Aftermath of the Reckoning

Chapter 9

Zoey spent part of the morning refilling the flask with purified water and collecting some edibles. They feasted on pecans and yellow persimmons, both managing to stifle complaints of the fruit’s bitter taste while satiating their hunger.

She estimated they’d need two days to cover the thirty miles between their current location and the True Sight camp, much of her guesswork depending on Patch’s health. The red area on his neck had receded and he seemed capable of standing without much difficulty.

Sitting outside the cave entrance, they finished their meal. Zoey asked, “Patch, how are you feeling now?”

“Head still hurts a bit but the fever’s gone.” Gazing around, he explained, “Only problem is my eyes, feel like I’m looking through a sheet of paper. I see light, dark, gray...that’s about it.”

She considered the layer of red still coating the whites of his eyes. “You said you heal fast, that’s your ability right?”

“Yes, and I can absorb the injuries of others I touch.”

Zoey guessed as much though she’d never heard of such an aspect before. “Is that what you did to me the other night?”

Patch nodded. “I know you asked me not to go near you. I’m sorry.”

Zoey warmed a bit at the thought. “And Ice?”

“Yes, I absorbed his head injury.”

She couldn’t help but feel partially responsible for both of his ailments, what if he exceeded his limitations? She asked, “Is it possible for you to absorb a permanent injury like paralysis or dismemberment, something that you couldn’t heal from?” She wanted to say blindness but feared the answer too much.

“I don’t think so, though I’m not sure I’ve ever tried.”

Somewhat relieved, Zoey turned her attention to the day ahead. Each day they lingered in Harvester territory reduced their chances of survival. They needed to start walking.

She looked at him. “Patch, we have to try to walk as far as we can today. Can you do that?”

Patch got to his feet and flashed a radiant smile. “Don’t worry about me. After that breakfast, I feel like I could walk five hundred miles.”

Distantly Zoey remembered a song she’d heard as a child, 500 miles, or something like that. Leaping to her feet, she reached out, offering her hand to Patch. “Alright, let’s go.”

When Patch didn’t take her hand, she grasped his. His eyebrows raised almost imperceptibly and then she felt his warm hand clasp around hers. “Lead the way, Zoey.”

A glow of reddish heat bathed her cheeks. She almost felt glad that, at this moment, he was blind.

***

Pennyworth Milos paced back and forth across the floor of the old warehouse, paying no attention to his assistants as they moved food, water and clothing in and out of the building. As a tall, heavyset man in his late thirties, Pennyworth exuded an aura that commanded respect. Prematurely gray and thinning hair made no attempt to conceal his alopecia. A dirty white button down shirt barely managed to enclose his prodigious girth.

For years now, he ran the primary trade post for the True Sight. Situated in a town formerly known as Piedmont Missouri, the tribe of over seventy members lived off the surrounding land. Everyone worked. Hunters, gatherers, tailors, and even the town doctor, they all came to him for trading goods and services.

He too worked hard earning and maintaining his reputation. That meant he kept his commitments; he delivered as promised when promised. As such he expected the same of others. This thought not least on his mind as he pondered Zoey’s tardiness.