"No."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk0e51WGOya
"Yes."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcwL1gER6x
"No."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpoz0WqtMi
"Yes."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjAmFqoPUm
"You're lying!"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE7ZttcMufk
"I'm not."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY6WtgIGJGd
Yes he is! He must be!
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs0T2PyJTez
"You are!"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgC5smLqwkr
"Really, I'm not," he deadpanned, but it was easier said than believed.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5lDkNMzbl
"Gemma?" I gawped.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPaJxNT5FY
"I believe I've specified that before."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTaTp6VXNmA
"You better not be lying to me, or I swear to God—"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9nMO3nRZ3
"202," he stepped towards me, "I'm not lying."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR2OrWT3i2R
I stared into the distance, bewildered. "Gemma?" I repeated. "Gemma Reynolds?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGwQMODHAD
"Yes."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSjSBCPrR7i
"You're not just winding me up, are you?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0SFoQOF9X7
"Should I even bother answering that?" he replied bluntly.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagWFymUPtz
I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Of all the people in the world..." I looked at Everest. "Do you know how many people are in the world?!"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYvlfMO098I
"As of now, seven billion, increasing at a rate of one-point-zeo-nine percent."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP9FUHFIUyH
I smiled, bitterly. "Seven billion people, increasing at a rate of one-point-zero-nine percent?" My smile morphed into a scowl. "Seven billion goddamn people, and it had to be Gemma! Gemma bloody Reynolds!" I spat.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0BTXKpbgR
"Reasonably speaking, her dad was the only person who knew about what the Front had been up to."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn44SqnsjJx
"That's why he set up a branch in London anyway."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLPaRVvl12T
In actual fact, Robert Reynolds was American, as was Gemma – that was why everyone made a huge deal out of it when she appeared at the launch evening. The base of their company was located in San Francisco, but just after the discovery of the cure, Robert established another commercial building in London, – hmm, I wonder why – making it geographically closer to the Front's Headquarters. The two rivals were practically neighbours.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT6e6XezKsH
Suddenly, I gasped, realising something. "That's why you wanted to go to London!" My stare attempted to penetrate through his rigid exterior. "To find Gemma!"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTcp0hSOSzP
"Needed," he corrected.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaqECfgCJwE
"Oh, come off it," I grumbled. "What do you even intend on doing there, anyway? Walk in, and demand they give you the drug?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPH2LXaaua
Silence dominated the forest.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡryPONikO0A
"Oh for the love of God, just tell me! I think we're past the whole I-ask-you-questions-and-you-don't-answer-them phase."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq0huU01SsG
"Fine. That's exactly what we're going to do."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Gh3wFGMLv
"The, I ask you questions, and you don't answer them phase?" I quizzed.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTIUJqjW6J
"No."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf0hV1zh0v3
"We're going to demand the drug from Gemma?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJSV0ebdsB
"We will take a more tactful approach, than how you put it."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmwI0UhVb7R
"Define tactful."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyarzRSaA05
"Smarter," he said, flatly.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtm7WcGg5Fn
"Hey!" I swatted his arm. It was equivalent to hitting steel. "And then, what?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Z5aSBiCQj
"We expose Director."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW8E10iQQQT
Good plan. Except: "How are we going to do that?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBKTDBzPN1V
"One thing at a time, 202."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT0kVfDZU8x
***
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡruRNzUkS9a
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEPnvrGTTT
"So, you're telling me," I spoke, nibbling on an almond. "That this time next year, I'd be dead?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnm8RZh6i9Y
Even with the bizarre ability to maintain hunger for an abnormally long period of time, it didn't take much brainpower to understand that two days without food or water was over-doing it. Hence, the next morning, we busied ourselves with the job of finding edible food; it proved to be a success.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbdwIKHRFI
Everest gave a curt nod.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7pH9NhKOP
Wow.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLPIhHlGc2d
"Because the semi-cure only lasts twenty years, or so?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6JBmEbxsrM
We also agreed on calling 202 the 'semi-cure', since it only half worked.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfzMAjmYaQB
He nodded again.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbssDtVrrw
Wow.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS3kdvMKWRa
"And they were serious about the termination thing?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRQMmWcONdP
Another nod.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNN2hONkBdV
Wow.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQnddCAL7s7
"So, the real reason for the termination wasn't because you're better than me; it was because they're going to release 202 anyway, but didn't want the world to know that it doesn't do what everyone what everyone actually think it does?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3KSfyr0dLt
"Not quite. I'm still better. It's how they made me."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5H0Nqov0S
I scoffed. "And how exactly did they make you? I mean, Director did say that you have something that I don't. What?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡko2WL8auwf
This time, I didn't even get a nod – not that it was a question that could be answered with a simple nod, anyway.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSm47t5hXp
"It's getting late, we have to move," he said, a while later, getting up.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0p6Gr7DHxE
"It's midday," I stated, cornering him. Physically.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz1nNgXjeIs
"It doesn't matter—"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw6J3CGYHhn
"What do you have, that I don't?" I demanded.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYSKhPb3nN
"Brain cells."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7GEwHig9cq
I gasped. Humour was my thing!
