Page 25 of Hollow Child

“Wait. Your first name is Charles, isn’t it?” I realized. “I always forget that Boden is your last name.”

“My name is actually Charlie,” he clarified. “Charlie James Boden.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t have two Charlies,” I said.

“Those are all great names, and I’m sure you will make a great choice,” Boden said, but he seemeddeflated. “I should go check on Garrison. If I don’t see you later, have a good night.”

After he had gone, Max laid and rested his head on my belly. I asked him to sing to us, and he slippedinto the soft French lullaby that I loved the most.

16

Remy

At the front of the boat, my hands were wrapped around the paint-chipped railings, and the pine trees along the shoreline were flying by. It seemed like we were going quite fast down the river, but then again, maybe I had forgotten what it was like to travel on a moving vehicle.

A few hours ago, I had gone down to the engine room to see how this all worked. Garrison tried to explain, but I had never been mechanically inclined. He, Boden, and Serg were taking turns shoveling coal, which seemed like dirty, hard work. I offered to lend a hand and do my fair share, but when they declined, I hadn’t pushed.

After that, I roamed around the boat, looking for any errant zombies that might be on the loose, but it did appear that we had taken care of all of them in the lobby. I did find a family of rats who seemed quite happy living in a nest inside a mattress in an empty room, but I left them to their own devices. They were so small, I doubted Ripley would even bother with them.

By the time the sun was low in the evening sky, I found myself alone at the front of the boat.

“Hey,” Max said behind me.

“How are you doing?” I asked him.

“I’m good. Stella had some seasickness, and she’s napping now.” He leaned against the railing next tome. “Wow. It really is beautiful out here.”

I looked back and realized he was right. The amber sunlight lit up the tops of the lush trees, and the dark blue water flowed around us.

“Yeah, I suppose it is,” I agreed.

“How long until we’re at Emberwood?” he asked.

“Garrison thinks we’ll make it to the end of the line by nightfall,” I said, repeating what he’d told me.

“What is at the end of the line for us?” Max asked. “The waterfall?"

I nodded and reached into my back pocket, where I stored my carefully folded up map. We boarded the boat at Priest’s Mill, and I traced my finger on the thick squiggly line that marked the river until it stopped at the waterfall labelled Grizzly Falls. Above that, nearly an inch away on the paper, was the place marked Emberwood.

“We’ll camp out on the boat tonight near the waterfall, and then we’ll head up past the falls and to the town. Maybe another day or two,” I said.

“How are we getting up the waterfall?” Max asked.

“Lazlo said there’s a trail next to it.”

“And you trust him?”

I was taken aback. “Why would you ask that?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged and turned sheepish. “You always told me that I should never trust strangers, and I don’t know him. You don’t even know him that well anymore, and he’s a total stranger to me.”

“Good to see you did absorb that lesson after all,” I muttered. “But yes, I trust him, and I trust the map. I mean, it’s gotten us this far.”

He nodded but he stared off in the distance. “Yeah. I just worry this has been too easy. It’s been a long walk, sure, and I know it’s been difficult for Stella. But the zombies have been leaving us alone.”

“Maybe there aren’t as many anymore,” I said, butmy mind went back to the copper mine full of zombies, thousands of them all trapped inside. “Or at least most of them are out of commission.”

I folded up my map and put it away, then I rested a comforting hand on my brother’s shoulder. “You’re under a lot of stress right now, and it’s totally reasonable to be anxious and worried. But we’re almost to the town. Stella and the baby are going to be okay.”

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