by Quil Carter
He died as Reno came. With one last twitch I stepped off of him. Brushing my hands over the blood on my bulletproof vest.
I looked at my red-streaked palm. In spite of myself I leaned down and put my mouth against the gaping neck wound and drank some of the blood. Reno groaned as he saw it, he always got turned on by that.
As I sat back up, my friend cleaned himself off. He zipped up his pants with a satisfied sigh, and threw the condom into the fire. “I love my job.”
“Let’s get out of here,” I said. I got up and quickly slashed the others’ throats. If they didn’t drain, their meat would rot before the Aras scavengers got them. Greyson was already going to be pissed off at me killing the legionaries, I didn’t want him to be pissed that I let good meat rot.
“Shall I kill the fire?” Reno asked, picking a chunk of meat off the spit. He popped it into his mouth before quickly spitting it out, he started to blow on it, burnt his mouth I guess.
“Just kick it a bit, I want to get home. The scavengers can deal with the rest,” I said with a shrug. I hated feeling like a failure. I was going to be going back to Killian empty-handed, and after that whole show of him being upset about me going too. Sure we killed legionaries but we could kill hundreds of them if we felt like it. The only thing I had really achieved was getting Reno laid.
My friend must have sensed my foul mood because he was silent during the walk back to his house. Though he might’ve just been tired from fucking the legionary. Either way we made it back uneventful. The only exchange between the two of us was sharing a cigarette.
My stormy mood strengthened as Reno’s roof came into view. I was going to have to deal with a manic Killian, and having to tell him they weren’t the right soldiers. That wasn’t going to be fun. The kid was hard enough to handle when he was upset, and even more so when he was pissed off at me. I didn’t have the mental energy to deal with him at the moment. Not to mention my back was throbbing and my stitched up ear as well. If he was nice he would let me get some drugs into me first before he started beating on me.
Reno opened the door and walked in, but as he disappeared into his house I froze.
Killian would have locked the door behind us…
I shot past Reno, my heart banging in my chest.
The TV was shut off but the Nintendo was still on. The drugs were still on the table… the couch empty.
“He’s gone!” I said. I ran into Reno’s room in case he had passed out in his bed but it was empty. I ran into the kitchen, swearing loudly.
“They came and got him… how the fuck did they… shit!” I turned to run out the door but Reno stopped me. He was holding a note in his hand.
“Calm your shit, Greyson got him an hour ago.” Reno was suppressing a laugh; he knew it would probably cost him his life. He handed me the note, and I took it. I tried to dispel the adrenaline rushing through me. I looked down at the note feeling stupid.
Overheard the radio, got Killian, bringing him to your cave. GM
I crumpled it up and tossed it away. Wordlessly I went to the coffee table and picked up the sniffer. I wiped my face with my hands and started inhaling drugs. Reno, of course, was having a big snicker behind me.
He dropped a root beer down by my thigh and patted my shoulder. “You’ll be fine, Reav. We’ll find ‘em, and when we do I’ll fuck ‘em and you’ll kill ‘em. Just like we always do.”
I grunted and let the drugs hit me. My ear was starting to throb even more, hopefully I hadn’t gotten any legion blood in it.
“Of course you’re happy,” I mumbled. Reno let the house fall quiet as the warm, cozy, numbing feeling washed over me. I closed my eyes, starting to feel better.
“It had been awhile,” my friend said behind me. There was a crack as he opened his own root beer. “You know, nothing calms one down more than a blowjob. I won’t tell Killian.”
I raised my middle finger at him, not even bothering to open my eyes. He laughed but didn’t press the offer further.
After a fifteen minute siesta, I got up with a sigh and gathered my things. “Tell Sheila it wasn’t them and to keep a better eye out. I want to find them before they’re dispatched elsewhere. And I’ll need you soon for our scavenging mission. Radio any supplies you might need beforehand.”
