Hi, all! Been a while. Thanks for following along. Think I might have dropped a few background characters in this chapter, but don't have time to re-read through everything right now. I'll edit up the loose ends later. I just wanted to get something up now for those who are wating. - Bry
Alive
A fan fiction in progress
by Bryan Harrison
Pt 14
1
Sy stood tall and flexed his shoulders.
"Ready?" he said.
David didn't answer at first. He thoughts were on the line of boys gathered in the main courtyard ahead. They all smiled in anticipation. But not nice smiles. No, he wasn't ready for this. How could anyone be? But if he ever wanted to make good his escape, he would have to go through with it. 'No time for dallying', as Sy always said. He resigned himself to the task
"Let's do it, " he said without looking up.
Sy suddenly reached down and grabbed a handful of David's hair, turned the boys head until their eyes locked and David could feel the man's breath on his face.
"I don't think you got the heart," he said, mocking. Then he began to twist the lock of hair; wrap it up until it was pulled tight over his knuckles. David's head began to burn with pain. It was terrible, excruciating. Not since the awakening of his new body in the amphibicopter had he felt such pain. He wanted to scream out, to writhe away. But he did not. Could not. Not if he was going to make his plan work. He clenched his jaws tight and returned the man's gaze defiantly, unflinching. Tears filled his eyes, spittle rolled from his lips and an uncontrollable growl warbled in his throat. Anger so strong that it made his heart race, formed in his head, made him want to reach out and rip Sy's eyes from their sockets. But he steeled himself against the pain and forced a mocking smile to his face.
"Is… that … all … you… got?" he hissed between gritted teeth.
The words seemed to satisfy Sy. A wry grin lit on the man's face. With one last painful yank, he let go of David's hair, and kicked him hard on the rear.
"Go!"
No time to think. Head still reeling with pain, David raced into The Gauntlet. The boys, his friends, his fellow thieves, began to pummel him. Kicks and punches rained down like hail. David bobbed and weaved and stuck back blindly, his eyes set on the opening at the end of the line.
Sy's lessons burned in his brain. 'The Gaunlet is a life lesson, boy. Pain and fear are only obstacles. Keep moving, even when it seems like you can't go another inch. The goal is all that matters. It is the only reason you're alive!'
Flashes of light erupted like exploding stars in his field of vision as he was struck on the sides and the back of his head. No one struck his face. Even The Gauntlet had its rules. But everywhere else was fair game.
A foot caught him in the gut. David lost his breath and fell to his knees, only to feel the assault continue on his back. He tried to rise but was held immobile by his tormentors. They laughed and jeered, kicked and punched at his prostrate body.
"Looser!" they yelled. "Punk!" "Ponyboy!"
"Get up damn you!" he heard Sy scream. "It's only pain! Ignore it!" David tried to rise again, but another kick landed on his midriff and he fell back to the dirt. The boys in The Gauntlet laughed and continued their attack.
Another voice rose above the fray. "Move it, Pork Chop! Get up you damn crybaby!"
It was Wizzy. She was standing somewhere at the edge of the crowd. She was not allowed to participate in the ceremony, nor had she ever had to suffer it. This was Sy's decree. But her voice gave David a new surge of energy. The recollection of her disgust with his tears at the Flesh Fair came to him. He wouldn't let that happen again.
With a roar of rage David rose up from his pain and back into the onslaught. Furious, seeing red, he flailed at his attackers, felt his fists connect with flesh and heard a cry of pain as one attacker moved back.
An opening!
He raced for the end of the line, feeling like he might vomit, blocking fists that flew at him, shoving at bodies that moved into his path, jumping over legs that lashed out to trip him. He closed his eyes and raced ahead, ignoring the pain, heedless of what injuries may come.
Someone's kick connected with his butt, sent a searing pain up his back. The pain turned to fire in David mind. He stopped running. No more running!
"Damn you!" he screamed, turning, swinging his fist and kicking out, hoping to strike whoever had given him such a cheap shot. But his strikes fell on nothing but air.
After a moment he stopped swing his fists. Opened his eyes. The crowd of boys was no longer attacking. They stood motionless. Staring. Smiling. But their smiles were different now, and there was something new in their eyes.
Respect.
Sy stood at the end of the courtyard; his big arms cross over his chest, his large bald head nodding.
