To Be A Killer

Chapter 6: I Would

"Mom? Mom." Milo waves his paper in front of my face, snapping me out of my thoughts. I blink, focusing my eyes on his face.

"Huh? What-what is it?"

"I asked 'what do you think?'" He holds out the piece of paper to me, and I take it, my eyes scanning over the building that's drawn on the paper. I recognize this drawing; I saw it yesterday.

"This is the Comansys building we visited," I mutter. "How did you-"

"I had Tony describe it for me." He shrugs, giving me a small, closed lipped smile. "I can only draw so much from what I see in here, plus most people think it's weird if I stare at them for too long, so I can't draw them."

I nod slowly. "Uh-huh. You-you've been drawing a lot lately. How have you not ran out of colored pencils?"

"One of the runners found a pack while out on a run. They were half-way used, but I'm not worried."

"Why's that?"

"Well, since the Ministry gives you guys better stuff if you find information on where Caleb went, we might get something besides food. And I know you found something when you went to that base."

"Really? How's that?" I ask with a sly smile.

"You didn't look like you were going to cry when you got back."

My smile drops. "Oh... right. Um, since you said you don't get to draw people that often, why don't you draw me? I'll stay super still for you if you want."

Milo's eyes brighten. "Okay."

He flips over his paper and grabs what few pencils he has with him. He looks at me, then draws a bit on the paper. He looks up at me again, then back at the paper to draw a bit more. He keeps repeating this process while I stare forward, trying not to think of what Milo said, and failing at doing so.

Am I really like this? Do I really wear my emotions on my sleeves now? I thought I was better at hiding them. I guess being in Abel has broken down my defenses more than I thought.

But, Milo is right about one thing; The Ministry was pleased about our small discovery. That's what Amelia told us anyway. The only problem is, Simpson's Corner Shop is nothing but dust now, and we have no idea where any of the workers there might be. They're probably dead or working with Diana, so while we now have the clue that Comansys may have had some hand in starting the apocalypse, we have nowhere else to go that could prove that.

At least, not yet. We were told the Ministry would talk to some people-whatever that means. I'm not completely sure I want to know-and see if they kind find anymore leads on it.

But we were also told it might take a while-maybe even weeks, and even then there's a possibility these 'people' and 'contacts' might not even find anything.

I'm not all that sure I trust the Ministry. Blame it on the dystopian books I read as a child-the ones with the government always being evil?-yeah, those. They might be to blame, or it might be because the most they've given us is supplies, and while they are appreciated, it's not information in helping us find the missing residents.

Or it might be because they gave us Amelia. I'm really trying to like her, but it's so hard because she's so, so annoying. She's not even evil or anything, just annoying, and nosy.

"And you like to lie and take things, Five. You both have faults. Don't we all?"

I tense at hearing that voice in my head. I don't know why it still frightens me. I've heard her voice ever since she died. I think it's a weird prophetess thing, or maybe it's just because I'm going crazy. I mean, if I'm going crazy, I shouldn't be that crazy, right? I've only heard her voice a few times, really. But it's happening more now as tomorrow approaches.