Charlie Huston - Every Last Drop

I lean down, pluck a stray splinter from the edge of the gash. -This thing, it doesn't even need to get out in the real world for it to raise hell. This thing, it spreads in our community, our people will go berserk.

I roll the splinter between my fingers.

— Dog with a parasite, chewing at its own insides. Ugly. Ugly things will happen. Hard to keep a wrap on the whole deal once they start happening.

I look at the ceiling. -Something like this gets out, like you say, people gonna start looking at

themselves in the mirror.

I shrug.

— Lots of them, they're gonna figure, in for a penny, may as well go for the whole pound. Been living off blood already, so why start worrying now about where some of it comes from. Some others.

I shake my head.

— This would be the line. Down here especially. Types get drawn to your turf, they hear about this, they wont want to go on staying undercover. Not if it means that pit in Queens stays full of bleeding kids.

I poke the tip of my index finger with the splinter.

— So yeah, I get it. Something like this, it needs to stay a secret. I know the score. I've kept your secrets before. Your backdoor deals with the Coalition. That thing with the shamblers a couple years back. All those bodies I've put in the river. I can keep a secret. And I sure as shit know one that needs to be kept when I stumble into it.

I draw blood from myself. -Something funny about it. Know what I mean?

He shakes his head. -No, man, I don't know anything funny about it.

I lick the bead of blood from my fingertip. My own personal Vyrus. -Funny thing is, for a while now, I've had it sussed that you're not just looking to find some kind of accord with the Coalition. Not just looking to get on an even footing so you could pressure them into going public alongside the Society. Use all those connections they have to smooth the way. Some time now, I've had it figured how you were never too happy about having to leave them in the first place. All your history with Predo, I've had it figured how maybe he leapfrogged you into running the enforcers and all that. How that was a bitter pill for you. How you went off and started your revolution. A revolution, you always call it. Not like you were looking to do your own thing and let bygones be bygones, but like you were looking to overthrow something. And it stands to figure, once something gets overthrown, someone's gonna have to step in and take control. Me, I've been figuring for a while now that that's what you're about, Terry. All that building a better world for everybody bullshit. I've had you figured for some time as Predo s flip side. Just looking to run the fucking show. Settle some scores. Like everyone else.

I point the sliver at him.

— But looking at the way you're trying to keep that hand from shaking, I'm figuring a little different now.

I lean toward him.

— You've been thinking about knocking off the Coalition alright. You've been thinking about sitting in Predo's chair. And not just bis chair, but one of those chairs on the higher floors, where the show gets run. Not so you can teach Predo who's top man, and not so you can even past scores.

I lean back, pick something from between my teeth with the splinter. -You, Terry Bird, you've been thinking about that hole in the ground. You've been thinking about what's in it. And you've been thinking about filling it in, stopping it up, and getting it out of the world. You've been thinking about being a savior.

I spit. -And that only works if it stays a secret till you're in charge.

He presses the bridge of his glasses tight to his face. -Only you, Joe, only you.

He shakes his head.

— Only you could describe a, you know, describe a man striving to do the right thing, and make it sound like he was, I don't know, like he was running the gas chambers at Auschwitz. Only you.

I flick the splinter away.

— Whatever.

I stand.

— Anyway, I get it. You need this thing to stay secret. The world Isn't ready. Infecteds aren't ready. No one is ready. When they're ready, you'll tell them they're ready. And you'll march in and make everything OK. I get it. I get it. I know this is how it has to be. I get it. Motherfucker. I get it.

He studies me.

— I know you get it, Joe. When it all shakes out, you're pretty dependable in one way.

He slips the hand he's been trying to keep still from between his legs. -You're no boat rocker. Truth is, and I don't want to say you don't get the job done in your own way, but the truth is, you're no revolutionary. If you d been around in the early days, at the barricades, I have a feeling you'd have been on the other side, man. Your own back is all you've ever really been out there looking to take care of, and the best way to keep, I don't know, to keep safe, is to keep things the way they are. Just maintain that old status quo.

He holds up his hand, looks at its new steadiness.

— Just the old tried and true for you, man. Steady as she goes. Never any question that you can be trusted to keep a secret when the alternative would

be, you know, bringing the whole world down around your head and changing everything.

I get a cigarette from my pocket. -Yeah, keeping earth-shattering secrets, its my specialty.

I put it in my mouth.

— Give me time to think about my own self-interest and I can be counted on to jump to that side of the room every time.

I light it. -Too bad there was no one to spell it out for me this time around.

He stops looking at his hand.

I suck on my cigarette. -I told the Horde girl, Ter.

His mouth hangs open in a way I've never seen before. -What the hell, Joe?

— It's how I got your money. Its what she wanted. To know where all the blood comes from. So I found out. And I told her. And you got paid. Nice when everyone gets what they want. -Oh. Jesus. Did you, Jesus, Joe, did you tell Sela?

— No.

— Thank Christ for that.

— But the girl will have told her by now.

He sits there, staring at me.

I blow smoke.

— Not that big a deal. Get your buddy Predo on the phone. You guys move fast, you can contain it. Cure has no contacts in the life. Horde cant spread the word. You can cap that one.

His eyes are scanning side to side, reading the immediate future. -We'll need to. Yes. OK. I. OK. You should stay close, Joe. I may need you for something. And it goes without saying, you know, that this changes things, you stick here where you belong and well find a place for you again. A real place, not some corner to hide in. It'll take a few days to, you know, to contain this, but once that's done, once you've helped out with that effort, well have a spot for you down here.

I watch the smoke from my cigarette drift.

— Sure thing. Only you might want to wait on that until you talk it over with Lydia.

His eyes stop moving, draw a bead on my face.

I diffuse some smoke to his side of the room.

— I called her on my way over. Told her about the hole. Told her what I saw down there.

He doesn't move.

I shake my head. -She didn't really believe me.

He licks his lips.

I nod. -Yeah, funny, right?

I take a drag.

— But she started believing me more when I told her I found out while doing some special reconnaissance for you. Told her she was supposed to meet you over here. Told her how messed up you were when I told you. How you started immediately drafting a statement and an action plan. How you asked me to tell her to get together her bulls and come here so you can fill her in on the plans for dealing with this monstrosity.

I blow a smoke ring.

— Should be here soon. Her and her bulls. Fury and that bunch. Ready to hear how the Society is going to start changing the status quo. Today.