The Fields of Lemuria by Sam Sisavath Read Free Book Online Page B

finally see the dirt and trampled foliage again. There were still the occasional creatures racing across, trailing behind the others. He wondered if they had gotten lost somewhere. Or maybe they overslept. That made him smile despite himself.
    Back when the woods were clogged with their unending numbers, he had been forced to pinch his nostrils against their smell. It was a pungent odor, undeniable and everywhere at once. Even breathing through his mouth became ineffective after a while.
    Like rotting cabbage left out in the sun…then mixed with shit. Cat shit.
    Climbing the tree instead of running to the closest house for shelter was a no-brainer, especially with everything he knew about Pollard. Not just what Fiona had told him, but what he had discovered about the man from his actions. There was no doubt in his mind that spending a night in any of the surrounding houses would have resulted in a gunfight or capture. So he did the unthinkable (some might even say crazy ; Norris definitely would) and stayed inside the woods.
    Or, well, above it. Mostly above it, anyway.
    He liked to think he was smarter than a squirrel, and those creatures had figured out how to survive the nights. Stay off the ground. It was a simple enough concept, but one that he and Norris rarely embraced unless they absolutely had to, like the first night Pollard’s people chased them into the woods—
    Keo froze in place. He might have also ceased breathing again.
    Two of them had appeared out of the shadows and stopped a dozen or so meters from the tree where he was perched, unmoving. They were standing so close to one another—or were they hunched over? It was hard to tell from this high up—that for a moment they almost looked like lovers holding hands during a walk in the moonlight. Which was absurd, and he realized that quickly when one lifted its head and sniffed the air.
    Can it smell me?
    Why couldn’t they smell him, though? He could smell them just fine, even from a distance. Then again, he didn’t reek like they did. Or at least, he hoped he didn’t. When was the last time he took a shower? Or changed clothes?
    Too long ago. Way too long ago.
    Keo flicked the fire selector on the submachine gun to full-auto. It was an instinctive response, because he knew shooting them did nothing. It didn’t even slow them down, for God’s sake. But maybe if they started climbing he could knock them back down with a well-placed shot to the head. Or in the eyes. Could they still see without eyes? Oh, hell, of course they could. They could “see” without a head .
    If all else failed, he could just smash their faces in with the stock—
    One of the creatures took off, bounding out of his peripheral vision with surprising speed. The second one remained behind, still sniffing the air around it, as if it knew—somehow—that he was nearby, but was unable to locate him. Maybe that even frustrated it. Could they get frustrated? At times he had seen some of the creatures show something that looked like human emotions. Irritation, annoyance, and once, even fear.
    Or was it all in his mind? Was he assigning them familiar human traits in an attempt to make them easier to understand? The mind did strange things when it was confronted with impossible realities. Maybe he was simply coping—
    The creature raced off after the first one, the crunch-crunch of its footsteps fading into the darkening night.
    Keo finally let himself breathe again.
    Close one. That was a real close one there, pal.
    He closed his eyes briefly. Not for long. Maybe a few seconds. Slowly, very slowly, he lowered his heart rate and only allowed himself to relax when he was taking normal breaths through his nostrils again.
    He heard a scratching noise and looked up and across from him.
    The furry thing stood on its hind legs, on the same branch it had appeared on this evening when it engaged him in a staring contest. It had disappeared when the bloodsuckers started showing up, leaving Keo