AfterLife by S. P. Cloward Read Free Book Online Page B

“It’s hard enough to know you’re stealing days from the life
of a living person just to survive. The thought of taking everything from
someone else is selfish.
    “Wes, look at me.” Wes pulled his attention from the water
and turned toward Emily to give her his full attention. “We don’t usually go
into this much depth about the Truly Dead with a new Mortui until they’ve been
around for awhile. However, recently we’ve lost a good number of our members to
their ranks because of the promise of one day being able to be alive again. If
they ever figure out how to possess the body of an antemort, they will steal
that person’s opportunity at life as much as any murderer would.” Emily placed
her hand on Wes’s arm and studied his face. “Regardless of how you, I, or any
Mortui died, we don’t have the right to take the opportunity of life away from
someone else.”
    After staring into his eyes, Emily’s hand dropped back onto
her lap and she straightened to look out over the ocean. They sat in silence
and watched the waves rolling in and out. “Life is about choices,” Emily
finally said. “I just have this feeling you’re a good guy.”
    Wes had always thought of himself as a good guy. Sure, he’d
made mistakes during his life, but for the most part he considered himself a
good person. “I like to believe I am.”
    Emily continued softly, “I’ll tell you this. Being dead
doesn’t rid you of your conscience. You will still feel good and bad about the
things you do. A good person will always feel a little guilty when he feeds off
an antemort. Pure and simple, we are parasites and there is no getting around
it. You’ll discover the longer you’re dead the more you crave feeding, and
you’ll hate yourself for the cravings.”
    “I’ll have to take your word on that for now,” Wes said. “I
haven’t fed on anyone yet.”
    “Don’t worry. I’ll teach you all about it. I’m going to be
your trainer you know.”
    “You are? What does that mean?”
    “Well, we go out for some hands-on training. You’re going to
be my brother. We’ll move into a small town somewhere, usually near a college
where it’s easy to feed. Then after your training, you’ll be placed with a
companion in a larger city and you’ll get to start making antemorts’ lives
better. Do you think you can pull off being my brother?”
    “I guess, I think so.”
    Emily began to laugh. “I really love the training period. I
love pretending to be someone else! I just love teaching new members! In the
short time I’ve gotten to know you, Wes, I’m looking forward to training you.”
    “Whoa, a college town? I don’t have to go back to school, do
I?”
    “No,” Emily said, laughing again. “At least not yet. You can
decide that after you’ve been in the field for awhile. Many Mortuis decide they
want to go back to learn new things so they can grow and improve. It’s that
whole self-actualization thing. You’ll have plenty of time to learn or try
anything you want.”
    “So, why do we have to live near a college?” Wes wondered
why location was so important.
    “Well, to be completely honest, it’s for the food source.
You always want to stay near areas where there are young antemorts in large
numbers. You’ll find that you get more when you feed from a younger person. We
don’t feed from babies or small children, though. A mind too young will sever
very easily. Their souls haven’t had enough time to adjust to their bodies. Oh,
and you can’t feed off animals. It would be so much easier if we could, but it
just doesn’t work – the wrong kind of energy or something.”
    “I really do have a lot to learn,” Wes said, feeling
slightly overwhelmed with all they’d talked about.
    “We can head back now, Wes. We’ve been soul-synced long
enough. They should be done with your body.”
    “How do we go back?”
    “Well, I’ve synced with you so I’ll break our connection. When
you break a sync, you just think