Monster Nation(76)

He was not the only uniformed officer in the club, nor was he the highest ranking, but the vast majority of the men wore the black suits of career civil servants. He recognized several, or thought he did'he couldn't see clearly more than a few dozen feet.

Clark managed somehow to be surprised when a young woman dressed like a Colonial era town cryer walked into the club ringing an enormous handbell. She had a clipboard under one arm and she read from it without much enthusiasm as she rang her bell. 'Hear ye, hear ye, good people, it's time to get your bets in. All bets must be placed by midnight tonight. Today's deadpool is for Cleveland, Ohio. Double your money if Cleveland is overrun before midnight tonight! Hear ye, hear ye!'

Clark had blushed before. Now he blanched. He put his drink down on the bar and shoved through the patrons, needing to get out into the clean air. A completely naked woman with a red star tattooed on either of her nipples grabbed him around the waist but he wriggled free.

As he bumped past the reveling wonks of Washington he finally looked a few of them in the eyes and he realized what was going on. These people weren't just jaded cynics willing to sacrifice the country for their own self-interest. They were suffering from threat fatigue, just as they had after September Eleventh. Too much horror that required your full attention, all of the time. Too much demand on one's sense of gravitas and it broke, snapped, fell to pieces.

That wasn't a good enough excuse, he decided. They needed to regain their composure and get back to work. But he wasn't the one to tell them as much.

Out in the evening air he breathed deeply and stared up at where the stars would be if they weren't obscured by the light haze of the Capital.

The Civilian spilled out of the door behind him, a dewy can of beer in his hand.

'There's so little time left'did you hear? Cleveland is about to fall,' Clark told him, his hands tight fists in his pockets. 'I have no doubt the Epidemic has already spread to Asia, across the Pacific. It will be in Europe soon enough and then it will have covered the entire globe.'

'A very wise man said something to me once. 'Laddy,' he said, 'time's only valuable to them that are counting it.' I guess that means the dead don't need watches. This is it, Bannerman, the big D, the big A maybe.'

Clark shook off the idea. 'There's a girl out there somewhere. In California, maybe, though I imagine she probably got out in time. She's dead, but she can talk.'

The Civilian popped open his can with a noise halfway between a fart and a gunshot.

Clark went on. 'Denver was lost because the dead somehow managed to organize their behavior enough to get over a ten-foot fence. Disease spread through the relocation camps far more quickly than any of our models can account for. There's a deeper game at work here than we think.'

'And you can win it? I'm truly sorry,' the Civilian said, pausing to hiccup, 'if you feel like you're being shorted here. But tell me, how much should I trust a by-the-numbers Captain of the Guard who comes busting in here telling me that he and he alone can save the world? Come on, walk a mile in my shoes. Hmm.' He looked down. 'I could use a shine, actually. Get 'em shined while you're walking in them, willya?' He giggled and nearly choked on another hiccup. 'Seriously. I can't just authorize you to go bomb the hell out of the Rocky Mountains without some kind of justification. How am I supposed to sell this thing?'

'Well,' Clark said, feeling his heart pound in his chest, 'I am the Hero of Denver.'

'George Fucking Washington's ghost! I thought you'd never get the hang of this.' The Civilian held his beer out toward Clark in salute. 'Oh, and I'm coming with you.' He smirked when he saw the look that brought to Clark's face. 'You think'hic'I want to stick around here and wait for Purslane to lose us this city, too?'





Monster Nation





Chapter Fourteen


SOS DAUGHTER SICK HELP ANYBODY

[Message mowed into a field of corn in Iowa, 4/12/05]

It had happened so quickly, Nilla hadn't really thought it through. Blood was everywhere. It had pooled beneath the boy, ruining his clothes. He stirred with a spasmodic movement beneath her and she felt his dark energy like an ice pack pressed against her flesh. Nilla recalled waking up in a puddle of her own blood. Not so long ago.

Behind her the dog barked up a cacophony of irritation. She wanted to enjoy the feeling the boy's energy gave her, the feeling like she was alive again. The dog wouldn't let her do that. She reached for its collar, intending to shut it up, and stopped herself.