Set against the backdrop of the 2020 Covid-19 outbreak, a young woman, Gravely Eaton, is stuck working at the family funeral home with a father she hates. The world is dying around her, but there seems no escape from her boring life with no friend...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Kekoa was conscious but pale and immobile in his wheelchair – seemingly frozen. They'd draped some sort of vest over his torso, and it seemed to be weighing him down greatly. Despite his being hunched over, we made eye contact. There was a confused look on his face and he couldn't talk. Broke my heart.
"Stretch out your foot and touch him," suggested Jessop with an impish grin.
Crim looked away guiltily and Justin continued to stare at his shoes shyly. I had no reason not to reach out and, if possible, I wanted Kekoa to know I was there. So I elevated my free foot, the one Jessop nearly crushed. I stretched my toe until it connected briefly with the Hawaiian's knee. Pop! The resulting electrical charge sent my chair flying backward three feet. My hair flew up as if I'd come in contact with one of those static electricity balls you see demonstrated at science fairs. I was stunned for a second, but not hurt.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
My getting shocked tickled Jessop, so he laughed. Big surprise. He waved for Justin to wheel me back into the fold, then he started to brag about the thing Velcroed to Kekoa. It was another inventive product dreamed up by the eggheads in Jessop's research and development section. A hundred times more potent than a police taser, the electrical field generated by the bib inhibited a graver's ability to move. Once you got it onto a graver, which was the big trick, you could control the device by remote control. The less juice you dialed up, the more mobility the subject had. At lower voltage, when the graver needed a little encouragement to follow orders, the handler used an uber-powerful cattle prod as a persuader. Don't ask me to explain any more than that. All I knew was, the three-hundred-pound Hawaiian was frozen in place, weak as a kitten.
Seeing him like that was crushing. Like when you watch a religious movie at Christmas time and see Christ in the throws of carrying his own crucifixion cross.
"How did you find him?" I asked.
Jessop turned to Justin. "Tell her. After all, you were there," instructed the Nazi.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
