by Lee, Edward
He heard bones crack, flesh tear.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Guy said, standing beside him and looking at the orgy. “It’s all so…romantic, don’t you think? Art and death and, hell, even audience participation.” He giggled.
Tony took another step toward the mob, then stopped when he felt Guy’s touch on his arm. It was not a solid touch; Guy’s fingers felt like a cold breeze blowing against his skin.
“She’s not there,” he said, suddenly serious. “That’s not her game.”
“What is?” Tony asked.
“Is that what you want to know? Or do you want to find out what yours is? I can show you that, too.” He stroked Tony’s arm, and the cold tightened his skin, seemed to burn in the bone of his arm. “Want to be a player, Tony?”
Tony groaned as the emptiness reached for him. He wanted it, he wanted Lisa. “Lisa,” he croaked, trying to hang on to the crumbling edifice of his past desires and pleasures as his future called to him.
Guy tsked. “Well, you never really were the truly adventurous type, Tony. You would never have found Painfreak on your own. Not like Lisa. She’s been on the scene since she was 15. She never told you? I used to see her around, when I was still around. Surprised the hell out of me when she latched on to you. Last chance romance, I think. One final try at a normal life with a guy who could give her at least a little action. Oh, what would my old therapist say? An abused child, obviously. Running away from something terrible, running back into it from the long way around. Dear, dear, the story of all our lives, I’m sure.”
Tony pulled his arm away. “Fuck you.”
Guy came up next to Tony, careful not to touch him. “Say something like that again,” he whispered into Tony’s ear, “and it might come true.”
Tony stepped back and glanced to his left and right, looking for a direction to walk in. He shivered from the cold Guy had brought with him, and the cold in his words.
“No? Turned down again? Right. I really tried to seduce you once, didn’t I? After we graduated?”
“You tried to move in with me when I got my own place,” Tony replied. He remembered the panic in Guy’s voice as he had offered himself, promised to do whatever Tony wanted, just so they could continue being together, continue playing their games together. Fear had leaked from every pore in his body, as raw and powerful as Tony’s own when Lisa left him. Graduation, expectations of the adult world, Tony moving out had all sharpened the edges to Guy’s panic. “I kicked you back into the elevator,” Tony continued. He had had his own panic, his own burgeoning emptiness, to deal with. “To make up, you took me out to Painfreak.”
“My shrink’d say that was a very hostile move. Couldn’t get to you, so I brought you here for Painfreak to seduce you. Damn, but I wish I could remember that elevator scene. I wonder what I used on you. No, no, don’t tell me. Imagining it will entertain me no end, at least until your next visit. Maybe then I’ll ask you to tell me about it.”
“I’m never coming back here after I get Lisa out.”
“Of course you’ll be back. What else are you going do when Lisa’s gone?”
Tony recoiled, looked away from Guy. He moved off in a random direction, searched out the next fire, headed for its flames. Guy caught his arm, and the cold staggered Tony. Painfreak’s bone mark glowed on Tony’s hand.
“Don’t go off half-cocked, lover. You’ll miss her moment as a player. Here, let me show you.”
Guy pulled on Tony’s arm, dragged him past women pounding on the bodies of men stretched out and tied down to the floor with wild, dancing steps; past a woman bound, blind, gagged, being raped by another woman with a dildo strapped across her sex; past men wrestling one another in shallow pits, breaking each other’s limbs, biting off pieces of flesh, licking the blood spilling from their mouths; past a man with a bloody machete across his stomach, reclining among the severed heads of women and busying himself by pulling out the tongue from one head’s mouth and running her blue lips across his skin.
Guy stopped before another pit, but held fast to Tony’s arm. Below, two naked women approached a nude fat man whose spread-eagled limbs were held fast by manacles to stakes. One woman sat behind his head and secured it between her thighs. Her leg muscles bulged as she applied pressure, and he twitched and choked as his eyes widened. The other woman settled herself on his face, covered it completely, and began to move her hips.
