Empty

Chapter 30

For a moment, Adam just stared at them. Then he looked back at his wrists. Blood was starting to seep through the bandage just above where the handcuffs had come off. Then he spoke again. "Are you insane?"

"Yeah, but you knew that already," she replied. "Besides, the batteries ran out in this thing days ago." She tapped the remote against the wall.

"I-I'm sorry, you're really doing this now?" He fumbled slightly. "This whole time you've been on the verge of killing me... Y-You just got proof that everything you were saying was true."

"Well, maybe some of it was," She replied loftily, handing him the remote. "But I forgot about a lot of things too."

She sat down on the desk, and gestured for him to sit next to her. He did, hesitantly.

"I remember when we were ten, you stepped on a bug and you cried for an hour. I know because I was there. I had to help you bury the damn thing." She put a hand on his shoulder, in an attempt to be comforting.

Adam nodded slowly, still staring at his bare wrists. "Eight."

"I was ten, you're older than me... It doesn't matter," Getting to her feet, she helped him up. "You aren't going to hurt anyone. Your Hyde-sona might, but I'm not talking to him. I'm talking to you."

"'Hyde-sona'?" He repeated slowly.

"I don't know, every other way of describing it is horrifying. Just let me have this."

He smiled momentarily, then looked back at the broken shards on the floor in disbelief. "I... I could kill you."

"I know. And that's terrifying," she replied. "But it's not like you're the biggest threat anymore."

For a second, Adam didn't react. His hands shook slightly when he moved the bandage back over his scar where it had slipped. "W-Well, what is then?"

She dropped the remote. "Look, I don't know if you're good or bad or somewhere inbetween, but I know that I want you on my side."

Adam shook his head, looking close to tears. "Listen, I-I don't want to be against you in this either, and I wasn't, but if you're still afraid -"

"We're all afraid." She spoke pretty evenly considering the circumstance. "That's why we have to keep working through it. Figure out what needs to be feared and what doesn't, so we don't, you know... Die."

"In... In case you haven't realised, I can't." He looked back towards the door. "That's a human thing. For us, it's the only time the zombie myth is actually accurate. I'd just be like... I'd be like him all the time until my body just rotted away."

Quinn swallowed. "I wouldn't be the one to shoot you," she told him quickly. "I don't know if you've been thinking that was where this was heading, but I won't. I couldn't do that, even if..." Her hand went to her collar, where there were still red marks.

He nodded. "Are the others going to be okay with..." He half-raised his hands. "With this?"

Quinn smiled slightly. "Well, Jessie couldn't say anything without being a huge hypocrite, and we all know how Luke feels about you... I don't think there's anybody else left to object."

He hesitated, then his face split into a wet smile. For a moment, he didn't look any different to the way he'd always been. "Thank you," he said, voice thick with relief.

Then he moved as if to hug her.

She flinched away.

"Sorry," she said quickly. "I can't... I think I still need some time."

"O-Of course," he said, expression understanding, but he looked crushed.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I can't be there for you like I was anymore, but I still want to help. We all will do. You know that, don't you?"

"Yeah." He forced a smile. "Yeah. I-I'm just happy you're still here. You don't need to help me. Y-You just need to survive. I'd rather you hated me forever than died because of me."

She was saved from responding when Luke called out from the room beside them, telling them to come quickly.

Quinn gave him a look before running back into the room. "What's happening, buddy?" She asked.

Luke gestured at the clipboard, which had started to glitch. Empty boxes were filling the screen. "You said there wasn't a virus." He turned to Adam.

"I said there wasn't a biological virus," he replied. "I don't know computers beyond a diagram."

"It's a message," Jessie spoke up. "They use them to contact people who refuse to meet or interact by simpler means."

Quinn raised her eyebrows. "How do you know that?"

"I can remember the things they want me to. And sometimes when I go to sleep I relive past experiences that I wasn't conscious for the first time. It is.... It's not pleasant..." She trailed off.

Quinn was about to reply when the clipboard started to vibrate on the desk, making a loud, droning hum.

"If you do not answer it, they will blow up the device," Jessie continued, watching it warily. "They must have some important information to divulge. Or just threats."

Adam frowned. "Wh-What do we do with it then?"

"I guess we'll have to make contact," Luke said with a grimace.

Quinn turned to look at the door, then back to the clipboard. "Okay. Let's see what they have to say."