The Dead Page 9

  “Then you read too much. Don’t be spreading that garbage around on my ships. There will be no votes here.”

  “Not a problem. Just asking.” I lifted up my hands, surrendering the point easily. If he wanted to be King of the Dirtbags, he was free to keep the title as far as I was concerned, as long as they did what I needed.

  I really wanted another shot of whiskey before I ironed out the last little itty-bitty detail, but I refrained. A year was a long time. There was no way that it wouldn’t come up, so I had to handle it. “You know they’re searching for me, right?”

  “Which ‘they’ are we discussing? The Dark Walkers, the country of Newco, or Dax? Please tell me there isn’t anyone else,” he said dryly.

  “You’ve got one wrong. Dax won’t be searching.” He didn’t know where to look, and even if he did, he wouldn’t. I’d walked out on our deal after he’d helped me countless times. He wouldn’t care what happened to me; not even for his revenge would he come looking for me.

  “Oh, I think he will,” Jacob said. He sipped his coffee and watched me over the porcelain rim.

  I didn’t care what he thought. I just wanted the subject of Dax dropped, because every time I thought of him or heard his name, this uncomfortable feeling gripped me deep inside.

  “It’s beside the point. Is it going to be a problem for you to handle?”

  “I wouldn’t have taken you on this boat if it was.” Jacob nodded toward the bag at my feet. “Is that all you have?”

  I looked down at the canvas sack Fudge had given me. It had started out as a loan that she’d never taken back. Besides the clothes on my body, that was the entirety of what I owned. “Yes,” I said, reaching down and grabbing the strap a little too tightly.

  “I’ll show you to a cabin.” He stood and I followed, my chair making an awkward scraping sound as I stood.

  He didn’t look at his wood to see if I’d done any damage, but I had a feeling he wanted to. I followed him out of the cabin, but not before I reached back and grabbed a couple of pieces of toast and tossed them in my bag.

  He walked down the narrow passageway and pushed open a door to an empty cabin that looked lived in.

  “We had a recent departure.”

  It was small, but no smaller than the cells at the Cement Giant, and the wooden bulkheads were much more appealing than the grey cement. Other than a bunk and some built-in shelves and cabinets, there wasn’t much to it. I didn’t need much. It was perfect for me.

  “This is all mine?” I asked when I didn’t see another bunk.

  “Yes.”

  I threw my bag down, hoping the recent departure hadn’t happened while he’d still been in the bunk.

  “Thanks.”

  He nodded and went to leave the room.

  “Jacob,” I said, stopping him before the door shut. “Why is it that you believe in the Dark Walkers when so many others don’t?”

  He paused by the door. “I might not be able to see them the way you can, but that doesn’t mean I’m blind. When I see enough smoke, I know there’s a fire somewhere.”

  “One last thing. I get to interrogate every Dark Walker I find before you kill them.”

  Jacob’s eyes wrinkled at the corners and a single dimple appeared. “I think you and me are going to get along just fine.”

  I smiled even as my skin crawled. What the hell did that say about me?

  13

  I nearly cracked my head on the wood above me when I woke. I’d fallen asleep shortly after I’d gotten in the cabin and it was still sunny? I peeked out the small porthole next to the bunk.

  The sun was just rising, which meant I must have slept the entire day. There was a lot of ocean and only a small strip of land in the distance, the really far distance. If I was going to be a pirate, even if for a short while, I needed to learn how to swim, and quick.

  As I got my bearings, I heard the muffled sounds of men moving about above deck, and reality was setting in like a bad case of the flu. I felt a little off right now but had a strong feeling I’d be in worse shape later.

  I’d done the right thing. After making the deal with Jacob, I was certain of it. I was trying to save the human race. How could it be anything but the right choice? The noble choice? Bookie would’ve agreed. If I asked him, he’d tell me I had to do the right thing.

  I flopped back on the bunk. “It was the right thing, wasn’t it, Bookie?”

  Not even imaginary Bookie answered this time.

