"No."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlov4fYpKB3
"Yes."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15qaRhTsOM
"No."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPPf8Vmrg1
"Yes."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4Kocy2mwB
"You're lying!"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOl49SSB3z
"I'm not."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYwbZbqj1v7
Yes he is! He must be!
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdx2wD52TcI
"You are!"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTOntnzCbcQ
"Really, I'm not," he deadpanned, but it was easier said than believed.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFi9ZHjx1RT
"Gemma?" I gawped.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPK5Wf7g1O
"I believe I've specified that before."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8UA4LInRgh
"You better not be lying to me, or I swear to God—"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRNkH9AinbA
"202," he stepped towards me, "I'm not lying."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv6jVIYLE89
I stared into the distance, bewildered. "Gemma?" I repeated. "Gemma Reynolds?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwYHzxKrWGK
"Yes."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZLfnCSvBB
"You're not just winding me up, are you?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyO576DkFWA
"Should I even bother answering that?" he replied bluntly.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAiV6NeD9ml
I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Of all the people in the world..." I looked at Everest. "Do you know how many people are in the world?!"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2d6CGmrdu0
"As of now, seven billion, increasing at a rate of one-point-zeo-nine percent."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpVYXAoUxR4
I smiled, bitterly. "Seven billion people, increasing at a rate of one-point-zero-nine percent?" My smile morphed into a scowl. "Seven billion goddamn people, and it had to be Gemma! Gemma bloody Reynolds!" I spat.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDusmxqcxJ1
"Reasonably speaking, her dad was the only person who knew about what the Front had been up to."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhorFz8J5s
"That's why he set up a branch in London anyway."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWDK9vvc8xT
In actual fact, Robert Reynolds was American, as was Gemma – that was why everyone made a huge deal out of it when she appeared at the launch evening. The base of their company was located in San Francisco, but just after the discovery of the cure, Robert established another commercial building in London, – hmm, I wonder why – making it geographically closer to the Front's Headquarters. The two rivals were practically neighbours.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYlSx9pZeMe
Suddenly, I gasped, realising something. "That's why you wanted to go to London!" My stare attempted to penetrate through his rigid exterior. "To find Gemma!"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqOspfJ1vIv
"Needed," he corrected.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9aUt99IgsD
"Oh, come off it," I grumbled. "What do you even intend on doing there, anyway? Walk in, and demand they give you the drug?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP6I6pW45yl
Silence dominated the forest.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFX4vqkRtWe
"Oh for the love of God, just tell me! I think we're past the whole I-ask-you-questions-and-you-don't-answer-them phase."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZoJa61oklO
"Fine. That's exactly what we're going to do."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡanC046vklI
"The, I ask you questions, and you don't answer them phase?" I quizzed.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡidr5sGrllF
"No."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYAXxsQd6w6
"We're going to demand the drug from Gemma?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2JxG8WEwKL
"We will take a more tactful approach, than how you put it."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ30y420VkNZ
"Define tactful."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwo5wYqyNU
"Smarter," he said, flatly.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7SVfz8BGT2
"Hey!" I swatted his arm. It was equivalent to hitting steel. "And then, what?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmKsb7uM0e
"We expose Director."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4YrE0FhO39
Good plan. Except: "How are we going to do that?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfWpAs5MgwO
"One thing at a time, 202."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVcJSWVv6YB
***
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9WLkPUZNgb
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSoGIHtJGt
"So, you're telling me," I spoke, nibbling on an almond. "That this time next year, I'd be dead?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbAJ7UvG9v3
Even with the bizarre ability to maintain hunger for an abnormally long period of time, it didn't take much brainpower to understand that two days without food or water was over-doing it. Hence, the next morning, we busied ourselves with the job of finding edible food; it proved to be a success.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwEHvS62z0n
Everest gave a curt nod.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Dc2wXLjWA
Wow.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWW34hOWg2G
"Because the semi-cure only lasts twenty years, or so?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd0i2EeFwry
We also agreed on calling 202 the 'semi-cure', since it only half worked.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ551vTbD7xx
He nodded again.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIrPOz35TZ
Wow.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIBnavjcTS7
"And they were serious about the termination thing?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAMBZs3o2VV
Another nod.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcpMIL4v3u0
Wow.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2sQjbPr0LT
"So, the real reason for the termination wasn't because you're better than me; it was because they're going to release 202 anyway, but didn't want the world to know that it doesn't do what everyone what everyone actually think it does?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCidcSRDq3s
"Not quite. I'm still better. It's how they made me."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8cQJx3wMoY
I scoffed. "And how exactly did they make you? I mean, Director did say that you have something that I don't. What?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡItfxfUwVOF
This time, I didn't even get a nod – not that it was a question that could be answered with a simple nod, anyway.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ93ca1F8Xdy
"It's getting late, we have to move," he said, a while later, getting up.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4uFFnwXrHB
"It's midday," I stated, cornering him. Physically.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHF1zCccG2K
"It doesn't matter—"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLBMME9vzsh
"What do you have, that I don't?" I demanded.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZOmkKt2z4j
"Brain cells."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqypPVtS6HG
I gasped. Humour was my thing!
