Morning Is Dead Read Online Free

the rades are public nuisance number one.”
    “I’ve never even heard of them.”
    “You wouldn’t unless you come out at night a lot.”
    “I can’t remember the last time I was out during the day .”
    “The night has a lot more levels than the day. You’ll find out after you’ve been processed.”
    “What the fuck is wrong with you? I don’t need to get processed. I need to get home.”
    “You can forget about that. I’m going to take you back to the station and you’re going to be processed. Processed deeper into the night.”
    Alvin didn’t know if Fuckpants was serious or just trying to scare him. “You’re a fucking halfwit.”
    “Keep it up with that smart mouth. Your list of crimes just keeps gettin’ longer and longer. Wanna know why the rades are considered a nuisance?”
    “Why not.”
    “Let me ask you this, first of all, what did you do at the Point?”
    “I worked in human resources, data entry kind of stuff mostly.”
    “Oh, so you worked in an office ?”
    “Mostly, but I started out in the foundry just like everybody else.”
    “So I guess you think that makes you better than the rest of ‘em? ‘Cause you was able to work your way up?”
    “No, not at all. I’m just… I just wasn’t cut out for the foundry. What does this have to do with anything?”
    “Well, I was just wonderin’ how come you never heard about the rades and now I know; it’s ‘cause you weren’t down there with everybody else. Now, this’s been a recent phenomenon. They say one of the workers was exposed to so much toxic shit he started to turn green and shit and then, get this, he started to develop needles growin’ outta his fingertips. Lost all his hair. Couldn’t wear clothes ‘cause they’d just burn up when they touched that skin. Then his dick fell off. The fucker wasn’t even human no more. Then he started stickin’ those needles into other folks and they started turnin’ into things just like him. Now it ain’t illegal to kill ‘em or nothin’. Fact, it’s encouraged. ‘Cause once you turn into a rade, there ain’t no turnin’ back.”
    Alvin just shook his head. If his hands were not cuffed behind him, he would have closed them over his ears so he didn’t have to listen to Fuckpants anymore.
    “Fine. Don’t believe me.” He reached into the ashtray and fished out his joint. He lit it up again, flaming sparks drifting down to his shirt, and took a deep breath. “Once you get deeper into the night you’re gonna see a whole bunch of shit.”
    Alvin leaned forward and put his head on the dashboard. “Fucking kill me now.”
    “No time soon!” Fuckpants shouted and hit the stereo button again. This time it was Rush. Alvin fought the urge to throw up.

A Hospital at Night
    Part Four
     
    April hadn’t said anything for some time. She sat with her elbows in her lap, her hands covering her eyes, shuddering and crying and trying to breathe steadily.
    “How’s the arm feeling?” Mirabel asked.
    “I think I need to use the restroom.”
    April shakily stood and walked to the bathroom at the corner of the room. She flipped on the light. It was white, fluorescent, and stinging. She had the vague sense it had torn something apart. She shut the door and didn’t bother to lock it. She lifted the crescent seat of the toilet, dropped to her knees, and vomited into it, black swirling with clear mucous. She had a desire to reach into the bowl and grab the vomit and lift it out by the handful and put it back in her mouth. She was tired of losing parts of herself.
    Mirabel tapped gently on the door. “You okay, honey?”
    April put the seat back down with a pristine plastic clapping sound.
    “I’m okay. I’ll be out in just a second.”
    She turned the faucet to the sink on and splashed some cold water in her face. She refused to look directly at the mirror. She patted her face dry with a hand towel, opened the door, and turned off the light. Mirabel was there, putting a heavy arm