-1-

Don’t fuck up.

That’s Minnie’s sage advice to me as we start up the basement steps and into the main floor of the house. The upstairs has the unpleasant smell of mildew.  Water logged clothes  and furniture are stuffed in a corner near the door next to a pile of music players, holoscreens and televisions.

Everyone is in frenzied motion; Saint effortlessly pushing a large couch across the floor, Jean taping up the broken windows and holes in the walls, and Sara taps on a holoscreen muttering a curse filled prayer to the screen.

“Piece of shit,” She whispers and then looks up at Minnow. “You have this on a backup, right ?”

“Uh-huh.” Minnie sighed. “How bad is it?”

“Bad.” She responds tersely and tosses the screen into a pile.

“I doubt this was just looters,” Jean calls from the other side of the room.

“I know,” Sara responds annoyed.

She  picks up another abandoned screen and wipes the top off with her shirt. It turns on and Sara makes an indistinguishable sound, but it sounds happy. She presses the buttons and  I can  make out the reflection of a set of photographs that she eagerly flips through. I catch a glimpse of a few they feature a  version of her I didn’t recognize. She has her arms around a good looking blonde guy

She catches me staring and her eyes turn back into daggers.

 “Hey, the blueboys will be coming around soon. I want that body gone," She snaps and stalks away.

I turn towards the front porch where the body is still lying prostrate on the cement. It's only getting darker out and the streetlights are illuminating him. I swallow back my fear and common sense and  walk over to it. I’ve never seen a dead body  in my life--I don’t even know anyone who has died.

 I  hear Minnie’s steps as she follows closely behind me

 His body is contorted in a weird way and I can’t handle it. I think I’m going to puke again and I want to be as far from the body as possible.  I don’t want to see it, let alone get rid of it.

“I can’t do this. I have no idea what to do….this is wrong,” I whisper to her.

She bites her lip.

“You didn’t kill him, okay ? He’s dead and we can’t bring him back. Besides--”

She kneels down and pulls back the boy’s collar and I see a small red tattoo snaking over his neck.

“—he’s Mjollner shit.”

I don’t know what that means, but before I can ask she starts talking again. Her tone it a close attempt at being soothing.

“With the real hits, Jean has a contact at the crematory. With this one you just have to be…creative. Hold on.”

She retreats in to the house and leaves me alone with him.

“I’m sorry,” I say to him.

I’m not sorry he is dead. I’m sorry I’m here to witness it.

 Minnie brings me back a yellowing  patchwork blanket and hands it to me with this encouraging look on her face. Under her gaze,  I spread the blanket out in the yard and place the body inside of it. He is surprising light. I root through the boy’s pockets to see if he has anything on him to identify him. I check his ear and there is no syndicate, I scan his body and see no SIN.

 Looking down the street I notice the neon orange Dumpsters that goes to the furnace. It’s not exactly cremation, but I guess it will do.  Back home the smoke and ash from the furnace is put through an energy converter and powers a lot of the public transit. I wonder if the same was true here.

 I look up to see no one is watching me, roll him up in the blanket and carry him down the block to the Dumpster.

The neighborhood stretches before me as one disjointed road. The street seemed eerily quiet and I wonder if these people know what their neighbors are up to.  I catch glimpses of people in the  square brick houses, most of them looking to be surveying damage or cursing someone else out. I notice many of the doors have been kicked off their hinges. The rows of identical houses seem to go on forever until I finally reach the dumpster.

There is a rusted metallic bedroom set sitting by the trash and I place the body inside a decorative armoire. Using all of my strength I tilt the armoire into the Dumpster until it hits the bottom with a reverberating thud.

And then that’s it. There is no turning back.

As I walk away I am filled with regret. I should have just left him in front of someone else’s house to make it look like they killed him. Now,  if this guy has  family, they may never be able to find him and this thought kills me. The world becomes narrow and my heart is pounding out of my chest, I want to cry for the man who I left to burn like trash.

When I get back to the house Sara is waiting on the steps in Minnow’s place. Her lips are in a straight line and even though she is wearing a pair of dark black shades I get the sense she is frowning.  Her hands are clenched around  her hips.

“Where did you take it ?” she demands.

“I wrapped him up and put him in the furnace.”

“That’ll do,” she says and crosses her arms.

I follow her into the house, that is starting to look all but abandoned. She turns suddenly and flicks her sunglasses off in a quick movement.

