Scorpio pt 2

Revisit Death Prompt 7: Scifi dystopian horror

[‘Carte Blanche’ Iris Van Herpen, Haute Couture, SS23]

Stream of Consciousness POV, Zero Draft

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Parker Smith’s face flushed rose, a cardinal sin. Ping pong eyes darted across the room. I could hear his spit sloshing from the back of his throat and pushed into his teeth beds. Homes washed away from the disaster lived in his mouth. A storm fermenting at the top, drips down. He doesn’t seem one to restrain the balance of behavior. Every shudder of his body walked through my arms and legs. It’s how hunters treat their prey animals. Menkind who hunt without understanding their opposition are frauds. They revel in power plays they can never hold in their palms. It’ll slip out of their fingers, and yet they still believe it’s there.

Grifters. Every life has a few bunches of them. You’ll see them congregate in hyper specific locations. They think it’s their year, every year. Until they meet that woman who changes it all. Paper houses crumbling down.

“Parker Smith, Agent 306. What’s the matter? Never met a collector from the other side before?”

“I think you confuse me with someone else, Anisette.”

“Cut the formalities, I prefer Anise. This is to figure out if I kill you or not. I can be nice sometimes.”

“Kill me for what?”

“You broke an international agreement. There can’t just be dozens of your clones walking around as voiceless empty people. On top of it we have people living in a trash city who can barely afford to eat while you’re making toys. It’s fairly clear.”

“What are you, the morality police, Anise?”

I stand up, his eyes squint. This kind of exchange can change a person. It makes them feel small. You can tell, the delusions he believed were for the better of humanity. Before his body curls inwards, you want to touch him. Sap the possibilities. Tools for fools. Nails sliding on marble lets me see who he is, where he hides, where he belongs.

“No, Agent Parker. I am a collector. We’re professionals, the others, who are like me.”

“Say, I am an Agent. What would I be an agent of?”

My finger is already on his lips. “Do you hear it?”

He stutters. I feel his lips boil, wet steam underneath my flesh. Time caught up with Parker. Up close you can see the wrinkles form around his eyes, stressed over mortality. On the path of disillusionment, death is a dream.

“The sound of a liar.” My voice whispered around his ear, all six feet of nothing. I put my fingers on the bones of his jaw, “You’re going to tell me everything. I want to know why you felt this was the only option.”

“The city isn’t bound by taking care of the others on the outside. It’s not my responsibility if people die.”

“No one needs to hold you accountable for death. It’s not about that, Agent Parker. Think deeper even if it’s hard.”

Agent Parker takes my drink and uses it as mouthwash before he gulps it down, adam’s apple moves up and plummets. He’s stalling, he doesn’t want to talk about his failures. The wins were great for the city. People could be immortal, better than scriptures. New memories built and formed, without language models. Every lifetime in every alternative reality. Genetics changed by different experiments, different lovers, different dreams. He could jerk off to the parts removed from him, and still feel alive.

“There’s inequality in our international agreement, which has been ongoing for centuries, likely even before this society, Anise. I am aware, I just don’t care.”

“I suppose you won’t mind if I burn yours down. Don’t worry, I’ll put your story on the forefront. It’ll be my burning pedestal. Bet you didn’t read about our history. I hate avoidants.” I press my hands on his throat. “You pretend to be a tortured artist. This creativity which you believe is shared, is only used for your pleasure.”

“It’s true. I won’t deny you any of it, Anise. I hate the thought of it. What do you want from me if not money, the patent?”

Parker is incredibly dense about the cold war. No one can buy me. Must be way down the food chain. I pull out one of my vials of Alucard’s poisons. He’s watching my moves, I love when they do this. My mouth spits on the palm of his right hand, his breath on my neck. Pop its top off and dump the whole tincture in the middle.

He screams, the way a human should. Kicked him down. Felt his body through my heel. Tickled by his reaction, his expressions in flux of emotion within and without. Parker holds his hand, the skin peels back like a flower in bloom. Burns the crispy layers, charcoal. Spit salivates down his lips, words inedible, gargled in speech. Agent Parker finds himself with his humanity, his eyes feral. Unhinged in levels of pain that I can’t even begin to dismantle.

“Which level of pain are we experiencing? One to ten.”

“F—fuck you. Why me? I am lesser.”

“When your pain calibrates, to a numbing gnawing feeling you’ll give me real answers.”

Privileged life. He screams outward echoes into the high ceiling, thinking anyone might hear him. Curls in partial fetal, knees up to his stomach. Wiggles his body, in a rocking motion, air pushed outwards and in. Spit in globs. I can no longer see his eyes through the squinting motion.

