Here's the first part of something that I've been working on. Let me know what you think.
Chaz slowly pulled our green panel truck to a stop just short of the first bodies. I could see a crowd of rioters milling about in the distance through the thick smoke. It looks like Shivers had decided to hit the mob with CS rounds and the street lamps had turned everything into a green haze. Occasionally you could see a flash of armor or hear the thunk of a baton, but the intersection was too cloudy to see anything clearly.
Maab sniggered and started to climb over me to get out of the truck. I let her past and lowered myself to the street. Never could help feeling nervous when SLOPs were near. Call it professional respect or a healthy dose of fear. Whenever there’s visible trouble, you know some jackass op is either behind it or enroute. I smiled since the crowd was probably more than enough to keep them busy, but both sides are taking some lumps. I’d hate to be caught up in that on either side but sooner or later you have to choose. Guess I always put the choice off as long as possible.
Maab threw herself down next to one of the stiffs, then ran to several others before she yelled.
“This one isn’t too bad” she said, peering at the glassed-over eyes of a young man.
I shook my head and walked closer to the corner.
“We don’t sell parts. Find one that’s alive AND in good shape, then we’ll talk.”In the distance it looked like someone had begun to pass bricks out to the mob. The Shiver line was starting to take a real beating now. Wonder how long it will be until the Dispersal units show up?
I had worked with Maab for about nine weeks now and have seen her demeanor swing from a small child to a hard professional. The simplest things like streetlights in rain draw out the child in her yet she approaches the most obscene or morbid sights with wonder. I’ve never been very sympathetic to others, but there was something about her that was different; she somehow seemed innocent and needed protection. I smiled at her then turned my attention back to the crowd.
“Here. This one.” She murmured. When I didn’t immediately respond, she tugged my pant leg like a carpet rat. The girl she had found was mid teens and seemed to still be breathing.
“Check her out. Broken bones, needle tracks, heart rate, blood-“
“I KNOW”, she interrupted. “Nope. None of those things. If she’s a hooker, she isn’t used up. Doesn’t have any track marks, so she isn’t a junkie.”
“Just because you don’t see marks doesn’t mean she isn’t a user. Check the eyes, concussion? Something had to lay her out.”
“Yeah, probably this brick. She’s got a knot on her head that probably did it. Whaddayathink?”“Better hurry up bossman, things are about to get interesting”, Chaz said. I heard him cock the 12 gauge behind me and glanced at the mob. The brick vendor had run out of rock and had started distributing hand grenades.
I glanced down at the girl. She had decent color and the only wound was on the side of her head. They only have to look decent to be fodder, they don’t have to be able to think coherently. It might be easier if they couldn’t.
“Ok. Let’s get her to the truck”.
Chaz kept an eye on the crowd as Maab threw the doors open and tossed a set of shackles. I knelt next to the kid and cinched her knees and ankles with nylon straps. One of them cut deep and she moaned slightly.
“Gag her once she’s hung” I said to Maab, “She might come around.”
I could see the brick seller was giving a quick lesson on grenade throwing to a couple terrorist-wannabees and quickly cuffed the girl’s wrists together. Tossing her over my shoulder, I hopped up and dropped her inside the truck. After she had dragged her to the center, Maab quickly hooked the shackles to one of the overhead racks and bounded out.
I heard a loud boom followed by rattling then screams in the distance. The air had taken on the heavy smell of cordite and sulfur.
“Shit. Time to go”, Chaz said and climbed in, setting the shotgun in the floor.
As we pulled away, Chaz slowed down and looked at me for instructions. He blew out his breath and shook his head, already knowing the answer. We cruised around the perimeter of the riot so we could watch the chaos and pick off stragglers. We had a quota to make if we wanted to break out of the #3 spot.
It was a good night.
NEXT
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