Machine Man - Max Barry [71]
“You have blood on your chin,” said Lola.
I wiped it with my sleeve. There was a lot. Most seemed to be from my biceps. Where I had been shot. Where I had been shot. I knew this already but felt shocked all over again. I shivered. I was cold and hot and dizzy. “I think I’m going into shock,” I said. I didn’t know the technical definition but this felt like it.
Lola walked a few feet away and sat on the grass. She seemed to be watching her shoes.
I put my arms around myself and squeezed. I wondered who lived in that house now. Maybe if I knocked on the door they would invite me in for chocolate milk and let me watch TV.
“You’re selfish,” said Lola.
I looked at her. That seemed unfair.
“I didn’t think the idea was to be better than everyone else. I didn’t think this was competitive.”
I wondered what would happen to the Contours if I fainted. They would probably just stand here, with me slumped over.
“Is it about getting revenge on jocks who were mean to you in high school? Is that what you’re doing?”
I squinted. It seemed odd that Lola could have such a wrong idea about me. She didn’t seem to understand me as well as the Contours did.
“We are supposed to help people,” Lola told her shoes.
The tetrodotoxin had definitely worn off. I decided to argue. It would be my first fight with a girl since elementary school.
“I’m a prosthetist,” said Lola. “I give parts to people.”
“Just say you love Carl.”
Her head turned toward me. In the dusk, her face looked slightly unreal. “What?”
“You love him. Him and his new arms.”
“I love Carl?”
“Sssssuh,” I said, which was going to be the start of something but I forgot what.
“What?”
“Go and marry him, then.”
“Are you crazy?”
“Nung,” I said. My head lolled. I felt dizzy. Something passed overhead; a bird or spaceship. The world was getting heavy. It was darkening at the edges. I tried to calculate the chemical reactions of everything sloshing around in my veins, the adrenaline and beta blockers and analgesics, but the equations slipped away and merged with one another. What did you get if you dissolved one chemical equation in another? It was a good question.
Charlie, said Lola. I peered at her because her lips were moving but making no sound. Then I realized they were but I was listening to the wrong frequency, in my head. I was lolled back in the Contours, looking at sky. Lola was trying to keep me upright. “Charlie!”
“What,” I said.
“We need to get you to a hospital.” She looked around. “Shit. Not a hospital. They’ll find us.”
“Who.”
“The … Better Future. The people who will kill us to cover up their illegal human trials of artificial body parts. Remember?”
“I need … to sit … down.”
“You are sitting down.”
I looked at the Contours. That was right.
“Charlie. Stay with me.”
Somewhere, a dog barked. Strands of Lola’s brown hair floated on the breeze.
“I know somewhere. A friend from the hospital. She lives near here.”
“A friend?”
“Yeah. Charlie. Charlie.”
“What?”
“You need to walk a little farther.”
I looked at her. I guessed our fight was over. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay.”
WE CLIMBED steps to a neat suburban house and stood on its darkened porch. Lola raised her hand to ring the bell, then hesitated. “One thing. Don’t criticize her dogs.”
“Why would I criticize her dogs?”
“I’m not saying you would. Just don’t.”
The logical inconsistency temporarily overwhelmed my pain and exhaustion. I was that kind of guy. “You must feel I would. Otherwise why mention it?”
“Forget it.”
“Is something wrong with her dogs?”
“No, but she loves them, and if you say something, it will be awkward.”
“Okay.” Pain rising. “I won’t mention the dogs.”
“Do mention them. Just say nice things.”
“I’ll say she has very attractive dogs.”
“Don’t say that! That sounds creepy.”
“What should I say? Lola! Tell me what to say!”
She rang the doorbell. “Say you like their outfits.”
The yapping began. Lola had not mentioned