Chapter 15: Scorch Marks

The next day, Mickey picked me up after a shift. He was wearing a ridiculous green sheepskin coat, a few sizes too big for him, and probably older than both of us by a decade.

As we were walking to his car, I said:

'Is this like a hipster thing?'

He looked at me with surprise.

'What do you mean?'

'The coat'

He blinked.

'What about it?'

I open my mouth, then closed it again.

'Nevermind. How far did you park?'

He drove a blue Pontiac Firefly. The car was so old that it was almost antique, but well cared for. It looked like an aging mule that was too worn out to work the farm, but haven't quite decided to die yet.

Mickey smiled with pride.

'You like it?'

I coughed.

'It's... something.'

'Used to be my dad's. Man, they knew how to build a car back in his times!'

We got in, and he put the keys into the ignition.

'This baby is about to hit half a million kilometers, dude, and it ain't slowing down. You think all that modern electric crap is capable of that? Better car for a better future my ass, right?!'

The Pontiac was tidy on the inside, and kind of cozy. We drove off the parking lot and headed north.

'So where are we going?'

'The place I used to go to for my tests when Zero was in town. His base of operations. I figured he can go there in, you know, his state.'

He pursed his lips.

'I cased it a bit already, to be sure that we're the only ones who got the idea. No sign of the PA, though. The whole thing is abandoned.'

The part of the town we drove to used to be a part of its former industrial heart. It was situated at the town's edge, close to the factories that were now all demolished or closed down. Most of the families who lived here back when the industry was blooming were working class, simple and good people. But then the industry moved to cheaper markets, and they were left behind without jobs and prospects. Since then, the whole neighborhood came to decay. The streets were dirty and poorly lit, with graffiti plastered on every flat surface. It was as close to a bad neighborhood as the city had, not entirely dangerous, but not exactly safe too, especially during the night.

'You lived here?'

Mickey chuckled.

'Yeah. Why, your parents told you to stay away from these parts when you were a kid?'

'No. But a girl in my class once told me that there are wraiths wandering these streets at night, hunting down innocent people.'

That got a burst of laughter out of him.

'The only things we hunted down here were rats. Big fat motherfuckers, too! Other than that, it was your usual poor neighborhood. Rough, but honest, you know?

He sighed.

'I mean, don't get me wrong. At least three of our neighbors were dealing drugs. And it only got worse since then, from what I hear. So keep your eyes open.'

We stopped in a deserted alley that ended in a dead-end. Mickey killed the engine and got out of the car. I followed, looking around for signs of trouble.

There was none. I wasn't even sure that two buildings forming the alley were occupied: all the windows were dark, and more than a few were broken.

'Not exactly prime real estate for gentrification, eh?'

Mickey locked the car and headed for the walled-off end of the alley.

I caught up with him near the wall. At a closer look, it actually turned out to be a wooden fence, twice as tall as I was.

'The place you were talking about is behind that fence?'

He nodded.

'So... uh... is there, like, a loose board?'

He looked at me like he just heard the stupidest thing in his life.

'Why the fuck would we need that?'

Before I could answer, he jumped. I felt the tremor of alien Ability reverberating through my bones, and saw him fly over the edge of the fence.

Fuck.

He must have decreased the weight of his body. I knew this trick, too, but wasn't very proficient at it. Landings were especially hard. That's how I ended up with a broken leg in kindergarten. The pain was bad enough, but the fury my mom crashed down on me for using the Ability outside was far worse.

And although I knew the alley was completely empty, I felt really uncomfortable using it now, too.

I sighed, put one foot on the wall, and flipped the world on its side.

Well, not really, of course. I just flipped myself in relation to the fence. Everything turned. I felt short disorientation, and then found myself standing on its side. Only, for me, it was now down, and Mickey's car loomed right above my head. Feeling the significant strain on my Ability, I slowly walked up the wall, grabbed its edge, and flipped the world one more time. Up and down changed places, and now I was lying on my stomach on the opposite side of the wall. Instead of walking down its length, I released the affects that were holding me, dangled a bit in the air and fell down, landing ungracefully near Mickey.

Doing this wasn't particularly hard -- basically, it was the same affect I used to move metal shaving during the test, only magnified in quantity and intensity to hold my weight. But it was considerable weight, even for me, so despite the winter cold, there was sweat on my face.

'Ha!' Mickey slapped me on the shoulder. 'That was smart! I almost broke my neck on the way down.'

'Well, unlike you, I didn't know what's on the other side, so just jumping over seemed unwise.'

He frowned.

'What? Who said I knew what's on the other side? Let's get moving, man.'

I gave him a long look and nodded.

We were in a large open space. The ground was covered in snow and gravel, and there were large shapes looming over us in the darkness. As we moved forward, I almost tripped over some rusty rails.

'What is this place?'

'Used to be an old railroad museum. It's abandoned now, though. We need to find the main office.'

I hesitated.

'So do you know where it is?'

'Of course. I've been coming here for years, man.'

I raised an eyebrow in the darkness.

'They didn't move you around?'

Mickey shook his head.

'I told you. Zero was different. His protocols were different too.'

The main office was a large brick building that stood apart from hangars that were used to display antique locomotives when the museum was open. The glass in the windows was mostly broken, and the door, if there ever was one, was missing. Mickey cautiously looked inside, and then said:

'I guess nobody is home. Come on.'

We entered the darkness, and he fished out a flashlight from the inside pocket of his coat.

In its ghostly light, we saw rotting furniture and obscene graffiti covering the walls. Mickey chuckled.

'You see that?'

One of the wall drawings read 'Fuck the PA!'.

