Chapter 39
46 Years in the Future
Trouble
“He's lying,” a voice said from behind him. He heard a gun being cocked.
After arriving at his final shelter with the pregnant woman and her three kids, he'd been taken to a smaller room for interrogation.
There were five people in front of him and more behind, any one of whom could kill him without trying and at least one had some kind of lie-detection ability. This was bad.
“Fine. I wasn't on a foraging expedition,” Leo said. “I was inside the shelter when the alarms went off and I heard fighting. I left the shelter in time to see our strongest defenders get slaughtered, so I ran for it. I don't think anyone noticed me leave.” Before leaving the shelter, he'd first taken Shawna to the lowest part of the shelter. Told her to close her eyes, cover her ears, and not to be afraid.
Thinking about this still made him sick. He prayed her death had been quick.
“And you just happened to escape while everyone else got killed?” A man in front of him asked. The man's uniform was pressed and immaculate. He was clean-shaven and his dark hair was impeccably groomed. Younger than Leo, this world of monsters was all he'd ever known. Leo could feel the man's strength from across the table. Clearly, he had an implant and was quite powerful. One of the shelter's leaders.
“My special condition,” Leo said, referring to his corrupted body, “causes Afflicted to ignore me if there are any more normal humans nearby. To them, I'm practically an Afflicted runner. They barely notice me, and I can run very fast. So yes, I got away. One of them did search for me after they'd finished off the other humans, but I hid in the mountains and it gave up quickly.”
He'd watched from a distant rocky outcrop as the first six High-Level Bosses slaughtered the defenders. Then twenty more Bosses showed up and a huge free-for-all took place as they fought for the human remains. By the end, there were only five Bosses left. Ironic how the Bosses were far better at killing other Bosses than the shelter's defenders had been.
“Did you check for survivors?” An older woman asked.
“Yes. After a week, when I was sure they'd left. They'd picked the place clean, even ate the rats that had been feeding on our garbage. Nothing left of our shelter but a big hole in the ground.”
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“We think they're starving,” the female speaker said. “The woman you came in with, still a girl really, told us they've started eating pregnant woman back in the city she was rescued from.”
Someone behind Leo let out a frightened giggle. “The monsters got to eat.”
The leader glared in the giggler's direction, then turned back to Leo. “Have you ever spoken to, or corresponded with the Afflicted in any way?”
“Trying to get close enough to Afflicted to speak to them always seemed like suicide. So no,” Leo replied.
“Are you sure? Because we believe Bosses are using human informers to track down surviving humans. They do this in exchange for freedom or extended lifespans for themselves and, or, their families. Are you sure you have had no dealings with Afflicted?”
“Positive.”
“If he's lying, he's very good,” said the voice behind him.
“He might make a useful scout,” someone else said.
“I guess we won't kill you just yet,” the leader said, raising his left arm and showing his implant. “I'm Tyrone, pyromage.”
***
A spy, or anyone involved in espionage, would be impressed by the care Lydia took as she searched her older brother's bedroom. Moving slowly, carefully, hardly a spec of dust moved as she crept into his room and proceeded to go through his stuff.
Lydia hated being poor. She was going to be rich when she grew up. It was all about positive thinking.
Every morning she'd go through positive affirmations designed to pull money in her direction. “Money is drawn to me. I am worthy of a wealthy life.” So far, her affirmations had been ineffective. But then wealth didn't happen overnight after all.
At present, she had a more immediate problem.
Leo had changed.
Mom and Dad thought it was puberty, but she knew better. He'd been normal when he left for Jason's house last Sunday, slugging her and telling her not to mess with his stuff.
The next time she saw him, he'd changed. Changed far beyond any blow to the head could be responsible for.
Leo's room was clean. He'd even swept the floor. He never swept the floor. She checked under his bed where he used to kick his crap when cleaning his room. It was also clean and swept.
She opened his laptop to check his search history. She entered his old password, the one he'd forgotten and had to get from her, (Lydiasux!123). Failure. She tried (Lydiasucks!1234). Again failure. (AwfulLydia!123) After trying over 20 variations of his old password, she had to admit defeat. He must have changed it to something resistant to her guesswork. She looked through his newly neat and clean desk again to see if he'd written anything down. Nothing.
She continued searching...