Footprints

by Alex Archer

  "I do now," Jenny said. "And I'm not walking away from the chance just because it's not the right thing to do in someone else's book. For me, this is the right thing to do and it's the right time to do it."

  Annja looked at the ground. "I can't let you take the drugs, Jenny."

  "Why not? After everything I've just told you. I poured my heart out to you. I'm dying here and you still cling to some supposedly noble ideology? How is that your decision to make?"

  Annja shook her head. "I don't know. But it's a decision that has to be made and I'm the person here, right now, standing in your way."

  Jenny raised the gun. "Like I said, I don't want to hurt you, Annja. But so help me, God, if you try to stop me from achieving my happiness, I will put a bullet in you. I'm not going to go back to my crummy life and try to spend the next forty years telling myself that it would have been wrong to take the drugs and give myself the life I've always wanted. No way."

  Annja got up from the ground. "I can't let you do that, Jenny. You'd never forgive yourself if you did. That junk only hurts more people than it saves. The money those criminal kingpins have is taken from the suffering of others. You don't want to be any part of that."

  "I do now." Jenny shrugged. "I just do not care about anyone else anymore except myself."

  "In that case," Annja said. "You'll have to shoot me."

  Chapter 37

  Jenny shook her head. "I don't want to do that."

  "You're not taking the drugs, Jenny. So if you're determined to do that, then I'll have to stop you," Annja said.

  "After everything we've been through together. You'd really try to stop me?"

  "I wouldn't try. I would do it," Annja replied honestly.

  Jenny shook her head. "I thought you'd understand my reasons for doing this."

  "I do understand your reasons. But that doesn't mean I have to condone them. And I can't. I hope you'll understand that."

  Jenny shook her head. "Actually, I can't understand why you'd stand in my way. That's equal to you telling me that I don't have the right to live my life the way I want to."

  "No, that's you saying you don't care if living your life comes from the suffering of others."

  "What about my suffering? Doesn't anyone care about that? Isn't that important, as well? Or am I just going to be forgotten again like every other time?"

  Annja looked Jenny in the eye. "You're starting to annoy me with the woe-is-me stuff. You're no different from millions of other people. We all struggle in some way, shape or form to make our way through life. No one ever said it was going to be an easy thing."

  "No one ever said it was going to be this difficult, either."

  "Granted. But what's the choice? You're going to abandon all your morals now just because you've got the chance to take advantage of a situation that you'd normally steer clear of?"

  "I've got the chance to make my life what I've always wanted it to be. My visions have the chance to become reality now."

  "And how are you going to manage that? You're just going to waltz down to their contacts and sell them the drugs?"

  "Why not?"

  "You think they'd even deal with you?"

  "I've got the merchandise."

  "But they don't know you from anyone. You could be a cop. You could be wearing a wire or something. Trust me when I tell you that drug dealers aren't the kind of people you want to be messing around with."

  Jenny ratcheted the slide on the pistol. "Well, maybe this is the new Jenny. And frankly, the new Jenny just might have some tricks up her sleeve that the old one didn't."

  "You're going to need them if you hope to come out of that meeting alive and intact."

  Jenny smiled. "Why don't you come with me?"

  "Me? No way."

  "Why not? You could be the security blanket I need. Keep an eye on things and make sure it all goes to plan. I'll split the money with you. There's more than enough for both of us to go anywhere we want and live like queens."

  Annja shook her head. "You haven't been listening to me, have you? Didn't you hear what I said earlier? I can't live my life the way I want to. The sword controls me now. It's not overt, but I can feel the pressure from it to journey where there's evil and help rout it."

  "Throw the sword away, then."

  Annja shook her head. "As if it was that easy."

  "You threw it easily enough at Tom there."

  Annja nodded. "And look where it ended up."

  Jenny glanced to her right and so did Annja. But the sword wasn't embedded in the trunk of the tree anymore.

  Jenny frowned. "Where is it?"

  Annja tapped her chest. "Back with me now. Inside. Always with me. No matter what."

  Jenny pointed the gun at her. "Don't even think about pulling it out. I won't hesitate to shoot you."

  "Yes, you will."

  The explosion made Annja wince as the air broke near her left ear. A single shell casing spun out of the ejector port on the side of the pistol and spiraled to the ground.

  Jenny regarded her now with a certain detachment. "I don't think you want to make a wrong assumption again, Annja."

  "Guess not."

  Jenny nodded at the truck. "How much have you placed inside?"

  "A few bags. Not that much."

  "And what do you think the street value would be?"

