Chapter 29: Weapons

Toombs and I have our guns on each other from our comfy chairs, almost casually. Like we're just talkin'. Just with guns. Eve has her piece out, but ain't pointing it anywhere. Dhalgren hasn't pulled his. Weird.

"Everyone calm down," Nara says. "Cyrus, still I don't think you are a Necromonger. But I need to check."

No one moves. Cyrus. Right. That's me. Toombs has drunk too much; his aim ain't steady.

"Still?" Jack says, her voice seeming to come from a long way away.

"It crossed my mind, when he appeared so fortuitously. I dismissed it because Necromongers usually travel in force," Nara says, very fast. She's way more scared than the rest of us. "But I don't know what one might do for . . . family."

"How would you check?"

"There would be a mark on his neck," Nara says. "About the size of the tip of your index finger. A scar, under the ear. It would be under the collar of his sweater."

"May I?" Jack says to me. Toombs is pointing the gun at her now. Idiot.

"Yeah," I say. "Knock yourself out."

I feel her fingers on my neck, pulling down the sweater. It sends signals right down to my crotch. She looks at my neck. She licks her finger, and rubs. "Nothing on this side." She strains behind me to look at the other side. "Nothing here."

Nara exhales, slowly. "Cyrus, I'm sorry. But we just had to be sure."

Sure I wasn't a child killing monster. I feel my lips pull back against my teeth. The chances I'm gonna gut you just skyrocketed, lady.

"I wanna see," Toombs says. "Take off your fucking sweater and turn your fucking head."

"Put your fucking gun down," I say.

"Fuck you. Hey, al-Walid. Get away from him."

Jack doesn't move. "If he is my brother, and you shoot him," Jack says, with great drunken dignity, "I will find a way to end you."

"That's it." Toombs fishes out the control collar with his left hand. "I'd almost decided against making you wear this, darlin'. But you've got too much of a mouth on you. Dhal, you wanna do the honors again?"

Dhalgren blinks a few times, looks at me, gun still in my hand and murder now on my face. "Nah. Vengeance is for fuckers."

"Fuck you," Toombs says.

"In your dreams," Dhalgren shoots back. "Don't be a dick. We've got better things to do."

"You forget your brother already, goatfucker?"

"I've been thinking," Dhal says. "While I was cooking. We snatch her outta her comfy home, drag her around in the cold as bait for a monster. Monsters come out of the dark, snatch a couple of us into the cold. Maybe that's just fair, you know? I've been carrying around this hard on for this chick 'cause I miss him so fuckin' much, but you know, whatever. She didn't kill him."

"Jesus," Toombs says. "You notice how this asshole has a gun on me?"

"He's alright," Dhalgren says. "Bet he'll hardly kill you at all if you put the gun down."

I snort. "Hey, Jack," I say.

"Yeah?"

"He shoots me, you end him, 'k?"

She laughs. "You got it."

I lower the muzzle. Toombs drops his piece, starts laughing. "Jesus. You got the little girl to back you up. I'm quaking in my mother fucking boots."

"I'm gonna get dessert," Dhalgren says. "Don't anyone go anywhere."

Toombs shoves the gun away and swings the collar in his hand. He leers at Jack. "I think this is gonna look real good on you."

I feel my lips pull tight against my teeth, and it's all I can do not to bring the muzzle back up. "Jesus, children," Nara says. "Look, let's just drink these fine fruity beverages our man is bringing, watch some dumb vids, forget the looming ontological horror for a few hours, and get some sleep. We can talk about all this in the morning." Toombs scowls at her, but he shoves the collar back into its little bag. Dhalgren comes back bearing more plastic novelty tumblers and a blender full of strawberry daiquiris if my nose don't lie. He pours with a flourish.

He raises his glass. "To brothers."

I put my arm around Jack and give her a squeeze. "To the perfect psychofuck family that we are."

Toombs starts to laugh. He's laughing too hard to notice how stiff Jack goes under my arm.


The mercs want to watch some dumb talk show. They think it's hilarious. Even Nara's chuckling. Totally mystifies me as to why. But Jack falls asleep leaning against me, so there are some compensations. Especially after Nara stumbles off to bed, leaving us the whole couch. She turns off the lights as she goes, so the room's just lit by the screen. I gently maneuver Jack until her head's in my lap, and spread the ice giant cape over her. She protests weakly, but she's back asleep before she can really bitch about it. Toombs grins at me.

"Offer still stands," he says.

"Maybe tomorrow," I murmur. "I don't think she'll be a lot of fun tonight." But even as I say it, I'm way fuckin' tempted.

He seems about to give me shit, but he yawns instead. "Right." He gives her an almost cherishing look, which seems weird, given that he seems real hot to have me rape her. "Oh, I love this guy," he says, beaming the screen.

I look too. And fuck me, it's William mother-fucking Johns, walking down the aisle towards the so-very-gay host. On the screen. A dead guy. A guy I killed. Shit.

"Hello, Cleveland!" Johns yells. The crowd roars. Toombs laughs out loud. No idea why. I glare at the screen, and fuck me, Johns waves at me.

