Ex-Communication, Peter Clines [ebook reader online free txt] 📗

guessing because her eyes hurt. Her tear ducts probably aren’t working well.”

St. George looked over at Connolly. “So?”

The doctor shook her head. “Well, she’s definitely an ex,” Connolly said. “No pulse, no respiration, body temperature is seventy-point-five. I think it was cooler but she started warming up once we got her inside.”

“But she’s conscious,” said Freedom. “She knows who she is. Or was.”

“She seems to.”

St. George looked through the window again. “Is she Legion?”

“It would not appear to be,” said Stealth. “Legion consistently displays the same dialect and body language. Whoever or whatever this is, it is demonstrating numerous tics and habits different from his.”

“Whatever she is,” said Connolly, “she’s pretty sure she’s a seventeen-year-old girl.”

Freedom’s brow wrinkled. “She said she was seventeen?”

The doctor nodded.

“This is a discrepancy in its story?” asked Stealth.

“I’m pretty sure she was seventeen when she died,” said Freedom. “I remember Dr. Sorensen talking about having her eighteenth birthday at Krypton.”

“Well, it’s not like she’s aging any more, sir,” said Franklin.

“No,” said Freedom, “but if she’s conscious why wouldn’t she think of herself as twenty? Physically she might be the same, but almost three years have passed.”

“Three years?” echoed Connolly.

“Two years, nine months,” said Freedom. The images and sounds rushed through his mind again. “I lost four good soldiers that day, along with Sorensen’s family.”

Franklin set his jaw and gave a faint nod.

St. George looked at Connolly. Her lips twisted. “Something else wrong?”

She stared through the window. The dead girl was tapping her fingers on the end of the chair and looking around the room. “I’d never’ve guessed she’s been dead for that long.”

“The ex-virus does slow decay significantly,” said Stealth.

“It does,” agreed Connolly, “but it doesn’t stop it. And it doesn’t do anything to halt rigor mortis, evaporation, or basic wear and tear. I would’ve said she’s been dead for a month at most. And a pretty gentle month.”

“What are you implying, doctor?” asked Stealth.

“Just that I’m probably going to want to do a lot more tests after all this blood work’s done. If that’s okay.” She glanced through the window at the dead girl. “With everyone.”

Stealth nodded once.

The two doctors left the heroes standing at the window.

“So,” said St. George. “Now what do we do?”

“We interrogate it,” said the cloaked woman. “Captain Freedom, you are the most familiar with Madelyn Sorensen. Would you be able to confirm its identity?”

The huge officer straightened up and his face got hard. “That depends on what type of interrogation you’re asking me to do, ma’am. I won’t hurt a teenage girl.”

“For the moment, a verbal interrogation should suffice. If you are satisfied with the results, there would be no need to go further.”

One of the guards in the room, Cook, glanced at the dead girl. She smiled at him. “Hey,” she said. “I’m Maddy.”

He ignored her. “You think if she turns out to be an ex they might let us have her?”

His partner followed his gaze. “For what?”

Cook shrugged. “She’s not that messed up. Can’t touch her but she’s still fun to look at.”

“Hey, creeper,” snapped Madelyn. She glared at him. “I’m right here, y’know.”

“Shut up, corpse girl,” Cook said. He leveled his rifle at her. Her eyes went wide.

“That’s enough of that,” said Freedom. He stepped through the door and made the room look small. He walked over to Madelyn and gave Cook a hard stare. “You can wait outside, gentlemen.”

Cook opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it. The other guard cleared his throat. “Stealth’ll have our heads if we leave our posts.”

“Your dedication is admirable,” said Stealth from the doorway. “Wait outside as the captain instructed.”

She made no move to get out of their way. The two guards turned sideways and pressed themselves against the wall to get out of the room without touching her. Once they were gone, she walked in the rest of the way. St. George followed her in.

“I apologize for that, ma’am,” Freedom told Madelyn. “There’s no reason for them to be speaking like that to you.”

Her eyes flitted from St. George to Stealth and up to Freedom. “It’s no biggie,” she said. “I’ve heard worse in gym class.”

“I’m still sorry.” He reached over to her and pulled the straps open. She stretched her arms out and flexed her wrists.

They’d cleaned Madelyn up, even though she still wore the inner layer of her ragged outfit. Her slim body had started to fill out with the shape of maturity, but she couldn’t’ve weighed more than a hundred pounds. Her skin was the dusty gray of the long deceased. She had her mother’s dark, wavy hair, and it brushed her shoulder blades. Freedom recognized the shape of Dr. Sorensen’s eyes, even though they were pale and cloudy.

She stared at him for a moment. “Are you Captain Freedom?”

Something twinged in his chest. He paused, half crouched into the other chair. “Yes, ma’am. How did you know?”

“Dad told me about you. I know he wasn’t supposed to, but he was really excited and proud of how you guys turned out. Especially you.” She smiled. Her teeth were bright and flawless. “I like your coat.”

“Thank you.” Freedom spread his duster and settled into the chair. It creaked under his bulk but held him. He glanced back at Stealth and St. George. The hero stood by the door. The cloaked woman had settled behind Freedom, near the window. “And your father is …?”

“Emil Sorensen,” Madelyn said. Her thin brows furrowed up. “He’s the doctor out at Project Krypton. Your military base, right?”

Freedom nodded again. “How do you know about that?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. It let more of the light hit her pale eyes. “Because you guys flew me and Mom out there to meet him.”

“When was that?”

“Just a few …” She closed her eyes for a moment. “It was July of 2009,” she said. “We got on the plane late on the twenty-sixth, landed in Arizona a little before noon on the twenty-seventh.”

“Okay.”

“Why are you asking me all this?”

“We need to make sure