The wolf, as any good predator does, always knew when its prey was on the move. The wolf didn't need anyone else to inform her of these movements, but her good-for-nothing siblings always scrambled over themselves to bring her this information.
The elevator doors dinged and whooshed open and she didn't turn away from the window where she was watching the city buzz below her. "Amber," Luigi began as soon as he stepped into her parlor, groveling for her attention. "They've spotted that little brat."
Amber rolled her eyes at her well designed reflection. "I know."
"She's been staying with that low-life, drug-dealing-"
"I know." Amber snarled, turning around and her brother swallowed and gave her a nervous smile. "She's the only one left of the old era, the only one who knows more than she should. Do you think I wouldn't know where she was?"
Again, Luigi gave her an anxious smile. "So what should we do?" His eyes glinted for blood.
Again, Amber rolled her eyes. "We aren't going to do anything. Why would I let you have any part in something so important just so you could fuck it up, brother?" She pushed past him and toward the elevator, ignoring him as he tried to stumble back into her good graces. The wolf looked at herself in the stainless reflection of the elevator doors and wondered what others would see. She looked a little fierce, she thought with pride. It was time for a redesign.
The wolf spotted the girl almost too easily, there was no fun in the chase today. There were many different ways that the girl stood out but Amber had to admit it was the vibrant red dress and clunky battle boots that first captured her attention. Obviously her new guardian was helping her dress now. The girl never would have blended in with the crowd, even if she tried and not just because of her outfit. Everyone else moved around with a brisk, mind-your-business way but little Shilo Wallace couldn't stop looking, gaping, staring and Amber was amazed that she even remembered to blink. She also seemed to be a little lost, a little girl trying not to stray from the path.
Shilo jumped in surprise when Amber slid up beside her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "You look lost, little girl." The wolf said in a syrupy voice, giving the girl a smile. "Where are you going?"
The wolf knew what the girl saw when she looked at her; she might not have changed her face but her clothes and hair nearly matched the outfit that Shilo had seen her wearing that evening in the alley. Though she hadn't had her hit for the day, Amber knew that her eyes still had a bit of a roll to them, a daze that wouldn't go away anymore, not without the necessary Detox that she wasn't interested in. Shilo wouldn't think of her as anything different than the strung out, hapless woman she'd met days before. The most dangerous disguise was the familiar one.
Shilo, not knowing that Amber was more dangerous than her father, didn't grasp that she should be afraid of this woman beside her until it was too late. If you've never met a wolf, you do not know to be afraid of it. "I'm going to see you, actually." The girl admitted meekly, though she was all ready puffing up, trying to make herself seem more assertive than she was. "And your brothers." Of course she would assume they were the ones she needed to deal with when they could hardly stop bickering with one another long enough to realize what day it was.
But the wolf just smiled. "Really? I'm sure you're the last person they'll expect to see…after what happened." Her tone was conspiratorial.
The girl nodded her assent. "I never expected to see them again either." Amber had to hand it to her, there was some genuine vigor in her voice. "But things can't go on like this anymore."
Amber arched an eyebrow. "Oh?" She might not have to drag information out of this stupid girl after all. Once she understood her intentions, she could decide the best way to proceed, though she all ready had an inkling.
If Shilo was surprised by her interest, she didn't show it. "Things are falling apart around here, haven't you noticed? People need to know the truth about what's going on and it's all because of GeneCo." Amber was, if nothing else, a master of her face and it kept only the expression she wanted the girl to see. "Things can still be turned around…it's not too late…not like it was for my dad…" Shilo looked at Amber with perseverance in her eyes, the stony and childlike conviction of someone who'd never heard the word no before. "Things can get better. Things have to get better." Shilo hesitated and looked at Amber with uncertainty in her eyes. She thought about what the Graverobber had said. "Don't people want that?"
Amber gently rested a hand on the girl's cheek, her crimson-tipped nails standing out like pricks of blood on her snow-white skin. "Of course." She assured the pathetically hopeful child. But she knew that in those two words lurked one of the biggest lies she'd told, the knowledge that, no matter how bad things could possibly get, people would never rise up, they would never try to change the world around them because those who did never made it far enough to see how everything eventually slipped back into the same sad state it would always be. The world worked a certain way, no matter what time or civilization you studied; the only thing that mattered was if you were one of the people who found out how to control the society or one of the people who got controlled. Amber would not be controlled.
