Chapter Nine
“One of the staples of infection is a degradation of proteins in the eyes, forming the cataracts witnessed within the eyes of every hollow. This leaves their vision stunted, blinding them further to the world beside.”
–Mother, “Notes of HBRS-15.21. 4 Years After.
* * *
What a brave new world.
The last time that Liam had been to Pandemonium, it was less than a day before he was back out the gates. Between the shell shock of encountering rezzers for the first time and the mayhem that was their civilization, he’d wanted nothing more than to find his wife and child again. Their world was not his, nor did he want it to ever be.
Now that he’d spent a week here? This place was bloody paradise! Food, clean sheets, hot water, electricity, television. All manners of necessity long since forgotten could be gained again with a simple call on the radio. What more could they want?
There were risks, to be certain. The men that attacked them were still out there, and a hotel room surrounded by a city of intelligent zombies was hardly a venue to raise a child from infancy to adolescence. But if there ever was a time to give their daughter some peace and comfort, it would be in this pocket of protection. They might never get another chance like this.
If only Liam wasn’t alone in this thought.
The door opened, and Leah marched through. She’d made a habit of checking in on them daily and giving them more food. This time, however, she had nothing in hand.
“Sorry to do this,” she said, “but I’m gonna have to be quick today. I’ve got business outside the city that needs to get handled.”
“You find those Hunters?” Evelyn asked.
She shook her head. “No black-cloaked ‘Inquisitors’ floating around. Hate to say it, but this threat is definitely external, whatever that’ll entail. Good news is that they’re unlikely to find you. Bad news is that it’ll be a bitch for me to get them.”
“Is that why you’re leaving?”
“No, but I’ll see what I can do once out there. Shouldn’t be more than a few days.”
“A lot can happen in a few days,” Evelyn pointed out.
She nodded. “Yep. That’s why I’ve gotten someone I can trust on the case.” On that note, she went to the door and opened it. Another walked in.
This one was dressed in the familiar butler attire of those workers who maintained the Lodge, with the white dress shirt over black trousers. But a prosthetic leg had been bolted into one knee, and one of her arms ended in bone at the elbow, with the other wrapped in a rubber glove. Glossy, black hair flowed from her scalp, revealing smoothed skin and vibrant, red eyes. Even when obscured behind a plastic visor, there was something familiar about her…
She gawked. “These are the humans?”
“Try not to get too close,” Leah said, holding up a hand. “Liam, Evelyn, meet one of the best managers the Lodge has ever seen, Chantelle.”
Liam grinned. “I knew I recognized you!”
Chantelle blinked. “Huh?”
“Last I was here, you weren’t doing so great. Got a good tussle from Leah, but I see that’s water on the bridge. Good thing too. I always wondered what had happened to you. How have you been? Looks like you’ve moved up in the world, yeah?”
But Chantelle and Leah merely stared back blankly. Liam’s heart sank as the moment dragged. Though their encounter had been brief, it had been memorable, but he supposed that with the curse inflicted on them, he might be the only one who could ever recall such times with accuracy.
“As I was saying,” Leah continued. “Chantelle will act as my liaison until I get back. Anything you need… Food, water, furniture, books, DVDs. You name it, she’ll get it. I’ve even set her up on our encrypted line. Same deal as me.”
Evelyn leaned over to Liam. “She good?” she whispered.
He nodded. “She’s one of the good ones, yeah.”
“Got any questions?” Leah asked.
Everyone shook their heads.
“Good. I still have some prep work, so I’ll leave you to it from here.” She glanced at Chantelle. “Take care of these ones, will you? They mean a lot to me.”
She beamed. “I won’t let you down!”
On that note, Leah made her escape.
The two stared awkwardly at their new servant as she smiled meekly back. A couple seconds went unopposed as she stood in wait.
“Need anything from me?” Chantelle finally asked. “Maybe I can help with the baby?”
Evelyn crossed her arms. “You know how to change a diaper?”
Her eyes lit up. “I could tr–”
“I was kidding. You’re going nowhere near my kid.”
“Oh.” She frowned, deflated.
Liam scoffed. “Relax, Evelyn. She’s got more PPE than a doctor for the CDC.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Now you want a vector for the most infectious disease known to man to come near our daughter?”
“No, but you don’t have to be so rude about it.” He turned to Chantelle. “Don’t mind her. As you can imagine, this is hardly the safest place for our family. So just bear with us, yeah?”
“I understand. Leah gave me a crash course on everything that can go wrong, so I promise to do my best to give you space.”
“No offense, but your best isn’t good enough,” Evelyn said. “A single HBRS pseudo-cell is all it takes. Just one. That’s it.” She took a step forth, her eyes hard as granite. “Don’t you dare forget because we sure as hell won’t.”
Chantelle matched her stare. “Leah demanded perfection, so I will do nothing less. I owe her more than I could ever repay.” She looked to Liam. “Speaking of, is it true what you said before? You were here during the day that she put in me in my place?”
