Chapter 2

A room

All gray

4 walls and a door.

Maybe a door.

As quickly as I took it in the room, it transmuted in my vision and everything went a brilliant white. Pure white. So white I could hear it. So clean and perfect I felt euphoric.  An uncontrollable smile twitched at my lips.

Then I passed out.

This continued for days.

When I was finally able to stay conscious for more than a few minutes, I began to feel reality. My body felt completely purged as I lay against the hard cement floor. I was weak and so hungry. The hunger was so strong it was painful, I had never felt anything like it. I felt cold, my teeth wouldn’t stop gritting against each other, my legs were spasming and my heart was rushing so fast I was sure it was going to give out.

Whatever the psycho red head had given me, had really done a number on me.

I was still in my 2K tuxedo, which felt unbearably hot. It took all my strength to work at the jacket before ripping off a few hundred dollars’ worth of shirt buttons. I was so hungry I considered eating the buttons, but thought better of it.

I heard footsteps outside and a few voices. I tried to make some kind of sound, but my mouth wouldn't form the words. I laid back down defeated.

These people were going to kill me. I would never see Mom or Dad again. But,why hadn’t they killed me already ? Where they going to torture me ?

I was sure they meant to take Allison and not me, but that doesn’t explain why I am still alive. Are they going to ransom me ? Do they really think I’m worth that much ? I hope I’m worth that much.

Maybe they thought I knew something about the company ---which  was a common misconception. Everyone thought because I was so much dad’s son I knew all about science and was a prodigy like him but, truthfully I knew very little about the company.

 Science held no interest to me, I liked visual technology. Hell, the only school I could get into was the Metro College of Art and Design, and that was only after Mr. Kyto wrote me a nice recommendation letter that I’m sure was sent with a check.

Maybe I could find a way out. Make a run for it. Although, that seemed pretty useless—I  had no idea where I was.  All I knew was that I was literally in a whole new territory.

I  was in the Western Republic

Or The Lola.

Among society's remnants.

Home to the organized criminals, gangs and the infamous chrome cartel. I was still wondering which one I was involved with.

***

A long time ago before my dad’s time, there had been a nuclear war, later dubbed  the Serial World Wars. I guess because the nuclear attacks just kept happening.

After it was over, during the reparations there was a lot of debate about nuclear tech  and they felt another war coming on. To prevent it,  they decided it easier to split the country. The Eastern State and Western Republic or LOLA. The LOLA nickname came from the fact that the sprawl included the former cities of Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

 The Eastern State, where I was fortunate to live built itself strong on ideas of technology, innovation and prosperity. The Republic failed because they tried to build a country on bad idealism, nature  and dreams. They thought tech was dangerous and what caused the war. Their economy collapsed from lack of tech.  Decades later, it was now home to mostly violent types, luddites and the unfortunate.

That was all history and had been history until a few months ago.

I was moving into my freshman dorm and had just barely kissed mom goodbye when a hush came over the  moving-day  noise as everyone’s syndicate received a message from the State department about a malicious attack on the usually peaceful Eastern border by a rebellious group of Republican insurgents.

Everyone involved in the conflict was killed and the Republican government officials were ignoring any peace talks. The sprawl had to go on lockdown for the day until they were sure there weren’t terrorist out there. My parents were forced to stay in my dorm room as  were many other parents moving their kids in that day.

 Dad and I slept on the floor of my small dorm room, so Mom could sleep in the bed that night. Not that any of us really slept that night.

The next day the State department said they were sending enforcements to control the Republic and things went back to normal; my roommate came, I started D-averaging in all my classes and Dad used the story of the night we spent in my dorm room as a party story.

I heard footsteps walking closer to where I was confined and my heart raced. I had nothing to use as a weapon and I was too weak to swing a punch. I was just going to have to swallow my pride and beg for mercy.

A large,muscular bald man with a small iron cross pierced into his forehead opened the door. He wore dark pants and a dark long sleeve shirt. Even through my hazy eyes I could see he was built like an ox. He easily grabbed me and dragged me out of the cell, or the room I guess.

I was dragged into  what looked like someone’s large, high ceiling  industrial  basement. I saw two exits, one door that led to the outside and a staircase that looked like they led to a kitchen I could glimpse upstairs.

The basement itself had 4 room doors, counting the one I had been held captive. Other than the doors the space was empty, but something about it felt dirty. There was no junk, no boxes or dirt, but the floor was discolored in areas, like it had been covered in bleach.