“Lisa,” Tony whispered. He leaned forward, but Guy’s cold grip kept him frozen in place.
Lisa looked up as her hands massaged her breasts and she thrust her hips harder into the face trapped under her. Her eyes saw through Tony, as if he were as much a ghost as Guy. Sweat filmed her body. A smile, sweet and self-involved, danced across her lips. The fat man’s body jerked, spasmed. His hands grasped at something elusive in the air. His back arched, and a desperate, muffled moan escaped from the pit. Lisa threw her head back, gasped. The fat man collapsed, and his body became slack. Lisa jerked forward and cried out. She slid off the man’s face and fell to the ground, eyes closed, smiling to herself. The other woman raised her hips, twisted her legs over until the man’s neck cracked, then released him. She moved over Lisa, straddled her, closed her thighs over Lisa’s face.
“Lisa,” Tony called out. His voice was still a whisper, Guy’s hand still served as a cold anchor.
Lisa’s hands fluttered in the air. Her legs twitched like caught fish thrown on a dock. The woman bore down, hunched forward, used her hands to keep her thighs pressed closed over Lisa’s face. Lisa’s struggles weakened until her last feeble movements finally subsided. The woman remained over her, locked in a tight embrace.
“Lisa,” Tony cried out as he fell to his knees.
The woman rose, took Lisa by the feet and dragged her up a ramp. She was heading in the direction of the machete man when Tony lost sight of them. He realized then that Guy had released him and had vanished. There was only the cold ache in his bone and muscle to remind him of the ghost’s hand.
“Come along, dear,” an old woman’s voice said behind him. Someone tapped him gently on the shoulder.
“I think you’ve had enough for one night, young fella,” an old man said, slipping his arm under Tony’s to help him to his feet. “Time for you to go home. There’s always tomorrow night, you know.”
The old, well-dressed couple who had been watching him throughout the evening bracketed him as he stood up. They each hooked an arm around him and helped him walk away from the pit. The woman’s diamond bracelet bit into his flesh. Tony felt like a child being taken home from the playground by his grandparents. Would there be milk and cookies in the kitchen? Bed time stories tonight?
Tony tried to remember his grandparents and found that he could not.
The elderly couple guided him back to the cavern entrance, took him through the sound baffles, helped him maneuver through the dancing crowds in the outer club. At the steel double door entrance to the club, the couple released him.
“You come right back when you’re feeling better,” the woman said. She smiled, and cracks widened in the caked make-up covering her face.
“We’ll be here another couple of nights,” said the old man. He patted Tony’s shoulder in an amiable, fatherly way. His breath was stale, like the air in a predator’s den. “Of course, you can always come along when the place moves. There’s always a need for help. Lots of turnover, you know.”
The couple looked to each other and laughed as they gently pushed him to the doors. Tony leaned against metal, felt it give, and found himself in a hallway under a single bright light bulb.
A taste of ash was in his mouth as he made his way back to the loading docks. Exhaustion made him rest for a few moments on the stairs, but the faint echo of Painfreak’s dance music finally drove him on. He passed no one on his way out to the loading dock, where the rain had stopped and dawn had lightened the sky. The ground still was wet, the air humid. Tony glanced over his shoulder at the warehouse entrance. The two doo
rmen returned his gaze. Behind them, Guy hung upside down, suspended by his feet on a length of chain, swinging back and forth like a clock pendulum.
“Do you feel it?” Guy asked, his voice pitched high, almost hysterical.
And in that moment, the emptiness within him opened up like a bottomless well. Tony felt himself standing by the well, leaning out over the edge, wind whistling by his ears. He licked his lips, searching for the taste of blood. His erection strained as if it wanted to break out of its confines and search for satisfaction.
“You want it?” Guy teased. “Tell me what that’s like, to want it. To want the nothingness. The extinction. Tell me first, what that emptiness is like. It’s so hard to understand when you’re in it. Tell me what the void is like, from the outside. Then tell me what it feels like to want it.”