"You did it, boy." He said softly. "Good job."
The courtyard erupted into cheering. The gang that had been beating him a moment before, suddenly surrounded him, hugged him in a tight group embrace, laughing and congratulating him. The older boy named Animal pressed his face close to David's. The boys left eye was red and swelling. But he was smiling.
"You got me," Animal said with a strange look of approval in his face. Derek poked his head up pointed to his bloodied nose. "Got me too," he said laughing. "I owe you."
David finally allowed himself to smile. He tried to say something about how they both deserved it, but before he could speak he abruptly collapsed. The gang caught him and held him up, as they did each other, as they had every boy who went through the ceremony.
"Let's chow!" Sy said, and the gang lifted David up on their shoulders and began to carry him inside, where a feast of stolen treats was waiting to be devoured.
Wizzy ran up beside the procession as they entered the building. David looked down at her and smiled lazily. He wanted to say something but could not even muster anough energy to move his lips. Wizzy seemed to understand.
"Good show!" she said, reaching out to touch his hand. "Good show." The look on her face let him know that his tears had been forgiven.
The training was over. The bond was sealed.
He was one of them now.
2
When does one become truly human? And how? It could not have simply been by occupying the human shell, this 'soft machine' that had been the Blue Fairy's gift to David. For, though he had undergone the ritual of membership, had gained their respect and trust, he knew that he was not truly the same as the people around him; so driven by the senses and the numerous needs of the body that they seemed conscious of little else.
Could it be the mastering this body, its senses, which made one human; the transcending of the immediate, of pain and fear, and the focusing of desires to achieve a goal? David was sure it had something to do with all of these things… and more. But how could one know if he had reached that point if he didn't know where it lay on the map of experience?
It was the "unknown, unknown" as he had heard Sy say one night.
The man was giving a speech after a long nights work, his crew of young thieves lay in a circle around him, wrapped in their blankets, like children about to receive a bedtime story.
David was among them for he was one of them now. Weeks had passed since his initiation ceremony. His wounds had healed, his bruises were gone. Still, he kept shifting his position to avoid sitting on parts of his body that were still sore. Under the gangs tutelage, he had become a seasoned thief. Pickpocket. An outlaw.
"It's not what you don't know that'll get you," Sy said, a finger raised high to emphasize the importance of this lesson. "It's what you don't know that you don't know."
Some of the boys laughed, but quickly silenced themselves when the large orbs of Sy eyes narrowed to slits and turned in their direction.
Wizzy was not so easily daunted.
"What the hell are you talking about, Sy?" she said. The man's dark gaze fell on her, as if he was about to issues some overdue discipline. But everyone knew it wasn't going to happen. Only she and Nance could get away with this type of challenge. He was silent a moment and then continued as if the girl had never spoken.
"We plan for the unexpected," Sy said, "What if someone gets nabbed? What if a tag triggers an alarm? What if our virus doesn't take out security long enough for us to finish the job? These are events we can't control but that we always anticipate. The 'known unknowns'.
"It's the unexpected things we don't know about that we can't prepare for. The obstacles we have never encountered before and haven't considered a possibility that can take us down."
"Like what?" one of the braver boys asked. Sy turned his eyes on the boy for a tense moment. But then he just shrugged his massive shoulders.
"I don't know," he said with a sigh. His sudden smile let everyone know it was OK to laugh this time. And so they did. But only briefly before he shushed everyone and continued.
"But we can never assume that things we have already planned for are the only things that can go wrong. So that's why I expect everyone to train hard, to keep their eyes open and minds clear, and stay on their toes when we do Rouge City this weekend."
It took a moment for the words to sink in. But when they did, the room filled with hoots and cheers. Boys jumped up on their beds, rose and high fived one another, began to hit each other with pillows and the food from half eaten meals.
"Alright, alright," Sy scolded. "Tone it down. Get some sleep. We have a lot of work to do before then."
David had been waiting for this announcement. Excitement raced through his veins, but he managed to mask it. He was becoming a master of feigned innocence. Even Sy had noticed this, had began letting him lead tagging teams into the parking lots of Flesh Fairs and Concert Halls, political events and even Church gatherings. David used his new talent now, raising a questioning eyebrow and looking on his fellow thieves with an expression that begged explanation.
