Whispers in the Dark

by Pam Jernigan

  We were partners in crime. For a few days.

  “Well, maybe…” Curt's voice tailed off into a loud silence.

  “Curt, don’t be absurd. Such behavior is utterly impossible for the Mindless.”

  “Sorry,” Curt mumbled, dark red with resentment.

  Did humans always conceal their emotions? Speak in ways they didn't feel? Karen hadn’t, but these did.

  “So what are we going to do?”

  “We,” Dr. Borsa said, “Are going to prepare for the worst. First thing, we need to adjust the cattle pen. Gentlemen…”

  Soft sounds came over the ambient crowd noise, and the others in the cage started falling. There was a sharp pain below his shoulder. Not good. Leo looked down at the dart in his arm for a moment before the world tilted and went black.

  #

  That was not promising… Karen left the council chambers with a frown on her face. This was by no means a sure thing, and she couldn’t just leave this to drift. She ran Jake to ground outside city hall. “Hey, Jake!”

  He turned in surprise. “Karen?”

  She put on her pleasant face. “Jake, you’ve gotta help me.”

  He scowled. “That’s it? No hello, how’ve you been dealing with the last week? I missed you, Kare.” He looked like he would go in for one of his lightning-fast micro-kisses, but he stopped himself.

  She had not missed him but didn’t figure she ought to say so. “It’s been a crazy week,” she said. “And it’s not over yet. Listen, the route we used to get past the wall last time; is that still open?”

  He frowned. “Why do you want to know?”

  “Because I might need to use it. The council doesn’t seem to want to help me.”

  “Gee, I wonder why? Get real, Karen. You’re nothing but a preschool teacher. Stick to the four-year-olds, okay? You’re lucky you survived and got back; why would you go out again?”

  She lifted her chin, the implied insult almost unnoticed. “Because I’ve got a friend out there, and he needs me.” What was happening to Leo right now? Were they dissecting him? Would there even be anything left?

  “He got along fine without you before last week, Karen.”

  No, he hadn’t. And he might not be fine long without her, either, even if Borsa didn’t do anything horrible. The Mindlessness had been alleviated, the battery had been charged, but who knew how long that would last? And that was the best case scenario. “He’s in a cage, Jake. Sooner or later they’ll… they’ll kill him.”

  “It’s not your fault, Karen,” he soothed. “I get that you feel responsible, but you’re not.”

  Well, that summed up Jake’s opinion of her rather nicely. Not responsible. Not important. Nothing but a preschool teacher. “Things change, Jake. He’s different.” She paused for a moment. “I’m different.”

  I’m so different I’m trying my best to escape the one safe place I have in the world, and charge back into danger in a possibly fruitless quest to save a monster I met less than a week ago.

  Whatever. She squared her shoulders. “Yeah, it scares me, but I can’t not try. What I need to know right now is if you can help me get back out there. Can I get out the way we went before?”

  He shook his head. “Nope, they found out about it. It’s closed up tight now.”

  Not good, but not surprising. “Then can you talk to your dad for me? Get him to see this is important?”

  “First you’d have to convince me this is important, Karen,” he replied bluntly.

  When had she ever failed to convince him? Not that she’d ever tried anything like this before, of course.

  Jake reached out to cup a hand on her elbow and maneuver her down the street. “Can we find a quiet place to talk?”

  If there was anything in the world that Karen did not want, it was a heart-to-heart with Jake.

  “You’re waiting for the council to discuss, right? So you have the time.”

  Fine. “Okay.” She did have some things to say. “Okay, yeah, let’s do that.”

  They walked a little while to a small park/playground. There weren’t any children present, so Karen sat on a swing, chewing gently on one thumb.

  Jake sat on the one next to her, facing the other way. “Karen, are you okay?”

  She considered that. “Physically, I’m doing fine. Just going out of mind," - oops, bad phrasing - “worrying about Leo.”

  Jake frowned. “Yeah, about him… Kare, I was talking to Katrina… is this Leo guy, you know, normal?”

