“Fuck!” Denny yelled when the first bullets hit our car.
He instinctively ducked down, deeper into his seat. When the first salvo passed, he sat back up.
“What the hell are they shooting at us for!”
“It is because of the plants; they are beyond precious.”
Denny’s look said it all, incredulity that simple looking plants could have such an influence on people. The chase he thought was a simple matter of a landowner being pissed about trespassers.
His mouth opened, and I knew his next words would be a demand for answers, for logic or just were the reason lay. But luckily, or unluckily the bastards behind us shot again.
At least, he had good instincts and ducked down into safety. I strafed, attempting to throw off Mister Automatic’s aim. The glass was bulletproof but as these things went they weren’t that bullet proof. Given enough time and concentration of fire they would penetrate, and I wanted to avoid that for as long as possible.
The real shit would happen then; one of us could get seriously hurt. I probably wouldn’t die, but Denny could bleed out. And in truth, I just didn’t know what would happen to me if I suffered mass trauma.
I healed quickly and so far I had made sure I was damn good at taking care of matters before there was even a hint of major trauma. But the sad truth was that I didn’t actually know if I could take severe damage.
The worst damage I had ever sustained was breaking an arm and a leg at the same time. It hurt like hell, and it was a pain in my ass for the few hours it took to heal up. But it healed, and I was only out of action for hours and not days.
My daily task was finished a bit later that day, but it got done and I had gone for my dose as usual. Ben didn’t even comment on my cast apart from smiling widely and tapping the cast on my leg.
A pang went through me, strange how the mind strayed when in danger. Most people would focus on the stress of the chase, the potential of death.
I got shot at frequently, as you might have guessed by now. It was still hairy and a bit scary but actually if you can read a person you can figure out how they would shoot. Mister Automatic behind us chose that weapon specifically.
He had delusions of grandeur and thought it was somehow a cool gun. Something that looked great under his jacket. And I bet he would brag about it to his buddies, make false claims that he could outshoot them if he wanted.
He could probably, but he still sucked. He was wasting ammo, and I had to believe that he would run out soon. Please, let him run out soon.
Twenty
“Are you trying to make me throw up? I mean, getting shot would be worse, but I don’t want to be covered in puke while that happened.”
I gave Denny a grim smile but accelerated. We were in the last bit of speed the SUV had to give us. She would have no more to give and quite possibly would lend Murphy a hand soon.
“Sorry Denny, I will try and make sure that the puke will be the only thing we need to clean up.”
“I haven’t thrown up in years and didn't want to start now. I don’t think we know each other well enough for you to see me puke.”
“Better than watching you bleed out.”
“True that, so any further ideas other than driving fast? Any guns in here for me to use?”
“There is but I don’t want any windows open for stray bullets to come in while we are trying to escape.”
“And how long before it is inevitable?”
I peered into the rear window and saw crack that had appeared in it while I wasn’t looking. Shit.
“That would be now Denny.”
He grunted and started looking over his seat into the back. But behind him was nothing, nor behind my seat.
“Um Eliza, not to be dramatic but where the fuck are the guns?”
“Roll down your window Denny, and open the glove box.”
Just for the sake of being challenging, he did things the other way around and looked expectantly at me.
“Grab the grenade as carefully as possible,” I said, “Now while keeping it steady, position it so that you can drop it out quickly.”
Luckily he chose to go with my instructions that time and while keeping a close eye on the grenade he positioned it in the middle of the opening.
“Now pull the pin and make sure you push the trigger before dropping it out of the window and check that it is, at least, a hand’s length away from us. It's cooked for two seconds so be very quick."
I heard him inhale and exhale quickly, and his hand disappeared into the car again. He pressed the automated window control, jammed at it a couple of times for good measure and looked at me with big round eyes.
“Good job Denny, now hold on tightly.”
He didn’t bother speaking but nodded and pushed deep into his chair. There was a moment of stillness while we waited for the inevitable.
My lungs still burned from my excursion into the plantation, but I managed to hold it as I counted down. Two seconds was all it took for the world to explode.
The SUV lifted in the back, and I feared we would flip over and prepared for it. But we rocked back hard and skidded to a stop. The SUV filled with sand, and we both started coughing.
I pushed the accelerator in deeply, and we began moving again. There was no time to look back, peering through the muck in front was more important. We had to keep moving forward and hope that they were either hit or seriously indisposed.
I relaxed for a moment and let myself believe that we had escaped. I was simple Eliza, naive Eliza, who believed that things were that simple.
We were clear, and it grew quiet as we pulled away further from the scene of our detonation. My ears were still ringing; as I was sure Denny’s were too.
But there were no more shots and no sign of the other SUV, so I believed we had lost them. We were home free, the back of our SUV looked intact for the most part. I could see no window, of course, but the door was still there, so I prayed that the case was intact, and the Shi was too.
“So, same as every other day for you then?”
I laughed and inhaled some sand that got dislodged, and started coughing. My poor abused lungs were miserable, and I hoped that soon, oh so very soon they would heal up, and the pain would go away.
