Score, “Thanks,” I turned away from the desk, “Well I should go call off my partner, now that we’ve had a chance to talk. You’ll probably want to check on your officers and be sure that they’re alright, no egos bruised or anything like that. They really did an excellent job trying to stop us. Exemplary.” I walked to the door and opened it onto a scene straight out of the Three Stooges set. Half the precinct was on the ground trying desperately to disentangle themselves from their comrades with whom they had collided in their attempt to catch the flying ball of fluff that was Eallva. Seemingly unconcerned with such simple things as gravity she careened around the room, ricocheting off of walls and even the ceiling as she remained so far from anyone’s grasp that she might as well have been on a different planet. Catching a glimpse of her face as she paused for a moment to take a sip from an unguarded cup of water I could tell she was having a blast.
Upon seeing me she lurched in my direction, stopping on a dime beside me. Seeing their target stop moving for the first time since she’d entered the mass of officers surged forward, only to be brought up short by a barked command from behind me.
“What’s going on!? Everyone get back to work, the situation’s fixed itself. Tchtkrt, Brwkwmrb, give our new friends here all that you have on the recent missing person cases. Until they’re done here you’re to assist them with anything they need. The rest of you,” she made a general sweeping gesture at the crowd before us and the general disarray of what had once been a well organized precinct, “Clean this mess up and get back to work.”
The crowd slowly dispersed, a low hum of mutterings and half-heard excuses drifting from no one in particular. A White-giraffe and Frumpystiltskin separated from the group and approached us.
“So, uh, I guess we’re supposed to help you?” the White-giraffe offered up lamely after several awkward seconds of silence.
“Sounds like it,” I agreed, “Unless you’re not the persons she mentioned.” I wasn’t even about to try pronouncing the garbled conglomerations of letters they called names.
“We are,” continued the White-giraffe, “I’m Tchtkrt, that’s Brwkwmrb,” he gestured to the figure beside him.
Sykes and George then stood, waiting, I assumed, for our names. “Pleasure. Down to business, time is something we don’t have. First and foremost we need the last known locations of our missing persons, followed by any leads or clues you have regarding their current whereabouts, states of health, anything like that. And I’m gonna need a city map.”
Sykes left, presumably to do what I’d just asked but honestly he could have been going to put on more than a utility harness as far as I knew. George led us to a desk, looking at us over his shoulder, “It’s probably just me, but I don’t remember the Captain introducing you. Who are you again?”
“Someone that’s here to help. And from the looks of things you need it.” He bristled, at least I think he did.
Shocking. I wonder what could have possibly offended him.
No clue, touchy guy, George. Maybe he should have been named Sykes. Eh, too late.
“If we’re going to be working with you the least you could give us would be your names.”
I sighed, any help?
With?
A name. I came up with the last one.
You’ve come up with all of them. A status quo I have no problem maintaining.
I do, though, if you’re going to be taking up residence then you need to earn your keep somehow.
I will do literally anything. . . wait, what am I saying? I don’t have to earn rent.
Damn it. Fine.
“Agent K –”
I think it’s technically “Kay”.
Oh look who suddenly wants in.
“– and my associate is Agent Jay.”
She’s looking askance at you.
Which is why I was ignoring her. Thank you for making me the bad guy by informing me. She’ll be fine, she’ll roll with it.
“Agent?” George cut into my inner dialogue.
I nodded, “From a small department in the DDIJ.”
George scoffed, “So they’re giving out the title of Agent to just anyone in the DDIJ?”
“Only those that deserve it.”
The Frumpystiltskin opened his mouth with a obstinate set to his features, presumably to continue his assault upon my assumed character, when Sykes finally returned with a chip. He looked at George’s slightly irritated visage and my covered one, made a placating motion, then called up the data on the desk. Several interface interactions later I was looking at what was obviously a city grid with clear markers placed upon it.
I pointed to one, “These are the places where we lost surveillance coverage of the targets?”
Sykes gave me a look, “Surveillance? Why would we have surveillance of random city streets?”
Right, wouldn’t want this to be too easy, “Of course, silly question, so these data points are . . . ?”
“Most are based upon the last time they were seen by witnesses, some are predictions based on what the victim’s usual daily routine was and where we guess it deviated.”
