by Michael Todd
Everyone in the bar laughed loudly. Another guy stood up, swirling his pelvis in the air. “John don’t even know how to use that thing. Paula is a real woman.”
Paula nodded. “That’s fucking right, which means you wouldn’t qualify either, so sit your drunk ass down. Not only do I like a big dick, I like them not to be stubby like a fucking tree trunk.”
The guy grabbed his crotch as the others pulled him back onto his stool. “You wouldn’t know what to do with this if you had it.”
Paula snickered. “You mean, like do I start a fire with it or balance a toothpick on it?”
JB rolled his eyes and shook his head as he walked up to Holly. “Straight back, door at the end of the hall. I’m right behind you. I want to run another bottle of vodka up to Paula. I ran out before I called her up. I don’t need her giving me hell if she needs to pour a drink and doesn’t have the right shit.”
Holly laughed. “Got it.”
She headed slowly down the dark hallway, almost tripping over a box on the floor that had been shoved against the wall. Bottles rattled as she caught her balance and sighed. “I can’t even put one foot in front of the other these days.”
She made her way to the office at the end of the hall and ran her hand over the wall, clicking on the light switch. The office was pretty bare. There was a large wooden desk with papers all over it, a computer, a video surveillance system to the left, and a shelf full of more liquor and a few books to her right. There were two other doors to the room, one into a bathroom she was afraid to look into, and an emergency exit.
Holly ran her hand over the exit door’s metal bar and nodded. “Always have an exit strategy.”
She could hear Paula laughing loudly and JB’s voice echoing from the front. She put her hands on her hips and looked at the cleared space in the center of the room. With a quick nod to her decision-making skills, Holly pushed the rolling office chair out from behind the desk and put it in the middle of the floor. She took the visitor’s chair, an old green chair that looked like something from an early ‘80s doctor’s waiting room, and turned it to face the desk chair.
She brushed her hands on the sides of her legs and took a deep breath when she heard the clinking as JB made his way down the hall to the doorway. He paused for a moment as Holly put out her hands and smiled. “Please, have a seat.”
JB tilted his head to the side. “Rather forward. No dinner first?”
Holly chuckled, watching him limp slightly as he went around the chair and lowered himself into it. She stood there nervously for a second and then rushed over to the door, shutting it and turning the lock. She rattled the handle several times, making sure it was really locked.
JB lifted an eyebrow and tipped his head back, watching her. “Pretty sure that when the handle won’t turn or pull open, that means it’s locked.”
Holly smiled and slowly sat down in the green chair. She went to start the conversation, but the green blinking light on the camera in the corner caught her attention. She pointed at it and grinned. “Would you mind shutting down the video for this room? This is private, and I don’t really want there to be a trail.”
JB cleared his throat nervously. “Why do I feel like I am facilitating my own death here? You got a weapon under that jacket?”
Holly snickered. “Depends on what you consider a weapon.”
JB laughed and levered himself up out of the chair with a grumpy, “Touché. Sure, why not? I’ll turn it off. Everyone saw you coerce me back here to the office anyway.”
Holly giggled as he typed on the system, watching as the light on the camera in the corner went from green to red. The top right picture on the screen went dark, letting Holly know that it had been shut off. She could understand why he was a bit tense about what was going on. She was acting pretty strange.
JB hobbled back over and took a seat in the chair, slapping his hands on his legs. “Okay, come clean now. Why the skullduggery?”
Holly nodded, sitting straight up in her chair. She paused for a moment, going over ways to say what she wanted to say. Finally, she just pursed her lips and let it come out. “Are you dying?”
JB coughed in surprise and shook his head. “Is that what all this is about? You are worried that I’m about to kick the bucket? Seriously, people who have known me for two decades haven’t even asked me that.”
Holly straightened her face. “You aren’t answering the question.”
JB shook his head. “Because it’s a fucking ridiculous question. We’re all dying, Holly. As soon as you’re born, you start dying.”