Reno popped a peach ring into his mouth and handed me the bag. “I know the drill, babe. Don’t worry about it. Tell Killian it was nice having him. He’s a good kid when you get some powder in him.”
I smiled. “He’s alright, a bit neurotic but whatever. I’ll train him.”
Reno returned my smile, though his held a certain level of amusement. “Yeah, you’re the one training him. Right.”
I let that one slide. With a few more back and forths I was on my way, making my way silently down the cliff face, seeing the fence below me as I scaled down the sharp grey rocks. Behind it the dim blue glows of the Dek’ko lamps, still lit in the darkness from the residents who hadn’t gotten to bed yet. I was half-expecting to meet Killian and Greyson on the way down since I knew Killian would be slow, but I didn’t pass them.
With a shout out to Sadii at the gates I was inside Aras. I made a beeline for home. The streets were deserted now. Just the shadows of my fellow sentries on the wall that encased my block like a fort.
My footsteps were the only noise heading down the street. They always seemed louder under the cover of darkness. I didn’t know what time it was but I would guess it was well past midnight.
It was nice to be alone. I realized this would be the only time to myself tonight. I just shook off Reno and now I would be in my house with Killian. I did miss my me time a bit, though I was looking forward to seeing the kid.
Strange, this would be the first time I would ever come home to someone. Hopefully to a warm house and some more drugs. I could hear my generator in the distance so I knew it would at least be warm, I don’t think the kid knew how to prepare drugs properly yet.
I slid down my tank hatch and looked around the living room. Sitting on the couch was my boyfriend watching TV, a cup of tea in his hands.
He looked up at me, his eyes red.
As soon as he saw me, his eyes widened. “You’re hurt?” His voice was thick; he put the tea down and jumped to his feet.
I looked down at the geyser of blood from the soldier boy. “It’s not mine,” I said as he put his arms around me. I sighed and hugged him back, hearing him sniff.
“It… it wasn’t them…” I said slowly, might as well get it out of the way.
The boy pulled away, but his expression didn’t change. “Forget about them.”
I shook my head and his face fell. Then he hugged me again, smearing the still wet blood all over his shirt. Maybe he knew it was no use.
I closed my eyes and as I felt his warm body against my cold one, I reminded myself just what I was willing to give to touch him. Just a few days ago I thought I would never have the chance again. As much as it scared him, it was something I had to do. I think tonight he finally understood that.
“Come to bed, you’re tired.” He pulled away and headed for the bedroom, his shoulders slumped.
The cat followed, his tail in the air. I wanted to tell Killian how it went, what I did. I wanted to tell him I’d killed four more for him, but I didn’t speak. I knew he didn’t give a shit.
I turned the generator off, lay on my cushions and pulled my blanket over me.
I could feel his eyes on me, but I kept my eyes closed, and let the high feeling come over me again. The aches in my body were dull, and my mind was calming down. Without another word, safe in my cave, I fell asleep.
Chapter 18
Reaver
Killian woke up screaming again, so I got up and lay down beside him. I was half-expecting this to happen though wished it wouldn’t. He half woke up and spoke some gibberish, mostly about maggots being in the bed again, before falling asleep with his head beside mine. I rested my chin on his head and patted him on the arm before shifting my body
away from his.
I slept for a couple more hours. Once up, I opened myself up a can of corn bosen and ate it with a fork on the couch, throwing the cat a few pieces here or there which he ate happily. It didn’t take much to make that asshole’s day.
After eating I made myself some Dek’ko brand coffee and sat down to some drugs. Dilaudids sounded good today. I ground them up and divided them into neat little lines then settled down with my M16 and a clean rag. My faithful rifle had had a lot of use over the past several days and the last thing I needed was the thing jamming up when I was out scavenging.
Killian got up and disappeared into the bathroom. He emerged about a quarter hour later, with his hair brushed and his clothes on. He needed time to prep himself like he was some chick. Hell I only started brushing my teeth in the mornings since he started sleeping over. Usually it was an effort for me to put pants on before I ventured out of my house.