I pull up a cigarette, and light it. Fuckers going to pass out soon. His eyes are peeling back.

“Don’t shit yourself before you pass out. I have real work to do, it’s not for children.”

Before he can respond he passes out from the pain, it doesn’t even take a few minutes for the paralysis to set in. The poison didn’t burn all the way through his hand. My calculations were off. There’s more about Alucard’s biology I am unaware of. I pull up his hand with a tug to unlock his paralysis, not a care in the world if I dislocate his shoulder in the process. Yes, it partially worked. Not a full copy of a copy, it needs more of Alucard’s bacteria laced spit.

I inspected his wound in silence, smoke blew out of my nose. Swallow its pain, and put out my cigarette on the wound. It doesn’t make a difference. Hands on his ankles, I drag his body to the bed. He’s weightless compared to the robots I have dislodged. His body makes squeaky wheels on the solid ground. Some type of the tile I’ve never seen. I rip off his clothes with a pair of sheers from my coat. Sewing scissors cut away the garments. All Agents have human lined coat jackets. They tan the flesh, making it seem closer to leather. It’s crinkled, not smooth. Feels timeworn. Under my breath, I curse and pray.

God’s have abandoned us for giving us menkind. Mutations deflated by ego.

Agent Parker has a bland black speedo thong on for his shapeless ass. Hog zip tied his wrists and ankles. Roped knots around his hands and ankles tight, there’s a little give in case I need to drag him anywhere. His expression is somber. Shoved one of the human skin pieces into his mouth. Where it belongs.

My hand slaps him across the face, nails dragging on his skin cut him. Hope it stings when it lands. Hope he feels it when he wakes up. Paralysis should be on the mend. This is the watered down version of aristocracy my people have to deal with on the reg. His collection had a flavor of kitsch, sworn an allegiance to this dying age.

A pair of slit eyes dazed into my view. One hard shake into realization. Brain waves tell you how you can’t escape. Muffled cries vibrate toward my lips. I can almost taste his fear. Legs and arms locked into position, if he moves it’s going to hurt real bad.

“Tell me when you’re done screaming. It’s going to get you nowhere.”

Agent Parker makes such a fuss. He won’t have to suffer long. Our little charade will open doors to reflection. Rumination is a genderless battle. People full of hot air believe in their lies. He’s buckling fast under pressure. Nod your head, yes good boy.

I pulled his gag, “There, now you’re going to tell me who owns this building and where to find them.”

“She’s at the top, her name is Domino. Is that all you needed? Now, let me go.”

“Cute. I will need to cut the power first. Where can I do that, Parker?”

“It’s weirdly built in the middle where the lab for the robots are charged. I don’t know why she made it that way.”

“Who is Domino to you?”

“I met her in college, she comes from old money. We all do. What does this have to do with the Agents? I honestly thought it was some secret society for rich people.”

“You can’t be this ignorant, Parker. You’re telling me you’re innocent of the damages?”

“People who are born into something can’t be expected to be more or different, Anise. You know how it is.”

“Were you born into this society?”

He stopped himself before he disagreed. It begins to manifest real slow. “They scouted me for my science. It’s a breakthrough.”

“How blasé.” My nails tap interchangeably on his knee. Sprigs of his coarse hair touch me. Shove the human skin tanned leather back into his mouth. It’s followed by more muffled noises. “I have plans for you. Be a good puppy and wait for me.”

It’s cruel to suggest more since he has nowhere else to go. He’ll suffer for me.

---

My new boyfriend Parker allowed me quick access into the database. The middle of the building was painless to reach. Between my drunken slurring I disassembled a few cores and stole a few without any damage. Worth a fortune, one swiped at my ribcage. Crunched a piece. Spittin’ blood, remnant clots feel like lost dip earthy dreck in the webs of my gums. The panels were behind a glass room without locks, a light push and they swung open. Reminded me of bar doors, how they used to swing back and forth. Six rows of military green towers with hundreds of switches. No idea how many of them were connected to this building or elsewhere.

Retracting my cane, a bat with spray painted reds and neon mustard over the barbed wire glittered underneath the big lights. Fuckers must live pain free lives. To release the pressure in my veins, I begin swinging the thing in the air. Correct weight in my hands, not heavy enough to tie me down. Move into the body.

Cracked into the levers. Every single one. Sparks flew past me, generators whirl in through the vents. A torrent of rage steps up to the beat to smash the levers into pieces.

I see ghosts of my past, we reflect within each other. Scream with me, breathe with me. Years have gone by, they’ve become strangers living in my skin. The wealth gap is unyielding, these towers fill the city. Sentient God’s all seeing eye.

Lights out.

