Shi: A Dark Adventure into Living Forever

by C. F. Villion

I felt Asher shift against my back; I was too afraid to turn around and stand by his side. We might be disavowed, but it didn’t mean the assholes in uniforms around us wouldn’t open fire regardless. So it made more sense to stand firm and prepared for an attack. Even though I just wanted to give him support in facing down my dumb ex.

  Wow, I didn’t even know how to start on that one. I went from thinking of us as a “we”, and now suddenly I was planning on emotional support. I needed to take a vacation and get my shit back together again. I was not the type of girl that relied this heavily on men.

  Asher remained quiet; he apparently didn’t feel the need to banter like I had. I heard Richard’s footsteps coming back around, and he stopped in front of me.

  He leaned in closely, the familiar spice of his favorite cologne enveloped me, and I was sad beyond measure. I had bought a bottle of that for him on our honeymoon, and he had then sworn always to wear it. And with a promise that every time he applied it he would think of me.

  Did he still wear it? Or was it specifically for this moment, and this meeting? Was it to tell me that he still cared or was it to rub in the fact that he had been around all this time and never attempted to find me?

  I didn’t know, and suddenly tired of trying to find the hidden meanings in all the things. I wanted to lose myself in tears and forget about all of this. Couldn’t I just have some peace for once?

  I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t cry from the familiarity of it all. His warm lips landed gently on my forehead and almost broke me completely. After keeping them there for a moment, he stepped away from me. My eyes were teary I watched him give me a gentle, sad smile as he turned and walked away from me.

  Within moments, the air took on the strange quality of fusing two bits of itself together again. Much quicker than the first time it resolved and the uniformed men disappeared and the garage came into focus around us.

  The pressure of Asher’s back lifted from mine; I couldn’t move. I felt fused too, perhaps if I stood still reality wouldn’t kick in. Asher was in front of me; he carefully removed the 9mm from my grasp. He put the safety back on and opened my jacket and stuck it back into the strap under my arm.

  So far down the hole of despair was I that I didn’t even relish how close his warm hands were to my body. I resisted a bit when he pulled me close to his chest, but when he folded his arms around me, I broke down and cried.

  Twenty-Eight

  It was all just too much, fucked up beyond measure. There’s only so much of this shit a girl could take. And I was at the end of it. I would die tomorrow night, and that would be it, my fucking ex would keep walking the planet in Armani suits while I rotted.

  “What’s wrong with her? And, get your hands off of her.”

  I got jerked out of my misery by Denny’s menacing tone. I felt even worse; I had completely forgotten about him. That’s the story of my life, right? So wrapped up in my woes that I forgot the important things.

  I pushed away from Asher and quickly wiped my eyes. It would help, but I looked like a drowned rat when I cried. My mother had informed me at a young age never to cry in front of people and especially never in front of my husband. “Never show weakness Elizabeth, you are to be strong for those around you.” Yes, Mother.

  Denny looked shocked and scared, who could blame him. The world turned upside down on us and is about to shake us off. I walked to him and gave him a hug, well, he gave me a tight hug.

  I needed it more than him, but it benefitted both of us. When we let go, he gave me a questioning look and raised an eyebrow at Asher. Who was patiently waiting for us to finish hugging.

  When I turned around, I saw he didn’t look nearly as shell-shocked as I was. His lips curled into a small smile, and his hands clasped in front of him.

  “What happened Eliza? I saw the air do something odd and then there were lots of men. I couldn’t hear anything and then it was over.”

  He still had a hand protectively resting on my shoulder, what a sweet boy.

  “Yeah, it didn’t go as we planned. We lost the plant and the Man disavowed us completely.”

  A grunt and then, “But you knew that was coming right?”

  I turned to Denny again, “Well, yeah but it is more complicated than that.” I felt like there was a distinct lack of sympathy all of a sudden from him.

  He shrugged, and dropped his hands to his sides.

