World Memorial (50 page)

Angie felt the power radiating from Sharon. It was overwhelming, terrifying. But she held her ground and kept her face calm. "Crush me and you'll never know. Crush anyone else and I'll never tell you."

"I think that you might if I crush enough," said Sharon. The nearby buildings shook as she spoke.

"Really?" said Angie, cocking an eyebrow despite the terror in her stomach. "I'm giving up the kids. How much leverage will killing these ungrateful townspeople give you?"

Sharon scowled and kept quiet. Beulah looked angry and confused. Angie could tell she was making new plans, figuring how to turn this to her advantage.

"I have some conditions," said Angie. "My kids, including Dalton, live. Park lives. Lilly Lives. And I live."

Sharon frowned. "Which one's Lilly?"

"She's in the house," said Angie. "She's the only other of the children in there."

Sharon looked at the house. "I knew I felt something over here!" she started toward it.

"Don't bother," said Beulah. Her confusion was gone. She'd resolved something in her ancient, powerful mind. "The other children aren't there. If they were, we'd have sensed them."

Sharon stopped and scowled. She looked to Angie. Angie felt like the look could crush her, but she didn't show it.

"Just her and the boy?" said Sharon. "The rest are mine?"

"Or mine," said Beulah, butting in. Angie felt the same power from Beulah, but it was different. Beulah's power was more focused, as though Sharon could crush mountains, but Beulah could arrange them.

"Yes," said Angie.

"Fine," said Sharon.

"Agreed," said Beulah.

Angie smiled, looking between the two of them. "Follow me."

She set off through the town. Park, Maylee and Dalton followed her. The sisters followed them. The mob of corpses and animals filed in behind Sharon. Angie wondered how they all must have looked. The woman with her cane, leading her children, a man, two ancient
somethings
and an orderly mob of corpses though the ruins of the town.

As they walked, Angie again felt massive power coming from Sharon and Beulah. She wondered if she was doing the right thing. She kept walking, trying her best to not look intimidated.

They turned a corner and headed down a long line of ruined trailers. Beulah spoke as they walked. "I'm surprised your daughter and son are going along with this, Angela. They always struck me as fighters."

"They're my children," said Angie. "They listen to me."

"And Parker?" said Beulah.

"I don't give a shit one way or the other," said Park.

"Smart for a primate," said Sharon.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. The storm howled safely above. Angie took them around two more bends and brought them to the back of town. A wide open area stood there, lined by trailers and fire barrels. The camper stood at one corner, beaten but otherwise alright.

And against the far wall, guarded by Carly and a line of guards, stood the children. They were huddled together and frightened.

Around the whole group stood a moat of blood. Angie had dug it and filled it using the blood Dr. Graham had collected and cultivated. Blood that sat in a bucket nearby.

Beulah looked at the children and the moat. She saw the bucket of blood next to Angie. It was already full again.

Beulah smirked. "Mine?"

“Yep,” Angie replied.

"Clever," said Beulah, stepping into the open area. "You made your own protective barrier. That's why we couldn't sense them."

"They're mine!" said Sharon, starting across the area. The corpses followed her. The children shrunk back. A few of their eyes flashed white and they cried out in pain.

Sharon stopped. "Damn it!" She held up her hand and the corpses backed out of the area.

Beulah smiled. "You see, Angela? She can't let her minions get too close to them. The children are so ripe now that their presence could set them off, even at that distance. And if that happens, I've won. She'll have done my work for me. She never was much of a strategic thinker."

Sharon turned and spat at her. "And you can't set them off without letting go of all your other towns!"

Angie sighed. "So you're both stuck. Big whoop. Deal’s a deal. There's the kids. We square?"

The two sisters scowled at her. Then Sharon smiled.

Whooping in fury and triumph, the remainder of the flock raced into the area. Angie had forgotten about them. They rushed for the children. Angie knew the blood would be no barrier to them.

"Don't kill them!" yelled Sharon, still smiling. "Keep them alive and away from the dead things!"

Sharon turned, still smiling, to Beulah. "Not much of a strategic thinker, sister?"