“Not quite Denny, but close.” I gave him a quick once over; he didn’t seem worse for wear, but I asked, “You hurt anywhere?”
“No, not that I can tell. Adrenalin could be hiding that of course. We’ll see when we get back.”
I nodded my agreement, and when we got home, I would check us both out for injuries. Apart from my lungs, nothing felt damaged. I started feeling safe, the realization that I had salvation at hand.
That once I figured out how to take care of the plants, and then of course how to properly harvest and use them I could have my fix whenever I wanted it.
Damn, whom would I contact for lessons in botany? I was smiling at the thought of learning to nurture these little babies when my sorely neglected mobile let out a pleasant tune. I was so startled that I veered off the road and hit the big dune on the side.
“Bloody hell Eliza, what the hell was that about?”
The boy could roar with the best of them; he was loud and very irritated. I shook my head and looked behind us; a crash would have been a perfect opportunity for our friends from the plantation to catch up to us.
The road was empty, and I could hear no other vehicles in the distance. I rested my head on the steering wheel, eyes tightly shut. Denny’s hand on my shoulder was comforting.
“Sorry Eliza, I know it has been a crazy day. I just wasn’t expecting a crash to be the cherry on top of the cake of crazy.”
I sat up and looked at him; he was smiling at me. What a sweet kid, I wished I had known him as a little one.
“And I am sorry as well Denny, this is a shitty introduction to a new life, and you have handled it well.”
“Eh, shit happens. I am still holding out for explanations of course. But for now, I’ll settle
for why we crashed.”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the offending mobile, a light indicating that somehow in the middle of nowhere someone had managed to send me a text message. Denny laughed and shook his head while I unlocked the screen.
“I know what happened on the plantation if you want the plant to survive you’ll meet with me. And bring it with you. A.”
What the fuck.
Twenty-One
I felt like throwing my phone out the window and driving over it repeatedly. Blackmail was so blasé, and that was my place. I coerced people; people didn’t blackmail me. It was an outrage, what the hell was happening here?
“Eliza, what is it? Bad news I take it?”
I nodded, “You could say that, yeah.” I tossed him the mobile and put the SUV in reverse, pulling out of the dune.
It protested, but we got out after a bit of a struggle, and we returned to the road. Denny whistled and shook his head.
“I didn’t see anyone else, but I didn’t even see the guys at the warehouse, and they must have been watching us.”
“Yeah, it seems like a hell of a lot of people knew we were on the plantation.”
I smacked the steering wheel, a petty and stupid thing to do. For one, it hurt hitting the damn thing and for two, it messed with my steering. It always looked cool in movies, but in reality, it stung.
I turned to Denny as a thought occurred to me, “Could your hacker friend have sold you out to someone?”
He shook his head vehemently, “Not a chance, I trust Viv completely. She wouldn’t sell me out to anyone for anything.”
“Everyone is for sale Denny; you just need to know the right price.”
“Not Viv. Not in a million years and not for any amount or thing.” He said defiantly.
I sighed, I felt like that was all I was doing lately. He was certain, and I applauded the sentiment behind it. We all believed there was someone in our lives that was incorruptible, someone that would always be on our side.
But that was a lie, a sweet lie we told ourselves to make the world seem less dark. A little bit less of a shit hole. The truth was of course that almost anyone would sell you out, given the right thing offered. And for some, it was just as simple as money, sometimes not even a lot.
“Eliza, listen to me. I know you think everyone is out to get you and no one is trustworthy. But,” He paused dramatically and locked eyes with me, “trust me on this, please.”
I laughed, “Ok, I will believe you when you say Viv is unassailable. But I hope I won’t be throwing a told you so at you later.”
“Not going to happen, she is many things but she is one of the few people I trust completely.”
“Right, and I guess there’s an interesting story behind that.”
He grunted and nodded, “But not one you will hear now. I think you owe me first. We have time, and I would like to understand what the hell is happening.”
Talk about people one could trust, I trusted Denny and my instincts were warning me about that. I shouldn’t trust him, he was a conman first of all and secondly I didn’t know him. I knew facts about him, but I could hardly say I knew his deepest thoughts and worries.
A beautiful girl as a worry didn’t count really; Vicky was a sweet distraction no doubt. Viv sounded like someone far closer to him, and more about her would be good to know. But tit for tat and all it seemed now. Which was fair, I did upend his world and brought him into mine. And without a second thought. Fair’s fair and all that, and damn wasn’t I just a rolling ball of clichés all of a sudden.
“All right Denny, what do you want to know?” I said.
He was quiet for a long time, I had a fairly good idea where he’d start, but I wasn’t going to volunteer too much if possible.
“How do you know my family? Were you friends with my mom?”
I heard the pain in his voice, I might have been hearing it because I was expecting it, but it did make me sad.
“I did, not as well as I wanted to perhaps.”
