After I came back into the world of the living, it was time to start trying to recover from what I had done to myself. A few strong painkillers washed down with tequila on an empty stomach laid me out like a dead man. It took me an entire day to work the fog out of my head and learn to walk again. I barely remember the run we made and think I mostly slept through it. At least our previous progress gave us a cushion for me to rest on.
It has been a long, long time since I have been that scared, if I ever have been before. I had to find something to focus on or I was going to lose my mind. I needed a distraction, a problem to work on. So I focused on what I needed to do about Macy.
Maab caught up to me at the break area a little while after the coffee started to kick in. I still felt half-dead, but at least I could operate now. Ok, I could speak and avoid running into walls if I moved slowly enough.
“You any better now? Gave up trying to kill yourself?” she said.
I groaned. “Yeah. I just had something on my mind that I needed to wipe out.”
“Did it work?”
“Yeah. Kill the brain cells that hold the memory, and it usually does the job. Almost good as new.”
“Right. Well, we’re ready to go. Jaeger gave us the green light and Chaz has the truck ready.”I walked with her to the docks and was aware of her scrutinizing my coordination like I was an accident victim. As we neared the truck, a cavalcade of panel trucks lined up to pull out into the rain. The fumes were heavy and hot even though a dozen doors were open. Macy’s truck passed us and I saw her grinning through the side window. She sited her index finger at me and dropped the thumb.
It wouldn’t be long before whatever shit she was stirring up got tossed into the fan. I was more motivated than ever to take care of the problem now, but I had to keep focused on one thing at a time. We needed to hit the road and start earning our keep.Why did that bastard have to throw my brother at me again?
I worked the chop points like usual, but kept my eyes wide open and my back to a wall or the side of the truck. Chaz and Maab, both armed now, were on their toes and watched the perimeter while I worked the crowd. After the fifth or sixth catch, the cobwebs were clearing out and I started to feel alive. By number eight, I was in the zone and taking them down two at a time. By number twelve, I was running like a high-powered machine and nothing was going to break my momentum. I was pushing way too hard.
That’s when I saw it. The crowd parted as something tossed aside a sewer grate and crawled into the street. Even though it was coated in a thick black-green sludge, I thought it was a Hiss that was having a really bad day. Most of the left side of its face was gone along with the dreadlocks and it blew out air with a ragged lisp. As it cleared the opening, it fought for air, coughed up something black, and pushed to its feet. I watched it carefully, being sure not to move suddenly and gently guided the latest giggling participant for “Miss Mort 901 SD Beauty Contest” towards the truck. She was young enough that she still might be pure enough to rate the cherry bonus.
“Ssss-khatsss! S’histss!!!”, the thing roared, spiting blood and goo. The missing jaw prevented it from enunciating correctly, not that I could have understood it anyway. It was staring at me with its remaining eye and I began to move the girl a little more quickly.
“Khaaaaaaah-Stsssskt! Skssssiht!” it screamed again. It pointed a mangled left hand at me and fumbled to open a large sheath with its right. I understood it completely and it was time to run for the truck.
“Honey, that’s the Sector 7 Slasher that they’ve been hunting. Get to the truck and I’ll keep you safe!”
The girl whimpered and latched to my arm as we ran. I could hear the lizard’s labored breathing as it started forward. Chaz moved between it and me but didn’t raise the shotgun yet. I guess he thought that the thing wasn’t a threat until it raised a weapon. He needed my help.
Maab came around the rear and when I tried to pass the girl to her, the kid resisted. She was getting more confused and had that wide-eyed “I’m in deep shit” look. Suddenly she broke from my arm and stared at both of us, screaming. I jerked my Taser from my jacket and fired it into her stomach. Her body twitched and bounced, then went limp and she fell to the pavement. Almost on queue, the rain started to come down like the sky had burst. I quickly wadded the cables and put the Taser away under my coat.
“Get her in the truck. I’m going after Chaz.”
I ran towards Chaz and could see that the Hiss had pulled something free from the sheath. The rain gave him a fuzzy gray halo and most of the muck had left its face, showing how bad off he really was. The weapon was thin and wide like a platter and the lizard held it like a bowling ball with its shoulder cocked back. With a snarl, he snapped forward and the weapon hissed through the air at us.
Chaz must not have known what it was because he just stood there with the gauge pointed without firing. I tackled him from the rear and knocked him to the ground where he dropped the shotgun. The weapon missed, sliced through the passenger side mirror like a hot knife, and wedged halfway through the armor plates near the end of the truck. Chaz and I stared at the weapon, then back at the operative, then at each other. The Hiss snarled in what seemed to be genuine disappointment, then was taken with a coughing fit that dropped it to its knees. Chaz grabbed the shotgun and I pulled my pistol. The creature spat out something wet and meaty onto the pavement and regarded us.
“Skssstht. Kcksssthtkt nssss!”. It didn’t seem angry anymore and appeared to be giving up.
Chaz fired and caught it in the chest with a slug, then another that nearly severed its left arm. Dark liquid sprayed and the Hiss let out an inhuman wail. It lunged to its feet, charging us with the remains of a broken sword. I sighted in on the center of its mass and started squeezing the trigger. Dark splashes popped from its chest and face, but it kept coming with the wailing getting worse with each step. Chaz was working the pump on the shotgun like a madman and I fired until the slide locked back on my pistol. Finally, the creature tumbled into a heap and the blade clattered into a puddle. The crowd that had originally been watching had vanished like roaches in light leaving us alone with the body. The rain came down with a roar, but somehow I could still hear my heartbeat.
“Shit, he was tough”, Chaz shouted.
I watched the creature for a few moments, then remembered to reload. When I looked up again, I could see that the Hiss was somehow still alive and trying to pull something from a thigh pack. Chaz was topping off the mag on the shotgun and didn’t notice.
“It isn’t dead”, I said and Chaz looked.
He walked up to the creature from the right side, pinning its right wrist with his boot. Squinting, he fired a single shot into the back of its head black matter sprayed in an arc. He wiped his boot off and loaded another slug in the shotgun.
“Is now. “
“Strip him and get his ID”, I said and Chaz complied. He pressed the shotgun against the thing’s chest as he searched the body. He wasn’t taking any chances.
It wasn’t sure why I didn’t feel any remorse over killing the Hiss. There were no shakes, no retching, not even numbness. I’m not sure if it was because it wasn’t human, or because it seemed to be looking for death. Maybe I don’t feel like its life was worth as much.
Walking back to the side of the truck I looked at the weapon sticking in the plating. Finding a thumb switch, I turned it off and tried to wrench it free of the armor, but wasn’t having any luck. Maab came around and watched me struggle for a moment before commenting.
“It’s just like a powered blade. Comes out easier if it’s on.”
She reached up to the disk, turned the power back on, and slid it out of the armor with her off hand. Once it was clear, she turned it back off. It had a label in Killian that said “MJL Power Disk” along with some characters that I couldn’t translate. She handed it to me.
“A souvenir,” she said.
“More like something to resell. Thanks.”I turned back towards Chaz and saw him walking back with the operative’s remaining equipment. It looked like not much had been left from its sewer adventure.
“Let’s get the hell out of here.”
We climbed in the truck and headed towards another chop point and I took the time to untangle my Tazer’s cables. Chaz was shaking his head and mumbled something I couldn’t hear. Finally he looked over with tears in his eyes and nodded.
“Thanks man. I owe you.”
“You’re welcome.”Maab watched the exchange without saying anything and kept staring forward at the rain on the windshield.
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