[Day 339] Eugenia part 19

Read part 18 here!

Having followed Decklan home on the first day I’d seen him, I made my way there immediately after the radio broadcast. I gave Julie strict instructions not to leave the house, not even to go sit in the hammock.

He wasn’t home yet, which I ascertained by climbing a tree and checking the rooms of his third floor apartment.

I stayed in the tree for another few hours, waiting, before I heard a familiar voice. Looking down, I saw a young man with thick blonde hair fuming into a cell phone.

“I told you, it needs to be broadcast every three hours for the rest of the weekend. It’s not like the highway story is all that interesting, anyways. People need to hear this…”

Certain realizations hit me so fast that I lost my balance and fell out of the tree at the feet of the stranger. He stared at me incredulously and said goodbye to the person at the other end.

“Er… don’t I know you?” I asked, trying to cover up my strange behavior by acting like a fangirl.

Jon Banister stared at me, cursed, looked around frantically, and grabbed my arm. “Did Decklan tell you to come here?” he whispered. I shook my head furiously, suddenly afraid. Jon cursed again and led me into the building.

Still holding onto my wrist, the radio newscaster led me up the stairs to the apartment he apparently shared with my confidante and hurriedly unlocked the door, throwing me inside.

“What are you doing here?” He growled, running about the apartment shutting the shades and turning on lights. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s too dangerous.”

“I want to know what’s going on. So an asshole politician wants me dead. Big deal. I’ve dealt with that before. If anything, that interview was a good thing. Now I know that I have 30 other people I need to find.”

Jon shook his head. “You don’t understand. It isn’t that simple. This guy knows more than just who you are.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Meg, he knows about everything.”

“But-”

“No, Meg, everything. He knows about the second test. Hell, he probably knows about the third one too. He knows what’s going on, and he’s completely ok with it. The man is a psychopath, a charismatic psychopath, and he’ll stop at nothing to see you murdered in the middle of a crowd of people. And the worst part is, people will hail him as a hero. People love him. Your testimony will do nothing.”

He threw himself down onto the couch and groaned. I stood in the entrance area, unsure of what to do. This was more than I expected.

Finally, after several minutes of silence, Jon looked up at me. “You hungry?”

Continued in part 20!