Free Last Rites by Kim Paffenroth Page A

to roll toward Will, and she felt some resistance, something pulling on her left elbow. She looked down to see a tube running from her arm to a bottle hanging up above—more things she hadn’t seen in years.
    Keeping her left arm still, Rachel managed to nudge Will with her other hand. He woke with a start and looked at her. The smile spread across his face immediately. “Oh, Rach, you’re awake,” he said. “How do you feel?”
    “Better,” she replied. “Not great, but better. What happened? Where are we?”
    “We found this city. They call it New Sparta. They brought you right to this hospital, got you hooked up to the medicine.”
    Rachel considered the tube and bottle again. “Medicine? How do they have medicine? It’s all too old. It’s been years since we had any.”
    Will took her hand. “They make it, I guess. They took one look at you and said you had malaria. They said it was common around here, with all the mosquitoes, but with drugs you should be better in no time. I was so afraid you wouldn’t make it. I didn’t know what to do.”
    Rachel smiled at him and noted how his countenance brightened. She so had him hooked. It was nice to be wanted so much, to have so much power, especially after nearly losing everything and being reduced to a wandering meat puppet with no control. How could she have been glad, even for a moment, to be rid of life and all of its perks—like having a gorgeous man who loves you and who’ll do anything for you? She squeezed his hand—and if it were possible, he looked even more enthralled by her.
    Rachel stopped smiling as she remembered something that bothered her. “Where are Truman and Lucy?”
    Will lowered his gaze. “They took them away.”
    “You mean they—um, they killed them?” Rachel asked. She was grateful to be alive, but knowing those two were shot in the head would still make her feel like shit, especially for poor Truman. He wouldn’t hurt anybody.
    Will looked up. “No, not that.”
    “Oh, thank God.”
    “They said they would put them to work.”
    Rachel frowned. “Work? That’s weird.”
    “Yeah. I don’t know how exactly things are done around here. But they said some of the dead do work, if they’re smart enough.”
    “And Lucy went along with that?” Rachel was sure Truman would’ve been okay with it—but Lucy? No way.
    Will nodded. “She did. I asked her. I couldn’t just force them to go with the people here. And she was—I don’t know. Not exactly emotional, but like she was really determined to go through with it, if that’s what it took for you to get better. Passionate—maybe that’s the right word.”
    “Really? Wow.” The idea of Lucy being passionate about saving her took some getting used to.
    Will leaned closer and spoke more softly. “And then she kissed me. I think.”
    Okay, that was just too weird. Rachel cocked an eyebrow at him. “She—kissed you? Where?”
    “On the forehead. I think. It was so lightly, I couldn’t tell. I don’t know why she did it.”
    “Kiss? Not bite? Come here.” Will leaned forward and Rachel put her hand behind his neck to pull him closer, as she inspected his forehead.
    “No. Really. She just barely pressed her lips against me. She was acting really strange, but she’d already said she wanted to stay here so you could get better, so I didn’t argue. Don’t worry, Rach, she wasn’t being like a—well, like dead people usually are. She was being like a real person.”
    No, no marks, and Rachel ran her fingers all over his forehead a couple times. “That’s really strange, Will. I don’t think the two of them even kiss. I mean, not that I’d watch. It’s too gross.”
    Will sat back up and took her hand again. He chuckled. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I told them we’d come get them when you got better. I don’t think they’ll like it here too much and we shouldn’t leave them too long, wherever they took them. People can be mean. I don’t want them to get