The flaming sphere of gas slowly crept higher, and as it came higher, the color of the sky changed. From black to blue, blue to golden, golden to red. The few little clouds did nothing to disturb this evolution.
Damn Foxxy’s panoramic windows!
I was tired, and tried to get a little rest on her big, comfy couch, but the sun made it difficult.
I love full moons, but I hate the day after the night.
Something suddenly just hits me… Physically, that is. A cold can thrown at my stomach. “Drink that, lazy boy,” Foxxy was done with her shower “You can’t be late for your date,”
What is a sex-symbol without tight clothes? Probably a parent… But Foxxy had her usual selection of tight clothes. Tight, green khaki-shorts, and a black top with a blue eye-thingy, or something…
The can she threw at me was labeled “Sunburst”, I just drank it and left it at that. It was bitter, but revitalizing.
Her hair was still a bit wet, and she smelled clean.
“You know… You should consider taking a shower, and a change of clothes…”
Well, duh, I should do that. “I haven’t got any other clothes with me…”
“Girls dig nice, clean guys…” Foxxy says while looking out a window.
“I guess she’ll just have to take me for what I am…” I responded. I could see her smiling, though she faced the other way.
I suddenly thought I heard a hover-cycle, somewhere in the distance.
“Oh look… There they are, right now…” She points out of the window.
This is it… Once again; This was either the start of something wonderful, or the further progress of something awful.
The doorbell rang, and Foxxy dragged me to the door. I felt sick…
I could feel something wet running down my right leg, but it wasn’t pee…
Foxxy opened the door, and placed me right next to her. A lump built up in my throat.
I was suddenly face to face with HER again…
Typically enough, she asked “Joon?”
A pathetic smile wrinkled up my face. Even though we were parted for about one day, it was long enough. Zil soon enough had her arms wrapped tightly around me, I couldn’t help but let a few tears sink into her jacket.
There were many things I wanted to say, but I had nothing to say.
Loke and Foxxy just looked at us, knowing they had done a nice thing.
The sharp morning sun made Zil’s hair shine, her eyes were like the clear, blue sky behind her.
“What has happened to your eye?” She asked me at arms length.
I hold up my hands. “The same thing that happened to my hands and feet…”
We were both out of things to say. “You know…” I broke the silence “You’re the most beautiful of all girls I have ever seen,”
I was almost waiting for something to go down the drain, there was something in the air that just didn’t seem right.
Zil didn’t care, she was obviously quite flattered by what I said. “You’re eyes are like taken out of the sky,” I didn’t know where I got this gooey nonsense from, but it was like the sweetest honey for Zil.
In the corner of my eye, I notice Loke turning toward the sun and putting on a pair of shades. I could feel that Foxxy were taking mental notes of our words and actions.
Suddenly, something shattered a part of the foundation on Foxxy’s house, and stained the vicinity with blood. Loke was down on his knees, hurting bad, with a hole through each of his legs.
Luckily, I had the syringe gun ready in a second with a painkiller loaded.
There were some hysterical laughing on a hilltop close by, but I was too busy with my patient to look up. Both of the girls were more or less hysterical. Loke was mumbling “This was not a part of the deal…” over and over. Then I heard the roar of a hover-cycle, and I looked up. Down the hill, Jusuf and Zaz rode the bike, dragging something. As they got closer, I saw they had long rifles on their back, and two overseers tied to the bike.
Snowen jumps off the bike as soon as Jusuf stops. The bound overseers are battered and torn after the drag.
“Len “Loke” Kumar,” Uncle Zaz slowly got closer and closer to Loke.
“You are found guilty in the act of treason, greed and having a great ego…”
Loke dangles by his shirt, as Zaz holds him up. “How do you plead?”
He didn’t answer… Maybe I overdid with the anesthetic…
“Alright…” Zaz’ tone suddenly changed from cold to evil.
