\+/ Tales From Night City \+/ Chapter 27 - Deep Cover
A close-up of Zaunya's cut and bloody hands are seen shaking as she takes deep breaths attempting to slow down her breathing. As she sits up against a wall in the small motel room collecting herself she hears the door to the room slide open. She looks up to see Brian calmly walk into the room and approach her. Without saying a word, he grabs a cloth out of his pocket and kneels down next to her and begins gently cleaning her hands. Zaunya feels a wave of embarrassment wash over her as Brian checks her hands for deep cuts. While holding one of her hands, he places a cigarette on her lips and lights it for her before taking a seat next to her sitting up against the wall. He lights one of his own as the pair sit in silence taking deep drags. Brian breaks the silence.
"Petrochem." Brian says, making Zaunya look over at him.
"Is one of the biggest megacorps in the city...plenty of eds to snatch..." She quickly responds dismissively
"No...I mean, if this is just a means to an end for you...If this is just a one-way. I need to know. Corpos don't forget. At best, shit just gets filed away only to be re-opened later."
"Then what the fuck is your point Brian." She asks impatiently.
"My point is...if we're gonna do this...I need to know where your head is at. Going in blind ain't gonna cut it."
Zaunya takes another drag of her smoke and runs her fingers through her hair without responding. Its clear there are still buried emotions shes uninterested in delving into. A long pause happens as the pair sit next to each other. Brian breaks the silence.
"I lost my best friend." Zaunya looks over at Brian curious. Brian quickly thinks of Marilyn, visualizing her beautiful face smiling at him. He then quickly catches himself before ever speaking about her and shifting the direction of the story last minute.
"That same night we met...I had a gig..." Brian shifts his weight and takes another drag of his smoke before continuing.
"It was simple.. just a quick trade. Easy scratch he said." Brian looks down and closes his eye tight.
"He took a gut shot.. i got a scar to last a lifetime." Zaunya glances at Brian's stitched, soon to be scar running up from his chest to his neck and finishing on his jaw.
"I got him to an R.E.O operating table but... there was nothing I could do... Didn't know what to do." Brian takes a deep breath.
"He bled out in my arms." Zaunya looks down as Brian stands up and slowly walks to the center of the room.
"The Butte we've been rolling around in was his; the bloodstains are both of ours... I brought it home... where you happened to be waiting." He takes another drag of his smoke along with a deep breath.
"In the end... he told me something that I haven't been able to shake out of my mind. He told me to remember who we were, before all of this shit; to remember who i was..."
"Before what shit...? Brian...Who. were. you?" She asks in an exhausted tone with a heavy desire to know. Brian looks back at her, looking directly into her eyes. Without responding, he turns to walk out of the motel room..as the door slides open, Zaunya quickly gets up and follows him out the door.
Brian is next seen walking through the parking lot of the motel and onto the dirt of the badlands. Zaunya about 10 yards behind him quickly follows after him.
"Brian?" She says but gets no response. The sound of rocks and dirt being kicked underneath Brian's boots as he walks takes over the space along with the chirps of insects.
"...BRIAN?... Wha- Where are you going?" She asks flustered and makes his way over the lip of an embankment and approaches where he's stashed Graves' Butte. He grabs a length of rubber hose from the trunk before pulling open the gas port causing Zaunya to stop in her tracks at the top of the embankment. He lightly sucks into the tube causing the Choo in the tank to begin to flow. He then sticks the hose into the cab of the Butte as the choo begins to flood inside soaking the blood stained seats and the dashboard.
Brian takes a step back before flicking his smoke into the cab causing the choo to instantly ignite, lighting up the area around them with an orange glow. Brian makes his way back to the top of the embankment before turning around to stare at the glowing flame. You see Zaunya and Brian's silhouettes standing side by side as the flames gradually take over the Butte. As he begins to be overcome with emotion, he shuts it down before turning and walking back toward the motel. Zaunya's sight fixed on the flaming Butte recognizes this and quickly turns to follow him.
As they get halfway back to the motel, you see the flames begin to grow above the embankment before a loud explosion. The loud explosion sends flames and chunks of metal scrap into the air causing Zaunya to flinch and stumble over her footsteps while looking back at the explosion and instinctually putting her forearm out in front of her face. Brian doesn't miss a beat as he continues to walk back to the motel completely unfazed by the explosion. You are last left with Graves' Colby Butte calmly up in flames in the desolate Badlands.