Short Fiction 2: Tales from the Reclamation Zone.

Tales from the Reclamation Zone.

[This takes place before the events of the Student Nationals game]

The wretched figure sits crumpled in the scant shelter of a shattered storefront, the ever-present aroma of human waste hanging heavy in the air. He’s being very still but that is likely something to do with the two guns trained on his hunched form.
‘Tell us how you know that name.’
‘Bullshit, you’ll shoot me.’
‘We won’t, but even if we do, you got nothing to lose by talking, so talk.’

The figure sits up and raise an arm to shield his vision, the wrist ending with jagged bones and poorly healed tissue, infection is almost certain.

‘It was a while back, before that thing in central station. Me and my guys, we had a good thing goin’ horded all that gas during the riots, and Larry made working flamethrowers, aint nothin’, no spook, or man was gonna mess with that much firepower.’

A low chuckle echo’s through the store, sending rats, roaches and other vermin scuttling to the shadows. ‘You’re the firemen? Shit, I thought you were all dead.’

The figure sniffs and then spits out the result at the feet of the two men standing before him. ‘Yeah, we are, we played our game y’know? People waned protecting, they had to pay. We took whatever we wanted man, we lived like kings! I could eat what I liked, fucked who I liked, didn’t matter if they wanted me or not, we’d just burn ‘um to nothin’ if they crossed us, and they knew it. Aint no worse than the others around here, we didn’t deserve what happened!’

The air remains still, the man on the floor falling silent, expecting a bullet, but nothing comes.

‘What happened?’

Now it’s his turn to laugh, a low gurgling followed by a racking cough. ‘She came… first we thought she was just another runt, short black hair, that freaky white-lookin’ eye, come in to offer her body for whatever she could get, got plenty of them around. But as soon as she got close, I knew that she wasn’t some whore. She just looked us up and down with eyes that cut right through ya, said we could hand over the gas, and walk away. That’s the best deal she’d give us.’

The pair exchange a glance ‘You laughed, huh?’

‘Damn right we did. She didn’t even have a fucking gun! Where’d she get off, we had a half dozen flamers trained on her, and there she was sayin’ she’d give us a deal.’ The slumped figure shakes his head, dislodging a spattering of dirt and insects. ‘Larry finished laughin’ and said “Rape this bitch until she forgets her name.”’
The silence falls down again, a low breeze filters through the shop, caressing half-burned mannequins and empty shelves.

‘It was the fuckin’ wrong thing to say! She jus’ starts this low screamin’ like she’s already bein’ fucked over by the guys, only now it’s not screamin’ it’s  this low crazy growlin’ and her skin just tears off like it’s paper to grow all this fuckin’ muscle and all of a sudden it’s like somethin’ out of a nightmare! All bones, blood, claws, and teeth! Larry screamin’ to us to kill ‘er and all six flamers light the bitch up like the fourth of fuckin’ july…’

The image seems to shake the trio, all of them casting nervous glances around them, the two standing men habitually letting their hands check the safeties on their weapons.

‘You don’t know what its like man, jus’ watching that thing come through the flames, all fury and fire and death. She jus… reached out and killed.’ He pauses to make a plucking gesture with his good hand. ‘Like a fuckin’ bad dream, your standin’ there pourin’ burning gas onto it and she jus’ dun’ die! She’s faster than a snake, and every time she moves there’s more blood n’ screams, tearing people in half like it’s nothin’, how’d you think I lost this damned hand!’ The mutilated wrist is brandished almost defiantly to the two men, who manage not to flinch away.

‘Like… maybe ten seconds... ten seconds of this fucking nightmare, but it felt like an hour. Watchin’ her slashin’ everyone apart. I’m lyin’ there tryin’ to not fuckin’ die wonderin’ where my hand is, and all of sudden the beast is gone, and there is jus’ this little fuckin’ girl again. She wanders over cool as you like her clothes all bloody rags now. Looks at me with that creepy eye and says that she aint got no name, and that her new one aint ever gonna be taken by guys like me.

The two men share a glance and then the taller of the two tilts his head ‘So how’d you find out her name?’

The man glares and then spits again, ‘Big fella came in and jus’ walks in, tosses her a set o’ clothes cool as you like, sayin’ “Snow, why’d you always give them a chance, you big softie.” Like it’s the most normal fuckin’ thing in the world!’ He pauses and lets out a low wheezing sigh. ‘So this is my life now, one hand, dead friends, and some crazy little bitch called “Snow”. I got nothin’ left to live for other than findin’ her and killin’ that whore for what she did. But now you’re gonna kill me aren’t you?’

A brief shake of the head from the taller of the two men seems to answer, but before he can speak another voice whispers gently out of the darkness.

‘They won’t kill you, they’re saving you for me.’
And a small girl walked out of the shadows, with short black hair, and a milky white eye...