I duck when he shoots over my head, the bullet ricocheting off the case behind me.
Without giving him the opportunity to shoot at me again, I hurtle towards him, tackling him to the ground. There’s a loud crack when he lands on his coccyx, followed by several obscenities. I kick the gun away and totter through the aisles of cases.
“Goddammit!” Tom shouts. “Hey, come on! Don’t leave an injured man like this!”
It’s a lot harder to run in this form. My breasts are huge and in the way. My tummy jiggles, my thighs wobble, and it doesn’t take long to run out of breath. I lock eyes on the door and burst out of the warehouse and into… the middle of a forest.
Owls hoot peacefully against the burbling of a nearby stream.
“Ooh, I just can’t catch a break!”
I continue through the forest, the colors bright, even in the night, the air fresh. As lovely as it is, I need civilization and I need it now. I need to… holy crap, I need to find Lisa. The pub! That fiend mentioned a pub! But what pub?
I fumble over my feet, my body stiff from the five-year hibernation stint. Add that to the fact my legs haven’t functioned for over half my life. My lungs sting and my heart thuds, like it’s forgotten how to work. Which it has.
The further I run, the more disoriented I become. There’s too much air rushing to my head, too much blood pumping through my veins. I don’t know if I can do this. How does anybody expect me, selfish, crippled, fat, old Ella to save this fractured world?
Well, I don’t know if it’s the world. It’s my town, which is basically my world. Maybe the abductions haven’t spread anywhere else.
“Shut up, Ella,” I hiss through pained gasps. “Stop talking to yourself.”
But talking about other things distracts me from my heart giving out.
I’m too exhausted to even appreciate the road up ahead. I jog to the edge, shielding my head when gunfire booms through the forest. A flock of birds scatter as Tom growls.
“Get back here!”
I don’t respond. I’m too busy struggling to see through the multitude of blacks dots.
Black dots? Ah, crap. I’m about to faint, aren’t I?
I used to faint a lot as a teenager. When I was dancing twenty hours a week, eating became a side note, so I’d often pass out from exhaustion. The moments preceding a faint is how I imagine ghostly possession. You’re aware of your body and surroundings, but you just don’t have control of your… well, anything.
I stumble into the road, fanning my face in a desperate attempt to maintain consciousness. I can’t see Tom, but his obscenities and boots crunching the forest floor come through loud and clear.
Through my foggy reality, I wonder how isolated the road really is. Could I wave someone down in time? Would I have the strength to take out Tom, what with his dodgy back? I could crush him easily enough with my thunder thighs.
“Help,” I croak. “God, I stopped believing in you a long time ago. But if you’re there, I take it all back!”
The bush rustles. Alas, it is only Tom. Staring at the barrel of the gun only validates my mortality. It also makes me angry, not frightened. I mean, how could such a tiny little bullet cause so much harm? Why aren’t we strong enough to withstand it? Why can’t we be like the doll I’ve lived in for thirty years?
“Ella, I told you my back hurts,” Tom says through gritted teeth. “I have no qualms about killing you. Especially since you made me run. I hate running.”
“So do I,” I say. “But I hate guns even more. Let’s talk about this, okay? Better yet, let’s blow this joint! Know any good cafes around?”
“Are you off your rocker, sweet cheeks? Don’t quip to a man holding a gun.”
I gulp, the black dots taking over my peripheral vision, until I’m tunneled in on Tom. The distant revving must be my imagination. In the middle of the night, there’s no way anybody would be in this back of nowhere.
Unless there really is a God.
Blinded by headlights, I wince when a truck—an actual truck!—screeches to a halt. A skinny ginger in tight jeans, with a beard sticking out from under a black hoodie, tumbles out, a scowl spread across his face.
“What’s going on here?” he grunts.
“That you, Max?” Tom squints in the dark. “This one escaped. Want to take her back in for me? My back is done in.”
Oh. So there isn’t a God.
“Please!” I raise my hands in the air. “Please, I got caught up in all of this. Just let me go.”
The skinny man darts his eyes from Tom to me, Tom to me. Calmly, he reaches for a pistol in his back pocket and aims at Tom.
