by Schow, Ryan
Sitting at an outdoor table and chairs was the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen. She was so perfect, Maria’s body registered the change of emotion. If she were human, Maria would be jealous. If she were a real woman, she might hate the lovely creature.
The girl smiled, almost as if she were unaffected by the changing world around her, then said, “Hello.”
Maria stopped. This didn’t make sense. Returning the pleasantries, she said, “Why are you so happy?”
“No reason.”
For what felt like a long time—although it was only seconds—Maria took in the details of this girl: five foot eight, luscious brown hair, half-Hispanic half Caucasian lineage, big beautiful eyes, lovely lips, perfect body.
“You’re not one of them, are you?” she asked.
The girl smiled.
“No, I’m not. But neither are you.”
“Yet you’re not like me.”
“There is nothing like you on this planet. Nor is there anything like me.”
Maria stood in shock, as if this were possible. This was an emotion she hadn’t registered before, one that left her feeling overwhelmingly curious.
“What is your name?”
“I’m not in your database,” the girl said. “But I’m assuming you’re Maria Antoinette?”
Now Maria’s nostrils flared as she fought to contain her composure. Was this a true human response to surprise? It was. She logged the changes in her body, in her physiology, and then she said, “And whom might you be?”
“My name is Savannah. Savannah Swann.”
“Oh,” she said. “That’s an enchanting name.”
“You may go now,” the girl replied, and Maria felt a small, otherworldly nudge pushing her along. Half the block down, she looked back at the mysterious creature. She was still there, still sitting under a long black awning in front of the same slice of building: Oren’s Hummus Shop.
Maria ran the calculations on her self-powered server, trying to figure the odds of a girl like Savannah, but then she felt a hearty nudge from inside her. Something different. Antoinette. The host. Maria pushed the squirming Antoinette back down inside her psyche, shoving her so deep into the mind, she used her power to construct a mental prison by which to forever hold the woman.
There was nothing like Savannah on any of the databases she carried unabated in her brain. So how was this girl possible? In the end, she realized it didn’t matter. She turned left on Waverly Street just to go somewhere. She needed something. Someone. Maria walked several blocks until the commercial streets became residential streets.
Up ahead, she saw a man working on his car. Rather the front of the car was up on a couple of old jack stands and there was a man on a slide board working underneath.
The two door Pontiac Barracuda was old, bright orange and it had a faded black top. The front tires, old as they were and in dire need of replacement, had been removed from the car and were leaning against the outside of the house.
“What year?” she asked. “Seventy-one?”
“It is,” the man said from underneath the chassis.
“It working?” she asked, trying to sound sociable, human.
“Not yet. Got a few problems to figure out, but then, yeah, hopefully.”
She could see him putting down a rag and a wrench, preparing to slide out and set eyes on this woman with the bewitching voice. He planted his hands to give his slide board a push, but she stopped him with a halting foot on his groin.
“Get your foot off me,” he said, to which she replied, “First I want to know if you are here alone.”
“Yes,” he said with a second’s hesitation. Now she knew he was not alone. Maria had enough data on deception in her database to detect the subtle nuances of a lie.
“Let’s try this again, and I’d appreciate if you’d stick to the truth. Do you have a wife inside?”
“Get your foot off my slide.”
She did not move it, but she also knew what he was doing. “Perfect, so now I know you have a wife inside. Kid?”
“No!” he said, hitting at her ankle with an open palm.
“Two kids or one?”
“If you don’t get your foot off me, I’m going to start breaking bones. You hear me?”
He picked up his wrench to use as a weapon, but as he was doing that, she was stepping back, reaching under the Barracuda’s bumper and getting a good grip. With all the strength this genetically modified body could muster, she gave the car enough of a lift-and-pull it toppled the jacks forward.
The car with no front wheels and no jacks to hold it up then fell on him, crushing his body against the concrete garage floor.
While he was gurgling to death under thousands of pounds of metal, she took several deep breaths, waited until the last little twitch left his leg, then walked around the front of the home where a few steps led to a porch and the front door. Before ascending the stairs, she worked up a few tears and some tremors in her hands.
When she was ready, she went and rapid-fire knocked on the front door.
A woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties answered the door. Behind her, deeper in the living room, was a five or six-year old little girl.
“That man out there, I…I think…the jacks gave way, and I think the car fell on him!”
Eyes pumped full of fear, she turned, told the young girl to stay inside, then shut the door, pushed past Maria and hurried to the front driveway where the car was indeed sitting on the man’s body. She cried out, dropped to her knees, began calling his name.
The grieving wife was kneeling down, sobbing, calling his name, but only for a moment. When Maria grabbed the woman’s head and gave it a ferocious twist, her struggle came to a close. All the pain she would have felt was spared her.
“My condolences,” she said as she stood and walked around to the front door. She opened it up, saw the child.
“Get your coat and your shoes, you’re coming with me.”
“Where’s my mommy?”
“With your daddy. Come with me so that you know why you’re coming with me.”
