Kira marveled at the simplicity of his plan, but even so, his answer sparked a dozen new questions: How did he know when the monster had eaten? What did he mean that it “used to be” a bear? What was so important about the backpack, and who had told him all these strategies in the first place? She decided to pursue the latter question, as it seemed like the best opportunity to broach the topic again.

“Who told you not to leave the backpack?”

“Nobody told me,” he said. “I’m a human. Nobody’s in charge of me, ’cause I’m the only one left.”

“Obviously nobody’s in charge of you,” said Kira, frustrated by the circular conversation, “but what about your friend? The one who warned you not to lose the backpack?”

“No friends,” said Afa, shaking his head in a strange, loose sort of way that shook his entire torso as well. “No friends. I’m the last one.”

“Were there others before? Other people with you, here in the safe house?”

“Just you.” His voice changed when he said it, and Kira was struck by the thought that he might very well have been completely alone—that she might be the first person he’d spoken to in years. Whoever had saved him and taught him to survive, whoever had set up this and the other radio stations—whoever had rigged them with explosives—was probably long dead, lost to Partials or wild animals or illness or accident, leaving this fifty-year-old child all alone in the ruins. That’s why he says he’s the last one, she thought. He watched the last ones die.

Kira spoke softly, her voice tender. “Do you miss them?”

“The other humans?” He shrugged, his head bouncing on his shoulders. “It’s quieter now. I like the quiet.”

Kira sat back, frowning. Everything he said confused her more, and she felt as if she was even further now than before from understanding his situation. Most confusing of all was the name on the door at ParaGen—Afa Demoux had had an office, an office with his name on it, and ParaGen didn’t strike her as the kind of place that let a mentally handicapped man have an office just to keep him entertained. He had to have worked there; he had to have done something, or been something, important.