by Red Harvey
However, she displayed her freakishness for a second time, and two times was all it took to convince old Harmon of her Undesirable status.
He dialed into the complaint network. An Undesirable shouldn't be walking around, blasting blue light everywhere.
It needed to be detained, and better yet, contained.
~*~
As they drove from the house, Ada resisted the clichéd last look, but she did wonder if she would ever return. She doubted she would be allowed to see much after completing her mission. The thought of leaving her mother's home barely hurt, because it hadn't been Ada's actual home for years. The relocation to her old neighborhood was temporary from the beginning. Her real home was gone. Burned. Dead.
A place she no longer recognized. Moretz had killed her home, and she meant to return the favor.
Hate lived inside her. It eclipsed her other emotions, influencing her decisions. Gemina's quip of love your enemies, it'll make 'em crazy was not advice Ada wished to follow.
Growing up, she had lived for her mother's corny sayings: Silence is golden but duct tape is silver. And, Love thy neighbor but don't get caught. She used to imagine passing on the tradition of cornball humor down to her own children. Children. A memory pushed all of Ada's thoughts to the background.
Cold ceramic on her bare ass cheeks. Pushing, so hard. And the woman told her, "Don't look down."
But she did. Ada looked down, and she wished she could erase the picture of it from her head.
"Stop."
"You want me to stop?" Kressick set a hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right?"
With his touch, the pictures left her head. She shoved them deep down, until her mind settled on the comfortable position of seeking revenge.
"Yes, just drive."
They were near the highway. Several food shops beckoned, but resisting the urge was important. Most stops near or off the interstate were tourist traps, as in literal traps. Those who stopped were likely to be robbed, killed, or both. Gas stations were the only safely patrolled areas. With her new car battery, they would have to stop once a day to recharge for a minimum of thirty seconds.
For the first half hour of their trip, they sat in silence. Kressick eased the discomfort by turning on the car interface panel. "Radio please."
"Selections?" the computer asked. "Why are you polite to an interface?"
"I'm polite to anyone or anything I talk to. You should try it."
"I did not recognize your selections," the computer said.
"Classic rock, please."
Music that Ada could have done without came pounding through the car's speakers. With little effort, she mentally connected with the car interface. Indie rock. The music changed from harsh tempos to more melodic beats.
"Classic rock," he said slowly.
Kressick's music selections returned until Ada thought, No, Indie rock.
Again, her music interrupted his. He tapped on the screen, which continued to read "Indie Rock."
"The machine is broken."
"Must be." Ada turned her head to hide a smile.
"Don't suppose you can work your magic on it while we're driving?"
"My magic?"
It was the second time he asked her to fix an electronic, and casually at that.
"Yes, your tech-hacking hands. Can you fix the radio?"
She shook her head. "No, it'll have to be when we park to charge."
"All right."
At random moments, she missed Gemina. She messaged Cybil, who replied that Gemina's condition hadn't changed. She remembered another of her mother's sayings.
A day without sunshine is like, well, night.
~*~
Seven
There was a brief argument about Kressick's speed. He was going eighty, but Ada wanted him to go the speed limit of one hundred and ten. It's not safe, was his point, whereas her point was to get to Atlanta in a few days, not a few weeks. She thought one hundred and ten to be a safe speed if the car was set to an optimal trajectory course.
Not when I don't know exactly what coordinate to input, he countered.
Dickwank is right again. She should have set the course herself. And she should have driven herself.
She told him to take the exit ahead to the nearest a gas station. They would have a chance to re-charge the car and switch drivers. He got off at the next exit and turned in to the Sunnydale Gas Station.
The station was barely lit, with an ill-favored look to it. No security patrols either. Ada wanted to tell Kressick never mind. She had seen the news reports about unguarded stations and what went on there. The red indicator on the battery charge made up her mind for her, in combination with the road sign which said the next charging station wasn't for another hundred miles.