“You are hereby banned from The Red League, so your future choices are few, but simple… 1; I kill you, right here, right now… You miss out on a WHOLE lot of hate from those who once loved you. As soon as they know what you did to get a stupid bounty… You’re all washed up,”
Zaz slapped Loke, just to ensure he’s awake. I guess…
“2!; I know two guys down at Channel 23 who are looking for a pretty little face like yours… I think you’ve seen them sometimes, you know… Ben and Turner, last names Dover and Brown. There’s no biz like show-biz you know!” Zaz threw Loke onto his back, then drew the huge sniper-rifle from his back. He unscrewed the silencer, then fired a round between his legs, near a vital part. The sound alone should be able to kill a person, let alone the bullet.
“Well Mr. Kumar… What’ll it be?” The cold professional asked the cowering, blond fox. Loke held up one finger…
Zaz gives the rifle to Foxxy, who barely comprehends the drama unfolding on her property. “Always keep a gun in the house,” He whispered to her.
He winked at me, then said something like “I love being bad cop!”
“Jusuf… See to the civilians. I need to use the bike a bit…”
Jusuf got off the bike and pushed all of us inside.
I could hear Zaz from inside, saying “The numbers suddenly changed, Mr. Kumar…”
The hover-cycle roared into the distance. No corpses were left.
Jusuf took off his goggles and stuffed them into his trenchcoat.
“All right, continue with whatever it was you were doing…”
His smile was blinding white when put in the midst of his black fur.
He hung up his sniper-rifle on a coat-hanger, then Foxxy escorted him to the kitchen. She turned to me and said; “Take the living room. We won’t bother you, and you won’t bother us, eh?” Her grin was obvious. She had the hots for the priestie-boy. Aren’t priests supposed to live in celibacy?
My right foot was wet, between the toes… I took a step back and a red stain showed clearly on the white tiled floor. “You’re bleeding…” Zil had quite an eye for the obvious. Big question was “Yeah… But from where?”
I rolled down the suit to my waist. Nothing on the front side. “Anything on my back?” “Up by your shoulders, there are some… holes…”
Maybe my wings were coming back… Maybe it was something else…
“Could you poke it a bit for me… See if it hurts,”
She gently touched a finger to the left side of my back, no pain…
“Can’t feel anything… Harder,”
She obviously didn’t like getting all bloody, but she pressed her hand hard onto the same spot. “Anything?” Zil asked.
I could suddenly feel a short sting fly through my body, Zil pulled away her hand, and I heard a window broke behind me and saw a bullet hole take form in front of me. Could this be a sign?
The sting threw me to the floor with great force. Zil didn’t know what to do.
Why must there always come something between Zil and me?
My heart was beating, harder and harder. I could feel the strip of blood that had run down my back turn hard, and my flesh tossing and turning where the bullet came through. I turned around, looked out of the smashed window.
In the distance I could see the sniper, zeroing in on my head this time.
I could hear the heavy steps of Jusuf running closer.
The sniper suddenly turns around. All I could see from then is something striking down at him. Something that shone like the moon.
There was no hole through my chest anymore, only a stiff layer of crystals. Poor Zil, on the other hand, was bleeding. Her hand had some of the crystalline mass on her palm. It was a bad angle, but I mean to say it sunk into her wound, restoring her hand’s original shape.
The “wound” was a bit sore, but I was still able to stand.
Jusuf was of course worried sick. “You alright?” He asked, stressed, with a sawed-off shotgun in hand. He more or less just took a look at me, and understood that I was in no serious danger, even though the bullet passed my heart. He was more interested in the rifle’s scope shining in the sun, without a sniper with an itchy finger attached. “Where’s the sniper?!”
“Dead…” I said, getting on my feet again. “How?” He still held the shotgun in both hands, scanning the area outside of the broken window.
Zil hadn’t a face in pain anymore, more one in a confused fascination.
“I dunno… The night sky fell on his head or sumthin…” Putting words to a recently observed phenomenon isn’t easy, especially without a fancy education.
