INK: Red (INK Trilogy Book 1) (7 page)

"It's okay, it's safe now."

Who are you trying to kid Edsel. Safe, my arse.

"I know. I, um, I killed him."

Edsel stopped and stared at the boy. "You what?"

"I used my powers, what Daddy said was because I was Awoken. I went into his mind and saw the things he wanted to do to me; I made him smash his head against the wall, that one there." Aiden pointed at a dark smear staining the depressing, graffiti covered brickwork. "I didn't mean to kill him, but he banged his head and then he was dead."

"Well, I'm sure he deserved it," grunted Edsel. "Where to now Batman."

"Batman? Who's Batman?"

Poor kid, I guess he's too young for a lot of things. He would have been what, five when The Lethargy happened?

"Nevermind. Where to?"

"That way." Edsel followed the boy's finger. It pointed at a door that had mesh enforced glass which led to a narrow balcony running along the outside of the first floor of the high-rise, where people had to walk to get to their front doors.

What a place to live. Why would anyone think this was a good idea? They started falling down as soon as they built them.

They went through the door and along the balcony. At the end was a connecting walkway that took them over a road and up to another level of what appeared to be a large car park.

"We can get into the bigger shopping center that way, it's the car park for it."

"Okay, great. Let's go."

What am I gonna do with him? I can't just let him be chased with me. Damn, can he hear this? Can you hear this?

Edsel turned and looked at Aiden, who seemed to be pointedly not looking at him.

Yeah, you can.

"Sorry."

SHOPPING

They had to be careful. Edsel knew from experience that shopping centers were some of the most dangerous areas in the city. The desperate, the hungry and the plain bored seemed to congregate in such places. Hoping to find clothes not already stolen, gadgets of all description, the most precious commodity of all: batteries. He'd seen two men fight until one killed the other just over a Duracell, they were that important to people now.

I hate these places, they were always weird even before The Lethargy.

Edsel had an intense dislike for the soulless shopping centers that sprang up what seemed like every week all over the city, a never-ending supply of people popping into existence to take advantage of free parking and the escape from the weather. He always felt out of place, like he didn't belong. Now it was just depressing.

The place was eerie. The small amount of natural light from filthy opaque skylights turned it into dusk as soon as they entered. He winced at the reminder of the once overtly consumerist society he would give anything to go back too — heck, he'd even happily wander the crowded walkways, smiling sweetly as people bumped into him and then stared at him like it was his fault. The wide cream tiled floor was littered with all manner of useless consumer goods, old food wrappers, cups and general trash, just thrown to the ground after the bins spilled over, people muttering under their breath about the lack of cleanliness yet still making it worse rather than taking their empty wrappers home with them.

Edsel remembered coming to places like this as The Lethargy did its work. Every week it got worse and worse. Fewer stores open, the trash piling up, smoking bans forgotten by those lucky enough to have grabbed a stash of any brand of cigarette they were able to steal without getting killed. Risking an all-out attack by those watching green with envy as they sucked down their nicotine, eyes darting about warily yet unable to stop a vice that let them forget about life for a split-second when the nicotine hit the spot.

Fights and arguments escalated in intensity as confusion mounted. Those open for business didn't want money any longer — what use was it when the banks weren't open and there was nothing to do with the money anyway? Bartering became extreme; traffic in people increased. Many would sell their family or friends for little more than a meal or a pair of new shoes. He'd actually seen two men arguing over a young girl while the mother stood by gulping down a bottle of precious wine they'd given her in exchange for what was obviously acts the girl wanted no part in.

It all got really bad; then society totally collapsed. Store owners couldn't stop the looting any longer, how could they? People took what they wanted, windows were smashed and the stores were ransacked until nothing of use was left. A free-for-all with no meaning, goods stolen that were never taken out of the box once they were taken home, or dropped in the streets as the thieves lost themselves in the haze of Lethargy before they even made it home to their houses — where the fridge was empty, the cupboards were bare and their children starved.

Did we deserve this? Maybe we did.