Shots rang out from all around, tearing through the flock. Too many shots to have come from the small band of guards with the children. The flock fell screaming into the snow, bleeding from the wounds erupting across their bodies. They fell and died.

Angie turned and looked behind her. The rest of the townsfolk and guards lined all the buildings leading up to the area. They leaned out of windows and stood on roofs. Angie was impressed at how quickly they'd all gotten out of the house and into position.

She turned back to the sisters. "Actually, you both sort of suck."

She limped over to something the sisters had missed. A wooden stick was jammed into the snow. Blood flowed on either side of it. Angie knelt down and plucked the stick from the ground. The blood closed behind it.

Completing a second, larger circle of blood that encompassed the entire area the sisters stood in. It enclosed the campers, the trailers, almost the entire open space. The kids huddled behind the far edge, protected in their own circle. Angie, Park, Maylee and Dalton stood at the near edge. The corpses were behind them, still held in place by Sharon.

Beulah and Sharon looked around them, realization flooding their expressions.

Angie smiled. She limped over to the bucket of blood. She picked it up, jiggled it at them, then set it back down. "This stuff really is neat."

She smiled at them as anger spread across their faces. "What's wrong?" she asked. "You guys can't just poof out of the magic circle? I thought so. Otherwise one of you would have just appeared in town and had your way a long time ago."

"What are you doing, you insect?!" roared Sharon, stomping toward her but stopping before she got to the barrier.

"I think it's called winning," said Angie.

Sharon scowled. The corpses started to move again, this time toward Park, Maylee and Dalton. As they drew near, the children screamed and flashed. The corpses stopped.

"GODDAMMIT!!!" yelled Sharon, so loud the ground shook.

"So what is your plan, Angela?” Beulah said. “To just leave us here?"

"I could, couldn't I?" said Angie. "Just leave you here. Who knows how long it would be before you got out?"

"You can't just leave us here!" screeched Beulah. "I make your world run! I make your history!"

"You manipulate and kill!" Angie yelled back.

"For the grand design! For the greater good!"

"There is no good in killing innocent people!" 

"That's not for you to decide!"

"Are you saying you're both gods?"

Beulah stared at her. "We've been here a long time. And we’ve never known another."

Angie stepped over to the bucket. "No more plans, no more schemes. We must be free. Free from this and free from you."

"What are you talking about?" said Sharon.

Angie picked up the stick from before. The one that had held the circle open so the sisters could cross it. She dipped the stick in the blood and held it up. The blood clung to the stick.

Angie tossed the stick at the barrier. It flew across without incident, landing inside.

"Well look at that," said Angie.

"Mom?" said Maylee.

Angie hoisted the bucket up and held it in front of her. She looked to Maylee and Dalton. "This is the part of plan B I didn't tell you."

She lifted the bucket over her head and tipped it over. Beulah's blood poured down across Angie’s face and arms. It ran down her whole body, coating her, clinging to her. It felt alive.

Angie dropped the bucket and stumbled back. She felt woozy. She wondered if she'd made a mistake.

She fell to her knees and blacked out.

A second later she came to. She shook her head to clear it. She was still on her knees, the blood covering her whole body. She felt it soaking through her clothes and clinging to her skin. She saw it running up her cane. She saw it run through the point where the handle came free. It ran inside, presumably coating the blade.

She stood. She felt lighter. The pain in her ankle was gone. She put her full weight on it for the first time in years. There was no pain.

"Well shit," said Angie.

Thoughts and images rushed over her. Angie could see things she shouldn't be able to. Knew things she shouldn't be able to. She saw Beulah's towns, hundreds of them. People gathered together in the chaos just like World Memorial had been. She saw the children in those towns, standing ready to be sacrificed. Ready to be killed for the greater good. For the grand design.

She saw the corpses crawling over the whole of the world. She saw every major city, every town, every individual home torn apart by Sharon's curse. She felt Sharon's hatred for humanity. She felt the pain of every person ever torn apart by the dead.

She gradually came back to the here and now.

"Mom?" said Dalton, looking at her uncertainly.

Angie raised her hands to her face. The blood coated them, wet but staying in place. She'd never seen anything like it.