“Morning, baby,” I said with a smile. I wasn’t sure if I was treading on dangerous ground after what had happened last night. So I decided to lay on the charm.
Killian returned the smile though it looked forced. “Morning,” he said back before reaching down and picking up Fatty the cat. “Good morning, Biff Biff!” He gave the fat spotted cat a kiss. The chubby thing erupted into purrs.
“Biff Biff?” I mumbled, shaking my head.
“Have you checked your bandages yet?” Killian asked, putting the cat down. He picked up the bag of medical supplies he had been instructed to use on me.
I shook my head, continuing to clean my gun. My ear, my back, and my neck ached, but the pain killers had been dulling it to an acceptable level.
“You want to do the honours?” I asked. Killian nodded. He probably wanted to inflict pain on me after the stunt I pulled last night. Sure enough, after I took my shirt off he started peeling my crusted and stained bandages from my back. I winced and clenched my teeth as parts of scab started to come off with the dressings.
He sucked in a breath. “They don’t smell bad, but… they just look awful.” I felt his hand brush against my back.
“I heal quickly,” I said, the decided to lay on the charm some more. “Even quicker with my own personal doctor.”
His heartbeat gave a flutter; I could tell he was smiling.
“Did Greyson take good care of you last night?” I asked. He didn’t seem to have any injuries on him so he must not have cracked his skull open.
I swore as Killian doused my back with stinging antiseptic; the whole room started to smell like Doc’s clinic.
“He was very nice to me, though it was terrifying when he first knocked on the door, but he announced himself as soon as he did so it was short-lived. He’s pretty cross with you; he knew that chances were it wasn’t the right legionaries.”
And he’d been right. I was going to have my other ear ripped off the next time I saw Greyson.
A few moments later the big tweezers came out and Killian started picking off the dead skin. I clenched the side of the couch and cursed the Legion and the factory out loud. Burns fucking hurt. Stitched up cuts were one thing but getting my back scorched from the explosion was excruciating. Killian seemed to realize this, because when he had finished, he pushed my metal tray of drugs towards me.
After I had helped myself to a bit more yellow powder, my little doctor started patching me up. He still seemed a bit cold towards me but he would be fine. I’m sure he couldn’t stay pissed at me for that long. I mean that could I stay to him? Sorry? I was planning on doing the exact same thing again once Reno’s tentacles found the two I was looking for.
When I was all cleaned up and bandaged, Killian sat on the other side of the couch with his corn bosen and finished his breakfast while I continued to clean my gun, hoping he wouldn’t bring up anything more about last night. However, he said nothing about it. Was he giving me the silent treatment?
Funny though, the more time that went by the more it bothered me. I gave him a few quick glances, wondering when he was going to say something. It was an hour into him sitting on the couch, reading a psychology book that I started to get done with his silent treatment. Or what I assumed was his silent treatment.
“Why don’t you play a song on your guitar?” I asked, screwing the scope back onto my freshly cleaned gun.
“Maybe a bit later, I need to tune it first,” Killian said, not even looking up. Yep, it was the silent treatment. It crossed my mind to throw something at him, or kick him in the leg. It wasn’t that hard to make him happy, or I didn’t think it was.
“Want to play Mario?”
“The generator’s off, we should conserve fuel.”
So this was a relationship…
I looked around and spotted Biff the cat licking his paws after eating my corned bosen. I picked him up and kissed his face.
Killian lowered his book to watch me. Without breaking eye contact with the cat I leaned in and pretended to eat his face.
I heard a muffled laugh behind me. The cat squinted his green eyes and purred at me. I looked up at Killian and took another pretend bite.
There was that smile. I put the cat down to bask in my cleverness when he tossed the book at me. I caught it in midair and watched him laugh.
“You’re really hard to stay mad at, asshole.”
I grinned, and he blushed and looked away from me with an unimpressed grunt. “You’ll get yours when Greyson gets a hold of you, and you know what?” He gave me an evil look with those brilliant blue eyes. “I’m going to be quiet the whole time, but on the inside I’ll be loving every moment of it.”
