Jonathan Maberry - Dust & Decay

Seeing this made Sally cry, and she kissed Benny and turned away.

Benny walked over to the wall of the building where he had sat with Tom. He took off his sword and laid it on the grass and went inside. He emerged a minute later with a can of black paint and a brush. He used his knife to pry open the lid.

“What’s that for?” asked Chong.

Benny dipped his brush into the paint. “I want to leave something behind.” He used the brush to write on the wall.

GAMELAND IS CLOSED.

THAT IS THE LAW.

– T. IMURA

He considered what he had done, and then added his own name below Tom’s.

Dr. Skillz took the brush from him, dipped it in the can, and wrote his name below that. Then J-Dog, Chong, Lilah, Solomon Jones, and everyone else did the same. When they were done, they looked at the wall.

“Someone else might try it again,” said Lilah. “Somewhere else.”

“No,” said Sally, “not when we tell what happened here.”

“Will it make a difference in Mountainside?” asked Nix.

“Yeah,” said Solomon, “it will. After this… I think it’ll make a difference everywhere this story is told. Tom just became a legend. That’s the only thing more powerful than a hero.”

“He never wanted to be a hero,” said Benny softly.

“It’s not a matter of what he wanted, little dude,” said Dr. Skillz, “it’s a matter of how it is. The big kahuna is riding a permanent wave.”

Benny nodded. He understood that.

At noon the bounty hunters began preparing to leave. They tried to get Benny and the others to come with them back to Mountainside, but that was a fight they were never going to win.

“What about you?” asked Sally as she stroked Chong’s scarred and bruised face. “This wasn’t even your journey.”

“It’s my journey now,” Chong said, glancing at Lilah, who looked confused. The Lost Girl blushed and turned away, but she was smiling as she did so.

“What am I supposed to tell your folks?”

As he thought about that, Chong touched the line of stitches Sally had sewn across his chest. “Tell them that I love them… and tell them that I’m alive.”

“They won’t understand. They’ll be devastated.”

“I know… but this is something I have to do.”

Sally sighed and nodded and limped away to find her horse. The other bounty hunters made their good-byes. Before they left, each of them gave some supplies to Benny and his friends. Weapons, food, tools, and advice to help them on their journey. Nix thanked them. Benny said nothing. He stood facing the east.

When the others were gone, Nix came and took Benny in her arms. She hugged him and kissed him. “I love you, Benny.”

Benny gently touched her lips with his fingertips. “I love you.”

It was only the second time she had said those words to Benny. Hearing them, and saying them back, made Benny feel truly alive. It made him feel powerful.

He bent and picked up Tom’s sword. Tom had used that weapon to save them both on First Night. He felt Nix watching him. “Tom told me that samurai believed these swords carried their souls. I don’t know if that’s true… but I think for Tom it was. He didn’t leave us, Nix. He’s always going to be with us.” He cut a look at her. “Sounds corny, I know, but…”

“No,” she said honestly. “It’s beautiful. And I think it’s true.”

Benny nodded and slipped the sling over his head and tied the sword in place the way he had seen Tom do every time he prepared for a journey into the Ruin.

He turned to Nix, Lilah, and Chong. “Tom kept his word,” he said in a strong, quiet voice. “I’m going to keep mine.”

Each of them nodded.

“Warrior smart,” said Chong, meaning it.

“Warrior smart,” agreed Lilah.

Nix sniffed back the last of her tears. Her red hair was tied back in a ponytail, and her freckles were like bright fireworks on her face. Her eyes, though, were older than Benny remembered. “Warrior smart,” she said.

Benny looked into the east, and Preacher Jack’s words came floating back to him. I might be doing you a kindness to keep you from that path. Only thing you’d find east of here is horror and heartache.

Then he looked back at the cairn. Could anything out there be more horrible or heartbreaking than this? He could almost hear Tom’s voice. Keep your eyes and mind open. Always be ready.

“Warrior smart, Tom,” he promised aloud.

They set out together, walking abreast down an overgrown road under the bright morning sunlight. Not even Tom knew what was on the other side of the forest. No one did. Maybe the jet and maybe not. Maybe something else. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be this place. Not Mountainside with its fear and fences. Not these mountains with blood and pain soaked into every acre of dirt.

Despite everything, they walked with their heads up, tall and proud. Warriors who had come through fire and pain. The last samurai of the old world. Or perhaps the first of the new.

Benny paused only once at the top of the next rise. He looked back and saw the thin column of smoke that still rose from the ruins of Gameland. He believed that it was closed for good now. Tom would be happy. And thinking that, he smiled again, and faced the east. He and Nix, Lilah and Chong walked over the crest of the ridge, heading toward the unknown, leaving only their footprints behind in the dust and decay.

Jonathan Maberryis a multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author, magazine feature writer, playwright, Marvel Comics writer, and writing teacher/lecturer. His works include Patient Zero , They Bite! , and DoomWar . He lives in Warrington, Pennsylvania. Visit him at jonathanmaberry.com.