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Sighing, I nod and sip the water. “Fine.”
As he disappears out of the room, I watch the screen, on which Jed and Six sit in the dark tunnel, waiting for the rest of the group. Apparently, Kenny couldn’t get the main entrance open, which leaves them sitting ducks. I don’t like this, but the tunnel currently stands empty, making it safer than venturing inside that hospital for the moment.
“This disease … what is it that makes it so deadly?” Six asks quietly.
“It was a non-transmissible prion that we dredged up from the soil.” Drawing his leg up, Jed rests his elbow atop his knee. “It affected certain parts of the brain responsible for pain reception, immunity, healing. Virulent enough to cause serious damage to the neurons, but only dangerous to those in direct contact with it. The prion itself is very slow, pathologically speaking. A person with healthy immunity could’ve gone years without symptoms.”
“So, what happened?”
Jed pauses a moment, picking at his fingernails, and snorts a laugh. “Our great and powerful leader had an idea. To design a biological weapon that he would sell to the military and finance his dreams.”
“Szolen?” Six asks the question swirling inside of my head.
“Yes. Szolen. We were tasked with figuring out a highly effective means of incapacitating large populations, which boiled down to transmissibility and pathophysiology. In other words, we had to figure out a way to make it spread quickly, and speed up its infection process. So we fused it with a virus.”
It seems strange that Jed would divulge so much information, particularly something that, if known by others, would likely result in Andrew Szolen’s execution. After all, who would trust a man responsible for murdering millions of people?
“He wanted to wipe out the population?”
“Not everyone. Only our enemies. Unfortunately, the science got out of hand, so to speak. We had a breach at the facility and samples were removed. Unleashed before they could be contained.” Jed sighs and crosses his arms, shrugging. “A pandemic rooted in sheer ignorance. It’s no wonder there are so few of us left. We never deserved this world.”
Movement flickers out of the corner of my eye--not on screen, but through the sheer curtains over the window across the room--and I duck low, peering around the computer monitor.
The two Legion soldiers I drugged the night before are walking up to Gregor’s porch. No doubt, they’re looking for me, and if they find me unescorted and sans Cali, it’ll be cause to have me arrested. The doorbell rings, alongside the thud of footsteps that bleed through the walls.
Gregor heads out and answers the door, while I remain crouched.
“We’re looking for a woman. Have you seen one roaming around? There may be two of them.”
During the quiet between Jed and Six, I concentrate on the voices outside the room.
Gregor snorts. “How perfect for you guys, huh? One for each.”
“This is serious business, sir. These women may be dangerous.”
“Then, it’s a match, am I right? You could double-date. Go kill shit together.” His sense of humor is clearly not appreciated, and I’d be inclined to tell him to shut the hell up before he gets us into trouble, but this is his personality. This is what they expect from him. Behaving any other way will signal something is wrong. Gregor is a known smartass who doesn’t play by rules.
“Look, if you see them, please alert us right away. They have direct ties to the rebels.”
“The rebels? How the hell did they slip past security?”
One of the men clears his throat. “Please alert us if you see them,” he says.
“Sure. I’ll give ‘em your numbers. Have a nice day, gentlemen.” The door clicks shut, and I exhale a breath, watching the two retreat from his front porch.
They cross the yard and make their way to the next house. On a positive note, they’ve obviously not alerted their superiors yet, otherwise, there’d be doors busted down and a whole slew of Legion barging in. My guess is, these two aren’t interested in having to relay that they fell asleep on the job.
Abandoning my watch of them, I turn to see Gregor standing in the doorway, holding a tray with sandwiches and fruit.
“You know what’s interesting. If they knew I was fucking Jed, they wouldn’t hesitate to string us up and stone us. In the absence of knowing, Jed and I are highly respected experts in our field. Ones they turn to for advisement and council.” He stands looking thoughtful for a moment. “There’s something very satisfying in that, you know?”
Crossing the room back to my chair, I smile. “Why do you stay here?” I catch a quick glimpse of Jed and Six on camera, still waiting for the others to arrive in the tunnels. “Why not leave Szolen and live the way you want to live with Jed.”
“Oh, you mean out with the cannibalistic marauders, who would rape us to death before they eat us? Or with the Ragers who would skip the foreplay and head straight for dessert?” He enters the room and places the tray down in front of me. “No thanks.”
“You’d live by your own choices. Love who you want to love. Live how you want to live.”
“That might work for someone like you, Wren. But I’m older. Slower. Christ, I rolled out of bed this morning with a fucking ache in my shoulders. From rolling out of bed.” He rubs his hand over his lower back as if to emphasize the point. “There’s no way I could defend myself out there.”
