“You sounded almost as if you hope it will happen,” Kurt observed. “The Fallen winning.”

“Not hope. But I think it’s more likely than not, so I’m planning accordingly.”

“I don’t disagree. Anything to deal with Teacher, is it? Even deals with the devil.”

Shadow Interlude 5.y

Jonathan held the diaper-clad zombie in his arms with a ginger care.

“I understand not wanting to give it up. This is something special,” he said.

“We might not give it up. We’re here about the price, so we can see what our options are,” the guy said.

The couple Jonathan was talking to were fidgeting. They were young—twenty-five or so, and the guy had tattoos up and down his arms, geometric, with Q-bert on one arm. The woman had a cartoon character partially hidden by her sleeve. As whimsical and bright as the tattoos were, they looked tired and worn out, and their clothes were somewhat washed out in color.

“I had friends who were into preparing for the end of the world,” Jonathan said. “Stockpiling food, guns, and learning survival skills. They loved the zombie movies, naturally.”

“I’m a fan too. I never did the prep stuff though, except for having a chainsaw in our display cabinet. I don’t know if that counts,” the guy from the couple said.

“The scary movies we watch are always tied into the fears of the times. As things got worse and the bad guys seemed to get ground, we got more zombie movies. The inevitable demise.”

“Absolutely,” the husband said. “But whenever we had a movement like that, there was always a turnaround. Things got better, didn’t they? And when they did, so did the movies.”

“Deconstructions, reversals, parodies.”

“I liked the parodies,” the husband said. He indicated the doll. “Like Lenny.”

“Second date,” the wife said.

He glanced at his wife. “Lenny there was an anniversary present.”

“He’s great. You shouldn’t give him up if he’s that important,” Jonathan said.

“He’s important,” the guy said. He looked at his wife again. “But we can’t stay in the tent cities. It’s more important that we have a proper house. We’re selling a lot of the things we brought over.”

Jonathan saw the wife pass her hand over her stomach.

“Ah,” he breathed the sound. “Got it.”

“It’s hard,” the guy said. “Silly as it sounds.”

The man looked like he might cry, and it was because he was looking at selling a life-size doll of a baby with a bite mark in its middle and flesh missing from its snarling face.