They parked at the station and found they had a problem. None of the pumps had electrical outlets. Kressick rang the intercom to speak with the attendant.
"Can I help you?" Can sounded more like ken.
"Sir, where are your outlets located?"
"You got an 'lectric cur?"
No, he's asking about the outlets so I can stick my fingers inside, Ada considered saying, but didn't.
"Indeed," Kressick said.
"Outlet pole. On the right side of the building. Cost is a hundred-seventy-five dollars for full charge."
Ada snorted with laughter at the price. Even in downtown locations, the cost was lower. Kressick didn't voice concern, and she didn't offer to pay for it.
"How long will that take?"
"It's an older model, so 'bout twenty minutes." Mints.
"That's acceptable, thank you."
Kressick got back into the car to drive it nearer to the outlet pole.
After he parked the car for a second time, Ada got out. "I'm going to the bathroom."
Inside the convenience store, a short, dirty attendant hunched behind a bullet-proof encased office.
"What ken I do for ya?"
"Bathrooms?"
"Back left."
~*~
Whenever Easies entered the Sunnydale gas station— easies were usually rich Tramps; Prominents they left alone—Oscar notified Mono. Oscar's last call brought him out of bed and into the car. Just another commute to the old job-erooney. Mono drove, and his partner, Kevlar, double-checked the six-cylinder compartment in his gun.
When they arrived at Sunnydale, Mono noticed the electric car. Blue station wagon, an older model, but in good condition.
Mono smiled at Kevlar who returned the grin. Oscar was their best informant. Tonight they could expect a good haul. As long as the station maintained zero riots, thefts, shortages, and high returns, the State allowed them to operate a successful side business. Bribes sweetened the deal too, Mono had learned.
No one was in or next to the electric car, waiting for the charging outlet to turn green. The age of the model meant it would be another ten minutes before the car was fully charged. They had time.
As pseudo-gas station owners, Mono and Kevlar had discussed the choice to upgrade to the newer charge pole, but decided to keep the old model. It gave them time to get to the station and deal with their customers on a more personal basis, even though they only lived five minutes away in a run-down duplex.
Mono parked around the left side of the store. He held the wristlet up to his scruffy face. "Where are the Easies?"
"There's a girl in the bathroom, and her dad's outside," Oscar answered. "He was waitin' by the car, and now I kent see him."
"Go inside and get the girl," Mono told Kevlar. "I'll look for the other one."
Kevlar nodded. He was on his way out of the car when Mono touched his arm. "No stoppin' to fuck around either. We don't have time to clean up again, all right?"
Kevlar grunted. Mono shook his head. It upset him that his business partner let his cock do all the thinkin', but really, what man couldn't say the same? If a bitch looked wanting, Mono wasn't averse to takin' a dip in after Kevlar was through. Thing was, they'd been indulgi
ng themselves too often. The last girl had fought so hard Kevlar had been forced to brain her with his gun. Mono knew Prominents paid less attention to Tramp disappearances, but still, the mess could have been avoided.
All the other gas pumps were lit and empty. The right side of the building was clear. Back of the building was just as empty.
"Oscar, are you sure they are two Easies?" Mono thought Oscar might be losin' his ever-lovin' mind, because the station was disturbingly quiet.
"Two people got outta the car." He heard the familiar sound of Oscar cocking his weapon. If Oscar was worried, then he must be telling the truth.
Mono gave the gas station a quick last sweep before informing his interface, and thus Oscar, "The dude's not out here. Did he go inside with you?"
"No."
"Then where the hell is he?"
When Mono turned around, he saw a man he had never met before. An older man, but a kindly one. He was a model Prominent, one who made sure to take care of his facial prosthetics.
The man smiled, and Mono liked him instantly, though he didn't know why.
~ * ~
In the bathroom, Ada washed her hands. The sink had an old knob, which she had to turn off and on. Just being in the small space with the porcelain toilet brought on memories she would rather have suppressed.
