Twenty Bodies

Chapter Six: Birthing.

The town's folk and others managed to dig up twenty graves. Ace knew he would probably be dead after doing just one more, or even before that if he was honest with himself. The big men of the town lifted him up and carried him, Ace now being unable to hold his own weight.
As the men holding up Ace walked between the graves, looking around at the field of corpses, a woman pulled on the shirt of one man.
"Please, mister, my god please! I lost my two boys. The devil took them and poisoned them with dysentery. Please mister, I beg you, I’ll give you anything!"
Although she was young, the grief of losing her two boys had aged her significantly.
"Put me down, it's okay. I'll do it" Ace's voice was hard to hear as he was now struggling to talk.

Two little ginger boys, twins, laid in the grave holding hands. Both were wearing overalls. Again, the smell was evil but now people were just ignoring it and were more focused on being reunited with their sons, daughters, mothers and fathers. The men placed Ace down and he laid a hand on one of the boys. Of course after a few seconds the first boy started to reanimate his ginger locks, spitting again a fiery red. Just as Ace was going to touch the other little boy, he began to reanimate on his own. Again, the ginger hair coming first and then both of them alive, shooting up to life. The brown in their eyes building to a bright honey brown.
Ace felt himself diminishing by the second. He was now coughing up blood and his fingernails were turning black and falling off. All his teeth were now gone.
"Ace you need to stop, you are going to die!" Flo pleaded.
"I'm as good as dead now. I need to..." a fit of coughing followed.
"That's it folks! Jack- Ace ain't doing no more. I'm sorry but that's just it"
The families around the graves began to beg Ace, shouting and offering him their farms, money and women. Anything he wanted just for him to perform a miracle one more time for them. Not before long, there wasn't even a single soul looking at Ace but rather all were arguing amongst themselves.
Ace was fading in and out of consciousness seeing black, then red. Everyone continued shouting until they finally looked at Ace, who was now holding up a shaking arm. One by one everyone returned to silence. Willy went over to Ace and couldn't help but think how unrecognizable he now was compared to the man he had met just a day ago.
Willy bent down and put his ear to Ace's mouth and after a minute or two, straightened back up.
"What did he say?" Flo asked.
Everyone was looking at Willy.
"C'mon old timer, what did he say?" said the deputy.
"Everyone get your dead out of their grave and place them next to each other" he said in an urgent manor.
"You want us to what?"
Flo looked at Willy and saw that his eyes were full of tears.
"JUST DO WHAT THE MAN SAYS!" she shouted.
And so everyone once again did what they were told by Flo. Those who hadn't done so yet took their loved ones out of their grave, naked as the day they were born and placed them next to each other. Some old, some young.
A line of twenty naked corpses being a very unusual sight but these were very unusual times. Some of the bodies had fully decayed and were more representative of skeletons. One in fact was a skeleton, but the majority were only grey. The smell was unfortunately something out of the devil's own mind.

"Okay folks, now make sure they are all holding hands. Don't miss a single person. They should all be holding hands"
The town folk looked confused but made sure they were doing just that. When the bodies of all different genders, races and ages were linked as one, Willy looked at the deputy and nodded. The deputy nodded back and they made their way over to Ace, who was covered in sweat and his black eye had already began to turn yellow to match the other. Willy and the deputy dragged him over to the circus of corpses and placed him down next to a little girl who was holding hands with an old woman.

The sun now was beginning to set. It had taken them nearly into the night to move the corpses and an orange hue was hugging the chapel. Ace lifted his arm to touch the young girl whilst the crowd anxiously watched. This was it but the crowd still felt as if families reuniting and being whole again was too good to be true. Just as Ace was going to place his hand down, Willy caught his wrist mid air.
"You do this and it works, this is the end" Willy said, looking at Ace.
The crowd started muttering again and shouted to let him go and let him do it.
"You sure this is what you want, friend? I can take you away, I won't think any less of ya"
"I do, Willy" his voice still shaking and husky. "I'm sorry I never figured out who I am... But it was a pleasure meeting you Willy... truly"
Willy let go of Ace's hand and turned away, a tear streaming down his face. Ace's hand landed on the girl's shoulder.

The first girl came back. Her little face growing red and freckles appearing. Then the old woman next to her. Then the man next to her, and so on. A tidal wave of life ran through all of them. The skeleton turned out to be a rather large man with a white beard. One by one their eyes shone bright and they all woke to the land of the living. The smell of death was gone from the cemetery, lives were blossoming like summer flowers and celebrations were becoming merry.
Willy turned back to Ace and held his hand. Ace, with his last strength, showed a smile to Willy.
Just as everyone was celebrating and crying and cheering, Ace's body began to turn into a sand like substance. Starting at his feet, then to his legs, coursing up his body until it reached his smiling face. Ace was gone.
Willy was still holding his hand, but now he only had the dust of his friend in his palm.