A Savage Generation by David Tallerman

Author:David Tallerman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Flame Tree Press
Published: 2019-07-22T16:08:43+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

Austin enters Kyle’s room without him hearing. He’s got good at moving quietly these last few weeks. There are tricks, he’s discovered; a lot of it is in your head. Like the world is paper and he can cut himself out, can vanish into his own space.

Austin stands waiting for a while. When finally he grows bored, he scuffs a heel, and Kyle looks up, startled – though not so startled as Austin might have anticipated.

“Come on,” Austin says, “I want to show you something.” That’s all he’s prepared to give. He’s already decided that he’ll make no reference to what happened before, no apology. If Kyle expects one, he isn’t worth wasting energy on.

Yet whatever Kyle’s thinking, it isn’t that. Now that he’s over his initial shock, he doesn’t even seem that interested in Austin’s presence. In the light of his single candle, he looks worried, or at least distracted. Has he been reading at all or only deep in thought?

Austin is out of the habit of caring what anyone else thinks, but in that moment, curiosity gets the better of him. “What’s up?”

Kyle catches himself immediately. “Nothing.”

So that’s how it is. Austin is readying to expose his deepest secret, but it’s okay for Kyle to hold onto his. Maybe it’s to do with that stupid code book, in which case Austin couldn’t care less. He feels like walking away, has to remind himself that this isn’t about Kyle. Having conceded that he can’t do what he needs to do alone, there can be no turning back.

“So are you coming?” Austin asks, fastidiously blanking any trace of emotion from his voice.

“Sure.” This time Kyle makes an effort to sound enthusiastic, recognizing his mistake too late. He tucks down the corner of the page and follows Austin out the door, through the corridors, into the yard. Though Kyle keeps a respectful distance as they cross to the Big House, he must have guessed where they’re going. He knows to stand well clear when Austin leaps for the ladder. Nor is he as nervous climbing up; the muted chime of his shoes upon the rungs is steadier.

On the roof, Austin leads Kyle into the maze of piping and ductwork, stopping once more at the loosened vent cover. He feels better now, the earlier slight almost forgotten. Kyle is doing okay. He’s passing the tests. “You didn’t tell anyone,” he says, and it’s a statement rather than a question.

Kyle shakes his head, the motion barely perceptible in the darkness.

“I’d have got to you,” Austin says, “if you had. Even if they’d locked me up or something. I’d have figured a way.”

He can sense that Kyle believes him. Austin wishes he had the same faith in his own abilities. The truth is that the prospect of his secrets being exposed, his hidden places taken away, fills him with such numbing, unreasoning terror that he hardly dares put it into thought. He has a weapon. He has his anger. In Funland, those things don’t make him special, or even dangerous.

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