  "I have no idea. But it's not enough. Remember, these guys you'd be dealing with are expecting a full shipment of drugs. You show up with just a few bags and they'll think you're holding out on them. That's not the kind of thing that endears you to criminals."

  "So you'll help me load the rest of it, then. Just like we were doing before."

  Annja shook her head. "I won't."

  Jenny waggled the gun. "Don't make me shoot you. I'm getting tired of saying it."

  "I'm getting tired of hearing it." Annja sat down. "You're going to have to accept the fact that I am not going to be a party to your new criminal enterprise."

  "So that's it?"

  "That's it."

  Jenny looked down over the pistol. "This isn't how I wanted things to end with you, Annja."

  "Could have fooled me. You seem perfectly at ease with what you're about to do."

  "I suppose stress and anxiety have a way of making you reconcile the certain necessary evils of life." She shrugged. "And I'm sure it's nothing that a couple million dollars won't help me forget all about."

  Annja shook her head. "If you think for one split second that you'll ever forget about this, then you're sadly mistaken."

  "Am I really? And how would you know?"

  "Because I carry the memory of every person I've ever killed. They never leave you. They never go away or dull over time. They're always there in your mind. Whenever you think they're not, they just come back even stronger than before."

  "I guess I'll have to learn to live with it. Just like you did, huh?"

  Annja nodded. "Yeah, but the people I've killed have all been bad. The world was better off without them." She looked at Jenny. "I've never had to kill a friend before. I've never done what you're about to do."

  Jenny was quiet for a moment. She frowned when she looked back at Annja. "All of this talk is just designed to get me to think twice about my actions."

  "I'm trying to talk some sense into you before you make the biggest mistake of your life."

  Jenny shook her head. "The biggest mistake I ever made was not doing a better audition for Chasing History's Monsters. I could be where you are right now."

  "They came to me," Annja said. "I never searched them out at all."

  Jenny smiled. "Oh, sure. I read all about it in the newspaper. How you were chosen out of a hundred or so hopefuls. I was one of those hopefuls. I thought I had a legitimate shot at the role. I didn't know at the time that the fix was already in."

  Annja shook her head. "I didn't know about that. I figured it was just propaganda put out by the studios to help sell the show. No one really expects anyone to believe it.
I didn't know you tried out for the show. I never knew what it was that made them pick me. I'm sure you would be a huge hit on the show."

  "Stop trying to butter me up. It won't work."

  Annja sighed. "This is getting us nowhere. You're going to shoot me so you can run off with bags of drugs, sell them to people you've never even met, think that they won't smoke you as soon as they get a shot and then ride off into the sunset on some Fantasy Island regurgitation."

  "Yep."

  "You realize the entire thing sounds ridiculous."

  Jenny laughed. "My life's been ridiculous so far. Why stop now?"

  "Because I'm asking you to. Does that count for anything? Anything at all?"

  Jenny chewed her lip. "Not anymore, Annja. I'm sorry. But it doesn't. The time has come. The needs of the one now outweigh the needs of the many."

  Annja nodded. "I can't entirely find fault with you wanting to do this. I just wish you'd see how unlikely it is that you'll be successful."

  Jenny looked up. The drizzle had tapered off and the clouds had started to part. "Weather's getting better. That should make loading the truck easier."

  "For you," Annja said.

  "Still not going to help?"

  "No."

  "And I can't buy your loyalty?"

  Annja sniffed. "My loyalty was never for sale. It was given unconditionally as a result of being your friend. Your good friend."

  "We were good friends," Jenny said. "It's a shame that after all we've been though it has to end this way."

  "Just get on with it, then."

  Jenny nodded. "All right. If that's what you want."

  "It's better than sitting here trying to talk some sense into you. That's obviously not going to work."

  "I'm beyond reason at this point. All I can see is what I need to do in order to make my life what I want it to be."

  "If you say so."

  "I do."

  Annja leaned back on her hands. "Make sure you aim properly. I don't want an abdominal wound. Those suck."

  Jenny positioned the pistol in both of her hands and adopted a solid shooter's stance. "I'll put two in your heart. It will be over soon enough."

  Annja looked at her. "I want you to do me a favor."

  "A last request? That seems a little trite. Especially coming from someone like you."

  "What's that supposed to mean?"

  Jenny shrugged. "You don't seem like the type who would beg for something at the last moment."

  "I'm not begging for anything," Annja said. "I'm only making a small request for you to remember something. That's all. No steak dinner or anything like that. Just a tiny favor."

  "And what would you like me to remember?"

  "That I saved your life."

  Jenny looked at her. "Joey saved my life. Not you."

  Annja shook her head. "No. If I hadn't taken the spirit walk with Joey's grandfather, we never would have found you."

