The Island Read Free Page B

and made him feel like an utter failure. There was no cure for the late stage lung cancer which ravaged her organs and ate her from the inside, but there were treatments which could ease her pain, even if they were only available to those who could afford the vaccine. The idea of it made him angry. His daughter, along with countless others like her, was dying a slow, pollution-related death because they couldn’t afford the price put on it by the rich and powerful pharmaceutical companies. The idea that his daughter could die because they didn’t have the financial means to stop it was almost too much to comprehend. Just affording to live week to week was hard enough, especially with both of them out of work and Ashley having to stay at home full time to look after Elsie. The welfare money only went so far, and with growing rumours that it was to be either cut or abolished in the next year depending on who you happened to ask, the future was bleak. He thought about the lowlifes, the criminals and the drug dealers, the armed robbers and the pimps. He was damn sure they were making money. Not cancer vaccine money, but money none the less. Although it was tempting, he wasn’t prepared to make that step just yet.
    “Will there be angels?”
    He blinked and looked at her, his thoughts evaporating as he came back to the present.
    “What was that?” he asked.
    “Angels. When I die, will there be angels?” She was frowning, and he was struck by how much she looked like Ashley.
    That figurative knife drive itself a little deeper, but somehow he managed to smile. “You’re not going to die, Elsie. I promise.”
    She shook her head. “You shouldn’t do that. Make promises you can’t keep. It’s wrong.”
    “I promise, you won’t die. I’ll do whatever we need to get you that medicine to need.” He kissed her hand, somehow fighting back the tears.
    “It’s alright, Daddy. I know you’re trying your best. You don’t have to lie to me.” There was no blame, no aggression in her voice. Just empathy and understanding that the young and innocent possess.
    “I promise you, I’ll get you the cure you need. Now you get some rest, okay?”
    She nodded and lay back down. He tucked her in, still fighting the urge to cry. “You get some sleep, okay?”
    “Okay,” she repeated. He kissed her on the head and went out of the room. Before he closed the door, he took a last look at her, so small and fragile as she lay on her side, wheezing her breaths in great, wet, laboured motions. He closed the door and returned to his wife, who was watching for him. Without saying a word, he knelt in front of her, put his head in her lap and let the tears come as she stroked his hair.
     
     
                 

 
    A SEED IS SOWN
    NEW YORK CITY
    NOVEMBER 23 rd 2043
     
     
    Days blend into night and back to day, and the only thing that changes is the intensity of the cough and the deterioration of his daughter. Chase is in that place where the things he promised himself he would never do were looking like increasingly appealing options. He had never committed a crime in his life, but the idea of taking from someone who was better off than he was in order to provide at least a shred of hope to his family was starting to feel normal. It was this mind-set that had brought him to a part of the city which he never would have ordinarily visited. Formerly known as Little Italy, the lower Manhattan district had been hit particularly badly by the broken economy, and many of its Italian residents had long since moved on to pastures new. In their place, pop-up markets had been erected along with low-quality stores run by immigrants and those who had a product, however seedy, to sell. Here, the poor didn’t try to hide what they were. Here they thrived in a seedy den of poverty and destitution. Chase walked through the stinking filthy streets, past the scammers and beggars, pushers and panhandlers. He passed garish neon stores selling