Grip of the Shadow Plague

It was decided that Warren and Dougan would go talk to Rosa, Tammy, and Javier inside the hacienda. Neil and Mara helped Warren and Dougan tote their bags into the house, leaving Kendra and Gavin alone with Hal, who had been appointed to show them around the preserve.

"Don’t that beat all," Hal said once the others were out of sight. "The sky starts falling around here, and they send us a couple of teenagers. No disrespect intended. First thing an able mind learns at Lost Mesa is that looks can deceive."

"Wh-wh-who died?" Gavin asked.

Hal raised his eyebrows. "If they didn’t tell you, I’m not sure it’s my place."

"Javier was injured at the same time?" Gavin wondered.

"So I’m told," Hal said, hooking his thumbs into the belt loops of his jeans. The movement made Kendra notice his heavy silver belt buckle with a majestic elk engraved on the front.

"Hot today," Kendra said.

"If you say so," Hal allowed. "Monsoon season is under way. We saw rain two nights this week. Things have cooled off a few degrees since July."

"Wh-what are you going to show us?" Gavin asked.

"Whatever you like," Hal said, flashing a smile that showed a gold tooth. "You two are getting the V.I.P. treatment, in part because you could end up with the R.I.P. treatment. Heaven forbid."

"D-d-do you know why we’re here?" Gavin asked.

"None of my affair. Some foolishness up on Painted Mesa, I expect. Something risky, judging from Javier. I’m not one to pry."

"Tammy was working with Javier and whoever died?" Kendra asked.

"That she was," Hal affirmed. "Things went awry, so they called in the cavalry. You kids been to a preserve like this before?"

Gavin nodded.

"Yeah," Kendra said.

"Then I reckon you can guess what the cow is for." He jerked his head toward the domed structure. "We call her Mazy. She’s been skittish lately, so don’t slide up too close, especially when she’s eating. A few folks live in the pueblo over yonder, but you’ll have rooms in the house, for which you’ll be grateful, once you feel the draft from the swamp coolers."

"What about the building that looks like a hangar?" Kendra asked.

"That’s the museum," Hal said. "One of a kind, for all I know. We’ll save it for the finale." He picked up a covered white plastic bucket with a metal handle and slung it into the bed of the truck Neil had driven. Pulling a set of keys from his pocket, Hal opened the passenger door. "Let’s take a ride. We can all squeeze up front."

Kendra climbed up and scooted into the middle. Hal sauntered around to the driver’s side, using the steering wheel to pull himself up. "Nice and cozy," Hal said, turning the key in the ignition. He glanced over at Kendra and Gavin. "Don’t tell me you two are sweethearts."

They both hastily shook their heads.

"Now, don’t go protesting too much," he laughed, backing up the truck before starting down a dirt road. "Aside from the buildings and Painted Mesa, I know this place looks like a whole lot of nothing. But you’d be surprised at the hidden springs and ravines and sandstone mazes. Not to mention that most of the activity around here takes place beneath the surface."

"Caves?" Gavin asked.

"Caverns that would put Carlsbad to shame," Hal exclaimed. "Some individual chambers could house an entire football stadium with room to spare. I’m talking about no fewer than seven elaborate cave systems that go on for hundreds of miles all told. I expect one day we’ll find how they all interconnect. If this place were open to the public, it’d be the caving capital of the world. ‘Course, as you might expect, you never know what a spelunker might run across in the tunnels below Lost Mesa. Better to stay on the surface, enjoy the gorgeous gorges and the beautiful buttes."

"What kind of creatures are in the caves?" Kendra asked.

"I make a point of not knowing. One of these days I’ll kick the bucket, sure enough, but curiosity will not be my downfall. That said, you don’t have to go looking to know those caverns teem with every manner of haunt and bugaboo that have plagued the human race since time began. Here we go. Take a gander up ahead."

They came around the side of a bluff, bringing into view an old Spanish mission with a single belfry. The brown walls of the building rose and fell in gentle curves. The truck drove around to the back, where they found a cemetery enclosed by a low wall.

Hal brought the truck to a stop. "This and the pueblo are the oldest structures on the property," he said. "One of the most memorable features is the boneyard. It not only houses the biggest zombie collection in the world, it’s one of the oldest to boot!" He opened his door and got out.

Kendra turned to gauge Gavin’s reaction, but he was already climbing down as well. She heard the tinkling of many bells coming from the graveyard. "Zombies?" Kendra asked incredulously, sliding out of the truck, soles slapping the dirt. "As in dead people?"

"Not people," Hal clarified. "Not like you and me." He retrieved the plastic bucket from the back of the truck. "They don’t have any more brains than a leech. And they aren’t any more human either."

"Is this safe?" Kendra asked.

Hal led the way to a short iron gate in the cemetery wall. "Zombies have only one drive. Hunger. Satisfy that drive, and they aren’t too harmful. We’ve got as good a system here as I’ve ever heard of."

Kendra followed Hal and Gavin through the gate and into the graveyard. None of the headstones were ostentatious. They were small and old, white as bone, worn so smooth that only a few occasional letters or numbers were faintly visible. Planted beside each grave was a bell on a small pole with a cord attached. Each cord disappeared underground. Of the nearly two hundred bells in the graveyard, at least thirty were ringing.

"Took some doing," Hal said, "but they got these zombies pretty well trained. It was done before my time. When the zombies get hungry, they ring their bells. If they ring long enough, we bring them some mash." He held up the bucket. "Long as we satisfy their hunger, they stay put."

Hal walked over to the nearest clanging bell. He crouched, lifted up a clear tube that ran into the ground, and unstopped it. Then he took a funnel from his back pocket.

"Mind holding this?" he asked Gavin.

Gavin held the funnel in the tube while Hal took the lid off the bucket and began pouring goopy red fluid. Kendra looked away as the chunky liquid sluiced through the tube. Hal quit pouring, stopped up the tube, and moved to the next active bell. Kendra noticed that the first bell was no longer ringing.