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZCsBmmZN7
"Dead brain cells!" I couldn't help but shoot back.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ84gw0MXAVY
"We both know that I'm smarter than you," he retaliated.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOp7wUYK9dm
"Tell me!" I pushed.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9KYa3f4T4
And we're back to square one.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYfgjBwZat
"I don't owe you anything, 202," he replied.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHIRYtkGftD
No! Do something, quick! Make him answer!
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcspjExhwHo
A sad smile plastered itself across my face. "That's true, you don't. But I'm going to die soon," Ha! Of course I wasn't planning on dying! "So whatever you say, I'll take to my grave." I sighed for effect. "Isn't that enough insurance for you?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWaW4K3u9n0
His chiseled face remained as still as igneous rock. "You and I both know you are not dying. Now, drop it."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS6G1gUJGRJ
Unexpectedly, that made me feel a tad – just a tad – better. But the second part of his response initiated frustration.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ILGQ1GKbW
"Bloody hell, just tell me!" I rid myself of my vulnerable pretense. "You know everything about me! Hell, you know more about me than I do! So, you do, in fact, owe me this!" Plus, the curiosity was eating me inside out.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDw4yLtbpuA
At first, I received no response. Then, just as I was about to cuss him for being his obstinate self, he spoke; his voice low.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ31FjPLRMof
"It's not what I have. It's what I don't have."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtGi69KQFCL
Don't have? My mind flickered through the various things which he might've lacked in order to make him stronger. Fatigue? Flesh? Nerve-endings?
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡByattwiNXR
"Emotions," he stated.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWqfqbzT7sX
Emotions?
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfiISlAGB8j
"Yeah well, I knew that," I replied, uninterested in the obvious.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuxZCV7CuHB
"No. Neurologically speaking. I don't have emotions."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc0Sy2umAey
I made a face. "What do you mean? You do have emotions." I could name a few: anger, distrust (in me, particularly), pride, annoyance (at me also), narcissism... it went on!
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT1KpzMc5Fj
He gave me the same cold look that I'd already received a hundred too many times from him. "Of course I have emotions. I said, Director took away emotions, not emotion."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ74SNp6FLyN
What the hell?
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ40XfCFaWWk
I snatched the almonds from his hands. "They're doing something to you."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjNOeCIbgaG
"They're not," he said, taking them back. "When I said emotions, I meant they took away specific emotions, not all of my emotion. If that were the case, they would have created a robot."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrweTlHQjM4
"They already have," I muttered, unable to restrain the comment from slipping out.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGDcaKTlFx
He sent me a glare that could have cooled plasma.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZQPHpK72Z
I shuddered. "Kidding. Continue."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqYty6YA8U8
"They removed emotions that cause weakness."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmmnLhhlt5n
I cocked my head. "Weakness?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfLNAcwKE0K
"Grief, empathy, shame, remorse, fear, love," he recited at meteoric speed.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqwzkluCmYy
I glanced up, repeating them in my mind, at a much slower pace...
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmAmWruoj7U
Oh.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDGppjW2acT
True, such an act seemed impossible. But for a multibillionaire company that possessed laboratories which stretched as far as football pitches, it would have been as easy as baking a cake. Scratch that; I tried baking a cake once, and that night, I went to bed with a blocked ear, thanks to the relentless screeching of those damned fire alarms.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBTCZ2QtATR
"When?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0c99hXRua
"When they decided they wanted you dead." He clearly didn't understand the concept of sugar coating certain details, I concluded.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvDHWIeHZ6q
Gazing at his handsome yet stony face, I uselessly pondered at the thought of what it must feel like to have your emotions torn out of you – or rather, what it wouldn't feel like. Eventually, I gave up on the thought, realising how it paralleled a paradox: He wouldn't have felt loss, because they seized the very thing that stimulates the feeling of loss. So he wouldn't have actually felt like he lost something, despite simultaneously acknowledging the fact that he had.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI5uus4eu2s
I fiddled with the ring in my eyebrow. In a twisted way, Director played us both. But why him?
