Venom dragged her hand through her hair and glanced over to her housemate. In this moment, she wanted to break down and tell him everything. Tell him about the hack gone wrong, about the suited man in neon last night, and Xander’s freak out about the NeuroPep. Even if it would make her feel better, she couldn’t risk getting anyone else into trouble. The last thing she needed was the suited man to come after Jacques or one of the other people she cared about.
“Nothing is going on with me,” Venom said, turning to give him a small smile. She wasn’t sure how believable the lie was, but she hoped it was enough.
“So missing days off work, that’s nothing?” Jacques asked, raising an eyebrow as he turned to look at her for the first time since she stepped out here. His milky white augmented eyes bored straight through her. He knew the truth, but that didn’t mean she was ready to talk about it. She needed to protect him just like everyone else.
“We can all have our bad days, can’t we? Maybe if I calmed down on my nights out, I wouldn’t have overslept,” Venom said with a small chuckle, hoping that her cheerful demeanor may placate him.
“And may I remind you that it was two nights out that you didn’t tell me about. Seriously, you keep icing me out of these great nights, and I’m gonna think you don’t like me,” he said with a grin as he shoved her playfully.
Even if he didn’t believe her shit then at least he was willing to drop it. She loved Xander, but he was so damn persistent. Sometimes she wished he would be a little less pushy when she didn’t want to talk. It was the one downside of having a friend that cared about her so much.
“Alright… I’m hearing you. Next time I know I’m going out, I’ll call you, and we’ll get fucked up together alright,” she responded with a smirk. Finishing the cigarette, she pitched the butt over the edge of the balcony and went to head back inside. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her shoulder. Venom jumped from the unexpected touch; she was still on edge from yesterday. She wheeled around and saw Jacques looking at her wide-eyed.
“Whoa, calm down. I was just going to say to stay off the pills next time,” Jacques said.
“Don’t worry. I think I’ve learned my lesson,” Venom replied with a chuckle as they walked in side by side. “I’m gonna call the office and then try and get some sleep.”
“I think Xander called in for you,” Jacques said with a shrug as he headed towards the living room door.
“I’m gonna call in some last minute leave. I think I need a couple of days just lazing in bed and maybe we can go out for those drinks,” she said with a fake smile.
“I’ll hold you to that,” Jacques said as he stepped through the door and closed it behind him.
Once she was shut in her room alone, Venom couldn’t help the sigh of relief. Even though she knew that people were only fussing over her because they cared, it was really getting to her. Right now, she just needed everyone to leave her alone so she could deal with her issue with the SUN. When no one she cared about was at risk, then things could go back to normal.
As she lay back in bed, she made a quick phone call to the TechPit. When she suggested taking some time off, Micah had quickly accepted, and he agreed it was about time she took a break. Apparently, with all the hours she had worked, she had accrued a lot of vacation time. Even with a week off, it was unlikely that she was going to get time to relax. Most of it was going to be spent immersed in the nexus. If she didn’t get that information, she was going to die. Rather than trying to sleep, she summoned her gauntlet’s interface and started to activate some of her hacking programs.
For an hour, she flicked through the programs, hoping one of them would turn up something that she needed, but there was nothing. So far, she hadn’t managed to find any information on the announcer or owner of the Colosseum. She was making absolutely no progress. She rubbed her temples and fought the ache that was quickly reinitializing. She was feeling so sluggish and she hated that. There was only one thing that would help her now. She quickly typed out a message.
::Hey Fenric. I’m sorry about snapping at you the other day. I was wondering if you could get hold of some more NeuroPep? Venom::
She still felt guilty about what she said to him the other day. She wasn’t even sure why she had snapped like that. They weren’t exactly close, but she did like the guy. She kept telling herself when everything was clear, she would fix this. It was becoming her personal mantra.
::Easy. $30 a pill. Fenric::
Venom’s eyes shot open when she saw the $10 increase since the last time she had bought them off him. She tapped a response.
