A/N- Backstory time! I was a little nervous about including this chapter because I'm not sure how y'all will react to the background I made up for the boss (and this isn't even all of it) but I decided to do it anyway. Please review it and tell me what you honestly think and, on the off chance any of you dont know who Carlos is he's from SR2. mondlichtvogel, its really good to hear this, thank you so much! Darcy, I'm glad I can keep you entertained for the short while it takes to read each chapter, and even more glad that you're such a great supporter! thank you. FeistyGreenSnake, haha i assumed from your username that you might be :) thanks for the feedback on shaundi! Remi, I hope he's not too OOC and I'm glad you're enjoying him. Guest, that was my goal, it's great to hear that im doing it well! Also I wanted to warn you guys ahead of time, this chapter is organized a bit differently than the others. Instead of being all from one person's POV, the first half is the Boss's and the second is Matt's. Please enjoy and review!
Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own Saints Row or any of its characters. The content of this story was not meant to insult anyone in any way, shape or form. Rated T for violence and coarse language.
Chapter Seven: Carlos
"I still can't believe you set a fucking zombie virus loose in the city." Shaundi shouts as she smashes in the head of one of the myriads of undead with her high-heeled boots. I glance back at her, a wide smile on my face.
"I still can't believe I met Burt Reynolds!" I squeal before shooting a zombie to her right. My aim is as precise as ever and the thing goes down in one hit, a bullet hole clear on its rotting forehead.
"Why do you care so much about some washed up actor who's old enough to take viagra on a daily basis?"
"Mayor Reynolds is much more than just an actor!" Viola calls down from the top of the single-story building she'd decided to take refuge on. After fixing my breathing mask and knocking one of the three tankers of zombie virus into the water, Viola seems to have decided that her part in this mission is done for the day. Shaundi rolls her eyes at the former Morningstar lieutenant and I'm reminded, again, that it is unlikely that the two of them will ever get along.
"Burt Reynolds is AH-mazing," I say to Shaundi, making my voice sing-song, before turning to Viola, "And you better get down from that fucking building before I come up there and take a bite out of you."
Shaundi, still wearing her bitch-face, goes back to shooting at the hordes and a grumbling Viola climbs down the fire-escape to my left. Satisfied with their obedience I go back to doing my job. The third tanker is right in front of me and the zombies that separated us before are far fewer in number now.
It's a long shot, but I know I can make it.
If I'm being honest, I've never been a fan of driving. I love motorcycles and VTOLS and tanks, but regular boring car/truck driving has never been something I've really enjoyed. Now I'm driving a flatbed, with which I have no experience, towards the bay and as if that wasn't hard enough it's got more than a few cannisters of hazardous material crammed onto its back. Viola had left us at the first possible opportunity, retrieving the car Shaundi and I had practically flown over the drawbridge and parked precariously close to the water on the northwest-end of Arapice Island. That girl is weirdly afraid of zombies and I'm going to have to call for a ride home now since we'd decided on getting rid of the virus instead of keeping it for our own use.
Shaundi fiddles with the radio as I pull out my phone and call someone I've been in contact with way too often to feel comfortable with. My lieutenant finally decides on 107.77, The Mix (she harbors a strange liking for oldies music) as I wait for the person on the other end of the line to pick up. I don't like driving all that much and I don't like driving while being on the phone even more.
"Are you alright?" Matt blurts out as soon as we connect, "I heard there were zombies involved. Are there zombie involved? Were you bitten? If you get back here quickly, Oleg thinks he can make an antidote as long as-"
"Matt, I'm fine!" I enunciate so he's sure to hear me, "Listen, we let Viola take the car and I can't hotwire another one while fighting off these things so grab the N-Forcer and get the fuck over here."
"Why the N-Forcer?"
The radio snaps off abruptly and I notice that Shaundi is glaring at me in a very unsettling way. She's clearly pissed about something and I'm going to get an earful as soon as I hang up.
"They're zombies, Matt. I need something that can run them over."
"Ohhh…"
Much to the annoyance of basically everyone else who works for me, I'd allowed Matt and his remaining Deckers to take back their old headquarters. The CyberGod himself, however, prefers to spend his time at the main Saints base because that's where I usually am. Oleg has formed a strange friendship with the kid as they're both super-smart in that annoying way and Pierce and Zimos seem to have accepted him as well. I've found that I actually like having Matt around despite the fact that the little twit is in love with me. If I'd ever had any doubts that he was making that up, they're long gone now.
"I'll see you soon, right?"
