Chapter 4
The audience had only just wound down about five minutes later. Ana had stood there on the stage throughout the applause as Vic made his way to the stage. He climbed up and stood next to Ana who looked considerably more uncertain as he approached. Chloe noted this was probably something unusual for him to do. The clapping finally stopped as he started gesturing for silence.
"Okay, a bit of shush?" he called out as someone handed him a microphone. He nodded in thanks before speaking to the crowd. "Okay, so for those of you who don't know: this is Ana. She's been singing here for quite some time. Five years, actually. She does about six performances a month, scarcely misses a day and is universally loved by everyone who hears her. And tonight, she did something that I frankly did not expect. She switched languages at the end of the song. I often wondered if she had any surprises left for us and now I know. I've been suspecting for a long time I was under-paying her and now I know the answer to that one too." At that, he turned to Ana. "Sweetie, I know I still have to pay you for the month. So go see Ella on the front desk when you're ready and there's going to be a little something extra in your payment tonight." Ana looked visibly shocked. At that moment, her eyes met Chloe's. Chloe simply nodded at her questioning look and then headed towards the stage's side door.
When she entered the backstage area, the pole dancers were getting ready to go out. Just as Ana had said, they gave her really bitchy up-and-down stares. It reminded her of Victoria in many ways, but about six times over. And as much as she'd love to take her knife to each of them, that would do her more harm than good right now. She was grateful enough that in the debate over her ID, the security guard had forgotten to search her. On that topic, she headed over to the duffel bag and crouched down next to it. When the dancers made their way out to the applause of the crowd- applause that Chloe noted was significantly quieter than the attention than Ana had commanded- she quickly took the knife from her pocket and slipped it into the side pocket of the bag with the scrap metal.
Her task complete, the rustle of the curtain made her look up again. Ana was standing there and Chloe quickly unzipped the bag, taking out the bottle of water and holding it out to her. She accepted it gratefully and Chloe watched in awe as she drained a quarter of it at once before wiping her mouth and handing it back. Once it was safely stashed in the duffel bag again, Ana walked over and sat down to take a breather.
"So..." she ran her fingers through her hair to smooth it down, even though it was still immaculate. "This bonus that Vic is giving me. I can't help but think it was something to do with you?"
"Maybe..." Chloe said, letting her voice trail off in a way she knew would infuriate Ana. It worked. Ana was on her feet and gripping Chloe by the shoulders in an instant, trying not to yell while the dancers were on stage trying to prove they were worth giving money to despite rolling snake eyes for any skill or intelligence stats in the game that was life.
"How? How did you do it? And where have you been all these years? Whatever you did, can you keep doing it? If you can, I'll officially let you off fixing my car!"
"I busted a cheater for him." Chloe shrugged. "And to answer your other questions: Oregon, if any more cheaters show up, and I was kind of hoping you'd do that anyway since I've just made you enough money off one cheater to buy another used car."
"Oh, we are definitely discussing that tomorrow once I've had a sleep and time to realise this is actually real." Ana assured her, a grin lighting up her face. With that, she reached down and grabbed the duffel bag. She shouldered it before heading for the stage door. "Come on. Let's go get our money."
The girls left the stage through the side door and headed to the front desk to collect. The woman behind the counter struck Chloe as someone who either didn't care if she did her job well or was so good at it that she was perpetually bored. In this case, it seemed to be the latter. Her hair was a shocking shade of bubblegum pink. She was filing nails of the same shade and chewing what appeared to be a piece of bubblegum. Her face didn't budge an inch and her routine barely seemed to pause as she slapped a white envelope with Ana's name on the front onto the desk before they'd said anything, instantly knowing what they were there for. There was so much paper in it that Chloe could see the visible weight to it as Ana slid it into her hoodie pocket.
"Vic said to raise you to five-hundred a month instead of three. Starting today. With the money he reclaimed from that cheater going to you thanks to the assistant you brought along, that makes just under two G's. You're welcome."
"Thank you so much!" Ana said, her hand instinctively going to the envelope and cradling it almost like someone might cradle a baby bump. It made sense. Ana was living at The Hive and didn't seem to mind it too much, but that sort of money could be the ticket to really upgrading the place. And it could start with getting a better car for her. She could put that money towards getting an apartment for herself, but something told Chloe she wouldn't. She'd found her place there and was thriving. And Chloe was shocked to realise that she'd just been a part of helping that along.