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmlh11FzsHR
"Dead brain cells!" I couldn't help but shoot back.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlEQQcUzNK1
"We both know that I'm smarter than you," he retaliated.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQ1a7lHyCX
"Tell me!" I pushed.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzX9UKLlx4C
And we're back to square one.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApN7t7IZ3H
"I don't owe you anything, 202," he replied.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV6Chikyi89
No! Do something, quick! Make him answer!
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnqpe2a1chf
A sad smile plastered itself across my face. "That's true, you don't. But I'm going to die soon," Ha! Of course I wasn't planning on dying! "So whatever you say, I'll take to my grave." I sighed for effect. "Isn't that enough insurance for you?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7dQ2uHVMe
His chiseled face remained as still as igneous rock. "You and I both know you are not dying. Now, drop it."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYq5Nd4cwG
Unexpectedly, that made me feel a tad – just a tad – better. But the second part of his response initiated frustration.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JM4dpNT8I
"Bloody hell, just tell me!" I rid myself of my vulnerable pretense. "You know everything about me! Hell, you know more about me than I do! So, you do, in fact, owe me this!" Plus, the curiosity was eating me inside out.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP6UqlVVV4d
At first, I received no response. Then, just as I was about to cuss him for being his obstinate self, he spoke; his voice low.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDrX8dNh9Si
"It's not what I have. It's what I don't have."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjjAO8IFAaK
Don't have? My mind flickered through the various things which he might've lacked in order to make him stronger. Fatigue? Flesh? Nerve-endings?
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHijVdBzrx4
"Emotions," he stated.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRfAVF8PDSC
Emotions?
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5Ygs5WPvn
"Yeah well, I knew that," I replied, uninterested in the obvious.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJmxFDW8bzm
"No. Neurologically speaking. I don't have emotions."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwEIWqPfms
I made a face. "What do you mean? You do have emotions." I could name a few: anger, distrust (in me, particularly), pride, annoyance (at me also), narcissism... it went on!
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBbLi5uoRj5
He gave me the same cold look that I'd already received a hundred too many times from him. "Of course I have emotions. I said, Director took away emotions, not emotion."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8qG7mYhRMM
What the hell?
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCW5UWCn7U3
I snatched the almonds from his hands. "They're doing something to you."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqehcQb5bK8
"They're not," he said, taking them back. "When I said emotions, I meant they took away specific emotions, not all of my emotion. If that were the case, they would have created a robot."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkEDGepgOCV
"They already have," I muttered, unable to restrain the comment from slipping out.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFpmL3jDJU
He sent me a glare that could have cooled plasma.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXYG8x5XkeH
I shuddered. "Kidding. Continue."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgutyz46f0w
"They removed emotions that cause weakness."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSLs03k1DwH
I cocked my head. "Weakness?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK11sbj8gRf
"Grief, empathy, shame, remorse, fear, love," he recited at meteoric speed.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyX70X4WDxX
I glanced up, repeating them in my mind, at a much slower pace...
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr7xXXkxuIf
Oh.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqKZKC46ESb
True, such an act seemed impossible. But for a multibillionaire company that possessed laboratories which stretched as far as football pitches, it would have been as easy as baking a cake. Scratch that; I tried baking a cake once, and that night, I went to bed with a blocked ear, thanks to the relentless screeching of those damned fire alarms.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRUK5uzCTwl
"When?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4PsbcKP8Zh
"When they decided they wanted you dead." He clearly didn't understand the concept of sugar coating certain details, I concluded.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwBIt53tn1J
Gazing at his handsome yet stony face, I uselessly pondered at the thought of what it must feel like to have your emotions torn out of you – or rather, what it wouldn't feel like. Eventually, I gave up on the thought, realising how it paralleled a paradox: He wouldn't have felt loss, because they seized the very thing that stimulates the feeling of loss. So he wouldn't have actually felt like he lost something, despite simultaneously acknowledging the fact that he had.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kGMaI2ZJi
I fiddled with the ring in my eyebrow. In a twisted way, Director played us both. But why him?
