A Perfect Machine(25)

Steve’s jaw snapped shut with a click, his eyes slowly sliding off Henry’s face like it was greased. He managed to focus on Faye’s eyes. “What’s… that?” he said, and backed away, out of Faye’s reach, his heels smacking against the door behind him. “What is it? What is it?”

Henry dropped his gaze, looked at the floor.

Milo, too, dropped his eyes, sad to see this playing out in front of him. Embarrassed on his friend’s behalf.

“I’ll explain later, Steve,” Faye said. “Just believe me that he’s not harmful. He won’t do anything to you, me, or anyone else. Something has –” she searched for the right word “– happened to him, Steve. It’s not his fault, and I care for him, so I need you to be the friend I know you are, and just drive us to my apartment. OK?”

Steve still looked mildly horrified, but color was slowly returning to his face. “Yeah,” he said. “Sure, whatever.” Steve tried to tell himself the guy must just be in a suit of some kind, and maybe standing on stilts. It looked too real, though. But his mind didn’t want to deal with that option, so instead ran on the automation of shock and rationalization.

He groped in the semi-dark for the door handle, grasped it, turned it. Out he went, into the hallway. The ambulance’s driver-side door opened, slammed, then the engine roared to life.

A shudder ripped through Milo just then. Something unpleasant was coming. He didn’t know how he knew, but felt it deep inside. A truth unbreakable, indisputable. He tried to shake it off, but it clung to him like wet gauze.

Faye turned to Henry. “Are you ready?”

Henry nodded once.

Faye flung the blanket over him as best she could. Henry helped by draping it up and over his head. When it settled, it covered about three quarters of him, which would have to do. It would be screamingly obvious to anyone if they saw thick metal legs and a blanket running around that something was suspicious, but at least they wouldn’t see all of him, which would be much worse.

Faye cracked the door, peeked out. Nothing moved. She heard voices somewhere, though, echoing off the hallway walls, and the grounds would only get busier, so it was now or never.

She glanced back again to Henry, whispered, “Let’s go,” then stepped out into the hall. Henry lumbered after her, with Milo in tow. Once Henry was through the door, Faye shut it behind him, then moved ahead of him, grabbed onto one of his enormous hands and led him in the direction of the ambulance.

The voices were getting closer now, but Henry and Faye were only about twenty feet from the back of the open ambulance and safety.

“Come on, Henry, just a bit farther,” Faye whispered, and tried to tug on him to speed him up. She may as well have been tugging on a car.

The sound of the ambulance’s idling engine blocked out the nearby voices as they got closer, which only made her more nervous. The last ten feet of the journey were agony. With every shuffling footstep from Henry, she thought she’d hear someone yell out to them, catch them in the act. There would be no explaining this. Henry and she would be separated – probably forever. The thought created a ball of lead in her gut and brought tears to her eyes.

“Nearly there,” she said. “About five more steps.”

Once they were at the edge of the back doors, she lifted the blanket so Henry could see his feet and the back of the vehicle. “Step up,” she said. “Quickly.” She glanced around one last time. Still no one. Is this really happening? she thought madly. Am I actually smuggling a metal behemoth out of a hospital furnace room?

Henry stepped up, lost his balance, and fell forward. Luckily, due to his momentum, he toppled into the back of the ambulance rather than outside of it into the docking area. He crashed in, falling on his back and rolling to one side. Where he’d rolled, Faye saw dents in the metal underneath. The shocks of the vehicle groaned at the weight, but held.

Steve glanced back, petrified. “What the fuck!?” he hissed. “What are you doing back there? Someone’s gonna hear!”

Faye hoisted herself inside, telling Henry to drag his other leg in. She stood up.

“Steve,” Faye said, closing the doors. “Shut up and drive.”



* * *



They drove slowly away from the hospital, snow drifting down to blanket the docking area, erasing their footprints. Milo gazed out the back window, watching the accumulation, still trying to shake the sudden feeling of menace he’d felt earlier. It wouldn’t budge.

They drove in silence, Steve only occasionally craning his neck around to gawp at Henry. Blood had returned to his face, but the fear was plain in his eyes every time he swiveled in his seat to look behind him.

“Don’t drive too fast,” Faye said. “You’ll get us pulled over.”

“Least of my worries, Faye, sorry,” Steve said, keeping his eyes on the road.

“Listen,” Faye said, the word coming from her mouth in a sharp burst as she strode toward the front of the vehicle, leaning her head in near Steve’s. “You fucking slow down right now. The last thing we need is to have an accident. I said before that my friend is not dangerous, and he’s not. But I can certainly make him dangerous, if you’d prefer.”

Steve glanced at her quickly, the fear in his eyes leveled up yet another notch. He saw that Faye meant it, said nothing – just turned his head, stared forward, and eased off the gas pedal.