We keep wondering when we’re going to feel real.

---

Found her staring out her window, part of the city was lit. Her expression was empty, void of feeling. I wanted her to be scared in her ivory tower. Her hand pressed on the window pane.

Naked bodies were moving in the shadows fucking, bodies meshed together in pain and sorrow. Three floors of whores collected, moaning their way through performance. One of them attempted to pull me down with them, desperation, distraction. Foot tilted, launched straight to the jaw. I felt the weight of their face liquify inwards. Must be clones. Soft dewy skin, poreless supremacy.

Do they age like we do? Do they fuck like we do?

Unlocking a few vials, I steadily pour gasoline onto their bodies. If they don’t die from the fire, they’ll die if they accidentally swallow it. Some of them begin to cough. Wonder how low their immunities must be. She has to be crazier than Parker if she fucks her own clones and someone else. A secret second thing doesn’t have her hair.

Domino’s hair is platinum white blonde. Sleek blue business coat, the warmth of another’s nameless skin lined underneath. I didn’t have a name for the discomfort I was feeling staring at her nude body covered in it. Her four inch heels clicked on the ground. Agents are in the age of gluttony.

Stopped at about five feet from her. Close range for my target. Bludgeoning her head would take less than three seconds. Domino was unarmed. Must be nice to be this complacent.

“We wondered who was pulling people off the streets and cannibalizing them.” Domino spoke, her eyes didn’t turn to reach mine.

“I am a vegetarian. Not inclined to eat my prey.”

“Do you know who is eating all the Agents in this city?”

“No idea. Sounds like a bad time for you.” Taunting her, I clicked my tongue. She turned to face me, tits sagged in either direction. I felt just as confused as they were at the moment. She wasn’t powerful, it was handed to her on a platter. Too calm for this conversation. Certainty. “You have my sympathies, Agent Domino.”

“Who the fuck are you? Why are you in my house?”

“My boyfriend Parker said you’re looking for a good time. I’ve come to provide.”

“Cut the bullshit.” Domino sneared. “I don’t fuck people I don’t know. Parker knows better than that.”

“Parker wanted to try something new. I can’t blame him. It gets real boring fuckin’ clones I’d imagine.”

I light my cigarette and flick a match behind me. Some of them begin to burn, there needs to be a flame brighter to warm my body.

Domino gets a body shot. Struck her across the face. My knuckles in rhythm dance with her flesh. Breath out. She is voiceless, airy light. Moves like she hasn’t tried or lifted a finger in her damn life.

Domino attempts to duck and slips backwards on the sleek ground. My left hand grabs her hair and shoves it forward, she falls. Pull the coat clean off her body, like a child who doesn’t know how to take it off. Yeah, this’ll do. Cover it in another vial of gasoline.

“You won’t be needing this, Domino.” Zippo in hand, it goes up fast like a Molotov cocktail igniting in an airless room.

None of them scream. This crosses out any of the might’ve been regular humans. Mouths wide open from the pain and burns collect raised bumps on their face, melts all the glitter and glamour. Paramours disfigured, blend to the ground forming new candle wax. “You know it’s not normal that none of them scream. I find it incredibly eerie, don’t you?”

“Is it money?”

“You should know better, collectors never come for money. Don’t tell me you’re as dense as that fuck boi downstairs.”

“Collectors. I’ve heard of your kind. The sect from the thousand year war. Still around?”

“It’s not religion, it won’t die out or change because some politician wants to change its face or message.”

“What do you want? I will give you anything for this conversation to be over.”

“I know you’re connected to a wire transfer in your sternum. Press it and send a message. All the bitches in their ivory tower has this body modification.”

“Why would you give them a bone?” Her fingers are shaking near her sternum. “That doesn’t make any sense. You’ll give yourself up.”

“You don’t know my name, Agent Domino. A sorry excuse for your kind. A plaything. This whole conversation, you’ve learned nothing. Gotta be a trust fund kid. Ain’t no way.”

She’s covering her tits, “Yeah, we were brought up this way.”

I lean in close to her face, “Press it.” Her fingers fumble to press a button down. Coughed blood and spit it on the ground. “Cities gonna burn. Welcome to your new age.”

Coms start funneling through her chest, I smack her hand out of the way. Words stringing stream of consciousness out of her. Voices talking over each other. Nothing is clear.

One of my throwaways clasped in my left hand. Stabbed into the machinery core in her sternum. Coms lost. Sparks zap me in collateral. Heard it riot, and collapse into her body. Could kill her or leave her, it wouldn’t make a difference. She’s going to die with that machinery in her body. Our bodies reject it. Candidates of the machine go through terrible trials to get their body to accept it in the first place. A lot of rich children die, she’s made it to something. Pores up close, all the foundation makes her appear more weathered. Leathery. Tanning beds cancer.