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKCjamKN30b
"So when they said you have something I don't have, they meant you haven't got something, I have?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZImwDtQLDR
"Yes. You've got weakness, and I haven't," he stated.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7BhtBLdQ8k
"I was talking about emotions! And these emotions don't make you weak! They make you... a good person. They make you human!"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUH9B6ylHEu
"And that leads to weakness."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfbO3iqGqSG
"That's a lie. They fed you lies."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNthoFtUNFG
"Is it? If that's the case, am I right in saying that loss wouldn't bring about grief? And, that in turn, wouldn't drag you down?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6x3yPrlDnr
He was doing it again! He was turning my views against themselves.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxBcNyMp6q1
"That depends on how you handle it," I said, sternly. "Emotions are a work of nature; you can't control it. It might drag some people into a dark corner, but other people fight it. That's what being strong is."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡURhmiHs3lG
"What if you can't bring yourself out of a dark corner?" For the first time since I met him, the question wasn't asked in rebuttal, but rather as a genuine question. He was actually asking me, to answer something for him.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4rWO0E0UHj
Wow, they really did remove those emotions.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKxvvH5Klx
But if the question were asked to contradict what I said, then he had a point. "Then... that's it." Suddenly the feeling of defeat spread through me, one which I despised. "But getting these natural emotions removed just so you don't have to experience them isn't strength. It's cowardice."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd9kNBS6sOc
Something flashed in his eyes, in that moment, but was concealed just as fast. A poor acorn stood, frozen under his glare. "I didn't ask for this."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXgJIFp8nCe
I sighed, guilt flushing through my veins. "Everest, I didn't mean that."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡysiO7F4prc
"No," he said, emotionless. Right. No sorrow. Got it.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavZ82RmID8
This discovery made me contemplate one thing, in particular: Was the front constructed of a bunch of Hitlers? Because, damn, was there anything else left on that evil things to do list of theirs?
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ5l8hep4pJ
I peered back at everest; his eyes were still fixated on the acorn.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvCXd1FtEym
"How did they do it?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuSP9r1bqzX
"You can find out if you take a fourteen year neurology course at university."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcVIEsgTrRb
Translation: I don't know.
Then he added, "But they also..." he hesitated, "... they used aversion therapy on me." For a moment he looked like he regretted saying it as though he had said too much.
But it didn't really make sense to me. "Aversion therapy?" I inquired. "Like the ones they give to alcoholics to make them quit?"
He nodded.
"So, what? They used aversion therapy to discourage emotions?"
His visage was cold again, as he shortly replied, "That's exactly what they did."
When did they do it?"
When I first asked it, it felt like an ordinary question, prompted by sheer curiosity. It was when his jaw clenched, that I reconsidered its significance.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZRZoo77aa
"They started it when you were nine, a few years after they made you, you know, 202," he clarified. "It was after they found out where they went wrong with the cure."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTTuL9sz6uu
I was about to ask why, when it hit me. They noticed that they had messed up. They rid Everest of removed grief, empathy, shame, remorse, fear, love, so that he wouldn't feel the traditional guilt that is usually felt when someone murders another person in cold blood – cold blood indeed, if he had to fuse both of our bloods to finish the job. But the point was, they were preparing him for it! But, that also meant...
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1jYgmCPMTA
"They meant to kill me since I was nine years! Not just recently!"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxINgen5LVi
"Yes."
"Using you!"
"Yes."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6OLvlGKM3z
"That's why they took your emotions away."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNeHkPgQw2W
"Yes."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLY7p50msd5
"You were supposed to kill me."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvX8xZihNS
"Yes."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxBWE1TTIOX
"You were supposed to kill me!"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEIQW81G51J
"We've established that already."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYdeseWNtMO
"No. You were supposed to kill me. So why didn't you?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW53ZJAWr2a
I wasn't really expecting him to declare his undying love for me, or anything, especially regarding the whole removal of emotions thing, but his reply was drier than I had expected.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRedOpozfRK
"I didn't want to slave for Director."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWYzNCPJmep
I raised an eyebrow. I knew he wasn't being honest with me as soon as he said it – not that I particularly expected him to be honest either.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8OMS67QjLr
"And it took you up till the last minute to decide this, huh?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM2pphE20jl
"If you suppose."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuNNONZE00i
"Be honest!" I demanded. "You wouldn't have ended up in this position, in the middle of a forest scavenging for food. Why didn't you follow Director's orders?"
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVfIrWvDjqh
His face remained unmoved. "I don't have to explain myself to you, 202."
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2loJYN2AU
No, he didn't. I could have tortured the answer out of him, but it wasn't important, anyway. He had already told me everything I needed to know, including the whole Gemma Reynolds thing.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ92Tj0xuTya
So, London it is.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjFpZQLo6VQ
____________________________________________________________________________
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkAOzWT5OU
Author's note: To those bothered to read:
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJRwspWoAg
And there you have it, folks, your (and Emerald's) burning questions have finally been answered. Now, that wasn't so hard was it, Everest?
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0vyl91KjZt
What was your reaction when you found out Everest's secret?
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaZQRsUeRjG
Thank you for reading, I really, really appreciate your amazing taste in books. Please, vote comment (no, seriously, go nuts), and share.
763Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSSex8BahUt
-Ruth
ns216.73.216.65da2 
