Paul and Wendy are in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the home of Yuri James that is very impressive for a single man in his twenties. It is very neat and clean inside and Yuri has been a very accommodating host since they arrived.
“He’s crazy,” Yuri says.
Paul laughs, putting up a hand to apologize. He and Wendy are sitting in comfortable chairs in Yuri’s living room and Yuri stands before the large leather couch. It is quiet in the room except their conversation.
“That’s something coming from you,” Paul says when he regains himself.
“I know, right? And he’s not even acting.”
“You sure it was just an act for you?” Paul says and he looks at Yuri with seriousness on his brow.
“I’ve done some fucked up stuff,” Yuri admits, “but it worked. We here, right?”
“What did Dr. Worthington tell you?” Wendy asks.
“Everything you probably already know. His organization does experiments, they made the zombies. They brought Darker back to life. And they are fighting an alien war on the other side of the universe.”
“None of that sounds crazy,” Wendy says. “We were there when they launched their spaceship.”
“And you let them do it!” Yuri’s expression changes to alarm. “If this shit is real, then they just sent a crazy amount of homeless people they turned into monsters into a war.”
“What do you mean, we let them do it?” Paul asks. “You could have been there helping us and maybe you could have stopped it. This woman here is the only reason I’m alive and we will get to the bottom of what all this is, but I won’t have you insulting our efforts. You don’t know what we’ve been through.”
“Calm down,” Wendy says. “What is their plan now? Are they still making monsters?”
“Thank God no, he said they’ve been working for years and they met their goal. He wanted me to add to his army in exchange for a high science connect in the absence of the great Dr. Eakran. He thought I would be easy to persuade.”
“But your act threw him off,” Paul chimes in skeptically.
“You know we’re friends,” Yuri says dismissively, “stop playing like you didn’t see this coming.”
This made Paul chuckle despite himself. He really does like Yuri, he is just frustrated that such a smart and capable man chose a life where prosperity was contingent on the suffering of others. He is here now, Paul thinks to himself. He is helping.
“So what happens now?” Paul asks.
“What do you mean?” Yuri asks.
“What’s next? What are they planning? We have to make sure they’re not spreading anything, endangering even more people.”
Yuri shakes his head.
“Nothing. He said if I was a dead end, that was a sign that using drug dealers wasn’t a fruitful avenue, or not for him anyway. And he said they did what they were supposed to do. He made the army, he was prepared. And he sent your friends as icing on the cake, to make him look good to his bosses. He completed his mission. He said something about studying a guy whose head explodes all the time, but I guess that’s not nonsense either is it?”
“How was he?” Wendy asks. “I mean, did you believe what he was saying to you?”
Yuri shrugs and he has a pained look on his face.
“Not the crazy stuff, but for the most part, yeah. He talked easy, I didn’t torture him or nothing. He wanted me to work with him and he thought he could get that I think, impress me, but it some of it sounded like stories. He said he would review his research on resurrecting humans until he got more orders.”
“Why did Chau kill him?” Wendy asks. Yuri had told them about Chau when they arrived, and he gave her credit for the cleanliness of his place. He broke the news of Worthington’s death very flippantly.
“Because he saw her face,” Yuri says flatly. “She only had me bring him here so she could talk to him directly. It was unsettling to her that he even knew her name. I assumed you knew we were going to kill him.”
“I mean,” Paul says, obviously frustrated but taking it all in stride, “it wasn’t a surprise to hear but are y’all worried about repercussions from his zombie making organization? He was obviously an important man.”
Yuri laughs
“Important to who, old man? I think Chau wants whoever to come out of the woodwork. She’s very curious about the reach of his organization. He was based out of Durham, but that place had ties to something else. You ever heard of the Human Company, or something…”
“The Consortium of Human History,” Paul says and scoots to the edge of his seat. “They have a connection to that place in Durham?”
“That’s it’s! Naw, nothing direct of course. That place in Durham doesn’t even officially exist, you won’t find it on a gps or nothing. But they get large sums of money indirectly from the Human History thing.”
“He told you all of this?” Wendy asks.
“Of course not. I’m a criminal, ma’am, I know other criminals who get paid to tell me this stuff. It’s much more reliable than the horse’s mouth.”
“So the Consortium funds Worthington, they’re behind all of this?” Wendy asks.
“It would seem like it,” Yuri says. “Whether or not they send someone looking for Worthington, we don’t really know. But if they funding stuff like that in secret, who knows what other dark projects they got around the world.”
“It’s so damn big,” Paul says. He shakes his head and he has a look of hopelessness on his face. “How are we supposed to stop it?”
“You fight them like drug organizations fight the police,” Yuri says. “Law enforcement is big and organized, and we seem loose and ineffective, but then you find out about people like Chau who learn to play the game so well that they don’t even have to play anymore. It’s guerilla warfare, and you’ve made a very powerful ally in your efforts. Chau agrees that the Consortium is a problem and she wants to know more.”
“She wants to help us?” Wendy asks. “But if we ever meet her, she’ll have to kill us?”
“You can have a face to face when she trusts you. Paul still stinks like law enforcement. We’re criminals, but we have a code. You can trust us. We’re happy to share info and when we need muscle, we know who to call. We heard about how you burned that place down.”
“Well, you give me a good reason and I’ll be happy to throw my weight around,” Wendy says. “You have to work with Paul, though. I want him to know everything you know about the connection between the Consortium and Worthington, his organization, and any other you all find out about. He’s not police anymore, but he can still work this like he is.”
Yuri nods.
“This is good. I’m happy we’re working together.”
“Don’t double deal us on this,” Paul says and he stands before Yuri. “This is important to me.”
“I won’t waste your time,” Yuri says.
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