Wizzy broke from her cheering and gawked at him.
"Please, pleeeease don't tell me you never heard of Rouge City," she said, shaking her head as if this was an all time low. David responded with a shrug. He had a difficult time repressing his laughter when Wizzy press her hands against her temples and screamed in disbelief.
"Oh – My - God! Where have you been all your life? Where?" she cried.
David smiled coyly. "You wouldn't believe a word of it," he said.
3
Training for 'The Rouge Job', as it came to be known, was as intense as Sy had promised. Physically and mentally. The scam was going to be a complex version of 'Little Cuz'. But the teams wouldn't arrive at the same time, they're arrivals would be staggered out over two to three hours, starting at Sunset and ending before the 3am rush out of the city. They coldn't afford to hae a hasty retreat clocked by traffic. So they had to work fast.
Everyone was expected to perfect their roles and they only had a few days to do it. Instead of feigning fights or arguments, numerous other distractions were thought up. And the teams had to keep moving so they wouldn't be seen pulling the same tricks by security or the attentive Mecha barkers that beckoned custimers from the doorways of various fun zones. There was no room for mistakes. And the unknoiwn unknowns had to be on everyone's minds.
So, at sunrise the courtyard was filled with yawning faces that didn't get to close their eyes again until after midnight. And that was only because Nance insisted. Sy would have kept going until the sun came up again.
"I don't want any mistakes," the man said in a heated argument with Nance. But when one of the boys passed out, he conceded and let them head back inside. When David and Wizzy helped the fallen boy up, he poked his head up and winked at them.
"Oh, you dirty little cheat," Wizzy said, smacking him on the head. But she didn't say anything about the faker to Sy. She was a tired as everyone else.
There was a good reason for the man's caution, Wizzy explained to David as they made themselves comfortable on the couch, rations of warm chocolate pudding in their laps.
"Rouge City is a high stakes job," she said in a mature tone that he had began to hear from her lately. "The take will be big. But the risk is bigger."
She went on to explain that 'The City The Never Blinks' was a high security zone, and had it's own police force. Scammers tended to stay away from it, and the ones that tried to work its streets usually got caught. Since private security did most of the policing, it wasn't into the regulated hands of the law that offenders fell. It was into the hands of privately owned guards. And the ones who hired them were not interested in legal procedure. They were interested in making examples. Rumors of bodies that had washed up along the Delaware shoreline were profuse. The details of the deaths were as varied as they were grotesque, and surely exaggerated. But, true or not, everyone got the point.
"Mess up in Rouge and you could pay the ultimate price," Wizzy said. She dragged a finger across her throat just in case David didn't get the drift. He did.
"Like Rooster," he said.
Wizzy chuckled.
"What," David said.
She looked at him blankly for a moment, as if she was sizing something up. Then she put a finger to her lips. David understood and nodded his agreement to silence. She continued.
"Rooster ran away,"she admitted. "That's all that happened. He took off from a Flesh Fair with a bag full of newbucks we scored. No ones seen him since. Sy was peeved. He was the one made up the story about him getting killed"
David thought this over for a moment. "Pretty tricky," he said, wondering what other lies he was being told.
Wizzy shrugged, seeming to sense David's thoughts. "It was for a good reason," she said "Sy calls it the 'noble lie'. Read about it in some book or something. Says it keeps us on our toes. But what I am telling you now is for reals. This is no Flesh Fair or cheap Holo-show. This is prime territory. These people are serious." The look in her eyes told him she was not playing.
"Pretty scary," David said, remembering his visit to the city of Mecha delights. He dared not say anything about it to her, though. Nothing could interfere with his escape.
Sy suddenly stood to address the room as everyone was getting into their beds.
"I know you're all tired and have had enough of my voice today," he said. "But I really don't give a damn right now. We are about to do a job that will bag us enough to relax for months. A year maybe. And we are doing it on someone else's turf."
He had everyone's attention now. Working someone else's zone was dangerous. Sy laughed at their tight expressions.
"Don't worry," he said. "We got permission for this job, and we coughed up a big cut of the take to get it. But we are only being allowed there because we're good and we're fast. Our reputation has got around. So give yourselves a hand!"
Applause broke out. Sy let it go on for a moment and then waved everyone to silence.
