"It is, by a pretty large magnitude, if it works."
"I tracked you in Chicago, you know. It looked like your group was avoiding the zombies I sent after you. When I spoke to Jimbo he said Red told him stories about you too, that you could see us with your mind."
Max said nothing.
"I know that humans get something when they kill us. I don't know what it is, but Ella, she was that woman the old guy with you killed in Chicago was human."
"I know, I could tell."
"So you do have some sort of sight, I knew it. You can tell who is human and who is dead, can't you? I can do the same thing."
"That's…not comforting. I don't think I like being able to see things the way you do."
"I think I have greater range than you, close to four hundred miles."
Max shook his head, "I can't go that far, not even close."
"But you have other abilities don't you?"
"Not that I've noticed."
"Ella was fast and healed quickly, her eyesight was improved, her other senses were sharper. But she seemed to go rotten after she reached a certain point. She was sex crazed and wanted blood like a zombie."
"Could you control her like a zombie?" asked Max, thinking about that made his skin crawl.
"No, but she said she was starting to be able to boss around the lessor zombies around us. I'm glad she is dead. She was annoying. So Max, when you look at me, what do you see?"
For the first time since he met her, Max engaged his secondary vision and looked at Aubrey and her companions. He was surprised and Aubrey read the look on his face with satisfaction.
"I think I know what you see." Aubrey said smugly, "Or rather, what you are not seeing with your mind's eye."
"I don't see anything." Max said, concentrating on getting a mental picture of the woman sitting less than a foot away from him, "You're off my radar completely!"
"Good. I hope it works against Sentry as well as it does against you. Now we have to get you back to your friends."
"Just drop me off at the campground. I doubt they've left yet."
Aubrey tilted her head sideways and looked at Max closely, "Can you see them?"
"No. They are out of range…"
"So your range is shorter than I thought, we're only a couple miles from where they picked you up."
"But we walked all morning!" protested Max.
"Didn't you keep an eye on them as you went?"
Shaking his head Max said, "It doesn't work like that. I have to focus, unless they are really close."
"So try now. If it helps they are over in that direction." Aubrey pointed into the woods.
"Can you see them?"
"No, they are living. Didn't Jimbo explain this to you? I thought you were best friends or something?"
"He killed my wife."
"So you owe him one." Seeing the look of anger on Max's face Aubrey asked, "Too soon?"
"I loved her."
With a sigh Aubrey said, "We've all lost people. You're nothing new. I was out of line. I'm sorry. I didn't lose all emotion when this happened to me, but sometimes the line of appropriate behavior gets blurry. I really am sorry."
Max nodded, but his eyes still smoldered.
"As to your question, no I can't see the living that far. I seem to be limited to a mile or so, but as I've gotten stronger I've noticed that buildings and trees don't seem to interfere much anymore. When I first came to, I was lucky to be able to see people through a wall. But undead are like lights in the darkness. I can see them all, like maggots crawling across the corpse of the world. And I can tell how strong they are too, it is color based." said Aubrey.
"Red told me…well he said people were like rainbow colors full of swirling life, he didn't really mention about what other zombies looked like. But what you are describing is what I can see too." Max said.
"Have you noticed that you can see zombies farther out than living people?"
"Not really. I haven't tried much. I knew Red could see people a long way off, like a hundred miles."
"I think it varies among us. It probably does for you too. Maybe you should try to extend your range a little. Maybe it's like a muscle; you need to exercise to get better using it."
"I'll get around to it in all my free time." Max said.
"Will you know Sentry? I mean will he stand out? Will you be able to tell what he looks like from a distance without seeing him?"
"I am pretty sure, yes. He'll be like you."
Aubrey laughed, "Oh, he is nothing like me! C'mon, get in the car."
"No bindings?" Max asked, more than a little surprised.
"I don't tie up my allies Max. And you are my ally. Trust is hard to come by. Plus…"
"I don't have any weapons anyway." Max finished for her.
Aubrey didn't deny it, but gestured for him to get into the back with her. Once they were strapped in Aubrey told the driver to head back to the last exit and go west. Another Humvee, a half mile behind them, was already turned around facing north on the southbound lane, it pulled out behind them after they passed.
"Friends?"
"Yes. No need to worry."
The vehicles pulled off the highway onto Raccoon Valley drive.
"How far is it from the highway Max?" Aubrey asked.
"Not far, less than a mile, on the left."
"Okay. Got it." said the driver.
Max concentrated a moment and determined the driver was off the radar too. "I can't see him either. I thought you were guarding the secret? Not handing it out like candy on Halloween?"
Aubrey smiled, "Jimbo taught me a few other things too. Among the things he taught was how to mess a little with lessor zombie's memories. I can go in and edit their minds. I can put in false memories, I erase things I don't want them to know. It's not too precise and I've already had a few of my experiments go bad, but I am getting better. Nathan there couldn't explain to anyone why they can't see him. Could you Nate?"
The driver shook his head, "I have no idea what you are talking about."
"See?"
"That is…that is cruel. Can you change them back? Or is it a one way ticket?"
"One way…unless I am very careful. Like I said, I have a few experiments out there. I can't just press a key and revert to a saved copy of their memories, not exactly. Jimbo was pretty cagey about that, warned me to be careful and he only showed me the very basics of it. I had to do a lot of practice in the last few days."
"Is that it?" asked Nathan, pointing a hand at the Campground sign.
"That's it." said Max.
He pulled into the campground and Max scanned the area. "They left." he said, stunned that his friends would leave so quickly.
"Pragmatic. Are they carrying cell phones? Are you?"
"No… Wait! I've got a radio. God! How did I forget my radio?" Max fumbled in his jacket to turn it on. It was supposed to have a five mile range. Talking into it he said, "Stewart? Bill? Anyone?"
Silence reigned in the back of the Humvee.
"Looks like you're riding with me for a while more then. Do you think they went back?"
"What?"
"Do you think they are still trying to finish the mission to kill Sentry or do you think they went back?"
"Probably they would go on. But without me…I mean, they can't find Sentry, so what would be the point."
"Look at you, mister important! I doubt they gave that much thought, probably they figured out they could find him somehow. If they went back we might be screwed. Nate, pull up the gps and tell me where this road goes."
Nathan did as instructed and Aubrey looked at the screen. "This road by passes the city, if they cut over here they could rejoin the highway….about there." She said pointing to the map. "Nathan, take us back to the highway and we'll cut them off. We'll drop Max at the highway 162 and 75 exchange."