Natalia Date 2 Part 4

Alan sat on a log and watched actress Natalia Porter mount a zombie horse.

He suspected that Class 731 turning the horses Nagasaki had killed into zombies would not rank among the twenty most memorable events of the coming week.

“Wow. Osiris is really gentle now.” Natalia nodded toward Alan.

Alan had decided not to tell her that Osiris was undead. He knew horses too well to miss the change in body temperature and behavior, but Natalia needed a break from weirdness.

“Yeah, I’m sure Naga just scared him,” Alan said with a shrug. “Horses don’t like small, fast animals.”

“How do you get children near them, then?” Natalia asked. “They’re small and fast.”

“You pick and train the right horse.” Alan smiled. “I’m sure, if we could talk to them, we’d find horses that love snakes, just like people. But it’s not exactly something anyone’s tried to study.”

He considered it.

“It might make a good science experiment, actually. Figure out whether some horses love snakes, or whether that’s humans being weird.”

“My daughter loved horses until she met one,” Natalia said. “Then we went to a ranch, and she got terrified. Even the ponies scared her, but she loved the camel.”

“Camels are bigger and meaner.” Alan laughed. “Good for her. Break the stereotype and find your own mount, child I haven’t met yet.”

“Yet?” Natalia looked worried.

“I mean, is there a reason I wouldn’t meet them when we go back home?” Alan asked. He felt strangely wistful. “It’s weird, but it doesn’t have to be bad weird.”

“They’ll hate you for not being their father.”

Natalia guided Osiris into a trot.

“Tav’s at the age where he hates everything, and Amira thinks she should copy her brother in all things. It’s been tough.”

“It sounds like you made a very hard choice with no good options.”

Alan tried to make eye contact, but Osiris picked up speed and carried Natalia farther down the field.

Natalia shook her head.

“I couldn’t tell them the reason.”

“Why not?” Alan asked.

He watched Natalia’s back as Osiris moved with more purpose than a normal horse should have had. Alan was becoming less certain that “zombie” was the right word for him.

“Amira’s eight. Tav’s twelve,” Natalia said, sounding almost confused by the question.

“That’s... well, yeah.”

Alan paused.

“This might be the only thing I can say from experience. Tell them the real reason. Not the gory details. But more than you think you can.”

Natalia circled Osiris back toward him. Alan helped her dismount.

“Your family business was horse therapy,” she said. “You actually might know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m not a licensed therapist,” Alan said. “But yes. Keeping the truth from them hurts them.”

He patted Osiris’s flank.

The horse felt cooler than before, despite the activity.

“Fuck,” Natalia said quietly. “This would all be worth it if it helped my kids.”

“Maybe there’s some secret reason we’re all here, and it’ll turn out the devils were angels all along.”

Alan laughed softly.

“Did you just quote *Jacob’s Ladder*?” Natalia asked, amused.

“Um, I quoted a video about Silent Hill that I watched with Joan on our date,” Alan said. “But the YouTuber did talk a lot about Jacob’s Ladder.”

He smiled.

“I think that still counts.”