Chapter 8
Rune felt they had gone far enough, so she started setting up camp. "Fire doesn't burn here, so, sorry." There was not really a need for fire, there was an ambient glow that lit things up bright enough, and it was warm. There were no sounds of dangerous people or animals either. There was nothing but the sound of wind. They settled down into some smooth sand under an outcropping.
"You mean we have to fight some . . . 'whatevers' . . . and we can't go back? fuck this!" Kiki said, "No, fuck you, Rune!"
Rune stayed calm, which was unlike her, "I'll get you back, Kiki, but unfortunately, now that we are here, again, my bad, we have to get through to go back to our realm. Which means I have to complete my mission in every single world Shizuko tells me to go to, first, and then destroy the target indicated. If you really want a weapon--"
"Like swords." Val said.
"Weapons can be found on the desert world, we have to go there anyway." Then Rune added, "Even swords."
"Well, whatever, this still sucks, but I kinda had it down that we might be in danger. It now seems a little hopeless." Kiki was consigned to the necessity of possible battle. Nikki had warned her after all, and that was why she had a sharp, double-edged knife in her boot. She was still a little mad at Rune even though deep down inside Kiki knew it was stupid to not know what she was getting into.
Dean kept quiet during the exchange, staying out of the way of the women, but he wanted to open his mouth when it seemed that enmity had developed between Rune and Kiki. He loved them both but had to accept that they were mutual friends to him, and no actual relationship, of that type, existed between them. He was relived when they, at least, found some common ground and balance.
Valentine was instrumental in keeping the peace between the other women, she had an easy way about her, an attitude that came to her naturally, but she used it skillfully when wanted to get her way. She talked to Kiki in soft tones. Like lovers Dean noted. Shortly after that talk Kiki relented a bit, and rested a hand on Rune's shoulder. "I totally think it's your "bad", but I got sucked into this before I knew what was going on . . . so . . . "
They sat in a semi-circle, as if there were a campfire, and Rune talked as if she was a storyteller. "Now I'll let you know how I became a Ghostkiller. On my mother's side, my family has always had one member that was active in this role. Usually it is a man, but since one of my uncles died young, and the other who was the Ghostkiller refused to marry because of the horror he saw as such.
"He thought he shouldn't expose any possible children to what he experienced, I say he had PTSD, but anyway, no one has heard from him for years. I'm an only child, by the way.
“My mother, being born in Japan, was very close to my grandfather, and respected his tradition, sending me to train. My father protested, but since he was third generation Chinese/American, he definitely was not in charge.
"I lived in Japan from the time I was ten 'til I was fifteen, going to school at day and learning to kill evil ghosts afterwards. It was pretty awesome." She smiled.
“Mainly, I was trained in sword fighting, learning styles both ancient and rare, but also I trained in the mystic arts. I learned how to divine the past and the future, what's to come is a little more malleable, but anyway . . . apparently, everyone in 2015 say 'my bad' all the time, but I had to travel . . . "
Dean had a sort of memory, a half reconceived vision that he might have skated into the future with Rune, but he brushed it off as some kind of deja vu.
“. . . And that was after I met Shizuko. But anyhoo, you can rest easy here, on this world, there's not many beings that live here. So we can all sleep at the same time, so why don't we call it a night?”
Nikki simply wandered off behind a hillock and some brush, but she walked, not moving in some unnatural ghostly way, like teleportation or floating, Kiki and Val spoke softly before curling up together; Rune could swear she saw Valentine kiss Kiki goodnight. Rune just shrugged it off, it seemed natural enough to her, then she conferred with Shizuko about their next steps, but she did not curl up with Shizuko, who was all cold and dead feeling.
Dean became curious as to how contact between the quick and the dead would go down in the Ghostworld, since he was becoming passionately infatuated with GG. So he asked her if he could touch her.
"Well, no . . ." She started, then adding briskly, "I want you to, but unless you're a 'Superghost'." She hiked her thumb over her shoulder, indicating Rune's undead partner, "Like 'Well-Girl' over there, then we are limited. We're both very physical in the Ghostworld, but ever so slightly out of phase, we can feel each other but not truly touch."
