Ascended

I caught up to Max just outside the town.

“Hey!” I called out, but he didn’t stop.

I grabbed his shoulder, spinning him around to face me, “What was that about?”

Max stumbled as his forward momentum was changed. Fear covered his face and his hands were just barely shaking. I was confused, there was nothing in that abandoned town that should have rattled him this deeply.

“What?” I tried to think of the right question, “What’s going on?”

Max looked around nervously, “It’s nothing.” He started to turn back around, “We should get moving.”

I grabbed him, “That wasn’t nothing.” I turned him back to face me, “I need to know what that was about.”

“It’s…” Max sighed, “I don’t like being in the open like this.” He pointed his thumb south, “Can we go now?”

I thought about letting it go, but he was holding back on me. When we encountered our first pack of zombies, I needed to know why he had fled, because I’d need to know how long he’d have my back.

“No,” I shook my head. “That’s not good enough. I need to know why you ran out of the town back there.” He started to speak, but I cut him off, “And don’t give me that line about not liking being out in the open.” I waved my hand at the emptiness around us, “No sane person likes being exposed, but that doesn’t mean they run from an empty town.”

He looked down at his feet and kicked the dirt. He wasn’t going to make this easy.

“Look, we can stand here waiting for you to talk until a zombie pack finds us. Then, if we survive, we can wait until the next one, and the next one.” I bent down so I could look him in the eyes, “Until you talk or you die. Your choice.”

I could tell that got his attention. He stood up a little straighter and looked at me. For a moment, I thought he might try to run.

“I’m from the islands,” His voice trembled as he began. “My father was sent as an ambassador to the continental kingdom.”

That didn’t surprise me. The island kingdom might be very strict about trading, but they still traded with the mainland.

“So?” I urged. I was starting to regret stopping him out in the open like this. Without a Bokor to deter the lone zombies, it was only a matter of time before one saw us. I needed him to hurry up and finish his story.

“The mainland gave us an abandoned town to fix up.” His voice cracked and tears started running down his face.

I didn’t need him to finish the story. The incident he was referring to happened just over ten years ago. Zombies had attacked the town the second night. Despite there being Bokor there to defend it, the zombies had slaughtered everyone. At least that’s what we had been told during our history lessons before we became apprentices. It was a warning against becoming too comfortable and not moving people into a place until the walls were finished. If he had been in the town, I couldn’t imagine what he must have seen.

“It’s okay,” I put my arm on his shoulder. “We can get water other places.”

He smiled, “Thank you.”

I headed off down the path. Max would freeze at some point during a fight. With demons like that plaguing him, there was no way of knowing when that would be. I shook my head, a Junk apprentice indeed.