Left Ned swore soft enough Grandma wouldn’t hear him, but I threw him a mind-your-manners look anyway.
“What kind of cars, Grandma?” I walked over to lead her out of the room, and noticed the blood on my hands.
“White, dear.”
“White?” Right Ned said, surprised.
“Did you call them?” I asked.
“You know I wouldn’t. But White’s Medical, and he’s hurt. We could hand him over.”
So House White must have been tracking the unconscious guy.
“Is he House White?” I asked, wishing I’d kept up with this sort of House information. “Running from House Gray?” Yes, I was the communication hub for House Brown. We tracked where the Houses were taking over land, drone paths, and resource dumps. We also handled seed exchanges; goods bartered; and even kept a books, recipe, and repair exchange. None of those things involved keeping track of the galvanized.
“I don’t think so,” Right Ned said. “I think he’s House Gray.”
I ran through what I knew of House Gray’s and White’s current standing. Didn’t think they were at odds any more than usual. Maybe they were working together to reclaim him? Or maybe House Gray had loaned his services to House White?
I was beginning to think Neds were wrong. This man wasn’t trouble. He was a lot of trouble.
“I’ll go see what they want,” I said. “Neds, get him in bed. Hide the guns and everything else, in case they search. Do not kill him. Understand? That man is not to be killed. If they want him and get surly about it, they’ll get him alive.”
“We should hand him over now,” Left Ned said.
“No.”
I had no love in me for House White. I remember too well what my dad had said about them, how they had turned against their own scientists to sell the youth and other regeneration techniques only to the rich. How Kiana White, head of that House, had used medical advancements as bargaining chips to increase her own wealth, while common citizens were denied medical treatments. There was rumor she had even used medical advancements as biological weapons to secure her place in the House rankings.
In my memories, I still heard Dad waking in the night, screaming from the nightmares of his time among them and the things they had made him do.
Right Ned reached over and took the gun from his right hand. “Understood,” he said. Left Ned cussed, but didn’t fight him about it.
“Grandma,” I said. “You can come along with me, all right?”
“It’s time, isn’t it? Finally time to go?”
I dipped my hands in the water bucket Neds had brought in. “Not far. Just the living room.” I took her gently by the elbow.
“I thought we had somewhere to be,” she said.
“We do. The living room. All you need to do is knit.”
“Aren’t you smart?” she said.
“I like to think so.”
“What about the sheep, dear? We’ll need the sheep.”
“Did you leave them in the kitchen?”
“Did I leave who where?”
Okay, that wasn’t going to work.
I guided her over to the once-proud, now-thread-worn couch.
“You get comfortable right here,” I said. “I’ll get you the sheep.”
