by Q J Martin
“Except maybe losing all your memories and waking up in the middle of the apocalypse.” Logan smiled. Jane's hand lingered on his own, and he let it. He didn't shun away from its warmth. The weakness he felt looking into her eyes for the first time was replaced by a fortified resolve to move forward, to do what needed to be done, to be who he needed to be. If Randell was sober, he'd say Logan was crazy for trusting her so implicitly after one night of talking, but he wasn't. All Logan had to guide him was his own gut feeling, and it told him that she was genuine.
“Except maybe that,” Jane nodded. She pulled her hand back and laid down, not saying another word.
Logan took a deep breath. He reached into his pocket, took out another pill, and chased it down with a sip of whiskey. He could almost forgive himself for wanting to put the concerns of his life out of his mind for a few hours. Then he joined them both in a blessed state of unconsciousness.
After everything that had happened that day, it felt like the best night's sleep he had ever gotten.
⌬
“Rise and shine,” Randell said, slapping Logan on the cheek.
“What the hell?” Logan shouted in reply, rolling onto his stomach and covering his head with his pillow. “Since when are you the one that wakes me up?”
“Time's a-wastin’, man. You better get up before I get my revenge on you for all of those mornings when you doused me in ice water.”
“That was different,” Logan grumbled. “You were a lazy, good-for-nothing sloth. I'm a perfectly reliable and self-motivated adult who just needs five more minutes of sleep.”
Randell walked up and tickled him on the ribs.
Logan's limbs tightened as he repelled the assault. “Fine, fine, I’m up. Are you happy?”
“You are,” Randell said. “Laughter is the best medicine.”
“No one's laughing,” Logan said. He looked up as Randell walked away and noticed a few marks on his clothes that he hadn't seen before. “You must have gotten more scraped up than I thought.”
“Why's that?” Randell asked, turning around.
The first thing that caught Logan's attention was the slice across Randell's shirt in the front. He didn't think that Jane had damaged his shirt quite that badly when she prodded him. It was covered in a mix of black and red blood, but his stomach looked to be whole. Logan's eyes followed his body up until they came to his face. Randell's cheeks were sunken in like Logan hadn't seen since grade school. His skin was pale, as if he had been suffering a fever. A drop of sweat rolled down his temple, then dropped onto his shirt.
“Randell, are you alright?” Logan asked. He leaned over and shook Jane awake, not daring to take his eyes off of his friend.
“Dude, why are you so concerned all of a sudden. I mean, I'm a little hungry, but aside from that, I'm fine.”
“A little hungry?” Logan asked. He got his feet underneath him and stood up.
Jane walked over to the couch where she had set down her bat and cautiously picked it up.
“Ok, a lot hungry,” Randell corrected himself. “But what else is new?”
“You're still hungry?” Jane asked, “After everything you ate yesterday?”
“It wasn't enough,” Randell mumbled. His eyes were starting to look empty, as if he wasn't really looking at anything in particular.
“Hey, why don't we change that bandage on your hand before we get going?” Logan said cautiously.
“Oh no, it's ok.”
“I can do it,” Jane said, giving a short nod to Logan as she walked up to Randell. “After all, I'm the reason you got that cut in the first place. It's the least I can do.”
Randell held out his injured hand without saying a word.
Jane tugged at the cloth, breaking the dried blood that had crusted between the layers of wrapping.
Logan looked on with growing concern.
As she undid the bandaging, Randell began to mumble endlessly, hardly taking a breath between each thought. “I really don’t need a new bandage on this I mean I’ve had so much worse than this little paper cut I assure you you know when I was nine years old I started trying to see if I was brave enough to…” He paused and clutched his stomach.
Logan could hear it growling from where he stood.
“I’m so hungry.”
Jane finished peeling the bandages back and looked with dread at Randell’s injured hand. She turned to the side to allow Logan to see the perfectly smooth skin that formed his uninjured palm.
Logan put his hand around the handle of his revolver at his waist. “Randell, buddy, why don’t you tell me where you got those scratches on your clothing?”
“Just so hungry for some reason. So hungry.”
“Whose blood is that?” Logan asked, pointing at his stomach.
“Nobody’s. It was a nobody, man. She was going to die anyway. She was nobody. She was…” Randell trailed off and looked at Logan with sudden appreciation. “So hungry,” he said, his mouth twisting into a smile. He leaned forward and snarled, then charged at Logan.
Section V
The drive home had been the most tense half hour of Logan’s life. He didn’t say a single word, and neither did Elizabeth. When the police officers told them to go home, that they would take care of everything, Elizabeth swore in protest. She didn’t mean to be a mean-spirited person, but this was far beyond anything that she had dealt with before. She wasn’t prepared to handle having her child abducted in plain daylight. She wasn’t prepared to spend the weekend without him.
Logan wasn’t either. It was as hard for him as it was for her. He was just trying to deal with it as well as he could. He wanted to make sure that he was strong, for himself, and for Elizabeth, but she seemed to see his strength as something else.
