“Why haven’t you seen it?” Tye said.
“Perhaps Tester’s details are wrong. Or maybe my mind’s eye doesn’t want to see. That has happened before. It hardly matters. I’ve seen Tester’s map in my dreams, and it is truth, so we’ll find out for ourselves soon enough.”
Tye folded the map and gave it back to Tester. “You’re asking us to take a lot on faith,” Tye said.
“You are a man of science. Of progress. I get it. You need evidence. Proof. You will have it. It will be our time again if you have faith this one time. In this story, Heaven is real,” Tester said.
“So says every prophet,” Tye said.
“My father always says Heaven is a place created by people trying to sell you something. Had no clue what he meant until we read sacred text Cat’s Cradle in Foundation,” Peter said. Tye knew Ben Hasten well, and that was the type of thing he would say.
“And what is it I’m trying to sell you?” Tester said.
“Same thing my father, Ben, doesn’t hold with at all. Hope,” Peter said.
Tye took the last watch, and as the gray of daybreak seeped over the land camp was broken, packs trussed, and the party was making time east by sunup. The old road was totally overgrown, but a curved concrete retaining wall marked its edge. Lush green weeds and grass covered the cracked blacktop, and to Tye the road looked like it ran off the end of the Earth into the dark clouds on the horizon. There were no buildings, cars, or any other signs of the gone world.
“We’ll turn northeast soon. Hopefully we can find interstate sixty-five,” Tester said.
Tye dove for cover behind a thick bramble bush. “Down. Get down. Virals.” The devils had appeared out of the brush like wraths. “Great. These things seem smart like the others,” Tye said.
“Every viral is different, just like every reborn,” Ingo said.
“Thanks for the update,” Tye said. Arrows whizzed overhead as he peeked through the bushes.
A large group of Uruks were moving toward their position. They carried crude knives, bows, and clubs, and hid in the tree break, slithering like snakes through the tall grass and weeds. Tye didn’t want to waste ammo, but he had to do something. They’d be on them in moments.
He stood, shouldered his rifle, and shot the Uruk closest to him. Tester bounced up next to him and killed another, followed by Milly and Kat. “Cease fire,” Tye said. “Cease fire.”
When the gun smoke cleared, there was no sign of the virals, except the six dead left behind. Tye examined the corpses and found these diseased people were much further gone than others he’d seen. Their bodies were a bloody mess, the disease having eaten away their skin, leaving only tissue and bone.
“Don’t go too close,” a gentle voice warned.
Tye spun around to find a young girl with long dark hair who wore a white robe. Her eyes were deep blue and heavily flecked with silver, with irises the orange-red of fire. The silver sparkled, and Tye blinked with disbelief and winced in pain.
The girl watched them, a smile spreading across her face. “Hi Kat,” she said.
“Hansa?” Milly said.
“I’ve been waiting for you. Again.” Hansa giggled.
Chapter Eighteen
Year 2069, Mississippi
Hansa’s face grew sorrowful. “I’m sorry you had such a hard time. There was nothing I could do. I’ve been banned because I make people uncomfortable,” she said. The girl looked so innocent, so young, but Milly had learned the hard way she was a wise old soul.
“It’s good to see you. What have you been up to?” Milly said. They walked a deer path that meandered down overgrown blacktop. Sagebrush blanketed the ground, and bees buzzed around the phallic like purple flowers of blazing star. Spruce pines towered above oak and dogwood trees, and their dense canopies blotted out the sky. Squirrels and rabbits scampered in the underbrush, and birdsong rose above the buzz of insects. The rabbits were particularly good eating.
“Waiting. That’s what I’ve been up to.” Hansa didn’t elaborate. The party exchanged glances. “It’s OK. That’s what I do.” Hansa giggled.
“You could have mentioned Stadium was a trap,” Peter said.
“Trap?” Her eyebrows knitted.
“You know Tester?” Tye said.
“A little.”
“How?” Tye pressed.
“He knew I was out looking for you. Ingo didn’t explain things?” Hansa said.
“Why didn’t you explain things? You had a year,” Milly said.
“Don’t move or you’re all dead.”
Milly froze and looked to Tye, who stood still, but had brought up his rifle.
“Drop your weapons. Now!” The voice sounded like broken glass scraping on metal.
“Fuck you, asshole,” Tye said. “Get out…”
A shot rang out and Peter’s head exploded, spraying blood, brain and bone all over Milly and Ingo. Robin and Jerome screamed. Milly stood frozen with shock as Peter’s headless body stood next to her for an instant before collapsing to the ground like a marionette that’s had its strings cut. Milly didn’t know where the shooter was, and since Tye was putting his rifle on the ground, she guessed he didn’t either.
“Last time. Put ’em down or I’ll shoot another one.”
Milly pulled her Glock and placed it on the ground before her, and Jerome and Robin put down their swords. Tester and Kat hesitated, and that cost Kat her life.
Another rifle shot rang out in the stillness and the side of Kat’s head tore away. Blood poured over her tattered shirt, and her remaining eye looked to Tester, then Milly, and then she was gone. Her corpse toppled over and rolled down a small incline.
Virals crept out of the sagebrush.
“Do what he says! Do it!” Tye said.
“Get on your knees,” said the rifleman. “Now!”
Uruks of all shapes, sizes,
