Garden : A Dystopian Horror Novel Read online

  Garden

  A Dystopian Horror Novel

  Carol James Marshall

  Copyright © 2021 by Carol James Marshall

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Edited by unexptedpaths.com

  Cover Art: Victoria Cooper Art

  Proofread by: Jennlyreads.com

  Created with Vellum

  To all the people of the world who hate cooking as much as I do.

  Bruta, ciega, sordomuda

  Torpe, traste y testaruda

  Es todo lo que he sido

  Brute, blind, deaf and mute

  Awkward, fret and stubborn

  It's all that I've been

  Shakira

  Ciega, Sordomuda

  Tap the link if you’d like to watch the music video for the song that inspired Garden.

  https://youtu.be/B3gbisdtJnA

  Contents

  Prelude

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Epilogue

  A Message from the Author.

  Acknowledgments

  Prelude

  ...because people are yummy.

  Dolly sat on a fluorescent pink blanket in the garden of her home. It was a bright day with plenty of sunshine and an occasional cloud strolling by. Now seven years old, Dolly was content to sit among her toys, blissfully unaware that beyond the giant hedge was the overwhelming chatter of Nutri-Corp City.

  Dolly never went into the city. She never left the grounds of Madam’s home. Madam, her mother, was CEO and founder of Nutri-Corp. Madam took great pride in showing off not only her power but her brilliance in all that she touched. This included her daughter Dolly.

  Dolly was Madam’s best show horse, a creation of Nutri-Corp and raised from conception on YUM and not a tic to be seen. Dolly was Madam’s prize possession, something to show off when the world wanted answers.

  Madam stood at her desk, one eye on a computer monitor; the other on Dolly. Madam’s husband, Sir, sat on the porch, book and cocktail in hand. Sir, like Dolly, was one of Madam’s possessions: a serene husband who happily stood in Madam’s shadow.

  Missing from this blissful suburban scene was Danny. Madam had had Danny before she invented YUM and started her corporation. Danny was Madam’s sore thumb, a son she loved but an agitator in her household. She was quickly losing her control over him. Danny never stayed in one place for long. Years ago, he became a smudge in the household, something darting about, not staying still long enough to notice.

  It was as if Danny didn’t want to be Madam’s target. Madam had come to realize he believed that if he stayed in constant motion, she wouldn’t be able to zero in on him. Madam gritted her teeth at that thought but calmed herself.

  Her fingers flew over the keyboard, typing commands while she intently glared at the screen. She relaxed when a small dot on a map appeared, showing Madam exactly where Danny was. Smiling, she pushed the keyboard away and congratulated herself for microchipping Danny like a beloved dog, something he was oblivious to.

  Danny could run, but he could never hide.

  A message from the guards popped up on the screen, telling Madam a playdate guest for Dolly had arrived. Madam stood to go greet her guests but quickly glanced at the screen again. A twinge of nervous energy bounced off her tightly fitted dress. The dot showed that Danny was in fact in the garden of her home, but she could not see him.

  “Aurora, thank you for bringing Agnes over to play with Dolly today.” Madam smiled at Aurora, looking straight into her eyes, eyes that, because of YUM, blinked rapidly and constantly like a heavy metal drum beat.

  Aurora blushed then paled. No one was ever at ease in Madam’s company. Like most citizens of Nutri-Corp City, Aurora lived in fear her tic would one day tire Madam out, and Madam would have her sent to Old Town.

  Both women looked over at the girls, giggling with one another. Seven-year-old Agnes sat with Dolly, and they pretended the dolls could dance. To the uneducated eye, the two girls together was a gorgeous scene, but on closer inspection it would be noted that Agnes would sneeze every five minutes like clockwork. One sneeze, another sneeze five minutes later. Agnes sneezed loudly but never let her doll out of her possession.

  Aurora looked at Madam and scrunched her nose. “Those allergies can be hell. I’ll be back in an hour.”

  Madam nodded at Aurora and responded, “Make it two.”

  Madam walked back to her home, wanting to be at her desk. That left Aurora with nothing to do but leave, hopeful that when she got back her daughter would still be here.

  A scream broke the quiet in the garden of Madam’s house, a screeching that shook Danny awake from his food coma. He hid real food in the garden shed, paying off the gardener to keep his secret by sharing. Danny had eaten a container of white rice and black beans and left a second container of the same for the gardener.

  He peered through the peep hole. All clear. He darted from the shed and ran toward the scream. He knew his little sister Dolly was in the garden that day with a playmate. Dolly was Danny’s Achilles heel. He loved her and spent most of his days fearful of what she would become if she grew to adulthood under their mother’s thumb.

