Last Days Read Online Free PDF

backward.
    "Eight?" asked Kline. "Eight what?"
    "Amputations," said Ramse. Kline watched the back of his head. "Of course that doesn't mean a thing," he said. "Could be just eight toes, all done under anesthetic, the big toes left for balance. That should hardly qualify for an eight," he said.
    Gous nodded next to him. He held up his stump, looked over the back. "This counts as a one," he said. "But I could have left the hand and cut off all the fingers and I'd be a four. Five if you took the thumb."
    They were waiting for Kline to say something. "That hardly seems fair," he offered.
    "But which is more of a shock?" asked Ramse. "A man losing his fingers or a man losing his hand?"
    Kline didn't know if he was expected to answer. "I'd like to get out of the car," he said.
    "So there are eights," said Ramse, "and then there are eights." They came to a curve. Kline watched Ramse post the other hand on the steering wheel for balance, turning the wheel with his cupped stump. "Personally I prefer a system of minor and major amputations, according to which I'd be a 2/3."
    "I prefer by weight," said Gous. "Weigh the lopped-off member, I say."
    "But you see," said Ramse, "bled or unbled? And doesn't that give a certain advantage to the corpulent?"
    "You develop standards," said Gous. "Penalties and handicaps."
    "Why do you need me?" asked Kline.
    "Excuse me?" asked Ramse.
    "He wants to know why we need him," said Gous.
    "That's easy," said Ramse. "A crime has been committed."
    "Why me?" asked Kline.
    "You have a certain amount of experience in investigation," said Gous.
    "Not investigation exactly, but infiltration," said Ramse.
    "And you don't flinch, Mr. Kline," said Gous.
    "No, he doesn't flinch."
    "But--" said Kline.
    "You'll be briefed," said Ramse. "You'll be told what to do."
    "But the police--"
    "No police," said Ramse. "It was hard enough to get the others to agree on you."
    "If it hadn't been for the hand," said Gous.
    "If it hadn't been for the hand," said Ramse, "you wouldn't be here. But you're one of us, like it or not."

III.
    He woke up when the car stopped in front of a set of metal gates. It was fully dark outside.
    "Almost there," said Ramse from the front.
    The gates opened a little and a small man stepped out, turning pale and white in the over-bright halogen glow of the headlights. The man came over to the driver's door. Kline could see he was missing an eye, one closed lid seeming flat and deflated. He was wearing a uniform. Ramse rolled down the window, and the man peered into the car.
    "Mr. Ramse," said the guard. "And Mr. Gous. Who's in the back?"
    "That would be Mr. Kline," said Ramse. "Hold up your arm, Mr. Kline," said Ramse.
    Kline lifted his hand.
    "No, the other one," said Ramse.
    He lifted the stumped arm and the guard nodded. "A one?" he asked.
    "Right," said Ramse. "But self-cauterized."
    The guard whistled. He drew away from the window and made his way back to the gates, which he drew open just wide enough for the car to pass through. Through the rear window, Kline watched him draw the gates shut after them.
    "Welcome home, Mr. Kline," said Ramse.
    Kline didn't say anything.
    They passed a row of houses, turned down a smaller road where the houses were a little more spread out, then down a third, smaller, tree-lined alley that dead-ended in front of a small, two-story building. Ramse stopped the car. The three of them climbed out.
    "You'll be staying here, Mr. Kline," said Ramse. "First floor, second door to the left once you go through the entrance. There's probably an hour or two of night left," he said. "We'll see you in the morning. For now, why don't you try to get some sleep?"

    When he went in, he couldn't figure out how to turn the hall light on so, instead, wandered down the dark hall dragging his hand along the wall, feeling for doorways. His fingers stuttered past one. He lifted his fingers from the wall and brought them near his face. They smelled of dust. He went on until he came to