All Is Silence - Deserted Lands #1

Chapter 24 - Part I

THE MOTEL WAS COLD, BUT when Mannie turned the heaters on in the room, they rattled to life, spewing stale heat. The women each took one of the double beds and Mannie slept on the couch, not bothering to pull it out.

He woke around midnight to nature's call, pulled on his pants to answer and then went for a quick look around. Outside in the quiet street, the snow had started to fall. He stepped out into the silence. Holding out his hand he felt the tiny specks of cold hit and melt. The day had been long and eventful. "The damn planet's nearly empty and we're still fighting amongst ourselves." He sighed and let the snow swirling around the street lamps calm him. Eventually the cold bit through his clothes.

In the distance he could hear dogs barking, or were they coyotes? He saw shapes coming toward him in the storm. As they got closer he could see they were dogs, baring their teeth and growling. At least they weren't skinwalkers.

Mannie hustled back inside and crawled back into the now-cool sheets on the couch.

But sleep would not overtake him yet. The strange dogs and the question of ghosts... What had happened with the virus? Where had is gone? How was it safe? He'd studied evolutionary biology when he got his eco-science degree at Huxley. The red queen had advanced. Could there really be a virus that would act so fast as to kill itself? Or was it simply waiting for a critical mass of uninfected, unexposed humans to reassert itself. Would the disease be coming after humanity for all time? Or could it really have killed itself off? It didn't seem like usual Darwinian behavior.

A chill raced across his skin. Had it been Mother Nature or pure human stupidity, pride, folly? The idea that humans could have taken the power of the gods into their own hands. Had this been a military weapon gone awry? He might never know. No one might ever know. But whomever, Mother Nature or human beings who had set this virus in motion, it had risen like a shooting star, burning itself out just to keep itself alive.

God grant me the serenity... His thoughts chased themselves around in his head until his brain was tired enough to fall asleep.

* * *

Zach wanted a gun. He wanted to run. It reminded him of too many movies with psychos. "This is too weird."

"We followed your frickin' signs. How can we help you?" Lizzie hollered.

"I can hear you with your normal voices," the baritone voice said. "Yes, this is weird. I'm not actually here, but I can see you."

"What the hell?" Zach pulled at Lizzie. She set her stubborn feet and glared.

"I can answer your questions. Please answer some of mine," the voice said.

"Okay," Lizzie agreed, "What do you want to know?"

"Tell me where you're from and why you're traveling through La Grande."

"Why?" Lizzie's voice rose.

Puffer fish coming. Zach scanned the huge room. It didn't make sense that no one was here. Where was the camera? The big screen hanging down lit up and he saw his own face. He looked scared.

"I am guarding something important. Not gold, not food, not jewels, but knowledge. I don't have anything to steal, but what I can give you is priceless. Please, trust me."

"Sounds pretentious." Lizzie laughed. "Oh, great Oz, what do you want in return?"

"More knowledge." The voice chuckled. "You're traveling. At some point you might need my knowledge and you'll be able to relay new knowledge back to me-city situations, population, road conditions."

"What are we, your personal Map Car?"

"It's your choice. I am not forcing anyone. But I promise, if you agree to help me, I will help you."

"And if we don't?" Zach asked, straining to not yell.

"You go. I'm still safe. No one knows where I am or what I'm doing."

"Well, except we know what you're doing." Lizzie said.

"But you don't know where I am."

Zach took a breath and asked, "What do you want us to do if we agree?"

"Just a little toll to get the ball rolling. Information."

"About what?" Zach wished he could face the voice's owner.

"Where you're from, what you've seen, where you're going?"

Zach shook his head at Lizzie, mouthing the word, "No." Then felt a little foolish as he saw the bigger version of him doing the same on the screen.

Lizzie cleared her throat. "I'm willing to tell you our story in exchange for your services." She smiled.

Zach suspected the only reason she was cooperative was to piss him off.

There was an audible sigh on the loudspeaker. "Most of the people who've come through are too freaked out to deal with."

"We are headed to Salt Lake City. My Dad's coming from Texas to meet us there. Don't know what we'll do then. Maybe head down to New Mexico. We came from Bellingham, near the Canadian border."

The voice laughed. "I went to Western Washington University for a quarter. How are Bellingham and Seattle?"

"Bellingham's pretty subdued."

That got a laugh. Zach wondered if Lizzie was consciously testing the speaker. If he hadn't been at WWU he probably wouldn't have gotten the reference to the City of Subdued Excitement.

"But there's a big hippy contingent," Lizzie continued, "working on gardens in greenhouses and stuff."

"Sounds like Bellingham." There was another sigh and a pause. "Hey. You guys want to meet? I'm really tired of talking through these electronics."

Lizzie glanced at Zach, the question in her eyes.

You ask me now? He shrugged. "Whatever."

"Okay," Lizzie agreed. "It's kind of cold out here."

"Go back out the front door and turn to the right, follow the sidewalk and I'll meet you at the Hub."

"The hub?"

"Hoke Union Building. It looks like a giant Star Wars walker without legs. Follow the signs to the dining hall. I'll meet you there. There are vending machines, they still work, but there's no more Mountain Dew. Oh, I'm Glen. Glen Smith."

Zach followed Lizzie out of the building. The description of the Hub was perfect. Glen is definitely a geek. But I knew what he meant. What does that make me?

Lizzie turned and pulled him in a hug. "Man hug." Her hands pounded on his back and then released him. Then she punched him in the stomach and walked away.

Were they good now? Was it really that simple? Did Lizzie only need to know she wouldn't be abandoned?