  “You mean you are pissed because they made it official and stole your thunder.”

  I was seething, seeing red and I wanted to kick his pompous ass. He must have seen my expression because he rapidly backed up a step or two. Asher’s laughter brought me to a halt. A deep throaty laugh that reminded parts of me just how sexy I found this man.

  “So true, she didn’t get a chance to kick ass. Or to tell them where to shove it."

  “That’s not the point! They sent that man to deal with me, a man that shouldn’t be alive and by all accounts shouldn’t be high up in the organization.”

  All cool I had was gone; my voice was hitting some seriously high registers, and I knew this would make me seem even more deranged. Judging by the two men’s laughter they agreed. I stomped my boot down hard and wished it had been on one of their feet, one of their big clod-hopping happy feet.

  I decided this had gone on long enough; I needed to get the hell away from both of them. Find some coffee and cake and plot my last day on Earth. I turned on my heel and started walking back to the SUV. A moment later they caught up with me.

  “Come on Eliza, don’t take it so badly. It’s not like you don’t have some time to figure things out.” This from Asher, who perhaps had the same amount of time as I did.

  “Where to now? I’m hungry, let’s get some pancakes.” Denny was still recovering it seemed. Or maybe he was just trying to get rid of Asher.

  I stopped at the driver’s door of my SUV and turned to the two men; they had the decency to look remorseful. Maybe I would take them with me after all. Denny was a good boy, and I hoped Asher was a bad boy. I still had time to enjoy him as a bad boy.

  “Ok, get in boys. Let’s have a coffee and pancakes.”

  I got in and waited for them to figure out who’d get to ride shotgun. Denny got in the back, and I knew he did that so that he could watch Asher and render assistance if he did something dumb. I should have told him to follow us. It was too late for that now.

  “In case, you were wondering I didn’t come by car. I walked here and watched you guys scope out the area.”

  I nodded, “The way things went tonight I wouldn’t have been surprised if you had told me you teleported in at the last moment.”

  He smiled, “Not this evening, but we can work something out along those lines for later.”

  I laughed and started the car; we left Sundry Square behind and headed back in the general direction of my warehouse. We ended up at a small twenty-four-hour cafe. The booth was comfortable and covered in pleasing faux leather upholstery.

  The waitress was friendly and young, eyeing the two men with me with more than a warm smile. When she brought our coffee, she leaned in a bit over Denny to afford him an excellent view of her ample bosom. I caught his quick glance at her endowment and a blush when he looked up to see me smirking at him.

  Asher was caught up in his coffee and appeared blissfully unaware of the waitress’s attempts of flirtation. With our early breakfast set in front of us, my spirits had recovered from seeing and dealing with my ex.

  Denny caught my eye and tilted his head towards Asher, “So did you, at least, get some info on the plant before crazy happened?”

  I shook my head; I was still in the same place as I had been.

  “I can still help you, Eliza. We can help each other, and I think you can agree that we are all we have left now.”

  I still had more plants left, but I still had no idea how to grow them. For all I knew they were dead by now. But as much as I lusted after him I didn’t know that I could trust him. For all I knew he would steal a
ll three the Shi plants and leave me to die.

  And then again possibly the plants were a tiny portion of the immortality process and wouldn’t be enough on their own to sustain me.

  “Yeah? How?” Call me Miss Skeptical.

  “Would you like to live forever?” He said with a twinkle in his eyes and a smile on his lips.

  Twenty-Nine

  I rolled my eyes at him; this was how I got into trouble in the first place. Mind you, if had been delivered by him the first time around trouble would have been more fun.

  He laughed and leaned in, “True immortality Eliza, not the shit the Man’s been peddling.”

  Color me intrigued, I wasn’t the only one who suspected the Man of lying about Shi.

  “Go on, I am listening,” I said.