::$30? I thought it was $20. Venom::
::$20 is the price for friends, you made your stance clear. How many pills do you want?::
Venom dragged her hand down over her face. So she definitely had to make things up with him. Opening up her bank accounts, she cringed a little when she saw how low her account balance was. Now she wished she hadn’t dropped that thousand on new programs. Payday was coming up fast, but not fast enough. She had enough cash left to get ten pills, that was it. That would make her broke until she got paid again, but then again, if she didn’t find something to help get her ass out of trouble, she was going to die.
::10. Get me another 10::
In a few more messages, they organized a meet up. She wanted to keep this away from Jacques. If he found out what she was doing, then there was a chance he would tell Xander, and that was the last thing she wanted. She had told him she wouldn’t take it anymore, but in the end, she needed to do whatever was necessary to save her own life.
Venom paced the bedroom as she waited for a response from Fenric. She was trying to figure some plan of attack for what was the best way to recover the information, but she just kept coming up with nothing useful. Once again, her brain was starting to slow, but this time it wasn't caused by the hangover. It was an ever growing itch inside her head.
By the time she got the message from Fenric about picking up the drugs, she was being overtaken by a powerful craving. She lied to Jacques, saying she was going to the store to pick something up. Instead, she drove to the local BrewShack and parked. It was only a few minutes before there was a knock on the passenger side window. Seeing Fenric’s face, she opened the door. He slipped inside.
“Look, can we talk?” Venom asked.
“$300. I can’t hang around; I have to get to work,” Fenric said bluntly. She knew for a fact that he had hours before his shift. He just didn’t want to talk to her.
“I just want to…,” she started.
“I’m not interested in chit chat. Do you want the drugs or not?” Fenric snapped.
“Yes, I want them.” She sighed as she held her hand out to him. As he clapped her palm, she accepted the notification on her AR to transfer him the money she owed him. She wanted to cringe, seeing the severe lack of money in her account, but it wouldn’t matter if she died because she couldn't get the data.
“Here you go,” he said, extracting a clear bag with ten little pink pills and dropping it in her lap. Before she could say anything else, he was climbing out of the car and slamming the door behind him. She dragged her hands down her face with a slight moan. Why was he being such a grumpy asshole? Oh yeah, she had been a prick to him.
Stuffing the pills in her pocket, she turned on the engine and started towards home. Using the dregs of the bank account, she stopped at the store and picked up a few things. The last thing she needed was Jacques to ask questions. The pills were only to get her through this hack, so it wasn’t worth telling him about. He would just worry.
*****
After caring for Venom, Xander had made his way home. He had called Leander in the car and set up a new meeting while apologizing profusely for missing the first. Luckily, Leander was an empathetic fixer and understood his care for his friends. He couldn’t let this happen again; it wasn’t a reputation he wanted to gain.
Unlocking his front door, he stepped into the smell of home cooked food and the sound of the news.
There was something about a gang war in Puyallup and the upcoming mayoral election. Two things that he really didn’t care about. He headed into the kitchen and saw Caitlyn there stirring a pot that was on the stove. He simply walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her stomach, and rested his chin on the top of her head.
“What’s wrong?” she asked instantly, her hand resting on top of one of his.
“What gave me away?” he asked. She knew him well enough that she didn’t even have to see him to know that something was up.
“You forget I know you, you big lug. Now what’s bothering you?” she asked again. He stepped back and moved to the refrigerator and took out a cold beer. Uncapping it, he drunk deeply from the bottle.
“I’m worried about Venom. She’s started taking this heavy drug and is missing work and such. It’s just so unlike her.” He sighed, leaning against the sideboard and dragging his hand through his hair.
“What is she taking?” she asked.
“It’s called NeuroPep. It’s one of those stimulant drugs, helps mental acuity. From what I read, it’s like Roidz but for mind instead of body,” Xander explained as he recalled the article that he’d read.
“Why is it worrying you so much? We’ve all experimented with drugs over the years; dare I remind you why we have a daughter?” Caitlyn said with a cheeky grin. Keira was conceived on a night where the two of them had dropped one too many sense pills and completely forgotten contraception. It was the best mistake they had ever made.
