The Final Rule by Adrienne Wilder Read Free Book Online Page B

said.
    George jerked his chair off the ground and slammed it in an upright position. He sat, keeping his arms folded over his chest.
    “What is it?” Ellis said.
    Russell wiped his eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t think anyone does. But it’s been there for a long time. I just want it out of me. I can hear it, you know. I can hear the things it says.” He leaned forward. “That’s how I know it’s afraid of you. For some reason it couldn’t see you until a week ago.”
    “Why not?”
    “Something hid you. But now it’s gone and it’s afraid.”
    Ellis touched his pocket. The piece of paper crinkled under the fabric. “Why is it afraid of me?”
    “Because you can kill it.”
    “Are you done yet?” George gripped the edge of the table.
    “And how would I do that?” Ellis said.
    “I’m not sure.” Russell sobbed. “I’m sorry, but I just don’t know.”
    His pleading gaze pulled at Ellis. He should hate the man sitting in front of him, but all he could do was pity him. Russell suffered. Why or how, Ellis had no idea, but the man was sick.
    Diseased.
    Ellis reached across the table and put his hand on one of Russell’s clenched fists. His fingers opened and Ellis held it like he would a friend, not a person who tried to kill the man he loved. “If there’s anything I can do to help you I will. I promise.”
    “Thank you. Oh God, thank you.” He grinned, showing the spaces left behind by missing teeth. “I knew you would. I knew, if I could just get you in here, you would. I was so scared I’d end up like Louis and that I—” Russell dropped his gaze to where Ellis held him. His eyes widened and the veins in his neck darkened. He jerked away and promptly vomited a thick black slush onto his lawyer’s white button down. Norris threw himself out of his chair.
    The smell of putrid sulfur and rot filled the room.
    George made a strangled call for the corrections officers and Jon yanked Ellis away from the table. The guards rushed in only to pull back gagging.
    Russell fell out of his chair. The next heave constricted his entire body.
    Fluid seeped from his nose and ears. His eyes bulged and a high-pitched cry gurgled from his throat. He held out a hand to Ellis.
    He took a step and Jon pulled him back.
    Russell expelled spongy chunks along with more of the oily substance. He sat back on his knees and tears made a clean path through the black on his cheeks. The agonizing whistle of air being squeezed from his throat fell into a wheezing laugh. “Thank you.” Russell fell on his side, scissoring his arms and legs. “Oh God, thank you, you—” He opened and closed his mouth
    After a few second Russell quit moving.
    Then he quit breathing.
    ********
    Even after five cups of coffee, Jon still had the smell of rotten eggs in his nose.
    Norris stood in the corner of the office wearing a t-shirt and some uncomfortable looking slacks, courtesy of the prison property room.
    The color had yet to return to the lawyer’s face, and when offered coffee, he’d covered his mouth and shook his head.
    “How much longer do you think it’s going to take?” The vinyl seat of Ellis’s chair squeaked when he moved.
    “I don’t know.” Jon shifted his weight, trying to ease the dull throb in his hip. “Hopefully not long.”
    “Do you think it’s contagious?” It was the first thing Norris had said since he’d come back after being hosed off and wearing the borrowed clothes.
    “What?”
    “Whatever it was Russell has…I mean had.”
    The question had already wandered through Jon’s mind but something deep down told him this wasn’t an illness caused by a virus or bacteria.
    “I doubt it.”
    “But how do we know? What if we already have it? What if—”
    “Mr. Norris, do me a favor and go back to being a wallflower.” He rubbed Ellis’s back. “Do you want another soda?”
    “I’m fine.” He chewed his thumbnail.
    Jon made him stop. “How are you doing?”
    “Okay. I think.”
    He cupped