Fun. See anything?
Me?
Who else would I be asking with a purely mental question?
Another figment of your imagination you have failed to bring to my attention?
Don’t worry, you’ll be the first to know. What’s the point in having multiple personalities in your head if you can’t make them cage fight for your own amusement?
I’m less than amused.
Point me. So, seriously, see anything?
I mentally gestured to the map. With an exaggerated sigh the figment hunched over the map, studying the data points.
It’d probably be best to consider what we should be looking for. Because right now it’s rather obvious he’s in this general area –
He waved his hand vaguely over the majority of the points.
– but there’s simply too much there for us to really work with. So think, where would a human obsessed with killing set up his base of operations.
Me?
Who else could I possibly be talking to?
Yourself? You do that a lot.
I know for a fact the irony isn’t lost on you. No, unfortunately I was asking your opinion in this matter.
Why?
Consider it my attempt to bring forth more of myself to the surface. Thoughts. Now.
Chill.
I thought a moment, then focused my attention on the map again.
He’d look for somewhere to hide. As you said before the population is too big for him to take on at once, so he needs a lair, someplace he can hide when he’s not actively stalking, preferably somewhere close to where he likes to stalk. Someplace to take those he kills.
I looked over to see it’s slightly disgusted features and clarified what I thought might be the problem.
Not that I think he’s eating them – maybe I don’t know his food situation or what goes on in his mind – but if nothing else he needs a place to hide/dispose of the corpses.
I drew a square on the map with a gloved finger. Obligingly it created the box I had outlined, “What inside this area has the least amount of obvious foot traffic. Like if I were to look at all locations –”
It started waving to grab my attention. I continued.
“– contained in this box is there anywhere that would immediately stand out as having fewer people at all times of the day?
Instead of answering George attempted to pick up my hand that still rested on the map. After letting him struggle for a couple seconds I allowed him to resituate my finger, which he deposited approximately 1 cm to the left of where it had previously been resting. Reading the map I was informed that there was a rather sizable park situated near the very center of my box. Looking up I was greeted by George’s dumb face smiling smugly.
If you’d just asked me the question first before opening your mouth I could have pointed that out to you without making you publicly look like an idiot.
Eh, they’d find out sooner or later.
Sykes cleared his throat, ending the moment, “Might I inquire as to why you wanted to know this?”
“I think that’s where our suspect is.”
“You believe all these disappearances are due to one person?” George butted in.
“Yeah. Wait, what did you think was behind this?”
“Certainly not just one person,” Sykes picked up after his partner, “All these people lead vastly different lives, and none of them work within the same circle. No one person knows all of them.”
“So? That just points to a serial killer, doesn’t it?”
George chipped in, “They’re all different species. If it was some sick purging fucker then they’d keep to one type.”
“I mean, that’s like one of four or so different reasons I can come up with. Who’s to say they just don’t love killing?” My question was greeted by confused and somewhat disquieted stares.
Sykes broke the silence, “What kind of sack of shit would just kill for the sake of killing? That’s hunter –” he cut himself off. “Wait, what’s your department called?”
I winked. Then realizing that he couldn’t see my face I waved his question aside. When he continued to to stare questioningly I realized that he really couldn’t see my gestures either, so I resigned myself to a cliche.
Oh no, not another one.
“That’s on a need to know basis. And all you need to know is that I need this area around the park cleared of all personnel, police and civilian, by tonight. And if you got some infrared goggles I could really use those too. I’m kinda working without some of my department’s equipment. We had to rush out here.”
George appeared stuck in a trance, lost in his own thoughts, but at my tone Sykes pulled himself together, questions and doubt draining from his features as he drew himself to his full giraffic height. “I’ll see to it personally. Anything you need as far as gear? How much backup? Do we need air? Drones?”
Oh shit, I have allies this time? “What kind of weapons do your drones have?”
My question shook his calm, but only for a moment, “Um, they’re set up to mainly just provide surveillance, but they can be outfitted with crowd control weapons. We could probably tune them up to deal enough damage to incapacitate.”
“The surveillance will be enough, then. Keep ‘em high above the park and have them looking for heat signatures. I’ll need some kind of HUD, I assume that can be a part of the goggles?”
