What few men and women remained on the streets slowly moved aside to let the armored vehicle pass, never taking their eyes off of it. Glaring from beneath the edges of their wide-brimmed hats. He had to wonder how long it had been since anything like the APC had passed through these streets, if it had ever even happened in the first place.
A group of children, boys and girls no more than five or so began to run along behind the APC, as if they expected gifts to be thrown out to them, until their parents grabbed them and pulled them away.
One man in particular stared longer and harder than most. With a thought, Reiji activated the turret mounted weapon and began tracking him with it as he passed. There was no ammunition, a fact that he had made triple sure was true before he dared touch the weapon, but the implied threat was still there. The man dropped whatever it was in his hands, went white beneath the sun-beaten and weathered tan of his skin, and turned and ran. Perhaps there might still be some sense left in the world, Reiji thought as he laughed to himself.
The town was laid out in a simple grid pattern, with the obelisk in the center. And beneath the obelisk was where Reiji was likely to find the center of commerce. Somewhere to spend the night in an actual bed, hot food to eat, and booze to drink. As long as everything was locked up in the APC, there would be no fear of theft. And if they thought he was with Cent-Sec, they just might leave him alone.
And it couldn’t hurt to stop for the night and top off supplies. There was no telling when the opportunity would present itself again.
Reiji did a quick estimate of the supplies that remained in the back of the APC. More than enough to last the two of them for another two weeks or so. A full month for himself if he put the retard down. He tried to dismiss the thought, after all he still owed the boy his life. But it hung there for a long moment before he forced it away.
Tod had moved into the back of the APC through the opening leading from the pilot’s cabin to the rear section. Reiji called back to him as the APC came to a halt in front of what appeared to be the Mayor’s Palace. Calling it a palace was a kindness. It appeared to be made out of the same badly worn synthetic wood that the rest of the town was cut from. Caked in the same dust and wind-driven sand as well.
This building towered over the others though. At a height of three stories it commanded the town of Milton, the Tesla tower immediately behind it was so large in contrast that it seemed a part of the terrain. A few of the windows facing the street were lit, and the front door of the building opened, spilling the soft glow of electric light onto the street. The growl of the APC’s engine died as Reiji shut it off. Three men stepped out, each wearing what appeared to be chainmail coats and carrying a large blade.
There had been no response from Tod, so Reiji unplugged the neural interface and leaned back so that his head passed through the door. The boy was repacking a med kit. The color was an odd shade of purple and Reiji recognized it right away. It hadn’t been labeled for a specific purpose. It had simply said “experimental” right next to the CCG logo. No data plugs or written instructions had accompanied it.
A small trickle of blood ran down his forearm where Tod had apparently just administered a shot to himself.
“Tod,” Reiji spoke, his voice filling the rear compartment. The boy jumped in surprise and then turned back to him with a large smile. “What the fuck are you doing?”
He looked at Reiji for a second, seeming to think about what the question could mean. His eyes lit up and he realized what action was being questioned.
“I’m taking medicine,” he began. “It’s good for you!” The boy’s excitement was ludicrous and Reiji couldn’t help but laugh. If the boy kept doing things like this, injecting himself with something labeled ‘experimental’, then Reiji wouldn’t have to put him down somewhere. He was going to off himself soon enough.
“Put everything back where you found it. And don’t use anything unless I tell you to.” His voice grew hard as he spoke. It may have been entertaining to see the boy doing stupid shit, but Reiji couldn’t have him wasting valuable medicine that might come in handy in the future.
“Come up to the front. I’m going to go speak to them.” He nodded in the direction of the men standing in front of the APC. “I want you to wait here,” Reiji finished speaking to the boy and turned back to the trio of men who had emerged from the Mayoral Palace. Likely the sheriff and his on-duty deputies, Reiji thought.
They approached the APC, two seeming nervous, another showing nothing on his face other than pure boredom. They stopped in front of the vehicle and the stone-faced man spoke.
