Hope and Undead Elvis (11 page)

A bleating sound made Hope whirl, afraid one of those black birds might have found them. Instead, some animal the size of a dog blundered down a sand pile toward them, a gray shadow in the early morning light.

Hope pulled out her pistol again. "What the hell is that?"

The animal made the bleating noise again. It sounded like a baby's cry.

"It's a sheep," said Undead Elvis.

"A lamb," said Ash. "Sheep are larger."

"Okay, so what's it doing here?"

"Being our brekky, if you'll pull that trigger, Miss." Ash tossed aside a small hunk of apple core.

"Shoot it? But… I never…" Hope stopped when she realized she had; she'd shot the man who'd killed Gabe.

"Apples are nice, but a nice hunk of protein, nicely seasoned… Don't that sound good?"

Hope's belly gurgled. Her pregnant body agreed with Ash's sentiment. She needed protein for her baby-to-be. "Okay." She raised the gun, squeezed her eyes shut, and pulled the trigger.

Something blocked her from firing the pistol. She opened her eyes and saw Undead Elvis standing with his finger interposed between the hammer and firing pin. "Not like that, Li'l lady. Respect your target enough to look at him in his final moments."

"How are we even going to cook it?" Hope's stomach was turning somersaults in anticipation of a substantial meal.

"I've got a little propane grill in a saddlebag," said Ash. "As I said, I've been traveling a long time, and the durn thing come in handy a lot. Know what I'm' sayin'? Also got salt… pepper…"

Hope squeezed the trigger. The gun's deafening report echoed through the canyon for what seemed like eternity.

The lamb fell over and its blood made a dark stain on the lightening road. Ash took a large knife from a saddlebag. Hope couldn't watch while he and Undead Elvis butchered the animal. She went and sat in The Way to watch the sun rise. She wondered if it was rising on the other side of the bridge too, or if it still hadn't moved from overhead. Did that mean there were two suns? Or two Earths and they'd crossed a bridge between them? The idea made Hope's head hurt. All she knew was that the world had broken, and her child was destined to fix it somehow. She realized with a start that she'd been rubbing her belly with a gentle soothing motion. It comforted her.

The sizzle of cooking meat drifted past The Way and saliva flooded Hope's mouth so hard she had to spit to keep from choking on it. She climbed out of The Way and went over to the grill that was producing such a delicious odor.

Ash and Elvis had tossed the offal into the sand and buried it out of consideration for her. It was easier for her to look at the skinned and cut apart lamb, because she could think of it as something from a grocery store meat counter.

Except… Ash held a bloody lump out to her. She recoiled. "Jesus, Ash!"

He looked pained. "It's the heart. You killed the beast, it's your right."

Creeping horror threatened to overwhelm Hope. "To
eat
?!"

"Yes."

Her gorge rose, but she had nothing to vomit except bitter bile, which she spat to one side. "Ugh. Get rid of it. Please."

"Mind if I burn it?"

"Anything, just so I don't have to see it any longer."

Ash used the blade of his knife to lift the edge of the grill upon which sizzled lamb steaks and dropped the heart down into the flames. It hissed and smoked, adding a strange but satisfying scent to the air.

Hope watched the smoke swirl up into the sky, now more blue than black. She could see the orange of clouds along the eastern horizon. "What's it like east of here, Ash? Does this desert run on forever?"

He speared a steak with his knife, set it on a camp plate, and passed it to her. She closed her eyes and inhaled the heady, complex smell of the grilled lamb.

"There's forest further to the east. Food and water in it."

"People?"

Ash loaded a plate with meat and offered it to Undead Elvis, who declined. "I'm fine, friend."

"Where are y'all headed?" Ash took a bite of meat and fanned at his mouth from the heat.

Hope wasn't going to answer, but Undead Elvis said, "Graceland."

"Graceland… Yes, I can see why you'd want to go there. That's a long journey on a road fraught with peril. If you survive the gauntlet, you'll find peace and safety there."

