“From what you’re describing, this hand-held sonic-zapper sounds like something the Company may have passed onto the bikers to test against the freaks,” said Zack, with a hint of excitement in his voice. “It may even be the reason for the presence of the reaper.”
Jennie noisily scraped the legs of her chair across the tiled floor as she got to her feet. “Okay, I did the cooking. So whose turn is it to clean up?” She collected her own plate and eating utensils and headed for the kitchen.
“Guess it’s mine,” volunteered Jake as he began collecting the serving dishes.
I toted a load of dirty supper dishes to the kitchen and made sure that the leftovers were fed to Dusty before joining Carl and Jennie in the main room of the second apartment. The first apartment was where we all ate and slept; the second was used as a common work and storage area. Here was where we created the jewelry and other crafts we sold in the marketplace twice a week. Jennie was currently stringing beads with small, crafted pieces of gold and silver. She sold most of her elegant necklaces to the trendy techs working in the upper city.
In addition to our crafting, all five of us spent a large part of our time scavenging through the abandoned buildings of the old city, collecting anything of value, most especially if it contained precious metal or stones. The items we found were brought back to the apartments where it was decided how best to utilize them.
“Everybody better take a deep breath, I’ve got orders to fill and deliver tomorrow,” Jake warned when he joined us.
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing we can close the door to our studio then,” laughed Zack as he and Carl passed through the main room on their way to the computer room.
“How’s the new movie coming along?” I asked. Their passion was the creation of animated adventure movies, and I knew that it would take a lot more than a little perfume to distract them.
“Pretty good,” smiled Zack. “We’re going to connect the main segments tonight and give it a test run.”
“Yeah, right. I want to talk to you about that, ‘cause there’s just one more thing that I wanted to try before we get started,” Carl put his arm around his partner’s shoulder and gave me a quick wink before leaning close to Zack’s ear. They were lost deep in technical jargon before the door to their studio swung shut.
I couldn’t help laughing at the face Jake made at his friends’ enthusiasm before retreating to the kitchen. I watched him collect his assortment of jars and jugs of liquids from the cupboards and line them up on the counter before reaching for the box of small, elegant bottles he’d collected to hold the scents he had so painstakingly developed.
The Company controlled most of the factories in the country, but the work force and resources were limited. Women’s perfumes and cosmetics were deemed of minimal importance, which meant that they were willing to spare very little of their precious human workforce for such frivolous demands. As a consequence, the mass produced perfumes that were available from the automated factories were pretty mediocre.
With this in mind, and the space to finally work, Jake had applied his aptitude for chemistry and several weeks of his time into combining a collection of scents and oils he’d scavenged until he’d created three really outstanding perfumes. He couldn’t bottle the stuff fast enough to satisfy the women from the upper city.
I laughed when Dusty sneezed on the dust he was stirring up. Curling her lip in disgust, she retreated to the space under my work table. Settling on the tall stool at the table, I flipped the covering cloth off the copper bowl I was currently working on, took my etching tool in hand and began working.
The room had grown quiet except for the sound of bottles rattling and the scratch of the tools, but I just plain couldn’t concentrate. Tossing the slender wood and metal bar I’d been holding aside, I cussed softly under my breath, angry that I couldn’t keep my mind on business.
“What’s wrong?” Jen queried in concern.
“Aw, I guess I’m just too distracted to work tonight. The etching tool keeps getting cold because I can’t concentrate long enough to keep the heat flowing consistently from my hand.” Tossing the dust cover over the bowl, I got to my feet and headed into the foyer between the apartments to check the bank of computer screens. “Come on girl, maybe you’d like to go for a little walk in the back alley before bedtime. .” The dog promptly popped her head out from her hidey hole to see what I was up to. I patted her side as I pushed a series of buttons on the keyboards. The screens promptly lit up, revealing green-tinted images of the street and alleyways surrounding the building. A flicker of movement on one of the lower floors caught my eye, but I immediately recognized the bulky frame and mop of gray hair and beard of our self-appointed custodian, O’Malley. I watched the tiny image until it disappeared through the doorway of his apartment, leaving the hallway empty.
“Looks okay to me, let’s go.” I closed the cabinet doors and reached for the elevator button.
Nervous about the strange surroundings and sounds in the narrow alleyway at the side of the building, Dusty hurriedly did her business and was back, wagging her backside and waiting to return to the relative security of the big building.
“Good girl.” I patted her silky head and was about to head back to the metal side-door when I heard a scuffle in the street beyond the gate followed by a pathetic howling.
The dog’s body was rigid under my hand as she dropped to a crouch, teeth bared and snarling at whatever was out there.
“Easy girl,” I whispered. Keeping one hand on her, I went to a narrow crack in the wood fence and pressed my face against it, hoping to see what was going on without opening the gate. When I still couldn’t see anything, I stretched to my tiptoes and pressed my eye against a knothole to get a better view of the street. I nearly jumped out of my skin when another pathetic shriek of pain erupted from the dark almost directly in front of me.
“Damn!” I had to grab at the fence to steady myself. When my breathing returned to normal, I focused my eyes on the dark street until my eyes finally locked onto the source of the racket.
