And so had Clark.
“Oh no,” said Shawcross from behind her. “What did that silly boy do?”
Annaliese stepped into the room. Clark hung from the light fixtures by several electrical flex cords tied together. He must have pulled them from the room’s computers and made a rudimentary noose. He’d probably hanged himself shortly after she’d left him alone. He’d been there a while.
Damn it! I should have known. I knew he was unstable. This should never have been able to happen.
“I could have prevented this,” she said. “I’m the one that left him alone. It was my mistake.”
Shawcross let out a long sigh that whistled in his nose. “Suicide is a selfish act. There’s no one to blame but Clark. We can’t let it distract us from what needs to be done.”
Annaliese turned and stared at him. “Are you really this much of an asshole or do you have to try?”
“I’m just not willing to waste time worrying about things that can’t be changed. I suggest you do the same and give yourself a break. This wasn’t you fault.”
With that he left the room. Annaliese didn’t know if she wanted to thump the man or thank him. He had a way of dividing her opinion like that.
He’s definitely a total douchebag, but sometimes I don’t know if he’s just trying to do his best; trying to make the tough decisions. Maybe if I acted more like Shawcross, Clark would still be alive.
Mike entered the room then and placed a hand on her back. She flinched at first but then settled down and enjoyed the warmth of his contact.
“I just passed Shawcross in the hall,” he said, staring up at Clark’s swinging body. “I can’t believe it.”
She looked up at the lad’s dead, bulging face and sighed. “I know. It’s not right.”
“Should we cut him down?”
“What’s the point? There’s death everywhere. It would just be a waste of time for us to try and clean up after it.”
Mike rubbed at her back again and pulled her a little closer. “Don’t give up. You’re the only one of us with their head on straight. We’d all be lost without you.”
Annaliese huffed. “Bullshit! All I’ve done since this whole thing started is get people killed. Bradley, Kimberly, Charlotte, Clark. You’d all have been better off in the kitchen where I found you.”
Mike fixed his dark brown eyes on her and gave her a look that sat halfway between pity and sympathy. “Hey, if we were still in that kitchen, we’d all just be waiting to die. I’d rather earn my death than just let it happen.”
“Wouldn’t you rather just give up?”
He scratched at his chin thoughtfully, but kept his gaze on her. “You’re a vet, right?”
“Yeah, so what?”
“You know a lot about animals, so answer me this: what do animals do when humans invade their habitats?”
“They die out. Or end up in zoos like this one.”
“Okay, I’ll give you that some do. But what about all the other animals that don’t die out or end up in zoos?”
“I’m not following,” she said. Mike’s constant gaze was beginning to make her feel hot. She felt her cheeks throbbing and wondered when he was going to look away.
As if sensing her discomfort, he broke his stare momentarily before continuing with the point he was trying to make. “I mean animals like rats, birds, cats, rabbits, even bears. They are all around us, aren’t they? You can’t go anywhere in the city without a pigeon eyeing you up for food. In America, bears and racoons come right out into the streets and raid people’s bins; so do foxes in this country.”
Annaliese cleared her throat irritably. “What’s your point?”
“My point is that animals adapt. When things change for them, they don’t feel sorry for themselves, they just deal with it.”