The Aliveagainers

17 - Remnant

"Oh man, this is so good!" says Késhaun as he stuffs another forkful of spam in his mouth.

I can't help but laugh and I drip a bit of gherkin juice down my chin.

We've been sittin' here feastin' for an hour now and one part of me wants to tell Késhaun to stop and go easy, but another's just so glad we got some food.

I look up at the door, barricaded tight with a table upturned. We chanced across this little quad bike rental place a little while ago. It had been enough time, we figured, since we left the house.

It was off maybe a hundred yards back. The roads had been quiet ... mostly. We had seen one person, a real person, walkin' along the road. Jamie had slowed down and I'd been squintin' up to see him. Then we'd seen him carryin' the crow bar. He was walkin' all strange, big floppy footsteps and he didn't even look at us. Don't stop. Jamie had put his foot down and we zoomed past the guy. I looked at his face and saw it all clenched up and I could see him mutterin' away.

"Ohh my belly," says Késhaun as he puts down a chocolate bar and lies back. He groans a little, but I see he's plheavin'

Jamie grabs a bar and just stuffs the whole thing in his mouth, chompin' down so that bits of chocolate melt on his lips and down his chin. His face is soon a chocolatey mess and both him and Keshaun are gigglin' like crazy and I feel my heart inside heavin cause its the first thing I seen in a long while that ain't broken.

They keep eatin' till they slow down and then I hear Jamie's tummy rumble.

"That's what'cha all get for eatin' too much candy!" I say, then take a huge bite outta a chocolate bar myself.

Keshaun smiles and then stands up and walks over to a bookshelf, which has some maps and brochures and stuff. He starts leafin' through a few and I look back to the pile of food before me.

"Good find, this place," I say.

Jamie smiles. "I think I might have even been here before. Some school thing; we rented mountain bikes I think, went for a big ride. Was pretty sweet."

I look around the place. It's small, just a little office really but next door is a bigger buildin' all locked up. I figure the bikes and the gear are in there. We checked this place out when we got in, real careful like. We wasn't sure what to do to prepare, we had no spray cans or anythin' we could use against one of 'em if we came across one. Luckily there hadn't been anythin'. Or anyone.

I feel myself cravin' a drink. A beer would go down well, a whiskey even better. Just to feel that taste, that fire that slips inside. The winds a blowin' up a little outside and I know this place will be cold tonight. I'd love to sit, sippin', starin' outside and listenin' to Késhaun breathin'. The liquors fire would take me away.

I look at my hands and rub my fingers and thumbs together. I've got that itch, the first time I've felt it in forever. Last time I did it was way back, with her. I trace my right index finger, rub it in upside my hand and along my left wrist, then up to the inside of my elbow. The skin here's soft and pale, like the underside of a trout and I feel my finger tracin' a memory long back, far away. Back to a place which was awful but which seems a lot better than now.

I shut my eyes and move my finger round n' round, swirlin' round inside. I will myself to forget. To forget about Jamie, forget about Késhaun , forget about everythin' that's happened and just be nothin'.

"Why's all this happening?"

I open my eyes slowly, groggy. I look up to Jamie. He's sittin', leanin' back against the wall, peelin' the label off a bottle of cola. He's doin' it carefully, slow and steady, and he's almost got the whole thing off without tearin' it.

I look over to Késhaun who's now sittin' in the far corner, readin' some book he found by the evenin' light spillin' in the window.

"I don't know, Jamie, I ain't sure why."

"It sucks."

"Yeah."

He sighs and we sit quiet for a while longer.

"I think I know what they are," he says, quietly.

I look up and he peels the last of the label off, places it down, lays it out flat then places his drink down.

"I want to know, even though knowing means shit is truly messed up right now."

He stares out into space then carries on "But, I don't ... like... I mean, I know that lady up at the house. I know what she was. That's why ... that's why I killed her. It's not her. Not who she used to be."

I'm about to say somethin' when he starts up again.

"When it started, I was in school. First thing was the phones. Everyone's phones started to ring, people checking messages. Then they started freaking out and we were watching the news online. When we saw what happened out east everyone just got up and ran off."

He pulls his knees up and looks over to me.

"I was with my cousin Morgan, he lived closer so we went to go there. Then this guy Cliff said he'd give us a ride as he lived close by. So we get in his car and start driving."

Jamie takes a deep breath.

"So, the thing is, last summer, Cliff killed a kid. In an accident. He was coming round a bend at night with some friends and totally wiped out this kid Carlos. Killed him right away. The cops came and he went through it all, but he got let off. The kid had been runnin' in the street, no crosswalk or anything. Cliff hadn't been drinking, or even goin' that fast so they said it was just an accident. I remember, though, how that kid's mom freaked out, burst into tears then started wailing, calling him a murderer, screaming at him in Spanish. Asesino! Asesino!"

"That sounds awful, Jamie," I say.

"So anyway, we're driving along and we get out at Cliff's house and we walk up to the driveway and as we come around the corner ... there was just ... this movement and then I see Cliff fall down to the ground and blood just pouring crazy from the side of his head. Ryan screamed and then we see this guy walk around the corner of the building. He was Cliff's dad. His actual dad—just standing there with an axe in his hand."

"Holy shit," I say, rubbin' my arms. They're covered in goose bumps.

"But then ... but then he spoke. And he just said one word."

"Asesino," I whisper.

Jamie nods.

I look over and see Késhaun's lyin' down on his side, lookin' at the book. He's got an old coat laid up over him and I'm pretty sure he ain't heard none of this.

"They come back, Kayla." Whispers Jamie. "They come back to find the people that wronged them."

After that we sit a while. It gets darker as the sun goes down and Jamie does one check of the door before whisperin' quietly G'night.

I lay there a little, thinkin' back to that dream I had and everythin' that's been goin' on. All the eatin' seems to have kicked in with one hell of a food coma and soon I'm feelin' myself drift away. I notice the wind pickin' up as I fall off and I can hear it driftin' through the trees outside. It seems to whisper to me and I feel myself shiverin' as I fall asleep.