  Danny watched as his mother and father ran towards Dolly, who stood watching her friend Agnes crying by her side. He sped up, wanting to reach the girls before his parents got there and hid what had happened behind their usual lies and sweet-tongued threats.

  Agnes held her arm, sobbing now. Danny saw a trickle of blood oozing between the girl’s tightly grasped fingers.

  “What happened?” demanded Danny, kneeling by Agnes while Dolly watched passively, as if watching a cartoon on TV.

  Agnes snorted, sneezed, then blurted, “She bit me!”

  Danny looked at his sister and saw the smudge of red on her chin. “Dolly!” Danny snapped, angrily. “Why did you bite her?”

  Sir and Madam reached the group as Danny asked his question. Agnes’ arm now dripped blood on the grass, and her crying grew louder.

  Dolly, eyeing her friend, her parents, and her brother, answered, “Because Madam said people are yummy.”

  Danny shot his mother a look. Hate, rage, bafflement all in one. How could she not see the monster she had become and the monster she was creating in Dolly.

  Dolly’s tittering laugh broke Danny’s focus. His mother raised her eyebrows at Sir and laughed, too. After a beat or two Sir joined her as he knelt down by Dolly.

  “Oh, my dear Dolly,” Sir said, “only Gardeners are yummy. Agnes is not a Gardener.�
��

  Dolly looked at Sir, regarding him with mild interest. Madam patted Agnes on the back as she spoke on her cellphone and demanded a medic. While speaking on the phone, Madam playfully shook her head and smiled at Danny.

  Danny looked away, eyes on the grass. He saw the small puddle of blood splattered there. Agnes sneezed but didn’t resume crying. Instead she stood still, eyes locked on the ground, only daring to sneak looks at Madam for a split second.

  “She broke the skin. She thinks she should eat people,” Danny yelled. He knew he shouldn’t yell. Madam did not like being yelled at, especially by Danny who looked exactly like his father, a man who often yelled at Madam before she became Madam.

  The look of amusement quickly left Madam’s eyes. She took two steps forward, placing herself inches away from Danny’s face, her eyes dead-staring into her son’s. She noisily sniffed the air and said, “You smell.” She theatrically sniffed again and added, “Very organic.”

  Danny stepped away from the viper that was his mother. Some days, he thought he might love her, but today he knew he would never think that again.

  Sensing the danger, Sir stepped between the two, placing one arm around Madam’s waist and the other around Danny’s shoulders.

  “Come on, you two,” Sir said. “No harm. No foul. After all...” Sir removed his arm from Danny’s shoulders and waved at the blood puddle on the grass, “…blood makes the green grass grow.”

  Chapter One

  Lola

  Holding her breath for a count of four, Lola squinted as she watched a Popper stroll through the market. She hid within a rack of clothing, squatting like a small child and peering from among the discounted sweatshirts, as if waiting for her mother to call for her. Retail hide and seek.

  She hid because she did not want the security guard to find her at her favorite abandoned market. If the security guard reported an intruder there, Nutri-Corp would pay attention to the market. If that happened, Lola wouldn’t be able to glean the market any longer.

  Lola had to make sure the market would never be monitored by a swarm of Nutri-Corp’s police, instead of this lone security guard who, by the looks of it was one of Nutri-Corp’s many Popper rejects. Nutri-Corp put their least desirable Poppers in jobs they considered unimportant, like watching this market, a market that was the life blood not only for Lola and her sisters, but also for the Gardeners. This market was all that was left for them in Old Town.

  Careful to exhale and inhale as silently as possible, Lola frowned while making her usual mental notes about the guard’s movements. Peering out between the sweatshirts Lola noted that the security guard dragged her left foot, while her right hand jerked in front of her every third step. Lola watched the guard in the same way someone watches a rerun on TV, with mild interest because you already know how the episode will end.

  Lola at twenty-two years old had long ago learned it was important to know the Poppers’ tics. If you watched their uncontrollable body movements, you knew where your advantage would be in combat or in retreat. Gardeners were always prepared for both. If she was honest with herself, Lola knew she was best at retreat because she was fast. Beyond fast.

  Swallowing what little spit she had in her mouth, Lola took a deep breath, prepared to hold it until the guard lurched out of sight. Lola’s eyes never strayed from the security guard while she waited patiently for it to go away.

  If anyone had looked deeply into Lola’s eyes while she watched the Popper, they might have been startled by the steely glare she gave right back. There was not an ounce of empathy within them. Lola felt no pity for Poppers.

  The Poppers had lost their humanity long ago. They resembled humans, did human things like wearing clothes, driving cars, and having jobs. But to Lola, “human” had left the Poppers the second the first YUM hit their tongues. For Lola, a Popper was nothing more than an “It.”

