Chapter Four
Early the following morning, at precisely eight o'clock, vigorous and extremely loud pounding on the front door shook the entire house. Felix was startled so badly he fell off of the couch and landed hard on his rear. As soon as he realized what was going on, he jumped up and opened the door.
"What!" Felix snapped.
"Who the hell are you?" A slightly overweight and sweaty man asked around the cigarette between his lips.
"What?" Felix asked. He squinted at the man in disbelief of his statement. "Why are you banging on the door so hard?"
"Hey, screw you. Where's Tom?" The man asked. Felix eyes widened.
"Don't you dare, Felix." Tom scolded as he came around the house. Both Felix and the man on the porch looked at him.
"Hey, Tom. What's up?" The man greeted as he stepped away from the door. Tom shook his hand.
"Just fixin' my son's car, Harry." Tom said. Felix looked out to the driveway. He saw a truck with "A-1 Auto Glass" spelled out in small and uneven blue letters on the driver's side door. "Oh, by the way, the person you just said 'screw you' to was my son, Felix."
"Hiya, Felix." Harry said over his shoulder. "Need a hand with this windshield?"
"Nope. My son and I can take care of it. Thanks though." Tom said. "How much do I owe you?"
"No way." Harry said, shaking his head. "Hell, I still owe you big time. Consider this interest." He walked over to the truck, tossed his cigarette into the street and hefted a windshield out of the back. He brought it down the driveway and out of Felix's sight. Felix went back inside, slipped his shoes on, then went around to the garage at the end of the driveway. He saw that his father had already taken off the destroyed windshield.
"Oh wow." Felix yawned, rubbing his eyes. "Thanks, Dad."
"No problem, son." Tom said. He smeared glue on the edge of the glass, then Felix and Tom lifted the windshield onto the car, and started rolling the steel back over the edges. About halfway through, Felix stopped.
"Hey, wait a second." Felix said. "How'd you know about this?"
"Emily told us last night, while you were passed out. She talked a lot about you. How you guys met, so on and so forth. Ordered the windshield then." Tom replied.
"You mean you gave me the third degree when you already knew what happened?" Felix exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips.
"You know I wanted to hear it straight from you." Tom said, standing up and dropping his tools to wipe his brow. Felix smiled and magically thumped his father in the shoulder. Tom responded by blowing a short gust of air at Felix. They laughed for a second, then continued crimping the steel back over the windshield. They stopped when they heard gravel crunching under someone's feet. They looked up to see Emily coming up, dressed in denim shorts and a white blouse.
"You guys really know how to do summer out here." Emily said, her hand on her forehead, providing shade for her squinted eyes. Felix shot a gust of wind in her direction.
"Hey!" Emily giggled. "Do that ten degrees cooler and you're hired." She walked up behind Felix and observed their progress.
"Okay, I have to know." Emily said with a tone of desperation. "How'd you know that car wasn't broken down?"
"Steam was coming out of the left side of the car. If it were really broken down, it would have been shooting straight up." Felix replied, keeping his eye on the work before him. "When you pull over to check to see if your engine is too hot, you take off the radiator cap. He must have pulled a hose out to get it to do that."
"Well, I'm stupid." Emily said. "Okay, you're repaid for your mistake at the car dealer."
"Thanks, I guess." Felix grunted as he folded the last lip of metal back over the windshield. The only obvious sign of repair was a thin line of flaked paint along the perimeter of the glass.
"Okay. Now, can you go down to the store and get a roast and a bottle of wine?" Tom asked, reaching into his pocket. "No soy, no synthahol either. I want the real McCoy, please."
"Sure. But leave your cash in your pocket. Emily and I will be back in a few." Felix said. Felix and Emily got into the car and drove down the thin, cracked street, leaving a low dust cloud behind them. The street was uninterrupted by perpendicular streets for five miles. Only a single row of tract houses, generously spaced out by brown lawns, occupied either side of the road. They drove straight for a few minutes before they hit the small cluster of strip malls next to the Interstate. Felix pulled a pair of U-turns around the small island in the middle of the divided street and pulled into the parking lot of the local supermarket.
"Your dad allergic to the synthetic garbage the stores turn out, too?" Emily asked as they scanned the crowded parking lot for an empty space.
