Kill the Dead

KASABIAN IS GOING through online video catalogs when I get back. Death Rides a Horse is playing on the other monitor. “Did you remember cigarettes?” “We didn’t get to a store. I bummed one off one of the kids working the register.” “Which one?” “I have no idea. They all look alike to me.” I set the DVDs on his table. “Don’t say I never gave you nothing.” He grabs them in his little metal legs. “You are my goddamn hero, man.” “One more thing off my bucket list.” The DVDs have him in a good mood and I don’t want to spoil it yet. I’ll wait to tell him that Wells fired me and either I start knocking over gas stations or we set up shop in the Dumpster next to the hand. “How was your date?” “It wasn’t exactly a date. We talked to a guy who yammered like he was gangbanged by a thesaurus. It’s all a big act, but he’s had a lot of practice. I don’t think I ever met a human before who could stretch ‘pass the peas’ into a hundred and fifty syllables. I once killed a Hellion who talked like that just to shut him up.” “When Brigitte dumps you, you might not want to include ‘kills people who use big words’ in your personal ad.” “What makes you think Brigitte’s going to dump me?” He cocks his head in my direction. “Gee, I don’t know. She dates billionaires and you live in an attic over a video store. She wants to get into big-time movies and you can get her free beer and tacos. You’re a monster and she’s a person. I can e-mail you a spreadsheet if you want to see the other five hundred reasons.” “She won’t dump me.” “Why not?” “She hasn’t told me her real name and I haven’t told her what the Room is.” He takes a beer from the fridge under his table and cracks it open. “So, you’re finally done mooning over Alice. About time.” Kasabian’s beer flies across the room and hits the wall before I realize it was me who knocked it out of his hand. “Do not ever fucking say her name. Not now, not ever, unless you want to go back in the closet. And while you’re playing spy, tell Lucifer not to pull that shit with me either. People are after him and all I have to do is step out for a sandwich and let it happen.” Kasabian is staring at me, shit scared. A deer head in the headlights. He’s quiet for what seems like a full minute. He says, “I’m sorry, man. I overstepped.” I take the cigarette from where I’d stuck it behind my ear and light it. Take a couple of puffs. Kasabian is still staring at me. I go over and hold the filter end of the smoke out to him. He doesn’t move for a second and then takes a tentative puff. “Thanks.” “Yeah.” We finish it in silence. I take beers from the fridge, give him one, and take the other to the bed. Where did that slap come from? I haven’t heard Alice’s name out loud since I sent Mason Downtown. I’m trying not to think about her every time I close my eyes or make a decision. Not thinking about her is the same as getting over her, right? “Tell me something. When you were doing Zombie 101 earlier, why didn’t you tell me about Savants?” I ask. “What’s a Savant?” I look at him. He’s not lying. “Just something I heard. It might be a wild-goose chase, but it might not. When you’re in the Codex, keep your eyes open for Savant or Saperes.” “Sure. In the meantime, I think I know something that’s going to make you feel better.” “What’s that?” “Whatever you said to Lucifer at the studio shot a bottle rocket up his ass. He’s been sending me into the Codex all day. Looking at sections I didn’t know were there. Digging through footnotes and diaries and commentaries. Some of the writing is old. Like beginning-of-time old. Some of it’s written in an angelic script I bet even Mason never saw. I think it might be the first one. The original script. The first writing for the first language in the universe.” “Hallelujah. I’ll buy the cherubs a lap dance when this is done. But right now, I’m up to my ass in little fortune-cookie facts and I don’t know how any of them go together.” “Here’s something. The big man had me do a brain dump on you and he saw the drawing you did of the belt-buckle thing. Know what happened?” “He ordered one from QVC?” “He freaked the fuck out. It was so strong I felt it. I mean, we’re supposed to have a one-way communication system. I send and he receives. But when he saw that drawing, the blowback out of his brain went all the way up the line and back into me.” “So, what is it?” “I don’t know yet. The writing around the edges is more of that old angelic script. I can’t read it yet, but I’ll figure it out.” “Whatever it is, this means that Lucifer knows that I know about the belt buckle.” “Yeah, but I can block things from him. All he knows is that you saw the image. He doesn’t know you really saw the thing or know where it is. If I were you, I’d move my ass and get it. Whatever it is, the buckle is strange enough to scare Lucifer and it’s definitely connected to the zeds.” “Let me finish my beer.” “Of course. The end of the world can wait.”