She walked out, and immediately a spark lit up her fingertips. Someone else was in the store. She heard him, but he stayed out of sight. From behind her, hands settled roughly on her arms, trapping her.
"Ya kent go yet, ma'am." He breathed foul air into her ear. She stood still, not turning to face her attacker. "I don't have much on me."
"Everyone says that. Empty your pockets." The man helped himself to a handful of her ass.
"Hey!" She struggled slightly. "Checkin' for money, ma'am." The sincerity in his voice failed to convince her of his good intentions. "Fucktard. Do you have to hold your gun to my head like that?"
"Sure do." As she hoped, he dug the gun into her head. When it made complete contact with her skin, she released a flood of electricity which rolled over her body in blue waves, conducting through the metal of the gun. The electrical currents connected with the man's skin, reaching his heart. Throwing back his head, he screamed with no sound. His body dropped to the floor, small twitches jerking his arms and legs.
The movements convinced her the man wasn't dead, but from his rolled back eyes, he wasn't getting up. Ada looked for Kressick near the car, but he wasn't there. The charge on the outlet pole was still red. Her gaze swept left to right, but the parking lot was empty. She wanted to find him before the chowderhead inside woke up, or before the clerk alerted the authorities. She thought about Cybil's daughter, and how "special" citizens were apt to disappear. With her electric talents, she would be a prime State target.
"Come on, Kressick," she muttered. Instinct urged her to call out to him, but she hesitated. The chowderhead with the gun might not have been working alone.
As though he heard her utter his name, Kressick appeared. He was there so suddenly she couldn't be sure which way he had come. She was disoriented from the adrenaline rush she had gotten from dispelling her powers. A thin sheet of sweat clung to her skin.
"Feel any lighter?" He leaned against the charge pole, looking like a kid with too many jokes in his back pocket.
"What?" Was that a bathroom reference? If so, it went over her head.
"You look like you just finished dropping off a few kids at the pool." He leaned in to assess her. "Maybe some adults."
Ick. The crude joke jabbed at her, and revoked her urge to inform him of the incident inside the store. "Let's get to the car," she snapped.
She expected to walk effortlessly, but the first step was a wobbly one. Kressick held her up by one arm. Kids at the pool; of all the jokes, he had to make that one. She had already been thinking about similar things while in the bathroom. She couldn't shake what she had seen, what she had done. Pushing, sweating, hurting. Don't look down, dear.
Oh, thanks nurse. Now that's all I can think about, but oh, you're right, I should've never looked down.
Kressick maintained a light grip on her. "You don't seem well."
"I'm fine."
She wrenched away from him. Ada checked behind them several times. No one emerged from the store, and no new customers pulled up to the pumps.
"Expecting someone?" He glanced about, brow lifted.
"I'm expecting your old ass to get into my goddamn car," she said, her stride increasing in strength.
"Hello." He aimed his greeting at someone behind her.
She spun to meet eyes with the clerk. His hand was ready-steady with the revolver.
"You killed my friend," he said then shouted, "And where's Mono?"
Ada flexed her jaw before answering. "I didn't kill that idiot, and who the hell is Mono?"
The two stared each other down. Kressick reached slowly inside of his jacket, but the clerk was keen to his movements.
"The only gun out should be mine, ya limey bastard." Spit left his mouth in small spurts.
Kressick put his hands in the air. "No need for insults, or guns for that matter. We'd simply like to leave."
"Not happening." A small smile floated on Kressick's mouth, but quickly disappeared.
The clerk glared before speaking into his interface. "Mono, this is Oscar, where're you? Mono?" Unexpectedly, the screen on the device fizzled out, leaving angry red marks on his wrist. "What the fuck?" He tore off the wristlet and threw it on the ground.
"Who's Mono?" she repeated. She no longer felt as tired as she had a minute ago.
