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"Anyway, after a while he started to calm down He sat down in my seat like he owned the place and watched my TV Even helped hie He stayed there for hours, and I stayed shut in the closet, just like you&039;re stuck in here now Except you don&039;t have to look at the battered bodies of the people you loved most in the world, do you?"
A trace of bitterness has crept into his voice, but I still don&039;t react I&039; to go on
"Eventually he just got up and left Didn&039;t even look around the rest of the house He just upped and went, and I didn&039;t have the balls to stop hiht back I wanted to stay there with my family, but I couldn&039;t, not when I sahat he&039;d done to theed, they had to die Si hiain
"Like I said," he continues, a littleyou haven&039;t heard before But after it happened I decided your kind wasn&039;t going to get aith it, and I went out looking for revenge Hard to believe when you look atfor trouble Wasn&039;t long before I realized it wasn&039;t working Got myself mixed up in all kinds of nasty business I never killed anyone, but I caine what it was like I latched on to a group of vigilantes A couple of tiot really bad, and you knohy? Because people thought ere like you! They saw us trying to take a stand and fight back, and they thought ere the Haters! And then after a couple of weeks I stopped and took a step back froht There was hardly any difference between us and people like you And I thought about the irls and how he cried, and I understood He didn&039;t want to kill theets up fro sure he stays well out of my limited reach He stands on tiptoes and looks down
"And that leads rins "Pay attention, Danny, you need to listen carefully to this! You see, when I stopped trying to fight, life started to get better again That ht sound like bullshit to you, but it&039;s true I was already resigned to the fact that things were never going to be easy again and that nothing I could do would bring Jess and Keisha back, but I realized that revenge wasn&039;t the answer You can&039;t fight fire with fire, you knohat I&039;?"
He th of the short room
"Then I found the people here, people who&039;d all reached the same conclusion as me And I realized that it doesn&039;t matter what made any of this happen, all that&039;s i a stop to it before it&039;s too late So that&039;s e&039;re doing We&039;re trying to end the cycle I think of us like a firebreak, you knohat I , they sometimes burn a strip of land farther ahead Then, when the fire finally reaches it, there&039;s nothing left to burn and it dies out We&039;re like that We&039;ve all done our share of fighting Our battles have been fought So when people like you reach us with your hate, there&039;s nothing left to burn We&039;re putting the fire out Stopping things froain and stares straight at ? Does he actually believe any of the crap he&039;s just been spouting? I look back into his dark brown eyes, and all I can think is that I want him dead like I&039;ve wanted all the rest of theht difference here All the others I&039;ve killed looked back atdifferent about him Is there any truth in any of what he&039;s just said, or is it total bullshit? Is he just preying on oes in for the kill? He&039;s probably trying to catch uard As soon as I lower my defenses, he&039;ll attack
He starts speaking again
"Doesn&039;t matter who you are or what side you&039;re on, everybody is conditioned to react to the hate in the same way It&039;s all about self-preservation at the expense of everyone and everything else Everybody fights Everybody wants to survive That&039;s why everything fell apart so quickly-at the first sign of trouble we all turned on each other to protect ourselves And despite all the noise and bullshit that was thrown around at the start, do you knohich side orst of all?"
Instinctively I shake my head, still held down by the wide strap
"We were," he says, answering his own question "And we still are Did you see anything of theout loud! We spend years educating generation after generation about the Holocaust and hoe can&039;t ever let it happen again Then, when it suits us and we&039;re the ones facing the threat, we forget everything we&039;ve always believed in and resort to genocide Thousands upon thousands of htered I tell you, Danny, it makes me feel ashamed to be human"
Christ, could there actually be so? Don&039;t be stupid, I tell ed In the sudden silence I try to concentrate on the dripping water in the corner again, doing all I can not to let ames
"Question for you," he suddenly announces "What&039;s going to happen if we just let things run their course?"
He waits expectantly for an answer, knowing full well I won&039;t give him one More to the point, I can&039;t The future is so I&039;ve only dared to think about in my quietest, darkest moments Until recently the virtually constant adrenaline rush of fight after fight after fight has been enough of a distraction Surviving today has beenabout tomorrow
"What happens if we don&039;t break the cycle? Where&039;s this all going to end? If I trusted you enough to take off your chains and let you walk outside, all you&039;d see would be rubble and ruin We&039;re not safe here-no one is anymore-but we&039;re in a better position thanapart, but the people here are getting stronger We&039;ve been sifting through the debris looking for people like you, Danny, to rehabilitate We&039;re going to for"
He gets up quickly, as if he&039;s just remembered he&039;s supposed to be somewhere else He moves closer to the bed as he pushes the chair back, and his sudden proximity makes me react I quickly reach out for him with my left hand, but the chain snaps my wrist back when it reaches full stretch Mallon doesn&039;t flinch, but I can see hi me over his shoulder He did that on purpose to see if I&039;d bite I watch him intently as he ression I&039;ve been forgetting ht bring you some more food and water in a while Until then, just try to relax Build your strength up You&039;ll need it later"
What the hell did he ain and replaces the board over theThe impenetrable blackness returns Can&039;t stand it like this Don&039;t leave ain, please He stands in the doorway, looking atfor a reaction He starts to close the door
"Wait-" I say, surprising myself with the sound of my own voice, but it&039;s too late The door&039;s shut and Mallon&039;s gone and all I can hear is the dripping in the corner