Not Even Bones

by Rebecca Schaeffer

  The world whooshed as Nita was lifted up, and she felt even dizzier than before. She gasped for breath, feeling things she’d just started putting back into place come loose again. Tenuously held together blood vessels broke apart.

  Nita opened her eyes, hoping that seeing what was happening would get rid of some of the dizziness.

  Kovit was looking at someone else, his face turned away from her. His eyes were tight with worry, and though he held her gently, his grip was tense.

  Nita let her eyes rove around the room. Lorenzo was taking stacks of Boulder’s money from the safe and shoving it in a bag. Jorge still had his gun trained on Kovit.

  Kovit’s eyes flicked to the money. “Is Boulder dead, then?”

  “Not yet. He’s still tied up downstairs.” Lorenzo’s voice was cool. He blurred in Nita’s hazy vision.

  “I assume he won’t be surviving, since you’re stealing his money.”

  “Nah, you stole his money. We have no idea where you put it,” Lorenzo sneered. The pile of money was now gone, and instead there was a garbage bag slung over Lorenzo’s shoulder.

  Jorge nodded, then turned to Kovit and said in Spanish, “Time to go.”

  They left the room and descended the steps. Kovit was careful, but each step still ground against Nita’s wound, damaging her progress and sending her right back to the beginning. She clenched her teeth, trying to focus. She could do this. She had to do this.

  A trickle of sweat ran down her neck. She wondered if it wasn’t sweat, but blood.

  They made their way outside into the night. Lorenzo and Jorge turned on their cell phone lights and led the way through the woods. Kovit kept his pace deliberately slow, though Nita wasn’t sure why. Stalling for time? Trying not to jostle her?

  Nita used the time, pushing herself in ways she never had before, trying to repair the damage. She’d started on rebuilding the shattered collarbone, and trying to get the bullet lodged in it to come out.

  After a few minutes, Kovit started talking again. “How did you even find us?”

  “We got a call.” Lorenzo laughed.

  “From who?”

  “From the guard you left half dead. Didn’t think to take his cell phone away, did you?”

  Nita groaned, and Kovit shifted his grip. Cell phone. How had they been so stupid?

  “But why would he call you?”

  “He didn’t. He called Reyes, to tell her that her pet zannie had lost it and to come put it down. But he couldn’t reach Reyes, so he called me to ask if I could contact Reyes.” Lorenzo laughed again, a little higher, and crunched through the branches as they entered the path to the market. “A few questions later, it wasn’t hard to figure out the little girl was out of the cage. And suddenly all those suspicious phone conversations today made a lot more sense.”

  Nita deserved to be shot for how dumb she’d been. She should have just answered the damn phone earlier. Or searched for cell phones. Something. So many mistakes, piled on top of each other.

  “I see.” Kovit’s voice was calm. She wondered what he thought of all this. “I’m curious, though. How did you sneak up on us?”

  A branch brushed by Nita’s cheek and tangled in her hair. It tugged, pulling her head back. She made a sound, and Kovit paused, untangling her hair.

  Lorenzo half giggled. “Unicorn bone.”

  “Unicorn bone?”

  “You think we’re stupid?” Lorenzo sneered, then sniffed loudly. Clearly someone had been overusing. “Everyone knows zannies can feel pain. The only way to sneak up on them is to have no pain.”

  That was smart. Smarter than Nita would ever have given them credit for. There was a lesson for the future, if she survived to see the future. Never underestimate the intelligence of underlings. They had access to Google too.

  “I see.”

  Kovit’s voice sent shivers down Nita’s spine. It was a voice that promised horrors would soon be visited upon both men. She hoped Kovit got his chance to inflict each and every one of those horrors on the people who’d shot her.

  Jorge was visibly unsettled by the tone of Kovit’s voice, even though he couldn’t understand the words. Lorenzo elbowed him, and Jorge waved his gun, reminding them who had the power right now.

  Footsteps stopped, and then there was a squeak of hinges and a groan as a door opened. Fluorescent lights burned pink into her closed eyes, and air conditioning bombarded her overheated body.