“Please exit the vehicle, without any weapons.” An interesting request Reiji thought. There was no aggression in their postures or in the man’s voice. Perhaps they just didn’t want armed Cent-Sec soldiers leaping out and cutting everyone down. He’d be a fool to go unarmed, but he’d at least appear to comply. Reiji tucked a knife into the sleeve of his battered and filthy jacket, another into his belt, and another into his boot.
“What they want?” Tod asked looking at Reiji like a dog waiting for a command from its master.
“Hopefully just to talk,” Reiji answered. “For now, you stay here. I’ll come back for you in a little while. And no more injections unless I tell you.” Tod’s head dropped a little at that, as if he had been looking forward to pumping himself full of medical nanobots.
The door to the driver’s compartment opened with a hiss and the oppressive heat of the air settled upon Reiji as he stepped out. Five days in a climate controlled cabin beat the shit out of marching through desert during the summer. The sun had only gone down a little while ago, but the heat still hung over the town. Urban heat shroud or something like that, Reiji thought. In another hour, it would start to get cold and the cabin of the APC would be equally appealing.
Reiji planted both feet firmly on the ground before he turned to the three men and slowly raised his hands to show that he wasn’t armed. He forced himself to smile in what he hoped was a disarming manner, but one of the men widened his eyes in response, as if he had seen something horrifying.
“What happened to your uniform?” The man who’d spoken before asked. Reiji realized they had been expecting a Cent-Sec man. In an APC, likely a high ranker.
“Ruined a few days back. Routing bandits that had set up along the highway,” he responded. He felt like the answer had been natural and unforced, but he had never been one for acting. The three men nodded in response, as if they had just put down a nest of bandits themselves and suffered the misfortune of having their clothes ruined by the blood of their foes.
Reiji lowered his hands and one of the men winced as if he was expecting to be attacked. The other two didn’t react.
“Well, sir, welcome to Milton. The mayor will likely want a word with you,” the spokesman of the three said. The other two nodded agreement. “If you follow us, we’ll take you to him.”
“Right now?” Reiji asked looking about him. The city still seemed to be relatively busy despite the hour.
“Now’s as good a time as any,” the spokesman began. “The mayor lives here. And he’s always home.” He motioned for Reiji to accompany them, and the three turned and walked back inside.
As Reiji entered the room, he paused to take in his surroundings. A half dozen or so chainmail clad men milled about a large entrance room composed of polished stones and gleaming metal. A large chandelier hung in the center of the room, bathing the entire area in a soft white light. Reiji looked the men over, deciding they were more of what passed for the local police. A few looked at him out of curiosity, but none seemed hostile. Clearly, they were hiding something, he decided.
The three men led Reiji through a few hallways and then up a large staircase. They passed a row of benches and approached a large door that looked like it had been carved from a single piece of genuine wood. Forests were far from a rarity on Lexington, but the nearest tree to this place would have been almost a thousand kilometers in Reiji’s estimation
. Expensive to move things like this that far, to say the least.
The spokesman knocked on the door and a voice inside bid them enter. The two men who had declined to speak to Reiji each grabbed a handle and began pulling the double door open. Inside, an expanse of leather wrapped luxury spread before them. Dark stained wood, the real item, met with polished stone and dark leather in virtually every object in the room. The smell was not unpleasant, reminding Reiji of the home of a particularly rich bounty he had collected some years before. The value of this room alone was probably higher than the rest of the city combined, Reiji thought as he tried to take it all in. On the far side of the large room a shirtless man stood over a large desk.
He was wild eyed and smiling, a thick carpet of gray hair covered his chest and shoulders, failing to conceal a great deal of muscle straining at the sun-darkened and weathered skin pulled tight over it. At his apparent age, that was a sure sign of chem abuse. The man appeared to be well into his fifties if not his sixties, but he stood far stouter than most men half his age. Reiji wouldn’t be surprised if this man occasionally beat the living shit out of his subordinates.
