The Gates of Byzantium

EPILOGUE

“We’re going to need a new leader,” Mason said, grinning through that big black hole in his front teeth.

It was dark outside the kid’s room. Very dark, despite the fact that there was moonlight and the spotlights, and the sound of the generator humming in the background could be heard. But it was very dark in the front yard, though Josh thought that might have been because of the ghouls.

They were everywhere, spread out across the yard, spilling over the driveway, flattening the grass as far as he could see. Their dark skin looked like black oceans of tar swaying slowly back and forth under the window. He wondered how terrified he would be if they turned and looked at him all at once.

He pushed the thought out of his head. They weren’t going to turn. They were focused on what was happening in the middle of the yard.

Josh felt a strange sense of fascination mixed with dread at the sight of it moving through the crowd of ghouls. It stood out because the other ghouls were homogenous, devoid of identity. But this ghoul was different. He could tell, even from a distance, that it was female. It walked straight, and if not for the supernatural fluidity with which it moved, he might have believed it was human.

No one had returned from the island. There had been a gun battle the likes of which he had never heard before. At one point he swore he even heard an explosion or two, and all he could think was, Gaby, please be safe, please be safe…

The gun battle seemed like it went on and on for hours, and it sounded like the end of the world all over again. He wasn’t sure how long it really lasted. Maybe twenty minutes, maybe ten minutes, maybe even less than that. It was hard to tell. He was so far away that the pop-pop-pop of gunfire sounded surreal, like listening to a movie. Not even watching a movie, just hearing the echoes of one playing in the theater next door.

She lied to me. Karen lied to me. She didn’t go there to save Gaby. She’s throwing everything at the island.

Lying bitch!

And when it was over and no one returned, he heard the loud rustling of movement outside his window and looked out and saw Karen on her knees, waiting, as ghouls appeared out of the darkness and surrounded her. They came from nowhere and everywhere, and he had forgotten momentarily that they were hiding in the night all around him.

No, that wasn’t true. They didn’t really “hide” anymore. It was where they lived. Where they dwelled. It was their home. He was the one hiding in a kid’s room. They, the humans, were the ones who didn’t belong anymore.

“What’s happening?” Josh asked.

“Karen didn’t follow orders. It told her not to attack the island, but she did it anyway.” Mason smirked. “See, kid, this is what happens when you overestimate your abilities, not to mention your importance in the larger scheme of things. When it’s all said and done, we’re just cogs in the machine. Remember that.”

The female ghoul stood over Karen, and Josh could see bright blue eyes piercing the darkness, almost glowing. The blue-eyed ghoul touched Karen’s hair, seemed to brush it like a mother would her child’s.

Karen was talking now. Talking fast.

The blue-eyed ghoul seemed to nod, then it put a hand under Karen’s chin, and Karen stood up slowly. Karen smiled, but it didn’t last long because suddenly the blue-eyed ghoul’s head was pressed against the side of Karen’s throat and Karen’s mouth opened in a wide, surprised O.

The ferocity and speed with which it happened made Josh take an involuntary step away from the window.

“Relax, kid,” Mason said. “If they wanted us dead, they’d have come in and gotten us already. Front door’s not locked.”

Josh didn’t know how to answer that. Was that supposed to make him feel better?

He walked over to the bed and sat down. The mattress underneath him was still damp from his wet clothes, but he hardly felt it. His whole body was numb. Jesus, was he even still breathing?

“Relax,” Mason said again. “You’re going to hyperventilate yourself to death, kid.”

“What if we run?” Josh asked suddenly.

“Run?”

“Sneak out the back door. Run away before they notice we’re in here.”

Mason laughed. “Have you looked outside? There are thousands of those things out there. Where do you think we’re going to run to? You got a Batmobile I don’t know about? We wouldn’t last a second outside this house.”

“But we can’t just stay here.”

“Of course we can, and we are. We’re not doing shit—”

He stopped suddenly.

Josh stared at him, wondering why he had stopped.

Mason’s eyes left Josh’s, and he turned his head back toward the door.

Josh felt something seize his chest, punch its way through flesh and bone, and wrap around where he thought his soul was. Josh didn’t use to think souls actually existed, but as he stared at the door, he realized how wrong he was.

We all have souls, because it’s staring straight into mine.

The blue-eyed ghoul stood in the doorway, its long, lean body covered in black prune skin like the thousands of others outside. It was the same, but different. He knew, without a doubt, that this creature — this thing—was more.

So much more.

It stood tall, and he could see the womanly curves of its hips, see where its breasts used to be when it had still possessed — and cared about — gender. And when it smiled at him, Josh thought it looked pleased with his response to its presence.

Something inside Josh died.

“Josh,” it said, in a soft, almost feminine voice that traveled across the small bedroom and seized him by the soul and refused to let go. “Josh… We have a lot of work to do, you and I. We’re going to change the world. Are you ready?”