"Don't thank me, thank old leather face back there." Ella replied casually. "You deserve it, though. There's very few people out there who can do something like that without instruments backing them. And I have a feeling the microphone was just for show. Anyway, you take care out there, sweetie." She hadn't looked up the entire time, yet Chloe somehow knew that she'd meant every word. Ana wished her good night before turning to leave, gesturing to Chloe to follow. Not thinking twice, Chloe turned on her heel and followed her out into the night.
The doors swung shut behind them and Chloe found herself breathing a sigh of relief. Places like that were totally her scene, but she preferred the lower-end ones. The ones that were less likely to card you if you waved enough money under their noses and even less likely to pay any attention to what card you were showing if they asked to see something at all. A place like that with active security, gambling more advanced that betting on darts matches and what colour underwear women in skirts were wearing made her feel trapped. And Vic just made her feel plain wrong. But she couldn't deny he was generous enough when someone did him a good turn. He was clearly rich and certainly not a moron. But was he enough of a general tool that she might be able to use him if the need arose? That she didn't know.
"Hey, can you hold up just a sec?" she asked as they neared the corner. "I put my knife in the bag. Security didn't search me for it this time but I didn't want to push that luck."
"Oh yeah, smart." Ana nodded as she stopped and turned to give Chloe access to the bag. Chloe reached in and grabbed the knife, spinning it a few times in her hands before making sure it was folded and putting it away. She tapped the bag to let Ana know she had it and the two of them kept walking.
"You know, that was impressive on that stage." Something told her that Ana did know, but chose to ignore it. "I can't help but wonder though: why an Anime song? Soul Eater Paper Moon? You could have gone for anything in the charts and-"
"And I so often do." Ana told her with what Chloe realised was a forced patience. Clearly Ana was reminding herself that Chloe had only just arrived. Something Chloe was also constantly reminding herself of. "It gets boring. They don't even really care what you sing as long as you do it well. I speak Japanese for obvious reasons so I might as well use it. I've been waiting for a chance to show off like that. And it paid dividends. With help from you, of course. That money is gonna get me a new car and that repays your debt. Now we've just got to worry about your truck."
"I put it back together once before." Chloe assured her. "I can do it ag- Oof!" Chloe was cut off as something solid struck her from the left hand side. She knew she'd been underweight for a long time, refusing to eat and outright skipping meals when David was around just to get away from him. She couldn't always afford her own food and what she could was almost never enough to put meat on her bones. And sometimes she needed the money in her wallet more than food in her stomach. But the distance she got sent flying was beyond a joke. It reminded her how skinny and fragile she was as every bone in her body felt the impact of her hitting the ground hard.
For an awful second, she was so dazed that she lost her bearing. The world around her became a muddled blur just as her danger response kicked in. She was left absolutely terrified as she realised this was probably the most vulnerable she'd ever been. And she'd been in some pretty shitty situations. But fortunately, it snapped back to focus quickly enough. Ana had become aware of the danger and had turned to face the attacker, her hand going to her pocket and pulling out a thick rectangle of plastic. But as she flicked it open and pointed it at the person, Chloe realised what it was.
'Is that a folding gun? Did she 3D print that?"
"Hey, yo!" Chloe instantly recognised the voice. It was the man she'd busted for cheating. Now he'd come to get his revenge. She should have known this would happen. "Look, I ain't here lookin' for bad blood. Same can't be said for this bitch, though." Chloe instantly felt her blood boil as he pointed at her. "She got me barred from my favourite night club. And I never got to hear your song. So unless she wants to spend her night paying me back in acts of kindness, I suggest you give me an encore. And maybe that payment you got tonight."
"You really think you're in a position to make demands?" Ana scowled as Chloe saw her finger tense on the trigger. "This is loaded, you know?" Before either of them could blink, the man had flicked his wrist. Ana let out a scream of pain as blood poured from a wound at the base of her hand, the gun falling from between her fingers. Not knowing or caring what he'd done, Chloe pulled the butterfly knife from her back pocket. She kept low as he advanced on Ana, his fingers going to close around her throat, and drove the blade home under the meat of his left butt cheek. He let out his own howl of agony and whirled, punching Chloe squarely below the eye. She hit the ground in a dazed heap, seeing the blood cascading down his leg. And then there was a sharp crack like exploding plastic followed by the ringing of metal.
