It took Lana a while to heal Albert, but Howard stuck around because a) he wanted to make sure that the dude remembered he owed Howard, b) he was safer here than probably anywhere else, now that Orc had gone AWOL, and c) he was still halfway hoping that Lana would heal him up once this was all over. His ribs still stung, and whenever he doubled over a little or pressed a hand to them in an attempt to shut up the pain, Sanjit gave him this look. This, I know what you're thinking look. Howard didn't like it.
After a few hours, maybe, Albert was fine and conscious. Lana stood and turned to leave, as rude and abrupt as she always was. Sanjit stepped in front of her and nodded to Howard. "Something fucked up his ribs."
"So?" Lana said.
"From the way he's clutching at them, they're probably broken."
Lana ran a critical eye over Howard and snorted. "Or he's a baby. Trust me. He's fine. What sort of situation would he even get in where he has broken ribs?"
"An Orc situation," Howard muttered, and Lana frowned.
"I thought you two were real close," she said after too long of a pause.
"Yeah, well, things don't end well when you try and take a bottle away from Orc," Howard snapped. "So are you going to fix me or not? I need to discuss some stuff with Albert."
"What?" Albert muttered. He seemed a little out of it.
"Usually you're trying to push bottles into his hands," Lana said, and Howard spread his hands in defeat.
"You got me. I tried to give Orc some whisky and he just smacked me. Just couldn't take it." Howard shook his head slowly. "A real tragedy. Think about it, Healer. He was getting weepy, so I figured he should sober up. He didn't agree. Are we done?"
Lana gave him a steely look, and Sanjit nudged her with his shoulder. "C'mon. I want to see if he'll ever cheer up."
"He's as much of an asshole happy as he is annoyed," Lana muttered. But she sighed and turned to Howard. "Where?"
Howard lifted up his shirt and Sanjit winced. Howard didn't want to look down, so he just let Lana trail her fingers over his ribcage and felt an immense relief. He let out a deep breath through his mouth, nose still broken, and Lana healed that as well before turning and stalking out.
"So, my man," Howard said, crouching down in front of Albert, who still looked woozy. "I'm the guy that brought the Healer to you. Pretty cool, right? Pretty deserving of some comp-en-sa-tion."
Albert looked at him like he hadn't ever seen him before in his life, and Howard sighed. But Albert did seem to be pulling himself together, bit by bit, and eventually he held out a hand to Howard. Howard pulled him to his feet, and Albert staggered over to his desk and sat down hard in the desk chair.
"It was what's left of the Human Crew," he said. "Lance. Turk. Them. What were you saying?"
"I'm saying, I saved you, I want something out of it," Howard said. Albert opened up his desk and dug around a bit before coming up with a handful of 'Bertos. Also inside? The mold. Howard's eyes were glued to the mold, but Albert didn't notice, so he just took the 'Bertos. "You know, we're pretty similar."
"No," Albert said, shaking his head. "You're a lowlife drug dealer."
"And you're a businessman, what's the difference," Howard said. He stuck the 'Bertos in a pocket of his backpack and turned to head out. He'd bribe Jamal later. Now that he knew where the molds were. Damn, he should get on collecting every bit of gold in Perdido Beach. Who said the only gold stash in town was the stuff that Albert had found in the first place? "We both got oversized bodyguards. Only difference is I pay mine in booze, you pay yours in 'Bertos."
Albert waved a hand to dismiss him, and Howard scowled. He looked like Caine when he did that; when he acted like all of them were below him. And while Howard didn't exactly know where Caine was hanging out nowadays – Sanjit had said that he'd taken over the island, and that was fine with Howard, though he didn't know how long Caine was going to be satisfied with only a few subjects – he didn't need another one here, telling him what to do.