“Of course.” Sykes gulped, “Will you be needing weapons?”
“How powerful can you make ‘em? Anti-tank? Like an 183-Mk2, maybe a 230?”
His eyes bulged, “No! Why would we be authorized for military weaponry?”
“Just checking. I’m set on weapons, then. The goggles cón hud should be enough.”
Sykes turned to George, speaking in a calm but firm voice, “You got that? Two pairs of tactical night vision headsets?”
“Oh, just one,” I interjected, “For me, she won’t need one.”
“Got that?” Sykes shook the Frumpystiltskin’s shoulder, “Brwkwmrb?”
George returned to us after several painful seconds, his eyes coming into focus, “Huh . . .? Headsets . . . ? Right! Yeah . . . headsets . . . I can get them.”
“One,” I reminded quietly, not knowing what was going on but picking up on Sykes calming tones.
“One, yeah. One headset.” George gulped, then started walking away. Eyeing him for a moment I gathered I was meant to follow. Signalling for Eallva to stay and hoping I managed to get the point across despite my tarp George led me through several hallways until we entered a room with several Nanofactories. Punching something up he stood, watching the machine work without seeing it. I stood awkwardly behind him.
You going to ask him why he’s all like that. He gestured to George’s back.
Fuck no. If he’s got baggage I don’t want that shit.
Agreed.
We stood for several silently torturous moments. Finally the factory hummed to a stop and George handed me a melted lump of some plastic like material. It didn’t look like it could fit on anything’s head, let alone mine. Right, this shit. I was about to hand the presumably working headset back to George when it twisted in my hand, morphing and melding into a pair of human shaped goggles.
Well I’ll be damned. Someone updated the system. Boy I do not envy the fuck who got anal probed to make this possible.
Making our way back to Sykes and Eallva I stashed the headset in one of the many folds in my outfit.
“Have everything?” Sykes asked as we approached.
“Yup,” I chirped, “One last thing. When we set up the perimeter, it can’t be obvious. No lights, no announcements, just quickly and quietly clear it. Give the park like a three block radius. We can’t spook him.”
“And specifics on ‘him’ are . . . ?”
“Similarly privileged information. Just have all the manpower that you need to make that area clear.”
“When exactly should we start?”
I glanced at my specter; Midnight sound good?
Does it? Can you think of a reason why it wouldn’t?
I didn’t ask you so you could just shoot it right back at me. Yeah it sounds good to me, that why I asked . . . wait, actually, he’s probably working at night. That’s when I’d do it. Try and find isolated targets when it was dark.
It motioned for me to share my thoughts with the class.
“Start a few hours before dawn,” I decided, trusting my implant to translate “hours” into something comparable. Apparently it did it precisely into some other units because Sykes gave a bemused look before registering his understanding.
“So,” he said, “We’ll meet you there . . . or?”
“Yeah. Actually, can you make it so our ship has clearance to land . . . say here?” I pointed to a clearing adjacent to the park. “We’ll come in under cloak but I don’t want traffic control to freak out at us or anything.”
“Sure,” he replied, “I suppose, but why do you need your ship that close?”
“Call it a hunch. I just think there’s a chance we might need it nearby in a pinch.”
“Okay! Hold on. You can’t just keep us in the dark about everything here. If we’re supposed to help you then we need to know at the very least exactly what we’re up against here; We need details, we need –”
I cut him off, “That’s the point. I don’t want your help. All I need you to do is keep the area clear of civilians and police. If you see something that you think might be our problem, I do not want you to engage. If you see anything that looks threatening, there’s only one thing I need from you: hide. Don’t run, there’d be no point, just hide. Understood?”
He stared at me, mouth agape.
“Understood?” I asked again, louder.
“Yeah, yes, uh-huh.” he quickly stuttered in acknowledgment.
“Great! See you there early tomorrow morning.” I turned, walking back the way we had come out of ongoing investigations.
Three Hours Before Dawn the Next Morning
“Wake up.”
. . .
“Up!”
“. . . mmph.”