"Gauntlet?" Hope looked down at her plate and realized she'd already eaten her steak. It had been so delicious she couldn't stop until forced to by an empty plate. Ash served her another portion.

"Not everyone on the road is as rational or contrite as I."

"Contrite? What do you have to be sorry for?"

Ash smiled. "For hurtful words spoken out of spite. Someday perhaps I will be forgiven for them."

"They must have been pretty bad words."

"They were."

Hope touched her tummy. "Maybe my baby will forgive you."

"Baby?" Ash raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. So this guy we met back to the west, he might have been an angel. He said I'm pregnant and my baby will fix this broken world. Crazy shit, right? The Virgin Stripper, that's me."

Ash set down his plate, eyes wide as hubcaps. "A virgin birth? A miracle?"

"Hey, I didn't ask for this. I'm no saint."

New life seemed to radiate from Ash. Maybe he was a pious man, thought Hope.

"Listen, friend," said Undead Elvis. "Before you go, would you help us get the car out of the ditch?"

"Yes! Yes, of course!" Ash jumped to his feet with the spry moves of a much younger man.

Despite full bellies and greasy fingers, the three of them set about freeing The Way from its sandy entrapment. Hope sat behind the wheel and worked the clutch at Undead Elvis's direction, while he and Ash bent their shoulders to the fenders. After several minutes of grunting and swearing, wheelspin and flying sand, The Way found enough traction for Hope to steer it back onto the pavement once more. Now that the sun had risen, she could see all the new damage the hardy car had sustained in the jump and rough landing. Nevertheless, the engine still pulled strong, and the car itself seemed eager to get underway.

"Thanks, Ash," said Hope. "You saved us."

Ash shook his head and grinned. "Not like you've saved me, Hope. Please, let me give you a few things to repay you."

"I can't take a gift from you. You're going to need whatever you've got."

"No, I'm not." Ash's eyes shone in the sun. "You've given me hope. The first I've felt in more years than I can count." And with that, he pulled treasures from his saddlebags and handed them to Hope. "Take it. Please, take it all." He passed along his camp stove, plate and cup, and the large knife he'd used to butcher the lamb. Salt and pepper shakers. A half-used roll of aluminum foil. A Bible.

"Please don't do this." Hope felt inexplicable sadness as he divested himself of his worldly goods. "You'll die."

Ash took her hand in a gentle grip. "I've been waiting to for so very long, Hope. Let me give you this gift before I go to find Paradise."

"You mean that oasis? I told you, it's probably gone."

Ash hopped onto his motorcycle. "Thank you both. You've brought joy to me. I'd forgotten what that felt like." He revved the bike's engine.

"Jesus, you really are going to try it. A hundred and five, Ash! You've got to go that fast!
A hundred and five!
" Hope screamed over the bike's racing motor.

Ash spun the rear wheel, laying rubber like a drag racer, and roared toward the bridge. He looked back once and smiled.

Hope clutched at Undead Elvis. "He's crazy. He's not going fast enough. What is he doing?"

Undead Elvis said nothing.

Ash flew off the bridge. As the motorcycle soared through the sky, he jumped off the saddle, legs together and arms outstretched in a crucifixion pose. He hung there for a moment as the bike smashed into the cliff wall, falling well short of the far end of the bridge.

Light flared, and Asher Harris was gone. A small white bird flapped its wings in his place and climbed until Hope could no longer see it.

She let Undead Elvis hold her as the last echoes of the crash died away. "Is everyone we meet going to die?"

"I don't know, Li'l lady."

"I hope he got what he wanted."

Undead Elvis didn't reply.

Chapter Twelve

Hope and Ashes

The Way rumbled down the highway as the sun made its slow trek across the sky. Hope stayed quiet, keeping the turmoil of her thoughts unspoken. Undead Elvis plucked at the ukulele without much enthusiasm, it seemed. The sand of the surrounding landscape was as pervasive as it had been on the other side of the bridge, but occasional clumps of cacti and yucca poked from it. The mere presence of greenery brought fresh cheer to Hope, and her spirits lifted.