  "Why didn't you tell me that before?"

  Annja sighed. "Because when I do these things I'm not looking for bragging rights. I do them because I don't have any other choice. It's who I am, how I'm wired. I can't not help people."

  Jenny nodded. "I understand."

  "Do you?"

  "Yes. But I still have to do what I have to do. You must be able to understand that."

  "I can understand the thought process but not the eventual outcome. I think you're committing suicide here."

  Jenny shook her head. "I disagree. But even if I am, at least I'm finally living my life on my terms. It's felt as if I've been living in a fantasy future world for so long, I don't even remember the last time one of my decisions was made by me for me."

  "And this decision you're making now, the one to kill me? That's all for you, huh?"

  "Yes. It is."

  Annja nodded. "Then I wish you the very best of luck with your life."

  "Thanks."

  Annja closed her eyes. "See you on the other side, my friend."

  She heard Jenny's voice. "Goodbye, Annja."

  Annja steeled herself.

  She would summon the sword and be ready to move as soon as Jenny did.

  Before she reacted, Annja heard the explosions of the two gunshots in rapid succession.

  And then she felt the impact in her chest.

  Chapter 38

  Annja looked down at her chest.

  There was no blood. And the blade of the sword hovered in front of her, flat side toward Jenny. She frowned.

  What had happened?

  Annja looked at Jenny.

  Jenny's shirt had two dark, blossoming stains on it. She looked down and gasped. "What happened?"

  Annja groaned. The sword had deflected the bullets and sent them back into Jenny's chest instead of Annja's.

  "No," she said. Annja got to her feet and ran to Jenny. The gun had fallen when the bullets impacted. Annja kicked it away.

  She helped ease Jenny down to the ground. Jenny tried to smile but a pinkish stream of blood oozed out of her mouth. "I guess things didn't work out quite like I wanted them to, huh?"

  "I guess not," Annja said.

  Jenny gripped Annja's hand. "I'm sorry I tried to kill you."

  Annja nodded. "Forget it. It's done and over with now."

  Jenny laughed. "You were always the master of the understatement, weren't you?"

  "Old habits die hard," Annja said. "I'm sorry things turned out this way. I couldn't let you do it. You would have died with regrets."

  Jenny shrugged and winced as she did so. "I'm not exactly dying with good times etched into my memory."

  "No. I guess you're not."

  "I only wanted what I thought I deserved. What anyone thinks they ought to deserve. Is that so wrong?"

  Annja shook her head. "You did what you thought was best for you. I don't think anyone can find fault with that."

  "Do you?"

  "No." Annja smiled. "Some of us just don't have the guts to do what you tried to do."

  Jenny smiled. "I'll tell you one thing."

  "What's that?"

  She coughed and Annja could see the pain on her friend's face. "When I get to the other side, I'm going to have a serious sit-down with the man in charge. I've got a lot of questions I want answers to."

  "Any chance you'll come back and clue me in?"

  Jenny started to cry. "No. I don't think they'd let me even if I wanted to. I've never gotten anything I wanted so far, why start now?"

  Annja cradled Jenny in her arms and looked down. Life was rapidly fading from her eyes. "I'm sorry."

  Jenny shook her head. "Nothing to be sorry about. I did this all to myself. I guess that's the biggest lesson from all of this, huh?"

  "What's that?" Annja felt her eyes starting to well up. Tears rolled down her face.

  "That we're always in control of our lives. Even when it seems like we're not. We have power over every decision and choice, if we just accept the responsibility that goes along with them."

  Annja nodded. "Wisdom is a treasure hard earned."

  Jenny clutched her hand. "I'm sorry."

  "Me, too." More tears flowed from Annja's eyes. Why did it have to end like this? Why this way?

  Jenny's eyes rolled over white and a final breath escaped her chest. Annja closed her eyelids and then let her body down gently. She sat there, crying softly for another minute, looking at the peaceful expression on Jenny's face.

  Annja used her sleeve to wipe the bloody trail from Jenny's mouth. There, she thought, at least she doesn't look so gruesome now.

  She glanced at Tom's body and then back. So much death, she thought. And for what purpose?

  Those damn drugs.

  Annja hauled herself up and squatted next to Tom's body, pulling a sheaf of papers from his shirt pocket. Then she walked over to the back of the Tahoe. She fished out one of the sacks she'd carried, opened it. The plastic bags of white powder stared up at her.

  No more, Annja thought.

  She turned bac
k to the trail and headed toward the cave. She passed Sheila's body on the way inside and found the woman's head bent at an odd angle. Jenny had done a damn good job of dispatching her.