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCdXrKqZQFG
"So when they said you have something I don't have, they meant you haven't got something, I have?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIvioDTfNI
"Yes. You've got weakness, and I haven't," he stated.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1gT2aLO5ag
"I was talking about emotions! And these emotions don't make you weak! They make you... a good person. They make you human!"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3oKsVr3IUo
"And that leads to weakness."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv9w9CmcPAK
"That's a lie. They fed you lies."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtU7FcEDGp3
"Is it? If that's the case, am I right in saying that loss wouldn't bring about grief? And, that in turn, wouldn't drag you down?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOpqDixiJEJ
He was doing it again! He was turning my views against themselves.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9XuY4hqdDn
"That depends on how you handle it," I said, sternly. "Emotions are a work of nature; you can't control it. It might drag some people into a dark corner, but other people fight it. That's what being strong is."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsdRsq5Aqj
"What if you can't bring yourself out of a dark corner?" For the first time since I met him, the question wasn't asked in rebuttal, but rather as a genuine question. He was actually asking me, to answer something for him.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOiz5T994ih
Wow, they really did remove those emotions.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBU5SipuWLR
But if the question were asked to contradict what I said, then he had a point. "Then... that's it." Suddenly the feeling of defeat spread through me, one which I despised. "But getting these natural emotions removed just so you don't have to experience them isn't strength. It's cowardice."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxeqdUQysbp
Something flashed in his eyes, in that moment, but was concealed just as fast. A poor acorn stood, frozen under his glare. "I didn't ask for this."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡobI54keWi8
I sighed, guilt flushing through my veins. "Everest, I didn't mean that."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9dSLi3om6w
"No," he said, emotionless. Right. No sorrow. Got it.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4OabCt5BBM
This discovery made me contemplate one thing, in particular: Was the front constructed of a bunch of Hitlers? Because, damn, was there anything else left on that evil things to do list of theirs?
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyuXPsI8X06
I peered back at everest; his eyes were still fixated on the acorn.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh0EK3umkrp
"How did they do it?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnScl87mIh
"You can find out if you take a fourteen year neurology course at university."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ujbnNp2rF
Translation: I don't know.
Then he added, "But they also..." he hesitated, "... they used aversion therapy on me." For a moment he looked like he regretted saying it as though he had said too much.
But it didn't really make sense to me. "Aversion therapy?" I inquired. "Like the ones they give to alcoholics to make them quit?"
He nodded.
"So, what? They used aversion therapy to discourage emotions?"
His visage was cold again, as he shortly replied, "That's exactly what they did."
When did they do it?"
When I first asked it, it felt like an ordinary question, prompted by sheer curiosity. It was when his jaw clenched, that I reconsidered its significance.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN4pRGVDRI7
"They started it when you were nine, a few years after they made you, you know, 202," he clarified. "It was after they found out where they went wrong with the cure."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsumuNDJN94
I was about to ask why, when it hit me. They noticed that they had messed up. They rid Everest of removed grief, empathy, shame, remorse, fear, love, so that he wouldn't feel the traditional guilt that is usually felt when someone murders another person in cold blood – cold blood indeed, if he had to fuse both of our bloods to finish the job. But the point was, they were preparing him for it! But, that also meant...
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGG2le6o81z
"They meant to kill me since I was nine years! Not just recently!"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5MHuwfzw65
"Yes."
"Using you!"
"Yes."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡquMpMlJgtr
"That's why they took your emotions away."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyeMeRBTZ27
"Yes."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6XoqmYSCHg
"You were supposed to kill me."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK9A5BxyHYc
"Yes."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEchgVjHHGe
"You were supposed to kill me!"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXb84nsbtal
"We've established that already."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXrkUrjYGG
"No. You were supposed to kill me. So why didn't you?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUsp3flrNJ
I wasn't really expecting him to declare his undying love for me, or anything, especially regarding the whole removal of emotions thing, but his reply was drier than I had expected.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHSUpqAEti
"I didn't want to slave for Director."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1eNhA5Nt3y
I raised an eyebrow. I knew he wasn't being honest with me as soon as he said it – not that I particularly expected him to be honest either.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsopHgfqi0E
"And it took you up till the last minute to decide this, huh?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhmAwN3em2h
"If you suppose."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbcX5XGMknf
"Be honest!" I demanded. "You wouldn't have ended up in this position, in the middle of a forest scavenging for food. Why didn't you follow Director's orders?"
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwDBqI84xVf
His face remained unmoved. "I don't have to explain myself to you, 202."
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKaT6lAodJw
No, he didn't. I could have tortured the answer out of him, but it wasn't important, anyway. He had already told me everything I needed to know, including the whole Gemma Reynolds thing.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZdxc1reWMc
So, London it is.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7dio1WpAuR
____________________________________________________________________________
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4diezsWAsq
Author's note: To those bothered to read:
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8awxz8kjr9
And there you have it, folks, your (and Emerald's) burning questions have finally been answered. Now, that wasn't so hard was it, Everest?
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMUF4COl4tS
What was your reaction when you found out Everest's secret?
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFQvvlmzdMs
Thank you for reading, I really, really appreciate your amazing taste in books. Please, vote comment (no, seriously, go nuts), and share.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaYMEnSKj0W
-Ruth
ns3.142.244.250da2
and then Add to home screen.