Ex-Communication, Peter Clines [ebook reader online free txt] 📗

had played him like an idiot. Whatever was lurking around their home right now was there because Zzzap had helped the sorcerer. Which he’d only done because he’d been too stupid to tell the others what was going on.

Now he was stuck wondering just what Max had brought back with him. And what it was going to do. And how many people were going to get hurt because of what he’d done.

Something shifted by the door. Somebody was lurking there he didn’t recognize. He turned to get a better look and the figure cleared its throat. “Excuse me? Mr. Zzzap?”

No need to be formal, he said. You can just call me Zzzap. Or even Barry, if you like.

The figure stared at him for a minute. It looked like a boy, maybe ten or so. Zzzap tried to pick out some more details, but it was always tough with strangers. There were only so many particulars he could pick out with a smear of electromagnetic and thermal energy over the visual spectrum. He was pretty sure the boy had blond hair cut spiky-short.

Seriously, he said, it’s okay. Come on in.

The boy took another step. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I can’t understand you. It sounds like you’re humming a lot.”

He nodded and focused on his words. Better?

The boy’s face lit up. “Yeah. I can hear you now.”

Fantastic. I’m Zzzap.

“Yeah, I know. I’m Todd,” he said. “Todd Davidson.” He paused after the name, as if hoping Zzzap would have something to say.

When the boy didn’t continue, Zzzap nodded again. Okay, he said. What’s up, Todd? To save time, the rumors are true—I have the finest collection of sci-fi movies in Los Angeles. If there’s something you want, odds are I’ve got it.

Todd smiled but shook his head. “Nah,” he said.

Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t loan out my comics to strangers. Besides, you’ve probably read them all, anyway. All my favorite titles stopped three years ago. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that civilization collapsed right after Spider-Man made a deal with the devil.

The boy walked forward and squinted at the wraith. “I wanted to know, that is, I was wondering if maybe you’d heard anything from my dad?”

Zzzap cocked his head at the boy. Your dad?

“Danny Davidson. Daniel, but nobody calls him that.”

Not ringing any bells, sorry. A few threads of electricity crackled from his shoulders to the curving rings above his head. He wondered if the boy was lost. A lot of kids had grown up inside the walls of the Mount, and when the Big Wall increased their world tenfold a lot of them had been overwhelmed.

“He’s about this tall,” said Todd, holding up his arm as high as he could, “with blond hair like mine. He used to be kinda fat but he lost a lot of weight just before the zombies showed up.”

Sorry, said Zzzap, still nothing. Where would I know him from?

“What do you mean?”

Is he one of the scavengers or a gate guard or something? Were you guys out at Krypton?

Todd shook his head. “No, we’ve been here all along. Mom and I live over in Fifteen with my little sister.” He turned and pointed back at the door. “We stayed here after everybody else moved out.”

Okay. So where’s your dad?

“Well, he’s … he’s dead. He died just before we moved here to the Mount.”

Zzzap’s stomach dropped. It was a sensation he’d never felt in the energy form before. He didn’t like it.

“Some people were talking about the corpse girl and the magician,” said Todd. “They said you could talk to him when he was a ghost and that’s how he came back to life.”

Yeah … That’s not how it happened.

“But you could talk to him. To the ghosts.”

Not exactly. I mean, yeah, but Max—the magician—he was a real special case.

“Can you talk to my dad?”

Y’know, Todd-buddy, I think this is a conversation you might want to have with your mom. Or maybe Father Andy.

“It was Mom’s idea,” said the boy.

What was?

“Asking you. She thought you could bring Dad back, too.”

Zzzap knew he didn’t have a stomach in the same sense he didn’t have a finger. The energy form mimicked the shape of his body, not his internal organs. But his stomach was churning now.

“I miss him a lot,” said Todd. “Cloddy—she’s my little sister, Claudia—she doesn’t remember him as much, but she was sad for a long time when he died. Mom says she sees him outside the Wall now and then. He’s hanging around because he remembers us, too, deep down inside.”

Yeah, that’s probably it, said Zzzap. Look, Todd, I don’t think you understand what you’re asking me for.

“I’m asking you to bring my dad back.”

I would if I could, he said. I swear I would. But it’s just not how it works.

“But you already did it once. Couldn’t you do it again?”

But I didn’t really do anything, he said. It’s like saying the radio has something to do with writing your favorite song.

The boy scratched his head. “Maybe you could just let me talk to him for a while.”

Zzzap wondered how much trouble he’d get in if he fled the Mount right at that moment. They had lots of solar cells and some storage batteries. I can’t.

“Or Mom. She misses him, too. She cried a lot when we first moved here. I know she’d be happier if she could talk to him for a little while.”

The boy glanced over his shoulder at the door. Zzzap followed his gaze and focused on the far wall. It wasn’t hard to look through objects, it just made everything a lot blurrier. There were at least two dozen people waiting outside. Maybe closer to thirty. Men, women, children. He was pretty sure he recognized Christian Nguyen among them. Half of them were on their knees, their hands pressed together.

Oh, frak me, he muttered. It came out as a blast of static.

The boy flinched from the sound, but only for a moment. “Can you do it?