| |
“Are there other groups? Other enemies?”
“You cannot stay here. You need to
go away as soon as possible.”
Edna thought for a while.
“Henry, when the bear attacked you
and you were unconscious, I saw what was on your notebook screen. There
was a line that said, ‘All subjects die natural deaths.’ Does
that have something to do with this? I'm the subject, right?”
“Normally our research involves new
and possibly dangerous medications, toxins or diseases. It would be unsafe
to allow the test animal to interact with the population. However, that
is not the case with you.”
“But Oscar doesn't see it that way?”
“Oscar is wrong!”
“So the people in the store were his
people.”
“Yes.”
“Will they be coming here?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't they come here first? Why
risk all the danger of being around people in the store?”
“I wasn't there. They would
rather catch you unprotected.”
“Will they kill you?”
“If I stand in their way, yes.”
“I could go into the woods. They couldn't
find me there.”
“You can't live there. You have to
go to the city for food. You wouldn't last a week. You need to go into
the biggest city. You could get lost in the crowd.”
“No.... no. I can't live there. I don't
want to live there. I want to be in the country. What about my dogs, my
cats, my garden? I can't leave here. You should just go. There's no point
in your getting yourself killed.”
“I'm not leaving unless you do. Oscar
is wrong. He is doing a bad thing. I am not leaving.”
“They will keep coming back until I'm
dead, right? It will be much worse than the Blues?”
“Oh yes. They will send out a full
squad. Maybe fifty.”
She sat still, rubbing her cold coffee
cup absentmindedly between her hands.
“If we're dead they will stop, right?”
“Obviously.”
“So, let's die.”
“I'd rather not.”
“Not at the same time. You die. I give
you the antidote when they're not looking. Then I get killed and you give
me the antidote. They would think we were both dead.”
“They would want my body. We don't
leave bodies for humans to find.”
“Well....you could show me how to send
up a balloon. I could attach a dummy that looked like you and they would
think your body was gone.”
“It would only buy you a little time.
You would still have to leave eventually. They would find out if you stayed
in this house, certainly if you used the same name and numbers.”
“Oh. Yeah. You're right. Henry you
have to go. There is no way you can protect me. It's stupid for you to
get yourself killed for nothing. I want you to go. I won't leave here
and you will make me feel much better if you will go.”
“If y-y-you stay, I st-st-stay.”
“Same old Henry. From the word go you
suit yourself. I want you to go. Why on earth would you stay if
I don't want you here? Go away!”
cont. on page twenty-nine
|
|
he