Inkling

3.10 Things Left to the Dust

8:00 A.M.

For a while they simply went in and out of various warehouses and factories. They were mostly empty. The fifth or sixth one they went into felt weird. Colder than the rest of the world, and infinitely more dusty. The doors had been left wide open on alley side and Lincoln shushed Max as they crept inside. The weirdest thing, though, was that there were thousands of crates inside. It was a massive warehouse with wide aisles between stacks of crates that seemed to be untouched.

"There is no way people wouldn't have looted these already." Max whispered, dragging his pointer finger through the thick dust on one of the crates and promptly sneezing.

Lincoln scowled, "why don't you just stand on one of these stacks and yell 'here I am!'" Max scowled right back, wiping his finger on his trousers. They decided against opening one of the crates, opting instead to walk up and down each aisle one last time before leaving. Lincoln's shoulders sagged a little more with each step and for a moment Max wondered if he would crumble on the spot, just fall straight down and not get up.

"Why did Mr. Wink depart so suddenly, if you don't mind my asking." Max stuck his hands into his pockets and kicked his feet out as he walked. The sky was growing more gray and the air colder. Max shivered, and wondered where he could pick up another coat.

"He has never been one for expressing emotions. We shared a few words and he stalked back over to the casket before shoving off." Lincoln looked down at the ground, considering his words. "We share a mother, you see. Adam and I. He was born out of wedlock back in '64 - three years before myself. Our mother, rest her soul, dropped Adam off on his father's doorstep when he was three days old and promptly found a nice fellow to marry - that being my father."

"It must've been a scandal." Max had heard of much worse things happening to unwanted babies.

"She kept it quiet. 'Sides, this was London down in Whitechapel. Most were more worried about staying alive than who was having whose baby." Lincoln stopped walking. "Still, we lived close enough by and I always knew I had a brother, but she never visited him. Not once. I suspect this is the first time he has ever truly seen her.

"Well shit." Max frowned at the muddy street. "I would've left too."