Free Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry

said Benny. “I’ll bet it even says so in one of your books.”
    “Early man, perhaps,” Chong said icily, “but we did evolve.”
    Tom laughed. “Go pack.”

15
     
    T HE HARDEST PART WAS SAYING GOOD-BYE .
     
    Benny didn’t have a lot of close friends in town, but there was Morgie. Nix had already said good-bye to him. Now it was Benny’s turn.
    He walked, hands in pockets, through the streets of town, looking at the familiar buildings and houses. There was Lafferty’s General Store, where Benny and his gang drank sodas and opened packs of Zombie Cards. There were three nine-year-olds sitting on the wooden steps with several packs on their laps, laughing, showing one another cool cards. Heroes of First Night. Bounty Hunters. Famous Zoms. Maybe even one of the ultrarare Chase Cards.
    Benny turned onto Morgie’s street and saw the Mitchell house at the end of the block, perpetually in the shadow of two massive oaks. Morgie was sitting on the top step, stringing his fishing pole. His tackle box stood open beside him and his dog, Cletus, drowsed in a patch of sunlight.
    Morgie looked up from his work as Benny walked up the flagstone path. “Hey,” he said.
    “Hey.”
    Morgie bent over the rod and carefully threaded catgutthrough the guides. It was an old rod, made before First Night and beautifully tended to by Morgie. It had belonged to his father.
    “Guess this is it, huh?” Morgie said in a voice that was flat and dead.
    “We might be back,” Benny began, but didn’t finish because Morgie was already shaking his head.
    “Don’t lie, Benny.”
    “Sorry.” Benny cleared his throat. “I wish you could come with us.”
    Morgie looked up, his face pinched and cold. “Really? You’d really want me to come with you—”
    “Sure—”
    “—and Nix?”
    There it was. As quick and sharp as a slap.
    “Morgie, c’mon, man. I thought you were over her last year… .”
    “You’ve been too busy getting ready for your big adventure … how would you know what anyone else was feeling?” Benny started to reply, but Morgie shook his head in disgust. “Just … go away, Benny.”
    Benny stepped forward. “Don’t be like that.”
    Morgie suddenly flung his fishing pole away and shot to his feet. His face was red and filled with fury and hurt. “I HATE YOU!” he yelled. Cletus woke up and barked in alarm, birds leaped in panic from the oak trees.
    “Hey, man,” said Benny defensively, “what the hell? What’s this crap all about?”
    “It’s about you and her ditching me and going off with her on some great adventure.”
    Benny stared at him. “You’re crazy.”
    Morgie stormed down the steps and shoved Benny as hard as he could. Morgie was a lot bigger and stronger, and Benny staggered back and fell. Morgie took a threatening step closer, following Benny as he fell, fists balled with rage.
    “I frigging hate you, Benny. You pretend you’re my friend, but you took Nix and now you’re dumping me and going off together. You and that bitch, Nix.”
    Benny stared in total shock, then he felt his own anger starting to rise. He scrambled to his feet.
    “You can say whatever you want to say about me, Morgie,” he warned, “but don’t ever call Nix names.”
    “Or what?” Morgie challenged, moving in almost chest to chest.
    Benny knew that Morgie could take him in a fight. Morgie was always the toughest of the crowd, the one who never backed down. He had tried to stand up to Charlie and the Hammer at the Riley house, and nearly died for it.
    Morgie shoved him again, but this time Benny was expecting it, and all it did was knock him back a few steps. As he staggered, his heel came down on the fishing rod, and there was a sharp
crack!
    They both stared down at it. They had caught a hundred trout with that rod. They had spent thousands of hours sitting on the banks of the stream, talking about everything. Now it lay snapped into two pieces that could never be mended. Benny’s heart sank. As symbolic