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Just as Kristen is about to close the door, James walks up. He gives her a gentle smile.
“How is the patient doing?” he asks.
“See for yourself.” Kristen slips past, leaving him behind with a puzzled expression on his face. I look at the wall straight ahead and try to get my frustration under control.
James walks in and closes the door behind him. “Something the matter?” he asks.
“No,” I lie.
“Good.” He sits on the chair to my right. “So, you feeling all right?”
I put a hand on my ribs. “Yeah, still a little sore, but not much.”
“You gave us quite a scare.”
“How bad was it? I mean, it felt pretty bad. I actually thought I was going to die, but I guess it mustn’t have been that bad since ...”
“Oh, it was bad. Your lung was punctured. We got you here as quickly as possible. Kristen did a fantastic job putting you back together. She has experience with Symbiots and their injuries. She knows just how to take advantage of our healing abilities.” He sounds as if he’s thinking about all the times Kristen has put him back together. A rueful smile stretches his mouth.
I nod, eyes set on the door knob, feeling ungrateful and rotten. James is too lost in his own recollections to notice.
He shakes his head and continues. “But only Kristen and I know how close you came to ... you know. We’ve told everyone else it looked worse than it was.”
“Are they buying it?”
“Everything happened too fast for them to really notice. Besides, they’re too focused on asking questions about this place to worry about much else.” James rubs his chin, looking preoccupied. “But they’ll get over it. We just have to make sure not to slip up,” he says, eyebrows raised questioningly as he tries to make sure I catch his meaning.
“No problem. I’ll watch what I say.”
“Good, good.” James leans forward, hands on his knees. “That was some work you did out there. You ... saved my life. I want to thank you for that.”
“Oh, that was ... nothing.” I worry at a loose thread on the sheet. I don’t want to think about what I did. That’s the only way I’ve been able to deal with the fact I killed somebody.
He was a monster.
There was a human being in there, too.
No cure. There’s no cure.
Yet.
I set him free from torture, from prison.
Keep telling yourself that.
James takes my hand in his. “You’re going to make a hole in that sheet.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“Don’t let remorse build up. You have to nip it in the bud. This is war, Marci. It’s them or us. You understand?”
I swallow and clench my teeth.
“We may never find a cure,” he continues. “And I feel we must operate under that assumption, because if we don’t, any scruples we have about our enemies will mean the death of our race.”
“I—I just ...”
“They have no scruples. They won’t think twice about destroying us. We have to do the same if we want to survive. I know you’re too young for all this, but you have amazing powers and what you did out there was ... necessary. I’ll understand if it’s too much for you, but I truly hope you stick with us and continue to fight.”
James holds my gaze, waits for me to say something, but I feel overwhelmed by his request. He sounds as if he’s counting on me, but it’s not just that. There’s something else. He sounds as if he actually needs me, like I’ve become indispensable. I wonder if he’ll feel the same when he hears about Xave and me.
“Will you fight, Marci?” he asks when I don’t say anything.
“I’ve no choice but to fight,” I answer in a whisper. “I’ve lived through enough horrors not to let one more worry me.”
James says nothing for a long moment. He looks regretful, as if he’d like to shelter me from this nightmare. But he can’t. There are too many things in the balance and I’m the least of them.
“Did anyone notice what I did?” I ask, trying to dispel the awkwardness before it stretches beyond bearable. “You know, with the lock and ... the hose?”
“You mean you didn’t pick the lock? You used your powers to open it?”
I nod.
“Hell, I didn’t even realize that myself.” He looks genuinely surprised. “Amazing. Telekinesis and, I believe, some level of ESP. Think of all the things you could do.”
“Um, ESP? What are you talking about?”
“Somehow you knew the code to the lab door had changed,” he says.
“That was just a hunch. Not ESP,” I protest.
“Are you sure about that?”
That’s an unfair question. I’m not sure about anything these days.
James’s eyes glitter with possibilities. I have the feeling he’s laying out an intricate plan for my life at this very moment. I will become a tool in his hands. I’m not sure how that makes me feel.
James clears his throat. “Going back to your question. No, no one noticed what you did, and we’re very lucky they didn’t. Oso and Blare were too busy doing their job and trying to stay alive.” He sighs. “It will be very hard to hide what we are, but we have to try, for as long as we can. We have to be discreet, Marci. Not to mention careful. As grateful as I am, stepping out into crossfire wasn’t a good decision. Neither was using your powers in front of everyone. I know I sound like I’m contradicting myself. I want you to fight and use your powers, but you must do both wisely.”
“I understand. I know what’s at stake.” Kristen made that all too clear.
“The fight will be more difficult from now on. Since this morning, the Eklyptors know we exist. You saw the size of that door they were ready to install. They’re building vaults now, and after our attack and that of other cells, it will get worse. If we’d been one day late, we wouldn’t have found the rudimentary security they had this morning. They underestimated us and we got very lucky.”
“Rudimentary or not, it gave us enough trouble,” I say.
James lets out an unamused laugh. “That it did. But we had you.”
He stands up and nods several times, looking proudly at me. A feeling of satisfaction floods my chest. At first it feels great, but then it scares me a little. Ha! I was already worried about letting him down before, now the pressure feels even greater.
“Rest now,” he says. “There’ll be much work to do. We have to reassess the situation and figure out where to strike next. For now, the most important thing is to safeguard our identities and our mission from others. I’ve already told you there are Eklyptor spies everywhere, and, after today, they’ll only increase their efforts.”
He walks toward the door and before he leaves he adds, “Not to mention those ... dreaded meditation sessions.” With a wink, he exits the room and leaves me.
Yeah, no pressure.