  No.

  The soft scuff of shoes on concrete was the only sound as they were led down the hall. Nita opened her eyes to see her cell, glass wall all around, torn pages of the book scattered across the floor.

  Lorenzo smiled at the two of them and gestured with his gun. “Back in the cage you go.”

  Thirty-Two

  THE CAGE DOOR clicked shut behind Nita, and the guards left, laughing. She was right back where she’d started.

  Kovit set her down on the ground and stepped back. “Is there anything you need me to do?”

  “The bullet.”

  He knelt beside her. “What about it?”

  She met his eyes, breathing harsh. “Get it out.”

  He was silent for a long moment. Then he took his switchblade from his pocket and leaned over her.

  Nita closed her eyes, not wanting to watch. She heard the shruuuk of tearing fabric as he ripped pieces of her shirt off her shoulder. The caked blood and sweat made the material stick to her skin, and it had to be peeled off.

  He leaned in close, so close she could faintly feel his breath on her neck as he worked. He used one hand to gently press her chest, just below her collarbone, into the floor and pin her so she couldn’t move. His hand was warm, and her skin tingled with the unfamiliar sensation.

  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been touched by anyone, aside from being jostled in the crowd. Her mother would sometimes pat her on the head, and her father used to give her hugs. But she hadn’t seen him in years.

  It was fine; she didn’t like being touched anyway. But there was something strange in the realization, something that made her a little sad inside. Maybe it was the fact that the first real contact she’d had in years was with a pain-eating psychopath digging a bullet out of her shoulder. That all her other contact had been her mother patting her on the head like a favored pet. And like a pet that had gotten too rowdy, Nita had been sold.

  Nita shoved away the emotions accompanying that thought before they could fully form. She could deal with them when she escaped. Right now, she wanted to focus on healing.

  She tried to keep still. She didn’t want to move and cause more damage. She let her consciousness sink into her body, following the path of the knife.

  The blade did not go in easily. It scraped on bone, and she could feel it, scratching and tickling, moving the flesh inside her around. It was strange to feel something so invasive, yet not be in pain. Normally, the pain would mask all these other sensations.

  There was a squelch as pressure shifted and blood globbed out of the wound like pus, thick and sticky. It trickled along her collarbone and pooled against the hand Kovit was using to brace her.

  Nita tried to focus on her breathing, on stemming the blood she could, on clearing the passage for the scraping knife. Her teeth clenched every time the knife hit bone, and she almost gasped when it finally hooked onto the bullet lodged in her collarbone. It wasn’t pain she felt, but something completely different. Similar to the sensation when she was on a plane and the pressure in her ears changed so they felt tight and strange and not right, and she wanted to shake her head and dislodge whatever was in her way, and then suddenly they popped and everything felt normal again. This felt like an extended pop sensation.

  She was so happy she couldn’t feel pain for this. Kovit would never have been able to keep his hands steady and take the bullet out.

  It took more time for him to dig the bullet out from her cracked and crumbling bone, but when he did, it came out with another squirt of blood. Nita couldn’t help t
he squeaky gasp she let out, like a weird hiccup, as air and blood suddenly rushed into the hole where the bullet had been.

  Kovit sat back, and Nita opened her eyes. His hands were painted red, as was the front of his shirt, but he held the bullet out in his palm for her to see. It was smashed almost flat, melted and warped and dripping. “Gone.”

  Her body sagged in relief. At least now she could start healing properly. “Thanks.”

  “Need anything else?”

  “No.” Nita let out a breath. “I just need to lie here and heal for a bit.”

  He nodded, then sat on the other side of the cage, elbows resting on his knees. He began wiping his hands fastidiously on his already gory shirt. It didn’t help. He leaned against the wall of the cage and let out a soft sigh.

  Nita gave him a bitter smile. “Familiar?”

  “It’s like déjà vu,” he agreed.

  “Except this time we’re both on the same side of the cage.”

  Kovit tut-tutted. “We were both on the same side of the cage before. Now we’re just both on the wrong side of the cage.”

