The 40th Day (After the Cure Book 5) by Deirdre Gould Read Free Book Online Page A

ourselves forever, Henry. Something’s going to give. We need them. And we need them now, not six months from now after they’ve come to grips with having to fight. And not duped into sacrificing themselves either, the way Gray wants.”
    “So you think I should tell them, then?”
    “Shit, no,” said Ricky around a cigarette. He knelt between them, laying long lines of brick along the wall of the pit. “What good would that do? That’d destroy whatever innocence they had. Gray was right about that part anyway.”
    “So what do we do?”
    “In a few days they’re going to realize that Father Preston’s miracle power has dried up,” said Amos, “wouldn’t it be best if we told them before they find out the hard way?”
    “Amos, you’re a smart guy,” said Rickey, rocking back onto his heels to rest his back, “but there’s a big difference between being sad that a miracle didn’t work for someone else and finding out you aren’t really, truly special enough to have had a miracle work for yourself. These people feel chosen. Like they have a purpose besides just surviving. Like they were picked out by hand. And you just agreed with them, not a moment ago. You said we needed to protect them. That it was going to be them, and people like them that rebuild the world, while we spend our time scrabbling by. You take that miracle away, you tell them they’ve been tricked, and they’re going to lose that feeling of being special. They’re going to question their purpose. And then they scrabble in the dust like us. We don’t tell them and Father Preston can’t perform, they’ll just think either those other people weren’t special enough or that Father Preston has lost his stuff. Doesn’t change how they feel about themselves.”
    “If we don’t tell them, then they remain under Gray’s thumb. He can use them as he wants, whenever he wants.” Henry scowled and threw another shovel load into the bucket.
    Rickey shook his head. “He’s got more to lose than we do and he knows it. We expose him and they’ll lynch him. He’s going to test the limits, don’t get me wrong, his kind always do. But if we make it clear that we value these people, that we’re making it a priority to protect them, he’ll have to back off. He’s in a bad position and he knows it. He let you find that dart. He was counting on one of us to find it. Because he’s talked you into second-guessing yourself. He’s talked you into feeling guilty for something he did. Well, him and Father Preston, anyway. Can’t fall for it, or you’ll stop pressuring him to treat them better.”
    Amos leaned on his shovel, heavy with worry. Henry thought he’d never seen the other man looking so worn. He tried to blame it on the lack of light in the narrow pit, but he knew it was more than that. “Gray’s got to go,” Amos said, his voice a low whisper, “Not today, not for a little, but he can’t stay. One way or another, he’s got to go. He’ll twist this place otherwise. He’ll turn us against each other, just so he can climb up the heap a little. I can agree to keeping the dart secret, but Gray’s got to be dealt with. And I don’t mean exile. You thought Phil was bad, but this man’s far, far worse. He’ll just keep coming back. We can’t let that happen.”
    Rickey dropped a brick with a thud into the soil and swore. He stubbed out his cigarette. Henry just nodded. He began pulling the basket rope to raise the dirt he’d just dug. Rickey wiped the dirt from the brick and stared at the drying mud where it was meant to go. “How come it’s always us who have to do the shit work?” he said softly. Henry knew he wasn’t talking about digging latrines.
    Amos scraped his shovel over the floor. “So that there are other people in the world who can stay clean. So we aren’t all dragged down into the muck.”

Eight
    It was so fast. He’d expected it to take longer. To be more of a struggle. Something in him rebelled. It should