A Dead Man's Intuition

I shifted a little.

"You interacted with Oliver before," I admitted. I stared down at the ground again. "He...He was the one who untied you. Butch shot him when he realized Oliver had accidentally given you an opportunity to escape."

I faltered.

"I possessed him after that," I added. "I've been the one you've been talking to ever since the whole thing with the map."

James blinked slowly. A creeping dread settled over him like a heavy blanket. He stared at Skull, sitting in the body of the man who he was indirectly responsible for killing. The maggot-filled hole in his face was covered, but James couldn’t unsee it.

Skull had to have a face of his own. A body he was in before Oliver.

His next words came out clear, sharp, and low.

“Who were you possessing before you took over Oliver?”

I didn't say anything for a minute.

I just kept staring at the ground, hoping he would change the subject. But when no new question came, I knew I had to accept my fate.

I wasn't supposed to care this much about what people thought of me. Maybe I was getting soft after everything with Natty boy and Asmira.

(After everything with Lucy.)

"...Reed."

His vision went red.

Reed. Reed. It had to be Reed. It couldn’t have been a godsforsaken horse, or one of the dogs, or some neutral third party looking on from the shadows. Skull had been his torturer - and if possessing a live person worked anything like reanimating a dead corpse, James knew Skull had full and total control.

James felt his head pounding. His blood started pumping hard, and everything within him was telling him to run. To get out of there, before it was too late. But he didn’t move just yet.

“How long?”

"...Eight days."

I had acted like a malicious, evil ghost for almost the entire time that Lucy knew me, so why couldn't I bring myself to look up at Tiberius now? Why couldn't I give him the cool, emotionless mask I was trying so desperately to make? All I could do was feel pathetic and guilty - and show it all too plainly on my face.

James stood up. He’d stopped thinking about whether or not it was a good idea. Considerations for the limits of his frame were gone. The was no way in the world that he was going to sit there and talk to his torturer.

Skull had hurt him over, and over, and over. A week’s worth of pain after pain, and then he hopped into the dead body of the medic who had actually pitied him enough to unwittingly aid in his escape, and then Skull had the audacity to help him? To ask him why he was wanted, to talk about lost family members like there could ever be some common ground to establish trust? And that was what made it all the worse. James had started to trust him, even if he never would’ve said so.

James started stumbling backwards.

“No. No. This isn’t happening,” he muttered under his breath. “This isn’t f***ing happening.”

He spun around, heading towards Elliot. He needed to get out of here. Away from Skull. Away from whatever powerful, magical, manipulative person he was. He didn’t want any of this.

Even without looking up at Tiberius, I felt like a horrible human being.

Which I was, of course. I knew that. I had done so many questionable things over the course of the three lives I had technically lived - alive, as a ghost, and when given my second chance - so how could I possibly say that I was good?

But Tiberius had trusted me. And it was like when I got people to trust me for the sake of pretending to be a person for a few minutes. I had been willing to trick him for as long as it took for him to get better. I had been an idiot and gone too far with Butch. Now I was dealing with the stupidity of my own choices, and I knew all of my feelings were all too justified.

I didn't tell Tiberius that I had gone along with the whole torture thing because it was the only choice I had. That I was going to help him escape. That I had picked areas that bled fast so it would look showy to someone like Butch, who probably didn't know a single thing about how the human body worked.

That the reason I was still with him now was because I wanted to pay for what I had done to him.

"...If you're leaving, you should take the food," I said.

I kept staring at the dirt.

"...Dead people apparently don't need to eat."

Wait. What was I doing? I was the dead person here. I could handle traveling through the night. Tiberius needed the camp more than I did, and it wasn't like Butch would be coming back to it anytime soon.

I got to my feet.

"I take back what I said." I gestured at the camp. "You should stay here. I should be the one to go. I'll give you all of my food. And before you argue - Butch won't come back here for a long time after the little show I put on earlier. You need a place to rest that's out of the way."

I walked over to Tony.

"This place is it," I finished.

James was shaking by the time he made it Elliot. He hated being so weak and so tired, constantly pushing the limits of his physical strength just to function. He was tired of having to endure so much pain at the hands of people who thought they had the right to decide your punishment for you, or just wanted to, as Butch put it, “have a little fun.”

He held Elliot’s saddle and paused as Skull spoke. His heartbeat was pounding through his ears. He listened. He understood.

Skull was going to leave without protest.

A small wave of relief washed over him.

“Then go,” he said, his voice growing hoarse. His throat was tightening slowly - emotions he didn’t know how to name winding up like a snake.

“But promise me this,” he said, being sure to enunciate each word as he turned to look Skull in the face.

“Leave Oliver’s body the first opportunity provided to you and lay his body to rest.”

He snapped his mouth shut, refusing to say the ‘please’ that wanted to follow.

"I will," I promised.

I didn't add that it would be a long time before that happened. He didn't understand how hard it was to find a good body to possess - Oliver's body was the best thing compared to my own right now because there was no one else in it. There was no one to overpower, and no one to feel guilty for taking control of.

I gathered all of the food in Reed's belongings and laid them down beside the camp I had made for Tiberius. I didn't bother to grab my blankets.

I got back up on Tony.

I started to head off into the woods again, but then I brought Tony to a stop a few feet away.

"I...I'm sorry," I said. "For forcing you to deal with something like this so soon after losing your family."

I left before I could hear his response.

James turned his face into the saddle. He didn’t bother to watch Skull ride away, but he heard the hoofsteps return.