She looked to the sisters and smiled.

The sisters stared back at her. Angie could sense they were weakened. She felt the large amounts of energy they were using to hold their individual groups back. Angie stepped to the barrier and across it without incident. Angie marveled at it. Whatever rules bound the sisters to this circle, they didn't apply to her. She'd found a loophole.

The storm howled above them, swirling and blowing. Whole trees flew by overhead. She and the sisters stared at each other in the eerie stillness of the town.

Beulah watched her warily. Her face was confused and plotting.

Sharon held up one hand and clenched it. The same motion that had almost killed Angie days ago.

Nothing happened. Not even a tremor.

Sharon dropped her hand. She let out a scoffing snort and rushed at Angie, swinging her fist. Angie ducked, surprised by her own speed and agility. She swung her cane into Sharon's legs with a loud "thwack." Sharon cried out and crumpled to the snow.

Angie stood and backed off. Sharon stood, confused and angry.

"What the hell?" she yelled.

"It's the blood, Sharon," said Beulah, keeping her distance.

Sharon stomped back over and swung again, her powerful arm flying in a wide arc. Angie ducked and slammed her cane into Sharon’s stomach. Sharon doubled over and clutched her midsection. Angie rolled away and stood. She felt more full of energy than, well, ever.

Sharon stood, frowning. "That actually hurt." She stomped toward Angie for the third time, murderous fury in her eyes. "The only one to ever hurt me was my sister, little girl, and every wound she inflicts heals!"

Sharon swung. Angie pulled the sword from her cane. Momentum carried the blade across Sharon's cheek, slicing a thin line of blood. Angie stepped back. Beulah's blood had indeed coated the blade. It flowed all around it, without dripping off or dulling the edge.

Sharon blinked in surprise. She held her hand to her cheek and then looked at it. Blood coated her hand. Sharon’s own blood.

The cut wasn’t healing.

Angie smiled. "I'm not your sister."

Beulah looked back and forth between Sharon and Angie, as if unsure what to do. She finally strode over to Angie.

"You shouldn't be doing this!"

Angie felt the power in her voice more sharply now, in the clearer vision given her by the blood. But she was no longer scared by it. Beulah kept coming. “This isn't how it should go! Get out!”

Beulah reached Angie and swung her fist at her. Angie stepped to one side. Beulah corrected and shoved Angie in the chest. Angie slid back across the snow. Her chest hurt badly, and Angie knew the blow would have killed her without the blood's protection and Beulah's weakened state.

"Ouch," she said, standing.

Beulah grinned and rushed at her. Angie stepped to one side, slicing Beulah across the stomach. Beulah turned and stumbled to a halt. She looked down. Her dress was torn. A thin line of blood ran down her torso.

Sharon watched with hungry eyes. "Kill her! Kill my sister and I'll spare you!"

"Shut up, Sharon!" yelled Beulah.

Angie rushed at her. Beulah stepped to the side and punched Angie across the face. Angie's head snapped to one side, pain shooting down her neck and shoulder. Angie recovered and swung her sword at Beulah in a wide arc. Beulah jumped back. Sharon rushed up and tackled Beulah.

Sharon pinned Beulah to the ground and looked to Angie.

"Do it!" said Sharon. "Kill her!"

Beulah struggled with Sharon. She looked at Angie. "You can't kill us! We hold everything together!"

"Shut up, both of you!" yelled Angie. She ran over and shoved Sharon as hard as she could. To Angie’s surprise, Sharon flew away from her and into a nearby trailer. The trailer crumpled inward. Sharon's body punched through the wall and landed somewhere inside.

"Whoa," said Angie. "Go me."

She ran toward the trailer.

"Stop!" yelled Beulah.

Angie ran to the trailer's door and threw it open. It was dim and cluttered inside. She heard the sound of wrenching metal and looked to one side. Sharon was extracting herself from a broken, rusted stove. The stove crumpled inward from Sharon’s impact.

Angie grinned. "I see why you girls like slamming each other around so much."

"Shut up, primate!" yelled Sharon. She stood, ripped the oven door from the stove and whipped it at Angie. It flew through the air toward her.