“
I’m Max. I’m lost. My Daddy said, if I’m ever lost I should find a grownup and tell them I’m lost.”
“
You’re a very smart boy, Max. How old are you?”
“
I’m three years old,” said Max, holding three fingers up. ”But on my next birthday I’ll be four years old,” he continued, adding a 4th finger.
“
How did you get lost? Where is your Daddy?”
“
Dad is coming; he was out helping some people the night the bad guys came to our house. The good guys fought hard but the bad guys found me and took me. I ran away from them. I’ve been running through the woods for three sleeps. I found a house and then I found another house and ate some green beans. The bad guys found me there too, so we had to run again. I met Steve the first night. He helped me run, he can run so fast! And at the big house with the green beans I met Jason. He’s my friend too. He helped me get away from the bad guys that were chasing me yesterday.”
The men seemed to consider the story. Their weapons dropped a little bit. Max saw the purple fading out of the swirling colors around them.
Max continued to try to convince them, “This morning when we were running, Steve was carrying me on his shoulders. But bad guys with motorcycles found us. Steve and Jason killed them and we ran again. Jason said we shouldn’t come in here, but my Daddy said to find grownups. And you’re grownups. Can you help me?”
The man with the short guns like Uncle John carried spoke first. He was big, not as big as Uncle Marshall, but taller than Daddy. He had a black and white beard and dark eyes. Max didn’t really like him and decided he might be a bad guy and that he should be careful. ”My name is Ronnie. I am a grownup, you did the right thing. We’ll help you find your Daddy, son.”
“
Thank you. Do you have any food? I’m hungry.”
“
Can you eat food?
”
“
We can. It is not pleasant for us to eat what you eat but it doesn’t cause damage. It would be easier to just tell them we’re not hungry
.”
The leader spoke into his radio and then turned back to Max.
“
Come on this way, we’ll get you inside where it’s safe and take a look at you to make sure you’re not one of them zombies. Mrs. Goddell always knows the people from the zombies.”
“
That’s bad news Max. If she has your ability, she’ll know Steve and Jason are not human,” Max heard in his head.
“
I can just make them blue like me,
” he replied.
“
That’ll make you very tired. You won’t be able to do that for long.
” Max’s bugs said.
“
I’ll tell them they’re my friends. They’ll understand, if they’re good, they’ll know.
”
The three companions walked up to the gate, surrounded by the guards. Just as the gate creaked and started rising, Max took Steve and Jason’s hands and fed a little of his pale blue aura into them. They gained his light blue color and then Max changed it to green. As the gate opened they were greeted by a small party of people in normal clothes. Max felt very tired all of the sudden and ravenously hungry.
“
You must be Max. My name is Mrs. Goddell. This was my house, before all of this happened, you’re welcome here.”
Max thought she seemed nice. She was an older woman. Her dark skin was wrinkled and her tightly curled gray hair was pulled back into a braid. She reminded him of his old school friend Jamal’s grandma. Jamal had been Max’s best friend at school, which was what Max used to call his daycare. He didn’t go to that school anymore though, but when he did he used to go over to Jamal’s house to play sometimes.
“
Miss Goddell, I’m hungry. Can I have something to eat?”
“
Sure, just let me take a look at your friends.”
The old woman put her hand on Steve and Max heard her gasp just a bit.
“
Max. Your friends aren’t welcome here. They’re bad men. I don’t know why they haven’t hurt you, but they will.”
Mrs. Goddell thought to him.
“
No
, they are nice. They have to do what I say. Can you look in their head like I can?
”
“
I can’t do that. I see that they have your aura. You must trust them a lot if you’re willing to do that for them. What did you do to them?
”
“
I told them not to eat people and that they had to follow me, not Laura.
”
Mrs. Goddell was still holding on to Steve. One of her men stepped forward. ”Mrs. Godell, are you Ok?” He asked.
“
Don’t interrupt me,” she said.
“
Max, I dont’ know who you are, but you are too special for me to put you out. But I can’t have these two in my house. Will you tell them to leave? They can wait for you at the edge of the field.
”
“
Don’t hurt them. They’re my friends, they’re nice.
”
“
Jason and Steve won’t be staying with us. They’re going to stay outside the walls. They are not to be harmed. That is my order,” the grandmotherly lady said out loud, loud enough for everyone to hear.
“
Go wait at the edge of the field. No eating,
” Max said to both Jason and Steve.
The two zombies turned in unison and walked out of the gate. The gate dropped just after they cleared it. The pair of undead walked to the edge of the field, turned and waited for their next instruction. They stood stock still, unmoving, unblinking and waited. They waited for Max to need them.
“
Let’s go get you something to eat Max,” Mrs. Goddell said, taking his hand in hers and walking him towards her worn house where she had some beef stew cooking on the stove. Max had never been a fan of soup but he was so hungry, he finished two bowls before he pushed back from the table.
When he was finished Max said, “I’m really tired, can I take a nap?”
“
No Max, we all have to work for our food around here, even little guys like you can do things to help out.” Mrs. Goddell replied.