"Someone will be arriving tomorrow night. He's coming to check us out. His name is Olmier. Some of you may have heard it before?"
A rustle of whispers broke out in the dark room. David turned to Wizzy, but she held up her hand to let him know this was not the time for questions.
"Yeah. That Olmier. And he is coming himself. Not sending some lackey. So this is big time. I want everyone on their toes. Look sharp! He'll want to see all the routines and I want them perfect. Perfect! Any questions?"
David had a lot of them but dared say nothing. He glanced at Wizzy and was surprised at the serious look on her face. After a moment she turned to face him, her face grim.
"No screwing around tomorrow, David" she said. "Be tight and get it right. This is big time."
"Yeah," he said, wondering how all this would affect his escape plans. But he was determined to go through with it no matter what.
Wizzy punched him playfully on the arm and dashed off to her own bed, leaving David to his thoughts.
He was drifting off to sleep when he realized she wasn't calling him 'Pork Chop' anymore.
4
The sun was sinking in the west, casting a flaming ray of golden light through the sky, when Sy called an end to rehearsals and made the crew stand in a line. They'd been working all day and David thought he could do all the routines in his sleep. There was the "Lookie There" where you made someone look at something your partner was doing and then planted a tag. There was one called "The Footise, where one member pretended a Mark had stepped on their foot. The other one raised a ruckus about it until the man or woman tried to help and then the tag was planted. There were dozens of tricks they were going to use for the Rouge job, all based on the same principle. But these Marks would not be the same as the Flesh Fair crowd. They'd have money and each hit would be bigger Much bigger.
Sy began to pace nervously too and fro as the darkness slowly grew. David had never seen the man nervous and wondered just who this mysterious Olmier was, and what kind of power he wielded that could make a giant like Sy worry.
After some time passed a thin buzzing filled the air. David was familiar with the sound by now. It was an alarm. Someone was coming.
Sy snapped his fingers and pointed at his crew. "I want this perfect," he reminded them.
Something appeared overhead. A boxy craft that hovered a couple hundred feet above the courtyard. It had no lights and wasn't visible in the dark, but its shape blocked the stars. Then it began to grow. David realized it was descending. After it had come down between the break in the overhanging trees, he could see it was a cruiser. And it looked expensive.
The vehicle was solid black, and the windows opaque from the outside. Just a thin strips of silver lined where the doors sealed shut. It lowered noiselessly to the forest floor just feet from where the gang was waiting. David wasn't even aware of the softly humming motor until it finally stopped.
A man stepped out of the front of the car. He was big, bigger than Sy, and wore a black cap, black suit, shining back shoes, and thick black glasses on his face. 'How can he even see with those on?' David wondered. Then he realized that maybe the man didn't need light to see. That maybe he wasn't really a man at all.
The man that couldn't be a man, walked to the line of boys. He stopped, folded his hands behind his back and looked them over. Then turned his face to Sy. Nothing was said and David realized that he… that 'it' was probably checking them all for weapons. After a moment more of silent inspection the Mecha guard walked back to the car and opened the back door.
The man that jumped out and approached Sy was not what David had expected to see. He was short and chubby, he wore dark glasses too, but not so dark that David couldn't see the thick dark brows above the black points of his eyes through them. His clothes were overly colorful, as if he had bought them only because they were expensive and he wanted everyone to know it. He walked like he was late for an important meeting, and patted Sy on the shoulder like comforting an old friend. So small was he that he had to reach up to do this. It was an almost comical sight. But no one dared laugh.
"So, so, soooo…" the man said in a voice full of false cheer, rolling his hands together as he turned to face the boys. "This is the crew I've heard so much about?" There was something predatory in his words.
Sy nodded. "They're the best. Fast. Efficient. Never lost one of them."
Olmier looked up at Sy and lifted his glasses. "Really! Really! Well… that's just great! Excellent! Yes! Yes!"
David had never really experienced anybody like this, the fake smile, the overly effusive gestures. He could already tell somehow that it was all a mask; that something cruel and ugly lay beneath. He didn't know how he knew this. A few months ago it would have completely slipped by him. He would have taken the man at face value. But he had spent a lot of time in the the dirty underbelly of the world and was he was beginning to recognize the creatures that dwelled there. Even if they wore expensive suits and rode in the back of expensive cars.
