Withered + Sere (Immemorial Year Book 1) (33 page)

Lucas bowed his head.

Cavalo stood. Bad Dog stayed at his side.

He walked over to the speaker box. Looked up at the hidden camera. Pressed the button.

The response was immediate. “Hello, Cavalo.” That queer flat voice had returned.

“SIRS?”

“Yes. This is the Sentient Integrated Response System.”

“Are you all right?”

“I am as I was. And as I should be.”

“SIRS.”

“Yes, Cavalo.”

“Let us in.”

“Father, may I?”

Another voice in the background, murmuring low. Indistinguishable.

“Cavalo,” SIRS said. “You may enter.” The hum of electricity died. From farther down the fence line, an alarm blared briefly and an orange light began to spin, squeaking as it turned.

“SIRS?”

“Yes?”

“Who is here?”

“It’s… he. I….” The box crackled. “I… can’t.”

The voice spoke again from near the robot.

“Mandate seven,” SIRS said. “Mandate seven. In Zephaniah, it reads ‘I have wiped out many nations, devastating their fortress walls and towers. Their cities are now deserted; their streets are in silent ruin. There are no survivors to tell what even happened.’” He fell silent.

“SIRS.”

No response.

“
SIRS
.”

Nothing.

“Shit,” Cavalo muttered. He looked past the box through the fence toward the barracks. Nothing moved. “I thought prisons were supposed to keep people
out
.” And it had. Up until Lucas.

Bad Dog whined, pushing his head against the fence.

Lucas pushed past Cavalo. Cavalo reached out and grabbed his arm, meaning to stop him, to pull him back.

Cavalo felt the Dead Rabbit tense and was ready when the Dead Rabbit turned and swung at him. Cavalo ducked the fist. The momentum and snow spun Lucas around. Cavalo shot up and wrapped his arms around Lucas, pulling his back to Cavalo’s front. Immediately, Cavalo felt the knife pressed back against his side. Lucas’s hair tickled Cavalo’s nose. It smelled of wood smoke, dusky and wild.

“You stop,” Cavalo said, his forehead pressed to the back of the Dead Rabbit’s head. “You hear me?”

The knife pressed into him harder.

“We go together.”

The Dead Rabbit shook his head. Struggled against Cavalo’s grip.

“Yes.”

Lucas deflated. He bowed his head.

Cavalo stepped away. He could still smell the Dead Rabbit.

“We have to be smart about this,” he said, trying to shake the unwanted heat away.

Lucas glanced back at him.
Too late for that
.

“Why?”

He pointed up at the camera.
They already know we’re here.

“They can’t hear us. The sound has been corrupted since long before I got here.”

We’ve been gone. For all you know, it’s been repaired.

“No.”

Don’t be stupid. We go in. Like we normally do. I’ll go first.

“We don’t normally
anything
.”

I’m going.

“No.”

No, no, no
, Bad Dog said.
That’s all you say. I will go. Bad Dog will save the tin man.

“Lunatics,” Cavalo muttered. “I’m surrounded by lunatics.”

Bad Dog and Lucas grinned at him.

“I lead,” Cavalo said. “You two follow. We clear?”

Shark-like smiles.

He turned toward the barracks. He knew, even then, that it was all fucked up. His mind ran in a million different directions, each worse than the last. The bees howled at him, asking how he could be so
stupid
, how he could even
think
about walking into what was obviously a trap. He kept telling himself that there was only one set of tracks, but he knew the old military trick of walking in a single-file line in the footsteps of the person leading to create the illusion of minimal numbers. For all Cavalo knew, the barracks were full of people.

That didn’t explain SIRS, though. Even if his insanity had taken over, it didn’t explain why he’d be doing what they asked. Unless it was meant to sound that way. Unless the robot had a plan.

Father, may I?

The unease would not leave Cavalo.

He unlatched and pushed open the fence. It scraped against the snow and ice.

He walked through. Lucas and Bad Dog followed.

He closed the gate behind them. As soon as it latched, there was another blare of the alarm. Once. Twice. Three times. There was a snap of electricity, and the fences began to hum.