“Look Alan or whoever the fuck you are, I don’t want to have to kill you. You technically didn’t do anything to us, but I can’t promise you anything.  Understand ? “

I don’t, but I nod anyway.

She keeps staring at me.

“I’m sorry about--”

“What the hell could you possibly be apologizing to me for ?,” she snaps

“I mean, I’m sorry about your husband. I can’t believe Tempus would--”

“God damn, Jean.” She whispered under her breath.

“I get why you might be upset with Tempus but I--”

“I’m not upset,” she spits at me. “Don’t ever say I’m upset, that’s a petty word. Don’t you think ?”

She looks at me and I am honestly too afraid to say anything else.

“You remind me a little of him.” She smiles

I’m shocked and then she points to a clear plastic box filled with spare tech parts.

“Get that shit,” She commands

 

-2-

I take them and follow her down the stairs. The basement isn’t so empty anymore, in the center are two matching square black couches, a large gold painted wardrobe, an entire kitchen table set and lining the edges of the floor are over a dozen  padlocked black trunks.

 Luce is propped up on one of the trunks in the center of this room with his arms crossed and his face oddly vacant. Jean and Minnow stand next to each other observing the mess looking equally pissed off.

“This is a disaster,” Minnie sighs loudly. “There isn’t enough room.”

“It’s fine,” Sara decided. “The couches fold out, Luce and I can sleep there.”

“This is bullshit, Sara. We need to move,” Jean snapped.

“ We don’t have the money. We’re in debt as it is.”

“Well, let’s just get in some more,” Jean suggests.

“Hey, how about I just throw you two bastards out ?” Sara snaps back

“Then who’d cook for you ?,” Minnnie retorts.

“And who’d remind you what day it is ?,” Sara responded.

Minnie just rolls her eyes and turning on her SINdicate wanders off into her bedroom. Sara turns her cold stare to Jean and it falters.

“If I could I move I would. It’s just not happening right now. Let’s make best of this,” she says and he nods.

I hear a pounding down the steps as Saint comes down carrying a titanium safe.  My brain can barely process how strong he must be to carry something like that. He sets it down in the middle of the floor and looks around the room.

Here is the thing about Saint.

 I think he is an actual Saint which is kind of a mindfuck. Because they aren’t supposed to exist.

The program had been uncovered a few years ago and was some kind of scandal. One of Tempus’ rivals, Eternus Unlimted, was testing a program to turn average men into unyielding, obedient and unstoppable soldiers with silver crosses impressed in their foreheads as a symbol for sacrifice

The project failed horrifically because no one could figure out how to run the Saint Programming  it without killing the men. But instead of the company admitting what happened they covered it all up and kept going until it was leaked and shut down by the government.

Except here was Saint and he did seem like the perfect soldier; strong, obedient, silent and skilled. But there was still something human about him. Especially now as he looked around the basement and then lumbered back up the steps.

“Hey, put the safe in your closet,” Sara orders Jean.

“Little help?” Jean says to me and I grab the other side as we push it into their bedroom.

I see Minnie is lying in bed, tangled in a fuzzy blanket, she is completely absorbed into whatever is going on in her SINdicate.

Jean and I push the case into a corner of the bedroom and he picks up a black blanket off the floor and covers it. He also picks up a stuffed unicorn and playfully tosses it at his sister who doesn’t leave her Syndicate induced trance.

I still find it odd that Minnie is the only one with a SINdicate, I mean sure they aren’t standard tech in the West, but they have must have government issued versions. How else do they do anything ?

 “Take a shower,” Minnow commands when she finally looks up.

“What ?”

“We’re going out,” she smiles.

I see Jean raise an eyebrow

“What-“

“ The Sprawl just survived an almost nuclear attack, that calls for a party ! ”

***

 

The white noise of the water hitting tile drowns out any thoughts. Which I like. Any time I do any thinking about what I’m  doing it just makes me sick, so I push it back. All I know is if I keep in Minnie’s good graces, maybe she can help me get home.

I step out of the shower and looked at myself in the fogless mirror, my face still looked to be in surprisingly good condition. I change back into Jean’s clothes and  when I open the bathroom door I see  Minnie leaning in close to her own vanity mirror.  When she turns to me she has on a  full face of makeup and her lips are this deep pink color I can’t stop staring at.

Mostly because in between them is  a shiny gold pill.

She winks at me as she tips the gold pill back into her mouth and swallows.