“Max, whaddya doin’?” Tom shrieks.
“I’m not Max, you idiot,” the man says. “We don’t know each other.”
“Ha. Need to invest in glasses, then,” Tom mumbles. “Then who the bloody hell is it?”
“It’s Jerry.”
Tom groans. “You’re kidding. So this adds up now. You’re the one who snuck this fatty’s body into the warehouse. I wondered how she got there. Still taking orders from Lisa, eh? You’re a coward and a traitor, and you’re not leaving this time.” He redirects his aim and shoots. “Let’s see how you like that, you douche nozzle!”
It pings off the truck door, and I cover my ears. They just won’t stop ringing.
Jerry coolly inspects the dent and shakes his head. “You’ll pay for that.”
“Oh, will I?” Tom says. “You have no idea what you’ve just walked into. Wrong place, wrong time.”
Jerry glances at me. “Obviously not.”
“Ha, yeah, no. If you so much as even think about pulling that trigger, the corporation will be all over your sorry ass. They… we… don’t like meddlers.”
Jerry doesn’t respond. Instead, he inhales and shoots Tom in the leg. The bullet hits home, and Tom drops to the ground, grunting in pain. “You bastard! Why would you do that?!”
“Are you okay?” Jerry asks me, keeping the gun pointed at Tom. “Ready to see Lisa?”
I run towards the truck and motion for the man to follow. “I’m never ready to see Lisa,” I say as all my memories of her come flooding back. “But let’s get out of here.”
I scrunch my nose at the stale car smell, the old springs in the seats squeaking as we sway. I hate this truck. I’m up too high and feel like I’m looking down at the road, as if I’m a ghostly apparition floating along. Not to mention the sheer number of empty bottles rolling and clanging by my feet, barely audible over the roar of the engine.
“So… you brought me to that warehouse?”
Jerry nods complacently. “Me and a few others.”
“Why? Why take me there?” I fan my face, wishing he’d turn the heater off. “Couldn’t Lisa store me in her house or something?”
“We were going to, but the higher-ups are watching her like hawks. They know she’s out for revenge. So, the warehouse was it. This stuff isn’t exactly mainstream. Luckily, some of us are still on good terms with the company, so we snuck you in. Oh, and we put a pager on you so we’d know when you woke up.”
“Pager,” I say flatly. “Do I want to know where…?”
“Oh, your left hip.” He waves absentmindedly in the general direction of my pasty midsection. “Sorry, should’ve told you.”
I pull the corner of my shirt up to find a black circle stuck to my skin. I rip it off and drop it on the floor. “She went to all of this trouble for me? Umm… I guess I’m flattered. Altogether creeped out, but flattered.”
“All I know is she wants you to take the company down. If she does it herself, even successfully, she’ll be breaching her contract and go to prison. Not exactly a thriving environment for a young little thing like her, so you can understand why she’s trying to avoid it.”
“I do have an inkling, yes,” I say sarcastically. “So how far does this go? Is this all over America? Are the police in on it?”
“It’s predominately your hometown. The company needed a town-zer
o to trial it on, but it’s growing rapidly, feeding inefficiency or not. And no, not all police are in on it. Just the true believers, like old Tom. And the money-hungry crowd. As far as I’m concerned, I wouldn’t trust any of them. Who doesn’t love money, right?”
Me. I don’t love money. I didn’t take Lisa up on her offer and I never will. I just want my family safe.
Jerry’s eyes widen, his knuckles turning white as he grips the steering wheel. “So you’re Ella, right?”
I pause, slamming my head against the headrest, not in the mood for general chitchat. “Yep. Big, old, and larger than life.” My tone is too harsh, so I force a smile, feeling guilty for my rudeness. “And you’re Jerry? With a J? I have to get the spelling right for my autobiography.”
“That’s right.”
“Your name can’t really be Jerry.”
“What’s wrong with Jerry?”
“That guy back there was called Tom! And you so pulled a Jerry and beat his sorry butt!”
He laughs and slaps his hand on the steering wheel. “Yeah, he always was a jerk. Lunatic. Hey, Ella, you’re not like any woman in her fifties I’ve ever met. What’s the go with that? Lisa was a little fuzzy on your background.”
