Dust and Decay (Benny Imura 2)

THE THUGS WALKED BENNY AND NIX OUTSIDE, AND AS THEY EXITED the hotel it was like stepping into a weird modern version of the ancient Roman circus. There had to be more than two hundred people gathered in the field behind the hotel. Bleachers made from planks and pipes had been erected, and these were completely packed by a laughing, yelling, jeering crowd. The scene was lit by dozens of torches set atop tall poles, and their light cast the whole scene into a fiery unreality, where every pair of eyes reflected flickering flames. The whole area was fenced in by three walls made of armored wagons that had been parked tightly together, and the front was the entire back wall of the Hotel Wawona. On the right-hand side, between sets of bleachers, was a huge circus tent whose flaps were closed. Guards stood in a long row in front of the flaps, and on the top of the tent, painted in huge red letters, was the word BELIEVE.

Benny saw that the amphitheater surrounded seven large pits dug into the bare earth. The crowd cheered and yelled and laughed and made obscene jokes as Benny and Nix were led to the edge of the first pit. The dozens of guards were armed with knives and swords and spears. No guns, Benny noticed, and he thought about that. Were they afraid of wild shots in so densely packed an area? Or was there some other concern?

“Where are all these people from?” whispered Nix as she bent close to him. “Who are they?”

Benny shook his head. “I don’t know. Other towns, maybe. Or settlements. Families of bounty hunters …” His voice trailed off as he realized that he knew a few of the faces in the crowd. Not bounty hunters, but people from Mountainside! Not forty feet in front of him was Mr. Tesh, who owned a stable near the reservoir; and over by the circus tent was Barbara Sultan and her husband. They were corn farmers. He saw his high school gym teacher making a bet with an oddsmaker; and a few yards away from him was the woman who owned the feed and grain store on Main Street. He pointed this out to Nix, and she gasped.

“That’s Mrs. Rosenbaum!”

When the woman saw them looking at her, the smile on her painted mouth flickered for a second; then the man next to her made a joke, and they both burst out laughing. It was madness. These weren’t just strangers, these were people they knew. People they saw every day. He wondered how they managed to come here. What excuses and lies had they told to hide the ugliness of their appetites?

“I hate them all!” snarled Nix with incredible viciousness. Ever since they had learned that they were in the power of Charlie Pink-eye’s brother and father, she seemed ready to explode. Her eyes were filled with a glaring brightness, and her hands were shaking badly.

Don’t go away from me now, he begged silently, but when he tried to take her hand, she snatched it angrily away and stared at him as if he were an alien from Mars.

The buzz of the crowd suddenly changed as Preacher Jack and White Bear walked with their heads up, proud as kings, into the center of the amphitheater. The audience erupted into thunderous applause. White Bear encouraged the applause with upward waves of his big arms.

Nix leaned close again. “Want to hear something funny?”

“Um … sure, Nix,” he said carefully. “Seems like a great time for a joke.”

Her eyes glittered like glass as she nodded toward White Bear. “I actually like his plan.”

Benny almost smiled. “Sure. Except for the slavery part.” He nodded toward the crowd. “I wonder how loud they’ll be cheering when White Bear’s goons are putting them to work herding zoms and building fences.”

“Shaddup!” growled Digger, cuffing them again.

Preacher Jack raised his arms, and the crowd instantly fell silent. It was so quiet that Benny could hear the crackling of the torches and the popping of the canvas on the circus tent.

“My brothers and sisters,” Preacher Jack began in a voice that was deep and strong, “thank you for coming here to share in this auspicious event on this glorious day. A day we will all remember for as long as God grants us breath. As they did in biblical times, we hold these games in celebration of an important event. We are about to begin writing a new chapter in the storied history of mankind. We will begin a new holy book chronicling the foundation and consecration of a new Eden.”

The crowd exchanged looks, surprised at what appeared to be a sermon and uncertain where it was going.

“I wanted to share this day, not only with my family and friends”—and here he gestured to White Bear and then to the audience—“but with my congregation as well.”

A ripple of hushed conversation whisked through the crowd.

“I asked my congregants to join us in celebrating a new era of peace and fellowship as we poor sinners prove ourselves worthy to share in this paradise. Join me in welcoming the members of the First Church of the New Eden!”

The crowd began to applaud, and the guards by the tent turned and began pulling back the canvas flaps. When the crowd saw that there were hundreds of people sitting in tightly packed rows of folding chairs, they applauded with greater enthusiasm, welcoming more folks to this party. Then one by one the people in the audience stopped applauding until there was only one person—a silly drunk in the far corner—clapping; and then he, too, stopped. There was a long pause in which silence reigned over the entire amphitheater, and Benny could feel Nix stiffen beside him. His own heart was hammering.

Suddenly a woman screamed, and the crowd surged to its feet. There was instant turmoil as people fought to move away from the congregation. The guards waded into the packed mass, shoving people, clubbing some, yelling at them. Preacher Jack still stood with his arms raised, a smile of great joy on his face.

Benny stared in total horror. There had to be five hundred folding chairs set in rows in the tent. Each chair was filled, but each congregant was lashed to the chair by strips of white cloth that were wrapped around their legs and chests. They all writhed and struggled against the bonds. Not just to escape … but to attack.

The entire congregation was zombies.

“Oh my God!” gasped Nix, and shrank back, but Digger grabbed her shoulder and kept her in place. Benny had been unable to move and stood stock-still.

White Bear reached under his cloak of bearskin and brought out a pump shotgun that hung concealed on a sling. He pointed it at the sky and pulled the trigger. There was a huge BOOM!

Everyone froze.

“Sit down!” he roared, and racked the slide on the shotgun. There was another moment of silent indecision, and then the crowd obeyed. In the stillness of that moment they could see that the zoms were unable to rise or attack. A few people crept back to their seats, then more, and within minutes the entire crowd was back in their places. Nobody was smiling except for Preacher Jack.

And Nix. “Did you see the looks on their faces?” She giggled. And that was when Benny realized that Nix had crossed over into some other place.

Preacher