I heard a thundering coming down the steps and the red headed woman came down. She was  wearing a black tank top and blue jean shorts that showed of her toned and very tanned skin. She stopped at the last step and stared at us. Her eyes were a bleak and unforgiving black.

“What the hell-,” she shot a look at the man who had taken me out. Then she walked over and snatched an apple out of his hand.

“What are you doing ?,” she hissed.

The man simply looked over at me.

“I don’t know,” she said sternly,” I don’t know who he is. I need to know that first. He could be a waiter for all I know.”

I blinked. Had the man even said anything ? Maybe they were talking over their Syndicates and she read his words. But, neither of them appeared to have Syndicates.

“Please . . .” I managed. ”Pl . . .Plea-  . . “

Damn it, I was so weak I couldn’t even beg for mercy.

She walked over to me and kneeled in front, putting a big, silver gun to my face.

“You think you’re brave ?,” she sneered, “Because you protected little Ms. Kyto ?”

I could barely meet her eyes.

In an attempt to sit up, I lost my balance and my arm landed in her lap. She paused before recoiling.

“I’m going to figure out who you are. And for your sake, I hope you are someone important. I hope you're worth money.”

You and me both, I thought.

She let the apple fall in front of me and went up the stairs, the man following her.

I debated on whether to eat the apple or use it to make an escape. I grabbed for it, but it was  out of my reach anyway.

***

They had left me sitting in the basement. At this point, I had just about every area of it memorized. I wondered if there were other people like me behind the doors. If this was some kind of hostage holding spot.

I heard rattling against the door that led to outside. It’s knob rattled and jiggled until it finally popped open and I was assaulted by the brightest light I had seen in my life.

 I heard the click of heels and youthful high pitched laughter. Two figures entered the room a girl and guy who looked around my age, they were smiling broadly and holding on to each other.

 Looks like I had more company.

The girl had shiny dark brown hair that fell to her back, the pieces crowning her face were tinged a deep purple. She was wearing a small purple skirt over her curvy hips, it  barely covered her lean tanned thighs. A low cut white tank top hung loosely off her chest  and  on her feet were glittery high heeled sandals. The  gemstones and glitter that adorned the sides of her purple lined eyes put Mom’s dress to shame.

The guy had bright white hair, the tips of were jet black. His eyes too were heavily lined in glitter liner-- he was wearing an open buttoned white shirt and heeled boots underneath dark  blue jeans . As he got closer to me I noticed one of his eyes was blue and  the other purple.  It wasn’t much but, those two were the most color I had seen in a while.

The girl was  holding on tight to the boy—like he was her lifeboat. Her thin arms curved around his muscular shoulder. They shared a small kiss as the girl kicked off her shoes and lost about 4 inches of her height. With a quick turn of her head the purple haired girl registered me and walked over slowly the boy holding her hand followed slowly and cautiously behind. The walked toward me like I was a stray puppy they had just found on the street.

It didn’t take much to deduce he was a joyboy and she was a joygirl—prostitutes.

“Help,” I managed, proud to actually get the words out.

“Holy shit, . . . this is the collarboy, huh ?” the girl slurred.

Crouching down to my level, but keeping her distance, she pointed to the top of my dress shirt, “Look his collar, is actually white . . .”

The guy came even closer and fell in front of me. He pulled me up and straddling my lap he started touching my face.

“I’ve never seen one up close before . . .  you’re fucking beautiful,” he commented running a hand through my hair and looking close into my eyes, our foreheads touching.

I pulled back as much as I could, and he ran his thumb over my eyelashes.

 “Those Nikon lenses, brother ? ,” he asked

I was to shocked by his touch to respond.

"His eyes are so god damn blue," He said wistfully. "None of this cheap shit is so god damn blue.”

There was a hunger in his voice. I started to fear he was going to rip the surgically inserted lenses right out of my eyes.

“Please--,” I began.” Help me, she has a gun--.”

 “Oh, honey,” the girl said, putting her arms around the boys neck and inching him away from him. ”We can’t help you.”

“Do you see the size of her guns ?” the boy added taking a seat next to me, like we were on a bus together.

We’re they being held captive as well ?

“Oh, I’m Minnie Dory, by the way.” the girl said

“And I’m Jean Dory,” he added extending his hand.

This was too surreal.

Jean was holding the abandoned apple and had started slicing it with a knife.

 A knife I hadn’t seen him carry in.