“I suppose that I was. Did the Hollowing rob you of that memory?”
“It’s all a bit of a blur now. I remember being so scared when I tried picking the lock to her personal library. I was afraid of rehollowing back then and thought there was no other way to keep my Rez going than to steal from her. But then, out of nowhere, Leah was towering above, with her gun in my face. I thought I would get purged right then, but she gave me this instead.” She pulled a pic from her pocket. Though the edge was ripped and image worn, one could still make out the iconic San Francisco Bay.
“Have you ever been?” Liam asked.
She blinked. “Oh, no. Seaside is too far past the Styx for me to go anymore, and I’ve got too much to do in the Lodge anyway. But I always keep this pic because it reminds me of the best day of my life. If it wasn’t for Leah’s generosity, I would have never gotten to where I am today.” Her red eyes lit up as she beamed. “You said you were there too though. I hear that living humans never forget anything, right? You have to tell me what else I missed. Every little detail!”
Liam swallowed the lump in his throat. In truth, her recollection was far from accurate. Leah had practically mutilated Chantelle on the spot, with a blow to the floor powerful enough to shatter her ribs through her chest. Choosing to spare Chantelle was an afterthought, and one that Liam always suspected only occurred because he’d happened to have been in the room at the time. The measly handful of pics given was a paltry sum against the damage that Leah callously inflicted, and Chantelle had even been forced to crawl away on her own, the bones in her back shattered from the assault.
But could Liam voice these truths out loud? If Chantelle’s warped memory of that brutal day brought her peace and solace, then whom was he to take that away?
Liam did his best to form a reassuring smile. “It is just as you say, Chantelle. Leah had noticed the intrusion and acted quickly but turned it around the moment she recognized you. She told me afterward how sorry she’d been for hitting you.”
She closed her eyes, and the reddish tears rolled down her cheeks. “Thank you. Thank you so much!”
Some lies were better kept as false truths.
* * *
Liam shifted back and forth under the covers.
The sun might have dipped, and the windows were sealed shut, but nothing could quite keep out the chaos of Pandemonium for long. Multicolored light bled through the cracks in his blackout curtain shield, and the distant shouts or gunshots were never far from his ear. How the bloody hell are we supposed to keep this up?
With a sigh, Liam left his bed and stretched. Sleep wouldn’t be returning to him anytime soon.
He considered going to his wife and daughter, but Evelyn was on baby duty and would no doubt scold him if she knew he’d broken their agreed sleeping schedule. Though the sudden danger had done well to shift their priorities away from marital melodrama, they could only be trapped in this place for so long before the turmoil would flare back up.
At least we have space to breathe. True to form, the lavish expanse of their top-floor suite in the Lodge could have easily accommodated the needs of twenty people in its pre-Hollowing days. Not only did he have a bedroom to himself when required, but there was another buffer room between the bedroom and the kitchen, along with more unused suites to the sides.
It was within these nestled quarters where Liam found himself before long, wandering a derelict entertainment center that had known better days. Dust clung thick to the furniture and floor, reminding him how little this room still bore use.
Just like the home they’d fled.
If only there was something he could use for a change. Within a few hours’ time, Liam would be back to keeping Leah busy while Evelyn slept, using mere facial expressions and waves of his hand as a worthwhile substitute for proper toys. All the ones back home had been abandoned in their escape since they were nonessential. Though his daughter had done well to follow without complaint, this never quite sat well with him. Life was more than survival. Of this, he knew well.
Leah deserved something new. Something authentic of its own.
Liam scanned the room full of unused furniture, bedding, and miscellaneous knick-knacks, his mind considering the possibilities. Could this be made to work?
Without thinking too deeply, Liam doubled back a room to fiddle through the drawers and pulled together some tools. It had been quite some time before he’d embarked on a quest such as this.
Liam first went to an old oaken stool and broke down the legs into blocks of varying size and shape. The wood was hard and could work as the bones of his imagined creation, but time had weathered its form to remain soft enough for use, especially if the edges were sanded down. Liam spent the better part of an hour on this front before stringing them together into jointed bones with tiny hinges taken from broken drawers. The result was less than satisfactory, but he supposed no better alternatives presented themselves.
The guts would have to come next, though that was straightforward enough. Liam drew his knife and hacked into a sofa, shifting through the padding until he had more than necessary to suit his needs. A pile of cotton fiber lay ready for later use.
Guts and bones were nothing without the skin that held them in place. Liam spent more time here, digging through the pillows and blankets before uncovering a brown sherpa throw that contained just the perfect texture once the dust was wiped away.
This next phase of genesis thus became the most crucial. Cutting and sewing had never been Liam’s forte, but with the stakes that had now been set, there was no going back. He worked slowly and systematically, measuring each strip twice before committing to any final moves. The sherpa wrapped against itself where needed, and a spool of thread locked it all in place. At each tug of a limb, he shuffled more cotton padding into place.
Even in the dimmed light of this empty room, Liam could see that the canvas had been completed. Now, only the portrait remained.
