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Rune’s bluntness made Emma flinch.
Looking peeved, Macy blurted out, “That’s nonsense!”
Emma moved in front of Rune, taking charge of the increasingly emotional situation. “Macy, Rune is a medium. That’s why he came with Juan and me. To help you realize that your son isn’t in that decaying corpse. His spirit is tethered to you because you haven’t let him move on.”
“Bullshit! Mediums are scams.”
“No, ma’am. I’m the real deal.”
“Prove it.”
Squaring his shoulders, Rune glanced to one side and waited a few seconds before he replied. “Clive says you’re stubborn, but you have to listen to the truth.”
Macy scowled. “Lewis could have told you my husband’s name. Besides, he’s not dead. He’s with his mother and brothers.”
With a weary sigh, Rune shook his head. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but he met his end two weeks ago along with the rest of his family. They got overrun in the middle of the night.”
Macy rushed at Rune, coming so close to him her nose nearly touched his. Wagging her finger accusingly, she shouted, “How dare you lie to me! Lewis told you we split up over Julian, didn’t he? How dare you try to manipulate me!”
Rune calmly took a step back from the upset woman. “I haven’t spoken to Lewis.”
Emma inched closer to Macy, drawing her attention. “I did talk to your nephew, but not about your husband. I didn’t even know his name.”
“Same,” Juan said. “I didn’t get any background about your personal past when I talked to Lewis.”
“No, no! You’re all lying. How else can he know Clive’s name?”
“He’s a medium,” Juan insisted. “The dead talk to him. Clive is here with us right now talking to him.”
“No, no!” Macy backed away from Rune, shaking her head wildly. “Clive and his brothers would’ve kept their family safe. They were all former military.”
Rune swallowed hard, his blue eyes red and watery. Emma thought he looked a little pale in the dim afternoon light coming through the windows. His interaction with the other side appeared to take a lot out of him. “Yes, ma’am, they were doin’ a fine job until a horde from Chicago swept through their town. It was massive. There was no way they were going to survive. When the fence came down and the front door was breached, Clive and his brothers held their ground while the family members took their lives upstairs. The mothers made the children lay down with their stuffed toys and shot them in the back of their heads. They had no choice, Macy, but to give their kids peace. This is the same choice you face.”
Macy staggered backwards, collapsing against the far wall next to the shuddering bathroom door. “No. You’re making it up. Someone told you about Clive. You’re trying to trick me so I’ll go to your damn fort!”
Rune took a deep breath, steadying his nerves. When he exhaled, his breath was a frosty mist. “Clive says he should’ve stayed with you, but he couldn’t bear to see you coddlin’ your son’s dead body like it was actually him. Now that he’s on the other side, he regrets that choice. He knows now that he should’ve stayed with you.”
“You’re lying. You’re making this all up! Lewis told you enough for you to concoct this lie!”
“We’ve got no reason to lie,” Juan said defensively. “We’re trying to help.”
“Tell her something that Lewis couldn’t know,” Emma urged the empty air in front of Rune, hoping Clive could hear her.
Tilting his head to one side, Rune bobbed his head while apparently listening to the ghost of Macy’s dead husband.
Juan edged around Rune to stand at Emma’s side. She was surprised when he took her hand, but quickly realized it was for his benefit, not hers. He was trembling. Gently, she squeezed his fingers.
When Rune spoke, his icy breath plumed from his lips into the warm, putrid air. The air freshener couldn’t push back the scents of rot and decay. “Clive says that when Julian was born you had real bad postpartum depression. It hit you like a freight train, but you hid it well. In fact, he didn’t realize you were strugglin’ at all. You always seemed to have everything handled. You were an office manager and a damn good one. You always had everything under control at work and at home. You gave the impression you had motherhood licked. That is, until one night he found you holdin’ Julian and sittin’ in the back of the closet in the nursery crying. The baby wouldn’t sleep, wouldn’t stop cryin’, and you were failin’ your baby. You were overwhelmed. You felt like a failure. Clive kneeled beside you and assured you that you weren’t a failure, that you were doin’ your best. He promised to help more and took you to the doctor the next day. He never told anybody that you had to take medication to fight against the crushin’ depression. It was important for you to look strong in the eyes of your family since they were always so hard on you. He understood that and wanted to protect you. Now his greatest regret is that he didn’t protect you when you needed him to again.”
“Oh, my God!” Macy gasped. “Clive would never tell Lewis that. Lewis is the family gossip. Everyone would be in my business in no time. My mother would’ve given me so much grief for taking medication. She thought I should be able to pray through all difficulties in life.”
“I don’t pull that John Edward’s bullshit. I’m the real thing.” Rune pulled over the chair that Macy had been sitting in earlier and sank into it. He was visibly shaking.
Blinking her eyes rapidly, Macy swept her gaze over the room. “So Clive is here? Now?”
Rune extended his pointer finger and indicated a spot near the radiator. “Right there. With Julian.”
Her bottom lip trembling, Macy stared at where Rune indicated. “With Julian?” Her eyes drifted to the shuddering door, where the growling zombie struggled to get out.
