blurred and after a while my focus ebbed and I couldn’t remember what I was doing. I was running on instinct by the time I finally emerged from the forest, well after the moon had risen. I kept moving, afraid that if I stopped I would collapse and never make it back to Revenant.
I was practically dragging myself by the time I reached the gate surrounding my former town. I threw myself against it, exhausted, and clenched my fingers around the mesh. My brain felt like it was on fire, and my entire body was quaking. I didn’t rest long. I couldn’t. I carefully pulled myself over the gate, making much more noise than I wanted to. I had been out of Revenant for only three days, but it felt like an afterlifetime Hopefully the town had given up on finding me.
I fell down on the other side of the gate. I slowly drew myself up and leaned against the metal wire wall again to regain my balance. I felt incredibly dizzy. After a few minutes I began to slowly hobble away as Stiffs began to gather behind me, pressing up against the gate that separated us. I had to get back to square 1. There was only one person I could talk to who would hear me out, and that was my only chance to stay undead. But I couldn’t walk back. My mind was shot. I was on the verge of shutting down and I needed rest. I stumbled to the bus stop and fell down on the bench. I pulled back the helmet of my safety gear and leaned back, waiting for the bus to arrive.
I did everything I could to keep myself from falling asleep. I knew if I did, I would probably skid, and I would never come out of it. I had to stay awake. I kept the thought of Morgan’s betrayal in mind, her sad, desperate face gazing up at me, begging me to protect her, replaying it over and over again to try to keep my senses alive and aflame, like a never-ending film reel. When I felt like surrendering, and allowing the blackness of unconsciousness to envelop me, the thought of Morgan’s betrayal stirred me to cognizance. I tried desperately to keep my eyes open. Even then, I felt myself drifting away, and I had to snap my brain back into action. It was more than a half hour before the bus arrived. I shuffled lifelessly onto it and fell onto the first seat, not having the energy to go any farther.
“Rough night?” the bus driver asked as he closed the bus doors and started the vehicle forward.
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” I said quietly, resting my head against the window and allowing the vibration to massage my aching head.
I was almost home.
I got off the bus at square 3 and made the trek back to square 1. I had almost lost consciousness a few times on the bus, but I had managed to snap out of it. Now I was dragging myself forward in a fog, my head tilted to the side as if too heavy for my neck to lift. I could feel myself beginning to skid. I was losing my ability to reason, and the thoughts of brains pervaded my mind, so every sound or movement I registered made me want to attack. I was desperate for even anything resembling a brain to soothe the pain in my head. Only the thought of Morgan’s fear and anguish as I greedily devoured her brain gave me any life, filling the emptiness of my brain with the heaviness of vengeance.
I passed Trevor’s mentor’s farm. I could have gone there. Trevor would have protected me. But it wasn’t safe. I couldn’t trust his mentor and if she found out about me she would probably lock me up in the barn to skid until the authorities arrived. There was only one person I could rely on.
Morning was on the horizon as I came to my house, the sky purple and yellow, bathing the town in a dim brilliance. I fell against the front door and fumbled clumsily to turn the knob. Eventually I was able to slide open the door and I fell inward, collapsing on the wood floor. I crawled languidly toward the kitchen. I wasn’t sure if my mentor was home. Sometimes he came back early, before dawn, if there weren’t any signs of humans around. I didn’t care. I just needed to get some brains before I passed out and skidded. Then I could explain everything to him. He would understand. He was a human tracker, like me. If he believed that I knew where the human safe zone was, he wouldn’t let me die. He would put the good of the town first.
I slipped through the kitchen door and desperately pulled myself up, using the oven, which we almost never used, to help balance myself. I made a lot of noise, banging against the metal as I did. I drew myself carefully toward the chem dish, which contained three morsels of brain cortex. It was making me salivate. I pulled myself to the counter it sat on and reached out for it.
An arm came down and grabbed my wrist. I was spun around to gaze up at the face of my mentor.
“Zellner!” he said in a booming voice.
“Need t’eat,” I mumbled, finding the words difficult to pronounce.
