Seal reached the road. At least she thought it was a road. It was difficult to be sure given the amount of dirt covering it. “Is this the road they spoke of?” she turned to William.
“Don’t know what look like,” he said. “What road do?”
“Cars can drive on it, and trucks,” Seal said.
“And chickens can cross it,” Beth added, which wasn’t helpful.
“Don’t know car or chicken.”
“Cars go vroom and chickens go cluck,” Beth said, imitating each.
William shrugged. His chains rattled.
“Never mind.” Seal decided it would take too long to explain. She confirmed they walked on a road when she saw a line of old telephone poles stretching into the distance. One laid across it and she lifted Beth over it. Eventually, the thick dirt covering the road gave way to old, broken asphalt. William continued behind them; his rattling ever present.
“Why are you following us, William?”
“To protect and see father,” he said.
“You don’t need a brain? Or courage,” referencing the Wizard of OZ with sarcasm that the patchwork man did not understand.
William answered seriously. “No. I have endless courage.”
“Tin Man needed the heart,” Beth corrected Seal.
“I have two hearts inside,” it said. “Can feel move. If want.” William put one of his hands on his lower right side.
Both Seal and the doll exchanged glances. The older sister imagined the face real Beth would have made. “Maybe you need a bride then,” Seal teased, to lighten the mood.
“Bride good,” it mused, “but I original and only.”
“Why did your father make you?” Seal asked.
William stiffly shook his head. “To stop the Sisters.”
“How did that go?” Beth asked.
“We fail.”
Seal wondered how this construct had left his master’s service and found its way to her ancestors. “Why did you leave your father?”
“Given my freedom and to protect,” William said, bringing the discussion back in a circle.
“Is he this way?” Seal pointed down the road.
William nodded.
“Well,” she paused and pointed. “You lead the way.”
Beth hobbled ahead of William, then circled behind him to follow Seal. She did not want to accidentally be stepped on. As she did so, she flapped her doll arms up and down and clucked. “And that’s what a chicken does, big guy.”
“No chickens here,” he responded. “But you funny, little thing.”
Further on, the three spotted a dust cloud far from the road. William turned towards it. He hunched over and pushed his face forward as though it helped him focus better. After the pause, he warned them. “Danger come. Hide. I protect.”
“Hide where?” Seal said. She saw nowhere she could go.
“Anywhere find. You run now.” William answered. “I will come when safe.”
Seal picked up her sister and ran down the road, staying on the hard surface to avoid kicking up dust and alerting whomever approached. She hoped William, the patchwork man, would live up to his word. It had not taken long for her to be grateful he had followed. Trouble came quickly down here.
***
Three Paleskins ran across the open plain together. “You had to piss off Mistress Perdita’s top lieutenant, didn’t you, mop top,” the shortest Paleskin, named Alvy, complained. The Paleskins with the bad haircut he insulted was known as Tork. The third of them, Len, never talked because he had no tongue. They were in exile. In the poor graces of the Sisters.
“How was I supposed to know it would catch fire?” The three had been assigned to oversee the gathering of oily sand to prepare for a gathering the Sisters were planning.
“It’s oil, you dimwit. Oil is always flammable.”
Paleskins often hunted in the wilderness out of boredom, or for extra sustenance, but these three had been stripped of their adornments. Any gold or gems they had earned were now gone. Their bodies were streaked with black stains caused by the filthy smoke from the conflagration they had started. Their servants had been burned in the accident, wasting precious food. Any Paleskins they ran across would know these three were outcasts by sight and would shun them.
“I’ll make it up,” Tork said. “We’ll get back in good with them.”
The short one’s doubt plain on his face. “If we don’t find food soon, Len and I will feed on you first.” Len, bigger and stronger than the two combined, found himself the target of their ingratiation as they fought for an advantage over the other. Len’s current allegiance remained unknown.
