Zomblog 05: Snoe's War by T. W. Brown Read Free Book Online Page B

appearance, he had the expression of a man who had been caught in some terrible act. He also looked like he did not care and that I had just interrupted him in the middle of something very important and he wanted me gone. Not because he—like the others—was embarrassed by his actions. Rather, I was keeping him from getting back to it and he really wanted to resume whatever he had been doing a moment ago.
    “Do you know who that is?” Bob asked.
    “I could care less,” the pudgy man remarked, setting down a long metal rolling pin that was slick with blood.
    “She is Snoe Gainey,” Bob whispered like it meant way more than it should.
    In a flash, the pudgy man was now studying me in a way that I was not at all comfortable with. And were it not for my mother and what I had heard regarding her death. I might have noticed…or paid attention to that look.
    I pushed past and took a spot beside the table this man was strapped down to and I tried to keep my focus on his face…such as it was. He could only really look out of one eye, and that had to be rough considering that it was barely a razor-fine slit. I tried to imagine what this man might look like in a normal situation and really could not. He was a bloody mess, and he was so swollen and misshapen that it looked like a huge lump of clay that had been tossed on the floor for the children to do with as they wished.
    “You say that a woman was hanged the other day,” I said. “What makes you think that it was my mother?”
    “Because…” His voice was barely above a whisper.
    I had to struggle and strain not only to be able to hear his words, but also to be able to decipher them. The man’s lips were probably twice their original size as well as being split in multiple spots. I could make out one particularly ugly hole where it was obvious that his lower teeth had come through the flesh. Also, I could tell that several of his teeth were broken and could not begin to imagine how this sort of damage was actually inflicted.
    “The president made everybody come out to witness it. She announced it on a bullhorn and had a huge banner hanging above the gallows. She gave you an hour to turn yourself in…and you didn’t.” All of that took what felt an eternity to say as the man coughed, choked, and spat through every word.
    “You are a liar,” I said, leaning down close to him. “My mother was in the cube enduring the same fate as the president of Sunset Fortress did…I heard with my own ears before that expedition I was sent on ever left.”
    The man shook his head very slightly. He coughed again and blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth. I was having a very hard time looking at this without feeling some sense of pity. After all, it was Dominique, not this man, who had killed my mother—one way or another.
    “All I know is what was said. And the woman was able to speak before she was hung…although I don’t think she got to finish. She told you to run and never look back.”
    Once again it was what felt like a lifetime until the man could get all of his words out, but I heard each and every single one very clearly. I asked him to describe the woman who was hung and he did…perfectly. It was certainly my mother he described. So then I asked him to describe the woman who was currently in the cube. I could feel something in my chest starting to squeeze. I had a feeling.
    “…and her face has a nasty bite scar.”
    Phaedra .
    I felt my knees go weak again. It seemed like I was spending a lot of time trying not to faint. My head swam with this revelation. If what he was saying was accurate, then I had, in fact, caused my mother’s execution.
    I had not even considered that perhaps Mama Lindsay’s girlfriend, and also a good friend of mine, a woman named Phaedra Woods, might be what Dominique had been using as leverage against my mother until I had surrendered. And now, in my haste, I had made the choice to run.
    My mind was reeling with all of the bits