As they crunched down the open spaces, marching past broken, once state-of-the-art TVs and all kinds of digital equipment now useless, the bodies began to pile up in earnest. People lost to The Lethargy, their final days spent in a fugue until they died, often stripped of their clothes and belongings by those still with their wits about them. They weren't all dead though, they walked right past a few people that had obviously only recently succumbed, just sat on the floor, eyes staring vacantly at nothing as the life slowly seeped out of them. There was nothing they could do about it, there was no hope for them.

Just like there hadn't been any hope for his own family. His mother was lost mercifully quickly, but it took his sister over a year before she finally faded into nothingness — then Edsel was young, alone and scared, but he survived, made it through. It was like going back in time, staring at the young boy by his side. At least he'd been older when things turned bad, he couldn't imagine having coped with any of it at the age of twelve.

Brave boy, and Awoken too.

~~~

"No. Way."

Aiden beamed at Edsel, chewing away on his own sandwich. "You like?" he said, crumbs spitting out of his mouth.

"Oh boy, best sandwich ever. Where'd they come from?" Edsel couldn't believe his eyes when the boy pulled out a container of sandwiches from the backpack he'd brought with him. It was a peanut butter sandwich and the best thing he had tasted in his entire life. Well, maybe the egg was, but this sure as hell came in a close second.

"I made them. We had a huge stockpile of all kinds of stuff, but this was nearly the last of it all, the last of the peanut butter, the last of everything."

Another mouthful, fuel finally recharging his energy reserves. "But the bread, how'd you get bread?"

Staring at him in confusion, Aiden said, "I made it."

"You? You made bread?"

"Sure, it's easy. We had sacks of flour; I make it all the time."

"Well, I'll be... Good job dude, best bread ever."

Aiden smiled like he'd won a prize and sat happily munching away on the rest of his food. Not to seem ungracious Edsel pulled two cans from his backpack and offered both hands to the boy. "Which one, Pepsi or Pepsi?"

The kids a good sport. He's playing along. Very trusting too. I wouldn't trust me, look at me.

Edsel looked at his outstretched arms, sleeves rolled back over tortured forearms.

God, what a nightmare.

With the look of a boy with a real hard decision to make, Aiden frowned deep in concentration. "Hmm, now let me see, Pepsi or Pepsi, such a difficult decision." He brightened. "I think... yes, definitely, I'll take the Pepsi."

"Good choice my man." Edsel passed the drink and the sound of two ring-pulls giving up their fizzy delights echoed through the empty space, a tiny hint of temporary happiness amid the madness.

They both took a deep drink.

"Good?"

"Good," confirmed Aiden.

"Look, we can rest for five, but then we have to go again. They'll take a while to find us, but they will. What happened? To you I mean. To your dad? It's okay if you don't want to talk about it. What about your mom?"

"That's okay, I don't mind. I wish we still had Martha though."

He really thought a lot of that chicken. Totally understandable, poor kid's been alone all this time. Just like I was.

"Sorry about that, she'll be okay though. Bet she's off digging up some garden right now, eating juicy worms and slugs."

"Ugh, gross."

"Right?"

"And I can warn you, you know?"

"Warn me?"

"About those men, the ones chasing you. I can help, told you I could. I can sense them: people. I know if someone is coming if I really concentrate and open up, go into The Noise a little bit. That's what my dad called it anyway: The Noise."

"That's right, but you sure? Sure it's safe for you?"

"Oh yes, totally. I could even make them do things if they got close enough, well, one anyway. I can't do more than one at a time."

"Okay, but be careful. Now look, some of those men are Awoken too, so don't try to do anything, they could do the same to you... maybe." Edsel wasn't sure what happened if Awoken tried to control each other, but he guessed that if it was possible a grown man would be stronger than a young boy. Maybe.

