13: Woodworking

Rode into Wansui at dusk, the chill of the desert night slowly creeping into my bones. Parked my bike in front of the Song Hotel, its lights beaming from its square, faded baby blue façade, built most likely in a different century. Kinda felt like a beacon for a weary traveler such as yours truly. Strutted into the place via the revolving glass door, and one of the first people I spotted in the old-timey foyer was him. Nikolai. He reclined in a comfortable chair with velvet cushions, reading some sort of book. Went up to him.

"Nikolai?" I said.

The big guy looked up from his book, his dazzling green eyes coming to meet mine. "Wolf O'Donnell," he said, putting the book to the side. He stood up, and easily towered over me. Then he outstretched his hand. "Pleased to see you again."

"Likewise. What'd you call me for anyway?"

"I've had some time to think about things for these past few days. About what had happened, and where I should go next. I figured, 'Well, I have a blaster. I have some skills. I have nothing else to lose. Why not go into mercenary work?'"

"Woah, woah, woah, what? You wanna be a merc? Listen, it's not that simple. There's a lotta shit you gotta give up." I sat down beside him, and he followed suit. "You'll need to spend most of your time away from wherever you call home. I don't got a home, you see. There's the danger, of course. Getting shot. I sleep armed, every night. Every night. Enemies, you'll have a fair amount if you wanna get ahead. And you can't stop working, shit costs money. Food, fuel, ammo, shit like that. And that's before all the official shit, like registration with authorities and shit like that. Most mercs do it, otherwise they'd be vulnerable some official merc stomping them out. Governments can't pay unofficial mercs most times, so all it takes to get had is having an official merc swoop in and steal the reward you worked hard for, just because he had papers and you didn't. Trust me, I've done it before.

"I see, I see," said Nikolai, nodding his head.

"Plus, getting outta the game isn't so easy. This shit is your life from now on. And even if you commit, skill ain't nothing if you're not lucky. I can drop so many names of famous mercs that ended up dead. Bud Stokes, Ephraim Mohler, Zhang Liu, Rellis the Destroyer, the Weatherman. All of 'em, cut down in their prime after they were ganged up on, snuck up in their sleep, or outdrawn by a faster hand. I should know… I killed one of them."

Nikolai tilted his head. "Who?"

"Bud Stokes."

"What happened?"

"I don't wanna talk about it. What I do wanna talk about though is why you wanna go into the merc business anyway."

"What else can I do? Where else can I go? Everyone I know and love is gone. My home's gone, I sold it. There's nothing for me there anyway, and there's no way I'd be able to maintain the ranch all by myself. Ranch hands are hard to come by in those parts these days. Besides… the memories are too much for me to stay there."

"So you want to spend the rest of your life working as a soldier of fortune?"

"I mean, Paweł Chmielnicki has."

"That guy is operating on a level way above us, my friend. He's a living legend."

"I dunno, to me he seems like just any ordinary man. A mortal man. A man that can bleed."

"Well, I ain't never seen him do that."

"Do what?"

"Bleed."

"Have you seen him often then?"

"Rarely. But the first time I did, I'll never forget it."

"What was that like?"

"He was the same enigmatic fella you saw back at your place. And… it's like his mood can switch like a light. Now I'm not saying he's bipolar or a schizo or anything like that, but what I am saying is that he can kill ya, then smile at someone else without breaking a sweat or taking a breather. It's like he's some sort of machine."

"Well, is he?"

"Is he what, a machine?"

"Yeah."

"Nah, he's flesh and blood."

"But I thought you said you didn't see him bleed."

"Doesn't mean he don't act like a decent person at times. I've seen him get happy, he's got feelings. It's just that he's a stone-cold killer, and someone you don't fuck around with because he will put you down quick."

"But Chmielnicki had to start somewhere. I was just thinking… maybe we are future Paweł's. Maybe we are the next legends, you know?"

Thought about that notion for a short while. Paul may be old, but he did indeed have a start. So did Julius Ra-Ki, Minoru Lynx, and a thousand other heavyweight names I could drop. It started growing on me, that idea of me being a legend of my own. After all, that was my ultimate goal back then. Funny how priorities change when your fur starts to turn white. Anyway, I got around to the idea of Nikolai picking up a blaster and making money off of it.

"Well, if your heart's set on being a merc, you need to start working. That means prospecting for jobs."

"How do you do that?"

