Jonathan Maberry - Fire & Ash

Instead the army’s role was not combative but administrative. They helped process the tens of thousands of reapers.

That was an awkward part of this, Benny knew. Many of the reapers claimed to have sided with Saint John only out of fear for their own lives. But there were still some true believers among them. These zealots refused to lay down their arms or remove their wings. There were some clashes, a few skirmishes, but the army, backed by the Freedom Riders, won out. The surviving zealots were not imprisoned or executed — Solomon and Benny argued ferociously for this, pushing hard on the message that the time for killing was over. Instead these reapers would be transported to islands off the California coast. They would be given some simple tools, seed for planting, and materials for building shelters. As long as they wore the angel wings of the Night Church, they were barred from setting foot on the mainland.

“They’ll sneak off the island and come back,” said Nix as they watched the helicopter transports lift off.

Benny did not think so. What he feared — what saddened him to think about — was that those lost souls would find a different escape. Into the darkness through mutual murder and suicide.

The rest of the reapers were given a choice. They could join the construction teams who were rebuilding New Haven and Reclamation, or they could enlist in the American Nation’s Rebuild Now corps and work to spread the mutagen and reclaim the zombie-occupied territories. The only other choice was to join the zealots on the islands.

Not one of them chose exile.

It would be impossible to ever identify former reapers who had killed in the name of Thanatos, but when Benny watched these new “citizens” at work and saw the passion with which some of them helped to heal the damage done… he thought he knew. For many, the question of redemption would be a very personal thing.

Over the weeks since the Battle of Mountainside, the American Nation sent more troops, engineers, medical teams, and others to help integrate the Nine Towns into the new country.

The war was over.

Maybe all wars were over. Just as the old world was over. The new world wasn’t going to be built on a foundation of misery and pain.

Solomon Jones, head of the Freedom Riders, was appointed by President Fowler to serve as the interim governor of California. His first act was to appoint Sally Two-Knives as his lieutenant. Benny wondered how that would look in some future history book.

Someone snapped fingers under his nose, and he realized that people had been speaking to him while his mind wandered. He turned to Chong. “What?”

“I said the new Zombie Cards come out tomorrow.”

“Big whoop.”

“We’re all on them,” said Morgie. “Even me.”

“Let me rephrase that… big freaking whoop.”

“We saw the proofs the other day,” said Chong. “I look heroic… though they’re still making my skin look too green.”

“That’s because you’re a half-zee,” said Morgie. Lilah punched him on the arm. Very hard.

“Owww.”

“He’s not a zombie,” she said.

“I didn’t say he was a zom, I said he was a half—”

Lilah pulled her knife and drove it into the tabletop in front of Morgie.

“Point taken,” said Morgie. He turned to Riot and offered her the plate of corn. She took an ear, hiding a smile.

Benny noted that Riot seemed to smile at everything Morgie said and did. And he seemed to find whatever she did endlessly fascinating. Benny smiled too as he spread butter on an ear of roasted corn.

“What are you smiling at?” asked Nix.

“Nothing,” he said. “Just smiling.”

Nix pushed her knee against his. But it was under the table, where nobody but Benny knew about it.

Benny took a bite of the corn and chewed as he thought about all that had happened. Next Tuesday would make one year since he’d agreed to apprentice with Tom. It seemed impossible that so little time had passed. A year.

He thought about the kid he’d been. The Benny of one year ago had been so mired in assumptions and inflexible opinions, few of which were valid. That Benny had hated Tom, and believed him to be a coward.

Tom. A coward.

Benny smiled and shook his head.

A year ago Nix’s mother had been alive. A year ago Benny, Chong, and Morgie idolized Charlie Pink-eye and the Motor City Hammer. A year ago none of them had ever set foot outside the gates. A year ago zoms were the most frightening thing Benny could even imagine.

So much had happened since.

So much.

Pain and loss. Heartache and blood. Tears and death.

And so, so much had been gained.

More than Benny thought was possible.

The world was not at all what he’d thought it was. And he still didn’t know what else was out there. Europe, Asia, and so many other places were still unknowns, still silent and ominous places. There was a whole new world to explore. Benny wanted to explore it. Nix did too. They weren’t town kids anymore. They weren’t yet adults, either; Benny knew that and accepted it. That would come.

So what was he? Benny knew the answer to that question, and he knew that this answer would be a defining characteristic from now on and all through his life. For him, and for Nix, Lilah, Chong, Morgie, and Riot.

They were samurai.

And even now, as everyone celebrated peace, Benny could feel the pull of the road. He could hear the siren call of unknown places sing to him.

He turned and saw Nix staring at him the way she often did. The way she looked at him when she was tapping into his thoughts.

She smiled and nodded to him.

He nodded back. There was no need to say anything. They both understood on a level that Benny no longer tried to define.

He looked around at all the people he knew, and at all the strangers. There was so much laughter, so many smiles. He didn’t remember it ever being like this. He wished Tom were here to see it. To share it.

This was a better place. Not just this new town, but this new world. So much brighter and cleaner than the old world of rot and ruin, fire and ash.

Jonathan Maberry is a New York Times bestselling author, multiple Bram Stoker Award winner, and Marvel comics writer. He’s the author of many novels, including Assassin’s Code, Dead of Night, Patient Zero, Rot & Ruin, Dust & Decay , and Flesh & Bone . The topics of his nonfiction books range from martial arts to zombie pop culture. Since 1978 he has sold more than 1,200 magazine feature articles, 3,000 columns, two plays, greeting cards, song lyrics, poetry, and textbooks. Jonathan continues to teach the celebrated Experimental Writing for Teens class, which he created. He founded the Writers Coffeehouse, cofounded the Liars Club, and is a frequent speaker at schools and libraries, as well as a keynote speaker and guest of honor at major writers’ and genre conferences. Jonathan lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Sara, and their son, Sam.