  Nita snorted, but smiled a little. She appreciated Kovit’s efforts to keep the mood light.

  Too bad they didn’t work.

  Nita was in the cage again. And she had no one to blame but herself.

  “We should’ve just killed all the guards.” Nita’s voice was soft.

  “Probably.”

  She finished clotting over the last of the veins and capillaries damaged by the shot. When that was done, she could start putting bone back together, fusing things into some semblance of a collarbone. Then she could move on to internal tissue damage. She didn’t know how far she’d be able to go before she became too exhausted to do any more.

  “But.” He gave her a cheery grin and moved to the food tray mechanism. He picked up the piece of plastic she’d shoved in there before. “We know how to get out now.”

  “Assuming they feed us.”

  He shrugged. “They’re not going to leave us here to die. Either they’ll feed us, or they’ll open the cage to kill us. Either way, we’ll get an opportunity.”

  Nita nodded, then stopped, because that shifted the pieces of her shattered collarbone. “Good idea.”

  “I can’t take all the credit.” He winked at her.

  She smiled, heart rate spiking for a moment. She quelled it, worried it would worsen her blood loss.

  They sat in silence for a long time after that. Nita focused all her energy on trying to repair her body, and Kovit examined the items in the room, eyeing each of them as though considering their potential as a weapon. Some he discarded quickly, like the torn remains of the crappy book. Others he lingered over, like the blanket she’d trapped him with.

  Nita wasn’t sure how much time had passed when Jorge and Lorenzo returned. Enough that she’d exhausted her healing abilities, taken a short nap, and then started working on her wound again, despite the grumbling of her stomach.

  The sound of boots on concrete was distinctive, and Nita turned her head, part of her certain she would see Mirella in the other cage, huddling under her blanket in fear, eyes wide, body quivering.

  But there was no one there.

  Nita felt as though she were the one covered with a blanket this time, suffocating her with memories.

  Kovit crouched beside her, tense. His eyes flicked to hers. “You ready?”

  Nita let out a breath. She needed to focus. She didn’t have time for memories now.

  Jorge and Lorenzo entered first. Lorenzo was glistening with sweat, and his pupils were so dilated they almost encompassed his blue irises, while Jorge had bloodshot eyes and a concerned frown as he watched Lorenzo. Clearly Lorenzo had used Reyes’ disappearance to indulge.

  Nita was shocked to see Boulder walk in behind them, his expression a strange cross between a sneer and hair-trigger rage. His white teeth gleamed in the fluorescent lights, except for the black space where he was now missing one. Dark stains on the nearby teeth attested to its recent violent demise.

  She wondered if Kovit had done it to get the safe combination.

  If so, it was genius. Because it wouldn’t just hurt physically, it also hurt psychologically. Nita could tell Boulder had been very fond of his bleached white smile.

  Kovit raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t think you were working together.”

  Lorenzo hiccupped. Nita stared at him, the way his whole face seemed to look like someone had painted it with tinsel. Way too much unicorn bone. Couldn’t you overdose on that?

  “Boulder made us a very good deal.” His voice was as high as the rest of him, and his eyes were unfocused, as though watching something no one else could see.

  Boulder gave him a disgusted look, quickly covered by a smile. “I found myself in need of employees, and they found themselves with a lack of an employer.”

  Kovit laughed. “How’d he tempt you? I thought you’d be all over that pile of money.”

  Lorenzo smiled and waved a clear bag of white powder. “What can I say? The perks are great. Better than with Reyes.”

  Jorge looked away.

  “I see.” Kovit narrowed his eyes.

  Boulder took a step forward. “Speaking of Reyes, what did you do with her?”

  “You haven’t realized?” Kovit gave them one of his creepy, oh-I-can’t-wait-to-tell-you-the-bad-bad-things-I-did smiles.

  Lorenzo flinched back from it, and Boulder scowled.

  “Surely you saw all the body parts up for sale?” Kovit’s voice was silky and smooth, wrapping around them like a boa constrictor. “Jorge and Renzo were peddling them all day.”