“Tomorrow night,” Tony answered, his voice quavering. After you show me the games I’ll really like. After I become a player.
“Tomorrow night, sir,” the Asian doorman replied, with a slight bow. Guy was gone.
Tony went back to his car and drove home. He did not bother picking up his mail or answering his telephone messages. Though his fear was gone and he was tired, he still had trouble falling asleep. Excitement kept him up. He began to relax as he gently stroked the back of his left hand with his thumb.
Slowly, he fell asleep while caressing Painfreak’s invisible marks on his flesh.
| — | — |
Thick of Chaos
————
K. Trap Jones
The fucker was fast and knew the city well by the way he weaved between the alleys. Not sure why I didn’t take off the trench coat while giving chase. Damn thing was about as useless as a parachute on a speed boat. I’m not saying I would’ve been able to catch the asshole, but it may have reduced some of the where the fuck did he go moments after turning the corners. Breathing like a fat man during the first stretch of a marathon, my knees nearly buckled as I rounded a fire escape. I considered it a blessing to see him standing against the wall of a dead end. With nowhere to go, a much needed pause allowed me to lean over with hands on knees. Due to my lack of epic speed, there was always time to debate as to whether the bounty equaled the level of cardio required to catch a fugitive. Chasing a runner typically ended up as a crapfest with my ass on a stool somewhere eating a cheesesteak. The element of surprise was always my greatest ally. If I could get my meat hooks on someone prior to running, well, it was an easy payday without unnecessary sweating.
“Show me your hands,” I said through heavy breaths.
His head sagged in disappointment from being caught.
“You know the drill.”
While raising his arms, a dull light shone from his left hand. It was small, but enough to catch my attention within the darkened atmosphere of the alley. Glaring over his shoulder, he grinned.
“What the fuck is that?” I said.
“Haven,” he whispered through a smile highlighting his meth cracked yellow teeth.
“Look, man, I’m tired and hungry, so if we could cut through the bullshit,” I responded, walking towards him.
He remained still, laughing hysterically. With eyes fixated on the glowing mark, I reached for his arm to rotate it behind the back.
“How ’bout a ride?” he said, licking his lips.
“What did you say?”
As I held his arm, he grabbed my coat and lunged towards the wall. My eyes betrayed any rational thought as his head funneled through the brick, disappearing. My feet followed the forward progress as my hand vanished. It was a fucked up experience, defying every rule of logic. My mind completely shut down as my face inched closer. Flinching for impact, I sealed my eyes shut. Through the brick I went, releasing the grip of both him and reality.
When the blurred vision stopped, insanity revealed itself in the form of a long tunnel, packed to the brim with people. I use the word people loosely. At first glance, I thought I entered some sort of sadistic costumed event. As I stood there behind a large man with metal spikes protruding from his bare back, I quickly chalked it up to being a dream because nothing else made sense. With every breath he took, the metal tips sunk beneath the skin then came back out like a damn human blowfish. From behind, I got pushed by a creepy looking female alien thing. Her elongated forked tongue was licking one of her four bare tits. I couldn’t help but stare until her mouth widened revealing a shit ton of sharp teeth. I quickly backed away and couldn’t get the sadistic vision of her giving a blowjob out of my head.
My patience was growing thin as the line wasn’t moving and more people were entering through a series of blue hazed doorways. My mud caked boots stepped to the side, bypassing the others. As I walked, I felt the dismay through the various tones, but I didn’t give a shit. I was in no mood for some crazy ass young person’s rave. I wanted the fugitive and get paid, simple as that. Little did I know my night was about to take an off road detour through the thick of chaos.
Filtering out into a circular room, the lines from multiple tunnels all merged into one point where a large door resided. Providing crowd control and entry into the door was a giant of a man, bald and scarred to blistering perfection. Beside him with a noticeable difference in height was frail, thin man of Asian descent. Much like any other club in the city, I walked right up to the front showing my credentials as a bounty hunter. I could hear the others bickering in strange ass languages as I stood face to belly with the giant. Gazing upward, I looked straight into the nostrils before the smaller one grabbed my coat.
