Dog Blood

it really is meat, but oh, this is damn fine soup.”
    He puts down the spoon and opens the bottle of water. My mouth and throat are dry. My tongue feels ten times its normal size, like it’s too big for my mouth. He takes a huge swig of water, then gasps with overstated pleasure when he’s done. My eyes are fixed on him, and he knows it. My stomach churns again.
    He gets up and carries the tray over. I stare at the steam coming from the soup and watch it disappear into the air, trying to imagine what it tastes like. Can’t remember the last time I ate hot food…
    “You can have this,” he tells me, putting the tray down on my chest. I watch it going up and down with my fast, nervous breathing. I feel the heat from the soup on my body. “You can have all this and more; you just have to do one thing. You know what that is?”
    I don’t react. Don’t know and I don’t want to know. I don’t have anything this sick fucker could want. But if there is something, something I haven’t thought about that matters, then I know he’ll keep pushing. And the longer I act dumb, the harder he’ll have to push. If I stay silent long enough, he’ll have to tell me something to keep this bullshit interrogation moving along. He clears his throat to speak again. Predictable bastard.
    “All you have to do, Danny,” he says, leaning closer, “is talk to me. We don’t even have to have a proper conversation. You can just tell me to fuck off if you like. All I want is to hear your voice. I just want you to respond to me…”
    I won’t do it. I’d rather starve. He waits, looking at me hopefully. Keep waiting, fucker.
    And he does.
    “Seems strange to me,” he eventually whispers after he’s been watching for a couple of minutes, “that someone like you who’s obviously so hungry and thirsty can’t bring themselves to just do one small thing to get what they need so badly. No one else is going to know about it, Danny. No one’s watching…”
    Stay focused. I look up at the ceiling and count the cracks.
    “You really are strange, strange people. If I had the time and inclination to wait and watch, I think you really would rather lie there until you die than drop your guard. Crazy behavior…”
    He leans over me until his face is all I can see. I start to tense my body again, but he gently pushes me back down with one hand, and I know there’s nothing I can do. I make eye contact and refuse to break it. I’ll kill him when I get out of here. I’ll rip his damn body apart, smash his face into the wall…
    Mallon sighs. He shakes his head with feigned disappointment, then picks up the tray and puts it back on the chair. I stare at the bottle of water, still three-quarters full, and watch the few last wisps of steam rising up from the soup. He stands in the open doorway with the lamp.
    “All you have to do is talk to me. Just say something… anything…”
    Another pause; then he shakes his head again and leaves. He slams and locks the door, and the room is plunged back into total darkness.

iv

THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THE Hate were vast and incalculable. While the impact was predominantly felt by the surviving population-those remaining on both sides of the Change-its effects reached much, much further.
    The very nature of the division that had unequally split the human race in two had caused irreparable damage to every area of life where two people or more were expected to work together. Basic services had faltered and collapsed within a matter of days. There then followed a frantic, barely coordinated period of reprioritization as the remaining Unchanged resources were diverted to the maintenance of vital services and defense. Within weeks, however, even the most basic of public services had either fallen apart or been brought to its knees. A government of sorts (with a civilian mouthpiece but under military control) continued to try to coordinate what remained of the country’s infrastructure. City and district councils either were dissolved or collapsed. All schools were closed. The hospitals and the health service couldn’t cope. What was left of the police force and fire brigade were absorbed into the military.
    The concentration of huge masses of refugees in hopelessly unprepared locations also presented a constant string of enormous, virtually insurmountable, logistical and practical problems.
    The lack of food, shelter, and adequate medical care aside, water, gas, and electricity supplies failed with