Chapter 50: Where The Road Changes
He added that to the growing list of things Celeste knew but refused to explain. He would not like it if it would extend further. Marek left through the door carrying the replacement bag in one hand and what remained of the original bag in the other.
He left the stranger’s weapon where it had fallen. The metal plate attached to the man’s forearm remained there too.
Marek wanted to examine both, but Celeste’s warning from the alley was enough to make him leave them alone. For once, he listened without testing how serious the warning was.
The injured civilian from the alley had surprisingly returned. He had three other people with him. All four of them stopped when they saw Marek leaving the store.
The injured civilian looked past him toward the alley. "Is he dead?"
"Yes."
The answer came out normally.
The civilian swallowed. "You killed him?"
Marek paused.
Marek thought about whether it mattered that he had not stabbed the man himself. He had still placed the steel in his path knowing the stranger would not be able to stop himself.
But there was no point pretending that made it different.
"Yes," he replied.
Nobody spoke for several seconds. One of the others carried a metal pipe. Another had a Taurus Mark visible along his forearm.
Marek expected at least one of them to become suspicious.
Instead, the injured man lowered his gaze. "He killed two people yesterday."
Marek looked at him. "Where?"
"Near the overpass. Took their food. One tried to run."
"What happened?"
The man pointed farther down the road. "He said something. Then, the guy just kept moving. Ran straight through a barrier and went over the edge. Like he couldn’t stop himself."
Marek thought about the charges in the alley. ’So it wasn’t only him.’
The stranger had been able to force the same rule onto someone else.
’That changes things.’
"What exactly did he say?"
"I don’t know. Same language he was using earlier."
"And the other person?"
"Wouldn’t give him their bag."
Marek understood what happened after that without asking.
The civilian adjusted the cloth around his injured arm and winced. "He wasn’t from here."
"How do you know?"
"People saw him come out near the northern relief route. There’s an underpass there that doesn’t lead where it used to."
Marek looked north. "What does that mean?"
"Past the underpass, the road changes. The buildings aren’t Linden buildings. Different stone, different signs. Nobody knows what’s on the other side."
"And he came from there?"
"Yes."
Marek stared in that direction.
That description could apply to half of Linden now.
"Where exactly?"
The civilian described an underpass near the northern relief route. According to him, several people had already seen unfamiliar structures beyond it after Day 367. The stranger had appeared there carrying equipment nobody recognized before eventually moving south.
Marek got his notebook from his bag and wrote down the location. He did not intend to investigate it, but he took notes. Of course, to him, Mara remained his first priority.
Marek had only been able to get the civilian away from the stranger earlier. Now that they were no longer being attacked, he used part of the torn bag to support the injured arm.
"There’s a stabilization post south of here," Marek said. "I came from there. They can treat the fracture."
One of the others watched him work. "You’re a doctor?"
"No."
"Medic?"
"No."
The man frowned. "Then what are you?"
Marek tightened the improvised sling. "Currently? Just a random dude desperately looking for his sister, I guess."
He took out his phone and showed them Mara’s photograph, with a small hope in his heart that they had probably encountered her at some point. However, of course, he also anticipated the possibility that they wouldn’t be able to recognize her. After all, what were the chances? Well, probably slim to none.
Marek asked again anyway, this time describing the silver-white woman and the group of Gemini bearers she had supposedly taken with her. Even if they had not seen his sister, they must have seen that silver-white woman who took a group of Gemini bearers. But still, he got nothing out of them.
"All right."
He thanked them and put the phone away.
The injured civilian tested the sling carefully before looking at Marek again. "You should get that checked too."
Marek followed his gaze.
A shallow cut ran along the side of his shirt where the stranger’s blade had caught part of the fabric before tearing through the bag. It had barely reached the skin.
"I will." He probably would, eventually.
Marek continued to walk northward.
Behind him, somebody asked whether they should report the body. Another person answered before Marek could decide whether he needed to turn around.
He kept walking.
The replacement bag was worse to carry than the old one. The handles pulled unevenly whenever the water bottles shifted, and he had to move the notebook twice before it stopped pressing against his side.
The problem was ordinary enough that Marek almost appreciated it. Compared to what was happening on Earth at the moment, the problem seemed very trivial.
His thoughts returned to that dead stranger.
’I thought killing someone would feel different. For now, maybe it hasn’t sunk inside me yet. Maybe it would hit me later. Or perhaps not at all.’
Shaking his head, he shook off these disturbing thoughts. Killing was something he did not expect would be part of his life, but there were more important matters to attend to.
Again, he still had his sister and mother to find. He could not stop even if it meant ending other people’s lives. He already lost one family. He could not afford to lose another.
He had twelve packets of noodles in his bag, along with several medical supplies. He also had the photographs containing the same black fracture and in his mind another reason to question why Celeste could still speak to him from across Linden, disregarding the concept of distance.
Marek adjusted the bag and continued toward the northern route.
The pressure behind his ear followed him.