Zero Recall (81 page)

If you’re not going to kill me, leave.

She winced at the force of his words, like hammers
that pounded against the aluminum walls of her brain.  “What about your
friends?”

Don’t worry about us.  Leave.  Lock the doors and
never come back.

Marie met his deep blue stare, saw the danger there,
then dropped everything and hurried from his cell.  She heard the gate to
Twelve-A’s cage slam behind her as she went to the containment doors and
wrenched them shut.  She used her card to lock them, then rushed through the
facility, gaining speed as she realized she was the only one left alive.  The
only one who knew about the experiments.  The only one who could help them
create new lives on the surface. 

The only one who could keep them
alive
.

She could rehabilitate them.  Find them jobs.  Find
them friends.

The guard was not at his booth.  Buoyed by her new
mission, Marie hurried past, pushed through the bullet-proof glass doors, and
locked them behind her with another swipe of her card.  She followed the
corridor, climbed the stairs, and exited through the single door at the top. 
Facing it, the entrance looked like the door to a decrepit coffee shop, with
the Coffee House Express sign hanging askew and the paint peeling on the CLOSED
FOR BUSINESS notice.

Under the façade, however, the door was tank-proof,
the walls behind it bomb-proof.  It would take nukes to get inside.

Marie locked the entrance with her card, sliding it
through an inconspicuous crack in the wooden trim. 

Thank you,
Twelve-A told her. 
That should
keep them out.

“Yes,” Marie said, hurrying toward her car.  “But
don’t worry—you won’t be in there long.  I’ll find somewhere to keep you.  The
war will make it harder, but once I’ve got living quarters and food, I’ll come
back for you.”

You don’t understand, Marie.

She stuck her key into her Ford.  “Don’t understand
what?”

Once it’s safe, we’re going to get ourselves out.

“But I can—”  Terror infused Marie’s soul as she
realized why Twelve-A had left her alive.  Babbling, Marie said, “Please,
Twelve-A.  I can help you.  I won’t tell anyone. 
Please—
you don’t need
to kill me.”

Twelve-A gave a mental shudder, buoyed on a wave of
self-loathing. 
It’s always so hard.
 

Even as she opened her mouth to scream, a wave of calmness
overpowered her.  Her eyes drifted shut and she slid to the concrete beside her
car, the keys tumbling from her hands to clatter on the cement.  Trapped in the
darkness of her own body, Marie felt her heart stop.

Somewhere, deep underground, Twelve-A
replaced the IV line and closed his eyes.  His shoulders began to shake as he
waited for oblivion to take him.

-END-

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