World Memorial (36 page)

She waited a few seconds, allowing the corpses to get well in front of her, then she stepped back out into the clearing.

A hill was up ahead. The corpses and animals were slowly moving over it. Maylee waited, watching as the fat man with the jutting ribs went up and over.

She sniffed at the cold air, running her gloved hand across her face. She wondered if she really wanted to see what was over that hill.

She decided she did, and stepped forward, bracing herself in case the mob came back over it. She climbed the hill, her legs growing weary from all the walking she'd done. As she drew close to the top, she could hear the copses groan on the other side. She told herself she was being stupid. What if this was a trap?

Corpses don't set traps
, she told herself.

She reached the top and looked down. And gasped at what the moonlight showed her.

She hadn't realized they'd been approaching the church from another direction. The hill looked out over the field she and Dalton had run across. The graveyard they’d run through, the chapel where the congregation had torn Zach to pulp.

Surrounding the church, filling up the entire field, was a massive mob of corpses. They had all stopped there, as though having reached their destination. The animals were there too, all stopped and staring. There must have been hundreds of them. Thousands.

Standing in front of them was a blonde woman in a black dress. Maylee felt around on her neck until she found the strap to her binoculars. She pulled them to her face and looked through them.

The blonde woman was Sharon, the one who'd stopped the trucks in their tracks. The flock stood behind her, looking far worse than when Maylee had seen them last. They were bloody, filthy and feral. Sharon held her arms out to the mob before her. The mob looked back, as if awaiting instructions.

Sharon looked over her shoulder. At Maylee. Somehow, across the distance, Sharon looked straight through the lenses and into Maylee's eyes. It sent a jolt through Maylee and she dropped the binoculars.

She turned and ran back down the hill. She had to get to town. She had to warn the others.

* * *

Angie stepped away from the door, to the side of the porch. She looked on in stunned silence. The Guard stood with her. No one knew what exactly to do.

One by one, the children walked down the stairs and into the square. Their eyes glowed bright white into the darkness. Dalton brought up the rear.

"Dalton, stop!" Angie yelled, limping over to the line of children. She felt panicked in a way she hadn't in years. "All of you stop!"

She grabbed the next child that came out of the door. It was Johnny, a young boy with dirty black hair. He stopped when Angie grabbed his shoulders but gave no other response. He kept staring straight ahead, his eyes shining out like beacons.

"Can you even hear me?"

Johnny did not respond.

Angie let go. The child resumed walking, across the porch and down the stairs.

A few more children passed and Dalton reached the door. Angie dropped her cane and grabbed him with both hands. He stopped but tried to move forward, pushing against Angie's grip. He was surprisingly strong. Angie reminded herself how much he'd grown.

Angie pushed back, trying to hold him in place. Her ankle was going to give at any moment. Angie could tell from Dalton's expression that he was fighting whatever was willing him forward. Fighting but losing. His eyes glowed so bright it was almost painful to look at them.

"Dalton," Angie said, feeling like she would cry. "Please stop."

Dalton’s face spoke great struggle, but he didn't stop.

Finally, Angie's ankle gave out. She let go of Dalton and fell back against the wall, her ankle throbbing. Dalton marched down the stairs and into the snow.

Carly followed Dalton out, her face confused and scared. She saw Angie's cane on the ground and squatted to pick it up. She stood and handed the cane to Angie, who took it, pushing herself up from the wall. She and Carly walked down the steps, followed by the Guard. The children all stood there, arranged in the square in no discernible pattern. They stood straight and stiff, their eyes glowing bright.

Carly looked scared. The guards looked scared. Angie felt scared.

"Hey!” Park’s voice called, “Fucking stop!"

Angie turned to see Lilly marching across the snow, her eyes glowing the same as the others. Park followed behind, looking confused and slightly pissed.

He saw Angie and the others. "What the ever-shitting fuck is going on?"

"I don't know," said Angie.

