Aeon Burn by Matthew Mather

Author:Matthew Mather [Mather, Matthew & Nelson, Dale M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-11-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Rochester, Nevada

“Okay, I think we can be done in here, now,” Monk said, opening the door to the bathroom.

“Hey, asshole!”

“Let’s go,” he said. Monk held a pistol at waist height, the mask in his other hand.

Tal stepped out of the bathroom and into the cold hall. She looked around to get her bearings. The building was ramshackle. It was a hundred years old if it was a day, weather-beaten and held together by rusty nails and spite. The place looked like a set from a bad Western. Monk’s people had strung construction lights up along the walls. She could see a portable generator and heater in a large room.

“You need to move,” she said, tapping her massive belly. “I can’t get past you.”

“Put this on,” Monk said, holding the hood.

“Go to hell.”

“Put it on,” he repeated more forcefully.

“No.” They wouldn’t kill her as long as she was valuable. What she needed to do was to stall. “We’ve already established that I’m not running. It’s not like I can talk to anybody, so I don’t see why I need to put your stupid hood on just to walk back to your damn barn. Speaking of which, how about putting some heat in there?”

“I told you before. You’ll continue to live as long as you’re useful. You stop cooperating, make yourself more trouble than you’re worth …” Monk shrugged. “Put this on and none of your bullshit.” Monk waved the hood, and Tal took it.

She heard shuffling, and rough hands grabbed her, forcibly guiding her out of the bathroom.

“How about getting me some food?” Tal said.

“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” Monk replied. “You can order pizza right after I do.”

They walked her back to the barn and ripped the hood off once they were inside the Faraday cage. Covered by two armed knights, the one who’d drawn blood earlier secured her to the chair.

Someone had brought in a table and set it next to her chair. There was a machine on it with plastic tubes trailing out. The man, who wore tactical pants and a dark green sweater, bent over the machine, working on it. A grim realization hit her of what they planned next, and Tal was much less sure of her future than she was just a moment ago. The man extended a silver pole to its full height. When that was done, he hung plastic bags on the hooks at the top. He turned around. She saw he also sported a thick, reddish-brown beard.

“We’re good here,” he told Monk.

“How’d you know my blood type?” Tal asked.

“You do a pretty good job of hiding yourself online. Too bad your doctor’s office and your insurance company don’t.”

The technician swabbed her arm. Then he looked for a vein.

Monk said, “Someone has to watch the watchers, Talisha. I thought you had potential. Almost asked you to join us. I thought you saw.”

More than you could know, she thought.

“But instead, you chose to be complicit.”

“In what, exactly?”

“You already know. I told you this before.

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