“You clean up, nice,” She smiles and holds out an antique mint container. It’s filled with hundreds of  identical bright orange pills.

“Take one or two. Or, fuck it three.”

“What are these? “ I ask as I walk towards her.

“The pain pills I promised you.”

I’d forgotten about those, but for some reason the pain had ebbed.  I took one anyway.

She snaps the container closed and picks up a bottle of gold nail polish.

“Is this too much ?” she asks me.

I shrug as she sprints across the room and tests the polish on the already painted doorknob. She is wearing this little blue dress and expensive looking black high heels. The skirt is flowy and rides around her upper thigh as she bends over, it’s impossible not to stare at her legs.

“Come on, Minnow !”  Jean calls exasperated from the other room. “Or I’m leaving without you.”

She sighs and tosses the nail polish into the bed, probably to be lost forever. She teeters around in a small circle and makes direct eye contact with me.

“How do I look ?,” she asks

It strikes me off guard.

“I,uh--,” I stutter

Before I can finish she grabs my arm and we walk out of the room.

Jean is perched on the back of one of the black couches behind Sara and pouring her an exceptionally  large glass of dark red wine. She is half lying on the couch and with her arm extended. Her shirt rides up and I can see she has some kind of latin phrase tattooed across her stomach.

 “....All you need is a nice black wig until it all grows, I can curl it up. You’d look beautiful,” Jean tells Sara and she rolls her eyes.

 “ I’m ready…and I guess I look speechless ! Okay, off we go!,” Minnie announces loudly, throwing her hands in the air and doing another spin. Jean nods in approval at her as he put the wine bottle to his lips and knocks back the last of it.

 “Have fun spending the night with mommy,” Minnie coos in a baby voice, bending her finger at Luce.

I noticed him for the first time in the room. He was sitting on the floor in the corner, surrounded by a series Holoscreens.

“I’ll go,” He says quietly and stands up to join us.

I barely recognize his voice because it is the first time I’ve heard him speak when he isn’t screaming or yelling.

 “Isn’t it past your bedtime ? ” Minnie laughs as she jerks his arm and messes up his mass of hair.

“Shut up, I’m only 3 years younger than you,”  He retorts, harmlessly pushing her hand away.

Luce turns to Jean who is standing up by the door.

“Let me come, Jean,” he asks

“Eh, maybe sit this one out little brother,” Jean replies with a weak smile .

“Don’t be ma-aaa-d.” Minnie teases in a sing song voice. “C’mere I’ll give you a goodnight  kiss !”

She put her arms around him and holding him tight, leans in to kiss his neck.

“Stop. Get away from me!” Luce screams  trying to squeeze out of her grasp.

“Is the little baby having a tantrum ? It must be way past your bedtime ,” she baby-talks again and starts to go for his lips.

“Stop it !” Luce continue as he  finally wrestles himself of her arms.

“Aww,” she coos, grazing her fingernails over his face.” Are you going to cr-“

Before she can finish the back of his hand flies across her face. Hard.

“Hey !” Jean scolds at the same time Sara says, “Enough.”

Minnie puts her hand to her face and  Luce just stares back at her with his arms crossed and his eyes looking inhumanely blank.

“Listen, little brother,” Jean breathes eyeing Luce. “ I don’t want to ever hurt you, but don’t you ever touch my sister like that again.”

 “Just get out !” Sara barks.

Minnow grabs my hand and we walk out.

The Dories walk on either side of me as we head out of the neighborhood—like they think I’m still going to make a run for it. And maybe I should be, but I’m starting to actually trust them and I want to see how far this trust goes. Besides if I did leave, I have no idea where I’d go.

“Crazy bastard,” She mumbles when we hit the main street and I can feel the upcoming buzz of people.

“You know, baby , you need to just leave him alone, sometimes,” Jean sighs

“Oh, sure take his side,” she mumbles. “ He is such a spoiled brat.”

 “I know, I know.  But e may go off one day and we don’t want to be in the crossfire. I mean,  I love him like a brother, but something isn’t all there.”

“Ha!,” she balks into the air and starts skipping in front of us. She turns back to see Jean and I keeping an even pace behind her.

“C’mon ! I totally need to kick Alan’s ass in Grand Theft Auto tonight !”

Jean doesn’t sped up and I keep pace with him, neither of us saying anything. It’s actually kind of nice to be out walking since when I’m at home we drive everywhere. And even though I spend some time in the Physicality Center, I’m still winded after only a few minutes. I think it’s the heat, even with the moon in the sky, the heat feels like it is radiating off everything.