"Sure. And all clear, nobody around apart from a few people with The Lethargy. Just like my dad had. It was just me and him, I never knew my mum. He told me stories when I was little about how things used to be, but I was too young to remember anything much before The Lethargy. He was fine for years, we thought he would be okay. Maybe like me. As I got older I started being able to do things, my 'powers' I called them. He told me stuff, things he'd read, things he'd heard on the news, although I don't remember ever really watching the TV much — it didn't hardly work when I was old enough to remember it or anything. But a few years ago, I think just after I was ten, he started acting funny."

"Slowing down? Not doing much? Just standing there?"

"Yeah, things just got messy then. I didn't really know what to do. He'd shown me how to look after myself, that wasn't a problem, but I didn't know what to do with him. How to help."

"I know, sorry. Horrible, right?"

"Really horrible. Well, anyway, he got worse and worse, then he just stopped moving, wouldn't budge. Then a couple of days later he died. It was quite quick; he'd told me some people took years and years. Creeping Lethargy?"

Edsel nodded. "That's the worst one, you were lucky."

Idiot!

"Sorry, not lucky. Um, I mean at least he didn't linger for too long. Sorry."

Poor kid.

"That's okay. That's it really, I don't want to talk about it. He died. I buried him in the garden."

"Sorry."

"What about you? How'd you end up, you know...?" Aiden pointed to Edsel's hands. "And someone died too, right?"

"It's a long story, and I'm worried we'll get caught if we stay here. We need somewhere where there are more exits. But I'll tell you, promise. Come on, let's see if we can find anything useful then get out of here."

At least there won't be any queues at the checkout. Small blessings.

They went shopping.

ED

"Ed?"

"Please, don't call me that." Edsel shuddered, the name brought back memories from years ago he never let surface if at all possible. "Call me Edsel. Always." He tried not to look cross, but knew he'd failed.

He's just a kid, be kind.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"That's okay, what's up buddy?"

"What's the plan? Those men are after you, right? What are you going to do?"

Edsel thought about it. Could he really still seek vengeance now he had a young boy in his care? He knew the answer, didn't really need to ask. "I'm going to kill them. The ones that did this to me, the others at their little church. That Bishop, all of them. They'll pay for what they did to me, and Kathy."

"Okay, right." There was an uncomfortable silence, Aiden was obviously itching to ask a question.

"Go ahead buddy, but this store is useless. Let's walk while we talk, then get going."

"Okay Edsel. Um, who was Kathy?"

"She was my friend, more than that, and they killed her. They went to my home looking for me and they killed her. I found her, and a Bishop in The Eventuals, when I made it there after I escaped."

"Was she your wife?"

"No, we weren't married, but we had been together for quite a while; we were inseparable. We were going to move to the country, start over, get away from this craziness."

We should have gone sooner, none of this would have happened. Right now we could be curled up in front of a roaring fire, tired from a day working in the fields, maybe even getting eggs from our very own Martha.

"My dad talked about that too, saying it would be better than staying where everything was ruined anyway. We were going to go as well, then..."

"I understand buddy, but he did a good job, right? I mean, look at you, very handsome." Edsel ruffled the boys hair, hoping he was doing alright. He didn't have much experience with kids, in fact his experience with youngsters was almost zero.

Needs to wash his hair.

Aiden blushed a little and mumbled, "Thanks. And, um, sorry it's greasy. I ran out of shampoo."

Damn, forgot.

"Hey, you'll have to stop reading my thoughts. It'll get me into trouble."

"Sorry, I'll try to switch you off. I think I can sort of tell myself to blank you out. I think."

"Cool. How does it work? You can really hear my thoughts?"

"It's hard to explain. It's not hearing them as much as it's kind of seeing a picture, just knowing." Aiden shrugged. "Dunno really, I kind of just see them somehow."

"Well, however you do it it's pretty amazing."

He was a handsome young man, if a little on the scrawny side, but wasn't everybody these days? He was quite tall for twelve and had a mop of brown curly hair and pale blue eyes that were quite intense. But the main thing that impressed Edsel was that the kid managed to smile a lot. Now that was something. He hoped he never lost that smile — there wasn't much to be happy about.