Lilly joined the other children and stopped. Angie looked among them, her mind racing. She recalled what Maylee—and here she pushed down a jolt of regret—had said about the church. About Zach. She'd said Zach had glowed. She remembered the children glowing after falling from the truck. She remembered them dying.

For a moment everyone stood silent. The air was cold and the night clear. Brittle stars shone down. The children's eyes glowed brightly across the snow. Angie, Park and the others looked on. Angie knew everyone was waiting for her to know what to do. She had no idea where to even start.

Then, as one, the children turned toward the gate and began to march toward it.

Angie followed after them, a small part of her curious to know what would happen next. Most of her was terrified.

She limped quickly up to Dalton. Park and the others followed.

Dalton kept walking, his glowing eyes staring straight ahead. Angie limped next to him. "Dalton stop!" she said. "Please, stop!"

Dalton grimaced as he walked. He looked like he was fighting to speak.

Then he did. Very quietly, he eked out one word. "Can’t...."

"What?" said Angie, leaning in closer.

Dalton was sweating despite the cold. He looked like every word was a monumental effort. "Can't....stop.....hurts... to...fight..."

The group of children drew near the gate. The older children pushed their way to the front of the group. They grabbed hold of the various handles welded to the doors and started pulling.

"Stop them!" yelled Angie. "Keep the gate shut!"

The guards rushed around the children toward the gate. They weren't quick enough. The older children got the gate open and the children started pushing their way out. Any attempt to shut the gates now would crush one of the children. The guards seemed to understand this and ceased their efforts. The children marched through the opening, oblivious to all around them.

Angie's mind raced. She had no idea what to do. She heard movement behind her and turned. Elton and his followers were collecting in the square, staring at what was happening. Elton shook his head as if to say
none of this would happen under me
.

Angie ignored him for the moment. The last of the children neared the gates. She looked to Park and those around her. "Everyone outside with them. You can stop them if you grab hold. Don't let them wander out into the dark. Stop them. One kid per hand if you need to. Just stop them."

Angie knew it wouldn't work. She knew there were too many children and not enough adults. Or rather, not enough adults currently taking orders from her.

Angie stepped across the snow, using her cane for balance. The last child stepped through the gate. Angie pushed through after him and the others pushed in behind her.

The children had stopped, forming a semi-circle in front of the town. Angie stopped as the others filed out behind her. The pattern confused her at first. Then she realized the children had stopped at the moat of blood. The barrier.

A few feet past that point stood Beulah. She had both hands up and out, pointing toward the children. The last child took his place at the barrier. Beulah dropped her hands. The children stayed where they had stopped, their eyes shining into the night.

Angie heard distant groans and looked across the field at the corpses stumbling toward the town. She snapped her eyes back to Beulah. Beulah turned her head to look where she had.

She turned her head back and smiled. "What beautiful timing."

Angie walked away from her group, closer to the semi-circle of children.  She heard Elton and the others file out behind her. They muttered to each other in fear and excitement when they saw Beulah.

Angie stepped closer, wanting to show Beulah she was not afraid. This was a lie. "What the hell are you doing?"

Beulah kept smiling. It was a smug, knowing smile that drove Angie crazy.

"I believe this is what you would call an ultimatum." She indicated everything around her. "The corpses, the animals, the violent weather, all of it is my sister's doing."

"Then take it up with her!" Park shouted.

The corpses behind Beulah grew closer. Beulah ignored them. "I explained this to you, Parker. This is the plan. This how we fix what she's done! All over the world there are children just like this. Filled with the power to fix this. Power given by me!"

"What the hell is she talking about?" said Angie, low and meant only for those around her. The guards trained their guns on Beulah. Angie knew Beulah would survive the shots, but wondered what it would do to the children. She held up her hand. "Don't shoot. She's connected to the kids somehow."

Beulah's smile shifted to something more genuine. "Connected. What a wonderful way of putting it. I have touched each and every one of you children! You may not remember, but I was there. All it took was a touch and you were mine."

"None of these kids are yours!" yelled Angie, her eyes flitting to Dalton's rigid form on the line, then back to Beulah. "No one is yours!"

