Crisped + Sere (Immemorial Year Book 2)

  “Whip me,” Lucas said. “Get it over with.”

  “No,” Patrick said. “Not this time.”

  He broke Lucas’s wrist then, snapping it sharply. Lucas screamed and dropped the knife. It slipped through his fingers toward the ground. Patrick caught it by the handle with the other hand, crossing his arm over his body and crouching. He still held Lucas’s broken wrist. Cavalo knew it would come then.

  He did not look away.

  Shadows, on a wall. By firelight.

  Patrick swung the knife up in a flat arc. The knife caught the glow from the bonfire and flashed. It hit Lucas in the throat, slicing skin. The blood arced. The last thing Lucas said was done in a wet, choked voice as he fell to his knees.

  “Dad.”

  Patrick dropped his wrist. Drops of blood dripped down his cheeks. Patrick did not wipe them away.

  Lucas fell forward. His face hit the ground.

  “Keep him alive,” Patrick said. “God help any of you if he dies.”

  Lucas was picked up in a hurry. Carried away. The fired danced off the blood on the ground.

  Patrick closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Turned back toward the woman bound at his feet. She was crying now.

  “Take her,” Patrick said quietly.

  And they descended on her. The Dead Rabbits. With their hands. Their mouths. She found her voice then and screamed. They took their time as they ravaged her, and when the light began to fade from her eyes, when she rose above the pain inflicted by the assault, she turned her head toward Cavalo and looked at him directly. Her head jerked once as their eyes met. She smiled with blood in her mouth.

  And then she died.

  Everything went dark. Cavalo could hear voices whispering around him. He couldn’t make out their words, not completely, but he heard scraps and pieces like damage is great and won’t survive and he’d better if you know what’s good for you.

  Flashes of light. Cavalo stumbled in the dark. Something flew near his ear, the buzzing noise sharp. Another flew overhead.

  A woman’s voice, far away as if it crawled up from the past: brave little boy my brave little boy and you will be so strong and—

  A man’s voice, closer: it’s a miracle he did not die he should have patrick patrick it’s patrick’s will and his will is the way and he will—

  A voice he knew, a kind voice that did nothing to hide the monster he was: and i will provide for you and i will care for you because you all belong to me i have saved my son from the brink of death i called him back from the abyss he lives or dies at my word much like you will stay with me and you will see what power truly is and—

  The monster: they won’t like that no they won’t like that one bit but that’s okay we need more time i’m not ready yet i have to find a way to hide it so they can’t find it some way to—

  The monster: if he can’t speak again it’ll be easier that way it’ll be better that way it’ll be—

  The monster: mark him when he’s strong enough mark his half if he can survive a knife to the throat then he can survive anything you mark him and me and then we destroy it all we’ll find a way we’ll find a way and soon the fathers in st. louis won’t know what hit them they will die in the fire just like the world did before and i will rise from their ashes and the new order can begin and—

  The brightest of all lights exploded overhead as Lucas opened his eyes for the first time since his throat had been slit. He turned his head and saw his father sitting beside his bed. Patrick smiled quietly and said, “Welcome back. We have so much to discuss.”

  And then they both burst into bees, thousands upon thousands of them that swirled in a vortex with Cavalo trapped at its center. He could feel wings and stingers scraping against his skin as he waved his arms out in front of him, taking a stumbling step. He was blinded. He felt them crawling on his skin.

  Then a hand grabbed his and pulled. Cavalo burst through the tornado of bees and wasps and fell into the dark and—

  the bees screamed because he was neither HERE nor THERE nor ANYWHERE

  —he was in the vacant house.

  In the dark.

  The light flickered along the wall.

  Lucas stood in front of him, head bowed, face hidden in shadow.

  Cavalo gripped the knife. “Lucas,” he said, voice rough.

  Lucas did not look up. He swayed slightly but was otherwise still.

  Cavalo stood. His knees popped. The chair scraped against the floor.

  Lucas attacked then. Hands outstretched like claws. As he threw himself toward Cavalo, he could see how black Lucas’s eyes were. He was still lost in the bees. He’d pulled Cavalo out but had gotten lost himself.