"Just… look around. Put yourself out there. Spread the word on what kind of work you do. There's always somebody who has a problem that only people like us can solve."

On that note, in came a sweaty, nervous-looking rabbit, his head on a swivel as he desperately searched for something, or someone. In no time flat, he found us, and walked right up to me and Nikolai.

"Uh, uh, you two seem tough, yes?"

"Depends on who's asking."

"Bob Lu," said the rabbit, rotating his cap in his hands. He had on a loose-fitting button shirt, dirty khakis, and worn boots. Off-white cloth suspenders kept his trousers up. "I have a big problem, something I think tough guys like you two can deal with."

"See that?" I said, turning to Nikolai briefly. "Somebody who has a problem." I returned my attention Walt. "What's wrong, friend?"

"Well, you see," started Bob, "it's about my daughter, Charlotte. She's been seeing this man that I got a bad feeling about, and I have not seen hide nor tail of her in three days. I'm worried about her. Here, this is what she looks like." He handed me a photo of his little girl. Looked real similar to her dad, bit thin though.

"So, you think this fella's got something to do with it?"

"Oh, I know sir, I know that he's involved in her disappearance indeed. The man's name is Terrance Howards. He lives on 112 Avenue B. I can't be seen with you, he'd shut up otherwise. No, I think there's a better chance he'll talk to strangers than the father of the girl he kidnapped."

"Let's not jump to any conclusions, sir," said Nikolai.

"It's not jumping to conclusions, my friend, it's the truth," replied Bob.

"Why would he talk to mercs? Or strangers in general?"

"Well, rumor's going around that Howards is looking for dumb muscle to 'move furniture.' No doubt he actually wants people to do whatever dirty work he wants."

"Or… he's moving away from this town and its rumor mill?" pondered Nikolai.

"You are calling me a liar, mister?" snapped Bob.

"We're not gonna jump to conclusions neither," I replied, gesturing to Nikolai to stop. "We are gonna help you out, Mr. Lu. For a price…"

"Uhh, sure. Name it."

"Ten grand."

"Ten thousand dollars?"

"No. Credits."

"Oh my stars… I… That seems quite high."

"Well, normally, for a job like this I'd charge only five, but since there's two of us, it costs twice as much."

"But ten thousand… credits?"

"Your daughter's at stake here, right? What would you do for your daughter? You see, 'cause if I had a little girl of my own, I'd move mountains for her. No cost too high for her. Especially if her life is on the line."

There was a pause. Then, Bob spoke again.

"Alright. Ten thousand credits it is."

"What do you want us to do?"

"Find my daughter. And if Howards is behind her disappearance, make him pay."

"And in the worst-case scenario?" asked Nikolai.

"I refuse to accept that."

"But you should, Mr. Lu.

"If… If she's gone… you kill him. You kill him real good. Anything that's his that you want will be yours."

"Five now, five when we finish the job."

"Hold on, I'll be right back." With that, Bob left us.

I looked over to Nikolai. "Maybe I should do the talking from now on."

"Why's that?"

"You nearly chased our guy away. Ten grand almost went poof."

"I'm just airing my thoughts."

"That's not important when money's on the line. This is our living. If we don't get paid, we don't eat. You understand?"

Nikolai sucked in his lower lip for a moment in silence. "Got it."

"Good." I added a quick nod to that. "I'll do the talking."

Bob returned to us, cash in hand. Cold hard credit bills. "Five grand, Mr…?"

"Wolf O'Donnell. This here's Nikolai Morozov." Nikolai said nothing, but instead tipped his hat a bit to Bob. "We specialize in these types of situations."

"Mr. O'Donnell, Mr. Morozov. Here, five grand. The rest'll come later, I assure you."

"No doubt." I took the money and stuffed it in my pocket. "You want us to take care of your problem promptly?"

"Oh yes, please, sir."

"Alrighty then. C'mon Nikolai, let's get a move on." And so, the two of us got up out of the chairs, passed by Bob, and went outside. The sun had set below the horizon, but for us, this was gonna be the beginning of an interesting job. Most interesting for me, at least.

"What was that address again?" asked Nikolai.

"112, Avenue B," I said. "Don't worry, just follow me in the truck. I'll punch in the address on my cell and we'll follow the GPS to the place."

