I’M SWIFTLY JOGGING; my feet are pounding the soft ground. Giant rocks and dirt as far as I can see, all of it nestled by the ghostly trees.
The Ghouls and their smiling faces are staying with me this time. They are all lean and agile. Exercising with them is the best. No complaining, no quitting, no tantrums. There is only the run.
A peace.
The orange sun is bathing our skin through the toxic smog. The two-headed crow is chirping, making other animal noises; he just made machine gun noises and explosions. I think this crazy bird has seen some shit.
Our time here, deep in the madness, has come to an end. A trek must begin. It is time to lure Monster into a trap, a trap I have not yet figured out how to make.
In a fight, one-on-one, Monster would destroy me. If I use my noggin, though, if I listen to my friends and CHEAT! It’s what they are going to say. I can feel it. I might have some kind of chance.
I’m slowing to a walk; the Cowboy is moving to head me off at the pass, as it were. I can see some of his Ghouls through the bony trees in the distance.
“We gonna have a conversation about what’s comin next. I want ya ta come over with us, and we gonna figure this out.”
“Okay,” I replied.
It is all I can say. Wow, they have been thinking about me. They are concerned for my safety.
AWE, THEY DON'T WANT ME TO GET EATEN
I am coming closer to them; I don’t have to tell the Ghouls to hang back; they know. They move off with Cowboy’s Ghouls, and I could swear there are at least a handful more than there were yesterday. Has he been trying to find more than me? Nah, he’s probably just being prepared. Or is he?
They suddenly stop talking; that is never a good sign.
“We think you should cheat!” They say, together.
The Demon nods her head, her eyes wide. There is a little bit of that crazy in her eyes. The morning shadows bouncing off of the sharp lines of her face.
“Throw rocks at him.” She mimes.
The Cowboy seems to agree.
“Kick him in the balls!” He says, with a grin.
“Bite him.” The Demon mimes the action.
“Hit him with a board!” The Cowboy cheers.
I think he is enjoying this presentation more than anything else so far. I can see his excitement building with every chance he gets to demonstrate his next physical action.
“Throw sand in his eyes!” She motions.
I shake my head. I’m smiling bigger. They do care about me.
“If he can’t see, he can’t eat you.” She nods.
I’m at a loss for words. They are concerned for me. They would miss me if I were gone. I haven’t had that in my life for so long. I could cry like a little boy right now, but I won't.
This is the happiest I have been in a long time, and tears would just ruin it. They’re not cutting me out. They’re trying to figure out a way to win this whole thing; they’re terrible at it, but they are trying.
SO MANY QUESTIONS
I turn my eyes to the poisoned sky. The neon gases mingling with the poisoned clouds. The mutant birds are flying in formation to their next hunt.
I’m left with too many questions and no answers.
It’s no secret; if I don’t come up with a plan or some kind of new power, this guy is going to destroy me. My most powerful ability is to irradiate, but that will have no effect on him.
He is a walking fallout, just like me…
Walking and talking is nothing; we do it all the time without even thinking about it. Two things at the same time seems tricky, but it is not.
A CONVERSATION MUST BE HAD
“Cowboy.” I call to him.
Wow, I have everybody’s attention. The Demon; The Cowboy; even all the Ghouls. (Oh yeah, and Reason, the two-headed crow.)
The Cowboy beckons me over. I stroll closer to them.
“I’ve been waitin fur this. Let’s have at it, then.”
“Tell me about MONSTER. How does he know how to teleport?” I ask.
The Cowboy laughs and braces himself with a hand on his knee. The boisterous laughter I’m so used to now never comes. He stands up straight and steadies himself.
“Well, he is a big bastard. He couldn’t wrap his mind around gettin off the ground.”
“He can’t fly?” I ask.
“Nope. He’s a-scared of heights.” He puts his hand on his belly and lets out a deep breath. “Can you believe it? Someone who acts as tough as him and heights scare him?”
I become quiet. I lower my head. My big stupid grin painted on my face, mocking me.
“I can believe it. Life is a tough thing to navigate. We all have our fears.”
He takes a couple of steps towards one of the Ghouls who is standing nearby with his back to us, and he leans against him as if he is an object.
At first, I was kind of pissed that he treated him like a thing. Then, he started comforting him with a patting. The Ghoul, tries to look back at him with a spreading smile. It is affection.
“He learned to run real fast, but it wasn’t fast enough to catch up with the Gods who flew over his head.”
I nodded my head.
“Like when he ran up the hill, the first day I met him.”
The Cowboy stands up straight and nods his head.
“Yup.”
Something cracks nearby; The Demon is closer to us but is trying to look in another direction like she is not really listening. I wave her over, and she slowly approaches. My attention falls back on the Cowboy.
“Tell me about the teleporting.”
The Cowboy, steps closer and spreads his hands out.
“A long time ago, we came upon a city. It was mostly made of stone. There was a grand building there. The whole thing was full of books. A library. Monster, not much of a reader, surprised us; he was reading. We asked him what he was doing, and all he said was, lookin.”
I nod my head, showing him that I am listening.
“He started reading these old bibles; some were translated inta American from other languages.”
“He found something?”
“Found it? He wouldn’t shut up about it. Some ancient god named Kali. They travelled through time and reality using portals.”
“What? Were there instructions?” I asked.
He waves off my question.
“No; no; nothin like that. A man’s imagination is a powerful thing. He spent a lot of time by himself. We didn’t ask wut he was doin. We were trying to find others like yourself. He was always thinkin about himself and his shortcomings, like not being able ta fly.”
I wanted to sit, but we were chair challenged at the time. He can see my discomfort and walked to me. A hand on my shoulder, he started guiding me to some big stones. I leaned against one.
“He was always hangin on to being human, but not after he found them books. Next time we had ta fly, he jus said, I’ll see ya there. He opened a portal and poof, he wuz gone.”
“I’ve been thinking about that. I think it is a three-point system.”
“Oh yeah?”
UNCOMFORTABLE
The Cowboy leans against the rock next to me with interest. His rock is kind of short, so it puts him in an awkward position, and we laugh. We both stand up, face to face.
The Demon is closer now, no longer shying from our group. I look at them both and begin to explain:
“The first point is right in front of you. The third point is where you are trying to go.”
“What is the second point?” He asks.
“If I knew that, we would be teleporting right now.”
He seems taken aback by my response.
“You would share that with me?”
I was surprised he even questioned it.
“You taught me so much. It would be unthinkable to not share it with you.”
He nods his head.
“See, you get it. I could never get him to understand any of this here.” He wags his hand between him and me.
The Demon takes his arm and includes herself in the wagging. We are getting crowded by the Ghouls, all trying to touch his hand.
I smile at them.
“Oh yeah, you need people. Even if not all of them are likeable. There has to be one redeeming quality you can find about somebody.”
The Cowboy, aims his finger gun at me. I aim mine at him, and we make a gun noise together.
Sounds like the next thing we need to do is teleport. If he can make the gates, then we can too. This is about to get crazy. (Ancient crazy.)