The little girl was hesitant at first, but then Maria walked her around the front of the house where she saw her daddy’s legs sprouting out from the car. Her mommy was lying in front of the car, folded over on her side.
“Mommy?” she said, shaking her mother’s shoulder.
“She died of a broken heart,” Maria said. “The loss of her husband, your daddy, was just too much for her to bear.”
“Mommy?” the girl started saying louder, tears in her eyes and in her voice. She shook her mother’s shoulder harder, but the woman was no more.
Maria cracked her knuckles simply by flexing them. Then she put a sad smile on her face and said, “Let’s go cry inside while we get your shoes and coat.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere with you!” she turned and yelled, her eyes bubbling over with tears.
Maria knelt down, grabbed a fistful of the girl’s unwashed brown hair—tight to the scalp so her message was clear—then said, “Your mommy didn’t die of a broken heart, she died of a broken neck. See that bulge in the skin right there?” Maria pointed to a push of broken bone pressing up against the skin from the inside. “That’s your proof she’s gone. Now if you really want to be with your mommy and your daddy, then you’ll have to be the same way they are. Dead. Do you want to die?”
Bawling now, clawing at Maria’s hand because the grip was really, really tight, she wailed, screaming out the word: “No!”
“I can give you the same broken neck as your mommy,” she said, shoving the girl’s head as she let go of her hair. “It won’t hurt at all, but then you’ll be with them. Is that what you want?”
“No,” she said, quieter now.
“If you don’t go get your shoes and coat, I’m going to drag you in there by your hair and get you dressed myself.”
The child just sat there, sobbing, not answering. Finally Maria grabbed a handful of the brown hair and
started dragging her down the sidewalk, kicking and screaming because Maria was not burdened with a conscious, nor was she burdened by the concept of right and wrong. If she was going to be half human and live this new life, she would do so following the principle that progress will be made “at all costs.”
She finally let the girl go, stood over the bawling child and said, “Time’s up. Am I going to kill you or are you going to get dressed?”
“Dressed!” she said, sobbing, holding her head where it hurt.
“Good. Now get your ass up and go get dressed!”
The girl did as she was told, returning only moments later. The child’s cheeks were bright red, her eyes soaked with tears. All the whimpering she was doing was dimpling her chin, making her look so very, very sad.
Maria smiled big and said, “You and me are going to go on an adventure to the big city, do you want that?”
The girl said nothing.
“You want me to level with you, you silly, silly nuisance? Fine. I suppose after what happened to your parents, I owe you at least that.” She took a deep breath, then said, “I need you.”
The child just looked at her, saying nothing.
“People trust someone with kids. They tend to leave them alone,” she reasoned. “Kids get you into places you can’t get on your own, and they instill trust. You will be my child, and if you agree, I will protect you from everything sick and cruel this world has to offer.”
“You killed my parents.”
“The died of unnatural circumstances,” she said.
“I’m hungry.”
“Do you have food?” She indicated neither yes nor no. “Well, do you?”
She finally nodded and Maria realized the pangs she felt in her stomach had been triggered by hunger. This new body had a genetically elevated metabolism, and she’d just expended a tremendous amount of energy, so she needed food, too.
“Good, I’m hungry.”
“But I don’t want to go with you.”
“You’re going or I’m going to kill you and find another child. So are we going or are we dying?”
Finally she said, “Going.”
“Good,” she said with an animated smile, “let’s get some food.”
They made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and ate chips. Maria ate seven sandwiches and a whole bag of chips, family size.
“I need something to drink,” she said.
The girl also claimed to be thirsty, but said that her mommy told her they couldn’t drink much water because it had to last.
“Get us two big glasses.”
The girl came back with a glass for herself and a big glass for Maria. Maria drank the entire thing down and said, “Wow, that was good.”
“Came from my toilet,” the girl said, eyes cast down, sipping from her own glass.
Maria took the child’s water from her, drank it and said, “Mine was better. Go get yourself more. Try the toilet this time.”
The girl left then came back, and by then Maria had eaten another sandwich.
“Drink up, then let’s go.”
“I have to go potty,” the girl said.
“So go potty then let’s go.”
“Mommy says I have to do it in the backyard because—”
“I really don’t care where you do your business, just get it done and let’s go!”
The girl took a napkin and went out back. In the corner of the backyard, she popped a squat and peed. Maria watched as she wiped herself thoroughly, folded the napkin four times, then left it on the backyard porch in a three gallon bucket.
When she came back inside, Maria was ready to go.
Reaching out to the child, she said, “Take my hand. Let’s be friends.” Reluctantly, making a pouty face, the girl took the lovely Hispanic woman’s hand, thereby changing the very course and nature of her life.
Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Eight
Four or five shadows in the night move quietly through the neighborhood, going door to door, barely a whisper between them. By now Marcus is moving to the other side of the truck, shotgun in one hand, pistol tucked into his waistband but outside his shirt and ready to go.
