The Burn Zone (40 page)

“
Shiliuyuán
,
”
I said to myself.

Fang looked over.
“
Before your time.
”

I followed the line of them, and saw that in each picture there were more and more security walking the
platform, all decked out in black uniforms
and helmets. A makeshift construction wall became a boxed-in structure, which grew until in the last picture the place was barely recognizable.

“
Isn
’
t this stuff classified?
”

“
Isn
’
t everything?
”

“
Do you know what went on inside?
”

He moved to stand next to me, looking at the pictures over my shoulder.

“
No,
”
he said.
“
My mother took these, over fifty years ago. She didn
’
t even know.
”

“
Who does?
”

“
The place was locked down. Whatever they were doing in there got wiped out along with them. Maybe no one knows.
”

He left me to go get the rations.

“
Did Dragan say what was going on? Why he needed your help so late at night?
”

“
No, and I didn
’
t ask.
”

“
When we came in, you said no weapons ... you have a scanner, then?
”

“
Of course.
”

“
Did the boy have anything on him?
”

“
The boy?
No, he was just a little kid.
”

“
Do you have the footage?
”

“
Sure, hang on.
”

He parted a bead curtain to expose a small cubby where he had two big glass terrariums stacked. The one on bottom had five big rats in it, sectioned off into separate compartments. The one on top had a grow light shining down onto a little bed of green sprouts.

“
Holy shit,
”
I said, approaching them. One of the rats sat up, putting its feet on the glass while its pink nose sniffed curiously.
“
Where did you get these?
”

“
Trade secret.
”

The others inside squirmed around while the first
tried to sniff my fingertip through the glass. Its feet looked like tiny human hands with a knobby thumb and claws. I
’
d never seen a rodent up close like that. They were cute.

“
Can I hold one?
”

“
No,
”
he said, waving his hand.
“
They
’
re sneaky little fuckers.
”
He came over and pointed to one of the partitions inside the cage where paper scraps had been piled over a little clutch of tiny pink bodies.

“
Street meat?
”
I asked.

He nodded.
“
People pay real money for real meat.
Especially around festival time.
”

“
How do you feed them?
”

He grinned, holding his index finger and thumb very close together and squinting a little.

“
I scrape a tiny bit off the sides of every ration. Then I rewrap them,
”
he said.
“
It adds up.
”

“
What are the plants?
”

“
Soybean hybrid.
They don
’
t need much water and fruit in the small space and shitty soil.
”

“
Still illegal, though.
”

“
Everything
’
s illegal.
”

Rats were disease carriers and even after processing could, in theory, still pass prion sickness on. He
’
d get jail time for raising and selling unscreened meat. The water the plants needed would put him over his allotment easy, so he had to be siphoning it from somewhere in order to grow them. He
’
d lose his business if anyone ever got a look down there.

“
Here you go,
”
he said, lifting a box out from behind them. It was a quarter sheet
’
s worth of government-issue rations, a krill and scalefly mix. He handed it to me, and I took it.

“
Come on,
”
he said.
“
Over here.
”

He gestured for me to come over to his desk, where he tapped the keyboard and brought the system out of
sleep mode. I stood next to him while he accessed something on the screen.

“
Dragan
’
s not coming back, is he?
”
he said.

“
He
’
s alive. I
’
m going to find him.
”

“
Well, good luck.
”

“
I am. I
’
m going to get him back.
”

“
They got to him,
”
Fang said.
“
He
’
s not coming back for those kids.
”

“
He would if he could,
”
I snapped,
“
and when I find him and get this straightened out, he will. You don
’
t know shit about Dragan.
”

“
I know Dragan better than you do.
”

“
He risked his ass for me. He—
”

“
He went into a scrapcake processing plant, inside the rim,
”
he said.
“
When he realized there were still some survivors, he went in even though the order hadn
’
t been given yet. I know all about it. He was doing his job. He didn
’
t even know who you were yet.
”

“
He didn
’
t have to do what he did,
”
I shot back,
“
and he didn
’
t have to take me in after. That wasn
’
t part of his job. If he said he
’
s coming back for them, then he
is,
one way or the other.
”

“
Look,
”
Fang said, putting his hands up,
“
I
’
m not bad-mouthing him. Dragan
’
s a stand-up guy, but they got him. You know what happens next.
”

What happened next was they executed him.
Bars,
and places like Fang
’
s, often streamed executions.

“
So, fine,
”
I said, pushing the thought out of my mind.
“
I
’
m here in his place. I
’
ll get them.
”

“
Well, like I said, good luck.
”
He fiddled with the computer console, and images from his security camera went flicking by. He swept one finger across the screen, and images scrolled past until he spotted what he was looking for.

“
There,
”
he said, pointing.

The camera was aimed at the front door to his shop,
where Dragan stood with a little boy and a little girl. When I saw him, I smiled. He looked like shit, and I could see the blood spattered on his uniform, but the sight of him still made me smile.

Fang tapped at the console, and the image changed, color draining away to leave a sharp contrast
grayscale
. The three figures became ghosts, their bones standing out in faint, blurry black. Dragan
’
s gun was clearly visible, along with the rest of his gear. I could see the twist-key looped around the boy
’
s arm, but other than that, neither the boy nor the girl had anything on at all.

Fang tapped the image of the twistkey.

“
That what you
’
re after?
”

“
Yeah.
”

I was confused, though. Everything pointed to the boy
’
s having carried the weapon over. Maybe there was something behind his back the scanner didn
’
t pick up?

I looked at the girl, straining my eyes. She didn
’
t have anything either, although there was a strange blob of distortion just under her rib cage.

“
What is that?
”
I asked, pointing.

“
I noticed that too,
”
he said, leaning closer.
“
Just a glitch.
”

“
Did you notice anything weird about her?
”

“
Hell, the whole thing was weird,
”
he said.
“
That girl, she was sick, though. I mean, Dragan was freaked out, and the boy was just disconnected, but that girl was like the walking dead. She was sick with something. Dark circles under her eyes. Like you.
”

I stared at the image a moment longer, but I couldn
’
t find anything that looked like it could be a bomb, or a vial or something. There was no weapon, at least none that I could see. Had the kid already ditched it? If he did, that would be it. We
’
d never find it in time.

“
Thanks, Fang.
”

“
Does it help?
”

“
Yeah.
”

The image could be a mistake, or just not clear. I decided the first thing to do was to find the kid. Even if he didn
’
t have the weapon, he had the key, and that meant I could get to Dragan. With a little luck I could even do it far enough ahead of the festival that we
’
d at least be far away from Hangfei if the sky started falling. All we had to do was get to the Pot, which was no more than a half hour away on foot.

“
Come on,
”
Fang said, standing.
“
I need to get back up there before I get looted.
”

“
Okay.
”

Fang headed over and pulled down the stairs again, the steps creaking as he started up. I stopped on the way back to take a picture of his photographs with my phone, then another quick shot of the squirming pink things in the terrarium.

“
Hey, come on,
”
Fang called down.

I hoofed it up the stairs after him.
“
Sorry. I was looking at the rats.
”

“
Say it louder.
”

“
Sorry. You really are the best.
”