“I can’t allow that,” my mentor said. “You’ve been expelled. You stole the human and took it out of town. The Mayor wants you dead on sight. I can’t protect you anymore, Zellner. I have to bring you in.”
He pulled me forward forcibly.
“Wait,” I said, trying to grab onto something, but not finding the strength to wrap my fingers around anything.
“I’m sorry, Zellner,” my mentor was saying, but his voice was a haze in my head. A ringing edged his words, making them nearly inaudible. “You stole a human. It had to be reported. The council was unanimous in your condemnation. You shouldn’t have come back. I don’t know how you survived as long as you did. I’m sure you used the human for rations. We know you took the Kushner’s rations. These are inexcusable crimes. I had so much hope for you at one time, Zellner. Now you’ve become this degenerate. You’re a liability to the entire town. I’m sorry, son, but you can’t be allowed to stay. Not everyone is cut out to be a Wake.”
He was dragging me to the front door. I flailed my legs, but they barely moved, knocking lightly against the walls and tables and pounding softly at the floor as we passed.
My mentor wrapped his arms under mine and lifted me. He opened the front door and began to pull me out.
“The safe zone!” I cried, as boldly as I could.
He continued to drag me out of the house.
“I know where it is,” I said distinctly, focusing on my words.
My mentor stopped. “What?”
I looked up at him, my neck limp and my head tilted back. “I know where the human safe zone is,” I muttered, and closed my eyes. I was skidding. I felt myself losing consciousness.
My mentor grabbed my face in his hands and shook it. “What? Zellner! What did you say?”
I felt his words drifting away. I felt everything drifting away. Everything went dark and empty and life fell away into nothingness.
My eyes slowly opened. Morning light was pouring in from the windows over my face. I was in my room. Not much had changed. The old hum posters I had hung up were still there, and my crumpled clothes still littered the floor. I was lying on my bed. I sat up on my forearms and lifted my head. My brain still hurt, but not as much as before. The sweet bitter taste of brains lingered in my mouth. I looked toward my doorway. My mentor stood in it. He held a long bowie knife, one hand holding the handle, the other clenching the blade.
“Are you going to kill me?” I asked as I regained my senses.
“No,” my mentor said. “Not unless I have to.”
He strode forward toward me and sat in a chair near the edge of my bed. “Were you telling the truth?”
I stared blankly at him.
“About the human safe zone,” he continued. “Do you know where it is?”
I didn’t speak. I was finding it difficult to voice the words.
“Zellner!” He suddenly reached out for me and grabbed the collar of my safety gear. “This is supremely important. This could save you! This could save the town!”
“Since when do you care about me?” I said, struggling to break from his grip. Who could I trust anymore? Humans? Wakes? They were all as untrustworthy as the Stiffs. It seemed like the only person I could count on this world was myself.
He released me and turned away. “I never didn’t. But everything you did was so dangerous. I couldn’t sweep it under the rug. I couldn’t keep giving you chances.
I did everything to protect you, Zellner. But you defied me. Once you stole the human, it was too dangerous to have you in Revenant. I was going out on a limb to protect you before, and you proved me wrong each and every time. I couldn’t keep waiting for you to grow up. One bad zombie could destroy the whole town. It’s nearly happened before.”
His words were meaningless to me. Even when he had stood up for me he had known that I was as good as dead. If he had wanted to protect me, then why did he tell the Mayor? He knew that Hillard would never let me live. “It’s true,” I spoke firmly. “I know where the safe zone is.”
“Where?” my mentor demanded.
“I won’t say. Not until I know that I’m safe.”
“I’ll get the council to revoke the exile. And the expulsion,” my mentor stated. “On the terms that we find the safe zone.”
“I’ll tell you,” I said. “If I can come with you.”
“What?”
“To the safe zone. To help capture it.”
“It’s too dangerous.”
“Listen, I’ve killed I don’t know how many Stiffs. I’ve lived in the forest for three days on my own and I’m the only one is the whole damn town that has ever even seen the safe zone! It’s dangerous. But it’s not too dangerous. If it was, I’d be dead. I’m a human tracker, sir. And I want to be a part of this.”
My mentor adjusted the frames of his glasses on his nose. He cleared his throat. “Fine,”