The Dead Have No Shadows Read Online Free Page B

what was really happening to him.  He wanted answers but he didn’t want to start pouring his heart out to this stranger.
    Pester shrugged.  “Anything.  You must have hundreds of questions about what happened today, where you are and what’ll happen from now on.  You’ve probably got a lot of mixed emotions about your situation as well.”
    “You mean the fact that I’m fucking dead,” snapped Mickey.  “Helped here by you, if I remember right.”  He remembered Pester in his guise as a fake paramedic and how he had turned off the drip in Mickey’s arm.
    “You couldn’t be saved,” said Pester flatly.  “It was your time to die.”
    “So you thought you’d help me along?”
    “You could look at it that way,” said Pester.  “I don’t normally get involved with the living side.  But I was told to make sure that you got over here quickly and safely, and then make sure that you completed your journey.”
    Mickey pondered what he’d been told.  “What normally happens then?”
    “When someone dies they arrive over here, at one of the start points, like you did.  They’re met by a guide, like me, and go on their way.”
    “So why would you be sent after me?” Mickey asked.
    “No idea,” said Pester.  “We don’t get told things like that.”
    “Who by?”
    “Those in charge.”
    Mickey accepted the answer without question.  He could tell he wouldn’t get any more from Pester on the subject.  But he also got a sense that Pester was holding something back.  Maybe be was even lying.
    “So who was the other guy?” said Mickey.  “The one with the sunglasses.”
    “Ah, that was Mr. Jolly,” said Pester.  “He’s like me.  He’s a guide, but his job is to persuade people to take a different route; to a far more unpleasant destination.”
    “Why would anyone take up with him if they end up worse off?”
    Pester laughed.  “He can be very persuasive, our Mr. Jolly.  But he doesn’t tell them the truth about where they’re going.  He was waiting at the hospital to try to catch you.  He won’t have taken too kindly to the fact that I got to you first.”
    “It was some kind of race to get to me, was it?”  Mickey said.
    “In a way, aye, it was,” said Pester.  “It looks like we were both told to get you get over here and help you on your way.  Now that you’re over here with me, Mr. Jolly will do what he can to get to you.”
    Mickey’s smile was grim and humourless.  “Well, as I’m already dead, he can’t use that threat against me.”
    “Don’t be so sure of yourself,” said Pester.  “Aye, you’re dead – but you can still be killed over here.”
    Mickey didn’t have a clue what Pester was talking about.  He just stared at the guide.
    Pester explained.  “If you lose an arm here, it stays off.  The limb won’t grow back.  If you lose your head your body will lie where it falls.  It’ll rot and decay but your mind will linger on unaffected.”
    “What about cuts and bruises?” said Mickey.
    “Nothing heals over here,” Pester replied.  Your body is dead.  While it stays intact it’ll be ok.  Any injury will start to fester though.  Eventually your body will fail and your mind would be stuck where you lie.”
    “Great,” said Mickey.  He thought things over for a few seconds.  “Thanks for the warning.  So, what are you and this Mr. Jolly?  Angels or Devils?”
    “Do you believe in God then?” said Pester.
    “No way,” Mickey replied.  He almost spat the words out.
    “So why do you use those names then?”
    “ Dunno ,” said Mickey.  “I guess it’s just words to show the difference between goodand evil.”
    “Hmm,” mused Pester.  “You’re pretty close with the good and evil idea between Mr. Jolly and me.  But do you know which one of the two you’re with?”  He gave out a low chuckle that made Mickey shudder.
    When Mickey didn’t offer an answer, Pester continued talking, “You say that you don’t