  “No, Jake, he’s not,” she said, looking down at the dirt she was pushing around with the toe of her sneaker. “He was Mindless, and he’s now recovering. No, I don’t know how that’s possible, but yes, I’m sure that it’s happening. I got to know him while they had him locked up, but when the whack-job tried to turn me Mindless, he got himself out of the cage and saved me. I helped him get out of the camp altogether, and we helped each other after that. Oh, and he quite liked playing Go Fish.”

  “Go Fish? Seriously, Karen?”

  She shrugged. “He got the concept pretty quick. Look, there was something I wanted to talk about with you, too.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.” She blew out her breath and planted both hands in her lap. First things first, credit where it was due, etc. “Thank you. For getting Katrina back to the city safely. I know neither one of you wanted to leave me.”

  “You told us to,” he reminded her, starkly. It was his turn to look down. “We all did what we had to do, I guess.” he mumbled. “I swear, Karen, that was the hardest thing I ever… I mean, to walk away from you…”

  She had a flash of memory, of Leo telling her to run. The sense of despair when she’d agreed, and guilt when she’d run. “Yeah, I feel you. I shouldn’t have left Leo.” At least she’d attempted to argue with him, and really there hadn’t been a better option, but still… the only way to redeem that failure was to reverse it, to go back and rescue him this time.

  “It’s hardly the same,” Jake said, put out.

  “It’s kind of close,” she said, unwilling to concede the point but not caring enough to argue it, either. “Anyway. That was a hard thing for you. Can you forgive me?” she asked quietly.

  He looked up quickly, guilt in his eyes. “It was a terrible situation.”

  “True.” And that wasn’t an answer.

  Jake visibly searched for words. “We didn’t have any other choices.”

  We weren’t Mindless, Karen argued silently. “Oh, we had choices,” she said aloud, adding, “It’s just that none of them were very good. And that one was the least bad.” She sighed. “Sometimes life sucks.”

  He snorted agreement. “Yeah. So…” he drew patterns in the dirt with his shoe. “Are we okay?”

  Karen leaned back, swinging gently and staring up into the sky, considering that. She’d been so consumed with worry for Leo that Jake had kind of faded into the background. No, to be honest she hadn’t thought much about Jake the whole week. Or even that much before then. They’d had fun together, but that was the extent of it.

  Some tiny irrational corner of her brain, she realized, was actually hurt that Jake had left her at the library. Even though she hadn’t wanted him to stay, it would have been nice if he’d argued more, instead of jumping at the chance. She closed her eyes for a moment, testing her feelings. “We’re okay,” she said, looking at him again. “In that I’m not pissed at you or anything. But I don’t think we can be together.”

  He nodded, still studying the ground. “Yeah.” A long pause. “How much does Leo have to do with this decision?”

  Good question. “Not much, actually,” she said, testing out the notion. “It’s just… you and me… we’re not a good fit.” You think what I do is unimportant. That I’m unimportant. Besides which, you’re terribly boring.

  “Yeah, well…”

  “But seriously,” she said, sitting up straighter and looking him in the eye for emphasi
s. “You took care of Katrina, got her back home safely,” She wished he’d *kept* her at home after that, but never mind, let it go. The city was too small to fight with him. She’d just have to pick someone more trustworthy next time. “And that means a lot. Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said quietly, looking down.

  “Okay, so…” She glanced at him. “Would you mind talking to your dad?”

  He rolled his eyes, standing and shoving his hands into his pockets. “What am I supposed to say, Karen? Hey, Dad, let’s go outside and risk all our lives to save Karen’s pet monster.”

  Karen shot to her feet. “You could try saying that there’s a vulnerable human being out there, possibly with the cure to the whole Mindless problem, and they’re letting the opportunity to fix all this just slip through their fingers. Speaking of which,” she said, abruptly remembering. She dug into one pocket and came out with her phone. “Check out the pictures I took of the lab notes. That’ll keep you happily entertained for a while. Might even be useful. Meanwhile, I’ll fight my own battles.” She turned away from him, heading for home. It was a satisfying gesture, but it would have been better if she’d had any idea what to do next.

