CHAPTER THREE
"You're fuckin' dyin' and nobody seems to know why," Johnny growled. He sat in an uncomfortable chair next to Ljubica's bedside.
Ljubica's life monitor's beeped, cold and sterile.
"I hate feeling like there ain't shit I can do, Ljuba!"
After several moments, he punched the wall, leaving a crater in the plaster. "Fuck I hate seein' you like this, stuffed with all sorts of tubes. It's fuckin' Stilwater Penitentiary all over again!"
The door opened, and a doctor walked in.
"Tell me good news, doc," Johnny said in a warning tone.
"Actually, we do have some good news," the balding man said. "A lab tech finally discovered something. She's been poisoned."
"Tell me you have the fuckin' antidote."
"We can neutralize some of the compounds," the doctor went on.
"Define some," Johnny demanded.
"It's some kind of cocktail, and we don't have what we need for everything. Some of it we've never even heard of, Mr. Gat."
Johnny nodded. "So, fix her the best you can."
"Please understand that she'll have to do the rest on her own, there are no guarantees..." the doctor began, sounding nervous.
"This bitch can survive anything," Johnny said with a grin. People were finally doing something. "Give that lab geek a bonus or somethin'"
The doctor nodded. "A nurse will start the injections into her IV shortly."
#
Ljubica's eyes fluttered open. Her entire body ached and burned at the same time, but it was a lot better than the agony she'd been in.
"I knew you couldn't die," Johnny said from her bedside, voice weary, but relieved.
"What the fuck happened?" she asked. "This is not my first time being stabbed."
"That piece of shit poisoned you, Ljuba," Johnny told her. "We almost lost you, the doctors couldn't figure it out, said it was some shit they'd never seen before."
"That explains why it hurt so bad," Ljubica said, starting to lower the side rails of her bed.
"Easy," Johnny advised. "You been in here for almost a week."
"A week!" Ljubica cried, shoving the railing down. She pulled the IV out of her hand and swung her legs out. "Where are my clothes?"
"Would you relax already?" Johnny grumbled, but handed over her clothes, favorite Mamba jacket folded on top.
"No time," she shot back, quickly pulling on her clothing.
"Those assholes are all over Stilwater, now," Johnny finally said. "It don't matter."
"See? No time," Ljubica retorted. She was dressed, and finding a hair tie in her pocket, pulled her hair back into a quick pony tail.
Johnny handed her Shepherd to her.
"That's why I love you, Johnny Gat, priorities," Ljubica quipped, giving him a quick kiss and tucking her pistol into it's holster. The jacket coved it from view nicely. "Let's get the fuck out of here and take back my city."
#
"Sorry, Boss," Manny said, standing near the door of her office. "They attacked again and again, in growing numbers."
Ljubica frowned, but nodded. "What do we know?"
Johnny stood by her side, arms crossed. He hadn't left her side since she as stabbed.
"They're hard to kill, and have lots of numbers," her youngest lieutenant told her. "And they use weird weapons."
Manny tossed the somewhat bulky, pistol crossbow he'd been holding onto her desk. It appeared to have many rotating barrels, and a box magazine.
"It fires really fast," he went on. "Those darts can rip through vehicles, people, it doesn't seem to matter."
"How quaint," Ljubica mused.
"They've started using zombies, too," Manny said quickly, and then crossed himself.
Ljubica all-but felt Johnny stiffen beside her, but he remained silent.
"Now I am regretting not keeping the zombie gas as Oleg suggested," Ljubica said. "Thank you, Manny, that will be all."
Manny nodded and left.
"You're out on this one," Ljubica ordered as soon as the door closed.
"The fuck I am," Johnny shot back, tone nearly derisive. "And if you get attacked by some ghost assassin fuck again?"
"They won't get me twice," she retorted. "And you're going nowhere near anyone that can control zombies."
"You know I'm gonna do it anyway," he replied with a cocky grin. This was the first time his condition had become a point of contention between them.
Ljubica frowned. "The fuck you are Johnny Gat!"
"Fight fire with fire and all that," he said, and then a sharp, stabbing pain hit him in the middle. He grunted, and reached over to hold his side. "I, uh, need to go for a few minutes."
Ljubica nodded. "Go on."
Johnny nodded his thanks and rushed out the door. He had to periodically inject himself with Tera's 'cure' or would revert back to being a zombie. He'd already tried eating her once. Neither of them liked it, but it beat the alternative by a long shot.
There was a knock on the door, too soon to be Johnny.
"It's Manny," Manny said from the other side.