I’m beginning to understand why it seems no one is ever wearing any clothes.

“Is it always this hot ?,” I ask

“Yeah,” Jean answers at the same time Minnie shouts it from her lead in front of us.

-3-

After a few blocks, the streets get louder with in the sounds of conversations, laughter and megascreens chatter  set to the beat of  the bass pumping out of the clubs. Holographic advertisements plaster the streets—most for unsavory activities, but we are moving so quickly I can’t read any of them. There are dozens of open air bars,  flashy nightclubs, restaurants and tech shops  packed side by side on the street.

I’m overwhelmed.

Any sense of tension or upset from the incident at the house is gone as Minnie hooks her arms around us and giddily turns into an  open air tech market. I’m surprised to see so many tech shops since most people here don’t seem to have Syndicates, but I quickly see these shops sell more than SINdicate accessories.

There are all kinds of little cybernetic machines and devices that I’m sure are illegal back home—mainly because they are mostly scams. Like the leg attachments that claim to help you run faster or patches to make the world black and white.

Minnie breezes through the shop and heads to the back where there is a shimmering red sign for the  Phoenix Arcade. Inside, crowds of young people are staring into large gaming consoles, reflections of screens  splash across their faces-- images of violent deaths, car chases and fantasy worlds. Some consoles have virtual reality glasses and others have player gesturing around the floor. Spontaneous bursts of laughter and yelps fill the room.

 Minnie and Jean exchange quick hugs and kisses with the occasional person but they are on a mission to the very end of the arcade and through a pair of automatic doors to the brightly lit cafe.

 Once the doors shut, the music from the arcade  is vacuumed out, leaving silence behind. Only a couple people sit at the rows of flat glass tables with color strobes pulsing inside. A few men in suits are sitting at a bar. Jean and Minnie sit at a small table in the corner of the room, I pull up an extra chair and sit across from them.

 "I’m going to kick Alan’s ass in Grand Theft Auto !” Minnie repeats throwing her arms up again.

“Probably,” I respond

“What ? You don’t play video games ?,” she asks as she pulls a mint box out of her top.

“Not like this,” I admit

The arcades at home are never this crowded and the games are a lot more regulated. Anything with stealing wouldn't be allowed in a public arcade.

She flicks open the box and runs her fingers through the pills before taking a small capsule and putting the box out to me.

I shake my head no and she proceeds to crush the pill on the table with a spoon until it’s a powder. With her finger she flattens the powder and sticks the tip of her finger into her mouth and sucks on it.

“God, the night is just beginning,” Jean smiles uneasily.

“It’s just a downer.”

As the siblings share some kind of silent impasse, a waitress comes over and places three glasses with a green drink and lime wedges on the table. Upon seeing the waitress Minnie pops up and hugs her.

“Just so you know, we have a half-off we-didn’t-get-nuked special going on,” the waitress explains. She eyes me briefly, but looks away.

“Funny !,” Minnie shouts. “Hey, where did they evac you ?”

“The Islands. Beautiful beaches, but we had to sit outside. So fucking hot.”

As she turns to set down a menu I notice it.

Wires.

 Coming out the back of her head.

 I look at the waitress’ face closely as she talks to Minnie, she really is unbelievably beautiful. As she smiles down at Jean I see it. A micro pinhole camera implanted near the waitresses hairline is projecting a hologram over her face. The more I stare the more I notice how her lips don’t always move in sync or how her face never seems to change expression pass mildly pretty.

It’s either the coolest thing I’ve ever seen or the most disturbing.

 “ We want a pizza,” Minnie says, giving the menu back without looking ,”With pineapples and salsa--”

“And smoked salmon,” Jean adds

“Yeah, that too.” Minnie finishes

“Coming right up!,” she smiles and walks off.

When she is a few feet away, Minnie mouth an “oh my god” and gestures towards her own face, Jean gives her a silent laugh in reply. The table falls silent as Minnie looks into her SINdicate and Jean takes the lime out of his drink and puts the whole thing in his mouth. He leans back in the chair, letting his long legs extend out over the table. A razor blade rests on the bottom of his shoe.

One of the men at the bar starts towards us. Jean glances at him, but he doesn’t act like he sees him. The suit's walk is steady and cautious as he sizes up our table. He pulls a SINdicate out of his pocket and places it in his ear, he quickly moves through a few screens and stopping in front of our table, reflects a hologram on the surface.

