New America Read Online Free PDF

chest. I flipped onto my back and was kicked
in the shoulder. I cried out and tried to stand. Hands helped me, yanking me to
my feet.
    “Stop!” I said, my confusion
and fright giving way to rage. I kicked, striking my attacker’s shin. He
grunted—it was a male voice—and I kicked a second time, missing.
    The man had backed up. I
could no longer feel him in front of me. Then his shoulder or head drove into
me with the force of a charging bull. The banister behind us splintered.
    We were falling.
     
    ☼
     
    The
impact with the ground came quickly, though I didn’t feel any pain. I was
wondering whether I’d broken my back when the man, who had landed on top of me,
hissed in my ear, “You shouldn’t have come here.”
    His fist plowed into my jaw.
     
    ☼
     
    A
musical ringtone summoned me from unconsciousness. I cracked open my eyes. I
was on the floor of the living room. Spindles from the upstairs banister lay
around me. The house had recovered from whatever had taken it offline, and the
lights were on, the blinds open. It was morning outside, or afternoon.
    The ringing continued. I
recognized it. I’d programmed it to play when—
    “Answer!” I barked, sitting
upright. I cringed against the pain in my jaw.
    The holographic wall screen
came to life. Maureen materialized a few feet away from me. Her eyes widened in
surprise. “My God, Bob! What happened to you?” The communication link altered
the audio frequency of her voice so she could speak with New People and not
sound like thunder rumbling.
    I brought a hand to my jaw.
It was sore to the touch. My lip was split and swollen. Dried blood crusted my
chin. “Someone broke in last night,” I said.
    “Broke in?”
    “He attacked me.” I looked
around the room. One window was broken. Shards of glass lay on the slate floor.
    “Why would someone attack
you, Bob? What are you talking about?”
    “I don’t know!” I said. “I
heard a noise. I came out of the bedroom. This guy jumped me…” I raised my eyes
to the second floor. I was frowning at the spot where we’d broken through the
banister when it came to me why I hadn’t been injured in the fifteen-foot fall.
I had the mass of a pea. I could no longer be hurt by falling, just as an ant
couldn’t.
    “Who jumped you, Bob? I don’t
understand. Do you need to go to the hospital?”
    The hospital—right. “What
happened, Maureen?” I said. “When I came around yesterday in the hospital here,
the doctor said you’d decided not to come?”
    I wanted to say more. I
wanted to curse at her, yell at her.
    I bit my tongue and hoped she
had a legitimate excuse.
    “I feel awful, Bob,” she
said. “Really awful. But after you sank down into that floor, and they told me
I was next, I…I couldn’t…I just couldn’t do it, Bob.”
    “Couldn’t do it?” I shoved
myself to my feet. “We weren’t getting on a goddamn airplane to Hawaii,
Maureen. We were miniaturizing, okay? Miniaturizing . And now I’m here,
and you’re there. We may as well be on different planets.”
    “Bob…I…I really don’t know
what to say…”
    “You have to come, Maureen. I
can’t go back, so you have to come here. Do you understand that?”
    “I just...I don’t know if I
can—”
    “Dammit, Maureen!” I shouted.
“I’m here by myself! I never would have come here by myself! Jesus fucking
Christ! Go back to the New World Complex. Talk to that girl, Sara, get her to
reschedule you—”
    “Bob…”
    “It’ll probably take a few
weeks wait. Maybe longer. That will give you time to think this through, build
up the nerve or whatever…”
    “Bob…”
    “Dammit, Maureen!”
    “Stop! Don’t yell at me!” She
was rubbing her forehead. “I’ll—I’ll think about it.”
    Think about it? That didn’t sound
very convincing at all.
    I was trembling, my entire
body, trembling—anger, fear, incredulity.
    “I have to go,” I said.
    “Bob, wait! Who attacked you?
You need to see a doctor. I’m