WnW 3.21

Sullivan adjusted his posture and raised his eyebrows. “You want to work for me?”

Dismay crept into Nell’s emotion. She didn’t think this was the right choice. What other choice did we have?

Meanwhile there was another problem. My hands were shaking and it wasn’t all from fear. The fire was back. Not as strong as before, but it was there burning quietly. Something was wrong with me. I’d already eaten, why was the hunger coming back? A dark fear lurked in the back of my mind, the thought that I would have to resist this impulse for the rest of my life, constantly battling to not consume those close to me.

“No.”

That pulled me back to the present. The Boss shook his head slowly.

“What? Why not?” I asked, dumbfounded. “I can be useful. I even know someone who works for H.E.S.P.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop to think about them.

Graham grunted behind me and the Boss stopped shaking his head. I winced, regrets piling high. What kind of friend was I?

“You were still fishing for more information,” I pieced together. “That’s why you refused so quickly.”

“I’m always fishing for more. However, that wasn’t why I said no. I already explained that I’m a gambling man. What I see in front of me is a gamble only a fool would take.”

“I don’t understand. Wolves are rare, aren’t they? I can help you however Alek does. And I’m a new face, your enemies won’t know me.”

One of the old men playing cards cursed loudly. The Boss’ eyes darted to them for a second and the player lowered his head guiltily, his friends shushing him. Sullivan returned his attention to me. “You can’t help me in the way Alek can. He’s a veteran, a member of the original Ring. He keeps the men in check, he knows how to motivate them. His being a Wolf is actually a detriment. It’s brought nothing but unnecessary trouble to me.”

“How? Alek is way stronger than a normal person. He could beat five men in a brawl-”

“And would die to a well-placed bullet just like anyone else,” Sullivan answered smoothly. “Meanwhile his temperament is like that of an unmedicated schizophrenic. The voice of another can drive him to do as much damage to me as to my enemies.” He pointed at me. “You and him are rash and unpredictable. It’s like receiving a shipment of heavy weaponry, but it is attached to a specific individual who is less than sane. What good is a rifle over a handgun if I can’t choose the one who fires it?”

I gritted my teeth. “That’s an exaggeration. I can confidently say that I’m more composed than some of the people you employ. Less trigger-happy for sure, judging by the influx of turf wars on the news.”

Anger flashed in Sullivan’s eyes. “You are an idiot. You are in a den of lions, criticizing them for the prey they slaughter, oblivious to the nature of your situation.”

I was dangerously close to stepping across a line that I couldn’t see. Yet that genuine reaction spurred me on. What I’d been doing had always been dancing on a razor’s edge. If I had to dance, then I was going to dance as hard as I could.

“You sure like your metaphors. You’re right, I am clueless. And maybe I’m a little crazy too. I didn’t ask to be turned into this. It was forced on me. Just like it’s being forced on all the people who are being changed into Casts without knowing the consequences. And I think you aren’t weighing your precious odds correctly.” 

I felt Nell’s emotions blend into mine, the injustice of our situation uniting us. “I’m chasing these fuckers whether you help me or not. To the ends of the earth. So you can either keep this gun close, ensure it’s pointed away from you, or you can just hope it doesn’t shoot at you later.”

It suddenly felt very warm in the room, the still warm food making the air humid and stifling. Had I gone too far? Sullivan composed himself, his eyes settling on me. He had come to a decision. I watched his hands, waiting for another authoritative gesture. His hand came out of his pocket holding a phone. He dialed and held it up to his ear. Seconds later, he spoke into it.

“Have you done it yet?” A brief pause. “Good, leave him there. We’re coming to you.” Then he hung up and strode towards me. I tensed, ready to fight. And he walked past me and stood in front of the door. “Your words were moving, but I don’t make spurious decisions. Let’s go put your conviction to the test.”

Graham placed a hand grimly on Nell and I and steered us back through the hallway we had entered. The guard opened the door for Sullivan and we stepped out into the alley. I blinked as a cool drop of water hit my face. The ground was spotted with wet patches as the sky began to rain.

The alley was full of tough looking thugs, all with hands resting on weapons, their eyes scanning above. There were flits of movement across the rooftops, only visible because the moon was above them. The chittering seemed to originate from all directions. We went around the side of the building and onto the street where there was a car already running. Sullivan watched as Graham opened the door for us. 

“Not her,” Sullivan said after I had sat down in the back seat.

Nell stared at me, frozen to the spot.

“You will stay here and help my men deal with the mess you brought to us. I’ve given them orders not to let you inside until the threat has been dealt with.”

I tried to leave the car, but Graham slammed the door shut. His expression was heavy with regret.

“Where are you taking him?” Nell’s words were muted in the car’s interior.

“A disposal site,” Sullivan’s words were cold. “People turning into Casts is not what I’m concerned about. He claims he wants to pursue the drug dealers? I want to show him what the true cost of that statement is.”

Nell’s hair grew damp, weighing over her eyes.