My world exploded in pain and bright lights as something hard struck me on the head. My hands flew to protect my head as my feet launched up, aiming at my groggy mind’s best approximation of where the assault had originated. Nothing connected, which only made me angrier. I lurched up, hands raised, blood screaming for me to avenge the innocent sleep that had been brutally murdered before my very mind’s eye. Seconds later my vision cleared to see Eallva on the other side of my small room.
“Before you die,” I mumble growled, “Why did you betray me?”
“Oh fuck off. You told me if you didn’t get up by the second prodding I should just hit you or something.”
“‘Or something’ was the key phrase there. I didn’t think you’d actually give me a concussion.”
“Aw, did the widdle human get a widdle bonk on the head?”
I was out of words, so I just threw my pillow at her and left it at that. Pulling on a clean shirt I headed for the cockpit. “You get any sleep like I told you you probably should or are you still working off yesterday’s fumes?”
“I dozed off for a bit mucking around in the cockpit. I didn’t touch anything you said not to. I think I might get the hang of it.”
“Great. You’ll be able to drive once I forget how to due to early onset Alzheimer’s from too many blows to the head”
“That’s the idea,” She piped cheerfully, “So, what’s the plan of attack?”
I tried to get my fuzzy thoughts under order, “Didn’t we go over a plan yesterday?”
“Nope, You just said you’d sleep on it. I didn’t think you could plan something while you were sleeping, but maybe this is more magic I’m not aware of.” She examined my face for a moment, “But now I’m guessing that’s just a saying and you left it so we’ll have to improvise.”
I shot her a half-hearted finger gun and slumped into the pilot’s chair. Fuck I hate waking up to an adrenaline spike.
“So long as nothing was lost in translation then they should be just about done clearing everyone from the area. Not that there should be too many people about at this time, hopefully.”
“Hopefully,” she agreed, “So how do you plan on finding your guy in a swamp?”
“What?”
“That park, it’s a swamp. The majority of the continent’s ecology is swampy, and the park reflects that.”
I grunted, musing over the new detail as I punched in directions and hit “go”.
“You know this how?”
“Like I said, I was mucking around up here. Looked some stuff up.”
I nodded my approval, “Before I passed out into what was supposed to be a fulfilling and complete slumber, I was toying with the idea of having him find me. After all he knows the area far better, so if I’m right and he’s in there then I probably wouldn’t have a good chance of finding him if he didn’t want me to, even if it wasn’t a swamp. So I was hoping of going in there, making a lot of noise, and try to draw him to me.”
“Great! Didn’t you say last time you fought him he beat your ass?”
I really wasn’t a good influence on her language. Or I was the best influence. Eh, little of both.
Sure.
“Yup. But I’ve gotten better since then, I think. More importantly, I have you. You’re the main part of the plan here.” The ship touched down in the clearing I had some hours before pointed to on a map in a police precinct.
“Lovely, I’ve always wanted to be a part of a plan where you get to flounder around aimlessly doing fuckall while I do all the work.”
“Then have I got the pitch for you.”
She sighed, “So if I understand your implication here correctly, your plan is to just wander in there, thrash around like an infant for a few hours, hope he gets annoyed and attacks you just to get you to shut up, then when your high-pitched cries of animalistic panic reach an all-time high I get to swoop in and rescue you?”
“There’s a nice way of saying that, you know. Your embellishments aside, yeah, that’s the theory right now. We have a few things going for us though. First and foremost, yeah, we got you, who can hear better than humans, see in the dark, and are small enough to move through cramped spaces quietly. That last bits why I’m on bait duty, he’ll be able to see and hear me easier. Also I’ll have night vision and drone coverage, so hopefully I won’t be surprised by him. Yeah, I think we got this.”
“You always do, until things go to shit.”
“Yup, then we’ll improvise and save the day. You have any better ideas?”
She paused, opened her mouth, closed it, then started slotting her various projectile weapons into a harness she had made for them, “Nope. Let’s go get killed.”
“Ladies first,” I chimed in as I threw a recently fabricated cloak over my dual fusion blades on my back. In hindsight I probably wanted formfitting clothing going into a swamp, but fuck if I didn’t cut a dashing figure in a cloak.
That’s just your imagination. You look ridiculous.
Like I said: dashing.
