Why should Edward use the safe suit?

Edward is a scientist as well as associate of Mr. Loomis that worked with him at the Ithaca-based government laboratory developing radioactive safe suits before the war. Mr. Loomis kills him because Loomis fears that Edward is going to steal the only safe suit ever produced (in order to search for life outside the laboratory), the only thing that can protect anyone from the deadness. Though Mr. Loomis does not reveal the backstory of Edward, Ann picks it up from the conversations that Mr. Loomis has with him in his nightmares. Edward looms in the background as a quasi-mythical figure that represents to Ann what Mr. Loomis is capable of doing, as well as what he has done.