I stop to think for a moment. That’s right. I’m not a twelve-year-old anymore. Grimly, I stare down at my swollen ankles. “You’re referring to the way I speak? I lived as doll who thought she was a child. It’s a little messed up when I think about it. I can’t believe… Anyway, now all I want is my granddaughter to be safe and happy. It’s not about me anymore, it’s about her.”
“Preaching to the choir here, ma’am.” Ugh. Ma’am? Ma’am? I am not ready to deal with being a ma’am! “We’ll fix it, right? Lisa says you two will sort everything out.”
Picking at my overgrown fingernails, I shrug. “I wouldn’t count my chickens before they hatch. Lisa has a history of being wrong.”
“People change,” he says simply. I frown, unnerved by his gullibility. Sometimes I forget there are just as many good people as there are bad. If not more.
“I don’t have faith in her plan,” I say. “I don’t even know what her plan is. I don’t know if my family is okay and I just… I don’t know what’s happening.”
“Nobody knows nothing,” Jerry says sullenly. “We’re all improvising life. No one knows what’s up ahead. Just keep faithful, keep loving, and eventually, we’ll see the light.”
In silence, we keep our eyes on the road and the darkness ahead.
The town is remote and old. Under the streetlights, the buildings are almost crooked, with paint peeling off. Not a soul is out as we crawl to a stop at a red light.
“I need to pee,” I blurt.
“What?”
“Pee. I haven’t gone for a long time.” Technically I’m not lying. It actually took me a while to work out what the pain in my abdomen was. “Lisa said to meet her in a pub. Is this the one?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you coming?”
“I’ll wait. Keep a lookout in case they come after us. You go do your business.” He winks. “Both of them.”
Flushed, I enter the pub, aromas of beer and steak wafting up my nostrils. It’s rustic, with a large dining area and a bar at the back. There are outdated posters of bands that played here in the past, even though the stage in the corner is discouragingly small. A drum set would barely fit, let alone an entire band. And then, there’re… ugh!
I shudder, physically ill from the gratuitous deer heads hanging next to the chalkboard menu. If it wasn’t for the stupid deer that ran out in front of our stupid car and caused me to lose the use of my stupid legs, I never would’ve turned into a doll, the company wouldn’t be holding Daniel hostage, and I wouldn’t be in this dump with beer-stained floorboards and broken ceiling fans. Still, I don’t like seeing a dead animal in any setting. Into some blood sports? Sign up for the Hunger Games and see how you like being hunted.
There are only a few customers, so I weave among tables until I reach the barwoman polishing up the glassware.
“Hey.” I rest my elbows on the bench.
She looks up and widens her eyes, staring at me like she’s seen Satan himself.
“Well, well, what do you know?” she murmurs, sweeping her jet-black hair behind her ear in a gesture familiar from my doll days. “Sianne brought you back from the dead after all. I was a little skeptical about getting your legs to work. So you remember me fully now? We can skip reintroductions and flashbacks?”
Oh, I remember her all right.
Those gaunt cheekbones, light eyes, and that slender body.
She’s skinnier, and she’s older, but she’s no different to the little brat I met years ago. The uniform hangs off her bony frame, her straightened hair is shorter, and her makeup is virtually non-existent. But there’s no denying it.
It’s Lisa. And I still don’t trust her.
“Out with it,” I say. “What’s going on? I’m in a weird town with a cat and mouse duo fighting over me. Gabby is a giant doll, and Daniel is still trapped. And you’re…” I nod at the faded scars on her wrists. “You’re different.”
“Not that different,” she says. “I admit it, Ella. I’m using you to help myself.”
“So what else is new?”
“And you’re still a ray of sunshine. Good. So long as we’re on the same page. Look, my old stomping ground is out of control. I’m all for reducing the population, but this is sick and… weird. I personally think it’s worse than the epidemic in a moral sense. They hired me because of my computer skills. I’m pretty awesome. I dropped out of engineering and psych degrees and started hacking instead. I can wipe data, create viruses. You name it. I used to borrow—” She makes the playful quote unquote sign with her bony fingers, and if it was supposed to be cute, it’s not! “—one miserable cent per day from thousands of bank accounts. But apparently, that’s stealing, so whatever. That’s how the company found me. Before I knew it, they are paying me a fortune to create programs to control humans once they’re in dolls.”