Now they were approaching twelve hours. It’s been twelve hours since they had their child taken from them. That was longer than Glenn had ever went without having one of his parents there for him, and now he was off with an abductor, a kidnapper, a pervert.
The living room holo rang. The emergency call animation played across the room as Logan and Elizabeth hurried to answer it. The police chief’s grim face projected from the wall into the air in front of them.
“Oh my God,” Elizabeth said, covering her mouth with her hands. “Please, no.”
Logan thought about putting his arm around his wife, about comforting her through whatever news the police chief was about to deliver. But there was more between them than a simple foot of space. The last twelve hours, all that silence, and the argument that came just before it, the blaming and the anger, it stood between them like an impenetrable wall that Logan didn’t have the slightest idea how to break down. He didn’t even know if he wanted to. Not yet.
“No, this is not one of those calls,” the police chief said, giving his best imitation of a comforting smile. “First, and foremost, I’m happy to say that we found your son, and he is safe and sound.”
The chief’s words echoed out of the recently installed surround-sound speakers, hitting Logan from all angles. Every time he heard those words repeat through his skull, and repeat in his memories, was just as incomprehensible as the last. This entire situation was over? They could put it all behind them and go back to the way things used to be.
Elizabeth, of course, was overjoyed by the news. She wept so hard that she could barely form two words tougher.
“How did you find him?” Logan asked finally. He tempered his joy. He wouldn’t allow himself to celebrate, to feel relief, until he could hold Glenn in his arms once more.
“Facial recognition ran the footage from the park surveillance cameras and identified him as Jeremy Locke. He was already wanted for several cases of…” The chief paused. He obviously wasn’t eager to finish the sentence.
“Cases of what?” Elizabeth asked, her joy suddenly tempered as well.
“Cases of armed robbery, abduction… and rape.”
Elizabeth gasped at the last one. “Oh no. Please, no, please.”
“Ma’am,” the chief interjected. “There’s no need for concern. He didn’t touch your son. I guarantee it. Cameras picked him up near the industrial district at roughly 22:15 last night, and dispatchers sent units to his location within a matter of minutes. We got him before he even knew what had hit him, and we have officers transporting your son to your house as we speak.”
“Thank you, sir,” Logan said. “You can’t know how much this means to us.”
Elizabeth wiped the tears from her eyes and echoed Logan’s sentiments for everything the police chief and his officers had done. The chief nodded, said a few more thoughtful words, then disconnected the call.
Logan turned and walked towards the kitchen without a word, not eager to officially break the silence that had been kept between them for so long.
Elizabeth was the one who finally spoke first. “Logan,” she said softly.
Logan stopped in the doorway and turned around. “What is it, Liz?”
“It’s…” Elizabeth hesitated.
“Glenn’s safe. He’s going to be back in a few minutes. Aren’t you happy about that?” he asked, taking her silence as a sign of disapproval.
“I am. It’s—it’s terrific. I’m so glad the police were able to find him. I just…” She paused, her eyes looking at the ground uneasily. “I wish we hadn’t lost him in the first place.”
“I know. I do, too. I can’t believe that even happened, that we even had to go through this entire mess. I can’t believe anyone would sink that low.”
“Logan,” Elizabeth said uneasily, “there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.” She took a deep breath and put her head in her hand.
“What is it, Liz?” Logan was feeling uneasy. Where was she going with this?
“How closely were you watching Glenn?” she finally spat out.
Logan was taken aback. “What are you trying to say? You think it was my fault that our son was kidnapped?”
“No! I’m not saying that at all. There’s only so much any of us can do without…”
“Without what, Liz?”
“Without being modded, Logan.” Elizabeth walked up to her husband and stood in front of him, her demeanor intended to put him at ease.
“What does that mean?” Logan asked, crossing his arms and taking a step back.
“Well,” Elizabeth said, undeterred, “I’ve been looking at some perception mods online, and there are some really great ones available, completely safe. If you had one of them when that kidnapper came up behind you, Logan, you would have seen him before he was even within a stone’s throw of the stroller. You could have been able to stop him, and we’d be eating dinner right now as a whole family, instead of waiting here for our son to be returned to us.”
Logan’s mouth was agape. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Elizabeth,” he finally managed to get out. “I never imagined I’d have to explain to you how I feel about mods. You of all people! You know me. You knew me when we got married. You knew how I felt about being modded all the way back at our first conversation. I thought you felt the same way.” Logan paused. “Didn’t you?”
“I—I don’t, Logan. I’m sorry. I never did. When we first met, I already had an intelligence mod, and three physical alteration mods. Of course,” she sighed, “I respect your opinions and our right to make that decision yourself. Don’t you ever think that I don’t. But we’re talking about our children here!” Elizabeth’s voice reached a near shout by the end.
“Our child,” Logan corrected without a second thought.
“Children, Logan. I’m pregnant again.”
“What?” Logan whispered. He took two steps forward and looked her directly in the eyes. “You’re pregnant?”
Now it was Elizabeth’s turn to step back. “I was going to tell you at the park.” She wouldn’t meet his eyes. “We’re going to have another child.”
