Walk the Plank (4 page)
[Door opens, closes.]
EL-MASRI: Well, at least now we know how he got the Rot. That pack bite would do it.
SPURLEA: And if it didn’t, washing the wound in the stream water did.
EL-MASRI: You can’t blame him for not knowing that the stream is packed with the Rot’s bacteria.
SPURLEA: Believe me, I don’t. His blood work just pinged, by the way.
EL-MASRI: Bad news?
SPURLEA: Don’t make it sound like you
care,
Chen.
EL-MASRI: Just tell me.
SPURLEA: He’s got it in his blood. He’s got about twenty-four hours before the septicemia blows him up from the inside.
EL-MASRI: We don’t have enough painkillers for you to let him ride out that whole time, Aurel. That’s how we got into this situation with the painkillers in the first place.
SPURLEA: I know.
EL-MASRI: You’re going to take care of this, then.
SPURLEA: When I go back in I’ll give him enough to get him to sleep. I’ll take care of it from there.
EL-MASRI: I’m sorry I have to be like this to you about it.
SPURLEA: I understand, Chen. I do. I’m just certain that when I die and meet Hippocrates, he’s going to be sorely disappointed in me.
EL-MASRI: He’s going to die anyway, and painfully. You wouldn’t be doing him any favors.
SPURLEA: I’m going to change the subject by saying, Look, here comes Magda.
GANAS: The easterly team found the containers with the crew from the
Erie Morningstar
.
EL-MASRI: What’s the report?
GANAS: Everyone’s dead. Death at impact at one site. Death by the pack, it looks like, at the other. They’re less than a klick apart, with the death-by-impact site being the most northerly one. The team took pictures, so if you want to have nightmares tonight, you can look.
EL-MASRI: No other containers?
GANAS: If they’re there, they haven’t found them yet.
EL-MASRI: Have them keep looking. Give all the other search teams the coordinates and fan out from there.
GANAS: How is Malik?
SPURLEA: The Rot’s in his blood.
GANAS: Jesus.
SPURLEA: Just another perfect day here in New Seattle.
EL-MASRI: Look at it this way. It’s unlikely to get much worse.
GANAS: Don’t jinx it.
EL-MASRI: Thank you, Aurel, Magda. I’ll let you know when or if we find those supplies.
SPURLEA: Thank you, Chen.
GANAS: There goes a right bastard.
SPURLEA: We knew what he was when we hired him.
GANAS: I know, but it’s painful to be reminded of it so frequently.
SPURLEA: Without him we might be dead already.
GANAS: Which is also painful to be reminded of so frequently.
SPURLEA: Come on. We have to give Malik his painkillers.
GANAS: Did Chen tell you to finish him off after you did?
SPURLEA: He did.
GANAS: Will you?
SPURLEA: I don’t know.
GANAS: You’re a good and decent man, Aurel. You really, truly are. How you ended up on a wildcat colony is beyond me.
SPURLEA: You’re one to talk, Magda. Let’s go in.
GANAS: All right.
SPURLEA: And turn that off. Whatever I do, I don’t want a record of it anywhere but on my conscience.
Also by John Scalzi
Old Man’s War
The Ghost Brigades
The Android’s Dream
The Last Colony
Zoe’s Tale
Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded
Fuzzy Nation
Redshirts
Edited by John Scalzi
Metatropolis
About the Author
JOHN SCALZI is the author of several SF novels including the bestselling
Old Man’s War
and its sequels, and the
New York Times
bestsellers
Fuzzy Nation
and
Redshirts.
He is a winner of science fiction’s John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and he won the Hugo Award for
Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded,
a collection of essays from his wildly popular blog
Whatever
(
whatever.scalzi.com
). He lives in Ohio with his wife and daughter.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
HUMAN DIVISION #2: WALK THE PLANK
Copyright © 2013 by John Scalzi
All rights reserved.
Cover art by John Harris
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY10010
Tor
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
e-ISBN: 978-1-4668-3052-3
The Human Division
John Scalzi’s stirring new novel in the universe of his bestselling
Old Man’s War
New e-episodes will appear every Tuesday from January 15 to April 9, 2013, on all your favorite e-book sites. Don’t miss a single one:
January 15:
The Human Division #1: The B-Team
January 22:
The Human Division #2: Walk the Plank
January 29:
The Human Division #3: We Only Need the Heads
February 5:
The Human Division #4: A Voice in the Wilderness
February 12:
The Human Division #5: Tales from the Clarke
February 19:
The Human Division #6: The Back Channel
February 26:
The Human Division #7: The Dog King
March 5:
The Human Division #8: The Sound of Rebellion
March 12:
The Human Division #9: The Observers
March 19:
The Human Division #10: This Must Be the Place
March 26:
The Human Division #11: A Problem of Proportion
April 2:
The Human Division #12: The Gentle Art of Cracking Heads
April 9:
The Human Division #13: Earth Below, Sky Above
Table of Contents