Holly rolled her eyes. “You do realize that you are talking to someone who can bullshit with the best, right?”
JB smiled. “I know, and I love that about you.”
Holly tapped her fingers slowly on her knee. “Do I need to rephrase my question? Are you severely ill? Do you have an illness that will ultimately kill you? Are you seeking treatment for something that no one but Paula knows about? Are you hiding an illness? Are you—”
JB waved his hands. “All right, all right. Stop. It’s obvious you already know the answer to that question. How, I have no fucking clue. I assume that Paula opened her mouth.”
Holly shook her head, folding her arms. “Not a word from Paula. Not even a hint. The only time I have been around her is when you are there too.”
JB stretched his leg out and bent over with a grunt, unlacing his boot. “Then who?”
Holly fake-gasped. “You think I’m not bright enough to figure it out on my own?”
JB just glanced up at her as he pulled his pant leg out of the top of his boot. “Well, you’re about to have your answer.”
He pulled the pant leg up, revealing his metal lower leg. When he reached the top, he slowed down, flinching as he pulled the fabric across his skin. He rolled down the white linen sock on the end of his leg and revealed the wound, right in Holly’s face. Where the flesh met his metal leg, there was a shimmering blue and purple color to his skin. It moved like food coloring in water. Radiating from the bottom were long black lines that shot up his leg.
Holly covered her mouth. “Holy hell. How in the shit…”
JB nodded. “It’s gotten worse lately. Kind of like something spiked it, and it’s started to move again.”
Holly shook her head. “Is there anything inside?”
JB shook his head. “Not that we can find. It looks like you could put a needle in it and shit would come out, but that’s the color of my leg and muscle now. The black streaks have gotten longer. They are painful, like the lines that come out from an infection, only none of my tests show any type of infection in my body. You can probably imagine people aren’t in a rush to touch it and figure out what it is.”
Holly pushed away from her chair and took a knee in front of him. She looked closer, wanting to touch it but keeping her hands locked behind her. She tilted her head to the side, watching the colors of his skin, so vibrant and wild, cascade. She looked up into his eyes. “And this is painful, I am assuming?”
JB grumped, “You could say that. It’s definitely a bit uncomfortable, especially putting this leg on, but I can’t get around without it. Don’t really feel too intimidating as Lieutenant Dan behind the bar.”
Holly scoffed, looking back down at his leg. “Those guys would be scared of you even if you were nothing but a square body in a wheelchair.”
JB wrinkled his nose. “I’d like to avoid that at all costs—not that I think this thing will let me get that far.”
Holly sat back in her chair and rubbed her chin. “It could possibly be some sort of exposure issue, like the alien version of frostbite. It could also be a parasite, something too small to be seen on x-rays. There could also be something inside, a thorn or tooth or some kind of poisonous foreign object. I can’t really see it being anything from Earth, though, given the strange coloring and effects. Are you having any other symptoms?”
JB took a deep breath. “Fever and chills sometimes. Pain, coughing, a
nd low body strength. I’m tired a lot, too, more tired than I should be.”
Holly nodded her head. “Whatever it is, there is something foreign in there, whether it’s an object, a living creature, or a poison of some sort.”
JB ran his hand over the top of his head and let it rest there. “I’ve tried all of the doctors in and near the Zoo. I’ve seen military doctors as favors from friends, and I even had a couple of doctors fly in here to take a look at it.”
Holly shook her head, perplexed. “And what did they say?”
JB chuckled. “After they took their fee?”
Holly winced. “Yeah, I bet that was fucking expensive.”
JB nodded. “I had a bunch of money. Now...well, I don’t have as much. We only know it’s something from the bite I got forever ago. It’s festered in my blood.”
Holly’s forehead wrinkled again. “But not an infection?”
JB shrugged. “If it is, it is resistant to all antibiotics from this planet. All medications, for that matter. They’ve pumped me so full of drugs that I’ll never catch anything else.”