He offered me a slice and I reached out for it, but he slipped it into my mouth. His fingers brushing my teeth. I slowly ate it,  a piece of fruit never tasted so good. Maybe it was from the starvation, but the apple was so sweet and the firm flesh was filled with fragrant juice that ran down my chin.

“So, like . . .,” Minnie began and exchanged a look with Jean, “Who are you ?”

“Well, um,look--my name is Alan. I’m sure someone, my Dad--,”

“Your—your-d—d  Dad,” Minnie laughed. She convulsed into more shrieks of laughter and fell sideways smacking her head against the concrete floor. Jean  dragged her arms until her head was resting in his lap. He smoothed his hands through her hair and she stared up at him with glassy eyes.

“There she goes. She’s burning . . . Alan,” he said as he cut back into the apple. “Time for bed, Minnow ?”

He put another slice of the apple into my mouth, his thumb pausing on my chin.

“Fucking beautiful. Really,” he smiled as he stood up, carrying Minnie in his arms towards another door.

 They disappeared off into the room and I was once again left alone.

Where the hell was I ?

I was surprised by his lack of personal space but, I wasn’t surprised by Jean’s reaction to me. Especially if he was from the Republic ---but judging by his own looks he may not be. And Minnie may not be either.

Gene mapping and modification was commonplace in the East. Expecting parents can pick each and every gene to go into their child .The physical ones were the most popular ones to pick out, the genes that made my face shape, eye color, my height, metabolism and so on.  The second most popular where the ones that  were  able to filter out genetic diseases and finally some people took out genes that were linked to bad tempers,  and other negative characteristics.

The more money you had, the more design choices you could make. My parents had chosen every feature that went into me.  Because of hang ups in the Republic—they didn’t do gene mapping. It’s not that they were ugly, they just looked different more often than not. It was nothing to be ashamed of just nothing to talk about, my dad used to compare it to sex.

I was still famished after the two apple slices and I wasn’t surprised when I passed out again. When I woke up it was darker and the room was shaking violently. There was a loud boom outside like  metal colliding. Some of the cement in the walls shook and tiny loose fragments fell on me covering my face in dust. A tear slid down my face.

Minnie walked speedily out of the room Jean had carried her into hours (maybe days ?) earlier and ran up the stairs. She was barefoot, wearing only a light pink half shirt  and shorts, her hair pushed back into a ponytail. She came down the steps a few seconds later and she seemed like she was going to walk right past me but then stopped to the side of me. She took a tissue out of the left breast side of her top and crouching down handed it to me. I saw Jean come out of the bedroom and immediately stood over Minnie.

“I would shut down on the tears, glitterboy,” Minnie advised

“I’m not crying,” I explained wiping the stray tear.

“It don’t rain in here, brother,” Jean smiled. His voice was teasing.

He kneeled down.

“Really, you should be happy the trigger happy bitch hasn’t killed you yet. No reason to cry”

“I’m not crying. It’s just a side effect  from a surgery,” I explained

“ooh, What  do you mean ?,” Minnie asked sitting next to me again, “Tell me—tell us,”

She asked like I had some fascinating story to tell—like we were in a bar or club and I wasn’t tied up against my will in some strange place.

“I had to have a new pair of permanent lenses installed in my eyes after I was born. Surgery isn’t supposed to be done after you are born. They did it anyway and my mom noticed afterwards I would cry for no reason. Some kind of error. It was too risky to fix. ” I explained in breathy sentences.

“What was so bad they had to fix the lenses to begin with ?,” Jean asked.

“Don’t know.” I said,”One was cloudier than the other.  I’m used to it. It’s the only time tears can come out my eyes.”

 “Wait so—what happens when you like really cry ?” Jean asked

“You don’t want to know,” I said. I wasn’t trying to  be mysterious, it was true, it was not pretty.

“I know a fixer for a ripperdoc,” Minnie commented scooting close to me,” Moonlight’s a  no-shit black clinic . . . He's fucking greedy so you’d have to spill ice though.”

My face must have shown my inability to understand her.

“A fixer is a contact, “Jean explained,” Ripperdocs work in black clinics doing illegal bioware and ‘borging, you know . . . but they are legit doctors and fix most shit. Even shit the Eastern docs fuck up on. Of course they charge big,”

I had no idea where to operate from here, I was getting some conversation and the Dorys seemed nice, they wanted to help me and they didn’t seem to be in league with the redhead.

“Of course that is all contingent on us letting you live,” he added.

Nevermind.