“This drug is just nasty. So many hackers have been having strokes or getting brain damage from staying immersed on it for too long. Today when I arrived, she was passed out on the fucking floor,” Xander said.
“Have you tried talking to her?” Caitlyn asked, turning to look at him.
“Yeah, and she’s just being hard headed, ‘I-know-what-I’m-doing’, Venom.” He sighed again.
“Want me to talk to her?” Caitlyn asked as she started serving two big bowls of beef stew. His wife was an amazing cook as well as a skilled combat specialist.
“Not right now. She said she would stop. I guess we just need to see if she sticks to that,” he said, taking his food and leaning in to plant a gentle kiss on his wife's lips.
“If she said she would then she will. Venom never lets us down,” Caitlyn said as she made for the dining room table and sat down, “Stop worrying, alright?”
Xander grabbed cutlery from the drawer and followed her, settling beside her. She was right. Venom was logical and loyal. She wouldn’t lie to them. Just seeing her like that today had messed with his head a little. He’d give her a couple days to recover and then see how she was doing. With that thought, he dug into his food.
Chapter Nine
Six days had passed since Venom had started her relentless Nexus search for the SUN’s information. In that time, she had turned up nothing useful. She had a permanent headache from high levels of immersion, lack of sustenance, lack of sleep, and of course, the constant use of NeuroPep. Moments like these almost justified people becoming Virtual Reality junkies. There was no pain in VR, and it was easy to manipulate the world around you until it conformed to your ideals. With a groan, Venom extracted the wires that connected to her Neural Implant and stepped out of the chair.
As soon as her feet hit the floor, her knees buckled, and she went down hard. Venom yelped as the pain shot through her, causing the throbbing in her skull to intensify. Breathing through gritted teeth, Venom pushed herself to her feet. Like a newborn lamb, she hobbled her way into the living room. She expected the place to be empty, but instead, she found Jacques lazing on the couch with earbuds in. If she was quiet maybe she could...
“Damn. I mean, you alright?” Jacques said, concern spreading over his face. Maybe she couldn’t sneak past him.
“Yeah, I’m alright. Just in need of coffee,” Venom said as she started the short hobble to the kitchen. Caffeine was mandatory if she wished her existence to continue.
“I don’t think we have enough,” Jacques muttered sarcastically. Her head snapped to look at him. Had she really heard right?
“‘Scuse me?” she asked, looking at him with a quizzical brow.
“N...Nothing. You… you don’t look well,” he stammered.
“Like I said, I’m fine. I just need a coffee and something to eat, that's all,” she said, giving him a weak smile.
“Here, let me help. You’re looking a bit shaky,” he said. Dashing to her side, he wrapped his arm around her waist and helped her into the chair at the breakfast bar before heading into the kitchen and rifling through cupboards.
“I guess I spent a little too much time on the dreamscape today,” she said as she leaned forward, propping her elbows on the breakfast bar and holding her head.
“You sure that’s all it is?” he inquired absently as he started up the coffee machine and heated some water for the pot of ramen noodles.
“Yeah, what else could it be?” Venom lied as she looked up to him. The high levels of immersion didn’t help, but this was certainly due to the drugs. Why was he asking so many questions today?
“Hmm. Seems to me the only nutrition you've had for the last couple of days is in that bag by your bed,” he said as he turned to face her and leaned against the counter.
“What?” Venom asked, trying to act confused when actually her heart was beating a thousand times a minute. How had he seen the pills?
Jacques didn’t respond. Instead he just looked straight at her with a blank expression, his cloudy white eyes boring through her. She heard the coffee finish dispensing and hoped it would draw his attention, but it didn’t. He just kept staring at her.
“It’s nothing… honestly, just pep pills,” she said quickly, hoping that he would accept the lie. It would be a lot easier that way.