  “But that was the dolphin girl . . .” Lorenzo’s voice trailed off. Jorge nudged him, and Lorenzo switched to Spanish and explained. Jorge looked ill.

  “Well.” Boulder’s lips thinned. “Reyes was weak.”

  Kovit laughed, full and terrifying. “Oh, was she? Because as I recall, you were the one who pissed yourself with terror before I even started working on you.”

  Boulder stiffened. “You—”

  “And such squeaky screams, like a mouse.” Kovit’s chin lowered, so he was looking up at Boulder from under dark brows, smile the very definition of psychotic. “Gave me everything I asked for within thirty seconds.”

  Lorenzo started translating for Jorge, and Boulder snapped his arm out, gun in hand and pointed at Lorenzo’s head. “One more word, and I’ll blow your brains out.”

  Lorenzo was silent.

  Kovit tilted his head to the side, like a predatory bird. “Oh, don’t want your men to know how weak you are?”

  Rage suffused Boulder’s features, turning his face an unhealthy purple, and his gun swung around as though to shoot Kovit.

  Nita’s heart rate spiked. She knew this was part of the plan, knew they were trying to lure Boulder into doing something stupid like open the cage, but she hadn’t imagined he would just shoot Kovit through the glass.

  But then he lowered his gun. A slight smile crossed his face.

  He turned to Nita.

  “What was your name, girl?”

  “Nita.” She clenched her jaw.

  “Nita.” He tasted the name. “You were acting very high and mighty earlier.”

  She didn’t respond.

  “I recall you referring to this zannie as your ‘friend,’ no?” Boulder’s smile was dangerous, not creepy like Kovit’s, but mean. “Ordering me around, telling the zannie to hurt me. But you know, zannies, they’re not terribly loyal.”

  Nita didn’t respond, but her eyes flicked to Kovit, wondering what game Boulder was playing.

  “I hear you can’t feel pain. That must be useful, dealing with this monster. But I think you’ve forgotten, it is a monster.” He took a step closer to the cage. “And it will turn on you the moment it thinks it’ll gain some benefit from it.”

  Nita resisted the urge to look over at Kovit.

  She wasn’t sure Boulder was wrong.

  “What’s your point?
” she finally asked.

  Boulder ignored her. He just turned to Kovit. “Zannie.”

  Kovit’s eyes were wary. “Yes?”

  “I have a proposition for you.”

  Kovit didn’t respond.

  “See, I’m rather displeased by your actions. What I’d like to do is shoot you, and then sell your body for money. But see, having a zannie gives me a bit of a reputation, you know? So I’m willing to overlook today and let you live your days out in that cage, torturing people I bring to you.”

  Kovit remained silent, face impassive.

  Boulder took a step back. “So. I want to eat that girl in there and gain her immortality. Every day, I’m going to come in here, and ask you to cut off a different body part.”

  He smiled, and savored the moment, before turning to Kovit and whispering, “Once she’s all eaten, I might even trust you enough to let you out, zannie.”

  Boulder leaned back, cocked his gun, and aimed at the cage. “So, what piece shall we start with?”

  Thirty-Three

  NITA STOPPED BREATHING.

  He was going to eat her?

  It wasn’t like she didn’t know he wanted to—he’d eaten Mirella’s eye, and the strip of skin Kovit had peeled off for him the first time they met. She recalled the sound of him swallowing her flesh, and his words.

  Immortality awaits.

  So she knew, without a doubt, that Boulder wasn’t bluffing. He wasn’t just using scare tactics. He actually wanted to eat her.

  Piece.

  By.

  Piece.

  How long would it take for her to die that way? Months? Years?

  She thought of Fabricio, screaming in the cage as her mother hacked off his ear. She imagined Kovit holding her down and cutting hers off, and then Boulder, smiling while he popped it in his mouth.

  Kovit.

  Her head began to turn toward him involuntarily, but she forced it to remain staring straight ahead, at Boulder. She didn’t want Boulder to think he was getting to her.