“What you doing?” he said in a strong Asian accent.
My neck did a complete swivel downward in order to look at him.
“I’m not sure where the fuck I am, but I’m looking for someone who came this way,” I announced, holding my id card to his face.
Staring into the wide chest, I groped my beard. Sweat was rolling down the bare skin of the giant, filling every sunken scar littering the flesh.
“Law? There is no law here,” he laughed, tossing the card aside.
I blocked the entry like an L-shaped plumbing pipe at a burrito eating contest. The whole place became tense as the giant began breathing heavily. It didn’t take a life coach to understand that he despised me and was getting pissed.
“You gonna let me in?” I replied with a stern voice, not backing down.
“Only two ways to enter,” the thin man explained.
The giant grabbed my left hand.
“One—no mark.”
The giant palmed the top of my head, rotated my neck forcing me to do a complete 180 as the crowd backed up.
“Two—no one likes you, which means no referrals.”
The horde was going ape shit and desired blood to be spilled. I was definitely fucking up something more than a typical Saturday night party.
“You go now, hippy law dog.”
The giant fingers sunk into my head, compressing the skull. An instant migraine clinched my vision as he suspended me from the ground as if palming a basketball. Reaching up, I clutched his wrist in hopes to reduce the amount of weight my neck was burdened with. The gathering parted like the red sea as he pushed me into a different tunnel. Wasting no time, he tossed my ass through the first blue hazed door. The blurred vision occurred again, but soon left as I collided with someone or something. My lungs immediately collapsed as all the air siphoned out. My eyes slowly opened, revealing a barren red wasteland. Choking for breath, I saw the earth where the moon should’ve been. Bony crimson beings exited the dirt and I was slow dancing with one of them. The lack of air forced my legs to give out. As a result, I fell backwards through the haze pulling the creature with me. Lying flat on my back and pathetically wheezing, I pushed the alien aside as the advancing line stepped over me. After puking up everything my stomach could offer, I managed to get to my feet. Once the blood flow returned, it immediately boiled in anger by being manhandled like a prostitute with no money to give a pimp. Walking back to the front of the line, I unleas
hed my revolver and pointed the barrel underneath the giant’s chin.
“I want in,” I announced, watching the massive hands.
“Go ahead, shoot him. Really pisses him off,” the thin man stated, checking the hand of a serpent being.
“Don’t fuck with me, noodle man.”
“Open mouth,” he said with a nod.
The giant leaned his head down. Grasping the barrel, he placed it within his own mouth.
“Under chin no good. Bullet could miss brain. Place gun in mouth. Proper technique is important; minimizes mistakes.”
“What the fuck is this place?” I said, confused to all hell.
“Pull trigger and I tell you,” he answered, still checking for marks.
The sweat of my palm suctioned against the handle.
“You’re bluffing,” I said with a twitching arm.
“What is bluffing?”
“I’ll blow his damn head clean off,” I continued, cocking the hammer.
My fingers felt the teeth grinding against the barrel. His breath was adding condensation to the metal while the tongue flapped to catch the excess drool going down the chin. I took on the same not giving a shit attitude the giant was emitting. The thin man kept checking hands for admittance. Laughter from the crowd added to my rising temper as well.
“Alright fucker, you wanna play? I’ll play,” I said, pulling the trigger.
The bullet ripped through the giant’s skull, wedging into the ceiling. The nostrils became a blood faucet as the pressure swelled his eyes. A small moan of death leaked passed the drooping tongue. I shielded my eyes from the liquefied brain raining down. Silence spilled over the crowd. With the barrel still within the mouth, the gun followed the massive body down as it slammed against the ground, shaking loose dirt. I expected some sort of reaction from the man, but he didn’t turn around. Even the crowd went back to normal.