Read The Land of the Dead: Book Four of the Oz Chronicles for Free Online Page B

story.”
    “What story?” Gordy asked rubbing his wounded shoulder.
    “I knew it,” Lou said joining our conversation. “We’re back in the comic books.”
    “I don’t think we ever left,” I said.
    “You lost me,” Gordy said.
    Wes waddled toward us. “Another comic book?”
    April scampered toward us. “You guys, don’t leave me alone with those things.”
    I looked over at the Throwaways. They were still amused by the prospect of eating. Even the one without a face. He… or she… or it rubbed a Frito up and down its featureless face. Tyrone sat a few feet from them and stared at them without a shred of emotion in his eyes.
    “Stevie,” Lou said ignoring April. “He had a lot of comic books.”
    “That doesn’t make sense,” I said.
    “None of this makes sense,” Gordy said.
    “It makes perfect sense,” Lou said, “or are you forgetting about Stevie’s little Takers masterpiece?”
    “No,” I said. “But each Destroyer has its own Storyteller. They don’t all come from Stevie.”
    “Kid,” Wes said, “just cause Stevie had a bunch of comics don’t mean he made ‘em all.”
    I wanted to argue with him, but I couldn’t. I’d gone through the comics in Stevie’s room, but I didn’t look to see if he had created them all. I was just looking for the one about the Takers.
    Wes could tell his logic made sense to me. “I say we track our way back to Tullahoma. Get ourselves over to Stevie’s house and find his comics.”
    April looked confused. “You guys are sure into comics.”
    “Don’t look at me,” Gordy said. “This whole conversation is about as geek-a-fied as it gets.”
    Lou grunted. “Try to pay attention, you two. The comics are… road maps. We can use them to find out what’s going to happen before it happens.”
    “Just before,” Wes said. “We can’t forget about that. What if we find these comic books? Could be same rules apply. We read it and these… destroyer things will come after us.”
    I started to walk away. “They’re going to come anyway.”
    ***
     
    I woke up several hours later to the sounds of Ajax and Ariabod grunting. They were sitting near the store entrance signing to each other. The conversation was intense. I feared that they may even start pounding on each other.
    I found Lou sleeping nearby and nudged her awake. “I need your signing skills,” I whispered.
    She wiped her eyes and I almost felt guilty for waking her up. A good sleep was something that was few and far between in this world, and I hated taking that away from her, but then again this was a war.
    She yawned and sat up. I pointed to the two gorillas. She looked at me and nodded as she climbed to her feet. “This better be good.”
    She moved closer quietly. “They’re arguing,” she whispered.
    “No kidding,” I whispered back.
    “Ariabod doesn’t like the Throwaways.”
    “They take a little getting used to,” I said.
    “Ajax doesn’t like them either, but he…” she snickered. “The big dumb ape trusts you.”
    I smiled.
    “They don’t know where they came from.”
    “We’ll figure it out,” I said.
    “No,” she answered. “You don’t understand. They’re saying they don’t belong.” She watched the two gorillas sign back and forth. “Something about families. There is no family…” She groaned. “They’re going too fast. They’re saying something about family history.”
    “Family history?”
    She studied the gorillas more intently, even taking a few steps forward. “The Throwaways aren’t in the family history. That’s what their saying. The Throwaways aren’t part of the folklore. They don’t belong.”
    I stood next to her. I looked at the gorillas with a suspicious glare.
    “What’s wrong?” Lou asked.
    “If they know who doesn’t belong, then that means they know who does. I wonder what else they’re not telling us.” I stormed off towards them.
    “Oz,” Lou said.
    I ignored her and kept walking.
    “Oz,” she said