Page 72
Story: Our Last Echoes
Dr. Kapoor looked baffled. “Don’t be absurd. Of course I’m not—no.” Outside, a car door slammed. She glanced behind her, then fixed me with that intense glare. “You should leave here. It was a mistake letting you come. I thought... But it was a mistake.”
I stepped toward her. “I need to know what happened. What’s happening here.”
“No, you do not, Ms. Novak,” Dr. Kapoor said. She knew whoI was. She’d known all along. “Trust me. Those answers aren’t worth the price that comes with them.”
“What price? What is this place? What are thosethings? The girl who looks like me, is she—”
Dr. Kapoor made a harsh, almost amused sound in the back of her throat. Her voice was pitiless. “The girl who looks like you. Or is it the other way around?”
VIDEO EVIDENCE
Recorded by Joy Novak
AUGUST 14, 2003, TIME UNKNOWN
The second Sophia stands trembling in the mist, her arms wrapped around herself. Novak makes a sound, not quite a word, a soft “ah” repeated.
HARDCASTLE: Joy, get away from that thing.
SOPHIA: Mama? Who is she?
SOPHIA [2]: Mama, who’s that girl? Why does she look like me? Mama, I’m cold.
NOVAK: Right. Okay. Okay.
She steps forward and lifts the mud-stained Sophia into her arms. She begins walking back toward the bunker, limping heavily.
BAKER: Don’t let that thing in here!
NOVAK: She’s just a child.
HARDCASTLE: That thing that attacked us looked just like Carolyn.
CARREAU: She weighs twelve kilos. I think we can defend ourselves.
HARDCASTLE: No. Joy, think about your daughter.
NOVAK: I am. I am bringing her in out of the cold, where it’s safe.
HARDCASTLE: What—
KAPOOR: She got lost, Will. None of us was with her. She could have— We don’t know which one is real.
BAKER: Oh, shit.
NOVAK: Move out of my way, Will.
BAKER: No. No way. We can’t—
Carreau shoulders past Hardcastle, opening enough of a gap for Novak to squeeze through. She walks gingerly to the other end of the hall and sets the second Sophia down near the wall.
NOVAK: Stay there, sweetie.
She sets the camera down on a chair that has been left in the hallway. She gives it a short, steady look, and adjusts it fractionally so that it is trained on the people in the hall.
CARREAU: Get that door closed.
BAKER: You want to shut it in with us?
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72 (Reading here)
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114