Read Online Genesis by Michael McCarthy - Free Book Online Page B

does it do?”
    “At this point, probably nothing.” Cooper
turns to William and mocks him. “But one can have faith.”
    “And second?” Isla asked.
    “After that, I am to use my best
discretion. I can either lock myself into my safe room in the attic, or I can
resolve the situation myself.”
    “Resolve the situation?”
    “I think we sort of left that part vague
for a reason,” Cooper replied, just as a clock began to chime in another room. “There
you have it. Time waits for no man. Honey, you can head upstairs. There’s some
champagne on ice, and we can start the party as soon as I get there. I just
need to wrap a few things up down here with our guest.”
    Ilsa got up and started to leave the room,
pausing briefly in front of William, then turned to Cooper and asked, “You’re
not going to hurt him, are you?”
    “No,” Cooper replied. “I won’t hurt him.”
    Ilsa left the room without looking back. Cooper
turned his attention to William, pulling a small syringe out of a case on the
table. “Don’t worry, asshole; this won’t kill you. I’ve got a party to go to
upstairs, and you’re not invited. Can’t have you messing about down here while
I’m messing about up there.” Cooper stuck the needle into William’s neck, and
the fog began to deliver him into darkness once more.
    The rain did not last long, but that was fine with
Che. The cool drops of rain falling on his naked body had felt amazing for the
first few minutes as it cleaned the filth from his skin, but once wet, his lean,
muscular body quickly became chilled. The light wind that was blowing dried
him, but the night had been left cool by the passing thunderstorm, and the
chill from the wind only made it more so. But still, even being cold, Che was
thankful for the wind more than anything.
    The wind was absolutely critical in hunting
the walkers and runners, and if Che had to name the single most common deficit
amongst the fighters in the Resistance who repeatedly fell short of their full
potential on hunts, it would have to be their ignorance of the many ways that
the wind can hinder or help them in their hunting sessions.
    Perfectly calm outdoor air is actually a
quite rare occurrence, and scents drift, linger, and flow with the winds.
Sometimes they prevail in one direction, and other times they ebb and flow like
the tide, with complicated currents based on the geography of the area.
    Che believed that no matter whether these
things turned out to be alive, dead, or something in between, no matter how
sensitive a nose he was dealing with, it would be physically impossible to
smell any free floating scent or odor upwind of its source. Regardless, even
though he was freshly cleaned from the cool spring shower, Che stopped at a mud
hole and began to liberally apply mud and grime to his body. He rubbed the wet
dirt and mud onto his skin until it covered him completely, until once again he
smelled like the depths of the Earth he had just emerged from.
    If all was going according to plan, then
someone would have laid a trail of blood and body parts from the town leading
up to the mountain for those things to follow, but the rain had most likely
washed away any chance of those things being able to follow the blood trail up
the mountain, so he would need to get closer to town if he wanted to find one
soon. Che started heading down the trail in the direction he knew they would be
coming from and figured it would only be a matter of time before he ran into
one. The wind was favorable to his intended direction, and he was making good
time.
    Not that anyone was out and about, but if
someone had been, they would have seen a very filthy yet agile naked man moving
at a remarkable speed for how silent he was being. That is, if they could have
seen him at all.
    The moon was hiding behind a layer of
clouds now, diffusing the light and giving the mountainside an almost a
dreamlike appearance, softening somewhat the harsh reality of the situation Che
was