"Yes, of course," I can hear the smile in his voice, "I'll do whatever you ask, as usual."
Grinning to myself, I hang up the phone. I move my eyes away from the zombie-infested road in front of me to Shaundi, mentally prepared to face her fury.
"What?" I ask when she says nothing.
"You're getting pretty chummy with that punk, don't you think?" her tone is biting and cold. Shaundi is my best friend now that Johnny's gone, but sometimes I have to repeatedly remind myself that punching her is something I just can't do. She's not Pierce or Angel. She's been hurt enough already and I have to protect her from ever being hurt that badly again.
"He's...interesting," I admit, "And obedient."
"Boss…" suddenly Shaundi doesn't sound so fierce anymore, "You might shoot me for telling you this, but somebody has to."
"Telling me what?" I try to divide my attention between listening to her and turning the corner while hitting as few of the undead as possible.
"He's not Carlos."
I slam down on the breaks out of shock, my heart beating so fast I could choke. I can't breathe. I want to throttle Shaundi for even considering making this comparison.
"Boss!" Shaundi yells in protest of my erratic driving. Her head had nearly been smashed into the dashboard upon our unexpected stop.
"Don't bring him into this." I hiss, my fingers turning into claws on the steering wheel. I have a history of issues with my temper and Shaundi broaching this topic within the confined space of this flatbed truck is a terrible idea.
"I have to!" she is relentless, "I know you blame yourself for what happened to Carlos and I know you were in love with him-"
"SHUT UP!"
"I know how important he was to you but Matt Miller isn't him!"
I let out an earsplitting screech and punch a fist-shaped dent into the radio console. When I remove my hand from the circuitry and ripped wires, it becomes clear that I've majorly fucked up my knuckles. I glower at Shaundi in a way that would wither most people into husks but she does not falter.
"Matt and Viola are Morningstar, Boss. They're the enemy and now all their people are Saints! Are we destroying them or becoming them?"
Blood drips from my open wound onto the cupholders between us and I find that it's easier to look at that than it is to look at her. How could she do this? How could she bring him up so casually and use him as a fucking tool to defend her opinion? Shaundi's looking at me as if she wants to continue arguing her point, but I just don't have it in me to speak anymore. I don't. Eventually she realizes this and eases me out of the driver's seat so she can continue driving us to the bay.
The N-Forcer pulls up mere minutes after the flatbed submerges, populated by Matt and (although I'd never asked for him to come along) Pierce. The two of them clear a path for us to get to the tank-like vehicle, Pierce with his usual shotgun and Matt wielding one of those stupid swords the Deckers carry around on their backs all the time. To our surprise he's amazingly good with it and takes down more zombies than the rest of us combined.
"Videogames," he explains as we clamber into the vehicle, "I've played Nyte Blayde: Nyte of the Undead for more than three hundred hours-"
"Stop right there, little man," Pierce says, hopping up behind the turret propped atop the N-Forcer, "Ain't nobody need to hear anything more about Josh Birk."
He throws a glance at Shaundi behind the wheel and I gather that she's still upset by the memory of her STAG kidnapping.
"Fine. Just keep in mind that what I do in my free time actually helps me in real life."
Shaundi snorts derisively and Pierce laughs right out loud until even I, still stuck in my memories of Carlos, feel an urge to smile. Everything will be okay. When you choose this life the people closest to you will undoubtedly die at one point or another; my brother was the first and Carlos and Johnny were killed not long after. But I am the Saints Queen. I can't let my feelings get the best of me.
(Matt Miller)
Pierce maneuvers the N-Forcer across the closed drawbridge to Arapice Island and although I'm terrified of the way this tank/car hybrid is flying across a gap of nothing but air, I feel triumphant. The Queen had called me for help. Not Pierce and not Oleg and definitely not that slag Kinzie Kensington. Me. Perhaps my unrequited love will accumulate into something important in the end.
"Holy shit!" Pierce exclaims as we land on the other side of the bridge, "Look!"
He's beckoning me up to the front of the vehicle and I move closer to him, glancing out the windshield as he's indicated. I then let out a startled gasp as (oh my God I can't believe this is really happening!) the road before us crowds with hundreds of the undead. Finally, all the time I've spent stabbing zombies in virtual reality will come in handy.
"This is amazing!" I'm practically beaming as I run my fingers over the large-but-light sword strapped to my back. I'm not very useful with shotguns or SMGs, but every Decker knows how to use a sword.
