Page 36 of Hell In A Handbasket
We sit in a circle-ish. Camp chairs spread out around what probably would have been a fire if it wasn’t already hot as Hades out here.
“He was shot a few times.” I bring my legs up, the creak and groan of my seat protesting my movements as I tuck my feet beneath my thighs and keep Minka in my periphery.She’s still mad. “Probably would be a good case study,” I admit. “He took a nine-millimeter slug straight through the back. It swung upwards,” I use my hand to illustrate, “then blew out the front.”
“And he lived.” Mad or not, Mayet can’t help herself. She nurses a bottle of water, scraping her thumbnail along the label on the side, and nibbles on her lip. “Survival was already a million to one. But survival, and still being able to speak and walk and function?” She shakes her head. “Five billion to one.”
“He doesn’t sleep more than a couple of hours a night, and his long-range aim seems to have gotten better. It doesn’t make sense, but?—”
“There’s a lot in life that can’t be explained by science.” Aubree hits me with a knowing stare, probing and intense. But then Tim wanders into our circle and takes the seat beside hers. He settles in, placing a bottle of water on the ground and his arms on the armrests. But then he looks to the side and frowns.
She’s too far away. So he grabs her chair and drags her closer.
“Have you had his skull looked at since the incident?” Minka asks. “I’d be interested to see what’s happening inside, especially while he’s conscious and thinking and doing.”
“It’s a compulsion, isn’t it?” I lean over the side of my chair and pick up my can of soda, icy cold on the outside, with beads of condensation rolling toward the base. “To want to see the things hidden just below the surface. He has hair and skin covering what you want to study.” I hook a thumb in Aubree’s direction. “She?—”
“Has a right to privacy. She has a right to give consent—or not—before you begin studying. The difference between you and me, is that I wouldn’t go behind your back, and I sure as shit wouldn’t try to trick him, all to assuage my curiosity.”
“But you are curious, aren’t you?” I bring my soda up and enjoy the cold slide of sugary liquid moving down my throat. “You study the dead for a living, and he,” I look to Jay again, “shouldn’t have survived. It’s not often you get to peek inside the dead when they’re still alive.”
“So when he dies,” she grits out, “I’ll take the case. Until that point, I’ll remain professional and honest in my dealings. Too bad you can’t say the same about yourself.”
“You—”
“I’m not entertaining this discussion.” She plops her water on the ground and pushes to her feet, drawing the curious eyes of Archer and Cato as they come around the bus. “You tried your luck, Sophia, and you failed. I’m here, and I’m willing tonotkill you while you sleep. But I’m not going around and around about the same topic. I’ve killed to protect in the past. You know it. I know it. Turns out, everyone on this bullshit quasi-vacation knows my secret. But that’s fine, because now you’re aware how intensely serious I am when I tell you, I will protecther.” She points toward Aubree. “I’ll do whatever I have to do to make sure she remains free and without violation. It’s too bad you made me choose, Solomon. Because before today, I liked the idea of having you both in my life.”
She turns on her heels, kicking up dust because of how dry the ground is, then she stalks away from our chair circle and heads toward Archer.
“You’re very lucky.” I bring my focus back to Aubree, though hers remains on Minka. “To be defended by someone like that…”
“I know.” She takes Tim’s hand and twines their fingers together. “I know your intentions were kinda shitty, but they were kinda pure, too. I’m supposed to be mad at you, but seeing how intensely she’ll protect me is like a balm on my heart.”
“You like knowing she cares so much?”
“Who wouldn’t? I knew she cared. She wouldn’t keep me around so much if she couldn’t stand me. But tofeelher turmoil, and know she’d set her alliance with you on fire if it meant shielding me…”
“That’s big love.” Jen shifts in her seat, leaning forward like our interactions are pure entertainment. “My father speaks highly of your boss, Doctor Emeri. To the point of obsession, the way he’s obsessed with me and my sister. I long ago came to understand that:A, my father has three daughters. Not two. AndB, Minka Mayet is a woman built on logic and literality.Notemotion.”
“I dunno,” Jess counters, lifting her glass of wine and gesturing toward Minka. “I’d callthatan emotional response. Logic and literality would consider only the facts: Soph wanted something, Soph didn’t get that thing, and Soph’s target,” she brings her eyes back to Aubree, “is safe and unharmed. Thus, all is right in the world. But she’s still pissed.”
“Hurt.” She lays her head on Tim’s shoulder and studies their joined hands. “She’s hurt because she trusted Soph. Even with Archer telling her she was wrong. Even with Tim condemning this trip.”
Intrigued, I look at the oldest Malone and meet his hard stare.
“She went against the opinions of all the people she trusts and loves, because she trusted you, Soph. She knows who you are and the things you do, and you know who she is. If not affection, she absolutely felt admiration for you. Respect. She came to Copeland as a closed-up shell of the woman she is today, riddled with trauma and a deep-seated refusal to become vulnerable to anyone. But over the last year and a half, she’s learned to open up. She’s learned that there are human beings out here who will have her back, no matter what. She thought you were one of them.” Aubree pauses and drags her bottom lip between her teeth. Thoughtful in the evening’s quiet. “This was a hit to her pride, and I fear it’ll only reinforce the instincts she hadbefore. The one’s she’d been working so hard to unlearn.”
“So you screwed up,” Jen concludes. She tugs a scrunchie from her hair and pulls her ponytail down, finger-combing the locks and dropping her head back, perfectly timed with a gust of evening breeze that cuts through our little circle. “I hate to say I told you so, but…”
“Don’t.” I set my soda down again and cast my eyes to Minka. She walks straight into Archer’s embrace, wrapping her arms around his torso and laying her cheek on his chest. She seeks comfort in his touch, even as he continues his discussion with Cato, his free hand circling the neck of a beer bottle.
We packed those, too.
“She seems untouchable,” I murmur, rolling my lip between my teeth and frowning in the low light while stars flicker to life above us. “Completely and totally robot-like. I could’ve sworn she lacked emotion entirely.”
“Which means you’re not as smart as you thought you were.” Aubree holds the back of Tim’s hand against her cheek. A caress. Comfort. And then she destroys the peaceful moment, slapping her leg and squishing a mosquito. “Minka Mayet feels more than the average human should. She feels so much, shehasto present as a robot, because if she shows what’s actually bubbling beneath the surface, I’m not sure she’d be able to carry that weight, plus the weight of everyone worrying around her.”
“Kinda reminds me of someone else I know.” Jess side-eyes me, pursing her lips. “I even recall a certain someone planning to avenge this person they love, and then…” She pauses, intentionally dragging us through the silence. “Having no clue what to do after. Something about sitting in a dark room and waiting for death, once her mission was complete.”
“So you screwed up,” Jen repeats smugly. “In the words of the great and honorable Justin Lawrence:I’m disappointed in you, babe.”