  Lola’s world had sheared into five parts: The Poppers aka “Its”, Nutri-Corp, the Gardeners, her sisters, and survival. That was all Lola’s brain could take in. She lived with a mind that was like a cup filled to the brim and about to spill over. Disaster could happen with every breath.

  Lola heard a door close. The security guard was gone for now. With the guard out of sight, Lola stood and looked around the store. If they could keep using this market sparingly, they might have its resources for another year.

  After all, Poppers had no need for food. Yum took care of that. The rest of the goods--clothing, soap, and what not--in the bargain market were not good enough for Poppers. They liked their things posh, wrapped up in tiny boxes with dazzling ribbons and clinically clean.

  In the eyes of Madam, founder and CEO of Nutri-Corp, the old world wasn’t up to par. Nutri-Corp was crisp, sparkling, and modern. To Madam, the old world was habitually dirty and best kept under her shoe.

  Holding back a grimace, Lola stepped from the clothing rack. Her legs were strong, but squatting for a long amount of time had caused her thigh muscles to tighten up. She wanted to stretch but picked up the backpack she had left on a shelf instead. Lola checked the time and grinned. She had plenty of time to get the small supplies the Gardener kitchen needed before she had to meet her sisters. Gardeners lived off the land, but some things from the “old world” were coveted, wanted, and needed.

  From her pack Lola took out three plastic bags. She sat on the floor of the market, not bothering or caring to notice the setting sun. She preferred the night anyway.

  Into one bag, Lola poured kosher salt. She filled her bag and put the half-full box back on the shelf, exactly where she’d found it. Next was small sack of sugar. She filled the second plastic bag and replaced the almost empty sugar bag on the shelf. She repeated this action with popcorn kernels an aisle over.

  Smiling, Lola put the bags carefully in her pack, zipping it tightly in case she needed to run. The security guards at the market noticed nothing missing since everything seemed to be still on the shelves. In the market aisles were rows of empty cereal boxes, shelves of cans that looked unopened but were barren within. A trick of the eyes, which Lola had to admit was easy to do since Poppers were so self-involved in their appearance or trying to hide the constant jerking of their bodies. There was no time to bother with inspecting the contents of this old town market.

  Lola paused for a second, self-correcting her thoughts. The Poppers didn’t have to “deal” with anything. The Poppers had accepted their fate when they took that pill. Lola could never and would never understand how Poppers could accept a life were one tiny, pink pill taken daily gave you convenience but also took so much away.

  The risks were too high with YUM. When you took YUM, hunger, the need to eat, the need to cook, the need to buy food vanished. With YUM, you’d live longer, be stronger, healthier. Those were the things Nutri-Corp wanted everyone to believe.

  The truth was yes, the wicked pink pill took away the need to eat. One pill a day and you’d never have to eat again. You’d never feel hungry again. Not hungry for food anyway. You were only hungry for another YUM, because all it took was one pill and you were addicted to the satisfaction the pill gave you, addicted to the convenience of not having to cook, addicted to the extra money from not having to buy, store, prepare, and everything else that came with food.

  The sensation of satisfaction was so deeply woven into the Poppers’ bodies that when the tics started to happen, they ignored them and took their YUM again the next day and the next and the next.

  Nutri-Corp had spread the YUM propaganda through Old Town, and YUM’s use had grown like a virus. Nutri-Corp not only directed the lives of those who took YUM but also those who worked in the YUM factory.

  The involuntary noises, the jerky hand movements, eyes straying upward without a thing to be seen, these were the many things Nutri-Corp handed over with YUM, the pill that Lola considered a slow death.

  The sound of a foot dragging against the floor alerted Lola the guard was on her way back. Time to leave. The sun had set, and she needed
to meet her sisters.

  Lola put on her backpack, pulling the straps tight and clipping the chest strap. If she had to run, the pack couldn’t sway or jiggle. The pack had to feel like part of her, not luggage.

  Lola repressed the urge to set up a trap for the guard. She imagined a string suspended over the path that would cause the guard to trip. Between the guard's lame foot and the jerking of her right hand it would be fun to watch her fall and try to get up.

  Preparing to head out, Lola stifled a laugh and shook her head. She wouldn’t do it, not for a cheap thrill she’d pay for if the Popper realized that someone beside itself was there. Sighing, Lola slipped out the back door of the market into the alley. She and her sisters would meet near the market.

  Lola looked away from the billboard that read “One YUM a day keeps the kitchen blues away.” that was still lit and towering over Old Town. Why did Nutri-Corp still bother to advertise? Everyone, except the Gardeners, was on YUM. The billboard annoyed Lola. She wanted to take a paintball gun to it, but such things were forbidden. The goal of the Gardeners was always to be unseen, unknown, ghosts who wandered the thick woods. The Gardeners never wanted attention brought their way.