The man swayed slightly on the spot before crashing to the ground. Ana stood over him, folding up her gun and stuffing it back in her pocket as she pulled Chloe's knife free and wiped it on the man's basketball vest before handing it back to her. Chloe took it numbly as she sat up and stared at the lifeless body that had been threatening them only moments before. Words failed her. She'd seen Ana in so many different lights in the last few hours alone, but this was a totally different one. She didn't know what to do or say, even as Ana pressed her wrist against her jeans to absorb the blood amid a string of curse words.
"We need to go! I'm bleeding!" Chloe couldn't move. She couldn't help but gaze at the man on the ground, a hole in the side of his head.
"You... You killed him..."
"Because he was going to kill me!" Ana said, grabbing Chloe's shoulder with her left hand and turning her to face her. "You saved my life! Now come on, I'm making a mess here!" Chloe didn't know when she made the decision. She just knew that her feet moved as they ran.
They kept running and didn't stop until they were back at the area where The Hive was located. Moving into the greenery, Ana led them to the main gate and started heading inside. The lights had been put on low so as not to attract attention while still allowing them to see if they needed to use the bathroom or something. Ana made it to the middle of the courtyard, such as it was, before falling sideways onto the floor. Now under a stronger light than a street lamp, Chloe could see the damage. Blood was drenching the left leg of her jeans and some sort of smooth metal spike had embedded halfway through her right wrist, embedding itself in there securely.
"Ah, shit!" Her voice came out as a scream, but in that moment she didn't care. If she woke someone up, so much the better. "Ana! Ana, stay with me!"
"I'm okay, you idiot..." Ana's voice was way too weak. She was lying. And luckily, Chloe's own voice had been having the desired effect. Heads were emerging from the shelters and seeing the situation, the atmosphere quickly escalating to one of panic.
"Man down!" Inchy's voice could be heard as they all started making their way over. Their footsteps all became a run as they crossed the gap in record time and one girl crouched down by Ana and Chloe.
"Okay, don't panic. My mom was a nurse." She cracked open a first aid kit and started studying the injury. "What did this?"
"A guy in a purple basketball vest." Chloe told her. "I busted him for cheating at a night club. He tried to take the money Ana got paid."
"I'm okay, Melody." Ana assured the girl as she tried to sit up. "Don't fuss." In response, the girl shoved her harshly back down onto her back.
"Okay, Inchy and House, get me a welding torch and some clean metal. I'm gonna need to cauterise this. And then I'll need to stitch it." That made Chloe nervous. This girl had dark auburn hair and looked to be about fourteen. And she was about to cauterise and stitch a wound.
"Have you ever done stitches before?" she asked.
"Once or twice." Melody replied. "I've had to put House back together so many times before that it gives me a nosebleed to count them. Not much chance I'll make a good job of it though. She'll have an ugly scar but she'll keep the hand. Hopefully." If Chloe had even tried saying that was reassuring, the words would have choked her.
"Okay, so say we did have to take her to hospital, what would be the procedure for that?" she asked. "Do we take her outside and call the ambulance there?"
"Yeah, we take the injured person just around the corner and dial 911." The boy who'd spoken said it like it was no big deal, but Chloe could tell he was worried. He and Melody were the only two faces there that Chloe hadn't met and he was clearly only just older than her. That meant Ana was probably the oldest one there. If she died or got put out of action, they were all in trouble.
"Yeah, and she is going to hospital." Melody said, cementing Chloe's suspicions as to how serious this was. "But first things first, I have to stop this bleeding. She won't live long enough for an ambulance otherwise." Just then, House returned carrying some pieces of metal while Inchy had the welding torch. He was double-checking the canister at the bottom was secure as he went. Clearly he wanted to rule out equipment failure before it became a possibility. The last thing they wanted was to fuck this up.
"Tell us what you need us to do." Inchy said as he fired the torch up. Just then, Ana reached into her hoodie pocket and pulled out the envelope she'd been given. She held it out to Chloe, her hand shaking badly. The colour had drained from her face thanks to the blood loss.
"Safeguard this... There's a safe... House knows..."
"Okay, just relax." Chloe said softly as she took it from her. She hadn't been wrong. There was some serious weight to that envelope. "Melody, what do you need from us?"