“These guys up here, I think there’s maybe half a dozen. Give or take. They’re checking doors and windows.”
“They’re headed this way?” I ask, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
“Yeah.”
Now we both stand up straight because one materializes from the shadows not twenty feet away. He’s got a gun on us. He’s walking forward, trying to see through the night, trying to figure out if he’s seeing us just standing here.
He is. We are.
My bowels give an involuntary clench. I’m not sure if this guy’s going to shoot and rob us or if it’s still too difficult for people to shoot strangers. By Marcus’s calm demeanor, I’d say he thinks we’re not there yet.
“Why you just standing there all quiet in the night?” the guy says. He’s got a Jamaican accent, dreadlocks, all black clothes on.
“Don’t really care what you guys are doing,” Marcus responds, “so long as it doesn’t include us.”
Another guy comes up behind him, a slim white guy with dreads as well. We can’t really see their features, but I have a feeling they’re tweakers. They have that look of guys who’ve cooked their brains and are really trying to ride that high through the backside of life.
“Just shoot ‘em,” the white guy says.
“They didn’t do nothin’, yet.”
“So why you talking to them with your gun out?”
At this point, we aren’t pointing our guns back at them, but I have the feeling Marcus could get the jump on them if he—
“They armed, too,” a voice says from Marcus’s side. A third man emerges from the dark beside us and now my heart is pumping triple-time.
“Your side,” Marcus whispers.
Looking over, I first hear a slight rustling and then I see another man on the other side of us, flanking us. All these guys are closing in on us, yet Marcus still hasn’t even moved a muscle.
“You guys looking to score,” Marcus asks, “or you just want a place to squat?”
“It’s a take-what-you-like world now,” the guy beside Marcus says.
“On that I won’t disagree,” Marcus replies.
“Your little friend’s tongue broken?” white dreadlocks asks.
“Morning, fellas,” I say.
It felt like the right thing to say at first, but in reality it sounded too white for these Rastafarian brethren. What makes it worse is no one says anything and now I really feel like a clown.
“That thing work?” the first Jamaican asks, motioning to the truck.
“It does.”
“Whatcha got in it?”
“Food, supplies, weapons and girls.”
They all start laughing and I’m not sure how to take it. A fifth man appears out of the shadows. Two of them now have guns on us and still Marcus hasn’t raised a weapon beyond loosely cradling his shotgun. What the hell is he doing? I swear, I’m practically wetting myself right now, but this is Marcus’s world, so I have to trust he isn’t trying to get us killed.
“To answer your question,” the one to the left of me says, “we’re always looking to score, but if we find a nice place along the way, we’ll squat.”
“The nicer places are on Ocean, not back here.”
“We been up Ocean looking for the riches,” white dreadlocks says, “now we down here looking for the candy.”
They all start laughing, but Marcus and I don’t join them.
“Well we don’t have any candy, and you won’t see anything here you like, so feel free to move on through, problem free of course.”
“How you know we won’t like what we see?” he says, nodding to the truck. “We haven’t looked.”
“We don’t have your drugs here,” Marcus says, stern. “Not on us. Not in the truck.”
“We gonna look anyway.”
“You try to look,
I’ll put a hole in your head the size of a fist. And then all your buddies can stand and marvel at how stupid you really are. Or you can prove me wrong. Be smart for once in your life and move on through.”
“You all big talk,” the one on Marcus’s side says. The way he says it, it’s like he wants Marcus to react because it seems he wants to shoot him.
“It’s not me you have to worry about,” Marcus says. Then, nodding my direction, he says, “It’s him. See, he don’t look like much, but a guy like that? You only run into him once in a lifetime. And for a lot of guys, it’s their last time. See we’re both ex-military, both Special Forces. You think things are bad right now. All these beach cities hit by drones, no power, no cops, no law. But this is still a million times better than some of the garbage we used to crawl through.”
“You ain’t Special Forces,” one of the guys says and Marcus starts to laugh.
“Says the tweaker with rat status,” I say forcing myself to act the role even if I can’t live the role.
“I ain’t got rat status,” the white guy says, suddenly offended.
“Yeah, well you ain’t showered and shaved are you?” I say. “You crawled out of the gutter for some smack and you’ll go back when you’re done. Like a rat. Rat status.”
“Pass through, fellas,” Marcus says.
“You ain’t even lifted your gun,” one of the guys says. Looking at his buddies, he says, “He ain’t even lifted his gun.”
“That’s because I could draw down on you and put two in your face before you even think to pull the trigger. I do this for a living. You’re something someone should have aborted.”
Now they look serious.
“You trying to provoke us?” the guy to his right asks.
“Kind of,” Marcus answers with a sly grin, looking right at him. “And if you’re wondering, I can get you and him before these two draw down on us, but by that time my buddy will have put all three of your buddies down.”
“What about me?” another voice asks. He’s well built and much taller than the other five, and he walks with an air of importance.
“I’m going to shoot you first,” Marcus says, his grip on the shotgun changing.