Chapter 4

The Zydrate Support Network wasn't much different than the last time she had seen it: full of people who had no lives that may or may not have been waiting here for hours for Graverobber to show up to give them what they wanted most. And what they wanted most wasn't Graverobber, but they would do almost anything to get what he could give them.

It was a disturbing thought, but it was addiction to them. To do anything to get that next fix showed how far that they were gone. Shilo wasn't nearly as afraid this time as she had been last time. Last time she had wondered how she would get home, but felt relief that she was no longer where she had been. Relief because… well, she wasn't entirely sure why she had been relieved to know that she was farther away from all those festivities.

Again, she was here with Graverobber, but, if it weren't for him, she would have no reason to be here. She had nothing to give these people, and no interest in what they wanted, but, Graverobber had brought her here. And he had brought her here again.

She recognized some of the faces that she saw, but she wasn't sure if any of those faces would recognize her. She wasn't even sure if all of them saw her, some of them seemed to have eyes only for Graverobber. She didn't blame them; he had brought them what they were waiting here for. There was little talk going on, now that Graverobber and she had arrived. More he, but she wasn't really thinking about that. She was more watching as they milled around him like lost puppies, some on hands and knees begging like a dog would for a scrap from the table. Then again, these people were more than dogs; they had more in their arsenal than expressive eyes and whines. Their hands caressed along his clothing as they begged and fawned and milled about him like he was their salvation. And he might just have been, Shilo didn't imagine that there would be too many people willing to risk life and limb to dig up a body and shove a needle into its brain for this ever-so popular drug.

"So, you are here, Graverobber," said a voice coming towards Graverobber and Shilo standing near the wall. It was very much like the last time she had been here for the voice belonged to Amber Sweet, only this time she came with more flunkies at her back. Apparently being the owner of the most powerful company in the world would give one more protection. It made sense.

"I didn't expect to see you around here often anymore, Ms. Sweet," Graverobber said, admiration for the woman plain on his face, "One would think that owning GeneCo, you wouldn't need street Zydrate anymore."

Amber Sweet decided not to answer that. She stood there, looking very much like a predatory animal, watching Graverobber as if she were about to pounce. Graverobber looked like it was normal, and it might have been, but Shilo found it unnerving. Amber's hair was a medium brown today, and reached just below her shoulders, where it hung loosely around her face. She was dressed as lasciviously as she always seemed to be, a tight white shirt that showed quite a bit of her stomach and shorts that were tight and short enough that they might as well not have been there. Those shorts definitely weren't long enough to cover to the top of her thigh high tights, which was probably done on purpose, but Shilo wasn't about to start questioning Amber Sweet's fashion tastes.

The addicted woman didn't pounce, but she did start in closer to the supplier, who was still regarding her as if she were something dangerous and that you should worship. Shilo found it sickening. She watched the two play their little game as they had last time until they both stopped and Amber got her hit. She was laid low by the nearly immediate effects of the drug that went right into a person's bloodstream for a few minutes, and during those few minutes Amber's guard surrounded her as if someone would attack her and Graverobber continued his administrations of the gathered addicts as if nothing had happened.

It wasn't until Amber woke that she saw Shilo, and her mood seemed to darken at the very sight. Not good news for Shilo. The woman stood, but made no move to get away from her guards this time. There was no whistling to draw Amber's attention this time, but Amber still found the young woman, and it wasn't a pleasant meeting.

"What brings the girl here?" she demanded, "She turned to Z so soon after they killed that Repoman?"

Shilo flinched at the reminder that was so careless it was almost cruel. Graverobber turned back around, making sure who it was that Amber was talking about, though he already knew.

"Her? No, I found her after that little Opera and brought her back with me," he said seeming almost serious when he spoke, as if something about Amber made him nervous and he wasn't about to show it. So, instead of showing nerves, he showed something else.

"A heart, Graverobber? And here I thought the only things you thought about were Zydrate and sex," Amber said in a purr, and seemed to think for a moment, "Maybe that's why you picked her up. I'm sure she'd be easy enough for you to persuade."

Shilo stayed silent, listening to the encounter didn't seem at all friendly. She didn't really know what she could have done to Amber Sweet to garner this type of treatment. Sure, Graverobber had blamed her for whistling Blind Mag's song last time she had been here, and that had ended less than perfectly, but nothing like that had happened this time and she couldn't think of anything else that could have gotten her this type of… animosity from the woman.

Graverobber shrugged, taking the insults in stride, "I saw the Kid, she needed help. I guess I just couldn't resist," he said, and that was that, he didn't try and offer more of an excuse than that one.

Amber turned on Shilo and gave her a look that would have done Medusa proud before turning and striding out of the room, her guards following her, ready to catch her when she collapsed from the Zydrate still running rampant in her system.

Once Amber was out of sight, Shilo turned to Graverobber, her eyes confused and more than a little frightened at what had just happened. Graverobber shot up his last addict and turned to the young woman, "It's time to get out of here."

Shilo didn't argue, she didn't know why Graverobber had brought her there in the first place since he hadn't said anything about it, but she didn't think it had included the little parlay with Amber Sweet.

"I think she hates me," Shilo said once they were out in the streets again.

"That's what it looks like, Kid," he responded, leading the way back to the house.