Hopped on my bike, while Nikolai went in his pickup, and then we went to the address Bob gave us. It was cold and dark, but thanks to my fur, it was more than tolerable. Dunno what Nikolai thought of it, but considering he could breathe fire, I assumed that he could handle it too. Anyway, we rode up on the house, pretty normal looking, vomit-green roof with white exterior walls and shit like that. There was a moving van parked in front. As I pulled up to the curb behind the moving van, I noticed that the curtains in the front move a bit, like if someone was peeking through them, then quickly backing away from the window. No doubt that was suspicious, given the circumstances. Both Nikolai and I parked our rides on the curb, and went off them, walking towards the house.

"Let me guess: you'll do the talking?" asked Nikolai.

"Naturally."

I could almost hear his head shaking.

"Stay behind and off to the side a bit, just in case he tries to start shooting through the door."

"Got it."

Went up to the front door. Well, it was a double door, an outside metal, white screen door, and an inside wooden one, a faded red color. Opened the first one, and knocked on the second, the screen door held back from closing by my body. My knuckles rapped three times against the door. Waited a few seconds, glanced to see the sun slip more and more beneath the horizon, then the door opened.

"May I help you?" asked a normal-looking cat with brown spotted fur, wearing a polo, jeans, and work boots. He had a bandage wrapped around his head. As for his voice, he had a plain-sounding accent or something like that, definitely not that frontier drawl.

"Yeah, my uh…" I looked back to Nikolai, gesturing with my thumb. "My life partner and I just moved into town, and we decided to greet all the neighbors, get on the right foot with folks around here, you know?"

I swear I felt Nikolai's confused and irritated glare boring through the back of my head.

"Oh, okay," said the cat. "Well, I'm Terrance Howards. Actually, I'm planning on moving out of this town pretty soon, it's not quite the kind of place for me, you know?"

"Oh no, what's wrong?"

"Ah, it's just the rumor mill. People around here don't really like me for some reason. I think they're just a tight-knit community. Too tight-knit at times, but what can you do? No sir, I'll be moving on quite soon. Actually have some furniture that needs moving. Wanna earn a quick cred with some easy lifting?"

"Actual Cornerian credits?"

"As sure as the sky is blue."

I smirked out of the side of my mouth, and briefly looked over my shoulder to Nikolai, who looked upwards into the darkening sky. I snickered slightly and looked back at Terrance. "Sure thing," I said. "Just tell Nicky boy and me what to do and where to go.

"Of course," continued Terrace. "C'mon in. What's your name, by the way?"

"Wes."

"Alright then. Well, Wes, Nicky, welcome to my home." Terrance held the door open for the both of us, and in we went. The house seemed pretty normal-looking, a bit clean for a place on Papetoon. Moving boxes, probably full, were stacked all over the place. "Say, where'd you two move in to?"

"Well, there's this home near Bob Lu's place. You've heard of him, right?"

"Bob Lu. He's out to get me, that Bob Lu. Always going on about how I'm ogling his daughter day and night. I mean, we had a few brief conversations at the farmer's market – she works the Lu family's stall there – but it's not like we're in a serious relationship or anything. No, that father of hers is just too damn overprotective. That's how I got this, you know." He pointed to the bandage on his head. "That Lu character threw a half-empty bottle of beer at my face. Luckily my forehead took it, otherwise I'd be in the hospital, or at least, what passes off for a hospital in these parts."

"You ain't from around here, I'm guessing."

"Oh no, I'm from Corneria, moved here because cost of living's next to nothing, plus I was hired by the local government as an arborist, helping cultivate and maintain a public nursery of oak trees, for their wood. Wood's hard to come by on this world, and the locals feel that having a renewable supply at home will net them a neat little income. They're not wrong there."

"So, you're a lumberjack?"

"Heh, like I said, arborist. I'm a tree doctor, so it's more of the science part for me than cutting them down or anything like that. I do have some chainsaws downstairs if need be, though."

"Must be hard, living here. All alone. No friends, no family, no s.o."

"Yeah, no Nicky for me."

"Is that so?" asked Nikolai. "You know, Wes here is into that polyamorous stuff, so if you ever need someone…"

"Oh, no thank you, I don't- I mean, I'm not- nah, I'm, I'm not into that sort of stuff. Gay stuff. I'm not gay, I mean."

"Hmm. Damn shame."

Oh God, this was starting to backfire on me.

"Anyway, umm…" stammered Terrance, his fingers dancing on his hands. "The moving! Yep, uh, I need you to start moving these boxes. Just start from the door and work your way in towards the kitchen over there. I'm gonna be upstairs on the second floor, packing away papers. Find me if you need anything."