Stepping from the airlock I breathed in the humid air sweeping from the leafy wall before me. It was definitely a swamp. A swamp tamed so it fit nicely inside a city, but still a swamp. The walkways blended seamlessly with scattered pools of murky water, providing easy access into what would otherwise be impenetrable for those who weren’t wearing thigh high boots.
Lowering my voice I whispered to Eallva who had just hopped up behind me, “Keep me within earshot, and move as quietly as you can.”
She hopped once, then shot silently away, disappearing the moment she entered the treeline. I slipped the goggles on and looked at the world with a brand new pair of eyes. The swamp had a much higher ambient heat than I’d been hoping for. Not so much that I wouldn’t be able to pick out a body, but it wasn’t going to be as easy as I’d hoped. A top down map was in the corner of my vision, yet it also wasn’t going to be as helpful as I’d hoped. Small pockets of heat dotted the park, making it appear almost sparsely populated. Gas maybe? Well, might as well check them out.
Picking a tune I started to hum. Hands swinging in what I hoped looked calmly relaxed by my side, I strolled into the vine-like thicket before me, humming as loudly as I could while still trying to appear nonchalant about it. It was already dark before I had entered, the sun not yet up and the street lamps behind me spaced far enough apart to leave yawning gaps of shadow between them. Once the trees engulfed me “dark” took on a whole new meaning. The small window in the corner of my goggles that showed a visible light spectrum was completely black, providing nothing but a blind spot. Had I known how to use these things I would have just gotten rid of it.
As I approached the first small spot of heat I had noticed from the overhead view that small window of black gained its first speck of light. The heat and the light was in the middle of a muddy pool. Removing my goggles for a second I saw bright green bioluminescent mushrooms poking out from the surface of the water. They were densely packed in single clump. From their light I saw small bubbles simmering around them, confirming that they were expelling gas, allowing the drones above the canopy to see them. They really were quite beautiful.
You? Romantic?
I’m allowed to appreciate things.
I suppose. He sounded doubtful. Even as the mushrooms faded into the darkness behind Its outline was still clear, hovering in the void. I slipped the goggles on. Not that I was expecting It to, but It didn’t have a heat signature. Picking up whatever I’d been singing before I continued on my path, heading towards the next small blip of red.
What song is that?
Huh?
Your humming, what song it it?
Fuck if I know. I haven’t heard good music in decades. I tried to get into the alien shit out here but it was, newsflash, alien. Not my jam. The stuff on the kangaroo rat world was a little better, but all they had was flutes and lutes and shit. Everything sounded like a Peruvian Pan flute band. Got tired real quick.
I was silent for what were some of my most pensive minutes. Although that’s not a high bar to set.
“Damn, I haven’t thought about Earth in a long time. I don’t miss much about it, but if there’s one thing it’s the music. And the food. And humans. Not the living, working, or dealing with their shit – parts of humans, just, seeing them. Hearing them talk. Good old-fashioned idioms like ‘beating a dead horse’ or ‘I’m not here to fuck spiders’. You know, I don’t even know if that last one is real. I just heard somewhere that some fucks on some continent say it, and it just stuck with me. I mean, I don’t even remember which continent it’s supposed to be but I remember the saying.”
It floated behind me, silent, and yet I knew he was listening.
I have no choice.
I knew I was talking out loud, but it felt good. Now that I had started I couldn’t stop.
You have this weird habit of shifting point of views, you know that right?
“You know I used to be an alcoholic? I haven’t had a drop since I got zapped up here. Well, that was until the kangaroo rat planet, they had booze. But minus that decade and a half or so, nothing. Who knows, but I don’t think the Corti were what AA had in mind when they said ‘Higher power’.”
I fell silent for several minutes once again. We passed another mushroom clump before I broke it.
“What about you?”
Me?
“Yeah, you, rational side of me or whatever you are, what do you miss?”
You don’t need to speak out loud.
“I know but I’m supposed to be making noise. Now answer me, what do you miss?”
About . . . Earth?
“No shit about Earth, what else would I be talking about, my time in the army? Come on, what would my more rational side miss?”
Uh . . . I guess . . . the air?