They had to make it on their own and find food, before they became too weak. If they went too long, they would become nothing more than shells, fully conscious, but unable to move, trapped forever in bodies that would slowly mummify. Other wasting Paleskins ringed the Sisters’ palace as punishment, chained tightly to the steep rock walls. The three had gotten off lightly, considering.
“I’ll come up with a plan. We’ll buy our way back in,” the mop topped Paleskin said.
“Unlikely,” Alvy said. But they were in this together and the three of them together had a better chance.
All three looked young and were likely little more than past teenagers when they had turned into vampires. The Sisters had recruited them into their army to help swell their numbers. These three, dumb as they were, were little more than fodder. The Sisters had plans for when they broke out of the Hunting Ground and it wouldn’t be to hide while humans did as they pleased.
Len grunted.
“I smell it too,” Alvy said. His nose crinkled above bared spiky teeth. “Could we be this lucky?”
“All I smell is oil and sweat from us.” Tork said, his bangs covering over his eyes.
“I smell it. Something… living.”
“You lie,” Tork said. “We’ve been out here too long. It’s like an oasis. You’re imagining things.”
“That’s a mirage, you idiot and Len smells it too.”
The huge Paleskins nodded. He pointed into the distance.
It wasn’t long before they approached a man, larger than Len, at least eight feet tall. Its patchwork skin stitched tightly over its face. It remained motionless. Its chest stayed still. The small Paleskins smelled William closely. “It isn’t quite it. This smells like old leather. But what is it?” Alvy asked. He pushed against its shoulder and pulled on the chains, but William did not budge. “It looks like it has been here a long time. It’s not conscious, whatever it is. Must have run out of whatever powers it.”
“Look, that way,” Tork said. He spotted Seal’s trail. Glowing footprints led into the distance. “It is a person. Alive.”
“Like I said!” Alvy congratulated himself. They all knew this would be their ticket back into the Sister’s good graces. This would more than get them in. They’d make upper ranks for sure.
“Let’s get…” William sprang towards Alvy, cutting him off mid-sentence. He grabbed the short Paleskin. William’s fingers dug deep into his shoulders and brought him to his knees. Len, the big mute, tackled William. The patchwork man barely staggered. He threw Alvy to the side. The Paleskins rolled hard across the road.
William and Len grabbed each other and wrestled. Len punched William over and over as the patchwork man grabbed him in a bear hug. Len, though strong, was not strong enough. William overwhelmed him. Alvy leaped up and rushed at the two of them. William shoved Len into Alvy and bowled both of them over. Alvy felt like a tumbleweed.
Tork jumped on William from behind. He had snuck around and now rode on his back. He sunk his teeth into the behemoth’s neck. It tasted like the oil that covered them. Black liquid oozed down the creature’s neck. William tried to grab at the agile Paleskin but could not reach far enough behind him. His chains rattled and made a noise that echoed to Seal. It spurred her on.
William flailed back and forth, trying to shake Tork off, then they both fell over. Len had regained his feet and tackled the patchwork man at his knees. William landed on Tork, dislodging him, but the other two were on him, punching and kicking. He swatted at them, hurting them with the relentless thumping of his hands. William felt something sharp penetrate him from behind.
“I told you guys you always have to take the big ones down from behind.” Tork held a four-foot-long section of rebar and pushed it deeply into William’s side, penetrating his second heart. He leaned on the long reddish-brown rod as hard as he could, driving it further into William. Len joined in and helped him finish the job.
Black oil dripped down William’s back and along the protruding rebar. His movement slowed, then stopped altogether. He sat motionless, the rebar sticking out like a knitting needle stuck into a ball of yarn.
The three kicked at him hard, over and over.
Alvy finally broke them from their frenzy when he pointed at another figure approaching them from the distance. “What’s that?”
“Let’s not find out. We don’t want to share.” He turned towards the tracks Seal had made. The prints had faded but were still visible enough. The three would follow the dim glow and there would be nowhere Seal could hide.