It shows a dollar amount.

Jean spits the lime out on to the table and sits up in his chair

“Me or her?” he asks smiling at the suit.

He appears flustered and seems to be actually deciding. His eyes shift from the spaced out Minnow to Jean’s intense gaze.

“Time’s up,” Jean says and hooks his arm around the suits shoulder and they walk towards the back of the cafe. The screeching of Jean's chair gets Minnow’s attention and she snaps out of her Syndicate to see Jean walking off.

“Fuck,” she says under her breath. “Well, I guess we can order more food now.”

I wonder if it bothered her. I wonder if anything bothers her.

“Hey, Minnie do you think you can use your Syndicate and send a message to my parents ?,” I ask.

“Nope,” she quips emptying a tiny plastic syringe in her drink and swirling it with her straw.

“Please. I just need them to know I’m okay.”

I'm begging.

“I mean I can’t. My Syndicate has restricted access, so I can’t. Sorry,” She explains, but she doesn’t look sorry.

The food comes and even though I pick off most of the toppings I feel full and healthy for the first time in a while. We eat for about 30 minutes and Jean doesn’t make a reappearance.

Minnie is flipping through a desert menu when an anemic looking man in a skin tight white t-shirt paces up behind Minnie and kisses the side of her neck. When she turns to  see who it is, he switches to the other side and sits next to her.

He looks like he is in his early late 20's, his pale skin i shiny and his short hair is a mess of bronze and red pieces that stick up in different directions. A thin silver chain hangs from a nose ring down to a piercing on the side of his lip.

When Minnie finally sees him, her face lights up and I start to wonder if he is her boyfriend.

“Hey, Pascal!  This is Alan. Alan’s…visiting.”

Pascal looks down at me and then gives Minnie a guarded look.

"He's cool," she says

“Hey, hey,hey, you use ?,” he finally greets me.

His voice is jittery and the chain hanging on his face jumps when he talks.

“No,” I answer quickly.

Pascal shrugs  and empties out a bag on the table--releasing a small avalanche of little bags with  pills and a few  syringes.

“Clea-ra-nce sale,” he sings to Minnie, raising a pierced eyebrow.

She props her elbows on the table and sinks her head into them.

“I’m tapped out. My brother is such a cockblock and I already owe you--”

“No worries, no worries, girl. Take what you want. It’s on the house.” He says pawing through the pile and waving a bag of green diamond shaped pills in her face.

Minnie  looks at him from under her lashes in this way  that make her eyes look bigger.

“Why ?,” she asks

“Cause imma nice guy,  cause I love my best client and cause I gotta better deal. Way better deal.This indie dealing shit is too much damn work.”

“Better deal. With who ?,” she asks

“With who ? With who ? You mean, with what. Give me a flag, a haircut and say goodbye to my piercings. I’m enlisting.”

“What the fuck ? You’d work for the G-men ?”

“Hell,  for that kind of ice I’d break my back for the damn devil. Hell, for the kind of ice I'd let you shoot me in the head so I can be the first to meet Mr. Lucifer, my new boss, Hell for that kind of ice, I'd start letting guys fuck me--”

“What the fuck are you talking about ?,” she interrupts and she is partially giggling.

Pascal thumps his finger against her head three times. 

“You’d think with that piece of shit tech in your head you’d atleast watch the news. Big man J. Walker wants to refortify the border, so they are giving bonuses if you enlist in the next 14 days. 5k signing fee and salary. And all you gotta do it sit on your ass all day.”

“I may be a dumb whore, but even I know we don't have an army," She counters.

"It's like border patrol or some shit. Did you see the press conference ? Creating some kind of new border patrol is all part of Walker's wet dream. He's just bored and wants to pretend we are all in danger. Besides, who gives a fuck ? It pays."

"I don't know, it sounds dangerous," she shrugs

“No more dangerous than trying to deal in  cartel territory.  This is my out, but I need to drop this shit before I go. I'm only giving my hottest clients this freebie deal, so you want something ?”

Minnie paws through the pills examining them. She picks up one of the syringes and looks at it closely. The liquid inside is shiny and metallic, it's content beads up as she rolls it around, but liquifies once she stops.

“Is that chrome ? ” I ask.

They both turn to me.

“You do chrome ?,” she yelps. “Didn’t realize you were so hardcore.”

