F Paul Wilson - Sims 05 by Thy Brother's Keeper (v5.0) Read Free Book Online Page B

limit, the most he could ever hope for.
                 After
zigzagging through the narrow streets, Patrick stopped the van by the mouth of
an alley running between a rundown tenement and an abandoned brick building
that might have been a factory once. Pigeons clustered in its broken window
frames, cooing and watching.
                 “Unless
my sense of direction is completely out of whack,” Patrick said, pointing down
the alley, “the McDonald’s is two blocks that-a-way.”
                 “All
right then, Tome,” Zero said. “It’s up to you and me now. Let’s go find Meerm.”
                 The
old sim looked at Patrick and Zero could sense the bond between them. Patrick
nodded. “Go ahead, Tome. You can do it.”
                 “Yes,
Mist Sulliman. Tome try best.”
                 Patrick
rolled down his window and checked the street. “All clear.”
                 Zero
pushed open a rear door and hopped down. As soon as Tome was out he started to
push it closed and found Romy staring at him again.
                 “Be
careful,” she said.
                 Zero
could only nod.
                 He
hurried Tome off the sidewalk and into the narrow alley. As they moved through
the litter and the rubble, their breath steaming in the frigid air, Zero
glanced up and was surprised to see a number of clotheslines stretching above
them; one sported a bra and a very large set of white panties. Apparently the
tenement wasn’t as deserted as it looked.
                 “If
you were Meerm,” Zero said to Tome, keeping his voice low, “and you were in
here and frightened, and looking for a place to hide, which way would you go?”
                 “Tome not Meerm.”
                 “Yes,
but imagine you were.”
                 “What is ’magine?”
                 How
to explain that? Maybe Tome wasn’t capable of imagining. But he’d imagined
starting a sim union, hadn’t he. Imagining a solution to a problem, though,
wasn’t the same as pretending to be someone else.
                 But
if I can do it, why can’t Tome?
                 “We
can talk about imagining later,” Zero told him. “Right now we need to find a
spot where we can see the golden arches over a fence, isn’t that what Beece
said?”
                 “Yes.
Say Meerm in metal door with red write.”
                 A
metal door with red writing…that was their best clue. If they had a big search
party, and unlimited time, and could comb the area openly without fear of being
attacked, Zero had no doubt they’d find Meerm before the morning was out. But with just him and Tome…
                 They
arrived in a small quadrangular courtyard that once must have served as a dump
for the surrounding buildings. No fence, no McDonald’s arches, no metal door with red writing.
                 They
moved on into another alley, misaligned with the one they’d just left. They
were halfway to the next street when Zero noticed a low passage, five feet high
at most, cutting away through the wall of the building to their left. He
stooped and saw daylight at the far end.
                 “Did
Beece mention anything about a tunnel?”
                 Tome
shook his head. “No, Mist Zero.”
                 “Okay,
then.” He was about to turn away when it occurred to him to check it out. They
were here. Foolish not to take a look.
                 “Tome,
we should see what’s on the other end of that tunnel. Since you’re smaller,
you’re elected. Hurry though and take a quick look. If you see anything that
might be what we’re looking for, I’ll follow you.”
                 The
old sim nodded and ducked into the tunnel. Zero watched his silhouette dwindle
toward the far end until he stepped