"Just a discriminating pallet." Felix said. They parked behind the store and went inside. Felix proceeded straight for the back, picked up a large pot roast from the meat department, then headed for the liquor isle. They stood there, looking at the hundreds of different brands and varieties of wines and liquors.
"So what does your father drink?" Emily asked, examining an oddly shaped bottle of bourbon. Felix ran his finger down the prices illuminated on the small LCD displays under every bottle.
"Here." Felix said, taking a bottle off the shelf. Emily replaced the whiskey and looked at the one Felix took.
"This?" Emily asked. "Why this brand?" She took it from him and examined the bottle.
"Because it's the most expensive." Felix replied. He pointed at the price on the shelf. Emily gasped.
"Five hundred sixty eight nuyen for a flippin' bottle of wine?" Emily asked. The display blinked a couple times and scrolled 'sold out'. "Why?"
"Got me. I don't drink it." Felix said, heading toward the check out isle. Every register had a line of at least eight people in it. Felix and Emily stood patiently in the first line, farthest from the door. Felix looked over to the other lines. Suddenly, one figure caught his attention; a very tall orc, taller than everyone else in the store, who carried a six-pack of beer in his hand and wore bandages on his head. Through the white undershirt the orc was wearing, Felix could see his midsection was also wrapped. The orc turned to look at Felix, his gaze frozen as well.
"Felix, get a load of this magazine." Emily said, tapping him on the shoulder. When Emily didn't get a response, she tapped him again. Felix reached over, grabbed Emily's shoulder and jerked her around one hundred eighty degrees.
"Hey! What the…" Emily said, but silenced when she saw the orc. Without removing his gaze from Felix, the orc straddled the six-pack on top of a magazine rack and started to slowly back up.
"What's going on?" Felix asked.
"I don't know." Emily said. The orc turned and started walking fast out the door. "Maybe he's scared. Let's just pay for this stuff and get the hell outta here." They stood for a few seconds in silence. Suddenly, Felix looked back over to the doorway. He saw the orc walk back into the market with a rather large rifle on his shoulder. He pointed it to the ceiling and fired off a full clip. Before the clip was spent, the entire supermarket turned to chaos as over a hundred screaming people bolted out, trying to avoid coming within fifty feet of the orc. The orc stood there, calmly loading another clip into his weapon.
"Somehow I knew that would happen." Emily said, starting to back up. Felix stood there, staring at the orc. Emily grabbed Felix's arm and tugged at him. "C'mon! We gotta hide!" Felix shook his arm loose from Emily's grasp. She stumbled backwards a couple paces.
"Dammit, Felix! What are you doing?" Emily yelled. Felix began breathing heavier. The orc saw Felix standing in front of him and brought the gun down to site. He dropped the bottle, shattering it and splashing his shoes and ankles with deep burgundy wine. Suddenly, he screamed and his body jerked back as if a shock wave hit him. The orc flew backwards and landed hard on his back as the manabolt slammed into him. Emily stood there, dumbfounded.
"Damn. Why couldn't you do that yesterday?" Emily asked. Felix blinked and shook his head. He looked again at the orc lying on his back.
"Damn. Why couldn't I do that yesterday?" Felix asked. The orc sat up, his hand on his back. As soon as he saw the two still standing there, he grabbed the rifle, put the stock into his stomach and started firing. Felix and Emily ducked into the aisle across from the registers.
"Okay, now what, Miss Runner?" Felix asked, peeking around the edge of the aisle. The orc got up and started to walk along the main aisle, looking down each aisle as he passed.
"What, you think I do this on a regular basis?" Emily asked in surprise. The orc caught a glimpse of Felix peeking around the corner. Felix ducked back before the orc fired. Several bags of potato chips exploded, sending snack food debris everywhere. Emily and Felix ran down the aisle, barely dodging bullets that the orc fired after them when he caught up. Two glass doors to freezers across from the end of the aisle exploded as they darted down the next aisle.
"Get down!" A voice yelled. "I'm a cop!" Felix and Emily turned to see a man with a nine millimeter drawn approaching the aisle the orc was walking down.