“You don’t sound too sure about that. And what? The air?” I took a deep breath, trying to summon up memories of the smell of the air on Earth during a stiff spring breeze. “Although I think I see your point. Even here, in a swamp, the air smells clean. It’s humid, but still clean. And dead. Not decaying dead, just, dull. Nothing there.”
We approached another patch of mushrooms, these close the edge of their respective pool on the side of the path. Squatting down I reached to pluck one of the mushrooms, wanting to see how long it continued to glow after it was separated from the group. Also it’d help draw attention to myself. As I plucked at it the entire clump came with, their roots surprisingly anchored together. More out of curiosity than anything I kept pulling with one arm, wondering how long they could hold together.
The cluster was almost halfway out of the water when I stumbled back from them with a yell, falling backwards into a pool behind me. Splashing to the surface I sputtered, wiping water from the goggles that, to their credit, hadn’t fallen off. Unfortunately they made it hard for me to blink away the image they’d burned into my retinas. The mushrooms had been growing out what was a waterlogged but unfortunately recognizable decaying corpse. Apparently Corti really did have spines. Empty sockets had stared back at me from a skull with tattered scraps of skin sloughing off around them like torn drapes. The cluster still slumped against the bank, laying limply there, the holes glaring at me for disturbing their final rest.
“Fuck. Oh fuck all those heat signatures. Fuck. How has someone not noticed all these yet?”
“Because those that don’t have it don’t look. They see as well as he does, empty eyes and empty minds.”
A chill ran through me at a voice I remembered coming from behind me. Okay, first thing first, look on the bright side, of which there are actually several. First and foremost, I was right. Damn am I good. Second bright side, my plan worked. I had made him come to me by just blundering around a swamp. And thirdly, just off that last sentence he didn’t seem quite as off his rocker as last time. He definitely wasn’t all there, but maybe there was just enough that I could actually talk to him this time. Although to what end I didn’t know.
Maybe try the “Don’t kill me” angle.
Sounds good to me.
“Player 2, that you? Man it has been a long time.” I slowly started to stand and turn, “Last time was, what –” I didn’t get to finish as I felt more than heard his movement behind me.
I rolled into the direction I knew he was coming from. My side connected with something, followed quickly by a splash. Stopping myself before I joined him in the pool opposite I lurched to my feet drawing my blades.
Wait! don’t turn those on with –
Two suns bloomed directly before my eyeballs. I screamed at the searing pain as I dropped the blades and tore the goggles off my face. Cursing I picked up the two bright blurs on the ground, raising them before me. Something was still splashing, although it sounded like it was moving to the side of the pool opposite from me. Hopefully he hadn’t seen what I’d done because aside from my blades I couldn’t see anything. Fuck this had better not be permanent.
The splashing stopped and the sound of someone pulling themselves out of water filled the air. I waited a moment, then started talking. I had to get him into a conversation or I’d have no clue where he was.
“Damn dude, is that anyway to greet a friend? I know it’s been a while but at least you could say hi before trying to kill me again.”
Silence, then blessedly he spoke, “You are human,” his voice was strained, reedy, “I thought it was just more of the voices. They help me, you know. Help me keep it. They know that if they weren’t there then I’d lose it. But I still have it, and it’s stronger than ever.”
He stopped, waiting for my response. “Oh, right. Yeah, ‘it’, I remember that about you. So, uh, how’s ‘it’ doing?”
“It’s stronger!” he said in a panting fervor, “Stronger than ever before! I’ve grown it, tempered it, and it’s gotten bigger. But you, you have it too; you have it still! I can tell! You didn’t freeze when I attacked you. You didn’t run. You attacked!” his voice rose in a nervous giggle that slowly grew into a mad cackle, “It only grows a little from these soft things. But you, you’ll be worth hundreds of the soft things. You’ll make it become so much more!”
Dude sounded like he almost orgasmed at the end of his impassioned speech. Unfortunately he stopped after that. My vision was starting to return, but it wasn’t there. I think I saw a blur that was the light of my blades reflecting off his face, but I had to keep stalling.
“So all these bodies, in the swamp, You killed them?”
