S.W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND, Season One Omnibus (113 page)

A few of them notice us as we go by and they begin to follow, but they don't get very far before either Ben's machete takes them out or they fall behind. If I could, I'd try to escape. I'd shout at the Undead to draw them to us for a distraction, but I know I wouldn't get very far, not with my hands tied up. But even if I could run away, Ben knows where I'm heading, and he'd just be waiting for me when I arrived.

I wish there were some way I could warn Kelly and the others, but without my Link, there's nothing I can do. Nor can I prevent or further delay our arrival, not without putting Jake at further risk. Any chance he has now of getting the treatment depends on me getting us back to the hill and convincing Ben to relinquish it. Or taking it by force.

Neither of which seems all that likely.

I almost pity the Undead here, especially the ones that notice us, their hunger reawakened. I don't pity the ones Ben kills. I envy them. Now they can rest.

We don't encounter any Players. Most likely they're concentrated in the cities. I have no doubt that's the reason Ben has chosen for us to skirt the more built-up areas.

I'm getting more and more concerned about Casey. He's in the middle, behind me. Ben is at the rear. Casey's breathing is getting more and more raspy. It sounds unnaturally loud in my ears. There are times when I think I feel his breath on my neck, growing ever hotter, but when I turn, he's a good eight or ten feet back. Ben keeps a constant watch over us both. The rifle droops in Casey's hands. I'd make a grab for it if my hands weren't tied up. But Ben stays too close and he's too fast. He swings the machete like he's just itching to use it.

Casey stumbles and catches himself. Ben's eyes flick up at me. The amusement in his face has disappeared. He'll blame me when Casey dies.

Another twenty minutes pass and Casey's breathing is even worse. I'm afraid to look behind me. I'm afraid of what I'll see. How much longer before Ben decides the treatment has failed? When Casey dies of his infection? Before then? I told him I didn't know if I was doing it right. I should've injected it straight into his vein.

Another hour or so and we finally reach the edge of the parkland. Jayne's Hill slopes gently up ahead of us. Ben tells me to stop, and he consults his tablet for a moment, then nods. “Almost there. Looks like your magical elixir does work after all.”

I'd zoned out for the past twenty minutes or so. Now I jerk my head up and around, looking for Casey. He's sitting on a rick to one side, resting quietly, slouched over with the rifle held across his knees. His face is still pale and sweaty, but he doesn't look as bad off as he had when I'd last looked at him. He's definitely breathing much easier now.

“
How're you feeling, boy?”

“
Okay,” Casey wheezes. He doesn't meet Ben's eyes. “Better.”

Ben chuckles and pats his breast pocket again. “Worth its weight in gold,” he says. “More, even. Lots more.” It reminds me of Brother Matthew telling me nearly the same thing just this morning.

Should I tell him that Casey will need to keep taking it for the rest of his life?

“
Something tells me you're not going to give that last syringe back to me,” I mutter.

Ben scratches his chin with the corner of his Link and makes like he's considering it. “Well, now, that depends.”

“
On what?”

“
Well, first, on you tellin me where you went to get it. And second, whether or not there's more where this came from.”

“
Of course there's more!”

He pulls it out and rolls it in his fingers for a moment. He makes like he's going to toss it over to me, but then stops. “Maybe I'll hold just onto it a
little
while longer.”

He thumbs something on his Link, a text message. Then he sits down and gestures for me to sit, too.

“
What are we doing?” I ask.

“
Waitin.” He doesn't elaborate.

A few minutes later his Link pings and he connects. He talks into it, holding it tight up against his ear so I can't hear what the other person is saying.

“
We're at the base of the hill. Ten minutes away. Can you give us access? Good. I'll ping you.”

“
Who were you talking to?” I ask, when he thumbs the Link off. He ignores me, turning his back. A moment later he lifts the Link to his ear again. “Lena, it's Ben. Just got confirmation. The Coder's in place. How close are you? Uh huh. Good. Got another little surprise for you. Naw, it'll wait till you arrive.”

