Phil points up.
– Why Sela is like she is, the blood, what was left, it’s been coming down here, to keep them alive. But Horde stopped.
– Not like it’s a secret her people are starving, Phil.
He shakes his head.
– Uh, no, that’s the thing, I’m not like an expert in the field, but what I’m saying is, on the upstairs floors, those are her people. People who, you know, came here to join, to join Cure and get the, what she promised, get the cure. And yeah, they’re starving too. But this?
He points at the door.
– This is where she keeps, and I’m just the messenger here and I tried not to let you take us down here so don’t be uncool about this, but this is where she keeps her experiments.
He scratches his head.
– In what she call, um, cross-splicing. Which, I don’t know what it means, so don’t ask, but if I were to guess I would say it means like, experiments in playing god. Or something. And what I’m saying is, that these …things… they don’t just, this is the scuttlebutt, they don’t just get into uninfected blood. Sure, yeah, that’s the flavor of choice, but they go any which way.
He points at me.
– If you’re following what I’m saying.
He scratches his head.
– Which is, I’m saying, they drink infected blood too.
The door at the top of the stairs rattles.
The girl points at me.
– Can you not fight?
The kid puts an arm around her shoulders.
– I’ll stand with you, man.
The girl makes a fist.
– And I. She wants our baby. She wants our baby to experiment on. And I will die to save our child.
I sort keys, find the ones that match the brands stamped on the locks.
– No.
She steps back.
I open the first lock.
– She won’t do anything to you or your baby. Not yet.
I open the second lock.
– You’ll be safe.
I fit the key to the last lock.
– Until I get back.
I pick up the iron bar that I took away from the door.
She sticks a finger at me.
– You said you knew a way out.
I heft the bar.
– I was probably wrong.
She steps back.
– We are abandoned.
I could tell her again that I’ll be back, but who the hell am I? What would it mean to her? And I’d probably be wrong anyway.
I get both hands on the bar.
– Open the door, Phil.
– I don’t want to.
– Do it anyway.
He puts his hand on the key.
– Story of my whole life.
He turns the key.
– I don’t wanna do it, but I’m doing it anyway.
He pulls on the door.
– Shit.
It sticks.
– Shit I wish I was high.
He’s not the only one.
They drink infected blood too. Like I don’t have enough to worry about, I got to worry about something trying to go for my neck.
Phil gives the door a good yank and it comes unstuck and something whips out of the darkness and there’s a mist of blood and Phil is gone. So it looks like it really does prefer uninfected blood, and I’m running after, swinging the iron bar, beating on something that has my friend.
Huh. Phil Sax. My friend. You think the craziest shit when things get all fucked up.
I don’t get a look at it.
Not a good one anyway.
It’s brittle is what I know. Fast, but brittle. Every time I bring the iron down, bits of it snap off and clatter to the ground. So I keep hammering, breaking it down, beating a hole in it, trying to ignore the thing sticking up from its shoulder that looks like another head, until I hit it and it snaps off too. Stuff is running down the bar and my bad hand keeps slipping off when I make contact. It’s come away from Phil to rake its claws at me. Gets my thigh, back of my left arm. Lift the bar over my head and bring it down tip first, jamming it into the wound where the head thing was and there’s a sound like when you pull the neck of a balloon and let the air keen out, only loud, and it runs into a wall, bounces off, runs into the wall again, and again, and collapses into a heap stippled with broken spines, looking like one of the slides Amanda showed me.
I’m yelling at the kid to close the door for fuck sake. He starts pushing it closed. I catch a glimpse of Chubby’s daughter throwing up behind him. Their names come back to me: Delilah and Ben.
I hope Sela doesn’t kill them.
Door closes, locks lock.
I keep still.
– Aw shit.
I move forward a step.
– Aw shit, Joe. I think it ate part of my stomach.
Smells like water ahead. Smells like water and waste and wet rusty metal. Smells like sewer grate.
I know where to go.
Phil’s gonna die.
There’s a hole in his side I can stick my hand in. And that’s what I’m doing, trying to shove his shredded shirt into it to slow the blood. Most of his scalp is gone, an ear. His right foot has been twisted around backward. There are pinholes in his cheek. When he talks, little bubbles of blood pop out of them.
He’s gonna die, but there’s still a lot of blood in him.
Enough to do me right.
– Joe.
Light is coming from a blue safety lamp up at the junction that takes you out of this access duct and into the tunnel. The Lexington line. Somewhere close to a platform I think. I can smell people.
It all smells like fresh air.
After the Cure house basement, even the sewer smells like fresh air.
I found the grate not far from the door. Found it when my heel caught in it and I dropped Phil. He started screaming and I thought the rest of whatever was in there would be on us, but they just howled and pounded walls. The one I killed, the only one that had gotten free of its cell. Too dark to know how many more. Ran my hand down the wall, felt at least seven doors, dead bolts, felt some kind of jury-rigged motors hooked to them, wires. Seven doors I could feel, but it’s a big basement.
I got the sewer grate off and pushed Phil through. He got knocked out when he hit his head. Good for him. Got him shouldered, went against the flow of waste. It spills toward bigger and deeper avenues. Felt some dry cold air and scented it back. Had to use the iron bar to open a hole in rotted masonry.
And here we are.
With him dying.
All that blood just spilling out by the second.
– Joe, you can do it.
Him talking nonsense.
– Infect me.
Why would I do such a thing?
– You can save me. And, hey, OK, we’ve had some problems in the past, some times when I’ve been less on the up-and-up than maybe I let on to be, but mostly, mostly you’ve been able to beat a straight answer out of me when you needed one so. Do you know where my pomade is?
He pats around at his hip pocket.
– Had a can. I. My hair feels like it’s messed up. Can you, Joe, you got a mirror or something?
– Hair looks fine.
– Like you know. This, hair like this, it’s a constant maintenance issue. It doesn’t just, you don’t let it be casual or anything. Got to invest in upkeep. Time and effort. And. Joe. Infect me. It’ll take, I know it will. And. Hey, here’s a happy thought, if I’m, aw shit, I got to try not to laugh, but once I’m infected, and I heal, and, think, think of the beatings you can give me then. Huh? Huh? Pretty good, huh?
He giggles.
– Aw, shit, I laughed. Oh, and, Joe, who’s gonna roll you a cigarette? Right? What asshole is gonna line up for that gig? Joe. Bleed a little is all. Just bleed on me a little is all. Come on, saying, I’m just a fucking wound anyway, bleed on me a little. I know it will take.
More of his blood lost, without me drinking it.
His fingers flutter.
– And I know what you’re thinking and OK, I get it, because you already can’t stand me and why have me around even more, but, Joe, it’s what I’ve been after. Saying, why have I Renfielded around so many years if it wasn’t for a shot at this? Know? So, I won’t hold it against you either way, but, Joe, come on. I. I. Man, saying, man, I don’t want to die, not without trying.