  Bookie was dead. The thought wouldn’t stop running through my mind like a dog chasing its tail. If we’d never gone to the Rock, would he be alive? What about Fudge and Tiffy and Tank? Were they okay? I’d just left them to fend for themselves. Doubts washed over me so strong I felt nausea chasing in behind it.

  And Dax. But he’d forced my hand. I’d had to do this. He would’ve fought me on going for the cure. I’d had to leave, and it had nothing to do with how unsettled he made me.

  Or maybe reality wasn’t making me ill. Maybe I was actually getting sick. This boat rocked like a son of a bitch the farther from shore it got.

  I got out of the bunk, tied my hair back with a piece of leather, and stumbled out of the cabin, trying to get my sea legs. The waves had definitely kicked up since yesterday.

  Nose in the air, the smell of food led me to a small galley where a hairy little man, not even as tall as I was, tossed a bunch of eggs in a pan.

  He looked over at the new presence in his territory. “You the one I gotta be nice to?” he asked.

  Only one person who would’ve given that order. “Probably? I’d appreciate the civility, but I won’t hold you to it.”

  He went back to stirring the eggs about the greasy-looking pan. I looked around the place but couldn’t find a single piece of bacon to be had. Fudge’s kitchen this was not, but my growling stomach was giving me a thumbs-up on the eggs.

  “Unless there’s some other girlie on board, I’m figuring you’re it. And there best not be. One girl on board is enough bad luck.”

  “I’ll make you a deal…”

  I waited for him to fill in his name. Took him a while, but he finally said, “Marty.”

  “Marty, you give me a plate of those eggs and you can go back to pretending I’m not here either.” I smiled as wide as I could. All I cared about was getting a plate of those damn eggs.

  My pleasant reaction seemed to annoy him further, and he was handing me a plate as soon as the eggs started taking a firmer shape. “I’d stay to your cabin as much as possible. The crew ain’t gonna like this none.”

  I would’ve taken the plate and jumped into the ocean if that was what it took. My stomach was growling louder than Dax’s beast on a bad day.

  Leaving the galley, I walked past the door to my cabin. The sun was shining. No way I was going to sit in there all day with the crazy cook.

  There were some grumbles from the pirates on deck, but no one bothered me. I made my way to some crates by the bow, kicked my feet up on another crate in front of me, and settled in to eat my breakfast.

  “Hey! Girlie!”

  I turned from where I’d gotten comfortable, assuming I was the girlie in question. One of the pirates that had picked me up at Hell’s Corner was standing a good ten feet from me smoking a cigarette that I could only assume was borrowed.

  “Yes?”

  “Jacob wants to see you.” His message delivered, he turned and left. I guessed he figured I could find my own way, which I could.

  Still eating as I walked, I took my plate of eggs down to his cabin to find his door wide open.

  “You summoned me?” I settled into the seat I’d occupied the first day, swinging a leg over the side. If I was going to be here for a while, I didn’t see much reason to stand on ceremony or act like I had some deeply hidden social graces. We’d struck our deal.

  “Make yourself at home,” he grumbled as I reached over onto his desk and grabbed his unused napkin to wipe off an especially messy mouthful of eggs.

/>   “Thanks,” I said, ignoring the obvious sarcasm.

  He stood and walked over to shut the door before speaking. “One of my other boats is going to be here soon. You’ll board it with me, but if you see a Dark Walker, I want you to alert me to it privately.” He returned to his seat and started cutting up a piece of sausage.

  “‘Hey, there’s a Dark Walker over there’ not work for you?” I asked, wondering where the sausage had come from, but I didn’t ask. It wasn’t that important. It wasn’t like it was bacon.

  “No one else can see them. I’ll be taking your word. That might not sit well with some of my crew.”

  “What happened to last night and this isn’t a democracy?” I said, ribbing him a bit.

  It took me all of a split second to realize Jacob didn’t care for jokes at his expense. Dax would’ve laughed, maybe not out loud, but I could always tell when he thought I was funny. Now there was a guy who could take a joke.