“Should one of you complete your task, I will allow you to help the other.” Sullivan got into the passenger seat of the car, his ultimatum hanging in the air.

I couldn’t see Nell’s expression as Graham got into the car next to me. For the first time since we had returned to Sillwood, the thought of losing connection with Nell scared me.

The car started and we pulled away from the casino. It was past midnight and as we moved away from the bright lights of the downtown area, I couldn’t make out anything beyond the streetlights. Droplets pattered against the windshield and each movement of the wiper blade felt like a metronome, counting the beats to our demise. Nell’s emotion slowly slipped away, leaving my mind feeling lighter. Now it was truly quiet, but I hated it. My eyes started to feel heavy. Sitting down had drained some of the tension out of me, letting my fatigue show.

The car stopped and I blinked, rousing myself. How long had we been driving? The door opened on my side and I stepped out into the rain. It wasn’t a heavy downpour, but I heard the roar of moving water. Peering into the darkness, I saw that we were at the water channel of the city. No natural river flowed through Sillwood, but this concrete canal with steep sides diverted rainwater and river water that came from higher up the slope the city rested on. 

Sullivan exited the car and walked over to the tall chain-link fence that guarded the channel.  The woman, Miss, stood on this side of the fence with a few other people who all toted guns, watching silently. They looked nervous and kept glancing at the channel. Graham pushed open a gate in the fence and the Boss beckoned for me to come through. I followed, shivering slightly in the rain. The fire inside didn’t feel any further away, even now that I was cold. If anything, it grew sharper.

I didn’t hear any sounds of the Arachknights. They had likely stayed to target Nell. It was her they were after. I needed to be quick.

The Boss held an umbrella above his head. Water dripped off the sides, further masking his face from me. The manmade river rushed violently behind him, spraying up flecks of water, like rain falling back up into the sky. 

“I don’t believe that you are committed to seeking answers.” He spoke loudly so he could be heard over the sound of rushing water. I could make out his steely eyes in the darkness.

“What can I do to convince you?”

“You made some good points. I can see that you’re more intelligent than that slacker, Alek. But if I am to make this gamble by allowing you to work for me I need to put my hand on the scales a little.”

A noise echoed in the darkness. I snapped my head towards it. That sounded like a person, groaning in pain. Darkness and rain shrouded whatever was further down the pathway that ran along the channel. An old memory trickled into my consciousness. A memory of hands and waxy yellowed skin and bulging eyes. Why was I thinking of that now?

“I need you to give me an initial down-payment. Do this and I will let you help me seek justice.” He said the word with cold conviction as he raised an arm to point into the darkness. “Kill it. It will not be the last, if you survive.”

I watched the darkness, but nothing emerged.

“I have to know how committed you are to seeking the truth, and,” He said with some satisfaction, “I need to see if you will obey an unreasonable demand.”

I felt feverish. My insides were a mix of cold fear and hot hunger. Taking a deep breath, I walked down the path. Rushing water to my right, some grass and then a fence to my left. I was boxed in. The darkness was a wall as well, but this one moved away from me with every step, pulling back the curtain on what lay ahead.

A man kneeled in the shadows on the path. I stopped walking. His face was pressed against the concrete. I recognized the shaggy hair. This was the man I saw carried away after being injected. He grabbed at his sides tightly and groaned. Hearing the groan shot adrenaline through my body, forcing me to be lucid once more. That was not a human groan. There was a whine to it, like an old T.V. distorting audio. 

I didn’t remember this man being so fat. His sides bulged as he held them. My eyes played tricks on me in the dark, making me think that his skin was moving under his clothing.

The man raised his head to look at me. His face was swollen, his cheeks puckered. But what was most unnerving were his eyes. They saw me. But it wasn’t a person looking at me. There was a hatred there. Not an intelligent hatred, like a man would have for an enemy. Not the stare of a hungry predator. No, this was the hatred of something else. Something that wanted to destroy me specifically, to turn me into unmoving meat.

Then the thing groaned again, and the man opened his mouth. Pink flesh poured out of his mouth. It unravelled, like folded clothing spilling out of a basket. And it didn’t stop. More glistening flesh poured out of the man’s mouth, hollowing him, his sides growing thin before my eyes. The flesh shuddered as it exited his body. A pile of muscle lay in a heap, the end still attached to the man, like an impossibly large tumour had grown on the man’s tongue. 

The mass moved. It stood up. The tongue was a living thing. It was vaguely humanoid in shape, two thick protrusions for legs, two arms, an identical thick length for a head. The ends were round, no digits, and the head had no features. It was impossibly tall, the man’s girth wouldn’t have accounted for all that mass. The monster towered over me, maybe eight feet tall. It had a predator’s hunch, it slouched, head and arms curved forward. The “tail” of the beast connected back to the man. He was a husk. His skin was shrivelled, like all of his insides had been sucked out. But his eyes still stared at me with singular hatred. 

Long white claws slid out silently from the pink, fleshy arms of the monster. They shone wetly.