Читать книгу Everything Fails - T Van Santana - Страница 10

“We need you down at the Plant.” It’s Rabbit.

“Why?” That’s me.

“Danielle. She’s gone fuckin’ nuts.”

I cut the wheel, turned the car around, opened him up as far as I could. He screamed in obedience but didn’t go much faster.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Shit, I dunno. We was sittin’ ‘round drinkin’ and shootin’ the shit when she took to mumblin’ ‘bout salvation and damnation and shit like ‘at.”

“We?”

“Me and Penguin and Danielle.”

“Where’s Tij?”

“He’s with Veta, tryin’ to get it on. You know how that usually goes.”

I did.

“And the Reptile?” I asked.

“Who the fuck knows. He wandered off ‘bout an hour fer we came out here.”

“All right, sit tight. I’m almost there.”

I brought the car around and set him down easy in the tall weeds.

“We have landed,” Vengeance said. That’s the name I’d given the virtual intelligence program that I installed after my mom had given me the car. Hers had been named Bessie. As cool as it was having a monotone VI named Vengeance telling me what was going on, the child in me secretly missed the gentle tones of Bessie.

I blew open the door, climbed out, lit up a smoke, batted at the bugs on my legs.

“Well don’t you look purty,” Rabbit said as I got close. “Nice dress.”

“Shut the fuck up. Where is she?”

He nodded with his head. “Over there.”

Behind him was the ruined CoDex Milk Plant—or just the Plant, we usually called it. We went there to get fucked up and break shit. Sometimes to make out.

I went to the front wall. It was broken open with dangerous pieces of steel sticking out at angles.

Rabbit grabbed me by the waist and hoisted me over the wall and into the plant.

“I can do it, asshole.”

He put his hands up, smoke hanging from his lip. “Shit, I know. Just helpin’.”

I glared for a second longer, then stomped over to the landing where Danielle was crouched like a fucking gargoyle, teeth bared.

I looked around at the walls covered in strange symbols and luminescent fungus.

I took a drag. “How long as she been like this?”

“Like I said, ‘bout an ‘er.”

“You didn’t say,” I said.

“I didn’t?”

“Nope.”

Rabbit scratched his head. “Well shit. Then ‘bout an ‘er.”

Danielle snarled, then said, “Welcome to salvation through damnation.”

I wasn’t shaken. I took another draw of smoke. “What made you call me?”

“Shit, she’s yer best friend.”

I was her best friend. Horace was my best friend. But I didn’t clarify.

“You seen ‘er like ‘is b’fer?” Rabbit asked.

“No,” I said. “Not her. But I’ve heard this talk before. From Cheney.”

“From Chains?” Penguin asked.

I nodded.

“Aw shit,” Rabbit said. “You could’ve jus don told me that and save yerself the trip. That bastard talks outta his ass all day long.”

I squinted some as the smoke hit my eyes. “Yeah. Prolly.”

Danielle took short and shallow breaths with her eyes rolled back.

I squatted down and put my hand out slowly—like to let a cat sniff me.

She didn’t. Just sat there, breathing.

Then I touched her face. She didn’t start.

“She’s hot,” I said.

Penguin turned his head to the side. “Eh … I seen hotter.”

I looked over my shoulder at him.

He shook his head.

I looked back at Danielle. “C’mon, Danielle. Let’s go.”

She trembled some, but her eyes stayed back, and she held her posture.

I sighed, took another drag, then flicked away my cigarette. I decided to improvise. “All right, Dwizaal. You’ve had your fun. Let her go.”

Her eyes rolled down, and her bared teeth went into a smile. “All you had to do was ask.”

The voice was not Danielle’s.

“Holy shit!” Penguin cried out. “Rabbit! Did you hear that shit!”

“Hear wha? I’m takin’ a piss over here …”

I felt a crawl along my spine but forced myself to hold her gaze. “Well, all right then,” I said. “Can we go?”

“Sure,” Danielle said in that other voice. “See you at the Tower, right?”

It’s true Danielle loved the Burning Tower near her house. We’d go down there from time to time. Why? To get fucked up and break shit. Sometimes make out. Oh, and the Tower was especially good for sulking. That was Danielle’s favorite use for it, in fact. She’d spend hours perched atop the damned thing like a crow, sulking over whoever’d broken her heart last. Not that I could say much, but at least I stayed home.

“Right?” she repeated.

“Sure,” I said. “See you at the Tower.”

Danielle’s face went slack, and she fell onto the back of her heels.

“You a’ight?” Penguin asked.

“Where the fuck am I?” Danielle asked.

“We’re at the Plant,” Penguin said, a big ass grin.

Danielle looked at me. “What’s that asshole smiling about? I show my pussy or something?”

I shook my head.

“What then? Spill it, motherfuckers!”

Penguin threw down his finger as his legs went stiff. “Man, that was some fucked up shit! You was all demoned possessed and shit! It was awesome!”

I rolled my eyes, put a hand out for Danielle.

She smiled. “Really?”

“Yeah, man. Fucked up,” Penguin said.

Danielle looked at me. “Was I really? Was it rad?”

I shook my head. “No. It was not.”

She frowned. “Why not?”

I didn’t know. But I knew this was bullshit. Somehow. It had to be. No such thing as demons. It’s the fucking 32nd Century for shit’s sake. “You guys are just too wasted,” I said.

Penguin looked at me, cocked his head. “Oh, come on. Come on! Seriously? You really gon go an say that after what we just seen here tonight?”

“Wha ch’all dumbasses seen?” Rabbit asked as he took the platform.

Penguin pointed at Danielle. “Dani got demon possessed.”

“Bullshit,” Rabbit said.

“Thank you,” I said.

Penguin looked back and forth between us. “Y’all a couple of deniers. Y’all like dem dat denied Jesus and the Holocaust and the Tauran Prince and all that shit.”

“Wha the fuck you talkin’ ‘bout?” Rabbit asked.

“I don’t see how this is equivalent,” I said.

“Y’all’s skeptics,” Penguin said, pointing at both of us like we’d done something to him personally.

“Whatever,” I said. “Can we just fuckin’ go? I’m getting fuckin’ eaten alive by mosquitoes.”

Penguin stopped and looked me up and down. “Nice dress.”

“Fuck off.” I pulled my leather jacket a little tighter to me.

Rabbit put his hand on my shoulder. “Hey. I was just teasin’ b’fore. You do wha you gotta do now. You be you. A’ight?”

I felt some heat at the corner of my eyes and a lump in my throat. I nodded first, then said, “Thanks, Rabbit.”

He smiled. “Hey. You got it. You with us. No matter what.”