"No!" Felix yelled. "He's got an assault rifle!" The man paid no attention. He whipped around and fired twice. The orc fired back, riddling the man's body full of slugs. The mangled corpse dropped and slid a few feet backwards, leaving a slick, bloody trail behind.
"God. What are we gonna do?" Felix asked. They ran down the main aisle in the rear of the store, ducking into another aisle when the orc appeared.
"What spells do you know?" Emily asked, running along side Felix.
"Be more specific." Felix asked.
"What will take down this orc?"
"Besides the manabolt, the stun spells and the fireball, nothing." Felix said. They zigzagged between aisles, temporarily losing the orc. Emily stopped dead.
"Fireball? As in a ball of fire?" Emily asked.
"Yeah. Hence the name."
"Split up. Meet me by the liquor isle. I'll get the orc down there. You know the rest." Emily said, running off for the rear of the store. She peeked down the rear aisle, and when she saw the coast was clear, she darted over to the unfortunate man and found his gun. When she bent over to pick it up, the orc came out of one of the aisles. Emily snatched the gun off the floor and jumped into a small open freezer in the middle of the aisle. The orc sprayed fire into the side of the freezer. Emily balled up tighter and tighter on top of bags of frozen shrimp as the dents from the slugs punched closer and closer. The shooting stopped. She cocked her head to look above the rim of the freezer. She saw the orc eject the spent banana clip, reach into his pocket and pull another one out. Emily turned to get on her hands and knees to get out. However, as she got up, she slipped on the ice in the freezer, jamming her foot into a coolant grate. She looked up over the rim again to see the orc slam the clip in. Emily ducked her head down, knowing full well the freezer wouldn't take much more abuse.
"Hey, ass fuck!" shouted Felix's voice. Emily looked above the rim again to see the orc turn his head. Felix was standing behind him, plain as day. The orc swiveled around, but before he could draw on him, Felix let loose another manabolt, sending the orc on his back once again. Emily pulled her foot loose, leaving her shoe behind. As the orc was attempting to re-orient himself, Emily ran for the liquor aisle, nine millimeter in hand.
"Okay, Fletch." Emily said as she jogged down the liquor aisle. "We got one shot at this. When I say so, you cast the biggest motherfucking fireball you can down the aisle. Got it?"
"Yep." Felix replied, and jogged down to the end of the aisle with Emily. She peeked around the corner. Just as she suspected, the orc came down the aisle, staggering slightly from the doses of magic Felix dealt him.
"A little bit further, just a little more." Emily whispered to herself. When the orc got half way down the aisle, next to the shelves of moonshine and one fifty one proof rum, she fired the gun into the bottles of booze, shattering dozens of them and splashing the orc. The orc growled and cursed, holding the gun with one hand and rubbing his eyes with the other.
"Now!" Emily exclaimed. As the orc wiped at his stinging eyes, Felix let loose with a fireball down the aisle. It roared as it traveled, shaking the shelves. When it hit the orc, the fireball set off gallons of flammable rum and moonshine, adding to the sheer intensity of the impact. A miniature black and red mushroom cloud floated up and licked the ceiling with smoke, soot and fire, immediately triggering the sprinkler system. The orc screamed as the flames engulfed him and most of the shelves. He flailed about for a few seconds, then collapsed in the puddle of burning alcohol.
"You alright?" Felix yelled over the downpour.
"Yeah! Let's get the hell out of here please." Emily shouted back, tossing the gun she picked up down the aisle. They turned for the exit, but stopped when the local SWAT team, outfitted in riot gear, slowly entered the store.
"Dammit!" Emily cursed. Without warning, she stooped over and picked Felix up on her shoulder.
"Hey!" Felix protested.
"Move and I kill you. Shut up." Emily growled. Felix followed orders and went limp as Emily walked for the exit, weaving slightly left and right since one of her sneakers were still lodged in the shrimp freezer. As she started out the exit, a policeman stopped her.
"Hold on, ma'am. Does he need medical attention?" The officer asked through a grate in his riot helmet.
"No. He's fine. Passed out from all the excitement." Emily said in her sweet innocent tone.
"It would probably be best if you let our paramedic unit look him over, ma'am."
"I said he's fine. Just let me get him home please." Emily asked in a sad, almost pathetic tone. The officer stood silent for a moment.