Skull’s last words caught like a thorn in his skin. So soon after losing your family. The words echoed in his mind like a taunt. He slowly turned around, finding the bed of blankets he’d been sleeping on before everything got turned upside down. He picked up the bread off the ground and took it with him, holding it in his hands as he lied down and stared up at the night sky. He watched as the stars turned from bright little specks to blurring dots, and he bit back a sob.

He’d hardly even begun to cry, and it already hurt.

Why did he have to remind him of his family again? James might’ve been able to push back everything that had just happened and forget about it, but now he found himself sliding faster into a pit of sorrow.

He didn’t want to cry anymore. He didn’t know what he was feeling. He wished Butch had misread the poster as wanted dead, and not alive. Or that Skull had made a mistake and cut him a little too deep and a little too hard.

James closed his eyes.

Even if Skull was wrong about Butch, and Butch did end up coming back, maybe it wouldn’t be the end of the world. It would just be the end of him.

I wasn't sure how long I was traveling. My mind just became a wonderful concoction of guilt, regret and every other horrible feeling you'd expect me to have after manipulating Tiberius like that.

But by the time I started hearing people in the far-off distance, I had shifted my attention to something a little more urgent: getting my body back, wherever it was. I slowed Tony to a stop and left him tied up to a nearby tree. Once I was sure he'd stay still, I headed off towards the sounds of people talking.

It looked like I had found that fort that Tiberius had mentioned. There was a group of soldiers talking; they must have been on break.

"This guy’s been out for over a week - do you really think he’ll pull through?" the first soldier asked, her tone quiet.

"He does still have a heartbeat," a second replied. "And the medics say he's doing okay besides being unconscious."

I snuck a little closer.

"I don't know," a third chimed in. "I've never seen someone out of it like that for so long..."

The second one shrugged. "I guess we'll find out soon."

The first one sighed.

"I just hope he'll be alright," she said. "Well, we should probably be heading back now. You can go back without me. I have to, you know..."

She gestured towards the treeline where I was conveniently hiding.

The other two soldiers nodded. A few moments later, and the woman and I were alone. I gave a little smirk as I saw her approach the treeline. Not wanting to deal with her bladder, I fell a little farther back into the shadows.

When she was done, I finally emerged. She made things easy for me by fainting at the sight of a dead man. One switch later, and I was ready to find my body.

I just had to follow through with Tiberius's request first.

Once Oliver's body was buried, I headed in the direction the two soldiers had gone in. I didn't know exactly where I was heading, but it hopefully wouldn't take too long to find it.

The sun was high in the sky as Carter's wagon rolled across the dusty dirt road through the forest. Birds chirped in the passing trees and a cool breeze came from the north, making the mild heat a little more bearable. Carter looked out the window of his cab idly, watching the repetitive sight of tree upon tree passing by.

He never did enjoy making rounds to different kingdom posts throughout the year, but at least it was during the summer while it was warm and sunny. Things felt less like a chore when you didn't have several feet of snow to plow through to get anywhere outside the city walls.

The wagon started to slow, and Carter straightened up just a little from his already upright posture. He just needed to talk to the captain on-site, talk to a few lowly soldiers, and look around. He would stay the night, and the next morning he'd be headed to the next one.

The wagon came to a stop. Carter didn't wait for the cabbie to open the door for him.

He stepped out and looked up at the building made of stone and rock. It was only two-stories high, but on the far east end, there was a tall tower that looked out over the forest. In the back was a stable for the horses.

"You're dismissed, Adam," he said to the cabbie. The young man nodded his head before taking the wagon around the building.

By the front entrance, there were two guards on either side of the door watching him. When he looked their way they saluted him with a fist to their chest and a bow of their head. He hid the same.

"At ease," he said simply, watching as they lifted their heads and returned to their former watchful state.

Carter approached them, but he slowed when he heard the slight clanking of armor and the faint sound of voices chatting emerging from the wood.

"I bet you ten silver the guy doesn't make it," a woman said. "He's already been out for over a week. He's probably stuck like that."

"Haley! Don't bet on the life of a man on his deathbed!" a male voice scolded.

"Ugh - sorry for being bored, okay! Not a lot happens out here."

Carter watched as a pair of soldiers step out onto the road. It sounded like there was a third lagging behind.

The moment they saw him their eyes widened and they came to a halt, saluting.

"You're early, commander," the fellow spoke tersely. Carter always found it amusing that his presence seemed to make even the most innocent of soldiers seem nervous for doing the most mundane things.

They'd only been talking. There was no harm in that. But Carter was glad he knew his place.

"Travel went smoothly," he said simply. "And rise," he added. "Go about your duties."

I was too far away to make out the commander, but I followed the lead of the other two soldiers and saluted him. It wasn't until I went to join the two of them - still lagging behind enough for them to not talk to me - that I realized just who the commander was.

It was Carter.

Could this week get any worse?

Resisting the urge to groan, I ducked my head down and started to go into the building. If I was lucky enough, he wouldn't even notice me. I'd get to my body, slip out of this place, and figure out some way to get back to the world I was supposed to be on.

Carter watched as the soldiers filed in through the entrance and waited a moment before following in. On the inside, there was another soldier stationed at the door, as per protocol. Carter turned to them, exchanging another round of salutes before speaking.

"Tell the captain I've arrived. I'll be in the west wing when he's ready."

The woman at the door nodded.

"Yes, Commander," she said before walking off down the hall.

Carter didn't notice me. When I was far enough away from him and the other soldiers to avoid being heard, I let out a sigh of relief. I still had to search for my body, but that was one hurdle nicely pushed out of the way.

I started the search for my body. As I walked and did my best to avoid other soldiers, my mind flickered back to Tiberius. I wondered what he was doing right now. Hopefully sleeping; he could use the rest.