Dog Blood

This morning, before he’d left the hotel, Mark had argued with Kate. Neither of them had meant for it to happen, but once they’d started shouting, weeks of pent-up frustrations meant neither of them could stop. Kate was becoming increasingly claustrophobic in the hotel room, and the lack of privacy was driving her insane.

“What am I supposed to do?” he’d said to her. “Until things change, this is all we’ve got. There are no hospitals or clinics or-”

“So what happens when the baby comes?”

“We deal with it.”

“How?”

“I don’t know… we get some towels and water like they said and-”

“What towels? Where’s the water going to come from? Christ, Mark, I won’t even be able to wash the kid. We don’t have enough water to drink, let alone-”

“Calm down, Katie. You’re just-”

“Calm down! Jesus Christ, why should I? I’m fucking terrified, and you’re expecting me to give birth to our baby on the floor of a hotel room in front of my parents.”

“It’s months away yet. Four months. Think how much might change in another four months-”

“Think how much worse it might get.”

“Now you’re just being stupid.”

“I’m scared.”

“We’re all scared.”

“I’m scared about the baby.”

“Millions of women give birth every year, don’t they? And they used to manage before hospitals and-”

“It’s not that-”

“What, then?”

“I’m scared about what our baby might be. What if it’s not like us? What if it’s one of them and it…?”

“Don’t be stupid. I’m normal and you’re normal. Our baby will be normal, too.”

“But what if it isn’t? You don’t know that for sure, do you? No one knows why we’re like we are and why they’re different…”

She was right, of course, but he kept on trying to persuade her that everything would be okay, doing his best to keep up the bullshit and pretense because it was all he could do.

A sudden noise nearby diverted Mark’s attention back to the present. There was a disturbance deep in a crowd of people on the other side of the road. He couldn’t clearly see what was happening. It looked like a fight-someone had probably cracked under the strain of the impossible situation that they, and everyone else, found themselves in. The sudden, unexpected outpouring of long-suppressed emotions provoked a range of reactions from the other refugees nearby. Some ran. Some did all that they could do pretend it wasn’t happening. Others forgot where they were and all that they’d been through and responded with the most basic, natural of reactions and fought.

Mark didn’t give a damn what was happening or why. Taking full advantage of the situation and the distraction it caused, he shoved the door of the phone booth hard. When the lifeless man on the ground still didn’t react, he pushed the door again until there was a wide enough gap for him to squeeze his arm through. He grabbed the man’s grocery bag, shoved it inside his coat, and walked back toward the hotel.

17

JESUS, MY HEAD HURTS.

Where the hell am I? It’s dark, pitch black almost. I’m lying flat on my back on a narrow bed, naked but for a T-shirt and shorts. I try to move, but my ankles and wrists have been chained to the four corners of the metal bed frame. There’s no slack, and I can’t even lift my hands up off the mattress. The harder I try, the tighter the chains seem to get. I try to move my head, but there’s some kind of strap right across my forehead, keeping me down. When they come back I’ll kill the fucker that’s done this.

My eyes are getting used to the lack of light in here, but there’s not a lot to see. It’s a narrow, rectangular room with this bed against one wall and a chair opposite. There’s nothing on the walls except for a lopsided crucifix just to the side of the solid wooden door. Istretch my neck back as far as I can. There’s a small, boarded-up window behind me, the faintest crack of light showing around the edges.

How long have I been here? Have I just woken up, or have I been out cold for days? I feel myself starting to panic, and I make myself breathe slowly and work my way back through what I remember… the children at the school, traveling with Paul, the fighting at the hospital, the Unchanged in the streets who chased me down and drugged me… We were set up, and the bastards who did it must be the ones who brought me here. I pull on my chains again, but I still can’t move. I don’t understand this. It doesn’t make sense. If they really were Unchanged, why didn’t they just kill me? Why bring me here, wherever here is?

Someone screams. Can’t tell where the noise is coming from. Don’t know if they’re screaming for help or crying with pain. Is this a torture chamber? A place where sick, perverted Unchanged fuckers tie us up and make us suffer? Bastards could come in here any second and start on me and there’d be nothing I could do. Maybe they’re experimenting? Trying to find out what makes us better and stronger than them by cutting us up? How many others before they get to me? Is it my turn next?

Concentrate.

Calm.

Focus.

I think about killing to keep me strong. I think about all the Unchanged I’ve massacred over the months and how I’ve gotten rid of each one of them. I remember all the pointless lives I’ve ended and how easy it was and will be again.

Ellis.

Just for a second, from out of nowhere, I think about Ellis, and everything comes crashing down again. The chains feel tighter and the darkness closes in and I can’t move a fucking muscle. I’ve failed her. She’s out there on her own somewhere while I’m locked up here like a fucking animal. Every minute she’s alone out there increases the chance of her ending up like the kids in the school. I try to move again, pulling as hard as I can and thinking for a second that I can break the chains and get out of here, but nothing happens and the ties just get tighter. I feel like I’m in the line outside the cull site again, standing there and waiting to die. And there’s nothing I can do about it.

My arms hurt. They feel heavy and numb. Shoulders are burning with pain. Got an itch on the side of my right leg, just above the knee, and all I want to do is scratch it. I try to ignore it, but it won’t go. Now it’s all I can think about, and the more I think about it, the worse it gets. Now it’s like someone’s dragging the point of a needle up and down across my skin, and it’s driving me fucking crazy.

Good.

Focus.

Concentrate on the pain and block everything else out.

18

HAVE I BEEN ASLEEP? I can’t see the window when I tilt my head back and look behind me. Is it dark outside? Was it even an outside window? Am I in the same room, or did they move me while I was asleep, if I was asleep? Maybe I’ve been awake all the time. I could have been lying here for hours. Might be longer. Might have been here for days.

Everything’s quiet. Just a slow drip in the corner of the room. Sounds like a leaking pipe. Steady. Constant. I count to eight between drips.

Throat’s dry. Need water. Want to call out, but I can’t. Don’t know who’s listening. Won’t lower myself to speak to Unchanged even if…

“How are you feeling?”

The voice from the darkness scares the shit out of me. I can only move my eyes, and all I see is nothing whichever way I look. Did I imagine it? My heart’s thumping in my chest like I’ve run ten miles. I try to move, but I’m still held tight. Someone’s next to me. I can hear their footsteps and their breathing. Can’t see them, but I know they’re close. I feel them brush against my hand, and my whole body stiffens. The door opens inward a fraction, just enough to let a narrow wedge of dull yellow light trickle into the room.

“Didn’t mean to startle you,” the deep male voice continues in an African-sounding accent. “I’ve been watching you for a while. Just wanted to make sure you were all right.”