He disconnects for the third and final time and slips the Link back into his pocket. Around us, steam rises from the grass and from the tops of the trees. Inside the wood, beneath the canopy of moss, the air is dark and still. Water drips silently down, like jewels slipping down an invisible thread. The Undead lurk within that darkness, hiding from the sun, waiting for the light to fade. Waiting for something to feed upon. What if I yelled right now? What if I screamed and brought them to us?

“
Behave, little lady,” Ben warns.

I drop my eyes.

“
Casey!” Ben snaps. “Time to go.” He watches Casey stand up and work the stiffness from his muscles. He smiles, and Casey smiles in return. It seems miraculous. The treatment really does work. Casey is getting better.

“
Where?” Casey asks.

Ben points to an overgrown concrete walkway. “Why don't you take the lead for a while, Casey?”

Casey passes him, almost struts as he walks by. He still moves a little stiffly, but there's a new look in his eyes, a mixture of awe and respect, of hope and vindication. He looks pleased with himself. Ben pats him on the back and looks pleased with himself, too. He grabs Casey's arm and holds the bite up into the light. “How do you feel?”

Casey's smile turns into a laugh. “I totally feel great!”

“
Of course you do! See? I told you you'd thank me.”

Casey plunges into the woods, not caring that he's making all kinds of noise. He moves quickly now, with purpose. The brush is close all around and branches snap and the soggy leaf litter makes muffled crunching sounds underfoot. He powers his way through it. I hesitate, not wanting to follow him in, not with the racket he's making. But Ben pushes me with the tip of his machete.

“
Go on now, jacker queen,” he says. “Time's a wastin. Aren't you anxious to see your friends again?”

He laughs and gestures for me to go. Casey's already disappeared from view, but I could follow him with my eyes closed. My hands itch, wanting something to hold onto—a knife or a bo stick, something to defend myself with in case we get attacked. Ben pokes me again, urging me forward. I have no choice but to do what he says.

I imagine slipping away in the darkness and into the impenetrable thickness of the wood.

“
No straying,” Ben tells me, as if he can read my mind. “You get lost in there, you'll never make it out. Not alive, leastways.”

The brush closes around us and dew soaks into my clothes. They were just beginning to dry out. I keep my eyes and ears peeled. I realize I'm actually hoping we come upon the Undead.

But we emerge at the edge of the clearing around the Jayne's Hill complex ten minutes later. Not an IU in sight. My bad luck is holding.

Casey's already standing on the edge of the grass. I'm almost startled by the improvement in his appearance. He looks even stronger, even more confident, than he did ten minutes ago. There's a flash in his eyes. When he sees Ben step out behind me, he beams.

“
I ain't sick, Ben.”

And Ben replies, “And you ain't never gonna get sick again neither, boy.”

 

Ben strides past me,
heading for the gate. “Grab her,” he tells Casey. “Bring her along. Don't let her escape.”

He grunts as he says this, as if he knows how ridiculous it would be for me to try and get away from him now. Where would I go? What would I do? Everything I need right now is either in his pocket or inside this compound.

Casey tilts his head and nudges me with the muzzle of the rifle. Whatever guilt and self-doubt he'd harbored inside of himself before is now long gone. It's such an unbelievable transformation that I wonder how much of it might be psychological. Ben had beaten him down so badly, had stripped him so completely of his self-confidence, that the smallest praise, the tiniest improvement, could make him feel more invincible than he might really be.

Ben had to know it would happen this way. He had to know how much it would affect Casey if the treatment worked. He knew it would turn him from the uncertain fool he was to a man who now feels like he can do anything. It tells me a lot about Casey—most of which I'd already figured out—but also something about Ben: he's a lot smarter and more dangerous than even I had guessed.