  He paused and sipped his coffee and took a bite of his pancakes, and left me stewing in my impatience. I contemplated and lived the fantasy through in my head, of a fork stabbed into the back of his hand that throbbed delightfully with the rhythm of his heartbeat. I went as far as turning the fork over in anticipation of impalement when he laughed and shook his head at me.

  “I hope true immortality teaches you some patience, Beautiful Girl.”

  “And I hope to live long enough to find out if you can help me.”

  Talk about killing the mood, he looked down and swallowed hard before looking back up at me again.

  “Sorry Eliza, this is serious but can’t you feel it?”

  I shook my head at him and waited for a response; Denny coughed into his napkin.

  “Dude, she is a bit more clueless than you can give her credit for.” He winced in pain when I kicked him under the table. They were sorely testing my patience.

  “Freedom; for the first time in many, many long and lonely years we are free. Free to live or die by our choices.” He looked at me with a soft smile, a promise hiding in there that suddenly scared me.

  I felt free that morning after I stole the Shi, but if was freedom in the form of dread. I could imagine what the Man would do to me in reaction. Or what would happen when they reviewed the footage from the dosing facility.

  A kiss on the forehead by a man dead to me for years had stolen my real moment of freedom. The moment where dread passed and reality took hold. I was free, and the Man had given me a merciful option by their standards.

  I was not to be an example to the others; it was expected of me to go away and die.

  I could cry all over again, the weight I had carried for over eighty years fell away from me, and I was certain I could hear it crashing to the ground.

  My plate of pancakes was a bit blurry, and I was afraid to look up and see nothing but a sea of water. My mom might be gone, but her voice still had a prominent place in my head.

  The men gave me some time to get my shit together, and to my surprise, they were chatting to each other. Light, meaningless small talk but amicable. That made me glad, I liked them both, and for some reason them getting along was good.

  For the first time in eighty years, I suddenly had friends, two friends made over the course of two days. Unsure as I was about the one I knew he had my back. And Denny, he I would protect forever if I could, and I knew he would stick with me. For someone with shitty luck, I suddenly had more good luck than I could ever have believed possible. And probably why I didn’t think of my freedom right away. My luck never brought this sort of thing to my door.

  I cleared my throat, and the boys went quiet and looked at me expectantly.

  “So, Asher, if you can keep my babies alive I will share them with you,” I said, hopefully in a reasonable tone of voice. I suspected however that a slight girly squeak had entered into it.

  “I can and will; we can take cuttings and transplant them to get more Shi.”

  I nodded and started eating my pancakes. Asher’s hand landed on top of mine and sent a lightning strike through me and down my legs. I attempted to be neutral when I met his eyes. They were twinkling, and I knew he had seen my reaction, and enjoyed it.

  “Thank you for trusting me, Eliza, you won’t regret it. I promise.”

  “We’ll see about that, though, won’t we?” Denny said with a slight scowl.

  He too must have seen my reaction and didn’t approve. Asher let go of my hand and spoke to Denny, “Believe it or not Conman, this is my life as much as hers, and I want nothing more than to keep living.”

  Denny grunted and stuck his fork into his pancakes with force. Asher mirrored this move, and they both went about destroying pancakes for the rest of the meal. I was happy and sad and, in general, felt very confused. Things had worked out differently and oddly but once again I had hope. Flimsy perhaps, I still didn’t know what Asher had in mind.

  After our meal we headed back to the warehouse, Asher had insisted on seeing the plants. To ascertain their condition he had said. I was worried their state would turn out to be dead but kept it to myself.

  I went through the usual checks before pulling into my warehouse, one day I would get over the need to do so. In theory, no one wanted to kill me anymore, but this would be a habit that wouldn’t die quickly.

  In the garage, Asher walked around admiring my collection, pride and pleasure vied for the upper hand. My collection was a thing of beauty, for the most part, and as much as I would have loved to see his hands move all over them, I was delighted that he kept his hands to himself.