"Come in."
"I think I know someone that can help us," Manny told her, closing the door behind him.
"Oh?" Ljubica asked, genuinely curious.
"My sister is a witch of sorts," he said. "Voodoo."
"Set up a meeting," Ljubica told him. "Fight fire with fire indeed."
#
"She mostly keeps to herself," Manny explained as they approached his sister's apartment. It was in a small complex near Stillwater University. "Try not to scare her too badly?"
Ljubica chuckled. "As long as she doesn't give me trouble, she will be finding nothing scary about me."
Manny knocked on the door. After several moments, a timid-looking Hispanic woman opened the door a crack, peeking out. Seeing Manny, she opened the door wider. She was pretty in a waifish sort of way, with big brown eyes and long, dark, curly hair. Her features weren't as strong as her brother's.
"Manny, it is good to see you," she said, voice soft. Her Hispanic accent was thicker than her brother's. "And you brought your girlfriend, I see."
Manny looked embarrassed, and Johnny cleared his throat quietly. Ljubica chuckled.
"I am not being his girlfriend," Ljubica said dryly. "Manny is my mechanic."
"I work for her, Ramona," Manny added, nodding quickly.
"And who is he?" Ramona asked, jutting her chin at Johnny.
"You live under a fuckin' box?" Johnny asked. "I'm Johnny Gat. The Johnny Gat."
"And he is being with me," Ljubica added, backing into him. He rest his chin on the top of her head, hunching over slightly.
"Ain't we adorable?" Johnny asked sarcastically.
"There's trouble," Manny said. "Can we come in?"
Ramona let out a long-suffering sigh, but stepped out of the way. "I don't want my place shot up, Manny."
"Not that kind of trouble," Ljubica said, moving past her.
Ramona's apartment was small and tidy. The furniture was mismatched and obviously secondhand, but everything was neatly arranged and clean.
"There's a new crew in town that uses black magick," Manny told his sister. "I told the Boss that maybe you could help."
"Wait, magic?" Johnny interrupted. "These guys ain't usin' hocus-fuckin-pocus! The Boss wasn't damned-near killed by smoke and mirrors, kid!"
"Easy, Johnny," Ljubica urged.
Ramona shook her head. "Magick," she said, emphasizing the final syllable. "A bunch of people showed up at work the other day and cleared us out."
"And where are you working?" Ljubica asked.
"Eye For An Eye," Ramona replied. "They pay someone of my talents pretty well, and it pays for school, so..."
Ljubica nodded. "I'd like to be adding you to my payroll, as an advisor of sorts."
"We need your help, sis," Manny said somberly. "I wouldn't bother you if it wasn't important."
"Yes, otherwise you wouldn't soil yourself and your precious white Christ with my presence," Ramona retorted, sounding bitter.
"That's not fair," Manny insisted. "I got stuck in Steelport and you know it. I don't avoid you because of your faith."
"You two can debate religion later," Ljubica told them. "But right now we've got shit to be doing."
The siblings glanced at one another, but nodded.
"Good," Ljubica said. "Now, let's get back to Purgatory and plan out how we're taking these bags of shit down."
#
"Rise from your graves!" a woman's voice called over Stilwater Cemetery, both a gentle contralto, and yet oozing power and presence.
Eerily orange lightning lit the night sky, and thunder crashed. Wind whipped her long, black hair away from her face, a face slightly aged by time, but still attractive. Her black dress clung to her curves, leaving her shoulders and arms bare while reaching the ground. She wore copper circlets on her upper arms, and her feet were bare.
"Come to me, your Mother demands you rise!"
There was a deep thrum, followed by an explosion of shadow. A pale grey hand sprung from the earth, clawing it's way to the surface. An arm followed, and a body pulled itself from the earth's embrace. It's flesh was whole and smooth, any previous decay gone, and the distinctly Asian woman looked towards her Mother.
"Hello, Mother," Lin purred. Her voice sounded somewhat distant, otherworldly.
Another pale, grey body clawed it's way from the earth, lanky and tall. He was Hispanic, and still wore a tattered, decayed purple skullcap with a ragged hole in the front of it. He, too, looked toward his Mother.
"Hello, Mother," Carlos said, voice eerie and cold.
And still a third body broke the surface of the earth, greyed skin a few shades darker than the other two. She appeared to be a woman of African descent, hair cut into a fashionable pixie cut, and turned her head to her Mother. Her voice, too, was unnatural and dark when she spoke.
"Hello, Mother," Aisha said softly.