Infected

YIKES

Yikes? The word stuck in Perry’s head. Yikes. They used the word yikes. And they had shouted it along with kill. Why were they suddenly talking so funny? The monotone was gone-there was actual inflection in the words. The speech had taken on a slower, dreamier quality, to the point where the Starting Five talked almost with a drawl.

But the important thing wasn’t the new speech, it was their paranoid fear of cops. Was this some kind of instinctive memory? How could it be that they didn’t know why they were in his body, but they knew enough to fear the police? Were they just plain lying to him? What did they have to gain by being honest about anything? But he’d felt their fear of the police. Or maybe…maybe it wasn’t police at all. Maybe it was men in uniforms.

Perry realized that when he thought of cops or police, his initial mental image was that of a Michigan state trooper. Those guys were always fairly big, with immaculate uniforms, robotic politeness and a very prominent gun.

This was probably the picture the Triangles read, because it was the first thing he thought of when he heard the word cop. And his mental image of the state troopers-with their perfect uniforms and attitudes and guns-wasn’t really that of a cop as much as it was that of…

Of…

A soldier.

Were the Triangles afraid of soldiers? Two possibilities flashed through Perry’s mind. Either the Triangles knew what soldiers were by experience or instinct, or they had a broader knowledge of the world around them than they let on. Somehow they knew things that Perry didn’t.

A brief flicker of hope flared up in his chest. The Triangles feared soldiers. Was there some group that knew of the Triangles? If so, did it mean that Perry wasn’t the only one suffering through this horror?

“Why do you think they’re coming to get you?”

Pause.

Lumpy sound. they WANT to kill us kill Kill KILL

“How do you know that? How can you when you don’t even know where you come from?”

A double pause. talking to friends

Friends. Were there other Triangles? Were there other people infected with these things? Maybe he wasn’t the only one-maybe this was bigger than just him.

“What do these friends say?”

Only a short pause this time. hungry feed us

“Your friends are hungry too?” hungry feed us feed

Feed FEED

“Oh, you’re hungry?” feed Feed FEED

Feed feed

“Forget about the food,” Perry said insistently. “Tell me about your friends. Where are they?”