Seemingly comforted by Amber's words, Shilo blurted, "And if they don't want to help, I'll just tell everyone the truth. About what happened to my dad, the truth about everything." A dangerous ultimatum and she hadn't even realized what she'd said. "No one would support GeneCo then."
"You might be right." The wolf replied evenly, nodding her assurance. Maybe the girl was right, but she'd never have to worry about finding out, because the words would never leave her lips again. Luigi would have gone ballistic at her words, carved her up right there in the middle of every Good Samaritan with somewhere else to be at that exact moment. He would have made the morning's papers until he did the same thing to someone else and the problem would have been taken care of and never spoken of again. But Luigi's antics hardly got the attention of anyone these days and they soiled the standard of GeneCo. Amber wanted people to understand that their revenge didn't always come so directly, that by the time you realized you'd stepped into the trap you'd never walk out again. "I'll walk with you, the city can be confusing to navigate."
Amber knew that she'd said the right thing when she saw the girl relax; she'd been worried about taking the wrong path, straying somewhere she didn't belong, but now she had a guide, a companion and now she had nothing at all to worry about. Shilo thought of her father, how proud he would be of her, how she finally deserved his pride. She didn't realize that following her dad's last request was the equivalent of arming herself with a slingshot against a giant because he claimed it was a reliable weapon.
Together, the girl and the wolf moved through the city. The girl didn't realize how everyone's eyes fell away from her as soon as they saw her companion, giving them a wide berth to avoid becoming entangled in whatever trap was ensnaring Shilo. The girl wanted to stop to pick up everything, to touch the buildings, trinkets, people and wares around her, leave her mark on the place she'd only been able to watch from her window. She had the feeling she would have definitely strayed if Amber hadn't come along.
Soon, the wolf spoke again. "My father gave me some advice too." The girl looked at her with distrust on her face. Rotti Largo was a man she understood that she should fear, a murderer, a manipulator, the one who'd taken her father from her. She didn't understand that everything is heredity. "He wanted me to change things as well…like you."
Shilo looked curious. "You want to change things?" It never would have occurred to her that Amber would be dissatisfied with the life that she led and would seek out something different. Amber didn't bother to correct her, to assure her that the changes she sought to make were nothing like the idealistic drabble the girl had running around in her head.
"My father always said to look past what was right in front of you, look past what was going on now and think about what might be going in the future." Amber didn't directly answer the girl's question because she wouldn't be able to give her the answer that she wanted and it might give her a whiff of the danger she'd just put herself in. "The future is only what you do in the present and to make the right decisions, you have to think about what you want in the future."
The little girl seemed impressed with the sentiment. "I guess you have to have big eyes to see and consider all those things." She murmured. Her father had never spoken to her about the future, leaving the prospect dangling in midair, a carrot tied to a horse, always just out of reach no matter how hard you tried to move closer to it. The future was used to mollify her, a prompt to take her medicine and be a dutiful daughter.
Amber smirked. "My father wasn't many things. But he was a good businessman." A good father, not so much. An understanding man, a gentle man…he wasn't those things either. "He also used to say that it was important to listen to what was going on around you, what the people were saying." She didn't add that the reason Rotti Largo said this was so that you would always know if and where an uprising was brewing, if someone was thinking of starting a PR issue, you would take it down before it happened. Much like she was doing now. But a good predator never reveals the most important cards, only the ones that don't matter.
Again, Shilo seemed pleased with Amber's words, forgetting for the moment who she was speaking to and about who. She had never been prepared to live in a world outside her room, outside the house her father kept nice and neat and safe, child-proofed and secure. If she had, she would know never to forget who she was with and never to trust anyone, not even her own self. The mind was weak, the heart was weaker and it only took one of those organs to lead you into danger.
But before Shilo could further comment on Amber's words, the wolf was speaking again. "My father never knew that I actually listened to what he said. He always assumed that Luigi would be the one to take over the business, but he would run it into the ground. We've built up too much to have it ruined. By anyone." The girl turned to look at her, her face a flickering in a brief flash of confusion. Amber's hand rested on the spot between her shoulders, her fingers inching upward to curl around the back of her neck. Shilo felt the spidery-sensation and the cold feeling of fear spreading through her spine, the same sensation she felt when she looked at Rotti. The greed, the hunger, the desire to consume those around him in order to benefit himself. She saw this in Amber now, the clothing falling away to reveal the wolf beneath.
