Read Rising: Parables From The Apocalypse - Dystopian Fiction for Free Online Page B

chair.  “Patzy, is that you in my head?”
    “Yes … is it?  Yes … it is says it.”
    Leekasha dropped her water and rested her face in her hands.  “You’ve been in my dreams … my nightmares.  Why would you do that?  Why would you torture me like that?”
    “Just thoughts … not torture.  Sharing thoughts … nothing much.”
    “Are you kidding?” Leekasha hissed back. “You’ve been in my head since we met.  Keeping me awake most nights and making me think I’m crazy.  You need to stop.  I have enough to worry about these days.  I don’t need you rummaging around through my brain while I’m sleeping.”
    “Not rummage … not crazy … thoughts just.  Coming redcoats coming.”
    “Redcoats? You mean the British?  That’s ridiculous.  Why would they come here?”
    “Come for you … me … her … him … us … all … come.”
    “I don’t understand you.  You’re not making sense.  Even less sense than the last time we talked.  Just get out of my head and let me sleep.”
    “Soon gone head clear … soon gone.”
    “Not soon enough for me.”
    “Missed I … go … out … side … screaming … stopping … go.”
    “Jesus, why can’t you speak in full sentences?  It’s the middle of the night, I haven’t had a decent sleep in days, and you’re speaking in fragments.  Full sentences would be helpful here.  Maybe I could understand what you wanted.  Maybe I could help.  Then maybe you’d leave me alone and I could get a good night’s sleep.  I bet you don’t torture Christa like this.  Why me?”
     
    No one answered.  Five minutes passed and still silence.  All Leekasha could hear was the hum of the ventilation system.
     
     

Breakfast Planning
    Christa and Leekasha sat silently eating breakfast the next morning in the cafeteria.  It wasn’t unusual for one of them to be quiet.  Part of why they grew to enjoy each other’s company was not just that they had a shared zombie lineage, but that one always seemed to be up when the other was down.  They had a knack for knowing when the other was down and what to say or do to lift the spirits of the other.  This morning was different.  Neither one of them had much to say to the other.  General Chambers walked by their table and said,
    “You two look like you haven’t slept in a week.  Maybe you should both go back to bed.”
     
    Leekasha looked over at Christa and said, “He’s right.  You do look like hell.  What’s your problem?”
    Christa put down her fork and pushed her food away.  “I’m fine.  I got plenty of sleep.  I’m just worried, that’s all.”
    “Worried about what?”
    “I can’t hear her anymore.  The voices.  Patzy.  I used to hear her in my head all the time, now she’s gone silent.”
    “You’re kidding me, right?  Are you messing with me?”
Christa looked up. “What do you mean?  Messing with you how?”
“That crazy old bitch has been keeping me awake for nights.  I’ve been having nightmares all week.  She woke me again last night and kept talking to me even when I was awake.”
    “Oh, thank goodness. I was so worried.  I tried to go see her, but there’s been personnel all over that floor lately.   I thought they had done something to her.”
    “Geez, I wish they would do something to her.  Then maybe she’d stop freaking me out.  You want her in your head?  Doesn’t that drive you crazy?”
    “Maybe at first.”  Christa smiled.  “I got used to it.  Once I knew who it was and why she was there I didn’t mind.  She just wants to help.  She’s lonely.  She’s sort of like that grandma in the old folks’ home that never gets any visitors.  She’s just happy to have someone to talk to, or talk at.  She wants to help.  That’s all.”
    Leekasha took a few bites of her food.  “Well, she’s got a strange way of showing it.”
    “You just need to listen better.  Stop being afraid of her, and just listen.”
    Leekasha took a