"But why? What does she think that I've ever done to her to make her hate me?" Shilo asked, hurrying to keep up.

"You really are naïve, Kid, it was your name on Rotti Largo's will, not hers. Or either of her brothers', so I wouldn't be surprised if none of them like you," Graverobber said, looking over one shoulder at her.

"But, I didn't accept that. I didn't want anything to do with it. Even if I did, the cost was too much," Shilo protested.

"Does it matter? Amber sees you as a threat because she has no idea why he would choose you over her or any of her siblings," Graverobber said with a shrug.

"How do you know that?" Shilo asked, confused.

"I've dealt with Amber for a while now. Not only that though, if you were in her shoes, wouldn't you feel the same way?" he asked in response.

Shilo started to say that she wouldn't feel the same way, but she stopped in the middle of taking the breath to reply. Instead, she said, "I don't know."

"Good answer, Kid," Graverobber said in that voice that he could have, the one that stated quite plainly that he was simply humoring the person he was talking to.

Shilo tried her best not to respond to the treatment the way that an insolent child would. She succeeded, but only just. She found her earlier headache coming back, and she was wondering what had caused this one. For some reason, she didn't think it had anything to do with the fetid scent of homeless people that made her want to crawl in a hole until her head stopped wanting to burst. She sat down then, putting her head in her hands, afraid that her headache would make her throw up.

That made Graverobber pause and look at her, and for a moment he thought that it was memories that were bothering her. After that first thought though, it seemed that something else was wrong with her. He walked over to her and knelt, staring at her for a few moments. When that didn't get a reaction from her, he put one of his grimy hands to her forehead.

"What's up, Kid?" he asked, trying to keep his usual joking affect but faltering.

Shilo shook her head, not speaking or looking at him.

"Look at me, Kid," Graverobber ordered, though it seemed a bit too soft for something that's supposed to be harsher.

She did, whether it was shock from the tone in his voice or it was just the words, but she looked up at him, and he didn't like what he saw.

"How long, Kid?" he asked.

"How long what?" she asked in response.

"How long have you been addicted?"
"I don't know what you mean…"

"Course you do, it's your life; you must have known you were taking something."

"Taking something…?" she asked herself and then it hit her like a ton of bricks. A ton of bricks that was plain on her face, "My dad drugged my blood to keep me sick."

Graverobber raised an eyebrow, saying nothing for a moment or two, closer to two, before he found his voice again.

"Is that so, Kid? How long did he do that?" he asked, trying to get things into perspective.

"I would say most of my life, since I was two at the latest, I guess," she said calmly, more calmly than she should have been, making Graverobber hope that she wouldn't go back into shock with the information.

"That's quite a time to be addicted to something. Gonna be hard to break that," he said almost to himself, tapping his forefinger against his chin.

Shilo sighed, it was just what she needed to be hearing about now, that she was going to have to face something difficult yet again. And, by the sounds of it this was going to take a long time to get rid of, if she could.

"Is there any way that it'll just… go away?" she asked, already knowing the answer, but hoping for a miracle anyway.

Graverobber barked out a laugh, "Kid, nothing in this life is easy. If you really want it then you'll go for it, even if it's hard."

"I know, I was just hoping that things would be simple just this once," she muttered to herself, "I never thought that I would have to deal with addiction."

"No one ever thinks that they'll have to deal with it. They think they'll be the one that doesn't get addicted, that they can do it just that once, or whenever they feel like it, and there won't be any consequences." Graverobber told her in a low, almost sympathetic, voice, "They're never that special, lucky person."

Shilo gave a short, self-deprecating laugh then shook her head, "Can we leave now?" she asked, staring around at the empty streets filled with trash. She noted that more public service vehicles were used now to pick up the bodies that Repomen left behind than they did trash. Shilo didn't count the bodies as trash, they had once been people, and it was only through murder that they weren't people anymore. Any other form of murder was still illegal, but her father had been perfectly within the law when he took a life. She sighed, able to take a small comfort in that everything that her father did in his real line of work was legal.

She stood again, waiting for Graverobber to join her and lead the way to… wherever they were going. He did so, walking next to her, but in a way that she could still follow his lead, since she had no idea where they were going. Graverobber wasn't really sure where they were going either, but at least he wasn't nearly as likely to get them lost.

"So, what now?" Shilo asked, her voice more or less calm.

"Hmm…?" Graverobber said in response, urging her to go on without words.

"What are we doing now?" She said again, "You've gotten me a bed like you promised, and you've tended to the needs of the Z addicts… what now?"

"Now, we find something to eat," he said as if it were the simplest thing in the world. It had been several hours since that sandwich, and Shilo's stomach was, indeed, telling her that she needed to pay it some more attention.

Shilo nodded at the idea, following the lead of her stomach. She looked at him, waiting for him to say something about what they would be eating, or how they would get it. She hoped it wasn't dumpster diving, but she supposed that there were worse ways to get her nourishment.

Graverobber lead the way to wherever he was planning to get them something to eat.

[A/N: Another chapter. I don't like the ending, but... meh. As always, please read and review. Again, disclaimer says that my name isn't Terrance, nor is it Darren, so I don't own this... only various signed paraphernalia. I went back and reread the previous chapters and found some of the poor wording, sorry about that, I'll try to avoid it in the future. Umm... I don't think that I have anything else to say. Until next time.]