Damage & Decay

Chapter 23

Part Two: Zombie Cards (Collect the Whole Set!)

"Everyone carries around his own monsters."

- Richard Pryor

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The clouds swept over the mountains and across the valley, blotting out the sun. Marco, Levi, and Nix stayed for roasted corn and hamburgers that Armin made on a stone grill in the yard, but as the first fat raindrops splatted down, they bolted for home. The wind picked up, and the Jaeger brothers ran to close the shutters and button up the house. By the time they were done, lightning was flashing continuously, throwing weird shadows across the lawn and stabbing in through the slats of the shutters.

"This is going to be a bad one," Armin said, sniffing the air.

Inside, they changed out of their workout clothes, washed, and shambled back into the kitchen in pajama bottoms and T-shirts. The temperature dropped like a rock, and Armin brewed a pot of strong black tea, flavored with fresh mint leaves. They drank it with honey-almond muffins Nix's mother had sent over.

"How come Mrs. riley sends us stuff so often?" Eren asked, halfway through his third muffin.

Armin gave an enigmatic little shrug. "She thinks she owes me, and this is how she repays the debt."

"Does she owe you?"

"No. When a friend does a favor for a friend, it isn't with the expectation of repayment."

"What favor? Getting her out of Gameland?"

"Doesn't matter," Armin said. "And it was a long time ago. But I think it makes Jessie feel better to send us what she can."

Eren nodded, uncertain what to make of Armin's answer. He nibbled the muffin. "She's a pretty amazing baker."

"She's a pretty amazing woman," said Armin.

Eren straightened. "Really?" he said with a grin.

"You can wipe that smile off your face right now, because Jessie and I are just friends. She's one of the few people I really trust. And that is the end of that discussion."

Eren grinned all the way through the rest of his muffin. Thunder slammed against the house--hard enough to rattle the teacups.

Armin left the room and came back with his boots, rain slicker, and his sword. The real one, not the wooden training bokken.  He set them by the back door.

"What's that for?"

"That last one sounded like a lightning strike. There are trees near the north wall of the fence."

"Sure, but there's a guard detail too."

"Sure, but it's always better to be prepared."

As Armin sat down he spotted the object that Eren had placed in the center of the table. The Zombie Card with the picture of the wild and beautiful Lost Girl.

"Ah," Armin said.

"Will you tell me about her?"

"Maybe. Will you answer my questions first?"

"About Charlie Matthias?"

"Yep."

Eren sighed. "I guess."

Armin stood up. "Good night, kiddo. Sleep tight."

"Hey!"

Armin said, "'I guess' doesn't sound like a show of trust. Either you will  or you won't."

"You're going to go all Zen on me again?"

"Yes," Armin said. "I am. Now this time think it through and give me a straight answer."

"Yes," said Eren. "I'll answer any question you want to ask, as long as you tell me about Mikasa."

"No reserves, no fake outs. Straight answers?"

"Yes. But I'm going to want the same."

"Fair enough," said Armin. "So I'll get right to it. Do you trust Charlie Pink-eye?"

"After what happened today? No, not much."

"How much is 'not much'?"

"I don't know, and that's the truth. I like Charlie . . . or I used to, but today he really freaked me out. For a minute there, he looked like he was going to take  that card from me. By any means necessary."

"Do you think he would have hurt you?"

"To get the card?"

Armin nodded.

"That's a weird question, because it's only a card, you know? I mean . . . so what? It was only dumb luck that I even got it. It could have been Charlie's own nephew, Zak, who bought that pack. Or one of the other kids that Charlie doesn't know. It could have been Levi or Marco. Or Nix."

"Yeah, things happen in strange ways sometimes," said Armin. He sipped his tea. "When you let go of the card, was that an accident or did you toss it to keep it away from him?"

"I dropped it."

"Why? Why not show him the card? Why not give it to him?"

"It was mine."

Armin shook his head. "No. You were willing to let it blow away in the wind instead of letting Charlie have it. That wasn't about possession. So what was it about?"

"It's hard to explain," Eren said. "But when I first saw that card, when I saw her,  I had this weird feeling that I knew her. Or . . . would know her. Does that make sense?"

"It's a dark and stormy night, kiddo. Mystical seems kind of appropriate." As if in agreement, another crack of thunder rattled the crockery in the cupboards and pulled groans from the timbers of the house. "Go on."

"I don't know. I felt like I needed to protect her."

"From Charlie?"

"From everyone."

Armin reached out and turned the card. The girl looked fierce, and the heap of zombie corpses behind her suggested that she was brutally tough. "She can take care of herself."

"You say that like you know  her," Eren said. "I was square with you, now it's your turn. Tell me about the Lost Girl. Tell me everything."

"It's not a nice story, Eren," Armin said. "It's sad and it's scary and it's full of bad things."

Thunder punched the house over and over again.

"Like you said, this is the night for that kind of thing."

"Yeah," said Armin. "I guess it is."

And he told his tale.