Part 40 (1/2)

”Can't get your head around it, can ya?” there was a smile around Death's words. ”Anyway, I suggest that right now you start walking and get us over that hill, ASAP.”

”Huh? Why?” Tony started walking all the same.

Death was quiet again for a moment. ”Because Tony, you knocked me out. Twice. There's another part of my job I didn't tell you about. One of... guarding.”

”Yeah? What?” Tony asked. He was impressed that Death actually called him by name that time.

Death sighed. There wasn't any other way to hide the truth from the Mundane this time. He would find out sooner or later. And Death was under no constraints to hide this particular issue from him. In fact, a part of him looked forward to it.

”Yeah, well, when I bring Mundanes across, some don't want to go. Not many, but some. And they fight. I bring 'em across, of course, but they still fight. And when they are on the other side, they try to come back, to cross over, again. So, I have to keep watch and put them back where they belong. It's not hard to do, and I have the time to do it in between the other tasks I have, but sometimes, if I let my guard down, or I'm distracted, or I'm, say” Death cleared his throat uncomfortably, ”knocked unconscious...”

Tony stopped walking. ”Oh, Jesus.” His mouth dropped open in disbelief.

”They can cross back over.” Death finished.

”You mean escape?”

Death paused. ”Yeah,” he eventually said in a quiet voice.

”People can cross over.”

Another pause. ”Yes... People... And other things...”

Chapter 52.

The snowdrift trembled once, disturbing the white blanket of silence. Nothing moved for a moment, but then the snow shook for a second time. The forest remained quiet for a few moments more. Crows, overhead in treetops, eyed the white mound. They could feel the ripple of dark energy in the air.

Something was waking up.

Something that should have stayed dead.

Bone ripped its way clear of the snow bank, clawing and swiping its way free of the weight that covered it. Worn claws of about fourteen centimetres in length pushed down on the snow and then heaved upwards. The snowdrift shook again and a huge shape, half dissolved by the elements, emerged from its cold coc.o.o.n. At its shoulders, it stood a thick five feet high. A half rotten snout, as big as a man's thigh, sniffed the air out of instinct. The teeth, exposed in places where the lips had completely rotted away, were shards. Black eye sockets, half filled with white snow, looked ahead. A maw opened wide and tried to scream. Nothing came out.

And even though there were trees and forest debris all around it, the grizzly looked straight ahead, as if it were looking directly at the boatman, who was just a little less than one kilometre away.

Making very little noise in the falling snow, the bear began sniffing at the earth and shambled forward, willing decayed muscle tissue to work.

It moved in a straight line.

Towards Death.

Chapter 53.

Tony was p.i.s.sed off.

”What do you mean other things, man? Why are you being so f.u.c.king-what's the word I want here?”

”Vague? Ambiguous?”

”Yeah, yeah both of those! Just tell me what these things are, why don't you!”

”Don't want you to go crazy, is all.” Death said from behind.

”Crazy?” Tony started walking again. He wanted to scream. ”I'm carrying f.u.c.king Death on my shoulder just after witnessing four dudes' heads explode! And you're suddenly worried about my G.o.dd.a.m.n sanity?”

The thought made Tony sputter in annoyance. He punched Death.

”You feel that?”

”No,” Death said guardedly. ”What did you do?”

”I just punched you in the b.a.l.l.s, man.”

Death's eyes went wide. ”You did not.”

”Did too.”

”Wow,” Death breathed as he stared at the bouncing road below him. ”That's some good s.h.i.+t. Can't feel a thing.”

”Yeah well, it'll probably wear off sometime and when it does, I won't want to be you. Broken legs and smashed t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es, you'll be crying for me to kill ya.”

”Alright, alright,” Death spat out. ”I'll stop being like that. Just don't punch me in the b.a.l.l.s, again.”

”I ain't promising you anything,” Tony said with heat in his face. ”G.o.dd.a.m.n secretive f.u.c.ker,” he added as an afterthought.

”Alright,” Death began, ”These things are basically the recently dead. Or not so recent. If they have no body, that ain't so bad. If they have a body and decide to return to it, well, that's the easy thing to do. So they do that.”

”They go back to their bodies?” Tony asked as he placed one foot in front of another. ”After they're dead? That can't be pretty.”

”No, that can be pretty G.o.dd.a.m.n ugly,” Death said.

”And what do these things do when they're up?”

”Well, what's the first thing you do after a long sleep?”

Tony made a disgusted face. ”They s.h.i.+t?”

Death stared at the bobbing ground for a moment before barking his reply. ”No, they don't s.h.i.+t, you f.u.c.king moron!? Okay, what other thing do you do in the morning?”

Tony's mouth hung open. It came to him at once. ”Eat.”

The answer was dead on. It made Death smirk.