  Damn. I had to stop comparing everyone to Dax. And I also had to try and watch what I said. Keep the peace to get the cure. That was going to have to be my mantra.

  “Of course you’d want to keep your guys happy, too, so I completely understand.”

  He nodded, not buying my cleanup attempt.

  Holding on to my plate, I got up and started making my way out, since I sensed the meeting was over. The less time I was around him, the less words I could speak. “What time’s this shindig?”

  “The ship should come into range sometime early afternoon.”

  “Got it. I’ll be ready.” I took a swallow of eggs and tacked “boss” onto the sentence at the last second.

  The loud sigh told me he wasn’t buying the act. I’d have to practice up on my bullshitting a little more. Looked like I’d gotten a little rusty since getting out of the Cement Giant.

  * * *

  By noon that day, I’d discovered the majority of the boat, even the parts I shouldn’t have, like the main sleeping quarters where the rest of the pirates stayed. If this was going to be home then it was important to know every nook and cranny.

  As I wandered the ship, most of the guys ignored me. A couple made lewd comments about parts of my anatomy. A few threw out some nasty remarks about being a Plaguer. All in all, I thought it was a fairly successful meet-and-greet.

  I made my way up on deck just as another ship was coming in range. When no one else seemed to be concerned, I figured this was the one we’d been waiting for.

  It didn’t take long for the boat to make its way over and for Jacob to appear on deck. Ropes were thrown over, fastening the boats together temporarily, and several of the crew crossed onto the other boat. Trunks were carried from the new ship back to ours.

  Jacob climbed onto the other ship and I followed, climbing from one deck to the other, while avoiding looking down.

  I immediately spotted one. Wasn’t what I’d hoped for. How could I trust a crew that had Dark Walkers, the very monsters I feared might be spreading the disease, to deliver a cure? I watched Jacob, waiting for his attention to land on me, which didn’t take long, and I gave the subtlest nod.

  His features tensed and his mouth flattened out a little, and I wasn’t sure how the messenger was going to fare for a minute. Land was still miles away. I couldn’t swim, but damn if I wouldn’t do the meanest doggy paddle around if I had to.

  He walked over to my side. “Who?”

  “Red beard with the bald head.”

  “Go back to the other boat.”

  “That wasn’t the deal.”

  “You’ll get your crack at him, but I don’t want it to be known you fingered him.”

  I nodded, not sure I liked it but not willing to take the chance of pissing him off yet, since my options were limited—as in I had none.

  * * *

  It had been seven hours since the other ship had left and I watched Jacob go to shore with several of his pirates, including the redhead I’d fingered.

  I was rethinking every decision I’d made. Seven hours was plenty of time for the Dark Walker to convince them I was lying. That perhaps I was the traitor. It was too many hours to sit and wonder what was happening, and it was more than enough time for me to wonder if Jacob was reneging on his part in the deal.

  By time I was called, I was making sure I had both knives on me and my magic stoked up to full blast. I’d overheard that the pirate I was following was called Stinky. As I walked behind him, I understood.

  We walked to the edge of the ship and I climbed into a dinghy with Stinky and his slightly less smelly companion. As they started rowing us to shore, the other asked, “Why’s he bringing you out here?”

  “How would I know?” I said. Stinky and his friend clearly didn’t think much of women, because their grunts of acceptance and glances at each other said they accepted that as perfectly plausible.

  Stinky was out of the boat first, and I followed him onto the beach. The other pirate dragged the dinghy up onto the abandoned shoreline of the small island, which didn’t look like it had any inhabitants.

  “Jacob is that way.” Stinky pointed to a break in the tree line, and I was grateful for the full moon. My hand moved closer to my knife as I walked in the given direction, having no idea what the situation was going to be. I knew I could handle my own, but I had my limits, and I didn’t know how many men would be waiting for me.

  I stepped into a clearing about twenty feet wide. Worries over Jacob believing the Dark Walker over me vanished. The redhead was on his knees in the center of the clearing with his hands tied behind his back, looking half dead.