Holly looked at it again. “And have they tried any alternative treatments?”
JB looked at her strangely. “Like what?”
Holly’s eyes slowly rose to meet his. “You know. You got the injury from the Zoo, so I would assume that the only thing that can heal it would be something from that same environment. Earth medicines can’t handle it, but something from the Zoo would—especially given that everything seems to have a connection out there.”
JB opened his mouth, but the sound of someone knocking on the back door of the office drew their attention. “Don’t worry, it’s locked.”
Just then, the door flew open.
Chapter Three
Wild Bill Hickok stood in the doorway with hazy light shining in from behind her. Beams of sunlight shown around her like she was some sort of angel, but they all knew that was far from the case. She slammed the door behind her and dusted the sand off, pulling the bandana down from her mouth and nose. The dust settled in a ring around her feet and she shook her head, her hood sliding off .
Holly lifted an eyebrow. “You are so dramatic.”
Billie chuckled. “Didn’t mean to be. Guess it just comes with the territory.”
JB just sat there, his hands grasping the edges of the chair. His eyes were wide, but no noise came from his lips. Holly blinked at him, wondering if he was even breathing at that moment. He was more shocked than she had thought he would be. At the same time, the two had some serious history, and he hadn’t even been sure that Billie was still alive. He thought of her as more of a ghost than anything now, but there she was in all her glory, conversing randomly with a girl he had known for only a week. Things had to be seriously confusing for him.
Holly walked over to the door and locked it again. She looked at it and then at the locking mechanism. She pressed on the door, but it was stuck in place. The lock was fully engaged; it should not just pop open on its own. She narrowed her eyes and looked at Billie in disbelief. How the fuck did she do that?
Billie looked at JB and chuckled, giving him a half-smirk. “Hey, JB. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so silent in your entire existence. What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Holly narrowed her brow. “He talked a lot before?”
Billie laughed. “More than this right here, that’s for sure.”
JB cleared his throat and grinned. “I guess I mumbled more in my daze than I thought. In a way though, I really do feel like I’m looking at a ghost. What the fuck is so important that it brought you back to this hell?”
Billie rested her hands on the butts of her guns. “I think you know the answer to that one, JB—or are you still as dense as you were as a young buck?”
JB snickered and sat up in his chair. “I think I have fixed that problem. I’m not as nervous around you womenfolk anymore.”
Billie scoffed. “I don’t think that was ever one of your problems. I think you were more of a sneaker. Then again, I wouldn’t know all that much. You saved my life; that was about all I have, besides the fact that you have been my favorite bartender over the years.”
JB tilted his head to the side. “Over the years?”
She smiled. “Of course. You didn’t think I would never come back, did you? For all the things you see, you were blind to me throwing back beers at your establishment. I like that Paula lady; good server. Doesn’t ask questions, and doesn’t think too much about a lonely lady sitting in the back with her dark hood up. Just served me and went on her way.”
JB chuckled, shaking his head. “I guess the stories are true about people seeing you in the Zoo?”
Billie crossed her arms. “How stealthy would I be if someone actually saw me? Those were stories, some brought on by hallucinogens from the thick, some just mistaken identity. None of them were me. Kept my legend alive, though, which I liked. This, though…” Billie nodded toward JB’s leg. “I don’t like this in the least. I figured it was time to come out of hiding to help you out.”
JB looked at his leg and back at Billie. “Hope you aren’t here to kill me.” He grinned. “But if I have to go, it might as well be at the hands of a lovely woman.”
Billie threw her head back and laughed. “You haven’t changed a bit.”
Holly smirked and cleared her throat, reminding them that she was still there. Billie looked down at her boots and then at Holly. “I won’t get any support from my guy. He does promise not to say anything, though. He’ll do his best to run interference, but he can’t stall forever.”
Holly nodded her head. “Right, so I have to work as quickly as possible. I get it.”
