like everyone else, wound licking aside. I just added garlic to the food for flavor and because it has some healing properties that may help Burt a bit. I hate the way it tastes though. So don't kiss me right now. I just got some of the venison you dried and ate that instead. A bit bland, but better than garlic. I can eat it by the way, it just tastes the way rotten eggs smell to me, all the sulfur in it.” She waited, her face saying something like; well, ask the question then.

  Wasn't he already?

  “You seem to want me to ask something, but I'm either too tired or too stupid to get your meaning right now. Would you just share anyway? It will save time and probably leave me feeling like less of a moron.” He tried to look confident and sound at least like this wasn't crazy. It mainly worked, because he killed zombies fairly regularly. That kind of reset the bar on what was unacceptably insane, didn't it? He even pretty much bought Heather's cannibals already and they hadn't shown up at all. She wasn't his favorite person, but the girl wasn't often wrong either, so if she said something was coming, Jake would get ready for it.

  The story she told was a long one, condensed into a few short sentences. It came down to three things, as far as she knew at the moment. The first was that her people had no history with or of zombies. People drugged into a stupor and called that, yes, but not this kind of movie classic walking dead thing. It was, she feared, something new. The second thing was that she'd been bitten, several times early on. The marks just healed totally in a few days. Slower if she didn't have food. The third thing was that she'd picked to live at the house because of the others gathering there. Even early on it was obvious to her that something interesting was happening.

  Not wanting to give away too much of what he was thinking, that mainly being his total lack of understanding about what she meant on the last bit he just stared at her. She didn't budge though and just looked back with a soft smile. Finally, after about three minutes she spoke.

  “You know, very few people will just stand and wait like that. Interesting. I was trying to force you to ask about them. You know them of course, since you've been there the whole time. You were the first really, weren't you? You and Nate? Nathanial, who almost always manages to bring the group together? Even when it's falling apart, saying the right thing at the right time? My guess is a low level empath or telepath, he doesn't talk about it, but he clearly knows. Dave I think, has a double “Y” chromosome disorder, and isn't a psychopath at all. Just very aggressive, lacking in fear and probably physically robust as he ages. Also prematurely bald most likely.

  “Tipper... Well, I'm not certain, but my bet is that both she and Vickie are more than they seem. For one thing, they smell funny. Different than the rest of you and obviously not totally human. Like earth and dust. I think they may be members of a modern version of the Amazon tribe. Vals probably, which is just one of the things like that, there are several modern warrior tribes with extra abilities, but I can't swear to that. They're certainly related, no further than cousins I think. Possibly sisters. It's hard to tell just from scent. Everyone in our group smells similar now, from the specific shared diet.

  “Burt is a creator of things. It's a human trait, but he has more of it than most and a gentle soul. The thing is, almost everyone at the house is special in some way. Really, maybe everyone left is. Even the useless ones.” Tiny shoulders moved up and down, a look more fluid than normal now that he noticed. Not her normal clumsiness at all.

  Thinking Jake worked it out, figured he was wrong and spoke anyway.

  “Like Tammy? Obviously not all that in a fight, but she walked for at least a mile right behind me without me noticing her. Not that I can't make a mistake, but she wasn't far off and I was keyed up right then. Once I noticed it was easy to see her, but before that...”

  The girl nodded, “Probably an unconscious survival trait that suppresses noise. Maybe making it hard to see her too. No doubt why she was so successful in sneaking up on people in the dark and stabbing them. It was done without art or science though, so it wasn't a trained thing. That or she was so good that she knew to make it look haphazard. If that were the case she probably would have waited for a better time to attack you though.”

  That got Jake thinking about the things that had happened over time, were there other oddities then?

  “Holsom, some kind of pheromone thing? Or chemical maybe?”

  “I think so. An Inc... Um... what we call an incubus, it's not a demon, obviously, or none of us would have likely survived. Probably addictive too, so once he had that many women around all the time, in close quarters, they didn't have much choice but to seek him out for sex. Which also led to this latest fiasco. Too many men were left without partners in a mainly female dwelling for too long. The emotional strain nearly tore the whole thing apart. The women affected still seem under its grip too, it's weakening, but the second event, the takeover attempt? I think that was a residual effect.”

  That was... interesting.

  He could follow the chain now that someone else had pointed it out. A lot of it made sense. He walked over and patted her on the shoulder, which got a giggle. Then he started to walk into the house, with the smaller form, whatever she was, walking alongside.

  “Well,” She demanded, as if feeling put out.

  “Well what?”

  “Aren't you going to at least ask?” Her look was adult, questioning and a little unbelieving.

  He shook his head. She stared at him sideways as they slowly ambled and nearly reached the door.

  “Aren't you the least bit curious about what you are?” Sammi fought a smile.

  “Me?” He smiled and shook his head. “Alright, what am I?”

  “A very good man Jake. And don't let anyone tell you different.” Then the girl giggled. It was nearly a happy thing. Like a joke he just didn't have the understanding for.

  “OK, tell that to the corpses of all the people I've killed. They'll be glad to know.” He grinned though, trying for wry. It got the woman that looked like a kid, if that's what she really was, to chuckle a bit more, a smoky thing that sounded too dark for someone so young and fresh looking.

  “There are different values of good for different worlds. For this one you're nearly perfect. People don't see it, because their own fear won't let them, but you always do the right thing, even when it's hard or unfair to you. That was one thing Dave got right. You're a guardian spirit. OK, it's not a super-power, but it's rare and special.” She looked at him in a way that spoke of a lot more having been seen than her eyes could hold. A depth in them that looked ancient suddenly. Probably the whole really old thing. That or she was playing the most elaborate practical joke ever. Even if she was something spooky.