  My mind might not have entirely focused on his caressing my vehicles. Shut up, I am confused right now!

  I led the way inside and to my massive dining room table where my case of remaining plants still stood. We closed it; I knew it couldn't be good for the plants, but their need for plantation air outweighed the abundance of not-plantation air if left open.

  Asher looked at me with mild annoyance, “You didn’t seriously store Shi in this abomination?”

  He didn't wait for a response but flung the clips back and opened the lid with a flourish. He inspected the little plants inside, and I heard him sigh quite frequently, there might have even been a couple of curse words uttered as well.

  Denny shrugged and went to my PC; apparently he needed verification of my gamer status. Or possibly he felt an urge to surf the net. Anything to be excluded in the general assessment of neglect emanating from Asher.

  I couldn’t stand it any longer and tapped Asher on the back; he still bent over the case. He inspected each plant more thoroughly than I had thought possible.

  “And? Will they survive?”

  He turned on me with a big frown, and I fell back a bit, this was the most dangerous I have seen him look so far. Apparently he realized it and smoothed out his expression and rubbed a hand across his face.

  “It’s not good Eliza, but we can save them.”

  “Fantastic, and just how are we going to do that?”

  He smiled ferociously and stuck his hands in his pants pockets, “Are you up for a heist?”

  Thirty

  “Sure, I for one could do with more excitement in my life.”

  Asher laughed and shook his head, “Because it has been so dull so far?”

  “Oh, absolutely, dreary days staring out the window with nothing to do.”

  “Well, then, I live to please. It won't be dull or dreary at all.”

  He left the case open and went into my kitchen and did a twirl; I kid you not, a freaking twirl to take it all in.

  “Nice kitchen, where’s your filtered water? And a container, I assume that a watering can would be a stretch?”

  I walked into the kitchen and opened a cupboard, I didn’t, in fact, have a watering can, but a good old-fashioned gravy boat would be fine I figured. Handing it to him I led the way to the basin, a built-in system served my water filtered before it reached my taps.

  “Thank you, Beautiful Girl. Now please pay attention, this will be the start of your training in botany.”

  “Oh, this can only end well,” Denny, muttered from the PC.

  “Shh, you, or no games for you. Stra
ight to bed and sleep.” I waggled my finger at him, he grinned and returned to his browsing of my directory of games.

  “We want filtered water for the Shi; Earth water isn’t naturally as clean as it is on the other side.”

  I nodded and mentally added a note to find out more about the other side. We went back to the table and the open case, the poor little things inside were looking rather more pitiful than I had thought possible for something alive.

  “Equal amounts, slowly poured around the plant. We don’t want to pour it over the leaves and risk damaging them.”

  “They are more fragile looking than before. Why is that? I left the case closed hoping to keep some of the plantation air inside. But you are leaving it open, isn’t that risky?”

  “Any air from the other side was gone the first time you opened the case, Eliza, so it doesn’t matter anymore if it's open or closed.”

  Duh, I should have realized that. I felt dumb and annoyed all of a sudden; I could use the excuse that it was a long and hectic day. But common sense should have held sway and not been so quickly abandoned.

  “Okay, so moving on. How long can they last in this atmosphere before dying?”

  Anxiety filled my heart; forever would be terribly short if our trio of Shi died all of a sudden.

  “Long enough for us to pull off the heist.”

  “Let’s get planning then,” I said.

  We sat at the other end of the table, where Denny joined us. I wondered if he found anything in my directory that appealed to him. Denny brought a pad and pen with him, I almost laughed. He was the biggest, burliest secretary in the entire world. The glare directed at me was enough to stop me from laughing, however. Denny sat and pushed the pad to Asher.

  “Thanks, so we need to set up an environment for the plants that simulate the plantation.”

  He looked around and frowned, “Do you have a basement in this warehouse Eliza?”

  I nodded and pointed at the stairs, “Yes, there is a door at the back of the stairs that goes to the lower level.”