JB scratched the side of his head, still staring at Billie in wonder. “I don’t know what you two are talking about, but it’s one of those things I feel like I shouldn’t really ask. When you say support, are you talking about the same guy that was in your ear years ago? The tech junkie?”
Billie smirked. “That would be him. You didn’t think I would let my one confidante leave me, did you? He is stuck for life with my ass, whether he likes it or not.”
JB teasingly wiggled his eyebrows. “Did you ever parade naked around in front of him to test him? You were hell-bent on showing him he was into more than just computers.”
Billie laughed and sat down in the green chair, crossing one leg over the other. “I made it a point to do it the one time we were actually in the same room together. I set it up all perfectly, too. There was a pole in the room, low lighting, and I brought the perfect music. I started out in my suit, you know, to get his attention. It was a bit bulky to get wild in, but hey—whatever I had to do to get him out of his head.”
JB chuckled. “That would have been very interesting to see.”
Billie scoffed. “It wasn’t very poetic at first. It took a lot of leaning against the pole to unlock my gear and shimmy the hell out of it. When I finally got the top off, I wasn’t wearing a shred of clothing underneath.”
JB shook his head. “Bet that diverted his attention.”
Billie rolled her eyes. “Please, this man was obsessed...and not with me. As I am trying to remove the bottoms to do some spins on the pole like I had practiced…”
JB wrinkled his forehead. “You practiced?”
Billie shrugged. “I met a stripper on one of my trips and had her show me a few moves. I couldn’t go in there as anything less than an expert. Anyway, I was totally into it too, grinding, swaying, and licking my lips. He, on the other hand, couldn’t get his mind off the armor. He gave me more shit as I was working it with the armor than when I was running through the Zoo full-throttle trying to stay alive. He didn’t give two shits about my bouncing tits and shaking ass. He about spent his load on the armor. It was definitely a hit to my ego.”
JB laughed and Holly smirked, shaking her head. “Seriously, men can be so oblivious sometimes.”
Billie nodded, glancing at her. “That is true, but this gu
y is a special kind of oblivious—I would say willfully so. His life is this technological shit, and he has put everything—and I mean everything, into it. Protects it better than he protects me.”
JB sighed. “Well, either he will be happy with that choice or one day he will look back and want to kick himself in the dick for missing out.”
Billie stared at JB for a moment. “I’m sorry about Gabrielle. I know she was special to you.”
JB’s mouth twitched, but he looked calm. “Thanks. Yeah, it feels like a million years ago now. Time flies out here in the Zoo.”
Billie sat forward, clutching her hands together. “Time flies everywhere, especially when you are constantly dealing with death and hell on earth. I guess we just learn to go with the flow.”
JB grimaced at his leg. “I guess we do.”
Billie slapped her hands together and looked up at Holly. “As much as I would like to sit here all day and reminisce, that’s not why I’m here. We need to figure out this affliction of yours. I’m assuming it’s from the wound you received in the Zoo?”
Holly bent down next to them. “He says that it has fused with his blood, which means his leg might look like the worst of it, but in reality, it’s infiltrated his whole body.”
JB pulled his leg up. “Then why didn’t I have the physical symptoms like the cough, exhaustion, and weakness before?”
Holly clicked her tongue, thinking. “Because there is a very good chance that your body blocked the poison from leaving your leg for a long time, but finally, the stress was too much and the floodgates opened. It spread through your circulatory system, your heart, your intestines, and everything else in your body. That was when it started to affect the rest of you.”
Billie rubbed her chin. “So, either he is dying or morphing into a creature from the Zoo.”
Holly shrugged. “That’s what I am assuming. Either way, the JB we know and love is quickly disappearing, which is what we need to stop.”
JB pulled his pant leg down. “Agreed. The only thing I can think of that’s worse than the Zoo taking me out is the Zoo taking me in. I hate the idea that it could be trying to morph me into its system.”