The girl opened her mouth to protest, to make the childish demand to be let go but Amber drove her backward, into an alley and against the wall. Shilo would have tripped over the trash scattered across the ground if Amber's grip hadn't been so commanding. "You're a stupid girl, you're don't know when you should keep your mouth shut. Obliviously you'll never learn." She remembered their confrontation in the alley, how her mention of Blind Mag had brought her crashing back into reality regardless of whether she'd wanted to or not, blurting out the first thing that came to her mind when it would have been better to keep silent. Clearly that was a trait the girl was holding onto.
The girl tried to push away but the wolf held her down, keeping her in place with one hand around her throat. "You'll never take down GeneCo." Amber hissed. "And I won't let you. It's finally mine, like it always should have been and it's going to stay that way."
Amber snaked one hand into the waistband of her jeans and withdrew a gun that Shilo instantly recognized: the rusty exterior, the long needle and the glowing blue vial. "No-" Shilo croaked, thinking about the girls in the alley, their mindless dedication towards something that was rapidly stealing their life. She thought about the Graverobber, who had looked panicked when he saw her with the vials, horrified at the idea of her becoming hooked on his livelihood.
But the wolf ignored her. "You won't feel like you need to change the world anymore, little girl. You won't feel nothing at all." Amber promised. She pressed the needle into the soft skin of the girl's throat. Instead of giving her a hit, she pulled the trigger until the entire vial was emptied.
Shilo tried to protest, but couldn't get out a sound before the drug had opened its jaws and swallowed her up.
When the Kid didn't come home that night, the Graverobber wondered. When the Kid didn't come home that morning, the Graverobber worried. It wasn't a natural feeling for him and he wasn't entirely sure he liked it, but that didn't change the fact that the sensation was with him constantly, a gnawing wonder as to where the Kid had stumbled off to. If it was any other person in the city, he wouldn't have thought twice about the disappearance but the girl didn't belong out there on her own and he doubted she could even make it through one day without fatherly guidance.
When the Kid still didn't return the following night, the Graverobber was certain that something had happened to her. But it was a dangerous place to go looking for someone, it was a dangerous thing to pursue the missing. You never knew why they'd gone missing in the first place and it was wise not to entangle yourself in the affairs of someone else.
A week went by and though he'd never admit it, the Graverobber missed having her presence in the house. She hadn't stayed here long, but she'd reminded him of companionship and a part of him wished that, at any minute, she'd come walking back through the door, maybe scarred and torn from the city but alive nonetheless.
But life went on and he couldn't wait around the house, though the Graverobber did spend a little bit more time in his oh-so-humble abode than usual, just in case she'd stumble inside, drawn toward a familiar place. But business was booming, there were vices that needed to be met and he was just the man to fill them.
There seemed to be more bodies rotting than usual and his vials were quickly filling up, his pockets clinking and rattling with money to be made. Grunting, the Graverobber hefted and shoved aside an empty and used body, reaching into the pile for the next. He gasped, recoiling in shock when he saw the face of the corpse he'd chosen from the masses. "Oh, Kid." The Graverobber sank down into a squat, looking at the unmistakable body at his feet. Someone had stripped her of her dress, her cameo, even her wig, but her face was still unmistakable, forever frozen in a combination of suffering and euphoria. The Graverobber could see the equally unmistakable puncture mark on the side of her neck, the sing of a venomous insect.
In the girl's fist was a crumpled, dingy flyer with Amber Sweet's face beaming from the paper, a friendly little reminder to control your addiction to Zydrate. The Graverobber tore the flyer and scattered the pieces across the bodies on the ground, a brief spasm of anger and disappointment. The city had gotten her anyway, taken her and turned her into the filth and rot that everyone existed among. There was no going back, no one who could turn back time and cut her from the belly of the beast that had swallowed her up.
The Graverobber stood and turned away, leaving the bodies and the graveyard behind him. Along the way, he tossed away the vials, certain that eventually they would be grabbed and used until they were dry but it wouldn't be from his hands. Not this time and not anymore.
A/N: So there it is, I hope you enjoyed it. If you wanted to review, I wouldn't be opposed :)