Free AfterLife by S. P. Cloward Page A

the buildings was organized into rows of fully ripened
corn.
    “It’s almost time to start harvesting,” Emily said as they
drove down a small gravel driveway. “Next year this will all be soy, but I like
the corn years more. I feel like we have a little more privacy.”
    They reached a paved road and turned onto it, heading in the
direction of the setting sun.
    “How long ’til we get there,” Wes asked, not knowing where
they were.
    “Oh, about an hour or so. I’m taking us to a slightly busier
bar than some of the ones closer around here. You’ll have more chances to
practice.”
    Wes nodded and pulled down the sun visor to check his hair
in the mirror. It was the first time he’d seen himself since the rebirth
process. “What’s this?” His hair had been dyed from its natural brown color to
a red just a shade darker than Emily’s. His eyelashes and brows had been
colored to match. “Why am I a redhead?”
    Emily laughed. “Oh, you haven’t seen that yet? Well, you’re
going to be my brother when we go on location for training. I thought it would
be easier for you to become a redhead than it would be for me to change my
beautiful hair to match yours. I’m so glad you like it.” She turned and smiled
at Wes, taking her eyes off the road for just a moment and then returning them.
    “You could’ve at least asked me.” Wes looked at himself in
the mirror for another minute and then lifted the visor. He figured he looked
alright as a redhead.
    “Are you done admiring yourself?” Emily asked as Wes finished
with the mirror.
    “Yes, for now, anyway,” Wes said sarcastically. “But, I am
extremely vain so every once in awhile I like to verify that I still look
good.”
    Emily laughed. “Okay Mr. Vanity, let’s talk about feeding.
There are two types. First is what we call grazing. Grazing is making quick eye
contact with as many people as you can throughout the day. It takes off the
shortest amount of the antemort’s time. This works best in busy venues where
people’s minds are preoccupied with other things. We’ll try some of that
tonight at the bar. Bars and nightclubs are perfect for grazing since it’s not
strange to make quick eye contact with people like you’re checking them out.
You’re also close enough to sync. Other great places are conventions, tourist locations,
mass transit, malls, and concerts; where there are a lot of people.
    “To graze you simply make eye contact and soul-sync for a
few seconds only, but not too deeply or they will pass out. The link only needs
to be long enough to gain some energy from them. After that you break contact.
    “Not all antemorts respond the same after these simple
syncs; some don’t appear to be affected at all while others may still be in a
trance or seem a little confused. That’s why busy places are best. Someone
usually bumps into them or a loud noise brings them out of the trance.
    “The second form of soul-syncing is a full connection. This
is a strong connection and almost all antemorts will pass out. During this form
of feeding you can feed more quickly and in larger quantities.
    “Remember, when you feed you’re taking life from that
person: minutes, days, years. It depends on how much energy you take. At
AfterLife, we never want to take more than a few days, if that. It’s enough to
keep us going without really hurting the other person. You might discover you
don’t want to stop so you have to stay in control. There’s a certain feeling of
high, a euphoric feeling that we get from a full sync. Since we don’t really
have a lot of physical feelings anymore, it can be quite addicting.”
    “How do you know how much life you’ve taken?” The fear that
he might accidentally take an antemort’s life was disconcerting.
    “Well, think about when you would take a drink out of a
bottle of water. While you were drinking you could tell just by the feel how
much water was in that bottle, and you could estimate how much you’d had