I didn’t do chrome, I’d  just seen a lot of movies and PSAs.

I mean sure, I was curious.  Chrome is really good for doing a lot of surgeries. I know they use it at the Kyto Biofarms. But here is the thing; recreationally, it could make you feel like you would live forever.

Or kill you.

It reconfiged the brain implants that connect SINdicates and turn the world insane. Giving you an outer body experience wrapped in hallucinations and elevated emotions. But, sometimes it would short circuit a person’s implant permanently and only a skilled bio surgeon could maybe fix. Maybe.

It's pretty heavily regulated and for that reason, a cartel exists for it.

Minnie continues to paw the corners of the syringe.

“C’mon,” Pascal sings at her.”... It’s like an orgasm, your birthday and winning an argument in one."

Minnie gives him a half smile, pockets the syringe and the little bag of green diamond pills.

“For a rainy day,” she  adds. ”Do not tell Jean. He’ll freak.”

“Not a word. My lips are sealed. Between you and me.” Pascal smiles gathering his stuff. He stands up and then turning around leans into Minnow's ear and half whispers in her ear

“I’m enlisting tomorrow, see if you can make time to see me.”

“Yeah,” She giggles and I catch him nibbling on her ear before he walks back out to the arcade.

-4-

She hands me one of the green pills.

“Take it. It's a upper, it makes it more fun.”

And I do.

And it does.

And it is everything.

We rush back to the noise and sound of the arcade, the crowd is thicker than before and a dance floor has opened up in the middle of it all. The mesh of bodies move to a rhythm that is pulsating through my body. I don’t even have to ask if I’m high because even the world is moving in synch with me and everything and everyone looks so god damn clear and so god damn happy.

Minnie prances to a pair of fiber molded stationary motorcycles in the corner and hops on to one. I catch a glance of her black panties, but before me (or my body can react) she yanks me over and puts a helmet on my head. All the noise is gone again except for the soundtrack of the game and Minnie's breathing. The blackness flicks away to a virtual beach scene where Minnie sets the game to medium difficulty.

The bike heats up as it gets an impression of our bodies and a pair of avatars in our likeness show up on the screen as a countdown starts.

"Drive it like you stole it !," Minnie screams into the mic as the countdown reaches zero and the sound of police sirens alerts us it's time to go.

And we're off.

 I can feel the friction as we move through the sand with the police cars chasing us. As promised Minnie is way ahead of me. I pull harder on the throttle and gain pace with her, she kicks sand in my face and I can feel the sprays. The tech is top notch and the effects are breathtaking as we race past sunset and into midnight.

I can feel the virtual wind on my face and I'm smiling. I'm having fun. I shouldn't be, but at this point I don't even remember how to experience other emotions.

Minnie's avatar starts to lose balance and she swerves on the beach. I stop accelerating and swerve back around

“You okay ?”

“Whoa. Yeah, some asshole just bumped me. I can't believe you stopped !"

She immediately rights herself and starts racing ahead in front of me.

We keep going at break neck paces when she swerves again her avatar is thrown from the bike and into the water. She just stays down and I watch her drown instead of getting back up. The virtual cops surround her avatar and shoot her down. The water stains read and the game declares me the winner.

I take off my helmet to see the arcade has changed. The dancing has stopped, the music has collapsed and a giant wave of people are running towards the exits.

“RAID!" Someone shouts.

 I look over and see Minnie is on the floor, struggling to get up. Some asshole steps on her hand when she reaches up and I leap over the bike and help her up.

“Ow ! Shit, shit, shit.” Minnie says and I can see a group of Republican Police coming in with their sleek guns aimed at the crowd. They are throwing whoever they get their hands on  against the wall and frisking them. When they pull drugs out of one guy's hands he is immediately cuffed and slammed against the wall.

I'm sure with just the pills Minnie could get away, but I think about the syringe of chrome in her pocket and realize we have to get out of here.

"Just throw it away and we can go," I whisper to her.

"No. C'mon," she hisses.

She runs towards the back and I run after her,but the back entrance is just as crowded with people making their escape.  She looks around desperately before pressing on a hidden door in the side of the wall and slipping into a small side closet.  When she shuts the door, I find the dark closet to be claustorphobic and  it smells like liquor and dampness. She grabs my chest and laughs.

“I hope Jean is safe.,” she breathes.

“Minnow Dory ?”

The voice isn’t mine.

