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

“That was almost nine months ago,” he said. “It took you nine months to get here?”

“Sort of,” she said. She tapped her head with her fingertips. “I have trouble remembering things since this happened to me. If I don’t write stuff down, it’s like it didn’t happen. There may have been a couple days I was backtracking and didn’t know it.”

“Nine months, though?”

“Maybe a lot of days.” She looked him in the eye. “I know it’s been almost three years since this happened. I can see it written out in my journal. But it feels like it was a couple of weeks ago.”

St. George spoke up. “Is that what all the watches are for?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I kept forgetting days, so I thought the watch was broken, so I got another one. Then I thought maybe they were both broken. But three saying the same thing have to be telling you the right date and time.” She closed the journal and pulled it into her lap. “Are you sure there’s no chance Mom or Dad survived? I mean, maybe they’re like me or something.”

Freedom set one hand on top of the other. “No, I don’t believe so.”

“You’re sure?”

“In your father’s case … no. I’m sorry to say there’s no way he could’ve come back.” The huge officer paused for a moment. “Your mother’s body was never found. We’d assumed she reanimated and walked away, or she’d been … damaged to such an extent that her body was destroyed.”

Madelyn stared at him for a long minute. She didn’t blink. It occurred to Freedom that she didn’t need to. Then she lowered her eyes and sighed.

He gave her another moment. “Why did you try to hide your … condition from us?”

She looked down at the straps. “Not counting the chair, you guys have been great, but not everyone’s so chivalrous to a seventeen-year-old girl on her own.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “Some of them thought me being dead made it okay to do things to me.”

The captain’s face hardened. “Did anyone … Were you assaulted in any way?”

Madelyn shook her head, then shrugged. “Not like that, no. I got groped a couple times, but that’s it. Some people stole my stuff. I lost my shoes once. Most of them got freaked out by me being dead and still, y’know, smart. I could get away without too much trouble.”

“And the pistol? Where’d you get it?”

“I found it in a car, under the seat. It was empty, but there was a box of ammunition in the glove compartment.”

“Your father taught you how to shoot, correct?”

“Yeah, right,” she said. “Dad and Mom hate guns.” Her face fell. “Hated guns. It was pretty easy to figure out, though. There wasn’t a clip or anything, just the … Are you still testing me?”

“Yes,” Freedom said, “and it’s called a magazine, not a clip.” He turned his head back to Stealth again and nodded.

Stealth stepped forward. “We are prepared to accept you are who you claim,” she said. “You are not Legion.”

“Cool,” said Madelyn.

The cloaked woman turned to St. George. “However,” she said, “this poses a question. How is she not Legion?”

“Maybe because she’s conscious,” St. George suggested. “His powers may need the … the space of an empty mind.”

“Perhaps she doesn’t count as a regular ex,” said Freedom. “Some tweak to the virus or something similar. If Legion’s possession ability is very narrow-ranged, she might fall outside its parameters.”

“According to everything we know,” said Stealth, “the virus never mutates.”

Madelyn tapped her fingers on the tabletop. The rhythm was from a song, something popular before the outbreak, but Freedom couldn’t place it. “So,” she said, “what happens now?”

St. George cleared his throat. “If you’re up for it, I think the doctors want to run some tests on you and try to figure out why you are … well, the way you are.”

“What does that mean?”

“To be honest, I couldn’t tell you. I’m not a doctor.”

“Am I … am I under arrest or anything?”

Freedom straightened up from his chair and shot a look at Stealth. “I don’t think so.”

Madelyn stood up, too, and swayed side to side. She was smaller than all of them. “Can I go out and walk around? It’s been a while since I could just, y’know, walk and not worry about bumping into exes or anything.”

St. George caught the shift in Stealth’s body language. “Maybe we should ease into that,” he said. “Most people probably won’t react well to seeing a dead person inside the walls. Just for now, you shouldn’t go anywhere without an escort.”

“And until we are certain why you are the way you are,” said Stealth, “we should make running tests our main priority.”

Madelyn’s face dropped. “Yeah,” she said, “I could see that.” She looked at St. George. “Where am I going to stay until then?”

“We shall have a room prepared for you here,” said Stealth. “Captain Freedom will set up a liaison for you to take care of whatever needs you may have.”

The dead girl glanced at Freedom and her lips twitched for a moment. “You mean, a guard to watch me.”

“To protect you,” said Freedom.

Madelyn looked ready to say something else when St. George’s earpiece squawked loud enough for them all to hear. He slapped his hand up to block the sound, then yanked the plug out. He held it an inch from his ear. “Calm down, Barry,” he said. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll be right there.” He looked at Stealth and Freedom. “You didn’t hear that?”

She shook her head. “What does he need?”

“He says we’ve got to talk in person. It’s urgent.”

St. George found Zzzap in Stage Four, pacing in the air outside the electric chair. Is it true?

“Yeah,” St. George said. “We’ve got an intelligent ex and it’s Dr. Sorensen’s daughter. But we’re not sure how she—”

The other hero shook his head. No, not her. Jarvis was bitten?

The reminder hit St. George in the chest. “Yeah, he was. Sorry. I thought you would’ve heard by now.”

Only rumors on the radio.