Parchman, стр. 45
He wasn’t the only thing out of place. The room itself was unusual in thatit was clean with fresh paint and leather sofa smell that you only find in anewly built house. Not that this room was new but it had been empty forsome time and was away from the prying eyes of anyone who may havewanted to break in and search for food. Battleship grey it had an open plankitchen which looked unused and had a dining table with eight chairsaround it. This room was cleaned thoroughly on a daily basis.
A large television was normally the main focus of the room, however thatwas obscured by something else that wasn’t in fitting with the décor. Inthe middle of the room was a curtain, like a hospital bay, which surroundeda medical bed. The curtain was drawn hiding whatever and whoever wasin the bed behind it.
The man at the window spoke out loud without turning. His words echoingaround the room. ‘They have defeated the Commander General and hisarmy.’ The room went quiet again for some time.
A noise came from behind the curtain as someone shuffled around in starched sheets. ‘She’s still alive?’ came a male voice.
‘Barely,’ replied the man. ‘They won, but at the cost of many of theirpeople. She fought well and killed many of her opposition.’
‘And the others?’ came the voice, faltering.
‘The boys, Chuck, Scott, Seth and Xander all lived. Unfortunately JayGreen didn’t make it. Neither did Brittle and Mendez,’ he paused. ‘Loganand Nathaniel are both ok.,’ he added.
Nothing from behind the curtain, then the voice spoke. ‘McGregor?’
‘Alive and well. It seems the community have forgiven him and allowedhim to leave along with some rag tag band of losers. Quite apt,’ said theman.
‘Uncle,’ said the voice. ‘He needs to die.’
‘And in time he will. We have more pressing matters at hand that have tobe discussed with the other members of the board. From what we can tellthey are still blissfully unaware that we exist. The Commander Generalheld up his part of the bargain and kept his mouth shut.’
‘Remind me why they can’t come here?’ came the voice again.
‘As I explained, if we invite them here then the little we have will becomepiecemeal for everyone else out there. It is not in Nathaniel’s make up toallow the have and the have not’s to be separated. Whilst it wasn’t the bestidea of the CommanderGeneral’s his plan to kill half the population mayhave actually worked. But Nathaniel would never have entertained theidea, like he would never understand that what we have here is ours.’
‘We can’t share what we have?’ said the voice.
‘If it was just them, then yes, logistically we could accommodate them.But the second Nathaniel seeswhat we’ve built he would make the wholeworld aware and we go back to ground zero.’
‘Back to starvation?’
‘Not starvation, but we will lose the life we have become accustomed to?’said the man. ‘We have earnt this. We saw the consequences of The Cure before anyone else and put a plan into action to negate having to suffer.We didn’t ask for help.’
‘I understand,’ came the voice.
The man spun around on his heels from the window and walked towardsthe curtain. Without going in he held onto the gap in the curtain ready togo inside butstopped. ‘How is the arm healing?’ he said.
‘It’s strange, but I’m getting used to it.’
‘It’s made from Wakandavibranium,’ said the man straight faced.
‘What? I’ve never heard of such a metal’ said the voice, almost excitedly.
The man chuckled. ‘Apologies, it was a pop culture reference from waybefore your time. It’s actually a mixture of polypropylene, titanium andaluminium, but rest assured it is the most advanced prosthetic available,and we should know. I might joke, but with myself and the board we havethe most advanced technology known to man at our fingertips. Lookaround you son, this is the future, not what they have back at that prison.I can give you anything.’
‘Anything?’ said the voice.
‘Anything,’ replied the man.
‘So what happens next?’
‘For whom? Us or for them. For them, they go on with their lives, as it is,none the wiser of our existence. Better for us and better for them. You andI live on for as long as we want. Predicted life expectancy here is limitless.Without disease and illness and with the expertise to help the aging processthere is no reason we cannot create a whole new world. Food supply is nota barrier and we continue to ensure sustainability of that for an infinitetimeframe. We can literally live forever,’ said the man, his face touchingthe curtain, breathing in the surrounding air.
‘When can I leave this room Uncle?’
The man stepped into the bay and looked at the boy laid on the hospitalbed. He took a step closer and touched some of the gauze covering hisface. The boy clenched his fists in pain. ‘You’ll need more grafts, but once we have finished you wouldn’t know any difference. Wait one minute.’
The man turned to a trolley laid out next to the bed and poured a substanceinto a metal bowl. ‘Use this cleanser and take off the gauze so I can havea better look. I’ll wait outside.’
The man stepped back outside the curtain and walked back to the windowto give the boy some privacy. He put his hand on to the window and felt a cool chill run up his arm. ‘These landscapes are quite emotional,’ he said,not sure whether he was talking to the boy or for his own benefit.
‘When we first decided to build the facility it was never in question wherewe would build it. I mean aside from all