“Bodies?” He sounded offended, “These aren’t bodies. Only those who have it have bodies. These were soft things. Simple soft things.” His voice was edging around the pool, inching closer. I could make out the glint of light reflecting off something in his hand, “You and I, we have bodies, we have life. Not these, these pulpy bags.” I could almost make out his features hidden behind dense and dirty hair, “All they did was bleat and cry when I caught them. None of them had it, if they had they’d have fought to keep it, it’d have fought to keep them. They didn’t have bodies, just soft things.”
A jagged shard of metal came into focus as my vision returned to a workable capacity. It’s sharp edges were stained with red where they cut his hand, but he seemed not to care. He had edged back to the same side of the pool as me, and now we stood, poised, a few meters between us.
“Let’s dance, fuck face.”
With an exhilarating cackle he lept forward, pouncing in the blink of an eye. He was in my guard and swinging his knife before I could even register. Cursing I dodged, backpedaling while throwing my blade across my body trying to ward him off. He pushed, keeping inside my reach and driving forward with his fist while cutting at one of my hands with his “knife”. Instead of being cut I dropped the sword and took his fist to my center, using it to help push me back while ducking low and swinging out with my leg. He jumped but I surged forwards and upwards, disregarding my remaining blade and shoulder checking him as he came down.
In a tangle of limbs we fell onto the path, rolling as each of us struggled to get on top of the other. A sharp pain pierced my back once, twice. He plunged the knife wildly in me, trying to get the upper hand, but I was stronger. Riding the wave of adrenaline and praying that he didn’t hit anything that I couldn’t survive without for a few minutes I straddled him. Seeing his future he left his knife in me and struck out at the arm that still held my last sword. A push, a pull and my numb hand dropped my sword as my arm screamed in pain. I flipped, relieving the pressure but giving him the opportunity to get on top of me. From there I knew he’d have me in a hold. I needed an out.
One appeared in the form of an Eallva flying from the trees. The pressure on my back disappeared as she took him in the chest, throwing him off me. Flipping upright I jumped to follow her. Gaining my bearings I was just in time to dodge her as he got a hold of her and threw her at my feet. Jumping and wincing sympathetically at the splash I heard behind me we attacked each other with our fists. Dodge, cut, dodge, dodge, hook, backstep, backstep, he flew at me in a flurry of fists and kicks. He was backing me to the water and I knew it. Think, think.
Oh.
Taking my last two backsteps I pulled the knife from my back and attacked, disregarding my already failing body to get to him and force this fight. He went for my arm again but I’d seen it twice before. Twisting away from him I reversed my grip and plunged the jagged shard into his left thigh. Pulling it out I jumped it to my other hand and took him in the armpit. In a fury he kicked my feet out from under me. Pulling the knife out as I fell I used my positioning to pin him in the foot. He howled, kicking my head and my aching back with the other, non-skewered limb. Eallva finally reentered the fray, throwing herself into the back of his knees. He collapsed, and once again he and I grappled on the ground, both suffering severe blood loss. Eallva ended the fight by planting the point of a throwing knife under his throat.
“You’re done,” she growled at him. He froze, perfectly still. She looked to me, “You okay?”
“No.” I winced.
“You’ve survived getting stabbed multiple times before, you’ll be fine.”
I ignored her, “Well, what are you waiting for, finish it.”
She set her jaw stubbornly, “No.”
“What? Why?”
“For so many reasons. We’re not his executioners. He doesn’t owe us anything. There’s police literally right outside this park, and the families of the people this fuck killed deserve justice. Real justice. Not us.”
I panted tiredly, but if I’d had the energy I’d have smiled, “Okay. how we getting him out of here? The moment you remove that knife he’ll –”
Using her tail she struck him hard in the temple with the butt of a Javelin.
“Fuck!” I slump jumped and instantly regretted it, “Careful with shit, you might have just killed him!”
“Wait, seriously? That doesn’t just put him out?”
“I mean, maybe, but even that’s really bad for him, but . . .” I stuck a finger under his nose. Warm breath brushed against it. “Okay, he’s alive, but seriously, don’t ever do that shit to me, the head’s not just an on/off button.”
She shrugged, “It worked. You stay here and focus on not bleeding to death, I’ll get the police and medical assistance.”
“You sure you can find your way back.”