  Jacob stood not five feet from him and didn’t seem to have a problem getting his hands dirty, by the sight of his knuckles. Maybe preferred it that way? Another pirate I’d seen on the ship stood a bit farther back, his knuckles looking clean.

  “He’s all yours,” Jacob said.

  “I was supposed to be able to interrogate him.”

  “You can. He’s still alive.”

  The Dark Walker’s eyes were rolling around in its head and blood oozed from every opening he had. “What am I going to get out of this thing?”

  “Probably the same thing I got, which was nothing.”

  “Really? Nothing?”

  “Nothing. But at least I know you weren’t lying,” he said, lifting a hand in his direction.

  “How’s that?”

  “There’s never been a human I couldn’t crack. They usually talk by time I’m breaking the fifth finger. By time I get to pulling teeth…”

  Jacob kept rattling off all his interrogation methods, but I had to tune him out so that I could keep my dinner down.

  “Did you hear me?” he asked, and I realized he was done with the torture itinerary. “I’ll leave my guys here to clean up the mess after you’re done.”

  “You aren’t going to stay?”

  “If I couldn’t get anything from him, nobody can.”

  I believed him as I watched him leave the clearing. I wondered myself if there was a point to this, but I had to try. I walked over to the monster. “You’re in a lot of pain, aren’t you?”

  He didn’t answer. I was relieved he didn’t beg. I hated seeing anything in pain, and somehow that included Dark Walkers, to my great annoyance.

  “I can help you.” I used my best Pollyanna voice, but if he believed that, he’d believe that I could fly around this clearing, too. Wasn’t a slew of other options. I couldn’t re-beat him to near death. Jacob hadn’t left much gas in the tank for me to work with. “I don’t want to hurt you. I just want answers.”

  His one good eye—and by good I mean the one that was able to partially open—met mine. A garbled mess of sounds came out.

  Even if he was willing to tell me what I wanted, how was I supposed to decipher it? Well, didn’t this just make things a little more awkward?

  “I’m sorry, but could you repeat that?”

  He did, but I still couldn’t understand it. Then he hacked up a mouthful of blood at the end of t
he sentence.

  “One more time?” I asked once he seemed to get it all out.

  I would’ve sworn the good eye got a little squintier.

  “I think he’s saying ‘I’m not telling you anything,’” Stinky said from somewhere behind me and to the left. Hmmm. I let it roll around in my head for a second, and the sounds did seem to match up to Stinky’s suggestion.

  I turned, giving the Dark Walker my back. I knew you were never supposed to turn your back on your enemy, but between the pirates and the Dark Walker, it was a tossup these days which side should be forward. At least the Dark Walker couldn’t stand. Hell, if he could take me out in his current condition, I probably deserved to die.

  “How did you know what he was saying? What? You some kind of mind reader?”

  Stinky made the best derisive sigh I might’ve ever heard in my entire life. Like, totally nailed it. It was the perfect mixture of I ain’t got time for this and you’re so very stupid. I was going to have to practice that sucker later on myself.

  “No. He’s been saying it the whole time.” If he’d added dumbass to the end of that sentence it would’ve been mockery brilliance. Between the torture and mocking, I was starting to think there was a lot to be learned from these pirates.

  I turned back to the Dark Walker, or maybe he should be more accurately named the Dead Walker right now. I grabbed my knife and ran a clean cut across its neck, this time in mercy. I could handle death, but I was finding torture to be a little hard to stomach.

  The thing’s head wobbled and then dropped forward. Jacob had been right. So had Stinky. This was useless. But eventually I’d find one that would crack. “Okay, boys, do whatever it is you do with your dead.”

  I walked out of the clearing thinking how nice it was to not be the one having to bury them for a change.

  14

  I was sitting on the sand by the two boats left, admiring the ocean and the nice breeze it was giving off, when Stinky and his cohorts walked out of the clearing. Something had changed in the last ten minutes it had taken them to bury the body. The way they were looking at me, I didn’t think I was going to be asked out for a tea date.