"Yeah, alright. Hurry up." The officer said, waving them away. Emily walked off and when she was sure the officer wasn't watching, she put Felix down.
"Damn. Gain some weight, would you?" Emily said, walking for the car. She giggled a little. "I forgot how good I was."
"Forget it again. I helped on that one." Felix said. "We just better get home before anyone finds out who was responsible for the fire." They trotted for the car around the side of the store. When Felix jumped in and started the motor, the rear service entrance door burst open. Emily and Felix turned to see a smoking orc, with bloody burns all over his body, leaning against the doorway, holding a nine-millimeter pistol. They sat there, dumbstruck. The orc fired once. The passenger side window shattered completely. Emily was struck in the right shoulder by the bullet.
"Dammit!" Emily screamed. "Drive!" Felix snapped out of his confusion and hit the gas. The small car fishtailed for a moment, then the tires took hold of the asphalt and shot out of the parking lot. Emily growled as she grabbed her shoulder as hard as she could. Tiny, red waterfalls flowed over her clutched fingers. "This was supposed to be a vacation!"
"As soon as we get home, you'll be okay. Hold on." Felix said, screaming around a turn. After a minute of driving as fast as the car could down the lonely residential street, he made it home. He entered the driveway with such velocity he sent gravel flying against the house, making it sound like a hail of bullets inside. He sent more gravel into the garage when he slammed on the brakes. Tom rushed outside to investigate.
"What in the hell, boy?" Tom shouted, coming down the sidewalk. "You learn to drive yesterday?" Felix jumped out of the car and ran to Emily's door.
"We met up with that orc again at the store. Emily's been shot." Felix helped Emily out. She still held her bloody shoulder.
"Christ. Amelia!" Tom shouted inside. "Get your patch kit!" Amelia poked her head out the front door.
"Christ is right. What she been hit by?" Amelia asked.
"Nine-millimeter. Didn't hit the bone. Nothing shattered." Emily replied through clinched teeth. "I think!" She staggered inside, followed by Tom and Felix. Amelia guided Emily to sit on the coffee table, where she had a first aid kit open. Amelia tore the sleeve of the blouse away, revealing the wound. She poured a bottle of alcohol across the shoulder, washing the blood away and making Emily open her eyes as wide as a cartoon character would.
"Okay. This is going to hurt. Bad." Amelia said. She plunged her index finger and thumb into the wound, causing more blood to gush forth. Emily screamed, but as fast as she went in, Amelia came out with the slug.
"Close that up before she ruins my carpet." Amelia said, tossing the slug clear across the room and into the kitchen sink.
"Here goes." Felix said, and put his hand over the wound. He held his breath and concentrated for a few moments. When he pulled his hand away, the hole closed significantly, but not completely. Felix held his head.
"Close enough for government work." Amelia said as she taped a thick pad of gauze over the bullet hole. She sat back and inspected her work. "Haven't done that since I fished a niner out of your Papa's butt. Back in fifty-three. You okay, dear?" Emily nodded her head.
"Hush." Tom said. As Amelia wrapped a bandage around Emily's arm, Tom looked out the window. "Oh, no." He turned to look at everyone in the room, then back out the window. "You've been followed."
"Crap!" Emily exclaimed. She jumped up to look out the window, sending the roll of elastic micropore bandage unraveling across the room. Far down the street, a car was coming closer, being followed by a cloud of dust only produced by a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed.
"Everyone, back into the office! Now!" Tom exclaimed. Emily and Amelia jumped to the order and ran back. Tom followed the two women, and Felix followed Tom, holding his head.
"You okay?" Tom asked as Felix entered the office.
"No." Felix said. "Worst headache…"
"Shake it off." Tom said. "Something tells me we'll need you soon."
Suddenly, the entire house shuttered.
"Son of a bitch!" Tom exclaimed. He grabbed the cushion of the chair in the middle of the office and tossed it across the room. He picked up the small SMG he had hidden there. "He rammed the house! That son of a bitch crashed into my house!" Tom pulled the safety off and flipped the switch to full auto. Felix, suddenly inspired and enraged by his father's words, went to the door and tossed it open to take down the orc and protect his family. He was met with four slugs in the chest.