A series of tattoos ran up the man’s muscular arms from his wrists to his shoulders and apparently around to his back, covering every available spot of skin along the way. They appeared to be an unrelated patchwork of individual tattoos that had grown together into one large motif over time. A naked woman writhed in one spot with the twitching of a muscle, and something resembling a goon took a bite out of a planet as the other arm moved. Stars and what appeared to be hearts and knives danced. All of it tied together by a simple phrase inked in stylized letters that made it look like something out of an old bible, running across the base of the man’s throat. Like a clasp holding on the cape of subdermal ink.
I WILD EACH IT.
It meant nothing to Reiji, but apparently it had been important enough to the man to put there.
Reiji looked up to the face above it all. White powder was caked over the man’s nostrils and lightly dusted the stubble of a beard around his mouth. He looked like nothing else as much as a drug crazed warlord of the wastes.
This would be The Mayor, presumably.
On the desk before him lay two naked women, a remarkable sight yet almost lost in the absurdity of the appearance of the man who held sway over the entire town. Reiji watched as they caressed and kissed each other with the minimal amount of movement possible. Subdued for the moment by the intrusion of strangers or the effects of narcotics.
The shirtless man waved the newcomers in and pointed to some chairs in front of the desk. As they approached, Reiji could see what appeared to be a very significant amount of cocaine or something similar spread across a good part of the desk.
The Mayor leaned forward and began fondling the breasts of one of the women while cutting the white powder into a line with a stiletto dagger and then inhaling it with a quickness from the tip of the blade.
“Yeeeessssss!” The man yelled into the air, arching his back far and hard. He threw the knife straight up into the air where it lodged into the ceiling, never releasing his grip on the woman’s tits with his other hand. I could get to like this guy, Reiji thought to himself while he smirked. After his eruption, the Mayor took a deep breath, relaxed his shoulders, and looked to the men with Reiji.
“What do you need boys? Or did you just bring your friend in here to watch me rail these two?” He pointed to the two women on the table, now eagerly kissing one another.
“No, sir,” the spokesman began, not at all put off by what he was witnessing. Business as usual. “This man is with Cent-Sec. We thought you might like to speak to him.” The mayor froze for a second as his mouth was descending towards a proffered nipple, looking up at the spokesman and then looking at Reiji. With obvious reluctance, he pushed himself away from the woman’s tits and took a seat in a large leather chair with a high back.
“I see,” he began, looking Reiji up and down as if appraising him. “As always, we are eager to serve.” He almost sounded sincere to Reiji’s ears. “And what can I do for you and Cent-Sec?” All eyes in the room, naked entwined women included, turned to Reiji.
“We’re just passing through,” he began, not sure what to say but improvising well enough. “Pursuing a wanted man.” The Mayor and the spokesman exchanged glances that looked like relief. “We’re only planning on staying the night and buying some supplies before we leave in the morning.” The Mayor’s eyes lit up as Reiji finished speaking.
“Of course,” he began with a smile. “Anything you need is on the house. Food and water. Booze. Women. Anything.” The man seemed more than happy to hear that Reiji, or Cent-Sec as it were, would be moving along in only a few hours.
“Anything?” Reiji leaned forward, raising and eyebrow and grinning as he asked the question.
“Anything,” came the response.
“TAKE good care of him,” Reiji said as he slapped the exposed lower half of the woman’s ass. Shorts that short would have been indecent anywhere other than a whorehouse. Which made Reiji glad that he was in a whorehouse.
“Baby,” the girl said with a sultry smile as she reached back and caressed his hand. “You keep payin’ me and I’ll do whatever you want to him.” She turned and began to walk away, towards a narrow switchback staircase with Tod in tow. The boy looked confused and excited. Unsure what was happening. Reiji wondered if the boy had ever seen a woman other than his mother or his sisters. Whatever the answer was, he was about to see a whole lot more of one.