He moved toward the barracks.

The bees laughed.

Lucas darted his head left and right.

Bad Dog kept his nose low to the snow.
The other side
, he muttered.
The other side of the woods. It’s from the other side of the woods.

Cavalo thought briefly of entering the tunnels underneath the prison, but dismissed it. It wouldn’t matter now. They were probably sighted before they had reached the front of the gate.

It’s the UFSA
, he thought.
We’ve killed two of their groups.

And just think!
the bees said.
You’ll get everyone else killed as well! You are nothing but death, our dear Cavalo. It follows you wherever it goes.

Yes. I am death.

That weighed upon him, heavier than it should have. He had the man made of metal inside. His four-legged companion at his side. That was all he should have concerned himself with. That was all there should have been. But in his head, as the worst of all images played out, he saw the Dead Rabbit’s body splayed out on the ground, soaked in blood, a look of hysterical terror distorting his features.

When?
he asked the bees.
When did this happen? When did this matter?

When you let him in
, the bees whispered.
That clever monster. That clever cannibal. He is like a vampire. You invited him in, and now he can never leave.

Unless there is death
, Cavalo thought.

They reached the barracks door. Cavalo blocked the way as Lucas reached for it. “No,” he said.

Move.

“Listen to me. Now.”

Lucas scowled.

“We don’t know who is in there. But we know they want you. To get to Patrick.”

Lucas snarled at the name.

“You need to stay here and wait.”

You are out of your fucking mind
, Lucas said.

Like that is going to happen
, Bad Dog said. He tried to push past Cavalo, but Cavalo stopped him. He looked like he gave very serious consideration to biting the man on the leg.

He ignored them both. “If I don’t come back out or if something goes wrong, you need to run. I want you to wait outside the gates. Remain hidden. Watch the door. If someone comes out other than me that you don’t recognize, you run.”

I don’t run!

Together
, Bad Dog insisted.
We stay together.

“Not this time,” Cavalo said. He looked down at the dog and grabbed him by the snout. He raised it until their eyes met. “You listening to me?”

Bad Dog tried to pull away, but Cavalo wouldn’t let him.

“Listen. I know. Trust me, I know. But you need to be brave.”

I’m always brave!

“You are. But if something goes sideways in there, it’s going to be up to you. Do you understand? You take Lucas, and you run. Do not look back. Do not go after me. Get to BigHank and AlmaLady. Are we clear?”

Worst idea
ever
. You are the dumbest MasterBossLord!

Cavalo chuckled dryly. “Probably.”

He let go of the dog. Bad Dog licked his hand once and moved to stand next to Lucas. He looked up at him and growled lightly.
You listen to Bad Dog, Smells Different. Bad Dog is the boss now.

“He’s the boss now,” Cavalo echoed softly. He glanced at Lucas. “You mind him,” he said. “Get to Hank. Get to Alma. I’m sealing the door behind me. And don’t think about trying to come through the tunnels. They’ll be sealed too.”

Lucas looked murderous but said nothing.

He looked between the two of them. “Hank,” he said again. “Alma.”

You better come back
, Bad Dog muttered.
I can’t live in Cottonwood and be told how pretty I am all day. The bees in my head will drive me to kill.

He nodded. He turned and was about to open the door when a knife was pressed into his hand. He looked back at Lucas, who pointed between it and the rifle strapped to Cavalo’s back.
Just in case
, the Dead Rabbit said.

Cavalo took the knife.

It began to snow.

Lucas and Bad Dog turned back toward the gate. They were outside the prison when Cavalo opened the door and closed it behind him without looking back.

Latched it. The metal screeching together was loud against the cement walls.

The man named Cavalo took a breath. Exhaled. Put the knife in his boot. Unstrapped the rifle. Took another breath. Thought of Jamie. Her. Alma. Hank. Deke. Aubrey. His father, dead in a ditch. The robot SIRS. Bad Dog. His only two friends in the world. His only family.

And Lucas.

He exhaled.

And pushed open the secondary door.