  #

  “They’re not going to go for it,” Karen reported to Katrina, sagging down into their living room couch.

  Katrina winced. “I’m sorry.”

  “Did you know any other ways out of the city? Jake said they closed up the one we used.” She sat forward, rubbing her hands together, staring at the floor.

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “I don’t know, Kat. Maybe I am imagining that God’s interested.” That He exists at all.

  “No, don’t think like that, Karen. God’s definitely in this.”

  “Even if He isn’t, I can’t leave Leo without at least trying to save him. If I have to, I’ll go by myself. It’s driving me crazy, him not being here. I mean, I was walking back here from the park, and it just felt *wrong* not to have him there, you know? Not that he’s ever been in the city, obviously, but we did a lot of walking the other day, and… I kind of liked him being there.”

  Katrina hesitated, then reached out to touch her sister’s arm. “You’re really in love with Cute Guy, aren’t you?”

  Karen blinked and stared. “In love with?”

  “Well, yeah, that was obvious.”

  “No,” Karen said, confused. She wasn’t. Was she? She couldn’t be. “And his name is Leo. He’s so sweet; you’re going to love him.”

  Katrina smiled. “Fine, don’t admit it. But you can’t go by yourself, that’s crazy. So you'll have to convince them.” She settled into the corner of the sofa. “You don’t want to use the God angle; I get that. Between you and me, Mr. Getty is pretty anti-God anyway, so it’s just as well. What else is going on? Is this camp a threat?”

  Karen was still stuck on the part about being in love and it took a moment for her brain to crank back into gear. “Um. Maybe.” She tried to concentrate. “Borsa still wants to take over the world, and if he gets his formula working there’s a chance he could, but I doubt they’re going to buy that.”

  “Hmm. Hard sell. What else? Do they have something we want?”

  “They’ve got a pretty good farming operation going. Maybe we could trade?” Karen tried to make herself focus. She would have to figure out the love stuff later. She sighed, looking upwards. “Come on, God, tell me what to do. This is your plan, right? What’s the next step?”

  Katrina reached over to hold her sister’s hand. “Don't give up, Karen. There’s got to be a way. God's good at that.”

  “I swear I'm forgetting something… oh!” She looked up, catching Katrina’s eye. “Got it. Come on, I’ve got to talk to the council again.”

  Reinvigorated now, she stood, grabbed her bag and her sister, and headed out of the house.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Leo came back to awareness slowly. It was better than the previous day, he thought groggily. Or no, wait. It was worse. The last time, he’d had to scramble out of bed in fear of scaring Karen. Which was bad. But he had been in bed with Karen, and that had been good. He kept his eyes closed for a moment, trying to remember.

  The details were fading, but she’d been right next to him, sleeping with him. So close and soft and warm. That still amazed him.

  He heard some soft groans around him. Right, he was in the cage. In an ungainly heap on the floor, recovering from a tranquilizer dart. With a lot of emotion-starved Mindless. He tried to keep his feelings to himself.

  How much time had he lost? He cracked open one eyelid. It was daylight still. Or maybe again.

  Footsteps in the lab distracted him. “Is it done?” Doctor Borsa asked, his energy skittering around in agitation.

  “Yes, taken care of.” Sounded and felt like Curt. Leo decided he really didn’t like Curt. “Here’s the remote. Just press that button.”

  “Good, good. No chance it will go off accidentally?”

  “No, sir. Just don’t, you know…”

  “Hit the button, yes, Curt, I know.” Borsa sounded impatient, borderline nasty.

  Curt didn’t like it, Leo could tell. Good.

  “Now that that’s done,” Borsa said, “It’s time to move to phase two. Observing the experimental specimens. The guards injected some of the Mindless with my new formula; I want to see if it affects any of them.”

  Some of them?

  “Which ones did they inject?” Curt asked, and for once Leo didn’t mind him talking. Had he been one of the subjects? What if they'd infected him? The shot had helped Jamal, and he'd been fully Mindless to start with. What would it do to him?