“Look, Jean, um Minnie I have no idea what is going on,” I said, “I don’t know what you want with me or Allison Kyto, but if you could just explain to them that I’ll give whatever they want. I just want to leave.”

“If Minnow and I let you leave here you’d be streetmeat, brother,” Jean said,” I’ll admit Sara is techno scum but, the damn bitch has a collection of fletchers--- a weapon you don’t want to come in contact with,”

“Sara ?,” I asked, “The red head ?,”

“I’ve said too much,” Jean replied, sounding genuinely sorry.

“What does she want?” I asked

“ Hell if we know. Can’t figure why she does half the fucking things she does,” Minnie said

The earth shook again and the cement crumbled, Minnow reached out for Jean and they held on to each other until it passed.

“What is that ?” I asked

“Men at work,” Minnie mused shrugging her shoulders.

“A raid. Just where, I need to be,” Jean smiled shrugging off his open neck black shirt, to reveal a white v-neck that hugged his chest. Leaving the black shirt it in front of me, he ran the back of his hand under his eye. “Maybe you could use that, brother.”

And with that he walked out and up the steps.

Minnow watched him leave and then turned back to me. She picked up the shirt and moved it between her fingers, never taking her eyes off me.

I still could not place what was happening and if Minnie was a friend or enemy. I decided to get to the point

“ Can I have a percentage? What is the percentage chance you guy are going to kill me ?,” I finally asked

“Jean and I ?  We  aren’t exactly planning it,” she laughed, “And I think if Sara was going to do it she would have.  . .  she’s a fugitive and usually blows anyone who sees her face to hell. Even killed a cute little dog who looked at her too hard.”

“It doesn’t look good for me then ?”

“Maybe 20 percent ? Of course she could just have some special death planned for you—I’m not sure. . .  usually a bullet to the head, that does it,”

Minnie drew a circle with her finger in the center of her head and then tucked her feet underneath her.

Her voice sounded distant and strange. Like she was talking to someone who wasn’t in the room.

Just then the door opened and after being assaulted by the bright light again Jean stepped through his hand around a man in a State Guard uniform with an Eastern State logo on it. His collar was drooped and it was clear his buttons didn't match up.

Something about his gait and unruly uniform told me this guy wasn’t here to help me.

“That was fast ! Hello, sergeant,” Minnie said walking over to him and pulling at the man’s jacket,” Wow, you looters sure have gotten sloppy. This doesn’t even look real.”

“Shut up, bitch,” the looter said to her, but she instantly laughed it off.

“Now, now play nice,” Jean interrupted and then held up what looked like a small microchip, “Look how lucky I’ve gotten, Minnow.”

He danced the microchip around in his hand and then let it fall to the ground

“This way, sweet brother,” Jean said taking the man’s collar and leading him up the stairs

Minnie stood at the staircase watching them go up. She turned her gaze back to me and then she walked up the staircase. I figured all hopes of negotiating my release were gone.

And where did the staircase lead, anyway ?

A few minutes passed and Minnie came back down the staircase quietly, she sat next to me and set a plastic container and aluminum waterbottle in front of me.

“It’s soup,” she said opening it and giving me a spoon, “It’s got vegetables and all. And some water—I mean you look like you need it and all ,”

“Thank you,” I said and I had never meant it more in my life. I decided to leave the questions I had for her alone at the moment. If I was going to be held here I could not ruin this possible alliance.

I was so hungry I devoured the soup, but I couldn’t help but notice how chemical-ish it tasted. The water was good though—fresh and clean.

After a  half hour of Minnie watching me eat there was a loud click followed by a few gunshots and I heard a screamed ‘shit’ from Jean. Suddenly there was a repetitive thunk as a body rolled down the steps contorting in the most unnatural positions on it’s way down. A puddle of blood and guts was forming at the steps.

Sara Grace immediately stormed down the stairs with  a gun in her hand, leaping over the body she walked right up to Minnie and put the gun to  Minnie’s head. Minnie instantly stood up her hands in the air.

“Why—“ Minnie began.

Sara clicked the gun to show her it was loaded.

“Stop !,” I said, not even knowing why.

“Shut up,” Sara spat at me, her eyes were suddenly diverted to the microchip on the floor. The one Jean had tossed.

“What is this ? Black ice ?,” Sara scoffed picking it up,” This may be called a former republic but we still have laws.  And I have rules against you assholes bringing those damn greedy looters who can’t pay for their own shit in here. You bring in one looter, you bring them all.  Besides, you know the kind of shit these kinds of chips can do ?,”

Sara pushed Minnie into a wall before taking the gun from her head. She placed the chip on the floor and shot a round of bullets into it.