"Hey, killer!" He calls all cheery like.

"Hey!" Toombs calls back. "Ha-lah!"

Johns rolled his eyes. "Wasn't talkin' to you, dick face." He points at me. "But that guy—hey, is that our little transsexual all nestled against your crotch?"

I look down. Jack's long hair is spilling over my lap. She's snoring softly, her breasts rising and falling.

"Guess so," I say, lightly.

"What's up with that?"

"I'm an open minded kind of guy," I say.

"You guys all know each other?" Toombs asks, suddenly all suspicious like.

"Oh yeah, Dick here and I go way back," Johns says with a smirk. I growl at him. "We went fishing not long ago. Got in a fight about the bait, though. Hey, look, it's the lady of the hour!" He stands up, clapping. The whole audience stands and applauds, and the Irritating Lady in White walks down the aisle. People are throwing flowers at her feet. She's kissing babies and shaking hands. Gay-host and Johns both kiss her right on the lips.

"Hello, everyone," she gushes. They clap and cheer like it's the best thing they've ever heard. "I'm so glad you could be here." She smiles at me. "Especially you."

I glare at her. "What the fuck do you want?" I say to her. The crowd boos me.

"Jesus," Toombs mutters. "Way to make enemies bro."

"Thank you, thank you," the Irritating Lady in White just keeps gushing, like I just said something fuckin' gracious. "I'm so glad you ask. I did do what I said I would. I made sure she grew up hale and happy, with a very useful skill." The crowd goes crazy clapping, like she did something worth clapping for. "The question is," she says, "are you, sir, man enough to keep your side of the deal?"

"Fuck you," I say. "I made no deal with you." The crowd hisses. It actually gets under my skin.

"Oh come on, Dick," Johns says. "That's exactly what you did, the moment you put your ass on the line for that girl."

"Wait, what girl?" Toombs goes. "That girl?" He points to the one in my lap. I look down. "Oh, fuck, dude, are you Riddick?"

I roll my eyes at him. "Of. Course. Not. Would Riddick wear this hat?" The crowd oohs and ahs like I just said something clever.

Toombs looks at me through narrow, piggy eyes. "Good point." The audience shrieks in delight. Annoying Lady in White covers her mouth politely.

"Mr. . . . Richards," she says, after she stops with the polite laughter. "One way or another, that woman's destiny is to be eaten by monsters. Wouldn't you rather it be you?" The crowd titters like she just said something dirty. "Let us review the tape, shall we?"

The screen does one of those stupid fade things and comes back up on Jack's little tower room with her soft bed. I slept in that bed. I slept in that bed with Jack. Fuck, why the hell did I ever leave her?

I stroke her hair. She cuddles to me.

I hear footsteps on the stairs. The door opens, and it's Jack. Not the Jack I knew. Not the Jack I am planning to know. The Jack she would have been when the mercs dragged her to Audhumla. The Jack I —

And there's a guy. I think I know him. I think I killed him.

They're laughing. Holding hands. She's wearing a stupid white dress with flowers in her hair. He's wearing a tux. Fuck, did Abu marry her off to some guy?

He kisses her, gently, carefully. She smiles at him. "Thank you," she says.

"I love you," he says.

The crowd goes "ahhh." I hate the crowd.

She kisses him.

"Well ain't that a thing," Toombs says. "Looks like the little Hyperion is gonna get lucky tonight!"

Hits me where this is going. I look for the remote. I don't see it.

Tux guy pulls her, gently, to the bed. She lets him do it.

He kisses her again; his fingers on her neck. She's kissing him back. She giggles. She's tipsy and happy.

He takes off his tux jacket. Then his tie. She's breathing heavily. He kisses her, lovingly. I hate him. I want to be him. He takes off his dress shirt. Stupid ruffles. He hangs his clothes neatly on a chair. He kisses her harder. "I love you," he says.

She giggles, looks down. Looks back up, eyes shining. "I love you."

His hands are on her breasts. He's pulling on her dress. She lets him take it off, and she's lying there, all young and beautiful; the girl I saved. The girl I walked away from. The girl I want so much it's killing me.

He kisses her again, his hands inching down. I need that goddamn remote. He turns off the light.

They're on the bed, taking off their clothes. They're both shy. But he's got his pants off and his cock out, and he's panting with want. She's got a weird look on her face, like she doesn't know where to go, but she's got her hands on him and her legs apart and I'm so hard I'm going out of my mind.

The boy don't know what to do to get her off; there's that, at least. He thrusts into her clumsily way before she's ready for him. She makes a long shuddering sound that I know is pain. He freezes. "I'm sorry," he whispers.

"It's okay," she says. "Just – just go slow."

"Abu's gonna kill me," he whispers.

She laughs. "He's not what you have to worry about," she says. True that.

He thrusts in again, and I feel it, I want to be doing it so bad. The camera pulls back. Shows the west window. There's a shadow.