“Well, that’s wonderful,” Logan said halfheartedly. He really didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what he thought. This was so sudden, and such bad timing, after everything they had just lost, after the breach of trust between them.
“Logan, I know you, of all people,” she said, putting a finger on his chest, “understand that we have to do what’s best for our children. That’s how your father raised you, and that’s why I knew you’d be a great father yourself. But there are times when doing what’s best for our children means providing for them. Logan, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for the safety and wellbeing of my children. I know you know that.” Elizabeth paused. “Can you say the same? What sacrifices are you willing to make to make sure that our children are safe?”
Logan’s eyes glossed over, focusing on the window behind her. There was a police car pulling into the driveway in front of the house. He couldn’t see inside it, but he knew what it meant: Glenn was about to be returned to them. His eyes crossed until the window was nothing but a blurry spot in the back of his mind. Finally, his lips unfroze. “Which mod do you want me to get?” he asked with a blank expression.
Elizabeth’s eyes lighted up at that. “I have one picked out for you already. It’s a really nice, simple perception mod that should increase your sensory input by 74 percent.”
A car door shut in the background.
“Ok.” Logan walked right past her toward the front of the house to meet the officer at the door.
“You have no idea how much I appreciate this, and love you for it.”
Logan didn’t respond. He couldn’t bring himself to say another word. Even after the officer dropped Glenn off, Logan knew things wouldn’t be the same as they were. He didn’t know how long it would take to get better. Maybe once he got his perception mod, he’d be able to figure it out. He obviously wasn’t capable of comprehending enough to answer that now.
Chapter XII
Logan tried to swing his revolver out in front of him, but he was too slow. Randell ran faster than he had ever seen him run before, and he quickly plowed into Logan. Together, they fell in a heap on the floor.
It was all Logan could do to keep Randell’s hands from clawing at his flesh. Soon, he had to deflect Randell’s teeth as well. He looked around for Jane, in those precious few seconds that he still could look around, to see if she was in any position to help, but she had vanished.
“Randell, don’t make me hurt you!” Logan said. He cursed between each breath, then focused all his strength, projecting it into his chest. He pushed up as hard as he possibly could with all his might, and Randell flew off him.
He nearly slammed into the ceiling in the process. When he came back down, he hit his head hard on the dining room table, and he crumpled to the ground.
Windows all around Logan shattered, and over twenty Infected came marching in, as if on orders. They ran across the house from all directions, and encircled Logan and Randell. They growled and hissed and snarled and snorted, but they remained were they were in a rough circle around them.
Randell finally came to. He rubbed his head and shoved himself back up to his feet. He looked around at the Infected wearily, but he didn’t seem to be surprised. “If you hurt me, I won’t be able to stop them from hurting you,” he warned.
“What do you care if they hurt me?” Logan asked, looking at a particularly bloody Infected. “You were trying to kill me.”
“I couldn’t help myself.” Randell clutched his stomach and bent over.
The Infected took a quick step towards Logan, but they went still just as quickly as they had moved.
Randell’s attention was back on Logan. “I’m not going to be able to stop them this time,” he muttered. He took a step forward, then another, then another. “This can only end one way. Give up. I’ll try to make it quick.”
Logan waited until Randell was right in front of him. He burst out and wrapped his arm around his old friend, putting him in a tight headlock.
The Infected started to get riled up. They didn’t like what Logan was doing. They seemed to care about R
andell, if they cared about anything at all.
“You’ve been Infected all along, you no-good, lying excuse for a friend.”
“I didn’t know I was Infected. I was just so hungry.”
Logan was getting tired of this conversation. He thought about his revolver. He could end things pretty quickly. Snap his friend’s neck and shoot himself in the head. It would be an escape, of sorts, a freedom from this situation. But would he be able to point the gun up to his head quick enough?
Logan solved that puzzle with ease. He would simply line up Randell’s head with his own and shoot through both of them. That was it. That was the only way out for him. He had struggled, he had fought, and now, finally, he had lost. He just had to accept that.
He brought gun up to Randell’s head and tilted it back to his own. Petitions of forgiveness crossed his lips, from his children, from Elizabeth, from any manner of higher power.
Then he stopped himself. He wasn’t alone here. Jane was in the hallway, standing right on the precipice of the room, her eyes shut. It would have been so selfish to kill himself and leave Jane to suffer such a terrible fate at the hands of riled up Infected. He turned the gun, pointing it towards her, without making it blatantly obvious what he was about to do.
Jane, for her part, seemed to not be the slightest bit concerned. She was completely zoned out. Black liquid dripped from her clenched eyes. As Logan watched, the Infected that blocked her way parted like the Red Sea.
Logan lowered his gun, unsure of what he was seeing.
She ran up to him and held out a medicine bottle, along with a pair of handcuffs.
Logan secured Randell’s head firmly in one hand and did his best to take the items with the other. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with them.
Jane returned her attention to the Infected around her. She held her arms out, as if keeping them at bay. “It’s safe! Give that to him, now!”
“What is it supposed to do?” Logan protested.