"Lemme get this straight," Pierce begins as he drives straight over the dead buggers without pause, "You're afraid of Killbane but you're actually happy to see these fuckers?"
"Killbane is rich, powerful, and maintains a mediocum of intelligence," I explain as we travel towards the dot indicated by the GPS as the Boss's current location, "The undead are mere animals."
I don't bother to mention my instinctive fear of guns. They're useful, certainly, but holding one for too long makes me feel like I'm on death row.
"Riight…"
We lapse into silence for a while longer but then I recall a question I'd meant to ask either Pierce or Oleg once I'd gotten them alone, and Pierce is more likely to know the answer than Oleg is. Upon my seventh review of the Boss's files, I'd stumbled upon a name that I hadn't paid much attention to before, a name I'd seen etched into the grip of her favorite SMG.
"Pierce?" I pronounce the lieutenant's name uncertainly, still not that comfortable with saying it in a friendly tone.
"Mmm?"
"Who is Carlos?"
The Queen's right-hand man freezes up before my very eyes and although he doesn't look angry it's clear that I've mentioned a topic that is considered taboo.
"Where'd you hear that name?" he evades my inquiries.
"I'm a hacking prodigy, do the math!"
"The Boss will fucking filet me if she finds out I told you."
"So you're going to tell me?"
It's already clear that he will because 1. Pierce isn't very good at keeping secrets and 2. he trusts me more than the rest of the Saints do. He's one of the few left who doesn't seem to take Johnny Gat's murder as a personal insult.
"I don't care what Shaundi says," Pierce is talking to himself a little more than he is to me, "The Boss laughs more when you're around. I'll tell you, kid, but I swear to God if you say a word-"
"The secret's safe with me."
The man beside me leans back in the driver's seat and, with his eyes fixed on the road ahead, launches into a story that I suspect he's told too many times for his liking.
"The Boss ain't really the touchy-feely type, y'know? I mean, I know you've got a thing for her-"
"Love."
"Yeah, whatever, but she doesn't really do that romantic shit. About a year back though, when we were still in Stilwater, she met this guy named Carlos."
"How?" I press him, wanting the full story.
"Long story short the boat she was on got blown up and she landed in a coma with her face all fucked up-"
"What?!"
"Calm down, they fixed her didn't they? When she woke up in prison she was pretty much already in for a life sentence but this kid, Carlos, was in there with her and he helped bust her out."
Pierce pauses as a particularly large mob of zombies get themselves stuck under the front wheels of the N-Forcer. He shifts gears and presses harder on the gas pedal until I hear the sick snap of bones. Looks like they're under us now.
"Carlos was way into her, kinda like you. Difference is that she got into Carlos too after a little while."
This stings a little but I decide not to comment.
"They were sorta together. Like I said, the Boss doesn't really do the whole relationship deal so we weren't sure what to call it. She made him a lieutenant like me and Shaundi but he was new to the gang thing and it was harder for him. Neither of 'em saw it coming when one of the big guys in town killed him."
"Was she with him?" I say, thinking of how much that must have hurt, "When he died, I mean."
Pierce is silent for a moment longer than I expected. The Queen is always complaining about how he never shuts up and he picks now to start proving her wrong?
"He didn't die in a normal way, kid." Pierce's voice is somber, "They hooked him up to the back of one of their trucks and dragged him all around the neighborhood. The Boss didn't get there fast enough.
"Carlos was way fucked up when she found him, too far gone to come back. I'm pretty sure that was the first time she kissed him...right before she shot him in the head."
I feel sick to my stomach. I'm definitely jealous of that guy for getting so far with her when I'm barely making a dent, but this is...it's just wrong. To have your first kiss be your last because you know one of you is going to die is a terrible thought and having to kill the one you loved out of kindness is even worse.
"That's who Carlos was." Pierce glances back at me, probably gauging my reaction, "Now he's gone."
"Is she okay?" I'm referring to the boss here.
"You tell me. You spend more time with her than the rest of us."
His tone is not sardonic or biting, simply matter of fact. He acknowledges that I spend more time with the Boss than is normal for someone like me and he seems to have no problem with that. For some reason this, more than anything else he's ever said to me, makes me feel like we're comrades. As for the Queen, I can't tell if she's really okay or not. She has this way of glossing over serious topics with really bad jokes and although this is something that I love about her, it's probably not in her best interest to keep doing it.
"I'm not sure," I admit slowly, "But I am going to find out."
Pierce grins, looking proud of my initiative. Maybe he's right to be proud. I don't think I've ever hated the Third Street Saints less than I do in this moment.