He nodded, and I pretended not to notice the shaking of his hands. I knew that he would have attempted to link me to his mom, he desperately wanted a link to when she was happy. And it made sense that he would have thought I knew her in happier times when she was young. Long before she got ill.
I concentrated on the road in front of us, as did he. It was a kindness for both of us. His mom was a kind lady, and her kids were her life. She was the special kind of lady that everyone knew and loved.
Old school in the sense that she cared for her family had the best for them in mind. Loved cooking for them and knew everyone’s schedules and made sure everything happened when it was supposed to.
She got ill when Denny was still quite young; she still managed to take care of everyone and everything. Right until the day she dropped dead in her kitchen, leaving a young Denny frantically attempting CPR on her.
The young boy worked hard to bring back his mom; he didn’t know that she had been fighting her illness for far longer than anyone had believed possible. Her poor frail body couldn’t withstand any more.
Eventually, though I couldn’t help myself, I reached over and took hold of his hand. I squeezed hard, and he held on tightly, even though he didn’t know it, he was my family. And his pain was unbearable to me.
He cleared his throat and loosened his grip on my hand; I released it and took hold of the steering wheel.
I had to figure out who the hell A was, and how did he know how to get hold of me as well? I felt like sighing; it was getting to be a bad habit.
“So what are you going to do now? Meet with this A?”
“I think I will have to, I am no gardener, and I believe these plants will be high maintenance.”
“That brings me to the next question, what are they? What makes them so important?”
“Life Denny, they are life.”
I looked at him and his incredulous expression, “Have you ever wished you could live forever? And just what you would do to make that happen?"
My focus returned to the road, but I couldn’t help the bitterness that slipped into my voice, “Or what you would put up with to get even the slightest shot at it?”
Twenty-Two
Denny turned in his seat and stared at the rear compartment, then back at me. The impossibility that was his death was nothing compared to what I had presented to him.
“Not to disbelieve you Eliza but that can’t be. That’s the stuff of legends, not reality.”
“I am not saying it’s easy or even beautiful, only that the side effect is worth it. Or I keep hoping.”
He shook his head; I could understand his disbelief. Eternal life was indeed the stuff of legends, but that’s the kicker isn’t it. Legends aren’t lies; I knew that for sure. I suspected the Man spread the legends over the centuries. Somewhere, at some point, someone found something out and told a tale. A tale that got told and then twisted and warped to work in the favor of the Man.
“Can’t be, those little plants can’t be the fountain of youth.”
“Oh, I didn’t say that. The fountain of youth is the fountain of youth; Shi is something else completely.”
He gaped; eyes firmly stuck on the back of the SUV. I never thought I would be telling an outsider of Shi, and it felt like a very dangerous thing to be doing. But after the last day or so he was no longer an outsider.
Someone in the Man knew about our connection and had involved him. I still didn’t know if it was because of something I said about an elder or because of his knowledge of the plantation. It made sense that it would be because he knew their location but why the hell would it be laid at my door?
That kept niggling at me if the Man knew he was a relation of mine they wouldn’t have left it to me to get rid of him. Or was it just sadistic enough for them? I needed a vacation day; this shit was ageing me prematurely.
“Shi? Is that what it's called? How does it work? Do you smoke the leaves or something?”
“Oh, that
might be a possibility Denny, well done. I was wondering how to distill and gain the benefits from the plants.”
“Well, how do you usually use it then?”
“You will see tonight Denny, and I am going to need your help with it.”
He raised an eyebrow and shook his head.
“Not to worry, though, it is a simple injection.” He looked relieved, until I said, “Into my brain.”
“I am not so sure if I am glad you saved me. The life of a conman was simple by comparison.”
I patted his leg; he wasn’t wrong. Things were complicated, and if my blackmailer was any indication, it was only going to get worse.
“You are, you just don’t know all the details yet. Just think of this as another con, just one with stakes higher than most.”
“Higher, by the sounds of it that's an understatement. I feel like crawling under a rock and staying there. I don’t think I can deal with all of this.”
He could, it was in his genes. He was from a long line of tough bastards, stubborn to boot. We were finally in the city again, home. After all, this time, the city felt like the only place that was normal. Suburbia was a distant place in time to me, and somewhere I felt lost.
Of course, it wasn’t that far away, a few days of driving to the east of my current location. Not that I had ever actually returned to see how things had changed. For one, naturally, I never strayed very far away from my daily dose. Never more than a few hours drive or flight at the utmost.
My obsession with my ex, of course, was satisfied via proxy. I went to the regular expense of hiring private detectives to look in on them and take photos. Through these photographs and reports, I watched their son grow up and, in turn, his kids.
I pulled into the garage and parked the SUV, nice and cozy with the others. It was well worse for wear, and I would probably need to drive it to the junkyard later and mix it in for bricking.
But first I needed to check on the plants and respond to my blackmailer. I knew there was little choice in the matter; I would meet with him and see what the hell he knew. And what he planned to do.
Shi: A Dark Adventure into Living Forever Page 8