“You talk about them like they’re animals.”
“Isn’t it the same thing? We’re all governed by the same impulses and instincts.”
Well actually, most of us were. Some people were capable of abusing their family members physically and psychologically to such extent, it boggled the mind. And these were the kind of people who had to be dealt with…
“Let’s say,” she admitted, “that Dad and Ruby survive. What about me?”
I saw the hope in her pleading expression and I felt almost anxious about having to take it away from her. I shook my head and she closed her eyes in pain.
“Why not?” she asked.
Was it cruel to go into detail and remind her that she has to die?
“We were supposed to choose an adult of a certain character and a child to go with them. Just those two, nobody else. No other family members.”
She wiped her tears which were now coming down in streams. “Why are you telling me this when it can’t be me?”
It was admirable that she hadn’t fully succumbed to despair yet. I expected her to yell, sob hysterically, struggle, tear her hair out, or even insist that I give her the vaccine right there and then. Those few tears were nothing.
“Because you’re dying anyway,” I said as gently as possible and my throat tightened. The fact that I wanted people to disappear from the surface of the Earth didn’t mean I wasn’t aware of the innocence of all those individuals. “It wouldn’t have been any help for you to get the vaccine.”
The disgusted expression was back. “How considerate!”
“I’m afraid it’s too late to be considerate now… If you choose to work with us, it’ll be much easier to give Frank and Ruby the vaccine, in fact, you could do it yourself. Convince them that in a month’s time, they should go to…”
“Enough!” she interrupted me and covered her ears with her hands. “I don’t want to hear any more!”
I didn’t stop her when she bolted for the door. I was sure she’d be back to get the rest of the details and make sure that her family survives.
Connie
I wanted to reject everything Mark had said out of hand, and not believe any of it. I was going through all the individual pieces of information, trying to find a weak link. It all sounded so unlikely, so absurd. That they could create a deadly plague and murder eight billion people? But before that, administer a vaccine to a few chosen ones without them knowing what’s going on, and then gather them together to start a new community? It sounded more like a movie than a reality which I should be concerned about.
But the longer I tried to convince myself that it’s all stupid, the more proof I had on the contrary. Very old memories were resurfacing. For instance, someone hanging around Dad’s house and rummaging through his bins at dusk. When Dad walked out to find out what the person wanted, the supposed homeless person looking for old food turned out to be a neat-looking guy in a white collared t-shirt, clean jeans and pristine sneakers. They stared at each other for a moment until Dad said that if the man was hungry, he could come in and have dinner with him. But the guy refused him with a shake of the head and left without saying a word. What was he looking for in Dad’s rubbish? I was watching him bewildered from the door. At the time we shrugged it off, human behaviour can be pretty ridiculous sometimes. Could it be that someone had been checking on Dad? Was it a part of that spying Mark was telling me about tonight?
Another memory popped up in my head, the three of us going shopping, it must have been a few years ago now. Although the aisle was definitely wide enough, an angry looking woman sprinted past us, elbowing Dad in the ribs. An apology wouldn’t hurt, he called after her and his words were left without a response. After that we kept bumping into her every few minutes in some other aisle, and every time there was a collision. Either she was taking up the whole area with her strangely empty trolley and we had to ask her to let us through, or she herself bothered us, leaning over our shoulders rudely to get to the shelves, muttering something about inconsiderate people. Dad never stopped being the gentleman he is, never lost his cool. Would you like me to hand you something? Excuse me, madam. My apologies. At the end of our shopping trip we saw her standing by the cashiers, watching us–Dad?–from over there, and eagerly writing something into a little notepad. In the end she walked away from her trolley without having bought anything. I remembered that day mainly because any kind of strange, suspicious behaviour made me feel worried about my daughter.
We’d speculated that maybe the woman’s life was going to pieces and she was taking her distress out on strangers. Now it seemed like that confrontation wasn’t so random.
I had a whole bunch of other memories, and every single one of them made me more paranoid.
Whether The Collective really had been planning a world-wide genocide or not, they’d been watching us for years! Dad might have been the one they were interested in, but since we’d lived in the same house for some time now, I suddenly felt exposed, at the mercy of snooping eyes.
After leaving the Association building I went straight home and spent the entirety of that short journey looking over my shoulder. It was after midnight when I got to our house, not a single light was on. I was glad Dad hadn’t waited for me, I wouldn’t want him to see me so absent-minded, scared and panicky.
I went straight to bed,