'I guess I wasn't the only frustrated kid in the cell. Shit. I wish I'd thought about coming back here, too!'

I shook my head.

'What would be the point? Giving the world a hint about who you are?'

He smiled.

'No. Giving the world the middle finger.'

We proceeded further into the building, looking for any sign that Zero had visited his old offices. But it was too big. It would have taken hours to investigate every corner.

After fifteen minutes or so, I smelled something in the air. The stink of burned wool.

'Follow me.'

We descended a set of stairs and entered the museum's basement. The smell became stronger.

I led us forward, making a few turns to get us to the source of the smell. Soon we approached a rusty metal door.

'Do you recognize this place?'

Mickey spat on the floor.

'Yeah, it's the test chamber. I fucking hated this place. Help me open that door.'

As we were struggling with its rusty hinges, I remembered coming to the tests with my mom when I was little. Standing naked in the empty hallway, alone, feeling invisible rays of PA scanners flowing through my body. I remember how knowing that she's waiting for me in the next room, just behind a wall, gave me comfort. But it also made me so, so angry. Because I knew that as soon as I was done with my test, she will have to stand up, undress, and go through the same thing.

'Here we go!'

The door finally moved, opening with a thunderous shriek. The smell was so strong now that I almost had to cover my nose.

There was a small windowless room behind the door. Someone was here recently, sleeping on an old mattress that was now a heap of burnt fabric and melted springs. The cement floor beneath it was scorched, as were the walls. There was a thin blanket in one corner, a pile of empty soup cans in the other, and fragments of burnt paper littered here and there.

'Bingo!'

Mickey looked around.

'How did you know to come here?'

I walked around the room, taking it in.

'When we met, Zero was hot...'.

'How do you mean?'

'I mean literally. He was almost sizzling. I burnt my hand when I touched him. I guess it's his way of staying warm in this cold, raising his own temperature.'

Mickey frowned.

'I've never heard of anyone manipulating their own temperature. Seems dangerous. Doesn't your brain start to melt at forty degrees?'

I didn't know what to answer.

'I guess Zero can do a lot of things we haven't heard of.'

Like survive all those years with the Disease.

Mickey kneeled in front of the scorch marks on the walls and whistled.

'Man. I can't properly boil the fucking glass of water, and here he goes around melting cement. Do you think it's the Disease?'

I felt a shiver run down my spine.

'Maybe. I don't know. I thought it only supercharged your Ability once you were in the "murder everything" phase, and he doesn't seem that far gone. What category was he when you knew him?'

'I don't know. Stronger than me. I was C5 back then.'

'So, what... three? Two?'

I licked my lips.

'One?'

Mickey looked at me.

'How about Category Zero?'

I smirked.

'There's no such thing. It's a fairy tale.'

'Whatever you say, dude. Anyway, he's not here. Judging by the smell from those soup cans, he bolted a few days ago. And if something scared him away, he's probably not coming back. So what now?'

I looked around and started picking up the charred pieces of paper.

'Help me with that.'

Most of them were too badly burnt to decipher anything, but here and there we were able to read a word a two. It wasn't enough to make sense of what was written on them, just that it was some sort of PA documents.

'Here, look at that.' Matt handed me a blackened fragment of paper. Most of the text was unreadable, but I managed to pick two words out.

'Henry Diamantis. Who's that?'

'Mmm... sounds familiar, but I'm not sure. Let's keep looking.'

We spent half an hour sifting through the fragments. In the end, we found two more names. One of them was "Sergei Duncan", and the other...

'That's my mom's name.' I said, dumbfounded.

'What? Really?'

'Yes.'

Mickey directed the flashlight at the other two pieces.

'Of course,' he mumbled. 'Makes sense.'

'What?'

'Do you know what this is?'

He pointed to the pile of burnt paper at our feet.

'That's us, man. That's all that remains.'

I shook my head.

'What the fuck do you mean?'

He sighed.

'That's Farm bookkeeping, Matthew. That's a roster of wraiths they slaughtered.'

I frowned.

'I thought that the first name sounded familiar, but it didn't hit me until you told me about your mom. Henry Diamantis, that's Uncle Hank. I used to know him.'

What?

'He was friends with my old man. I saw him at William's from time to time, until, a few years back, he stopped coming. No one said a thing, but everyone knew that they took him.'

Mickey clenched his fists.

'And I don't know that other dude, but I'm ready to bet that he's a local wraith that they sent to the Farm, just like Uncle Hank and your mom. Zero must have stolen this shit from the PA when he broke out.'

Now the gears in my head were spinning.

'Right. Right, that makes sense. He must have met my mom there. And now he's here, and he sought me out'

It was all starting to make sense now. Well, kinda, not really. But there was a pattern.

Back when Claire brought me the piano, I thought to myself that her finding me at the lakeside and then leading me to the man with blue eyes was one too many coincidences. But it wasn't! Because Zero meeting me outside the club wasn't a coincidence at all. He came there to see me.

And I fucking attacked him, like a complete idiot.

'What are you thinking about?'

'I'm thinking about what a damn fool I am. I spooked Zero when he wanted to tell me something! Fuck!'

Mickey squinted.

'You think he'll try to contact you again?'

I shook my head.

'No. I was... pretty unpleasant to him. But I can't be the only one he came here to visit. It's, I don't know... some kind of a Death Pilgrimage for him, I think. Like a last will, maybe? Did that Uncle Hank had kids?'

Mickey was silent for a few moments.

'No. But this Duncan guy might have. You think Zero will try to seek them out, like he did you?'

I couldn't know for sure, but my intuition told me that we were on to something.

'Worth checking out.'