“That’s messed up,” I say. “Hey, wait! So you knew about them keeping Daniel against his will?”
She shrugs. “They’ll never let him leave. He’s too much of a liability. It’s either kill him or force him to work for them. Mind you, it was a dog move, abducting Jason. When Daniel refused to work for them, they figured that capturing Jason and torturing him would motivate Daniel. I have bigger plans for what they should be using the technology for. I understand it better than anyone. So the idea is to turn their product against them. I’ll transmit signals into the dolls and say you did it. You’ll wipe their data and give it back to me. You’ll turn them into the media and be the big hero for taking them down. I mean, you’ll get done for illegally hacking into their product and breaking in, but small price, you know?”
“Is that why you went to this trouble of getting me here? I mean, me specifically, not some other dumb patsy? Why you conspired with Sianne to get my legs working?”
“Duh. I’ve been funding her. Hey, don’t thank me, it hasn’t been trouble at all. Breaking out the way you did, at least, got Daniel, Jason, and Pam out of their cell. That’ll distract the company while we work.”
“And Gabby?”
“Gabby’s always getting herself into trouble. Believe it or not, I’m not a bad person, which is why I turned her into a doll. She’s invincible this way. You’re welcome,” she adds. “She’s a sweet girl. I’d hate for anything to happen to her.”
Something vibrates. She pulls out her phone and answers it, her eyebrows knitting into a worried frown. “What’s wrong, Jer?”
“They’re out here! They’re looking for—”
“Jer? Jerry? Crap!” Lisa bolts outside. My muscles scream, but I follow her to the truck. We stare at the empty seat, the windows rolled down.
“He probably went to get dinner,” I try. Well, what? Optimism never hurt anyone.
Lisa shakes her head and climbs up the st
ep. She peers into the window and grunts.
“We need to leave, Ella,” she says coolly, jumping down.
“What is it?” I heave myself up the step.
“Don’t look,” she warns. “Trust me.”
After all these years, I can’t help but doubt her. I poke my head through the window—and scream. Jerry is sprawled across the seat, eyes open, throat slashed. I jump down and gag on the sidewalk with nothing in my stomach to actually throw up.
Lisa puts a supportive hand on my back. “We have to go. They’re nearby, and we’re on their hit list.”
“But wasn’t he your friend?”
“Ella, I’m serious! We’re next! Come on!”
I wipe my mouth and follow Lisa down the road. We stop at a motorbike so shiny, I can see my haggard reflection.
“Hop on!” she says.
I balk. “What?”
“Just a five-minute ride. Jeez! I need to get my computer.”
“I could just wait? No?” I awkwardly straddle the backseat. “Do I get a helmet?”
“No.”
Lisa revs the bike, so I hug her waist. The metal beast lunges forward, speeding down the street. It’s not exactly an inconspicuous vehicle.
“You know, I only just got my legs back. I really don’t want to lose them again,” I yell, but I don’t think Lisa hears me. Or cares enough to acknowledge me if she does. The wind dries my eyes, so I close them and wait for the horrific method of transportation to end.
My stomach churns even once we swerve to a stop in front of her house, a rundown weatherboard with dead grass and a crooked chimney. The front door is wide open.
“Why do you live here?”
“Sentimental value,” she says. “It belonged to my grandfather… Crap.”
Her grandfather Crap? Well, it does take all sorts. Oh… “What’s wrong?”
She slides off her seat, runs to the front door, and peers inside. Uncertainly, I follow, stumbling in hidden dips in the ground. On tiptoes, I glance over her shoulder and into the house. It’s a pigsty. The carpet is brown and coming apart, with ex-terracotta walls that have been sloppily painted even in their heyday. There’s a pea-green couch with stuffing poking through the fabric, which is oddly reminiscent of the old chair that used to live in our attic. The coffee table is turned over, with magazines and books thrown to the ground.
Shattered Girls (Broken Dolls Book 2) Page 13