A phantom creature of a sort that I’d never seen before was stomping about in the center of the street. Almost translucent, the thing stood about three feet high at the shoulders and resembled a picture I’d once seen in a children’s picture book of a troll, except that this creature walked on all fours and had a set of fangs like some pre-historic tiger. Gripped between those teeth was the torn, bloody body of a monkey.
In spite of my general dislike of the pesky little animals, I was feeling sympathy for the helpless monkey’s suffering and considering going to its aid when it emitted a sharp gasp and stopped struggling. Snorting, the troll tossed its head to get a better grip on its grizzly prize.
“Oh, yuck,” I groaned when I heard a sharp crunching sound. My stomach did a flip-flop. It suddenly struck me that there was a strong possibility that the little troll creature might decide to explore the depths of my building’s lower floors in search of more snacks.
I was fumbling with the latch, intending to open the gate and try to scare the creature away when the hiss of escaping steam made me freeze. I quickly slammed the gate shut again and pressed my face to the crack to see what was happening. Much to my surprise, I discovered that the street outside had grown almost bright with the fluorescent glow being emitted by a dozen streams of vapor that were now erupting from deep cracks in the paving between me and the troll. I changed positions, trying to get a better view of what was going on but my line-of-sight was just too narrow to really see.
“Well, damn!” I cussed softly. “What is that thing?” Ignoring the dog’s persistent growl of warning, I slowly eased the gate open a few inches. I knew I was taking a foolish chance but I just had to get a better look at what was happening.
By the time I had it opened enough to give me a clear view of the street beyond, the spouts of vapor had faded to a mere mist of fluorescent light, but it was more than enough to reveal a dozen short, hairy gremlins risi
ng from the cracks. The creatures were small but the pointed fangs protruding from the sides of their leathery mouths and the long, curved claws of fingers and toes certainly looked dangerous enough to do some serious damage if they were provoked.
I knew that now would be a really good time to shut and lock the gate and get back inside the building but my curiosity got the better of me—again. Carefully easing the gate open a little further, I watched incredulously as the last of the small creatures jerked its rear leg and clawed foot out of the crack and joined the others swarming about the feet of the troll.
I was surprised to see that each of the gremlin creatures carried a slender chain that sparked with energy every time it was flexed. The troll growled softly and shook its trophy as it tried to trudge away, but the gremlins persisted. Squealing and scolding, they spun the glowing chains overhead, letting the loops fall across the troll’s back and around its legs. When it was totally entangled and trapped within the glowing chains, one of gremlins grabbed the dead monkey dangling from its mouth and tried to snatch it away, but the troll stubbornly locked its jaws and squalled in protest. Abandoning their effort to get the troll to release its prize, the jabbering gremlins began jerking the creature toward the steaming gaps that their arrival had left in the pavement.
Like an errant child resisting its guardian’s authority, the troll grumbled in complaint, but it never offered more than a minimum of resistance. When the gremlins finally had the reluctant creature standing over their entry point, they formed a circle around it and began chanting. As the chant grew in intensity the troll began to fade until it had become totally translucent. Jabbering in tones of relief, the gremlins tightened the circle and began sinking into the street, drawing the ghostly troll with them.
For just a moment, the troll’s thick jaws and the mangled monkey clasped between them snagged on a chunk of concrete. The head bobbed back into view and was snatched downward again—the head and gasping jaws disappeared from sight, leaving the bloody monkey corpse sprawled on the pavement.
I was suddenly aware that Dusty was growling and jerking at my pants leg, trying to drag me away from the fence. “Yeah, I get it, it is most definitely time to get out of here,” I whispered. Suddenly remembering that I was alone and unarmed and not really very anxious to find out just how dangerous these new ghoulies might be, I leaned my shoulder into the gate and securely latched it.
Dusty didn’t even seem to mind riding in the noisy elevator this time. We were stepping from between the open doors when Carl and Zack emerged from the work rooms. They were so deep in conversation that they would have gone right on by if not for the slam of the elevator doors.
“Oh, hey, Halie,” Zack greeted me, but he was frowning and cut his eyes away as if he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t be. “Is everything looking cool outside?”
“No, not really,” I answered as I studied his face, trying to figure what was making him so uncomfortable. “I saw something really strange out in the street. There was a new phantom. It was short and stumpy and it had fangs and—”
“Hey, lots of these phantoms have teeth,” Carl interjected and gave me a look that said he thought I must be getting simple-minded.
“Yeah, but how many of them attack and eat monkeys,” I shot back in annoyance, “and have gremlin care-takers that show up with chains and drag it away?” He really could be an ass sometimes. Glaring at Carl, I turned my back on him and stomped off toward my own room.
“Come on, Dusty, let’s get some sleep.” I slammed my bedroom door behind me.
* * * *
“You are just Mr. Popular tonight, now aren’t you,” Zack commented with an angry look at his friend.
“Yeah, yeah, you know how women are, always pissed about something.” Carl slapped his friend on the shoulder and nudged him along the hallway. “Remember, now, I won’t be going with you in the morning. I’ve got business at the University. I’ll catch up to you later.”