  “I don’t know,” Borsa admitted. “It’s impossible to do a double-blind study under these conditions,” he explained, with a sniff, “but we do what we must in pursuit of science.”

  The others around him began to move and moan. He copied them, groaning a little for effect, looking around cautiously. He wondered which of them had been injected.

  “How will you know it worked?” Curt asked. Partly out of curiosity and partly to get the doctor to like him. It failed.

  Leo could have told him it would be a wasted effort, but he was much more concerned with his own state. Sitting now, he stretched a little, trying to determine if he had any new punctures. How would he know?

  “They'll do as I tell them,” Borsa said absently, moving over to the bench and writing in his notebook. “I’ve tweaked the formula, since the last try. I can test in a few hours. Issue some commands and assess their compliance.”

  Glancing around, head slewing as if at random, he noted that some of his cagemates had their sleeves pushed up on their right arm, and a few had traces of blood showing. Carefully, he reached his left hand to check his right arm. He shouldn’t push the sleeve up, that was not-Mindless, but he didn’t think the shirt had been disturbed or the arm punctured. He didn’t feel any different. Still stuck in a cage, missing the girl he loved, and whom he’d never see again.

  He couldn’t focus on that; the emotions would leak. That would be bad. He’d watch the others, instead, trying to spot any changes. He should copy them, try to blend in. Borsa wouldn't know he was faking. Maybe he’d be able to escape.

  “What are you going to do now?” Curt asked.

  “Not sure,” the doctor said. “But something to occupy me while this experiment runs. Perhaps it won’t be needed; perhaps there will be no repercussions.”

  Reper-what?

  “However, there might be," Borsa continued, in lecture mode. "That girl took things from me, and she was attempting to return to the city. She might succeed.”

  “She said she didn’t have to tell them anything about us,” Curt offered.

  There was a brief silence, followed by a flare of embarrassment from Curt. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

  “That was before she began spying on me,” the doctor said softly and slowly. Leo sensed the man’s im
patience with Curt, which seemed at odds with his delivery.

  “Right, of course.” Curt was feeling worse. Maybe that’s what the doctor wanted.

  “And before we attempted to experiment on her,” the doctor continued. “I suspect her attitude may have changed towards us.”

  “Good point, yeah. I wasn’t thinking.”

  “So if she survives, she’ll tell them everything, and they may be interested.”

  Borsa thought Karen would expose him. Even try to get the people in the city to do something.

  Hope stirred. Karen might be coming. Maybe. Would she? She hadn’t wanted to leave him, hadn’t wanted him to be captured.

  Conviction grew. If it were possible, his Karen would try to come for him.

  It might not be possible, but he grabbed onto the hope, anyway. He needed to stay anonymous and avoid attention, to give her time to get to him.

  “Meanwhile, I have science to do,” Borsa announced. “I need a new test subject.”

  #

  “Okay,” Commander Harris said. “We’re all here. What is it?”

  “Sorry to interrupt your lunch,” she said, almost managing to sound sincere. “But I just realized I’ve got something you’re going to want to know about. The doctor at the camp - the mad scientist I told you about? He’s crazy and evil, but not stupid. He’s been studying the Mindless for years, and he’s developed some amazing medicine.”

  “The Mindless don’t need medicine,” Mrs. Ambrico said, faintly confused.

  “Exactly. They’ve got accelerated healing. Dr. Borsa figured out how to, sort of, bottle that, so that we can use it to heal regular people.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yes,” Karen said with a quiet air of triumph, pulling the syringe and the jar from her bag. “These are them. You can get them analyzed, but they work. Just ask Katrina - at the library, I just about killed my ankle, but it’s almost entirely better now.”

  The commander looked thoughtful. “Jake did say you couldn’t walk. I thought he might have been exaggerating, considering how well you’ve been getting around, but…”

  “Nope, it was the wonder potion. Now, is that a good enough reason to go visit this camp?”