According to Leah, this derelict suite had been converted into one of her extra storage units before their arrival, and if he knew her, there would be no shortage of materials to use for this final stretch.
Ahah! Just as Liam surmised, one of the closets practically overflowed with attire, with sheepskin jackets hanging from the wall in varying conditions. Leah could afford to have one or two marred for the purpose of her namesake.
With a couple more buttons at the ready and a blank patch on hand, Liam stitched the last bits and pieces in place. Two large plastic buttons for the eyes, another oversized one for a nose, and a dozen extras to form a smile.
And just like that, a stuffed bear had been born, with a body wrapped in sherpa wool and a face composed of buttons. A perfect companion for his baby daughter.
Well, not quite. Liam took the empty patch and sewed it into place. It only took a few mere clean scrapes with his knife to complete this closing step.
“Life is good,” the letters read, proudly displayed on this new friend’s chest for all to see. His old canteen, Thirsty, had carried this very message. It had gotten him through so many lonely years in isolation, and it would be used to prop her daughter’s spirit up now. She deserved that same kindness as him, for no one in this world should ever be alone.
But what name could be assigned to this new companion? Liam shrugged. If Thirsty had been his canteen, then his daughter would have a foil of her own. The pronounced gut on the stuffed bear’s chest made for a quirky touch. He looked like quite the eater.
And with this revelation, Hungry was complete.
Liam checked his watch. Looks like I finished just in time. His shift to watch Leah was about to begin.
With a yawn, Liam made the hike back over to the main living room, where Evelyn would no doubt be ready to take her break. His eyes were now heavy, but that was a small price to pay for the present he would deliver. He calmly shifted Hungry behind his back as he entered the room.
Only to see Evelyn grinning on the sofa, with a book in her hand and Leah on her lap. When was the last time she’d smiled like that?
“Oh, is it that time already?” she asked with a blink.
Liam squinted. “Are you reading the Bible to her again? You know she can’t understand a word of that, don’t you?”
“I know. It just helps to pass the time.” She grimaced. “You said you were fine with it. That’s still true, right?”
“Well, yes, of course. I’m just surprised how much you’ve been reading it lately.”
“I’ll be honest, it’s been strange to get this back in my life, especially knowing what I know now.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s all sorts of evidence of the Hollowing in here. I can’t believe that nobody saw it coming.”
Liam stared at her sideways.
Evelyn cringed. “I know how it sounds, but you can’t go a page without finding something. Come here. I’ll show you.” She shifted to the side to make room, with Leah goggling back and forth. Liam casually moved the stuffed bear out of sight, equal parts perplexed and gladdened to see his wife in such a good mood. He supposed that his present could wait for another time.
“Here!” Evelyn said, pointing to a line. “This is in the story of David and Goliath: ‘Choose a man for you – that’s Goliath speaking – and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then you shall be our servants, and we shall consume his flesh.’ Pretty strange, right?”
“That’s just regular cannibalism, isn’t it?” Liam suggested.
“Okay, bad example.” She shifted down the page. “Here: ‘And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance without any rot.’ Why would Goliath despise David for not rotting unless he was himself?
“And also this: ‘David, Come to me, and I will feast upon thy flesh like a beast of the field.’ Okay, more cannibalism, I get that, but it’s a recurring theme. Let’s not forget that David killed Goliath by scoring a headshot though. Swords and spears couldn’t harm his body, just like a rezzer.” She paused. “Please don’t look at me like I’m crazy.”
Liam buried his skepticism. “It’s not that. I didn’t know this was how the story of David and Goliath went.”
“Me too, but I guess that’s what happens when you don’t read a book for decades. There is something here, though. Every new passage I read, there’s more and more evidence of the Hollowing scattered throughout. It’s all subtle and implied, but it’s definitely there.” She let the book rest with a wince. “I’m not being weird about this, am I? It’s all still good?”
To some extent, it wasn’t. Liam had been raised in a strictly atheist household after moving to the States, and Nelly treated organized religion with similar disdain. Exposing his daughter to that kind of trash was far from the top of his to-do list, and he did not like having it pushed as though it contained some absolute truth.
But Evelyn once again stood as his opposite on this front, and after happening upon a Bible a few days back, she’d been glued to its pages ever since. As much as he disliked the idea, there was no denying how much happier she’d become by immersing herself within. Coupling that with Leah’s age, it wasn’t as if any of these beliefs were being unfairly imposed onto her. She couldn’t form a word of her own, let alone comprehend ancient texts.
“It’s fine,” Liam said. “As long as you’re happy, my love, that is all that matters.” He could reevaluate this decision some other time.
Evelyn smiled, warm and sweet. “Thank you.”
He planted a kiss on her lips, once again gladdened to have peace and stability in their world. Hungry continued to sit behind his back, waiting for his own chance to join the fun. He would have to give him his own time to shine. Once Evelyn grew bored with this trip to the past.
Besides, Liam reminded himself. It’s just a stupid book.
It could bring no harm to them.