"The
whole world
is mine! I keep it running! Sharon would destroy everything! I hold it together!" The corpses behind Beulah were close now. They groaned and reached for her.

"Leave these kids alone!" yelled Angie. "Leave Dalton alone!"

Beulah raised an eyebrow, apparently oblivious to the corpses behind her. "Ah, we come to the heart of the matter. My mistake, putting the mother of one of the children in charge of one of my towns. The others understand. The others are making preparations."

"Preparations for what?" Angie shouted back. The guards kept their guns trained on Beulah. The corpses behind Beulah groaned and staggered closer. The children stood, staring light out into the dark.

"For the end," said Beulah. "For the sacrifices. The sacrifices that will save this world!"

"You mean murder," said Angie. "The murder of thousands and thousands of children!"

For the second time that night, Beulah's face betrayed an honest emotion. Anger. "Sharon murders! I preserve! I make order! I keep things together!"

Angie pointed at the area just in front of the semi-circle of children. "I happen to know you can't cross that line. So if I refuse to let you kill these children, to kill
my
child, I wonder what exactly you plan to do about it!"

Beulah smiled again. And again, the smile was genuine. A sort of genuine that chilled Angie more than the surrounding cold. The corpses behind Beulah were almost upon her. "You're right. I can't cross the barrier I made to keep Sharon out. But as you've seen, I can reach across it to grab what's mine!"

Beulah raised one hand. Johnny, the boy with the black hair, began walking. He headed out across the snow, toward Beulah.

"Stop it!"

The boy kept walking, his eyes glowing brighter than before. Tears ran down the boy's cheeks. Angie could hear him whimpering as he walked. The corpses grabbed hold of Beulah, attempting to bite into her. They clawed and closed their mouths on her skin but had no effect.

"Stop it!"

Johnny started screaming, loud and long. He took two more steps and stopped. He kept screaming. The rest of his body began to glow. Angie wanted to push past the other children and save him, but she didn't know what Beulah would do to the others if she did. She hated herself for standing still, but didn't know what else to do.

The corpses bit and clawed at Beulah but could not harm her. The child glowed brighter and brighter, his screams grew louder and sharper.

Then he stopped. With a huge flash, white light exploded outward from Johnny. Angie squinted but kept her eyes open. She had to see.

The glow faded. The corpses around Beulah had stopped. They stood, swaying in the snow, white glop spilling from their eyes and noses. They puked out a thick white liquid. Then they fell over.

Johnny toppled into the snow, clearly dead.

Beulah lowered her hand. She made a dismissive motion to the rest of the children. They stepped away from the line, their eyes normal again. They looked scared and reached to each other for help. Dalton started helping the younger ones back further away from the line. He looked exhausted, but kept helping.

Angie watched Dalton's efforts, her heart warmed by it. Then she looked back to the dead boy in the snow. Her anger returned.

Beulah smiled cruelly. "So here is my point. I could do this myself if I wanted to. I don't like to. Patterns, rules are important. But I will if I have to. Do you understand?"

"You fucking bitch..."

Beulah pressed on as the fallen corpses around her disintegrated into the snow. They fell apart into white glop and foam. "That child was one of the last I can spare. Too many more and the sacrifice won’t be enough to clear this area."

"You crazy fucking bitch!" 

"But I can spare at least one more," said Beulah. "So here's the ultimatum. When the time comes tomorrow, perform the sacrifice. Arrange the children and kill them when I give the order. You will know when I do. Do this, and you may leave Dalton out of it. I will spare Dalton."

For a second everyone was silent. Then Angie said, "What?"

"You heard me," said Beulah.

Then she was gone.

Beulah stood on the roof of a parked car. She was surrounded by cars, all smashed together in a snarl of metal. In front of her rose the walls of Ashton Memorial Zoo. It was dark and raining. Rain beat down on her head as she gazed around the lot. Corpses, those who’d died in their cars in a panicked attempt to flee, groaned and reached from the windows, reaching for Beulah. Other than as a reminder of what Sharon had done, Beulah took no notice of them.