It belongs to a stranger. She flicks on the light on her SINdicate and we both jump as a man in the corner is illuminated. He is sitting on a case of beer with his back against the wall.

Minnow crosses her arms and for the first time she looks intimidated.

“Dakota.” She greets him

“Well, isn’t this a delight,” he smiles. “No one else I’d rather be locked in a closet with.”

I wonder if I should be concerned. Minnie pushes her back into the door, separating herself as far as she can from the man.

Dakota had long orange hair surrounding a face that looks like it was once disfigured. He is dressed in a deep red pinstripe suit and had to be the oldest person in the arcade by a decade. Kneeling in front of him is a woman with waist length straight black hair and a skin tight backless silver dress. On her back I see a large red tattoo, similar to the one on the neck of that man I'd disposed of.

 "Who's the collarboy ?," he asks nodding towards me.

Was I still that obvious ?

"Nobody," she says

He seems to  think this is an acceptable  answer and picks up a bottle of golden tequila off the floor. He rips off the seal, pops the top taking and takes a long drink.

“This shitholes not going to be open again anytime soon after this. May as well,” he grumbles to no one in particular.

He offers some to the woman in silver as she stands to sit in his lap. She shakes her head and Dakota runs his fingers over the back of her tattoo and leers over at Minnie.

“I still think your tight little body could use some nice ink,” he says to her.

“Maybe my dead tight little body,” she huffs

 He makes an annoyed sound.

“You’re a beautiful girl,” he sighs “And the Shy Cartel doesn’t know how to treat beautiful girl.”

“Why ? Because they don’t sell them,” she mutters

“Hey, little bitch I’m not for sale,” The woman in silver hisses.

She starts to get up and looks ready to scratch Minnie's eyes with her nails, but Dakota has his hands firmly around her impossibly slender waist and holds her back.

"Let's not draw any attention to ourselves," he warns.

She settles for giving Minnie a deadly stare.

“You need to know that family means shit. You can't just do what your asshole brother does,” Dakota tells Minnie.

“Don’t talk about Jean. Or me. I’m not apart of anyone's group and I'm not trying to join anything so stop asking.”

"Fine," he says. "But, I know your dumbass dealer is enlisting so don't come to me for anything anymore."

"Fine," she spits back at him.

We descend back into silence and listen as the cops continue to search and arrest people. After nearly an hour,  the woman in silver and Dakota start kissing lightly and soon they are full on making out.  Minnie just looks annoyed and  I’m actually freaked out they are going to forget we are in the room. 

“Do you hear that ?,” Minnie asks

“I don’t hear anything.” I say 

“I know,” she exclaims and pushes the door open.

The arcade is empty and through the window I see the  moon is high in the sky.

Without a word she quickly tiptoes out of the club, I hear the clack of heels and see Dakota and the woman in silver follow behind us.

Jean is sitting on a bench outside tapping his foot wildly. He pops up when he sees us.

Minnie runs into his arms and kisses him.

Dakota is standing by the door and staring hard at Jean.

“Want a show ?,” he calls to Dakota.

“You know what I want,” he says and walks off with his arm around the woman in silver.

 When Minnow unravels herself from Jean we start walking up the street and I know we are heading back to the house.

“Who exactly is that guy ?,” I asked

“Low ranking pimp for the Mjollner. A bullshit soft cartel," Jean says. "When I was first on the streets he helped me out a, but we've parted ways since. He's got this fixation on Minnie ever since she's been out here.”

“Do all their members have those tattoos ?” I ask

"Tawdry, aren't they ? Thinking of getting inked ?"

“No, it’s just the guy who I—uh, put in the---the dead man had one.”

“We know,” he said

"So, you think Dakota sent him to destroy your house ?"

"Maybe. I mean he doesn't have that kind of power, but yeah, someone sent that kid to destroy our place."

A gang war ?

Had I just stepped into a fucking gang war ?

My high had worn down, but Minnie was still in the throws of hers. She danced down the street, forcing Jean to be her partner. At a streetlight she pulled him out into the middle of the road and they Foxtroted while playing chicken with the vehicle driving down the road. He holds her in a low dip as bus  headlights come barreling towards them.  A nearby police car honks loudly and they scramble back on to the sidewalk in fits of laughter.

I thought about the game Minnie and I played. How she never got up and the game's police shot her down and the water stained pink. How  I felt loss. I just didn't get it.

How could she play a game.

When all of it was so real.

 

 

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