Page 10

After an unknown period of time, Amy Eden, AKA “Amity,” glided over in her usual Pilgrim themed outfit.

She gently knelt down in front of him with her characteristic grace.

Amy was one of the few members of the team that Oz had no issues with.

She was kind, capable, humble and always impeccably clean.

There was an air of quiet competence around the woman, and when she was nearby, it felt like your mother was tucking you in at night.

Or so Oz assumed, anyway, since his own childhood hadn’t exactly been idyllic.

He got the sense that hers hadn’t either though. There was something almost sad about the woman; a look in her eyes that Oz recognized all too well.

“Oz, honey, how are you doing?” Her voice was soft and filled with genuine concern. “Sydney says you haven’t said anything in two hours.”

It hadn’t been two hours since the “bear” story, had it?

She leaned her head down so that she blocked the red curl in Oz’s hand, trying to get him to look at her.

“You can’t keep things bottled up, Oz honey.

Okay?” The woman was gentle and warm. She had no business hanging out with the rest of his coworkers, who were all degenerate perverts and/or shiftless layabouts.

The only people in the organization Oz had any respect for were Miss Quentin, Amy, Mack, Ceann, and Lexington.

The rest of them were just deadweight and stymied every effort to achieve something worthwhile.

It was like asking drunken sea monkeys to research String Theory .

“I got no clue what his problem is. He’s broken or something.” Poacher shrugged, as if at a loss over why someone wouldn’t want to talk to him for hours about hypothetical gruesome bear maulings. “I don’t do ‘feelings’ stuff, so I called over the… you know… the nicest person ever.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet, Sydney.” Amy sounded truly moved for some reason.

“I’m touched that you’d look to me when needing assistance, and so proud that you’re looking after Oz in this difficult time.

” She reached out to gently pat the psycho’s hand in comfort.

“If anyone was ever foolish enough to doubt your true worth, your behavior tonight has surely shown them what an honorable and kind man you are. I am so proud of you.”

Across the hallway, Amy’s twin sister Emily Eden, AKA “Enmity,” made retching sounds.

She was wearing her “winter” costume, which looked very much like the witch hat and skimpy underwear she wore during the warmer months, only it was now a witch hat and shiny red pleather instead of red satin, and the garters connected to her high heeled thigh-high boots , rather than thigh-high stockings .

She also wore a black overcoat to shield herself from the cold, but since she always wore it open, the effect was probably minimal.

In essence, she was now dressed as a pole dancer or flasher, rather than a hooker.

It was a welcomed change. He hated being seen with co-workers who refused to wear clothes, and at least the overcoat covered the girl to some degree.

Life with the Consortium had showed Oz that he needed to celebrate the little victories.

Amy ignored her twin’s sound effects. “Oz, honey, I realize this is a horrible time to ask, but do you know if Multifarious would want to receive last rites or have a clergyman or representative of any particular faith or denomination come in to pray for her? I’m afraid I’m usually in charge of organizing such things, but we never had a chance to discuss her wishes.

To be quite honest, I only just learned that she was a ‘she’ today.

” She paused, like switching to her actual line of interest. “Perhaps you could call your own religious representative at the same time? You could talk to them about what you’re feeling while… ”

“She’s not going to die.” Oz choked out for the hundredth time tonight. “She… she can’t.”

“I’m praying she doesn’t, Oswald. I truly am. But she still should have someone here, honey, just in case. And so should you.” She bit her lower lip. “Someone… someone you can talk to about this.” Amy advised. “Because I’m afraid what will happen if the Lord says it’s her time to…”

“ She’s not going to die! ” Oz bellowed. “ I don’t give a shit what the Lord says! ”

“Hey!” Poacher’s eyes narrowed in sudden fury at Oz. “Unless you wanna tell the Lord that in person tonight, you watch how you fucking talk to… ”

“No, it’s alright.” Amy waved Sydney off, her voice tender and understanding. “Oswald is just upset, that’s all.”

He opened his mouth to apologize, but she simply patted his hand, cutting him off.

“I know.” She smiled in kind reassurance.

“I understand. That was my fault. Please don’t worry about it, even for a second.

” She put her arm around him, and Oz didn’t move away from the contact.

Which even in his current state, he recognized as a bad sign.

