Banshee Worm King: Book Five of the Oz Chronicles (34 page)

“Hadn’t noticed,” I said in a dismissive tone.

He half smiled.
 
“When do you think we’ll eat again?”

“Soon as the stores open” I said with the same dismissive
tone.

“Stores?” I didn’t bother telling him I was being
sarcastic.
 
Eventually he figured it out on
his own.

“Oh, stores.
 
I get
it.
 
Ha-ha.”
 
He rubbed his hands together and brought them
to his mouth where he proceeded to blow on them.
 
“Cold.”

“You said that,” I said with more than a bit of anger in my
voice.

“All right.
 
All
right.
 
Take it easy.
 
I’m just saying…” He stopped mid-sentence and
looked at something past me and above my head.

I turned and looked at what had him so mesmerized.
 
A yellow piece of cloth was tied to a
branch.
 
It was some kind of marker the
forestry service had placed on trees throughout the area before the world
ended.
 
I had no idea what they meant but
we had seen a couple of dozen of them in the area.
 
Wes had told us earlier who had put them there.
 
I wasn’t sure why Gordy found that one so
fascinating.

“Have you seen that before?” he asked.

“The yellow markers?
 
Yeah. A bunch…”

“No, not the yellow markers.
 
That yellow marker.
 
Have you seen it before?”

I looked at it again and shrugged.
 
“Maybe.
 
Can’t say for sure.”

He slowly stood.
 
“I
think I have.”
 
He drifted towards the
marker never taking his eyes off of it.
 
“I know I have.”

“Okay, so you’ve seen it before.
 
What’s the big deal?”

He looked to his left.
 
“There’s a boot behind that tree over there.”

“A what?”

“A boot.
 
Not a
hiking boot, but a workman’s boot.”

I stretched my neck trying to see the boot he was talking
about.
 
“I don’t see a boot.”

He ran to the tree.
 
“It’s buried under some leaves.”
 
Kneeling down, he brushed away the snow and leaves.
 
Before I could stand, he held up a boot.
 
“See!”

“How did you know that was there?” I said approaching him.

“I know. I know.
 
I
know.” He said muttering to himself more than answering my question.
 
“I’ve seen this before.”

“But how…”

He held up his hand and told me to shut up.
 
His eyes darted back and forth as he scanned
his memory.
 
Suddenly he raced through
the tree line and disappeared behind some thick brush.

“Hey,” I said following him, “stop.”

I heard him crashing through the forest, and I saw branches
snapping back into position, but it wasn’t until I cleared a small hill that I
saw him.
 

“It’s here,” he said excitedly.

“What’s here?” I said stomping towards him.

He pointed to a tent.

My mouth dropped open. “How did you know…”

“I’ve seen it, in one of Stevie’s comic books.”

I took a step forward.
 

“It was a long time ago, but I remember it.
  
That yellow marker triggered something in my
brain.”

“Who does it belong to?”

He hesitated before answering.
 
“A dead guy.
 
He’s on the other side of the tent.
 
Been dead for awhile.
 
Went
crazy.
 
Starved himself to death even
though…”
 
Gordy snapped his fingers and
raced towards the tent.

“Even though what?” I asked chasing after him.

Gordy ducked inside the tent and quickly came back out
holding a heavy backpack.
 
“Even though
he had food!”
 
He frantically opened the pack
and pulled out a clear plastic bag full of nuts and dried berries.
 
“Food!”

“Holy crap!”

He tossed me the bag and then pulled out a lasagna
MRE.
 
“Food!”

I opened the bag of trail mix and quickly shoved a handful
in my mouth.
 
“Food,” I said rolling my
eyes back in my head and chewing like anyone starving half to death would.

Gordy dumped the contents of the pack on the ground and
formed a pile of some of the most wonderfully preserved food we had ever
seen.
 

“Don’t suppose you remember anything about water?”

He ducked back into the tent and dragged out a huge
cooler.
 
“Water, Gatorade, coffee, it’s
all here! Clothes, too.
 
What do you
know? I remember this place.
 
I actually
remember it from one of Stevie’s stupid comic books…” He stopped suddenly as
his mind clearly popped off a new memory. “I remember,” he said in a whisper.

“You remember what?”

He didn’t answer right away.
 
He began to pace and looked down at his hand
as if he was holding the comic book.
 
“I
saw it a long time ago.
 
Took it out of Stevie’s
backpack outside of school.
 
Gave him
crap about it.”

“You remember something you’re not telling me.”

“Because I don’t know if I’m remembering it right.”

“What is it?”

“There was this girl.”
 
He stopped.

“What girl?”

“I can’t be remembering it right.”

“Gordy, just spit it out already.”

“This girl.
 
She kind
of looked like Lou.
 
I mean as much as a
drawing in a comic book can look like someone.
 
She had a different name.
 
I can’t
remember it, but…” He snapped his fingers.
  
“Bristol.
 
I remember it because
it’s the same name as the NASCAR race.”

“Emily Bristol?” I asked.

“That’s it,” he said excitedly. “That’s her name.”

The world around me suddenly got very small.
 
The wind, the cold, the hunger disappeared
from my mind in an instant.
 
I was totally
focused on Gordy.
 
“That’s Lou.”

“It is?”

“That’s her real name.”

Gordy looked down at his imaginary comic book and then
scratched his head.
 
“I think I know
where she is, or where she’s going anyway.”

I almost couldn’t bring myself to ask because I was afraid
of the answer.
 
I was convinced nothing
good came out of Stevie’s comic books.
 
I
didn’t expect Gordy’s answer would change my mind about that.
 
“Where?” I finally asked.

“Buffalo, New York.”

I thought about his answer.
 
“Of course,” I said with a smile.

“What?”

“That’s where it all started.
 
Dr. Bashir and his Hyper Mental Imaging.
 
She’s gone to find him.”

Gordy’s facial expression soured.
 
“She finds him all right.”

I waited for him to elaborate, but he never did.
 
“And?”

“And she shouldn’t have.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means…” He couldn’t look me in the eyes.
 
“Real or not…”

“Gordy!”

“She’s going to die.”

The End