You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive

Part 7

A few days passed before I next saw Brady. He came to the bar with a young man. They sat in a corner booth, out of the way of everyone else. It was a busy day, we couldn't talk at the bar, and Brady indicated that he wanted to talk when I took their orders. It took twenty minutes, but I was eventually able to sit down with them. "This is William," Brady said indicating to his friend.

"Please, call me Will," he said as I shook his hand. It was a good shake, he seemed trustworthy.

"He works for MediCure," Brady said. My eyes narrowed; perhaps he wasn't as trustworthy as his handshake suggested.

"I've only been there for three weeks. My main duty is to give inoculations to factory workers."

This was dangerous. Brady had brought the enemy into my stronghold. What had he told him? I was furious with Brady. I didn't know what to say.

"Something's not right with these inoculations," Will said, stating the obvious. "I have a degree in bioscience. I'm fully versed in the effects that the radiation caused by the war has on human physiology. With the air filter system fully functional there is no need for these inoculations. And even if there was a need for them, the chemical composition isn't right for the task. I don't know what these inoculations are for, but they're not to combat the ill effects of radiation exposure."

I hadn't expected him to say those words. It was interesting hearing him say this, though. He seemed curious to find out what the real intention of the inoculations was. But that didn't necessarily mean he was on our side. "Why do you give the inoculations if you don't know what they're for?" I asked him.

"Because it's my job," he said blandly. "I took this job to help keep the population healthy. I want to help them."

"By giving them these inoculations you're not helping them," I pointed out.

"I know that now. But what would you have me do?"

Brady shifted in his seat. There was already a tension between Will and myself, and it was making him uncomfortable. I took a long, hard look at Will. He was much slimmer than most of the Harlanites I had seen. It appeared that he didn't gorge himself on the food that was coming out of the slave filled factories, which made him a rarity like Daisy. He claimed to have taken a job to help people, while most people here didn't seem to give a damn about anyone other than themselves. Maybe he was a good guy. Maybe I was reluctant to trust him because he's a Harlanite. Maybe being from Harlan didn't necessarily make you inherently evil. It was worth giving him a shot to prove himself.

It only took me a few seconds to think up a plan. "Stop giving the inoculations to at least one person. Observe what happens to him. We should be able to figure out the purpose of these inoculations if there's any noticeable change in his behavior."

Brady nodded, and Will considered my suggestion for a few seconds. "I'm not sure that will work. They watch me all the time to ensure that everyone gets their shot. I can't just not give them to someone."

"Fake it," I said flatly.

Brady leaned forward. "Placebo... Can you inject someone with air?"

Will nodded. "Well, it's very risky, but it's the best chance we have. I will give it a shot, excuse the pun." Brady smirked. I did not. "The problem is," Will continued, "we don't know what effect this will have on the test subject. This person could get very ill or seriously harmed in some way. There's no way of telling what will happen to him or her."

Brady turned to me. "Do you know if any of your friends would be willing to take that risk to potentially help everybody else?"

Ordinarily I would have volunteered myself. I'd gladly put my life on the line to save the people I love. But of course, I wasn't a candidate for this experiment; I hadn't been in receipt of the inoculations. It couldn't be Jess either, I wasn't going to let him experiment on her if there was any chance of ill-effects. Suddenly a name sprang to mind. "Myles," I said. The arrogant, selfish fool would never volunteer for this kind of job, but it wasn't his choice. It was mine. "He's the kind of guy who'd sacrifice everything for the rest of us. We'd be lost without him." Brady and Will didn't need to know that I was lying about this. If there was a potentially life threatening risk to being taken off the inoculations, I'd rather watch him suffer than anyone else. I cared about everyone else. I hated him.