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THE DOOR FLIES OPEN, and Mallon barges into the roo the light beneath it The coht and dark shadows stopsHe doesn&039;t look atto do todown on the chair; then he puts the lamp on the floor in the corner of the room

What&039;s that smell? Christ, it&039;s beautiful Smells like hot food some kind of soup, I think But it can&039;t be, can it? Can you iine a s on me? Mallon turns around and moves closer He&039;s left a tray on the chair There&039;s a bowl on it with stea up, and next to it is a plastic bottle full of water My storowl and churn

"Youthe roo with the words on the very tip ofat the last second what he is and what his kind have done to people like "

He leans over et to him Maybe this tis hurt too much, and I quickly drop back down Bastard doesn&039;t even flinch He knows I&039; anywhere

"You s his head "You&039;re in a bad way, big man! Lost, all alone, chained up, and soaked with piss!"

I can&039;t help trying to lunge forward again, but the pain&039;s intense, and this time I hardly move He looks me in the eye and raises his hand I screw my eyes shut and tense up, ready for hi on the wide strap across htly, then steps back I still can&039;t lift ot some side-to-side movement now The freedom is bliss

Mallon picks up the tray and sits down on the chair opposite He sniffs the soup or stehatever it is, then takes a spoonful and holds it up to his lips He stops just before he eats it

"You want some of this?"

Fucker kno ain, and I have to resist I won&039;t give him the satisfaction of a response Won&039;t lower myself to speak to him I watch his every move as he blows steam away, then takes a mouthful He closes his eyes and shakes his head with pleasure, deliberately overdoing it for effect

"Oh, that&039;s good You know, Danny, it&039;s getting harder and harder to find food like this these days I&039; tiood as this soup"

He eats more I want him to stop Please don&039;t eat it all

"It&039;s chicken, you know It&039;s out of a can, of course, but man, you can still taste the meat I don&039;t even know if it really is meat, but oh, this is damn fine soup"

He puts down the spoon and opens the bottle of water My ue feels ten ti for asps with overstated pleasure when he&039;s done My eyes are fixed on hiets up and carries the tray over I stare at the stea froine what it tastes like Can&039;t remember the last time I ate hot food

"You can have this," he tellsup and doithI feel the heat from the soup on my body "You can have all this andYou knohat that is?"

I don&039;t react Don&039;t know and I don&039;t want to know I don&039;t have anything this sick fucker could want But if there is soht about that er I act du enough, he&039;ll have to tellHe clears his throat to speak again Predictable bastard

"All you have to do, Danny," he says, leaning closer, "is talk to me We don&039;t even have to have a proper conversation You can just tell me to fuck off if you like All I want is to hear your voice I just want you to respond to me"

I won&039;t do it I&039;d rather starve He waits, looking at , fucker

And he does

"Seee tofor a couple of ry and thirsty can&039;t bring theet what they need so badly No one else is going to know about it, Danny No one&039;s watching"

Stay focused I look up at the ceiling and count the cracks

"You really are strange, strange people If I had the time and inclination to wait and watch, I think you really would rather lie there until you die than drop your guard Crazy behavior"

He leans over me until his face is all I can see I start to tense ently pushesI can do I make eye contact and refuse to break it I&039;ll kill hiet out of here I&039;ll rip his damn body apart, shs He shakes his head with feigned disappointment, then picks up the tray and puts it back on the chair I stare at the bottle of water, still three-quarters full, and watch the few last wisps of stea up from the soup He stands in the open doorith the lamp

"All you have to do is talk to "

Another pause; then he shakes his head again and leaves He slaed back into total darkness

iv

THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THE Hate were vast and incalculable While the i population-those ree-its effects reached much, much further

The very nature of the division that had unequally split the hue to every area of life where two people or ether Basic services had faltered and collapsed within a matter of days There then followed a frantic, barely coordinated period of reprioritization as the reed resources were diverted to the maintenance of vital services and defense Within weeks, however, even the most basic of public services had either fallen apart or been brought to its knees A government of sorts (with a civilian mouthpiece but under military control) continued to try to coordinate what remained of the country&039;s infrastructure City and district councils either were dissolved or collapsed All schools were closed The hospitals and the health service couldn&039;t cope What was left of the police force and fire brigade were absorbed into the e ees in hopelessly unprepared locations also presented a constant string of enoristical and practical problems

The lack of food, shelter, and adequate as, and electricity supplies failed with astonishing speed as power stations, pumps, and pipelines were abandoned, destroyed, or disabled With every single person without exception being dragged into the war, those installations and facilities that reest were frequently those that could function uned masses to city center camps simply concentrated and exacerbated the problems faced by the authorities Extremely limited utility supplies werediverted to the military as priority Fuck the civilians, there&039;s a war to be won

Without adequate supplies of clean water and basic rounds for disease Previously easily curable ailments rapidly became killers, and small outbreaks and infestations quickly became epidemics Most bodies were collected and burned, but scores of others inevitably remained undetected The almost total lack of sanitation compounded the problem dramatically