It's me. I'm staring at them. The audience responds. Fuck. I remember this dream. I climbed up that oak tree and I came through that window-

"Oh, he's gonna get it now!" Toombs crows. I finally remember that Jack was using the console to control the TV. I grab for it. Jack wakes up. She looks up at me, then focuses on the screen. Shit.

I start pushing buttons. Get a menu up, but you can still see their bodies underneath.

"Don't look," I whisper to the girl in my lap. She looks up at me, confused, then looks back at the screen.

Toombs giggles. "Hell, I can't take my eyes off of it. How could you expect her to look away?"

I see myself come through the window, a shadow against the dark. I'm gonna break that boy's neck; I'm gonna throw his dead body off of her, I'm gonna take his place, I'm gonna come like a supernova when she says my name. I get the channel changed just as I rise up behind him.

"Fuck!" Toombs yells, slapping his knee. "That was the best part."

The Necromonger ships stream across the screen. "What happened next?" Jack says, her voice childish.

Toombs giggles. I look at him, and fuck me, he's got his dick in his hand and he's jacking off. He's looking at her. She doesn't know. I should kill him. I really should. But I can't bear to move.

He says, triumphantly, stroking himself "Riddick comes through the window, he breaks that fucker's neck, and he takes his place. Fucks that girl while she slaps at him. She figures out who he is just as he cums." Toombs sighs, happily, and I think he's cumming, but I ain't looking. "Love that."

Jack strains up to look at him. "Did that happen?" she asks him.

"No." I say, flatly. Watch Necros kill children. It's better than watching myself rape the girl in my lap.

The screen flickers, and we're in the car again, Ice Bitch driving, me sitting beside her, Young Jack in the back seat studying. Ice Bitch looks right at me. "Do we need to rewind?"

"No," I grind out.

She smiles sweetly. "Ms. Parnell, what do you think?"

Both Jacks look at her. "What?" Young Jack says. Jack-in-my-lap takes a deep, scared breath. I put one hand over her mouth, gently, the other over her side, pinning her. "Shhhh," I say.

"Mr. . . Richards," Ice Bitch says. "As I recall, I offered you a deal. Give the girl a chance to become who she was. In return, you do what you were born to do."

"I made no deal with you." Jack's started to struggle to sit up. I still want to fuck her. Having her squirming in my lap ain't helping.

"So should we have fed her to monsters?" Ice Bitch says. "We still can. When we're done here."

"Fuck you," I say. "You think I'll let that happen?"

"Do you think you'll have a choice?" Ice Bitch says, "when the lights go out?"

I jerk awake. Video ended, and the screen just went dark. Think that might have woken me up. That or the raging hard on I've got. I think about jerking one out, but I can't figure out how to do it without waking up the girl in my lap. The girl I wanna fuck so much it's beginning to mess with me. Give me crazy dreams. Makes me wanna do stupid things.

I count the sleeping bodies. All mercs accounted for and sleeping the sleep of the deeply drunk. I blink into the darkness. Fuck it, everyone's dead asleep. I take out the god damn contacts, and glorious sight returns to me.

I move carefully, shift Jack so she's lying on the couch. She makes a small sound, like she's gonna wake up. I lean over her. "Shhhh . . ." I say, very softly. "I'll be back. I promise." I press my lips to her forehead, avoiding the bruise Toombs gave her. She relaxes back into sleep.

I step over the lady merc and out the room. Head to my ship. If it's ready, I'm goin' back there; I'm killing the mercs, and I'm taking Jack outta here even if she does give me shit about Necromongers later. We could be a million miles away before Nara wakes up and calls it in. Maybe kill her too.

Only my fucking ship ain't ready. I make a fist and almost pound it on the wall. Check on the nanites. They all got redeployed on the power plant hours ago.

Fuck. It.

I eye Toombs's ship. Only it clearly ain't a merc ship; it's something sleek and modern with an FTL drive I don't know how to fly.

I rub my head. Cannot wait to shave off this fucking hair.

I think about it. Finally, write a note. "Gone to bed. Took the girl with me." Head back to our little psychofuck family love nest, leave the note on the table, gather up Jack. She wakes up a little when I lift her. "Shhh," I whisper. "Just gonna tuck you in."

She cuddles into me, seems to go back to sleep. When I start to lay her down on the bed, she mumbles my name, or something like it. I'd half intended to wrestle the nanites back, but that kills it.

"I'll be anyone you want me to be," I whisper back. Not true, but it seems to make her happy. I tuck her in. She smiles, sleepily, goes right back to sleep. I stare down at her until my heart slows down. Then I lock the door.

Room's got a private bath. I head into it, clean my arm good. That little cut I gave myself last week, twelve years ago, to show the girl I loved her is throbbing. Ice giants and dying doctors made sure of that.

She's dead asleep before I come back. I strip down to my skivvies and fold my clothes neatly on a chair. Think about undressing her. I want to. I really do.

I don't. If strip her, the chance that I don't fuck her tonight are itsy bitsy. And that would be wrong. I'm so fucking worked up right now, no way I could be nice about it.

But tomorrow is a new day.