"Sure thing, Mr. Howards."

"Oh please, Terrance."

"Ok, Terrance." The guy walked up a flight of stairs, the steps creaking underneath him. He disappeared around a corner. I quickly turned to Nikolai and spoke to him in a hushed tone. "You start working on these boxes, I'll peek around the house to see what's up."

"What are we going to do with Terrance himself?" asked Nikolai in the same quiet manner.

"Nothing, otherwise we'd get our asses handed to us by the cops around here. This is a civilized town with actual police, they'd turn us into soup if we did anything wrong. Now you can play fast and loose in the more unpopulated places, but this place is populated. Now get to work. I'll look around."

"And if we find out this Terrance person is just a normal tree doctor who's a victim of vicious and untrue rumors?"

"Then we get paid for moving his shit. Now do it, c'mon. If he comes down, stall him."

Nikolai nodded, and started moving boxes. I tiptoed around the first floor, careful not to make too much noise. The place seemed normal, and as I studied it more, it felt like an average house that an average Cornerian lived in, you know, all the usual shit. Maybe less creature comforts since we were in the ass end of the system, but still, it was a nice place. Didn't really see any pictures of Terrance or any of his folk, though, but I didn't care too much about that detail. Anyway, I eventually found a wooden door and tried to turn the brass knob. No dice. Had the thought it led to the basement, which meant that he had something to hide down there. I mean, after all, anyone with shit they want hidden would either keep it in the attic or the basement, away from prying eyes. The attic was a clear no-go, since Terrance was up there and he'd notice my snooping, so basement was the choice I went with.

Had me a lockpick. Now, I wasn't too good with that sort of shit, but this time, after about a minute of trial and error, I managed to pick the lock, and voila: the door opened. Treaded real carefully down the rickety steps, careful not to make too much noise. Thankfully, Nikolai started whistling, which drowned out my own commotion considerably, probably making it impossible for Terrance on the second floor to hear my sleuthing. As I descended the staircase I flicked on a light switch on my left, on the wall, which turned on the basement's fluorescent, flickering lights. It was a pretty big space, and there was a few tree logs upright, a few more on their sides, all of them on stands of sorts. The floor was solid concrete. On the far side of the basement was a wooden platform built around a giant log.

Went up the platform and went around to the back of the log. There was a table on it, with tools and shit, plus a chainsaw. But what I saw on the log was almost straight out of a horror movie. There she was, Bob Lu's daughter, Charlotte, the gangly girl rabbit's hands tied to a nail embedded in a giant-ass tree log, facing the wall.

"Fuck," I said under my breath.

Heard footsteps above me. Two pairs of them. A conversation, muffled, couldn't make out the words. Then, a clang, grunt, and a big thud. Then dragging.

"Oh shit, Nikolai," I said to myself in a hushed tone. Charlotte was tied to the nail with a lot of duct tape, so I tried to cut through it with my knife, but I heard more footsteps, this time coming down the basement stairs. Jumped off the platform and found some boxes beneath it to hide behind. I looked over my shoulder, and saw another chainsaw, hanging off the wall. The footsteps got closer, then ascended the stairs of the platform. It was Terrance. He stopped right in front of the girl.

There was a click. "Day twelve," he said. "I've been discovered. Mercenaries, two of them, no doubt hired by Mr. Lu. I dispatched one, but I don't know where the other one is. I'm forced to terminate the experiment. Perhaps on the next world I can finally work in peace…"

Then, I heard a chainsaw rev up.

I quickly grabbed the chainsaw on the wall, revved it, and thrust it through the floorboards of the platform, hoping to get at Terrance's feet. A few moments later, his own chainsaw cut through down towards me, and slashed me very slightly on the chest. Wasn't any blood or anything, just ripped open my shirt and part of my jacket, got my blood pumping. Stabbed through the floor again, trying to get at him. Then I saw the tree doc run down the stairs. I tried stabbing him there with my improvised weapon, sawing my way through the stairs, but I missed him. As he reached the bottom, he slashed at my head with the blade, but I ducked, and I replied with a quick jab at his face. No dice, though, he dodged it. He thrust towards me again, but I rolled out of the way, into the center of the basement.

Now we had ourselves a proper fight.