"First step: give me room!" Melody ordered. "I'm not trying to get free cable here! This shit is hard! Besides, we already have that. Step two: gag her. That voice of hers could bring this whole place down. Or at least bring someone down on top of us." Chloe shivered at the thought. With how powerful Ana's voice seemed to be, it actually wasn't too much of a stretch for Chloe that she could collapse the entire Hive if she was in agony. That thought was obviously shared by the other boy whose name she didn't know yet as he removed his pyjama top and balled up the sleeve, jamming it in her mouth despite her furious protests.
"You'd better not have been jerking with that hand!" Chloe cautioned him as she gripped Ana's uninjured hand and winced as Ana's grip cut off the blood flow to her fingers. Everyone ignored her and carried on as Melody prepped to do the deed.
"Okay, what I'm going to do is heat up the middle areas of both pieces of metal. Once I get them glowing red, we need to pull the spike out. If I get it glowing white, we need to wait. White hot metal will damage the tissue without cauterising it. She'll still bleed and just be left with a burn." Everyone nodded as Inchy and House donned heatproof gloves and held the metal up for Melody to start waving the torch over. "Percy, get her right arm. Pull it out as long and straight as you can. We need to be sure we get the middle bit right over the injury and she'll try to move away on instinct." As bad as it was for Ana, Chloe also found herself bracing for impact. She'd seen a laundry list of messed up things in the last three years alone. She preferred to think it had toughened her up and made her braver. But no way in hell was she brave enough to watch this.
She heard the sound of the metal spike being pulled from Ana's wrist and grit her teeth as the older girl's grip tightened further on her fingers. It hurt like hell, but she didn't dare complain. Whatever she was going through, Ana was definitely going through worse. Even with the gag, the scream still seemed to shake the ground around them. The gravel beneath their feet rattled as Chloe moved over and knelt on Ana's left leg to stop her kicking around. It probably barely lasted ten seconds, but to everyone around them it felt like an hour as the acrid scent of burning flesh filled the air. Eventually, Melody stepped back as Inchy and House took the metal away. Percy still kept hold of her wrist as Melody started pulling the suture kit from the first aid box. This was one bit that Chloe could watch and she felt Ana's grip loosen slightly on her hand. While she barely noticed it, she could tell her circulatory system certainly did as the blood rushed back to her fingers.
Then Melody started stitching. The wound itself was pretty neat and clean, but Chloe could see the young girl's inexperience. Like she'd said, there was no chance she was making a good job of this. Needing something to distract herself from the act of butchery she was watching, she looked around desperately. Her truck was still on the repair ramp next to that damned Buick. Nothing she could do about either now. Everyone was gathered around, their faces all pictures of worry. About what she'd expected. And there was that damned spike lying next to House's legs. But something about it caught her eye. The blood that was covering it seemed to be settling into recesses that lined the body of it. Maybe the structure of it wasn't as smooth and sleek as she'd originally taken it for.
"House, pass me that spike. I want a look at it." House picked it up, handing it over with a care that belied his massive hands. Chloe took it equally as gently, turning it over in her hands. As much as it disgusted her, she ran her fingers over the sticky, bloody surface. No doubt about it. The entire shaft was covered in some sort of striations in the metal. Curiously, she dug her nails in and ran them down the length of it. Blood got under her nails but in that moment she didn't care. She knew she was onto something. Pulling out her butterfly knife, she rested it in her other hand and ran her nails down the length of the handle. Her nails caught on the same striations in the knife grips. That was when her mind pieced it together. These were layer lines! This spike was 3D printed!
Author's Note: Okay, so I thought I'd take a moment to address an issue that's been cropping up in my stories. If there's a part where I need to switch locations or character perspectives and haven't written enough to end the chapter, I'll separate it on the document with an asterisk. I found out recently that it doesn't actually register on the website for some reason. So if you've ever read one of my stories and there's been a jarring perspective shift, that's why. Now that I'm aware of it I am experimenting and looking for an alternative way to do it. Once I find a good one, I'll go back and update all the stories that used the old method with something that actually registers on the site. Don't worry, I'm working on it.
In the meantime, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. The next update will be Thursday as usual with all going to plan. In the meantime, please feel free to review, follow, favourite, ETC. See you all in the next one.