“Right, funny business.” Zack shook his head and deliberately turned his back on his friend before entering his own room.
“What’s wrong with Zack and Halie?” asked Jennie as she moved past Carl.
“Nothing much,” he growled and stalked down the hall in the direction of the spare bedroom. It didn’t look like Halie had any intention of letting him share her bed this night.
Chapter Four
Morning brought with it the usual hustle and bustle of everyone getting ready to head out for the day. Ducking and dodging through the confusion with practiced ease, Jennie and I were busy loading our backpacks and the collapsible, two-wheeled shopping carts we used to transport our trade-goods. The small handcarts were easy to handle and could be taken with us on the buses or auto-walks without any problems.
“Okay everybody, listen up,” Jake interrupted. “Today’s my day to be mom, so everybody tell me where you’re going and when you’re planning to be home.”
My roommates and I had agreed early in our relationship that we were the only family we each had. It was up to us to keep track of, and go looking for, anyone who didn’t show up where, or when, they said they were going or didn’t come home at night. The policy, as well as our true concern for each other’s safety, had been responsible for saving all of our lives at one time or another. Last night was just one example. Jake had tried to be discreet about it for the sake of my pride, but I knew he’d been out looking for me because I was overdue.
“Right,” confirmed Jennie. “Today is market day at Dockside and Halie and I are headed there to sell the crafts. After that, I was planning on heading over to the University to do some research on jewelry patterns. Wanna’ come too, Halie?”
“Thanks, but I think I’m going to run over to Rosa’s and check on Kelly when we finish at the market. I want to talk to Jack about that new phantom and its little friends that I encountered last night, too.” I sent a meaningful scowl at Carl. We usually finished selling our stuff by noon, and Rosa and Jack’s house wasn’t very far from the docks, so I’d be able to spend a couple of hours with my sister before I had to head back home.
“Good,” Jake nodded his head as he marked everything down in a small notebook he kept in his pocket. “Now, what about you, Carl? Zack and I are going to drop off that order of perfumes at the Ladies Shoppe, and then we’re headed for the north side of town in the hopes of liberating a few pieces of electronics from Ace’s warehouse.” Ace was a fat, slovenly man, perpetually in need of a good bath. Unfortunately, he was also as dishonest as he was dirty, but he possessed the largest warehouse full—wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling—of discarded electronic appliances and parts in the city. The worst part was that he kept his business in even worse disarray than his person, and it could take you days to find what you wanted.
“Umm, no, thanks.” Carl hesitated and looked away when Zack glared at him. “I-I have business at the University and I probably won’t be finished ‘til late.”
That was odd. I cast a puzzled, questioning look at him but all I got back was that closed, keep-away look that Carl seemed to wear on his face so often lately. He had stopped attending classes at the university several months ago, saying he had better things to do with his time than listen to a bunch of old men and women lost in the past lecture him on how to survive in the future, so I was a little surprised that he had any reason to be there.
I shrugged in resignation but, still, I couldn’t quite shake off the chill his words and attitude had brought. He hadn’t really said anything incriminating, there was just something about the way he said it that felt funny, like something wasn’t quite right between us. But then, I had been under a lot of pressure lately, and maybe Carl’s strange and kind of cool behavior was just a reaction to my own mood.
I did notice that Carl had cut his eyes away when the others cast curious looks his way. His face was creased in defensive lines when he snatched up his backpack and slammed his shoulder against the door to the staircase. “See y’all tonight,” he gru
mbled without actually looking anyone in the eyes as he disappeared into the nearly dark stairwell.
Jennie and I exchanged puzzled glances but neither of us wanted to put our discomfort about Carl’s odd behavior into words. Even his sudden preference for using the staircase the last few weeks seemed odd to me. It only took him as far as the fourth floor and from there he would have to use the fire escape to reach the ground. I’d questioned him about it once, but he’d been so defensive about it, saying that he just wanted to get a little exercise, that I hadn’t mentioned it since.
I shook my head, trying to clear away the dark thoughts. “Come on, Dusty, it’s time to go.” Snapping the leash I had braided from some heavy cord I’d found in our assortment of craft items to the dog’s collar first, I shrugged into my backpack and headed to the elevator door. I patiently waited for Jennie to maneuver her own cargo on board before following, and I tried very hard not to let it bother me that Carl had not kissed me good-bye or wished me a good day.
The glare of the harsh, winter sunlight made me reach for the sun-glasses I kept in my jacket pocket as we emerged into the street. I was still fumbling with them when the dog darted past me and into the street to check out the crushed remains of the monkey.
“Hey Dusty, slow down,” I called. I dropped my baggage and released her. She’d been staying close and responding well enough to walk free. She immediately went to the place where the monkey’s remains lay in a small, stained area of the street. Curious, I followed her.
“Wow, it’s really scary to think that some of those phantoms might actually be dangerous,” gasped Jennie as she joined us. “Here I’ve been trying to convince myself that I didn’t have any reason to be afraid of them, and now this—and what about those gremlin things you saw?”
Cry For Tomorrow Page 5