"He's ma boss." He swallowed the ball of spit stuck in his throat. "And he'll be pissed at what went down tonight."
"You called someone." Ada put the pieces together quickly. Oscar shook his head. She stepped closer to him. "No guards, two unassuming Tramps, and you called someone to what, rob us?"
In answer, he bit his lip and cocked the weapon. "Put your gun down," she demanded.
A crackling trailed after each of her words. With the crackling, she sensed a connection with the clerk at an intangible level. He was her, and she was him. Nerve endings fired, nerves that weren't Ada's, but through the exertions, she experienced the control that came with what followed.
She repeated her command, but the clerk froze. She nudged harder at his insides, and finally, Oscar put the gun down. Joined with the man as she was, she felt his will, heard his thoughts. With a few flicks of his switches, she turned his ideas into hers.
When his hand jerked up to bring the gun to his head, that felt like his idea too.
"What's happening?"
He was near to crying.
"The idea of suicide has struck you as appealing. In lieu of killing my friend, please continue." Kressick waved a conciliatory hand.
Ada squinted, concentrating on keeping the clerk's mind in check. In her head, the presence of another mind nearly drove her insane. She had heard August and Gemina speaking to her before, but that was different. Now, an alien shared her brain, and it didn't want to. The internal battle hurt, and yet, she maintained control.
"But I don't... Uh." Oscar's fingers cocked the weapon. "I don't know what I'm doin'!"
"Next time you'll remember that first, before trying to hurt people," Ada said through clenched teeth.
His finger tightened on the trigger. The gun stalled. The three of them stood, waiting for the big bang. Everything was quiet, but for Oscar's heavy breathing and a car passing by. If the driver saw anything, they weren't too moved to pull over and join the scene.
An eternity later, Oscar's finger lifted off the trigger.
Enough now, August cautioned.
She wasn't ready to kill, not yet. Dirty emotions like guilt would blot out the clarity of her mission. However, the clerk deserved to learn his lesson, and she planned to leave him with a parting gift to remember his A, B, and C's about humane behavior.
~*~
Oscar closed his eyes and si
ghed. When he opened them again, the Easies were walking toward the station wagon.
Get out of here, he heard the woman say. Or was that in his head? She was in his head, and he held back, but she overrode his attempt at a block. Where was Mono?
Oscar's wonderings stopped as he forced himself to crash into the glass window of the convenience store, not once, not twice, but three times. On the second collision, he hit the surface hard, breaking his nose. The third hit chipped his front tooth.
Darkness built walls in his mind, eclipsing his thoughts, eclipsing the woman with the blue eyes. When woke up with two strangers standing over him, he couldn't explain why he wanted to hurt himself.
Eight
The window on the charge pole lit up with a green glow. Twenty minutes fly by when you're under life-threatening conditions. Ada was pale and shaking as she slid into the driver's seat. Immediately, she fiddled with the car's interface to arrange a trajectory, ensuring the auto-pilot feature was on. She couldn't manually drive the car; she could barely touch the correct options on the screen with her trembling hands. Before she exited the screen, their end destination flashed in bold letters: Atlanta.
She pressed "commence trip", placing the car into auto-drive mode. The car passed by the store. When they passed, she shook her head at the downed and bloodied clerk.
On the highway, she and Kressick spoke very little. Ada positioned her hands on the steering wheel, more for peace of mind than for necessity. Her grip was so tight, her knuckles turned white.
Fifty miles from the station, she wanted to talk. If she bottled up what just happened, she might lose it. An electric god of a woman losing her mind was a recipe for a blackened and crispy outcome.
"I thought kidnappings and the like only happened to rich people," she said.
"They weren't planning on kidnapping us."
Her hands thrummed on the steering wheel. "I know."
Another five miles went by underneath them. She blew out her breath in one long stream.
"Aren't you wondering what that was?"
She wanted to know Kressick's theories about on her powers.
"I know what that was." The infernal "that", and he already knew what she meant.