  Cavalo took a step to the side but a fraction too late. Fingernails scraped against his cheek, drawing blood. The flash of teeth going by his neck, inches away as they snapped shut. Cavalo grunted and spun away, bringing the hilt of the knife back around and smashing it into the back of Lucas’s head. Lucas bounced off the far wall, pushing himself off even before he stopped. Cavalo wasn’t ready, and Lucas crashed into him, knocking them both off their feet. The breath was knocked from Cavalo’s body as he hit the floor.

  Even as his head rapped against the wood, Cavalo brought the knife up between them, sure he meant to shove it up through Lucas’s throat and up into his brain, running on instinct and nothing more. Lucas stopped the knife, pressing Cavalo’s arms down. The knife was inches from Lucas’s neck. His teeth were bared, eyes black as he silently screamed down at Cavalo.

  “Lucas,” Cavalo ground out. “Don’t.”

  The pressure increased. The teeth got closer.

  “I saw,” Cavalo gasped. “I saw it all. You’re not a monster. You’re not like him.”

  Lucas flinched, still lost in the bees but now uncertain.

  “Listen to me,” Cavalo said. “You pulled me through, now find your way.”

  Lucas shook his head, as if trying to clear it. He pressed down harder on the knife. Cavalo was losing his grip.

  “You need to come back,” Cavalo said. “Please.”

  Something cracked in the rage mask the Dead Rabbit wore. His eyes grew unfocused. Confused. A shudder ran through his body. Cavalo used the distraction and knocked him to the side. Lucas fell silently, fingers skittering out along the floor. Cavalo threw the knife across the room, out of the way. He rolled and pulled himself on top of Lucas, torso to torso, face to face. He held Lucas’s arms, pinning them to his side. Lucas raised his head and snapped his teeth once. Twice. The third time was weaker as the cracks in the mask grew. Angry tears welled in Lucas’s eyes as they started to clear. He shook his head and looked away. He tried to buck Cavalo off him, but it didn’t work. He shuddered again.

  “I know,” Cavalo said quietly, pressing his forehead to Lucas’s hair, his mouth near Lucas’s ear. “I know.”

  Lucas shook beneath him. He twisted his head back up until their foreheads pressed together. They breathed the same air, eyes locked. Tears rolled down Lucas’s cheeks.

  It hurts, he said. All of it hurts.

  “I know.”

  I couldn’t find my way back out.

  “I know.”

  I heard you.

  “And you followed me through.”

  I could have killed you. He looked stricken at this.

  “Yes. But you almost took a knife to the throat, so I think we’re even.”

  Lucas shook his head, distraught. I can’t hurt you. Don’t let me hurt you. I smelled her on you, and I wanted to hurt you. Don’t let me.

  “It’s not like that. It was good-bye.” He didn’t know why he felt he had to explain. His chest burned. It was hard to breathe.

  If the bees come back… if they don’t leave. Finish this.

  “I can’t—” Cavalo choked out.

  FINISH THIS! Lucas screamed at him.

  “Okay,” he said, because it was the only way.

  Say it!

  “I promise.”

  Lucas shook
in relief.

  Cavalo kissed him then, a little desperate. Lucas’s face was wet, Cavalo could taste the salt. He loosened his grip on the Dead Rabbit’s arms, and Lucas pulled them around Cavalo’s back, holding him in place.

  And in this vacant house in the tiny enclave known as Cottonwood, as the glow from the lantern threw light and dark across them both, the man and the Dead Rabbit watched each other long into the night, breathing and nothing more. Toward dawn they shifted onto their sides, Lucas curling around Cavalo’s back, trying to block out the cold. Cavalo waited for the press of the knife before remembering it was across the room. Lucas made no move for it, already drifting off, lips and nose pressed against Cavalo’s neck. Cavalo followed him into the dark, the words of a promise playing along his lips.

  They slept.

  But they did not dream.

  the remaining days

  ELEVEN DAYS remained when the robot came to town. Behind him, through the snow, he dragged a large metal box. Cavalo waited for him at the gate with Lucas and Bad Dog. Cavalo would have sworn the robot was smiling at the sight of them.

