them that ever again. These are the Pits of Judgment. Sinners go in there to face their crimes. Heaven itself decides the truth. If the accused is innocent, or if there is true repentance in his heart, then he will emerge unharmed from the pit. And if not…”
The crowd waited for it.
“… then the Children of Lazarus will make a sacrament of their flesh!”
The crowd went wild. Benny stared. Maybe some of them had started to believe this nonsense, or maybe it was all just a new game to them. Either way, they were totally sold on it.
White Bear, as grand a showman as his father, held one hand aloft so that the audience held their breath, and with the other he pointed at Benny and Nix. “It is time!” he proclaimed. “Cast them into the Pit of Judgment.”
Benny’s last thought before Digger and Heap pushed him over the edge was,
Then he and Nix were falling into darkness.
71
CHONG TRIED TO FIGHT THE HANDS THAT PULLED HIM FROM THE PIT, BUT his attacker bent close and in a fierce whisper said, “Chong-it’s me.”
Chong stopped struggling. The figure let go of him and moved into a patch of starlight.
“Tom!” Chong began to cry out, but Tom clamped a hand over his mouth.
“Shhhh!”
Chong nodded. “How’d you find me?” he whispered.
Tom quickly explained how he’d left Benny, Nix, and Lilah back at the way station, and about his encounter with Sally Two-Knives.
“I-I’m… Tom, I’m so sorry-”
“Save it. This is a lot more my fault than yours, kiddo. Even so,” Tom said, tapping him hard in the chest, “do not let it happen again. From here on out you follow orders exactly as given, understand?”
“Absolutely loud and clear.”
The sounds of laughter and applause, the screams and jeers, were much louder. The noise was coming from behind the place, past the line of close-parked wagons. There were a few small zombie pits out here, but Tom suspected the real attraction was over there.
“Benny and Nix are here somewhere,” Tom said, “and I have a bad feeling about where they are.”
As if to counterpoint his comment, the crowd erupted into furious applause.
“What are we going to do?”
“First things first,” said Tom. “You look pretty banged up. Are you all right?”
When Chong took too long to answer Tom pulled him into a patch of light that was screened by hedges.
“Tell me,” he ordered.
Chong turned and showed him his shoulder. “I was bitten.”
Tom closed his eyes for a moment and sagged back against the edge of the porch. “Ah… kid… damn it…”
“In the pit. They made me fight. I won… both times, but I got bit.”
“How long ago was this?”
“I don’t know. Five, six hours. I can’t really tell.”
Tom gave him a puzzled frown. “How are you feeling? Have you been vomiting? Any double vision? Pain in your joints?”
“Just a little dizzy and nauseous.”
Tom looked at the bite again. “You should be showing symptoms by now.”
“H-how long do you think I have?”
“I don’t know,” said Tom. “It’s different for everyone.”
Chong knew that was true. Some people got sick right away; others took as long as a day before they felt it. In the end it was going to be the same. The plague had a 100 percent infection rate. No one ever survived it.
From behind the building they could hear Preacher Jack making a speech.
“Have you seen other prisoners?” asked Tom.
Chong shook his head. “No, but I heard people talking about them. There’s supposed to be a bunch of other kids here. In the hotel, I think.”
“Then that’s where Benny and Nix will be. Preacher Jack took them.”
Chong touched Tom’s arm. “There are things you need to know. While I was still in the pit, I heard White Bear talking to someone. I’m pretty sure it was Preacher Jack. White Bear is Charlie’s brother and he… he called Preacher Jack ‘Dad.’”
Tom grabbed Chong’s wrist. “Preacher Jack is Charlie Pink-eye’s father?”
“I know… it’s scary, but it makes sense.”
“Only to madmen, kiddo.”
Chong looked away to the west. “Tom, where’s Lilah?”
Tom shook his head. “I… don’t know where she is. She could be with Benny and Nix, or she could be out there somewhere.”
“Out there” was a vast and featureless black nothing.
Chong licked his lips. “What… what do we do now?”
Tom handed him a knife. “We go find Benny and Nix,” he said.
72
BENNY AND NIX FELL INTO DARKNESS. NEITHER OF THEM SCREAMED. Benny was too furious, and Nix… well, Benny didn’t know what Nix was feeling. He thought he heard her laugh as the darkness of the pit swallowed them. Benny waited for the crushing impact at the bottom of a long fall, but his feet struck something soft and yielded. He hit and bounced and spun, and only then did he crash to the dirt. Behind him he heard Nix rebound and then thud down.
There was enough light to see, and as Benny sat up painfully he saw that just below the hole was a sloppy stack of old mattresses, positioned to catch their fall and keep them from shattering their legs.
“Very considerate of them,” Nix muttered.
“I don’t think they care much about us.”
“No, really?” replied Nix sarcastically.
“I mean,” said Benny, “that it’s probably not as much fun to watch cripples fighting zoms.”
“Again… really?”
They got to their feet and looked around. No zoms and not much light. The pit wasn’t circular, and they could make out tunnels leading off in six separate directions.
White Bear squatted on the edge of the pit, grinning in a way that made his burned face look like a monster out of a nightmare. “Here are the rules,” he growled. “If you’re paying attention, you might already have guessed that this ain’t a straight pit-fight. There are tunnels and side passages and a few surprises cut every which way. Some of them are dead ends, and I do mean ‘dead.’”
“Ha, ha,” said Benny.
“You might also have guessed that you ain’t alone down there.”
Benny expected Nix to say “No, really?” again, but she held her tongue, so Benny supplied the sarcasm. “Well, we figured that… these being zom pits and all.”
“Watch your mouth, boy,” snapped White Bear.
“Really?” he said, and liked how it sounded. “What are you going to do? Beat us up and throw us in a pit full of
