3.76 Close As Enemies

         In the safety of the salon, Josh lit the bowl of his makeshift pipe and sucked back some very lame Soloha, pondering his future. Reality was hard, he felt like giving up. There were lots of things he didn't know, the truth was he knew nothing about the mysterious Breeding programs, or the lab on Gorias, or the red folders that Malodon kept, full of data he wasn't privy to. He had never even asked. Adon knew more than he was letting on, too, he knew that now, it aroused difficult questions, some he dared not ask. Adon knew about the epidemic... Did he really not know about the Soloha? Was the epidemic done on purpose to make way for the New Nefilim Race? Was the bomb supposed to annihilate them all? Were they still in danger?

         "Naaah!" Adon assured. "Whatever happened to Atlan was an accident, you don't need to get paranoid about the gods hunting us down. They would never have done all that re-modeling if they were planning to demolish the entire Underworld."

         "Did you have unlimited access to the Gora Lab?"

         "Not entirely" Adon replied.

         "What's up with those red folders?"

         "They're just statistics... Personal Data for reference, mostly. Malodon explained them to me once but I couldn't read the code."

         "It seems there's a lot of codes and secrets we didn't know about" Josh remarked. "Do you think those things Dena disclosed about the Goldens is true?"

         "I doubt it" Adon replied. "Trauma is emotional, crystalized pineals are physical."

         "Do you think it could be why Malodon was breeding us in artificial wombs? What if we can only breed Soloha Serpents in a Lab?"

          "Sounds like a good explanation to me." Adon didn't want to know what the truth was. "Look, I never had access to that kind of information, nor do I care. I want to know who was behind the Soloha."

         "Why?" Josh wondered why he was concerned with something that really didn't matter anymore.

         "I was being framed for theft" he explained. "If it came from someone here I want to know who" he replied. "Was it really Seton who gave you the drugs? Would he really do something like that?"

         "He poisoned an entire island!" Josh reminded. "I know for a fact it wasn't just Seton. Halki was selling it in the Skin Club. Halki and Torus had something going on, just ask Dena."

         "Hmmm... Maybe Bell was involved, too?"

         "Maybe! Bell was framing me!" Now Josh was worried. "We shouldn't have let him in!"

         "Well, one thing's for sure" Adon replied. "This meat thing is keeping him on our side. I'm sure Medel just did this to teach us all a lesson. I'm sure He will make things get better again, you'll see."

         "Sure... Maybe you're right, Maybe it was Medel who did this to teach us a lesson. I'm just finding it hard to believe."

         "Why?"

         "Medel is spiritual, this is physical."

         The smell of the cooking flesh became the subject of secret conversations, rumors and lies, all of which up until now had been anomalies in Anur. The topic was so sensitive, no one dared voice out loud what sick menu items could have manifested inside the walls of the Funeral Salon. Neter sat beside Mina on the bench of the lookout as the funeral pyre's latest coals smoldered, watching the smoke rise from the chimney below, it couldn't be missed, even by those who didn't want to see.

         "I really don't like the smell of the deer they're cooking." His words were shockingly familiar, Mina had heard this hideous confession already, the concerns about the cooking smells had been privately aired for some time, she was relieved he had finally brought it up.

         "I don't know what to do" she replied. "They need to stop their hunting activities, but I can't just ask them to leave, both options raise a potentially dangerous situation for my tribe." She had obviously given it some thought.

         Neter followed her gaze towards the barren and charred wilderness beyond, he knew what she was thinking, he understood the backlash could be heavy, the last thing they needed was hungry, bloodthirsty enemies threatening their lives.

         "Sometimes it's better to keep your enemies close" he advised. "It may be wisest to let them be. Perhaps they'll get tired of the charade and leave on their own."