GG demonstrated, she put her hands to his arms as if to pull him into an embrace, but her hands slipped through his, or more correctly, went into him, giving Dean a cold but electric, prickly sensation. It was definitely contact, but the physicality of acting on lust and love was out of the question. It did console him to see her have to stand directly on the sand and leave footprints when she walked. Maybe Rune could help him find a place to be with Autumn, outside of his dreams. But the day had been very taxing so the warm sand was pliable and comfortable so sleep like he had not had in some time washed over him.
Rune was the first to wake. There was not any actual morning, the light was general and consistent. So she mixed some instant coffee with some water, and drank it cold as she watched the others as they roused. She liked waking up like this, before anyone she was having a "sleepover" with got up. She somehow thought it was funny how differently people passed from sleep to wakefulness. Valentine popped up, twice as perky as Rune ever could be, Kiki was the obvious choice for late-riser. Dean came over to Rune growling about wanting some of that "nasty-assed" coffee that was fucking cold. Nikki cruised back to camp with the same look she always had on her face, while GG, despite not being used to sleeping, was reasonably aware, GG was kind of in between the rest of the party in "morning" behavior.
After toilet activity and eating trail mix from their meager supplies, they started hiking across an endless beach, following Rune. Rune was cheerful, being in her element. We won't make it anywhere in particular today, but we are getting somewhere," She smiled, as proof that they could trust her. "Tomorrow we will get to the next gate, the desert world--"
"Ooh, swords." Val said.
Rune continued, "Bet ya didn't know that this world has very few residents of the human-spirit type, but the Angels and Devils, or whatever you call them, use this land as a staging ground before missions. Oh, yeah, there was a great war for dominance of the multiverse between aligned evil and good factions, before people were around. Your religion might teach about the supremacy of Heaven, which is more or less true, but they do really stage missions against one another, still, or battle for people's souls.
"Another thing, even though we're all physical, most of the ones living here can't really touch you or punch you or whatever, and most beings living here are so wrapped up in their own heads they won't even notice you. Like drones."
"Like zombies," Valentine said, "So they're zombies.
"No, they're nothing like zombies," Rune said, "They're usually victims of violence or suicide-committers."
"OK, zombies. Unless you've never seen a movie . . . well, except that they probably don't eat brains . . . but zombies, then."
It seemed that Rune might have been growling. Even if she was not, she was thinking that swords and zombies were the only two things Valentine had any knowledge about. Val never stopped talking about those two subjects. Actually, it was basically an utterance of the two words, over and over. She also was worried about supplies, Kiki had what seemed like ten pounds of marijuana instead of food. She was glad that there were scattered human settlements, living as Earthborn, even in the Ghostworld. They could replenish their supplies if they found an outpost. Rune just hoped they would get to one such town, before their food and water ran out. She did consider the fact that Kiki did not seem to get the munchies.
Rune was more inexperienced then she would care to admit even to herself, but that fact was becoming more apparent. She had brought along a group of “soldiers” that were in reality just a group of her friends, who were untrained in combat. She had been naive enough to mistake their enthusiasm for actual skills. She was only twenty-two and only had experience as a solo Ghostkiller for about six years, destroying only a handful of enemies and never having had the need for a team.
At that time, she was blaming her partners for making mistakes, despite the fact the problems originated from herself being a poor leader. She was in denial of the fact that she was the individual that was completely unprepared, when she thought about the facts. Valentine had only packed extra clothes, Dean had the foresight to bring canned goods, but no can-opener. Yet it was not all bad, Kiki had some bags of homemade trail-mix that was nonperishable, and she had a sharp knife tucked into her hiking boot that could be substituted for a can opener.
Rune's assessment of strengths revealed all was not lost. Kiki was probably the most capable at taking care of her self, having to raise herself, mostly, and she was streetwise. The ghosts in the party did not have to eat, since they were more physical they could eat for pleasure, but it was not necessary for sustenance.
An inkling of being at fault resonated in Rune's head, but she brushed it away for the time. She certainly had the potential to be a good boss, but it was not developed since she lacked the ability to accept responsibility. Also the fact that she had assembled a good, if not under-trained, team eluded her.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
