A government experiment gone awry leads to a dangerous game of cat and mouse when a mysterious hitchhiker tries to escape his past.
Trigger Warnings: heavy content discussed throughout, some sexual content.
I'm in questioning for the better part of a week over the entire affair. They're quite suspicious I knew something, which of course I did. But my boy kept his promise. He took no one with him. There's some solace in that he read my mind. And he knew that he was my boy. Did I think it often enough? I hope I did. And Mel was right. I'm glad he's free. Even if I wake up to a world he isn't in. I don't walk in to work anymore and look for those big brown eyes, brimming with mischief. I don't walk into work at all he burned it down. I'll be transferred to another facility. I don't much care. I think I'll retire. I don't know if I could handle other mutants, waiting for them to be put on the table until the life drained out of them too. For now, I'm taking a few weeks off. Mental strain. I'm very good at lying. So are the various young people that I'm quite positive Dano contracted to help with his little scheme. Everyone believes that 29 also perished in the fire. He may have. More than likely, one of Dano's accomplices smuggled the robot out and let it be somewhere peaceful and quiet before it quit for good. They haven't said anything of course, and I don't expect them to. No point in them getting in trouble; they all have careers and lives to go on with. I do pretend to be annoyed they need my help for that though. "Thank you for the ride, I appreciate it," Mel's car was at the facility when it burned down. So, I'm giving her a lift home to her house in the suburbs now that we've both been released from questioning. "I've got the time, will your husband be off soon?" "No, he's out of town for the week," Mel says, as I pull into her driveway. "He didn't cancel when your work center burned down with you nearly inside?" I'm well aware Dano warped her out to safety immediately. "I didn't tell him, and he didn't watch the news apparently, so," Mel shrugs, we have pointedly not spoken about what happened. Our phones are most definitely being tapped now and I don't trust the microphones on them. They will be closely watching us to see if we did know especially given how close we both were to him especially given he kissed her goodbye in front of about twenty people and fifteen cameras. And she didn't look like she minded it. "Fair enough," I say, getting out as well and waiting while she gets her baby out of the backseat. Little Grace has been staying with her grandma in the city so we went picked her up and then I drove Mel out here. No, I don't mind, it's far better than being alone with my thoughts. This way we both know we're thinking of him. Of them. I miss 29 as well. He and I raised that boy together. Now it's just me. "Here we go, so nice to be home, isn't it?" Mel asks, kissing Grace's face as she balances her in her arms. "Keys are in my purse if you would; I've got her." "Right, do you have anything for dinner do you think?" "Everything's probably all bad actually, if you want to stay, I could order something," she says, as I unlock the door. The house is dark and smells vaguely of bad food. It has been a week. "Why not? My husband isn't expecting me for another few days what with everything," I say, turning on lights as we go into the kitchen. "Really? Good, I'd like the company not that you aren't company precious," she says, putting the baby down in a high chair, "Let's see what's edible yeah?" "Probably not much," I say, doubtfully, setting my purse down. "Do you think it hurt 29---or he knew what it felt like?" she asks, taking things out of the fridge to throw away. "Probably not. I'm sure he just thought he was turning off," I say, because I hope that's true. He'll be gone by now even if he did get out of the fire, with tracers removed I'm sure one of the many lab rats who were sweet on Dano could manage that. "I suppose. I feel bad—people know when they're dying. He might not know he wasn't going to go back on again," she says, putting things in the trash. "True. But maybe that made it more peaceful," I hope so, for his sake. I know he didn't really have a sake. But. "I guess," she and I both know how painful dying from smoke inhalation is. We also don't dare talk about it. She smiles at me with tears in her eyes and I smile strongly back. "Anyway ---what do you want to eat Grace? This yogurt is still good," Mel says. " 'tory," Grace says, clapping her hands. "No, it's not story time it's dinner time," Mel says, amused. " 'tory," Grace says, happily. "I'll read her a story while you get her something to eat, how about that?" I ask, preferring to indulge the child than not since I'm not honestly doing anything anyway. "If you want to—here her books are all in her room, I let her pick though she always likes Go Dog Go," Mel warns, scooping up her baby leading me down a narrow hall to the baby's room. All done up pink and purple and frilly with a great big white crib in one corner. The pale purple curtains are pulled back so it's quite bright. There's a sizable book shelf against one wall with lots of cardboard baby books. I walk over to it to look for the dog one she wanted. Mel let's out a scream. I turn to see her looking into the crib. In the center of the clean purple sheet, is a clearly new copy of 'Green Eggs and Ham'. Mel begins to cry, covering her mouth to stop herself. I walk over and wrap my arms around her, feeling hot tears in my eyes as well. The book is lying open to the last page with 'the end' circled in green sharpie. "Story," Grace says, frowning at our tears. "Yeah," Mel says, fighting back tears from her face, "Time for a new story."
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