Oz hated being touched. Even being close to people caused his stress levels to go through the roof.

The fact he hadn’t moved away from her meant he was having a serious, serious problem with his emotions.

And an out-of-control Oz in such a filthy environment was…

bad. Very, very bad. “No matter what happens in there, I want you to know that there are people here who love you , okay? We’re your family.

We need you in our lives, so you’ve got to take care of yourself.

That’s what she’d want. That’s what we all want.

We need you to hold yourself together and keep being the brave and strong person we’ve all come to know and love, okay?

It’ll be alright. No matter what happens, it’ll all be okay because you’re with your family now.

And so is she.” She gave him a gentle smile. “Do you need a hug?”

“ No .” Poacher shook his head vehemently. “No, he doesn’t need a hug, Aim.”

“Oh, let her hug him if she wants to. His fucking girlfriend splattered all over the pavement.” Emily chimed in as she smashed her fist into the front of the Coke machine repeatedly in an attempt to get it to dispense her cherry flavored beverage. “What harm could it do?”

“You stay outta this!” Poacher yelled. “No one asked you!”

“You asked me over here ‘cause you asked her over here!” Emily pointed at her twin.

“Package deal, asshole! You take the bad with the good, and right now the ‘Bad’ is telling you to let the fucking ‘Good’ hug Oz if she wants. This is very traumatic for her too , you know! You know how upset she gets when…” She slammed her fist into the machine again and screamed several obscenities, which was a rare display of frustration from a woman more commonly seen frustrating others.

“If Amy needs a hug, I will find someone for her to hug. Like a nun… or Harl or a fucking baby lamb or something, I don’t know.” Poacher pointed towards the other side of the room. “But right now, if you could just get the hell out of here, that’d be great.”

Emily flicked him off and started towards the coffee pot.

“ No coffee! ” Poacher bellowed. “It’ll cause the building to collapse!”

Emily spun around to pin him with an incredulous look. “What the fuck does that mean? How can coffee…”

“It just will.” Poacher cut her off. “Oz said.”

“Oh, Oz is out of his goddamned mind.” Emily rolled her eyes and grabbed the entire pot of coffee.

“Frankly, I think he’s one of the craziest people around.

” She drank a long swallow of the liquid directly from the pot, then glanced at Oz.

“No offense. I mean, I know you’re like grieving or whatever right now because you’re crazy and the crazy girl you’re stalking took a header off a rooftop. ”

Amy frowned reproachfully at her twin. “Em, perhaps you can…”

“I know, I know.” Emily rolled her eyes again and started to leave the room.

She finished off the coffee, then absently dropped the empty glass pot into the trash as though it were a disposable cup.

“I’m going.” She paused in the doorway and glanced back at Amy, apparently waiting for her to catch up.

Amy gave Oz’s hand one more reassuring squeeze.

“If you need to talk to someone, I’ll be right here, okay?

Or dear Sydney.” She turned to look at the man in question.

“I’m sure he’ll stay with you through all of this and make sure you don’t need anything.

He’s such a good man, as you’ve undoubtedly noticed. A man who…”

Emily cleared her throat and Amy stopped that thought, hurrying away to catch up with her twin.

And the room fell into silence again.

“What the fuck is this?” Poacher snapped after a moment. “Mull’s out of it for like five seconds and you start putting the moves on poor Amy? I mean Amy!?! ” He pointed a finger at Oz in warning. “You touch her again, and I’ll…”

“I was merely sitting here.” Oz felt compelled to argue, despite feeling dazed and numb. “ She touched me. ”

“Just saying.” Poacher crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in the hospital chair, stretching his legs out in front of him. “If any part of you touches any part of her again, the next people who touch you will be me and then the undertaker. Get me?”

Oz pinched the bridge of his nose, ignoring the fact that he hadn’t washed his hands or changed his gloves, and they were now near his eyes and thus passing all manner of germs directly into his body. It didn’t even matter anymore. “I never should have joined up with you people.”

“Frankly, that confused all of us.” Poacher fished into his breast pocket for some beef jerky, which had probably been made during the Cold War. “What was the deal with that, anyway?”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Story of my life, little buddy. The story of my life.” Poacher chuckled. “Well, for what it’s worth, you’re not the most useless little dipshit we got on the team.”

“Thank you.”