Reiji had left the Mayor’s office with a smile on his face. The bumpkins that ran this place might have been rich, and they might have been powerful. And they might have killed him if they actually knew who he was. But they thought he was someone with Cent-Sec and thus they had given him the keys to the kingdom.
It had taken all of thirty seconds to find out where the most expensive whorehouse in town was. And just about as long to get an armed escort for the night when Reiji had offered to bring the spokesman and his two silent friends along on his coin. The Mayor’s coin, really, but it was still on the house for them. They hadn’t even debated it with each other, just an enthusiastic ‘yes’.
Reiji had left the three to have a few drinks and babysit the retard while he’d gotten a shower and a few drinks with a few young women, and then returned to fetch them for another round of the same. This far from the big cities, he hadn’t been expecting much, but he’d nearly died a few days ago and now all he wanted to do was fuck. Something. Anything. As long as it was a woman, and alive. At this point “willing” was negotiable.
He’d been pleasantly surprised by the quality of girls at the whorehouse, named, of all things, Pleasures of Meat. Hilariously so, in his eyes. If there was some other meaning there, he didn’t see it, but the name alone was enough to put a grin on his face.
After a warm up drink and a shower, Reiji, the boy and their escorts were led into a bathing chamber. There a small pool filled with heated water awaited them. The filth of the trail and dust of the road was expertly washed from their bodies with exquisitely soft sponges held by young women that were available to be taken if the desire so struck their charges.
Reiji noted the look in their eyes. They tried to hide it, but he could see it. It was something all too familiar to him. Something he’d seen in the eyes of almost everyone he’d crossed paths with in the capital. It had been in the eyes of all of the bounties he’d collected as well.
Hopelessness.
He finished his bath and then took the three best looking women he could find in the place, followed them upstairs to the private rooms, and put them through the wringer a few times himself. Their despair be damned, he was there to get laid. When he was done he went back downstairs to find the three officers dutifully watching Tod as they each drank a beer.
Tod couldn’t stop smiling. And not just his normal retard smile, Reiji thought. The kid actually seemed happy. Reiji took a seat with the constables as Tod disappe
ared up the stairs with an attractive young woman. It was probably going to be the boy’s first time, and realistically his only time, Reiji thought. Hope the kid enjoys it.
He spent a few minutes dictating a list of supplies that he would need loaded onto the APC before morning. Reiji had planned on paying for everything in market, but now he’d been given access to the town’s stockpiles. No need to wait until tomorrow or pay for that matter. It was mostly consumables. Different types of food and MREs. Some beer and booze for the road. Water was on the list as well, but in the desert it never seemed to keep as well as beer. A few first aid kits, of the non-nanobot variety, and the list was completed.
Reiji dismissed the constable who’d written down the list. One of the silent guys. They still hadn’t spoken directly to him. Only the spokesman seemed to have the balls or the will to do so. And when he did it was always some variation of ‘do you have everything you need?’ or ‘is everything to your liking?’
It was clear to Reiji that they just wanted him to find nothing to be angry about and then disappear, so they could get on with their lives without Cent-Com breathing down their necks or making a fuss about some minor bullshit. In their position he’d likely feel the same way.
He took a sip of his drink, whiskey or at least a passable imitation, and looked around the bar. Mostly well-dressed men, presenting either the local wealth or men attempting to look the part, and distinctly less-dressed women cavorting with them. The crowd was in a good mood despite their constant glances over their shoulders at the constables and the man with them.
The occasional man took a look at the ‘coat-check’ by the front door. Not a single coat had been checked there, but the clerk stood in front of an impressive collection of blades standing upright on a series of weapon racks. Each numbered and logged to ensure the right weapon was returned to its owner at the end of their stay in Pleasures of Meat. Apparently the armed, on-duty constables were making the other men in the establishment nervous. What can you do? Reiji asked himself, but didn’t bother answering his own question.
The Way of Death Page 19