Terrance slowly rotated his chainsaw over his head, while I kept mine pointed at him, steady. Then he rushed forward, swinging downwards. I blocked it with my own saw, but then he slashed at my sides. I parried those attacks, and dodged another cut towards me. Then he spun around and tried to swing again, but I blocked that attack. At this point, he swept my legs right out from under me, didn't expect that at all. He tried to take me out on the floor, swinging down, but I rolled out of the way, sparks flying as the chainsaw teeth gnawed against the concrete.

Found myself against a log, laying horizontal on a stand of some sort. Terrance swung down, but I narrowly avoided his attack, his chainsaw cutting through the log, spitting out sawdust and shit like that. I tried my own swing, but he blocked it with his chainsaw, and he swung down again, and yet again I avoided it, having his saw eat more wood. As he attacked, I dodged, and as I attacked, he dodged, and swing after swing from both of us was met with a block, or a parry. Low attacks blocked, high attacks dodged, sparks flying as our two chainsaws' teeth made contact after contact. As I tried another low attack, he leaped high in a graceful dodge, and tried to kick me with it in the same move. I narrowly dodged his foot, but that got me thinking that he had some sort of training. There was more to this tree doc than meets the eye.

He slashed at me again with a high attack, but I ducked and he missed me. However, he then went down into a split, like a full-on fucking split, and slashed me again, at my chest. Now the blow landed, but it barely did any damage, only a superficial cut. Wasn't bleeding that much, wasn't even that painful, but it pissed me off. I attacked him on the floor while he was crawling to reposition himself, and I tried stabbing him while we were both prone, but he did something like a push up and got out of my chainsaw's way. Then, I lifted my tool up quick and got him in the stomach. He got to his feet and stumbled onto a workbench, red pooling underneath his polo. I lunged forward and slashed at his neck, but he rolled out of the way, and my chainsaw dug into a log nearby. I swung down, but hit only the workbench.

Terrance went back to Charlotte on the platform, and tried to kill her right there and then by slicing her in half with his chainsaw. Luckily, I rushed up there and blocked his swing at Charlotte with my own saw, and the fight continued. Swing, parry, swing, block, swing, dodge, sparks flying, all in the face of an unconscious bound rabbit girl, taped to a log. Eventually I managed to force Terrance away from Charlotte, to another part of the platform. After deflecting another of his stabs, I punched him in the face, and he stumbled onto some drum containers. I swung down to get him there, but he dodged just in time. He swung at me some more, and I dodged and swung back, but landed no blow. Then we kicked at the same time, our feet blocking each other's attacks. Then, another attack launched by the both of us at each other locked our blades together, the teeth caught, and the chains stalling. We eyed each other fiercely, singularly determined to kill his opponent.

Shoved Terrance right off of me, and he stumbled onto a log laying down on a stand, dropping his chainsaw. Slammed my own chainsaw down but he moved aside. Then I pushed the blade forward, the teeth slicing into the log as I chased him down the log. Eventually, he hit a wall, and I caught him, slicing him side to side with my saw. The force of the move pulled him to the side, and he stumbled into another log, this one standing upright. Right then and there, I stabbed Terrance in the guts with my saw, letting out a fierce yell. Blood splashed out of him and onto me, as more of the red stuff poured out of his mouth, and his guts started spraying onto the floor. After a few seconds of letting the chainsaw eat at him, I pulled it out. Terrance fell onto the floor dead, deep red stains all over the log and the concrete where he fell, a nice pool of blood forming underneath him. Turned off the saw and dropped it, the tool making a metallic clang as it hit the stone-cold cement.

Turned around and went back up to the platform. Charlotte was coming to. Cut her down with my knife. Her eyes looked up and locked with mine. She stumbled back towards the log she was taped to in fear.

"Don't worry, don't worry," I said breathlessly. "My name's Wolf O'Donnell. Your dad, Bob Lu, told me to come find you."

"My dad? Oh my God, thank you!" she said graciously. Didn't care I was covered in blood and guts, since she pulled me in to hug me. She cried.

"C'mon Charlotte, let's get outta here."

The both of us went upstairs. I looked around for Nikolai, and found him in the kitchen, handcuffed to a radiator. He grumbled as he started regaining consciousness.

"Wolf?" he uttered. "Fuck, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, most of this isn't mine." Picked the lock on his cuffs and he was freed.

"That sneaky bastard surprised me from behind, hit me over the head with something."

Looked over my shoulder, and saw a lead pipe with a noticeable dent lying on the living room floor. Charlotte still clung to me like the scared girl she was.

"What happened to you?" asked Nikolai.

"Woodworking."