Casey trails along behind me, not really shoving the business end of the rifle into my back, but not being as tentative as he had before. I almost feel sorry for him. I know that what is so easily built-up, can be as easily torn down. The first time his newfound feeling of invincibility shows its first cracks, Casey will completely crumble.

The soft hum of the electrical current gets louder the closer we get to the gate. I can feel the hair on my arms beginning to rise from the charge in the air. Almost instinctively, I search the clearing, hoping to see Shinji there, maybe asleep in the shade of a tree or trotting along one of the thin animal trails toward me, his tongue hanging out as he pants with that doggy smile on his lips. But he's not there. He's gone, miles away by now.

Ben is checking his Link again, keying something into it. I open my mouth to ask how he expects to get inside when the humming noise suddenly evaporates. Without hesitation, he reaches out and grabs the gate and unlatches it and swings it open.

“
After you,” he says, that obnoxious grin on his lips.

“
How did you—”

“
Ain't technology wonderful?” he answers. “Now get inside!”

Casey and I walk in. Ben closes the gate and latches it. Then he thumbs his Link one final time. A moment later the humming sound resumes.

“
Shall we go find your friends now?”

“
Untie me first.”

“
Of course, darling,” he says, magnanimously. “No chance you'll escape now.”

I give the machete in his hand a wary look. He sheathes it and pulls a knife out of his pocket and shows it to me. In that instant I realize how stupid I've been. I have my own little pocket knife. It's still in my left back pocket. I could've cut through the bindings myself at any time while we were on the road, especially in the chaos following Ben's siccing the zombie on Casey, or during the height of his infection.

Ben grabs my arms and begins to saw through the knots. When my hands are free, I bring them around and rub the soreness from my wrists. They're red and chaffed.

“
Don't want the first things your friends to see to be you all bound up, now, would we? That wouldn't make for a very nice introduction.” He laughs. “Of course, can't do nothing bout that black eye of yours.” He throws the cord onto the ground and gestures. “You'll behave, won't you?”

“
Ashamed?” I spit. “Because even you have know it's not
manly
to hit a girl.”

He raises his hand again, and this time I don't flinch. We stand there like that, frozen in poses of defiance, waiting to see who'll blink first. The tension builds until the sound of skin slapping skin shatters it and we both turn to see Casey inspecting his palm.

“
God damn mosquitoes,” he says.

I can see Ben wanting to snap at him, but he doesn't. He's not ready to tear down that house of cards he so carefully constructed.

I turn on my heel and head toward the largest building, but he tells me to stop. “I believe you want
that
building,” he says, pointing to the smaller one. I don't know what I was planning, just that I knew I had to delay us getting to Kelly and the others so I'd have more opportunity to take him out.

There's a slight grin on his lips, like he knows. And he does, because he knows exactly where we are and where I need to be going. He's been here before.

“
How long have you been tracking us?” I ask.

“
Computer trackin? Tried. Couldn't get the software to work. Got some kind of glitch or interference or something in it. Could only track ourselves.” He shrugs. “What good is that? I already know where I am. Anyhow, it don't matter no how, not when we've been gettin reg'lar updates from our Coder. Now, if you don't have any more questions, it's time.”

I sigh. “Can I at least have my Link back?”

“
No.” He gestures again to the smallest building, the one with access to the basement. “You know which buildin. No more tricks or deceptions.”

We enter through the broken door, and I quickly notice that the boys have cleaned up a little. The bodies of the IUs are now gone, probably moved into one of the rooms. Thick black coagulated blood spots and streaks mar the walls and floor. Casey eyes it all, his eyes narrow as he assesses the scene with a clinical eye. Gone is the timidity, the self-doubt. I think if an IU ran up to him right now he'd stand and fight it with his bare hands.

“
Kelly?” I call into the silence, but only silence answers. “They're probably with Jake.”

“
Then let's go see him, shall we? Casey, you stay up here. Let me know when the others arrive.” He walks over and whispers something into his ear and shows him the screen of his Link.