“V, listen, the occasional pill can be fun, but they're not a necessity. No replacement for decent food or sleep. What's it been now? Like, a week?” Jacques asked. She really didn’t like the way his eyes watched her.
“Jacques, I know they aren’t. Why you getting on my ass?” she snapped, not needing another lecture about drugs. She’d already had one from Xander this week, and she didn’t need one from Jacques, too.
“There's a mirror in your room, yeah?” Jacques asked, the sudden change of subject confusing her. Wow, the side effects of a sluggish brain were already kicking in; usually that took hours.
“Yeah, there’s one in the bathroom, too. What’s your point?” she asked, her patience quickly running short.
“My point is, you don't need ocular replacements to see how unwell you look. Whatever those fucking things are, they ain’t doing you any good,” he said as he started around the breakfast bar.
“Look, Jacques, just drop it, alright? They are pep pills, that's all,” Venom growled. He needed to take the hint and back off.
“I'll drop it when you stop dropping them. What the hell could be worth messing yourself up over? You suddenly scared of sleeping? Or are you looking for a crazy overtime payout?” Jacques said, his hands gesturing as he was starting to get worked up. He sighed. “As if you didn't work enough already.”
“Seriously, why the fuck do you even care?” she said, not able to prevent the rise in her voice. At the end of the day, why was he here? Because he needed her home and her food. She snapped, “I’m just a fucking hotel to you.”
As soon as the words left her lips, there was a pang of guilt. Jacques mouth fell slightly open as he simply stared at her with a look of disbelief in his pale eyes. Despite the tension in the room, he scoffed loudly.
“Uh huh, that's exactly what you are to me,” he said, his voice thick with sarcasm. “Hey, here's an idea. How about you and me finish off the last of those little pink bastards? Then we'll have plenty of fucking time to talk about what a great idea it was, because, you know, fuck sleep.”
“You know what, Jacques? Fuck off. You think you can tell me what to do? All you have done is take advantage of me. Food
, cigarettes, me… everything. How about you get your shit and find someone else to use,” Venom exploded. This wasn’t her being stupid. She had to do this, her life literally depended on it.
“You can't be serious,” he said with a level voice as an expression of hurt blossomed over his face.
“I am,” she said simply, leveling a look at him.
Jacques maintained eye contact with her. Venom couldn’t stand the look on his face: hurt, anger, disbelief, all rolled into one. It was like a battle of wills. They stared, waiting for the other to back down. No matter how much she wanted to take it all back, she couldn’t. He would be safer this way. She narrowed her eyes at him. With a sad shake of his head, he looked away and left the room.
Venom watched as he quickly retrieved all the items he had left hanging around. He went in her bedroom and Venom heard him pulling open the drawer she had freed up for him. Moments later, it was slammed again and there was silence. She closed her eye to stem the tears that were quickly welling up.
He stalked out of her bedroom and walked straight past her. Part of her wanted him to turn and look, but he didn’t. Instead, he ignored her as he strode to the front door. He yanked it open and promptly left, slamming it hard behind him.
The apartment suddenly felt so empty. The anger was still coursing through her, but it was quickly being replaced with loneliness and guilt. She had sent away the one person who she saw every day, a person she had quickly come to enjoy seeing. At least when she was killed for not finding the data, then it was one less person to miss her. It was getting so much more scary now, since she had one more day. Only one day before they took her life. All of this for $1000. There was less than twenty-four hours until her deadline, and she was no closer than she was on day one.
Letting her weak legs give way, she sank to the floor. Everything felt hopeless now. If she hadn’t made any progress in six days, then there was no way she was going to manage it in the next twenty-four hours. Wrapping her knees up to her chest, she started to cry, huge wracking sobs that took over her body. She thought of her friends. If she died tomorrow, how much would they even care? Would they miss her? After the altercation, she was sure as shit that Jacques wasn’t going to miss her. With that thought, she gave into the sobs, tremors shuddering through her, tears staining her cheeks. She didn’t try to stop; she embraced the tears and rode through.
Caustic (The Seraphim Network - Everyday Series Book 1) Page 9