Once, she even pulled over to get out of The Way and smell a bright red flower sitting atop a barrel cactus. It had a faint, fruity scent that reminded her of body wash. She was becoming aware of her own unwashed odor, and longed for a stream or pond with enough water in it to bathe. She promised herself never to take cleanliness for granted ever again. How long had it actually been? At least several days, she figured—hard ones full of sweat and dirt and strong emotions. She wrinkled her nose at stenches real and imagined as she got back into the car.

"Are you going to keep fiddling around with that thing or are you going to sing me a song?" she asked Undead Elvis, who'd been plucking idle notes on the ukulele for hours.

"My pleasure, Li'l lady." He adjusted a tuning peg. "This here song was always one of my favorites. It's a hymn called
How Great Thou Art
."

He played simple chords in counterpoint to his soft, crooning voice. Hope could feel tension melting out of her shoulders as he sang for her. He'd just finished a line, "
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
," when Hope had to interrupt him.

"God, I'm sorry, Elvis. It's a beautiful song. What is that up ahead? Is that some kind of storm?"

A long, dark cloud hung low over the horizon. It roiled and twisted with unsettled but slow movement. Undead Elvis adjusted his sunglasses and leaned forward to peer through the windshield. Hope suppressed a sudden urge to pull off those glasses so she could see what hid behind them.

"I'm not sure, Li'l lady. You see the way that it curves up on one end and then stretches way out?"

"Yeah."

"I think that's probably smoke."

"That would be a pretty big fire." Hope touched her tummy. "Like that forest Ash told us about."

"Could be."

After another stretch of time that might have been an hour, Hope had to agree with Undead Elvis that the cloud was smoke. She could smell hints of it in the hot air that blew in through the open window. "I hope it isn't too bad," she said. "What if the smoke and ash clogs up the motor?"

"What if it does?"

"You know, it's infuriating that you answer questions with questions all the time." Hope glared across the seat at Undead Elvis.

He shrugged. "Sorry about that, Li'l lady. I just don't have the answers you're looking for."

"Nobody does." Hope growled in irritation.

The road climbed up some hills and the air grew a little cooler but much more smoky. The scent of burnt wood triggered an old memory in Hope.

She said, "You know, my dad was named after you."

"He was?"

"Yeah. When I was really little, before my dad left, I remember we all went camping in… well, somewhere in the mountains. I don't think I was more than two or three. I remember we had a red tent, and my dad said to always look for the red tent if we got lost. Anyway, that night we had a campfire and had hot dogs and s'mores. My mom undercooked the hot dogs but we ate them anyway, and I burned my mouth on the s'mores. I remember afterward I lay on my sleeping bag looking up at the stars while the fire died down and thinking it didn't get any better than that." Hope clenched her jaw. "And I was right. A few months later my dad walked out and never came back. We never saw him again. A real deadbeat. Although…" She smiled. "That night at the campground, he still loved me."

"You don't think he loved you after he left?"

Hope snorted. "That's a hell of a way to show it if he did. Leaving my mom, my brother, and me behind. No calls, no cards. Not even for my goddamn high school graduation. I may not have been the best student, but at least I got the stupid diploma. Didn't do me any good, though. I was dancing and stripping by the summer after and that was it until I walked into that bar in Nowhere." She glanced at Undead Elvis. "That seems like forever ago."

The Way went over the top of a hill and Hope braked to a halt. Before them lay a great valley covered in ash and blanketed by a thick pallor of smoke. Blackened and burned tree trunks stuck out of the soft grayness like a nightmarish copy of winter. Flakes of ash floated like snow, carried on the currents of remnant heat from the fire. Instead of the cool of winter, stuffy warmth radiated from the valley floor.