The barracks were as he’d left them the day before. Nothing had been moved. Nothing looked to have been touched. The room was not filled with people. There were no men with guns. No UFSA. No Dead Rabbits. No—

SIRS stood next to one of the panels on the side wall. It glowed a bright white. His hand was extended, and from his palm shot up the screen that reflected what the cameras showed. The video appeared damaged, as it jumped wildly, the contents of the screen illegible. It crackled wildly, the noise electronic and jumbled.

The cameras aren’t working
, Cavalo thought.
They didn’t see us.

Through the screen, Cavalo saw SIRS. His eyes burned a color Cavalo had never seen them before. Gone was the orange, the comforting color, that flash of intelligence. Now it was different. Bright. Harsh. Bloodred.

The color of insanity
, the bees said.

He was not alone.

A man stood next to him, his back partially to Cavalo. This stranger watched the snowy screen, his hands joined behind his back. His hair was black but fading at the top of his head in a small circular pattern. Flecks of gray shot through the rest.

He stood as tall as Cavalo, but thicker. Not fat, but it looked as if it could go that way very easily. He wore trousers made from deer hide, stitched with precision, and a tunic that looked to be coarse.

What struck Cavalo the most, though, about this man, this stranger in his home, was not his appearance, but how at
ease
he seemed. It was as if he knew Cavalo stood behind him, pointing a gun at his back, but knew nothing could happen to him. There was no tension in his shoulders. No anger. Nothing indicated he was armed. Or that he would attack.

And this concerned Cavalo. A man not worried about the possibility of a bullet was a dangerous man.

“It’s funny, really,” the man said without turning. His voice was soft and elegant. “How is it that I’ve been in the west for the years that I have and not known this place existed? It’s remarkable. My eyes have not been as open as I’ve thought. It makes one wonder just what else is out there buried in the wilds of the forest, just waiting to be found.”

“Who are you?” Cavalo asked, never taking his eyes or the gun off the man.

“Yes,” he said, still watching the screen. “I suppose we will get to that. But the greater question, I should think, is who are you?”

“Who am I?” Cavalo echoed. Unreality washed over him.

The man laughed. “Such a deep question you ask yourself. I once found myself asking the same question. Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose?” He shook his head as he sighed. “I found my answer. It doesn’t seem as if you’ve found yours.” He turned his head slightly to look around the barrack. “Unless living like this is your calling. The surveillance equipment doesn’t even work! You have cameras but no video. But then, who am I to judge? I live with far less.”

“You have three seconds to explain,” Cavalo said. “If I get to three and you haven’t told me who you are, you get a bullet in the head.”

“Well now.
This
certainly is a surprise. Have you always been this cold?”

“One.”

“Maybe it goes back to some deep-seated daddy issues. Did your father love you enough? Or maybe he loved you
too
much.”

“Two.”

“Such theatrics! Well, I guess that’s to be expected for a man living in the middle of nowhere with a robot and a dog. Just how crazy are you?”

“Three.” Cavalo put pressure on the trigger.

“You fire that gun,” the man said affably, “and everyone you know in the enclave of Cottonwood will have their flesh peeled from their bones while they are still alive. They will know every ounce of pain I can give. And you must believe me when I say that I can give quite a lot.”

Cavalo’s vision tunneled. The room grayed out, then came back. His finger itched to pull the trigger still. The bees told him the man was bluffing, that he did nothing more than talk and he was a
liar
and Cavalo just needed to kill him.
Kill him!

It’s your fault
, they said.
You made ties with these people. This is how they can threaten you. These people. They all threaten to take from you because you associate with others. It is your weakness. Kill him, now!

“You wouldn’t,” he said, his voice shaking.

The man turned to face him. He looked older than Cavalo, at least by a decade. His face was blandly handsome and lined heavily around the eyes and mouth. But then he smiled, and his face transformed into something more. It was a bright smile, and it caught Cavalo off-guard. If he was bland before, now he seemed remarkable. His blue eyes lit up. His teeth showed through, even and white. He looked to be a happy man. A man in control.

“I would,” he said cheerfully. “You may not know me, not yet, but you can trust in the fact that I am a man of my word.”