Chapter 26. Between Dead Men
“A perk of having no expectations is that you can still be surprised without all of the disappointment.”
– Glenn’s Chronicles
Outer Region, Los Tios, Mexico
The cab stopped in the smoldering daylight ruins of a small desert town. Glenn looked to Cris, who seemed to be thinking the same thing.
“G, are you sure this is where Kody’s staying?” Cris asked.
“He said it was some one-horse town outside of Los Tios. Don’t see the horse, though. Hey, cabby, how many towns like this around here?”
“None, now.”
“Huh.”
Glenn stared at the singed ruins. Adjusting his glasses, he thought he caught sight of something, but he couldn’t be sure. He paid the cab driver and got out of the cab, proceeding on foot. He thought he heard some discourse between Geroge and the cab driver, but he continued. Glenn walked up to the town, looking it over. Smoke still rose from the ash.
“This j-just happened.”
Cris caught up to him, looking around.
“What? Are you saying this town just burnt down? As in…well, now?”
“Within the last d-day, at any rate.”
Glenn continued wandering around, noting the ash falling from the sky like desert snow. He came upon a small burnt-out house with a charred corpse laid out in front of it. He stopped and watched as a group of vultures picked at the remains of the crispy body. Cris walked into him, looking over his shoulder to see what he was looking at. Catching sight of the vultures and the body, she turned away.
“It-it’s nature Cris. It’s what h-happens in the real w-world.”
Glenn leaned forward to take a closer look at the body, causing Cris to fall forward and do the same. He ignored the unseemly nausea in his stomach growing from the stench of decay.
“Glenn…oh my God, Glenn!”
“W-what?”
“Is that Kody?” she asked.
The vultures craned their necks up at the noise, flying off. Cris ran up to the body and looked it over.
“Glenn, he’s dead!”
“W-what? Why do you think it’s K-kody?”
Cris picked up a small beaded necklace that rested on the charred body, undamaged by the fire, and held it up to show Glenn.
“It’s Kody’s necklace.” She pulled her own out from her shirt. “Same as mine.”
Glenn looked over the necklace Cris held in her hand, and glanced back toward the body. He turned and searched the village as Geroge finally caught up with them.
“You don’t care?”
“I d-don’t think that’s Kody.”
“What?
“The necklace is unsc-cathed. A little dirty, but not b-burnt. Look at the b-body. It’s small and laid out. Someone p-placed it there. Maybe the ne-necklace, too.”
“Who’s playing puppet master with the leftovers?” Geroge asked. Glenn glared at him. “Uh, sorry. Not used to this kinda thing.”
“Hush. L-listen,” Glenn said.
As they quieted down, the faint sound of shoveling carried from a distance. Glenn looked over to the remains of a large wooden structure and made his way over to it, Cris and Geroge following behind. They found their way around it only to run into a bright-red convertible.
“C-cris, isn’t that your—”
“My car.”
“Hey, chica, how and why is your car down here?” Geroge asked.
“Alma had to have brought it. I left my keys with her mom.”
“Wait, wait, wait…you’re tellin’ me the Alm’ster’s here?”
Glenn ignored them, continuing past the car. He wandered into a row of freshly dug mounds of dirt. Each had stones to mark the new graves. At the end of the row was a man in a leather duster piling dirt onto the latest mound. As Glenn approached, the man stopped digging. Drawing closer, a shot fired off as the man now pointed a handgun at Glenn.
“Back the hell off. Next shot won’t be a warnin’.”
“J-jake?”
“The hell’re you? Estaban start a book club?”
Jake looked Glenn up and down, apparently thrown off by the glasses and khakis. He squinted, lowering his gun to examine Glenn. “I know you?”
Glenn reached into his pocket for his medication, unable to mitigate his trembling. Swallowing a pill, he placed the bottle back in his pocket. “I sh-should hope so. I spent the last de-decade or so looking for you.”
Jake took an extended moment to examine Glenn, cocking his head to the side as he did so. After a moment, he spoke up. “Lot of folks have. S’long time to look for someone. Ain’t very good at findin’ are ya?”
“No b-better than you are at hiding, I suppose. B-but here I am, and here you are.”
Jake hesitated as he looked Glenn over, putting his gun away. As the two made eye contact, Cris and Geroge came up behind Glenn. Jake cocked an eyebrow.
“Atticus?”
Glenn nodded. Jake laughed to himself and made his way up to Glenn. Glenn threw his arms around Jake, the latter reluctant and pulling himself away. Unable to break Glenn’s grasp, Jake rode it out, giving Glenn a small pat on the back.
“Uh, not fan of sausage parties or anything, so you can let go now,” Jake said.
“S-sorry… it’s j-just… if you k-knew…”
“Had it rough, lots of troubles. Major tearjerker, I’m sure. Bet you’ve seen your fair share, but it’s been a while, Atty. We’ve all been through some shit.”
“I s-see that.” Glenn motioned to the mounds.
“Oh, these ain’t mine. Just watchin’ ‘em for a friend.”
“And my car?” Cris stepped up.
“Borrowed it.” Jake paused, giving Cris a once-over. “So that makes you the slut. Little skinny, but not bad.”
“Excuse me?”
“My little sister’s words.” Jake sighed, taking a swig from his water bottle in the hot sun. “’Bout time for a break anyway. May as well trade stories.”
They all sat in the shade of the burnt-down bar, Glenn explaining the extent of his investigation and Matier’s involvement in the matter. Jake filled in the gaps about what happened after he and Alma found each other.
“S-so you two went to g-go see your m-mother.”
“Found her rotting in her own filth. Guess she’d been sick or somethin’. Alma was pretty torn up, but you see how we live down here. One more stiff don’t matter much to me, even if she did squirt me out forever and a day ago. Ended up taking that chick’s car”—Jake nodded to Cris—“and headed down here. Alms wanted to see our cousin.”
“And M-matier assumed you’d end here. A logical c-conclusion, based on your h-history.”
“Uh huh. So you’re lookin’ for my sister and her chump ass boyfriend?”
“He’s not her boyfriend!” Cris interrupted, “Or a chump!”
“Yuh huh. Whatever. Why don’tcha get off your asses and help me finish buryin’ these folks, and we’ll go find ‘em. They ain’t here, but there’s only a handful of places they coulda gone.”
Jake stood up, handing Cris the shovel as he went back for the last body. Glenn tagging along behind Jake, they came back around the bar to a bloodstain trailing down the road.
“Never mind. Coyotes took care of that one,” Jake said to Glenn. He shouted past the bar, “Hey slut! Finish burying the dead kid and we’ll head out.”
“Jake, the girl’s name is C-cris. I know she and Alma h-had their issues, but she’s like a s-sister to me. C-could you please—”
Jake waved his hand dismissively as he and Glenn continued to search the charred town for bodies.