…
Council meeting. Howard had gotten there early, just because he didn't really have anywhere else to go. Orc was still AWOL. He'd delivered some bottles that he could reach, but he needed Orc to hold the ladder so that he could crawl over the hole in the floor and get the other ones. And he hadn't been able to get ahold of Jamal to sneak in the back of Albert's house and steal those molds. At least that handful of extra 'Bertos helped to keep him on his feet, because otherwise Howard Bassem would definitely be struggling.
Albert was there next, raising an eyebrow at the sight of Howard, alone, tilting his chair back on two legs and balancing 'Bertos on his knuckles. Then was Edilio, who also gave him a strange look – either because of the early thing, or 'Berto thing, or maybe the fact that Howard's face looked completely fine. Dekka next, slouching in and barely giving Howard a first glance, let alone a second, weird one. And then Ellen, who came in breathless and apologizing for being late.
It was quiet for a little bit.
"So, am I going to have to say it?" Howard asked after a few moments of silence. "All of it? All of the – Drake's out, Orc's missing, what's left of the Human Crew went after Albert, and people are coughing up their lungs? All while we all dehydrate?"
It was quiet again, and then Albert let out a deep sigh.
"We've got another problem," he said. "Hunter has something… wrong with him. His shoulder bit Roscoe the other day."
"Hold up," Howard said, the front two legs of his chair clattering back to the ground. "More fucked up stuff to worry about? His shoulder bit a kid?"
"Yes," Albert said.
Howard leaned back in his chair again, frowning. He didn't really get all of the mutations that everything but him seemed to be growing – coyotes that could talk, the zekes, people like Sam and Dekka and Orc the Human Pile of Gravel. Zombies. He didn't really try to understand it; it was like this fucked up superhero tale, and everything had its own wacked out origin story. But someone who already had a mutation having something else wrong with him…
Edilio was talking.
"Sam went after Drake," he said. "Brianna did too, so if we can get one of them to get him back, then that would be good."
"Why not let her do her thing and chop him up?" Howard asked. He leaned his chair back farther. "That drove Orc crazy, man. Listening to death threats and begging for death. None of you guys get it. It nearly drove me crazy."
"But Brittany-"
"Was just as annoying," Howard said. "I mean, at least Drake would include some variety in his death threats. 'I'll whip you until you beg for death, I'll break each finger one-by-one, whip the skin off your back' but Brittany was all 'kill me' and 'God.'"
He paused.
"Come to think of it, Drake was pretty repetitive, too. Either way, let them burn," Howard said. He tipped his chair back farther, guessing that he'd hit the wall sooner or later. Dekka gave him a long look.
"If you've lost Orc, why are you even here?" she asked, and Howard scowled. He tipped the chair back farther. He fell. As he picked himself up, the others resumed their conversation like he hadn't just smacked his head against the ground, and he really wished that he had Orc back. He'd go looking for him after this. Or maybe after whatever they were planning to do with Hunter, or whatever. He could check Coates. Or…
Wait, they were still talking.
Edilio was looking at him like he wanted something.
"Huh? Sorry, just being concussed over here," Howard said. He rubbed his head. "What do you want?"
Ellen muttered something to Dekka, who nodded and pinned Howard with a glare. Howard squirmed a little, uncomfortable.
"I asked, how dangerous is Orc? I heard he hurt you."
"What? Was it from Sanjit? Damn it. That asshole," Howard muttered. He sighed. "I think he'll stay away from people. It's fine. I'll take care of it. Don't worry about it. Isn't that what you want me to say?"
"Is he too mu-"
"He's my best friend," Howard said. Dekka coughed something that sounded suspiciously like 'only friend', and he scowled. Ellen looked between him and Edilio.
"Wait, weren't you two getting kind of close around the time of the fire? Or did I miss something?"
"You missed something," Howard and Edilio said unison. Howard, irritated with everything, stood up and headed for the door.
"Do whatever you want with Hunter, or whatever," he said. "If you need a majority vote, just pretend I voted yes. I need to find Orc."
I'd say this isn't the best chapter, but I'm working on where everything'll go next.