"it's tempting."

i twisted beneath him. i tried to roll to my right, then to my left. i finally figured out i was wasting a lot of energy and stopped. patch settled his eyes on me. they were blacker than i'd ever seen them.

"i bet you like this," i said.

"that would be a smart bet."

i felt my heart pounding clear down in my toes. "just do it," i said in a challenging voice.

"kill you?"

i nodded. "but first i want to know why. of all the billions of people out there, why me?"

"bad genes."

"that's it? that's the only explanation i get?"

"for now."

"what's that supposed to mean?" my voice rose again. "i get the rest of the story when you finally break down and kill me?"

"i don't have to break down to kill you. if i'd wanted you dead five minutes ago, you'd have died five minutes ago."

i swallowed at the less