Jusuf’s trenchcoat held many strange items. Tiny flasks, oversized toothpicks, small vials of blood and of course his shotgun. I saw all those items as he opened up to stuff in the weapon. I’m pretty sure there’s more to see on the other side of it…
“Right…” He said with a hint of disbelief. “Joon is of course okay…”
How rude… But still, true…
“Zil… How about you?” “My… hand…?” Zil held up her hand, looking at it from different angles. There was that crystalline layer around the bullet-hole, which was no longer a hole. Jusuf grabbed her hand and brushed away the crystal that had seeped through the hole as well. “Do you believe in God, child?” Jusuf put on a mild and gentle priest-act. “No…” The trembling voice of a mildly confused girl gently filled the vicinity.
“Do you believe in Joon?” “Uhm… Yeah…?”
“Do you honor this man, his deeds and would you follow his lead?”
Whatever he was doing, he was doing it damn well… I think…
“I-eh… guess so…?” It could have been a trick-question, but Zil stood by her answer… “Then indeed, this young man is a part of the new holy trinity,”
“Huh?” Youth has always had a problem using big words when someone in the vicinity has used too many.
“Never mind,” Jusuf turns back to his usual programming.
I brush the big flake of crystal off of me, smashing it to a fine powder as it hit the floor.
Foxxy comes along, eventually. Her shirt used to be the other way around though… Of course, she too asked a classic question that comes to mind after a lot of shooting. “Everyone okay?”
I was almost starting to get tired of that question.
I didn’t answer her… Instead I answered my phone.
There was a lot of disturbance, but mainly the message was to get out of SG-territory. ASAP. And to bring all those who had been involved in today’s episode without making phone calls to anyone linked to anyone.
It all started at 4am when I came knocking on the door, and it was now 10am. Time does really fly when bullets do the same.
“We gotta go…” I opened as I distributed the new orders.
Zil and Foxxy were reluctant to follow, which of course was understandable.
Jusuf explained some common logical tactics that overseers followed, Zil was more or less upset by this. Her parents at gunpoint, and stuff like that.
If they caught Zil, then I would probably go “kamikaze” to get her out.
Foxxy easily understood that her safety was at great risk, as she had housed me for six hours.
I was getting really tired about that point.
Zil didn’t want to get me killed or her parents killed. Jusuf said she could only avoid deaths by coming with us.
So she did…
I carried Zil in the arms of the powerful X0-skeleton, she was worried.
She worried for the life of her family, worried about them missing her, worried about the future… Her future, as well as ours.
I could really understand that. It seemed like the very earth I thread on cracked and crumbled, leaving few safe places for the future.
The sun shined brightly, and kept me well heated.
Zil wanted to take a break. We stopped a bit off the road, to regain some energy. Some more than others.
I loaded the syringe gun, and pumped 100ml of pure energy into my body.
It felt great… I did it while Zil took a pee behind some bushes.
As soon as we were ready, we were off. Our chitchat along the way was, well, what kind of place we were going to.
I gave her those few answers I could, and a shy silence was upon us again.
We wanted to talk, at least I did, but I wasn’t sure if she wanted to talk about what I had in mind. A bit awkward topic… You know… Sex…
Zil was not looking too happy, so I wouldn’t want to push my luck.
I suddenly just stopped. Disobeying current orders, I was up for demerits.
I gave Zil my phone and told her to call home.
The sun reflecting off the building tears were quite a sight…
“Dad… It’s Zil… Some bad things have happened, and I’ll probably not be home for a while…” Her lips were shaking “I can’t tell you where I’m going…” Good girl… “But… He-hello…?”
They were broken off by something. She gave me back my phone.
“You were right… I heard some people in the background…”
She burst into tears. I quickly got out of the steel cage and around her.
The world’s an unsafe place for both of us now.
“I’m sorry to have pulled you into this…” I felt so guilty.
“We’ll get through this… Hah?” I was not big at comfort, but I tried.
We wasted a few minutes soaking my shoulder. But I guess it was well worth it…
Finally home. I knew nothing of Jusuf, Zaz and Foxxy.
Zil was impressed by the scenery.
3pm or so, we were at the door. I had parked the skeleton in the garage.
Zil was excited to meet the rest of my family. So was I actually…
Only mom was home at the moment.