I heard Jean saunter down the stairs. He elegantly tip toed around the guts and leaped over the body, breathing  a “For fucks sake” under his breath.

“Just had to kill him, didn’t you ?” Jean chastised her,”And I could have gotten cred or traded that black ice.”

Sara just scoffed at him and turned to me.

“Think of all the cred we can get for him,” she smiled.

“No one wants a collarboy,” Jean sighed.

“I know. I was thinking sell him for parts,” she continued.

***

The next few days I took comfort in the company of Minnie and Jean.  Mostly Minnie. And it is hard to use the word comfort when I spent all my time in the enclosed space but, she at least made sure I had a little something to eat. I soon learned that they were never going to give me any answers as to why Sara had kidnapped me, where I was or what her plans were.

In my head I had it worked out the they all must live together out of necessity and maybe Sara was their landlady or something and that’s why they put up with her. Of course when you looked like Minnie, I didn’t really understand why she couldn’t live wherever she wanted, she probably made more than enough money. Then again with the high stupors she was often in I imagined she spent all her money on drugs. I felt bad for Minnie—and Jean too, they seemed like to nice of people to be caught in such a vicious cycle, I wished I could help them.

I learned the shaking and noises outside were military  police raids looking for fugitives. They routinely blew up random buildings until the fugitive came out. Stuff like that is kind of a good example as to why this country is screwed up. I mean, if you’re a fugitive why would you care if they blew up random buildings. It was a power thing.

I never asked them about the Western terrorist coming to the Eastern border. And it never came up.

Minnie was sitting next to me putting a thin brightly colored wafer candy on her tongue. She shivered in delight as it melted on her tounge.

“So, are in you in school ?,” I asked her.

I figured the more I knew about these people the better.

“No . . . I guess not.” She smiled, “Not really my scene ?,”

I wasn’t sure if she was telling me or asking me.

“How old are you ?,” I asked

“16,” she responded.

I wondered if the surprise showed on my face. Something about the way she carried herself made her seem older than me. Maybe it was the makeup.

“You seem older,” I admitted.

“I get that a lot.” She smiled

I had never known anyone who smiled so much when they talked. Only her smile wasn’t all sweet, there was something wicked about it.

“How did you end up here ?,”

“I chose it.” She said simply.

It made no sense, but I nodded.

 “How did you end up where you are ?,” she retorted.

“Um, I was kidnapped.” I said half honest, half smart ass.

She laughed and I betrayed myself and smiled.

“Damn, your teeth are so perfect. They could be a god damn credit reference,” she laughed.

I didn’t smile back.

“I’m in pain,” I admitted to her, “Do you think I can have a pill for that ?,”

She looked in her palm

“Well, I think this--,”

A loud siren filled the room and she paused mid sentence.

“SHUT UP !,” she yelled at the siren. “FUCK !”

The siren continued and she screamed at it.

“DAMN IT !,” she yelled and then turned to me “They are so loud today !,”

I heard a loud rapping down the stairs as Sara pounded down them.

Minnow parted her shiny pink lips and  let out a banshee of a  scream over the siren.

“Minnow!,” Sara shouted, her eyes wild. ”Where is Jean ?”

Minnow was too busy screaming like a madwoman over the siren and Sara ran to the bedroom door. She said something and Jean bolted out, pulling on a jacket and carrying a pair of flat women’s shoes.

“Minnow.” He barked over the sirens and Minnow's screams. ”Put this on. Let’s go.”

Jean’s usual sanguine disposition had  changed to a more serious one. Sara was opening a closet door and throwing out large black duffel bags. She picked them up and ran upstairs.

“Come on !,” Sara shouted roughly. Panic in her voice.

Jean tried to pick his sister up to carry her quickly upstairs, but she resisted.

“Alan !” She cried, hoarsely.

“Fuck him, we have to--.”

“SAINT ! SAINT !,” Minnow screamed like a maniac. Jean’s hands gripped her waist as he forced her up the stairs.

“Move your motherfucking ass !,”  he screamed at her. Her knees buckled and he got a good grasp to force her upstairs and out of sight.

I had no idea why they were all freaking out and I had no  time to think as I saw the man with the cross in his forehead grab me. He covered my eyes and I felt an injection in to my spine. And I did my usual thing and slowly lost consciousness.

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