The Dead Have No Shadows Read Online Free PDF

they simply sat down and waited.  Hunger would overcome them and their bodies would fail and decay.  Their minds would be trapped in the shells of their bodies.  When the flesh had atrophied and only bones remained, the mind would still be constant.  Though he didn’t really care for his charges, Pester had an element of sympathy for some of these – especially those who had battled bravely but ultimately found the challenge too much.
    There were stretches of the path ahead that had many such shrines dotted along them, like cairns along a mountain path.  Pester had been guide to some of these and took time to pay a little respect to those he knew who had tried their best and failed.
     
    Something roused Mickey during the night.  He was surprised that he’d fallen asleep at all, even though he was exhausted.  In the distance Mickey could hear the growling of the beasties, as Pester had called them.  They still sounded hungry but seemed to be some way off and so didn’t unduly bother Mickey.  He thought of his Mum, alone at home.  Someone would have told her by now.  She would probably have been to see his body.  He wondered if she’d been able to get to sleep.  He felt guilty that he’d fallen asleep when she was probably lying awake trying to come to terms with what had happened.  Tears welled up in Mickey’s eyes and spilled down his cheeks.  They were still flowing when sleep crept up un-noticed and reclaimed him.

Chapter 4
     
    The morning dawned with Mickey feeling stiff and aching all over.  He was used to waking up in a warm bed, wrapped in a duvet.  He’d spent the night on bare ground with his jacket as a pillow.  It took a few moments for him to realise where he was – and what he was.  The knowledge was a hammer blow.  The first thought that followed this was that his Mum would be waking up in an empty house.  She would be starting the rest of her life alone.  Mickey’s spirits sank as he worried about how she was coping this morning.  How quickly after waking up would she have remembered that she was completely alone?  Her husband deserted her and now her only son was dead.
    Mickey slowly climbed to his feet and stretched.  His bones creaked and cracked bringing some small relief to his aches and pains.  Pester was already up and about.  It seemed that he had been up for some time as he was ready to break camp.
    “Eat this,” Pester said, offering Mickey some meat that he’d put aside the previous evening.  The meat was cold and greasy and Mickey reluctantly accepted it.  The meat took some chewing and Mickey struggled to swallow it.  He felt sickened at his Mum’s plight and the tough meat did nothing to help settle his stomach.
    “Are you ready to go?” Pester asked when it looked as if Mickey had finished eating.
    Mickey nodded and threw the remains of the meat to one side.
    “Make sure that you’ve got everything,” said Pester with a mischievous grin.  “We won’t be coming back this way.”  He set off along the valley floor.  Mickey looked around himself.  His only possessions were the clothes he was wearing.  Pester was gone though, making a brisk pace.  Mickey had to trot to catch up with his guide.
    “Where to now?” he asked Pester.
    “That way,” Pester replied, pointing straight ahead.  He was smiling again.
    Mickey didn’t rise to Pester stating the obvious.  “What’s there?”
    “Your destiny.”  This time Pester’s smile was gone.
     
    Though the sun rose in a cloudless sky the day gained no heat.  It wasn’t cold, the weather just - was.  Mickey could think of no other way to describe it.  The temperature was the same as it had been over night.  Mickey soon became hot, but it was through exertion not the sun.  He stripped off his jacket and slung it over his shoulder. 
    “So, you were into armed robbery then?” Pester said, making conversation by labouring a point from the previous day.
    “What?  No,” Mickey