“I’d swear to God I’d kill you if you were dead!” Mom had a certain way to keep greetings subtle, but still she hugged me.
“Murderer and kidnapper?” She asked when she saw Zil. “Hi, Mrs. Storm,” Zil said politely.
“Don’t tell me that…” “Yeah…” I already knew the answer to mom’s question. “You poor thing…”
I guess mom had more or less experienced being forced away from her parents. Though her case was quite phenomenal.
“Where’s the dad and Star and the others?”
“Your father is busy launching his campaign, so he’ll be a bit late. And Star’s on some school trip,” “What kind of campaign?”
Dad was not much of a person to do boring stuff like that, so this had to be good… “He’s trying to bring the MD and SG closer to each other, but you make it hard for him. The key words in his campaign is “I love red”, so you can imagine where he gets it from…”
I kind of just nodded and looked at Zil. She smiled at me. I smiled back.
“Why is it that I never have a camera when you do those things, Fredrik?”
I just shrugged my shoulders, not really having any answers.
“I don’t know what to do with you, Zil…” I said, and scratched my chest.
“Show her your room, stupid…” Mom nudges me with a smile.
I did just that. New stuff had found it’s way in there. A big comfy couch and some framed photos. Zil gave me the standard comment; “Wow… Big…”
She took a peek at the pictures. “Found a girlfriend…?” Zil asked in a strange way. I answered yes… She immediately turned around. “Any of those girls in this picture?” She pointed at the photo of Star and her gang.
“If I’m the judge of where the frame ends, then yes…” I said with a smile.
She obviously got the hint. “Then I guess you’re stuck with me…”
Her smile was like a new day dawning.
I had her. I finally had her…
It felt like a fairy-tale for a second. So unreal. All the bloodshed, pain and suffering, and finally the happy ending was within reach.
Either it was some body-chemistry, or some side-effects of the energy-boost, but I felt like I was floating on a cloud.
Then I felt like I was surrounded by clouds… Then the firm clouds beneath my feet were gone…
Everything from there on felt a bit cloudy, and black.
Isn’t it typical that my body shorts out when the prince was finally going to kiss the princess?
My dad had obviously done stuff like that too, but that was in a place far away. Or so mom told me and Zil when I came to my senses.
I was out for ten minutes, and my head was spinning a bit. A bit much to be honest… I barely managed to get out of my bed and take a piss.
Zil was by my side though. Not when I was in the bathroom, but she was there for me, as I had tried to be for her. My mind was so blurry that the pilot-suit got confused and turned into a strange puddle on the floor.
Mom saw the SMG’s and the belt of bio-influential liquids.
She wasn’t mad, rather they reminded her of the greatest adventure of her life. Then she ordered a pizza.
I managed to force down one slice, but I felt more like letting it come up.
There was a warm feeling about Zil, she stayed as close to as she could.
That’s more or less how I wanted her to be.
Her soft body, her beautiful eyes, the aura of positive energy neutralizing my negative pain.
“Hope you’re better tomorrow,” Mom suddenly said, as the human female TV-lawyer goes to bed.
“What’s with tomorrow?” I had a faint idea there was something I was forgetting. Mom just laughed. She obviously whispered what it was to Zil, but my ears were a bit stuffy and my mind foggy.
Zil smiled as she heard whatever it was. “You’re not worthy of knowing…” Mom said sarcastically.
“No… It’ll be more fun to catch you with your pants down… Speaking of which… Wanna see some baby-pictures of Fredrik, Zil?”
“MOM!”
It’s one thing having one to love you for the one you are, it’s a totally different thing to have them love you for what you were.
And besides, it’s embarrassing!
Mom placed Zil with Star for the night. She didn’t trust me…
But night-night came early for me. After throwing up some blue stuff, I was beat. Zil tucked me in, like mom used to do when I was younger. But mom never kissed me the way Zil did…
Before leaving my room dark, she took another look at the photo of Star, Jool, Careen and Kitty. Zil silently put it back down on my desk, and left me to myself. The darkness swallowed me whole, and I was already missing her. It was great though…
It felt like my life started here.