“This place isn’t nearly half as complicated as the burrows of Sordit. I know exactly where we are.” She shot off down the path, calling behind her, “Be back, don’t die!”
“Yup,” I grunted, “That’s the plan. Fuck. Ow. I think I’m just gonna take a nap.”
A ghostly face loomed over me, No! Talk to me, now that you’ve seen and talked to a human do you still want to visit Earth?
I laughed, then coughed, then stopped because everything hurt, “That doesn’t count. He wasn’t Human. Not really. He had all the strength and shit, but, I don’t know, there’s more than that . . . and all, yeah, that . . . ‘n tha’”
Hey, what’s that? Why’s that not all a human is? Why wasn’t he human?
“It’s just, not, ‘k? He was, broken. Will you shut up now?”
You’ve called yourself broken, how are you different?
“I . . . I don’t know. Maybe I’m not. I am broken. I ‘uppose . . .”
Don’t fall asleep when I’m talking to you! How then? How was he different?
“He didn’t try. Fuck I’m tired bro.”
He didn’t try to what?!
“Put back . . . back together. ‘K? Mmumph.”
Damn it I wish I could slap you. That’s actually not the first time I’ve wished that since my short existence but . . . Hey!
He snapped his fingers before my eyes. At least I assumed, they weren’t actually open.
She stood before me, angelic. Her supple curves and soft skin calling, inviting me closer. I drew near to her, slowly, carefully. She whispered my name, her breath like a summer’s kiss. I reached for her. Her chest exploded into blood and viscera as a Javelin butt rocketed through her and into my head.
“Wake up!”
For the second time that day I awoke to brain damage and sadness. Eallva stood over me, panting heavily in fur caked in mud from when she’d been thrown into the swamp water.
“Better. See, told you a few stabbings never killed anyone.”
“Head! Not an on/off button! Kick me in the chest or something just stop fucking with my head!”
“If you’re going to be a baby about it every time I just might. Seriously though, how you feeling?”
I looked around. It was still dark, the only light coming from my discarded blades and the softly glowing corpse. “Like I have a hangover without the pleasant memories, but stronger, actually. Wait, you said you were bringing the cops.”
“They’re following as best they can. I’ll probably have to go back and find them, but I thought maybe you were pining without me being here – also without blood – so I got a magic healing kit, made them show me how to use it and rushed back. You able to stand?”
“Yeah, think so. Why?”
“‘Cause it sounds like they actually found us and you don’t have your disguise. If you can stand you can run.”
I stood, but knew immediately that the only pace I’d be leaving this shithole was leisurely. Didn’t think I’d need to run as it was anyway. “We’ll be fine, just let me handle this.”
“I feel better already,” she huffed, but she lost the stance that suggested she was ready to dash.
We waited in silence for several seconds before my inferior ears heard a group on the path before us. Several seconds after that Sykes leading a group of ten strode into our little clearing. He saw me, then drew up short. “What happened?”
“Found your guy,” I said, motioning to the unconscious body beside me, “He was killing for sport and hiding the bodies in here. All those mushroom clumps in the pools are bodies. Most anyway.”
Sykes struggled with what I’d said for a moment, “And it, he’s . . . a human? You are too? Are the things I’ve heard true?”
I paused dramatically, “I don’t know what you’ve heard. But if you want to know what happened, these atrocities were committed by a human, and they were stopped by a human.” Walking gingerly I moved through the group, it parting before me.
That line, the atmosphere, it was perfect, every bone in my body screamed to just keep walking, don’t look back. But then I remembered that P2 wasn’t actually dead and we had no idea when he’d wake. Thoughts of having to track him down all over again flooded my mind. I looked back.
“Okay, but actually, yes, humans are weirdly tough, so if you have any painkillers in your medkit that put people to sleep you should probably give him all of it. Yes, all of it. Then you need to get him into containment. Contact the Corti, they’ve hopefully figured it out by now, but if they haven’t, make sure that he’s permanently sedated, because if he wakes up I don’t want to have to come back here and fix this shit up. Oh and you should probably stop his bleeding unless you want him to die in the next half-hour or so. Okay? We clear? Alright let’s get the fuck outta here.”