  “Hello,” SIRS said.

  Bad Dog barked happily and sniffed the box.

  “Do I want to know?” Cavalo asked.

  “You do,” SIRS said, his eyes flashing.

  He lifted the lid. There was a metallic screech as it rose. Cavalo peered inside. What he saw there took his breath away.

  “How?” he managed to say. He didn’t understand what he was seeing. How it was possible.

  “We all have secrets, Cavalo,” SIRS said. “I was saving these for a rainy day.”

  Lucas began to smile.

  TEN DAYS remained when the interior wall was completed. It looked strong. Cavalo didn’t know how long it would hold.

  NINE DAYS remained when SIRS pulled him aside from working on the trench. They were running behind schedule, and Cavalo didn’t know if it’d be finished in time.

  “The tunnels cleared?” he asked the robot. He took a drink of water from a canteen. It tasted metallic and cold.

  “Yes, Cavalo. There will be enough room for all of them. But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “What, then?”

  The robot sighed and looked out toward the town as people moved about, determined looks on their faces. No one spoke out against Cavalo. Not now. At least not publicly. They did what they were told without complaint. One family slipped away in the night, parents and their two children. No one knew they were planning to leave. And no one knew how they got out without being spotted. Cavalo waited for others to follow, but then a scouting team brought back a child’s shoe smattered with blood, and no one else tried to leave. It was that simple.

  “You have… plans here,” SIRS said. “Preparations are being made.”

  “Yes.”

  “And the others will be safe at the prison.”

  “You disabled outside communication?” Cavalo asked. “Nothing verbal?” This was important. Cavalo’s fingers still hurt from when the robot broke them under Patrick’s control. He couldn’t take the chance of that happening again. Not with children in the tunnels.

  SIRS sounded slightly hurt. “Yes, Cavalo. Video only.”

  “Good.”

  “But what about after?”

  “After?”

  “This. When all of this is finished.”

  “What about it?”

  “You need Patrick alive. Or at least as undamaged as possible.”

  “Dworshak is gone,” Cavalo reminded him. “They have it.”

  “Is it? Then what are we even doing here?”

  “Surviving.”

  SIRS eyed him knowingly. “Except you don’t truly believe that, do you?”

  Cavalo looked away.

  “You expect to die here,” SIRS said. It was not a question.

  “It seems likely,” Cavalo said quietly.

  “Do the others know this?”

  He shook his head. “Maybe. I’m sure part of them does. The odds aren’t exactly in our favor.”

  “You stupid man,” SIRS said. “You stupid, stupid man.” He sounded upset.

  “You’ll keep them safe?” Cavalo asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Cavalo?” He sounded hesitant.

  Cavalo looked back at the robot.

  “We’re… friends?” SIRS asked.

  “Yes. You know that. You and Bad Dog are all I have.”

  “And Lucas.”

  “And Lucas,” Cavalo echoed.

  “Funny how life turns out, isn’t it?”

  “It is.”

  “I’ll let you get back to it, then. You know. The surviving.”

  Cavalo turned to walk away. He stopped when SIRS said his name.

  “I should like it very much if you tried to live,” the robot said in a rush. “I don’t know that I’d do well on my own anymore.” He beeped. His gears ground together. He said in a loud voice: “FANCY THE HAPPINESS OF PINOCCHIO ON FINDING HIMSELF FREE! WITHOUT SAYING YES OR NO, HE FLED FROM THE CITY AND SET OUT ON THE ROAD THAT WAS TO TAKE HIM BACK TO THE HOUSE OF THE LOVELY FAIRY.” Something sounded as if it broke off in the robot’s chest. “No,” he said in his regular voice. “I don’t think I’d do very well at all.”

  Cavalo watched him walk away.

  EIGHT DAYS remained when someone decided there should be a feast while they were all still together. Smoke rose from cooking fires. The clouds did not drop snow. People were quiet at first as they lay the spread out in the church. But soon someone laughed quite loudly and it was if that’s all it took. Others followed suit, and soon the noise was deafening.

