Derek Goodman - The Reanimation of Edward Schuett

“No. Only people from the CRS should have that number.”

Edward pulled the cell out of the bag and looked at it. It listed a number on the display screen, but it contained far more digits than phone numbers had possessed in his own time. He recited the number, but Liddie shook her head.

“I’ve never heard of that number before. In fact, that doesn’t even sound like a Stanford number.”

The phone stopped ringing, but started up again only seconds later.

“Think you should answer it?” Edward asked.

“What if it’s someone trying to track us? We can’t have that. In fact, we need to get rid of it altogether or else the CRS can use it to find us.”

The phone stopped and started up again. “Whoever it is, they’re not stopping,” Edward said. “What if it’s your mother trying to warn us about something?”

Liddie gave him another look, then took the phone. She looked around at the few other vehicles on the road, probably to check if anyone was following or watching them, then pulled over onto a side street and answered the phone.

“Who is this?” she asked. There was a pause as she listened to the other person. “Well pardon me if I think it is important. Tell me who you are.” Pause. “That’s for me to decide. How did you even get this number?” Longer pause, which included Liddie giving Edward a confused glance. “Maybe he is.” Pause. “We’re already doing that, but I still don’t see any reason to trust you with any information beyond that.” Pause. “Yes, he’s right here.” Pause. “Yes, but I’m not…” Pause, and then finally she handed the phone to Edward. “Uh, this guy wants to speak to you. He even asked for you by name.”

Edward took the phone. “Hello? Who is this?”

An old man with a raspy voice answered. “I already told the young Miss Gates that I’m a friend. At this point I’d expect you to distrust a claim like that, but for now you have no choice but to accept it. Judging from how quickly she was able to get the phone to you, I’m going to assume that you’re both together and on the run?”

“Why would you assume that?”

“Because my contacts already alerted me about the president’s order to have you destroyed. These same contacts gave me the inkling that Miss Gates might have an interest in your well-being, so I hoped that by contacting her I could convince her to help you escape. I’m glad to find out that this at least is a step I can skip.”

“What exactly is it you want?”

“I want to help you. I’ve been trying to help you since you woke up in that old Walmart.”

Edward looked at Liddie with surprise. How many people had even been aware that that’s where he had first come to? The answer was even fewer people than had known of his existence in the first place.

“And just how have you been trying to help me?” Edward asked.

“As soon as I heard rumors through my contacts in Merton that you were awake, I tried to find you. I was there when the CRS came to pick you up in Fond du Lac, but I got there too late and had to watch them carry you off. I thought maybe you might be in capable hands with the CRS, but I was wrong I see.”

“So that’s why you’re calling now? You want to help me?”

“Maybe. But I need to see you. I can give you some answers no one else has. You need to come find me.”

“And where do I do that? Are you in California?”

“Unfortunately it won’t be that easy for you. I’m going to give you an address and you have to remember it, especially since I think it is a very bad idea for you two to be carrying around a phone they can track you with. You have to get to Illinois. Specifically, Winnebago, Illinois. Go to 210 North Elida Street. I might have to do a few tests to make sure you’re who I think you are, but after that I can give you answers not even the CRS or the government know.”

“And how would you even have these answers?” Edward asked.

“Because, Mr. Schuett, I am the man who created you.”

And then the old man hung up.

Liddie looked in the rearview as the van approached the Stanford outer gates. On the outside, at least, she looked calm and perfectly put together. She had fixed her hair while they had been pulled over, so at least she didn’t look like she’d just attacked a government scientist. This was something she’d learned from her mother, that ability to look like she had everything under control even when things were not at all right. She’d need that once they got to the gate, since on the inside she was scared completely out of her mind.

She’d worked out a cover story with Edward on the way here, and although it had some risky parts, she was still reasonably certain it would hold up. She’d ripped off the patch on his coveralls that said “janitor,” but she’d kept her ID that identified her as a higher official with the CRS. Assuming that they’d made it here in time before CRS security could alert the gate guards, she would be able to just tell them that she was on a research excursion for the CRS to collect data on wild reanimated migratory patterns. It was a legitimate study that CRS scientists had been working on for some time, and hopefully it wouldn’t draw that much attention. She could just say Edward was a maintenance assistant going with her to fix some equipment, although there was a possibility someone would question why they were going out so late. The reanimated population was low enough these days that going outside the city limits in the daylight was relatively safe, but night was another story. Hopefully she could convince the guard that some field equipment needed immediate service or else it would compromise some experiment. She just had to hope the guard wasn’t smart enough to ask why they weren’t bringing armed guards with them.

They stopped at the gate booth and waited for a guard to come to the window and ask what they were doing, but even though there was a light on inside nobody came to them. Liddie peeked her head out the van’s window into the booth only to find the guard fast asleep on a chair.

“That’s just ridiculous,” Liddie whispered to Edward. “A reanimated could just walk right up the gate to find a way in and this guy would never even know.”

“Or a reanimated could walk up and find a way out,” Edward said.

“Maybe,” she said. She opened the door and, leaving the engine running, approached the open window of the gate booth. She supposed she was lucky the night was warm enough that the guard hadn’t closed the window. This meant she could probably just reach in and hit the switch to open the gate, then jump back in the van and hope to get out before the guard could wake up and realize what was going on. It would be risky, though. If the guard heard the noise and woke up before the gate was all the way open, he could still shut it again before the van had a chance to get through. She had to wonder what her mother might do in this situation.

My mother wouldn’t take any shit from someone like this , Liddie thought, then smiled.

“Hey!” Liddie yelled through the window. The guard startled awake and almost fell out of his chair. “Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

The guard tried to blink the sleep from his eyes. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I was just…can I help you?”

“You can help by giving me the name of your supervisor.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m on an urgent errand to fix a reanimated tracking monitor so that thousands of people in this city can sleep at night knowing they’re safe from the undead, and just what the hell do I find? Our first line of defense sleeping at his post.”