“
What can I do?” asked Max.
“
For starters, I want you to teach me to do the things you can do.” She said.
“
No Max.
” Said his symbiotes in his head.
“
Who was that?” Goddell asked.
“
That was my bugs. They’re my friends; no one else has ever heard them.
” Said Max.
“
So you’re a zombie?” she asked.
“
No. I’m Max. I’m not a badguy.
”
“
But you have parasites like a zombie.
”
“
I’m a good boy, but I don’t know how to tell you how to do what I do.
”
Max felt Goddell pushing around inside him. His aura solidified around his head, like a solid blue helmet.
“
Ouch!” cried Goddell, clasping her hands to her head and bending over in pain. ”What did you do to me!”
“
I.. I didn’t want you to look in my head. I need some privacy.” He didn’t really know how to explain it. It felt a little like when he was in the bathroom, he wanted to be alone.
“
Max, that was very naughty. You hurt me.”
“
I want my Daddy.”
Max was starting to get a little worried. He didn’t want her in his head. He felt like it was private and he didn’t like that she just went in his head.
“
Max, if you won’t tell me, I’ll be very angry,” she said.
Max suddenly felt very afraid. Her aura was getting some purple and red streaks and he knew that was bad. He made a quick decision.
“
Max! NO,
” shouted his symbiotes.
Max dove into her mind, searching. He was looking for anything that would help. He’d only been inside the zombies; even Jason was a blank chalk board compared to this mind. He looked past her memories of children, who were now grown-ups. He looked past her grandchildren. He saw them die in her memories, eaten by their parents outside this very house. He saw one of her grandchildren bite her arm. That was how she got her abilities. He watched the memory of her killing her badguy children with a kitchen knife.
Max changed levels, past memories, looking for her instructions, as he’d found in both zombies. There was so much to make sense of, he staggered back and leaned against the wall. His head was on fire, but he had to find it. He had to find what she wanted. He searched, finding desperation. She was desperate to protect those around her and would do whatever she had to do to save them.
She put her hands to her head. He felt her try to solidify her aura, as she had learned from him, but he was much stronger. Her aura clamped down on the tunnel from his mind to hers, but was unable to cut it. Little innocent Max stepped forward and put his hand on her wrist. He looked up with his icy blue eyes.
“
I am nice!
” he yelled into her head with all of his might.
Chapter
19
Intel in the Woods
The tiny room was barely big enough for the five of us. There was no way we could all get out in time. In a split second, I decided the only option was to try to catch him off guard. Without even checking the outcome of my actions, I launched myself at the giant screaming a guttural battle cry. I brought my hatchet down in an arc as I flew towards the monster. The blade embedded deeply in its forearm, which he held up to block my chop. He grinned as he yanked the hatchet out of my hand. The old familiar shadows shot out of him. I ducked as he swung my own hatchet at my head kicking him in the thigh as hard as I could. The kick would have shattered a normal person’s femur and probably done a significant amount of knee damage. My foot bounced off its leg and the huge man caught me by the foot.
In one quick motion it picked me up and threw me into the wall. The sheetrock broke with the force of my impact, leaving a huge divot in the wall when I slid down. I struggled to stay conscious as Marshall stepped up to it.
“
You’re a big fucker,” it rumbled.
“
I’m a stronger than my little brother too.” Marshall replied.
Thing swung for Marshall’s head, he put his hand up and caught its fist with a grunt. It swung with the other arm and Marshall caught that one too. They locked in a battle of strength. I’ve seen Marshall pick up boulders the size of cars and throw them. One time he picked up a rock so heavy it drove his legs into the ground past his knees. In all the years since then I’ve never seen anyone or anything physically stronger than Marshall. This guy bent Marshall’s arms down to his sides and head butted him, gouging a cut above his eye. Marshall staggered back a step and braced himself with one foot against the desk. The thing head butted him again, but he was wise to that move this time. Marshall ducked his head slightly and the creature’s forehead impacted the crown of Marshall’s head. The crown, right at the hairline above the forehead, is the hardest bone in the human body. The giant’s forehead split open and a little blood oozed out.
Leo took this opportunity to blur around behind it, swinging her swords together in an arc downward at the thing’s skull where they bounced off ineffectively. The twin blades caused no more than a slight split in the skin. At the same time, John fired two shots. Each bullet took the giant creature in the eyeball. Its eyeballs were mutilated, but it didn’t falter in its grip with Marshall. Leo wind-milled her arms, raining blows down on the things skull. She broke one of her swords in the process. She moved so fast the blades were like a blender. She carved most of the skin off of its skull and still it stood there.
Leo dropped the broken sword and used both hands on the remaining kukri, hacking and chipping her way through the creature’s skull.
“
Leo… get… off…” Marshall grunted.
Leo lept off the thing as Marshall flipped himself backwards. He used a leg to propel the monster into the stone outer wall of the fortress, throwing the giant with all his might. Its skull crashed into the rock, crushing several stones. The massive creature crumbled face first to the ground and slowly started pulling its arms under it, dazed from the impact with the wall.