"What are you going to do?" She asked.

"Fulfill his destiny," I said.

She hesitated. When she said we couldn't leave him like this, she meant she wanted me to find a way to save him, but I knew that wasn't possible. I can't explain how, but I had been here before, hundreds of times maybe, and I had tried every way possible to save Archie, including ripping his face off and turning him into Scoop-face. I never succeeded, and Archie ended up paying dearly for my failed efforts. I wouldn't make him pay this time.

Lou left the observatory with the animals and I fought to keep from passing out. I didn't relish the thought of killing a man, especially a man who had helped me escape the facility and one I considered a friend. I pulled my hunting knife from my sheath and gripped it with a shaky hand.

"I wish there was another way, Archie." My voice cracked and changed pitch as I held back tears. "I don't want to do this."

I saw his eyes fixate on me.

"You are Creyshaw," I said gripping the knife with both hands and raising it above my head. I counted to three, took a deep breath, and fell to my knees in a blubbering mess. I couldn't do it. I couldn't kill him.

I felt a gentle tapping on my head. Startled at first, I backed away and then realized it was Archie patting me on the head. He motioned me to come closer. I did as asked, and he grabbed my hand holding the knife and guided it to his chest. I looked in his eyes and knew what he was telling me. I nodded, raised the knife over my head, and reminded myself out loud, "I am Creyshaw."

I threw-up three times after fulfilling Archie's destiny, which meant my stomach had less than nothing in it to keep me from starving to death. I was discovering that hunger is not only painful, but it's exhausting as well. I was so tired I barely had strength enough to descend the stairs. I stopped every ten steps or so and sat down to catch my breath.

I sat on the bottom step on the first floor and hung my head. I was so tired I had forgotten what was left for me to do. I knew I had one last trip to the Land of the Dead, but I couldn't remember why. It wasn't until I saw Lou approach with the package underneath her arm that I remembered.

"Detective King," I meant to say in full voice, but I wasn't capable of it. The words barely escaped my lips.

"We can't wait," Lou said. "Wes and Tyrone look worse than you. I couldn't even wake April up, and you saw Gordy. He's on death's door."

"Listen," I said, "if this doesn't work, you have to make sure that we don't get out of here."

"This will work."

"We don't know that. We don't even know if our next trip to the Land of the Dead will take us to King. This is the ninth day. If one of us gets out of here, we will infect the rest of what's left of this stupid world."

"What am I supposed to do, kill all of you?"

I didn't answer because she knew that was exactly what she was supposed to do.

"You can't ask me to do that," she said as the tears began to fall.

"I'm not asking you," I said. "I'm telling you. We're all weak from hunger. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. The Flish was expecting one of us to give in to temptation and take the others out. Eating them one by one. That would leave one infected individual strong enough to leave this mansion and spread his sickness across the globe. Instead he's got five strong-willed people barely able to stand. None of us will be able to put up a fight. Chain us up, and burn this place down with us inside."

"I'll be alone," she said sitting beside me. I could feel her trembling.

"No, you won't. You'll have Ajax, Ariabod, and Kimball. And you'll have a mission."

"What?" she asked wiping the corners of her eyes.

"Get that Delon picture to Tarek. He'll know what to do with it." With that, I leaned back and lay down on the steps. "I'm so tired."

I felt her shake me. "Don't go to sleep."

I turned to her, smiled, and closed my eyes.

I awoke to the sound of a horn honking. I opened my eyes and groaned as the glare from the sunlight seemed to zap my brain. After a while, I found the strength to sit up and examine my surroundings. The old-timey cars puttered up and down the busy street.

My hand shielding my eyes, I turned to the right and saw the dead boy crouched over me. I propped myself up on my elbows.

"I hope this is the right place," I said.

"It is," I heard Lou say excitedly. She was at the corner of the street. The people of the Land of the Dead were giving her strange looks for her choice of clothing. This time period didn't look too kindly on girls in pants, especially girls in jeans.

I stood up. "How do you know?"

"Because I heard that woman call that man Mr. King," she pointed to a man and woman down the street.

I approached and looked in the direction she was pointing. "That's him." I looked up at the street sign: East 52nd Street. As I panned down from the sign, I caught a glimpse of an elderly man approaching from two blocks away. Fish.

"We have to hurry," I said.

"Why?" She turned and answered her own question. "Crap."

A portly woman dressed in a fine blue dress gasped. "Such language."

Lou and I made a beeline for the detective.

"What do I say to him?" she asked. "He's going to think I'm nuts."

"Probably, but you just have to make him understand."

We reached the Detective and Lou was so nervous that she was out of breath. "Detective King."

The stout middle-aged man turned and looked at her with puffy blood-shot eyes. He looked as though he had not slept in years. He stared at Lou with a peculiar glare. "What is wrong with you, young lady, and how do you know my name?"

"Albert Fish," was all she said to make his eyes brighten.

"What about him? Do you know where he is?"

"Yes, sir. He's coming. We don't have much time."

"He's coming?"

"Listen to me," Lou barked. She was in a full-blown panic. She held out the canvas wrapped package. "This is his. It belongs to him."

The detective took the package from Lou. "What is it?"

"His tools."

"Tools?"

"I don't have time to explain. You can't let him have them. He gets his powers from his tools."

"Powers?" The detective laughed.

"He doesn't get it," Lou said to me.

"Who doesn't get what?" The detective asked.

"You're doing fine," I said.

She sighed. "These are your tools now, Detective King. You can't let Fish get to them. Do you understand? If he gets his hands on this package, more kids will go missing. More kids will die. Do you understand?"

I saw something in his eyes change. If I was right, a little flash of light went off in his brain. He got it. He recognized that he would never understand completely why, but that package was his to watch over and protect. For a brief second, he seemed overwhelmed by the idea, but just as quickly something changed in him and he accepted it. That's when I knew for sure that he was the Keeper.

"I get it, kid. I'll never let it out of my sight."

Lou smiled. "You have no idea how important this is."

He smiled back. "I think I do."

TWENTY-ONE.

We were all gathered around the table in the banquet room, Lou, Ajax, Ariabod, Wes, Tyrone, April, and Gordy. Kimball was lying down by my feet. Everyone except for Lou looked like death warmed over. She passed out the power bars and made sure we didn't devour them too quickly. She did the same with the water. We were all famished, but we were so weak we were having a hard time eating.

"It's over?" Wes asked.

"Must be," April said. "I don't want to eat any of you."

"Wish you felt that way a couple of days ago," Gordy said. He was the weakest of us all.

April put her hand over her mouth as if she just remembered what she had done. "Oh, God... I can't believe..."

Gordy snorted. "Relax. I don't blame you. I always knew you thought I was tasty."

April managed a smile.

"So what now?" Tyrone said.

"Tullahoma," Wes answered. "To look for more comic books."

I didn't say anything. I let them eat. As we gained our strength, we managed to actually enjoy each other's company. It was nice. It was needed. At one point, I saw Wes grab Lou's hand and gently squeeze it. His eyes were full of tears. She put her arm around his shoulder and kissed him on the cheek. I knew then that as much as I wanted to go home, I couldn't, not if it meant losing Lou.

I would rather spend my life surviving the end of the world with her then go back to living in normal times without her. Real or not, she was my one true love.

The End.

Books for Young Adults by R.W. Ridley.

Oz Chronicles Titles.

Book One - The Takers.

Book Two - Delon City.

Book Three - The Pure.

Book Four - The Land of the Dead.

Non-Oz Titles.

Lost Days.