The man set his glasses back in place and started walking before the line of boys. "Yes, they look like they're good at their job," he said. "Nice. Nice." He stopped in front of Animal and stared at the tattooed face like he'd just encountered some exotic creature he couldn't name. Animal smiled back and the man moved on, nodding his head as he inspected the crew.
"But I seem to recall a chance encounter with a punkish little grifter named …," Olmier stopped and snapped his fingers repeatedly over his head, as if this might free up his memory. "Oh what was that boy called?" he said
Sy shifted nervously, as if he knew what was coming next. David suddenly realized what it might be and understood that Sy might well be facing one of those unexpected unknowns he had waned them all about.
"Rooster!" Olmier said finally, as if he had not known the name all along. "Yes, yes, yes, that was it." He turned to face his Mecha bodyguard. "Rooster wasn't it," he said. But the thing didn't respond. Everyone knew he had not expected it to.
Olmier pretended to be disappointed by his guards silence, and turned to Sy. "Well, I am sure that was it. He was a rather disturbing little hustler that I caught working in my zone a few months back." The man lifted his glasses again. "Without my permission…and I assume without yours?"
All the gang eyes were on Sy. But no one said anything. Rooster was supposed to have died at the hands of an angered Mark. This was the story they'd all been told.
To his credit Sy never flinched. "We had a kid by that name," he said calmly. "But he got capped by a Mark at a Flesh Fair."
"I thought you said you never lost anybody," Olmier replied quickly.
"Nobody that mattered" Sy shot back. "And Rooster ain't that uncommon a name." he added. "It must have been someone else."
David found himself rooting for their boss. He was a crook and David still felt anger for all the pain he suffered at his hands. But Olmier was something much worse. Something… evil.
"Yes! Yes! Well, I've never met anyone else with that name but , ok. It could have been some other Rooster," Olmier said. "What's strange is this punk seemed to know a lot about you and your crew. Even said he worked with you for a while, and had the strange notion that you'd vouch for him."
"The boy named Rooster died," Sy said, staring at the man with an unreadable expression. But David thought he might know what was behind that flat gaze. 'Don't mess with me in front of my crew' is what David was sure he saw in Sy's face. Olmier must have seen it too. He slipped his glasses back down and hummed thoughtfully.
"Yes, yes, yes… that much is true," Olmier said. "He is dead by either account."
Sy didn't react. No one did. But everyone got the point. This was no game. The confrontation was over. Olmier turned to face the gang.
"Tomorrow night a very large convention will be held at an establishment in Rouge City. Flocks of Norwegian gentlemen and ladies will be gathering for an annual celebration of the life of a man I am sure none of you have ever heard of and don't care about. So it doesn't matter.
"These people are wealthy. Very wealthy. And equally careless with their credits. They are also very adoring of children, so the little games you play will be perfect for this event.
"Through the deal I have negotiated with your boss, I am allowing you to work my zone for this night alone. If all goes well I may even consider …"
Olmier suddenly stopped talking and turned towards David. He lifted his glasses so that his look of shock was clear to all. David met the man's gaze and the two stayed that way, staring at each other in silent confusion for a moment. Then Olmier turned to Sy.
"Where did you find that thing?" he said.
David's heart sank. His stomach turned. But he didn't let it reach his face.
"What?" Sy asked, genuinely confused.
Olmier pointed at David, snapping his fingers rapidly. "That… that… David. Isn't that what they're called?"
Sy stepped forward, his eyes suddenly suspicious on David. "You know this boy?"
"Boy?" Olmier said in disbelief. "Oh, come on. You seriously don't know? It's a machine!"
He laughed.
No one else did.
David could feel all the eyes on him. He forced his fear back and donned an innocent look. Then he said the words he hadn't had to use in a long, long time.
"I'm a boy," David said, calmly.
Olmier gawked at him a moment more and then broke out into wild laughter. It was less a humorous sound than a sinister one.
"My-O-my," the man said, slapping his hands together joyfully. "There has got to be a buck in this."
David's mind was racing but he managed to keep his calm posture and even made a convincing shrug as he returned all the stares he was receiving from the people who thought they knew him. Even Wizzy's eyes had narrowed cautiously.
'What now,' he wondered.
He had stepped right into one of those 'unknown unknowns'.
(cont...)