  Cavalo, Lucas, Bad Dog, and SIRS found a quiet corner, watching people as they ate. No words were spoken. There didn’t have to be.

  SEVEN DAYS remained when SIRS led a group of men, women, and children out of Cottonwood toward the mountains. A group would stay with them, armed and ready in case there was a siege on the prison. Cavalo tried to convince Bad Dog to go with them, but he wasn’t having it.

  Stupid MasterBossLord, he grumbled. I’m not leaving.

  “I need you to guard the kids.”

  No.

  “Bad Dog.”

  If it makes you feel better, you can keep telling me. Still won’t go.

  Cavalo sighed when Bad Dog bumped his head against his leg. “Should have left you in the forest,” he said, reaching down to scratch behind the dog’s ears.

  I would have followed you anyway, Bad Dog said, humming quietly as he leaned into the scratch.

  After that, Cavalo didn’t try and make him leave.

  There were tears as the group left. Many tears. Parents hugged their children tightly, whispering softly in their ears, telling them sweet lies about how they’d come home soon, how everything would go back the way it was and that they would never have to be scared again. Now you mind your manners and listen to the adults, they said. You do what they tell you, and you’ll be fine, they said. I’m not crying because I’m sad, they said. I’m crying because I’m happy.

  Cavalo let them have their words. If it’s what helped them leave, then he wasn’t going to stop it.

  He was about to leave, to get away from the weeping and the wailing, when he heard a familiar voice. He stepped closer but stopped, partially hidden by the crowd.

  SIRS stood with Lucas and Bad Dog. They looked up at the robot, listening as he spoke. “…and you will watch his back like you’ve never done before. I know he tells himself he doesn’t need that, that he doesn’t need anyone, but it’s a lie. It’s a lie he chooses to believe most of the time. He needs you both just like you’ll need him. If you can keep each other safe, then you can all come home, and we can pretend this all was just a very bad dream.”

  He couldn’t hear what Lucas and Bad Dog said in response. Only then did he realize that neither could SIRS. Neither could anyone else. It was one of those moments of startling clarity that sometimes made Cavalo feel like
he’d been burned. He wondered if he could actually hear Lucas and Bad Dog at all.

  Lucas nodded at SIRS, and Bad Dog barked.

  The robot’s eyes flashed brightly, as if he was amused. “I thought we’d see eye to eye on this. And remember: if it gets to be too much, if you’re overwhelmed, you run. You grab Cavalo and you run. There is no cowardice in living to fight another day.”

  Lucas scowled but nodded. He turned, flipping his knife up in the air as he walked away.

  “I wish I could hear….” SIRS shook his head. “No matter. Now, fleabag. Shall we see if they’re ready?”

  Bad Dog barked again, sounding annoyed.

  Cavalo slipped back into the crowd.

  Later, as they watched the group travel out the southern gate, Cavalo thought it would be the last time he ever saw the peculiar metal man. As they trudged through the snow in the distance, Cavalo thought, Good-bye, old friend.

  SIX DAYS remained when the trenches were finished. It took another day to outfit them properly. Cavalo hoped he could take at least a few of them out when they attacked.

  Five days were left when a lone man approached Cottonwood, one of the townsfolk who’d helped the group to the prison. Said they made it there without any problems, didn’t come across anyone, Dead Rabbit or otherwise. The rest of them breathed a sigh of relief.

  There were only four days left when Cavalo met up with the Patrol again. Their aim was better. He smiled quietly to himself as Aubrey barked orders and no one contradicted her.

  There were three days left when Lucas didn’t want to be touched. He prowled around the edges of the wall, eyes darting up and down, looking for any weaknesses. Cavalo slept alone that night.

  There were two days left when Hank and Alma knocked on his door. He looked up at the sound and watched as Jamie smiled at him and waved before he ran out of the room. He was coming easier now.

  Cavalo opened the door. “Got a minute?” Hank asked. “Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

  “You didn’t. No one else is here.”

  Hank and Alma exchanged looks before Alma said, “Sorry. I thought I heard you speaking to someone.”