I couldn’t help it, my mouth dropped open. “You’re a sneaky manipulative fuck!” I said aghast. Killian smiled. “Well, I need to learn quickly, or else I’ll be spending half my life crying because of you.”
Later that afternoon we ventured out of the basement, and made our way towards the square. I wanted to see if there was any news regarding the soldiers I had murdered last night.
It was Miller who spotted us first. He took one look at me before ducking into the makeshift mayor’s office. Moments later Greyson stormed out. Miller ran away like the little brown noser he was.
“They weren’t even the right ones!? I fucking knew it!” Greyson stalked towards me.
“Well, they’re still legionaries, it’s not like I fucking killed scavengers!” Greyson’s less than civil tone had my hackles up.
“They were out trying to find the Raven,” Greyson hissed. He looked around dropping his voice. “Kessler’s put a big bounty on your head, Reaver. I just got a radio from the west watch. Kessler! Not a chancellor, not a commander. Imperial-fucking-General Kessler. Your stunt at the factory has gotten all the way to Skyfall. He has every soldier out looking for you now.”
“The Raven, not me,” I shot back. “They don’t have my blood, do they? You made damn sure of that. I’m a shadow to them, they’ll never find me.”
Greyson gave me a hard look. “Do not get cocky, Reaver. Watch your ass. Did Reno have his way with one?”
Jesus, not in front of the fucking kid. “He was safe with him, and I’m assuming our scavengers got the bodies before anyone else did.” Reno wore a condom with any legionary he fucked. Not just because of disease but if they were found and autopsied they would find Reno’s DNA in their asses, and he was in the books.
Greyson nodded darkly. “Of course they did.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
That earned me another look. “When Kessler and Silas’s other chimeras get involved, all bets are off, Reaver.” Greyson’s tone was stern, bordering on pissed.
Beside me I could feel Killian, though something told me he wasn’t laughing inside like he said he would. “This is all the way to Skyfall. You… the Raven has to lay low. You can’t do this anymore. I know they hurt Killian but he’s here, he’s safe and most of them are dead. No more legionary deaths, that is an order.”
I glared at him. He had my ass in a corner now.
; “I said that’s an order, sentry,” Greyson snapped. He stared at me, but I didn’t look away or blink. I returned his gaze.
“Yes, sir,” I replied, my voice icy. Without another word I turned away and walked from the square. It pissed me off beyond reason that he had to pull this shit in front of Killian. I hated taking orders from him, especially when he made it clear it was an order. I could kill whoever the hell I wanted when I wanted. Fuck the Legion.
Greyson had us over for dinner that night. I didn’t want to go at first but Killian talked me into it so we could make nice. It was free food after all. Greyson made peace by making one of my favourites: bloody rat steaks and canned potatoes mashed with butter. He was in a better mood that evening, so the hostility of earlier in the day was quickly lost after a couple of beers.
After we were all fed and happy, I went over my plans for the scavenging mission with Greyson.
Reno and I were to go to Donnely, a small city that had only been open to the public for a few years. It had been condemned by King Silas as still being too radioactive beforehand, so we had a good chance of finding medical supplies. Our chips might buzz a bit as we were going through, but if we were lucky that would be the extent of our troubles. We would be gone a day and a half at the most.
That night, as I pulled the blanket over me, I could feel Killian’s eyes on me. I wasn’t as disgruntled and tired as I was the previous night though so I decided to humour him.
“What?” I grumbled.
“Sleep beside me again?”
I gave out a sigh.
“I won’t touch you, I promise.” That was shaping up to be our motto.
I felt stupid that he had to say that to get me to sleep next to him. I got up. I saw his smile and rolled my eyes in mock defeat and lay next to him.
“I guess it saves time; I usually end up beside you anyway,” I said.
“I have bad dreams…” he replied defensively.