“Fuck, what the fuck.”

“Any last words?”

“Fuck you.”

Extracted out the throwaway, sliced her neck, her body bended with my blade. Cheesecake easy. She didn’t fight it. Domino fell to the floor choking and laughing as the blood drowned her under pressure.

Save a conversation for someone who has information that’s worth my time. In the Ivory tower there’s a button that begins to dismantle the whole building. It’s the name of the woman from games before the wars. Women up top all represent a piece.

Turn my body toward the bedroom. She didn’t have screens like Parker. Rested above the bed frame was a domino piece attached to the wall held by a robotic hand. Its emergency lights lit it up. Dumb idea. Pointer finger and thumb held it upright.

A token of gratitude. It’s the least she could offer.

My fingers attempt to grab it from the robot. Its automatic hand grabs my whole hand in a closing motion. Split second speed. Fingers make a fist and punch its palm. Got me. I am not your shackled bitch. Grunted guttural breaths, I curse. Robotic hand crushes my bones, its strength strips away at my connectors.

Twenty seven bones in the human hand.

Ambidextrous, I reach for the retractable cane in my coat pocket. Less than a minute to save face. I didn’t kill a bitch for jokes. One good shake and it slips out, bat with barbed wire. It won’t be easy.

One, two, three.

Bat overhead and slammed it diagonal. Barbed wire cuts up my fist. The robotic hand releases me. My hand is mangled and wet with blood. You take a pillowcase and wrap it, gonna sting for a few days. Blood loss feels a little euphoric. Grind your teeth together, relax the jaw and rewind.

Damn. They thought of everything.

Sirens go off, long echoes in a tunnel.

Twenty minutes to evacuate the building. Code Red.

Building is built for its own doomsday. My puppy is waiting for me. Better take him with me, I don’t leave my pets behind.

---

Sirens go off, its sound agitates the house.

Alucard is watching the clock. It’s twenty minutes until 1 AM. He was impatient and filled with bloodlust.

Where are you, Anise?

Pretended as if she was closer, and could hear him. Everything in the home felt hot. He didn’t like the concept of Anise getting killed because she had to take out an Agent. Her ripe fruit would fall to its death. Heartbeats bruised, her clock churning at the seams.

Alucard’s paper contract gave him the ability to kill her in any scenario, he was her senior.

It would be a hail mary. Bloodlust activated. This time, it felt different. Wrong. History documents said empires lasted every two hundred and fifty years, this one overstayed its flavor.

What if they perfected their art of war?

Brain split down the center, one was filled with meat desires. It lurked through his body and invigorated him with strange beads of joy. The other hoped he could watch Anise die naturally. Old age is what they call it.

He wanted to disappear into the wild. Hunting without orders.

There was doubt in him, that Anise would ever willingly kill him out of love. He might’ve been her puppy, but their relationship was strictly business. Partners, cohortssss.

If you don’t come home in five minutes, I am going to break the windows and find you.

Alucard shot his tongue out aggressively. Five minutes hasn’t passed, rules weren’t his memo. Hated to be bound by time. None of it applied to him in the first place. He whipped his tail at the window shattering it. Claws scattered the glass skeletons until they were dust.

Jumped out the window, a four foot drop.

Sirens were louder outside. No one warned him this would create anger in his soul.

---

Agent Parker was still gagged when I found him in the way I left him. He lived on the first floor, a convenient blessing. Sirens were harsher, grated against the eardrums. Hot sticky air cloaked the room, summer day in the morning. My ears started to ring to the tempo.

“Don’t worry my puppy, I am here for you. We’re gonna escape this place. Won’t let the beams above your head puncture your body. Gonna need you alive, fresh.”

My working hand grabbed the slack, lugged his body across the tile. His skin droned against it making strange noises as before, his muffled voice was distorted, spit dried all the way to his chin. A baby without his bib.

Kicking open the door, I feel the weight of our bodies shake on this whimsy balcony metal. We couldn’t stay on it long. On the ground, I pull a makeshift fireman carry to lift him on the edge of the rail. Throw him clean off the structure. Shouldn’t kill him, but it wouldn’t matter. Alucard would eat anything I give him.

Crack goes his bones. Body crunches on the ground, likely the spine. Muffled screams are followed by silence. Shock to the nerves.

My working hand balances my body on top of the rail to slide to the ground. Jump next to his frail body, see some bone. It can’t be good. Tears stream from the corner of his eyes, nose gooey mud. I ruffle his hair messy, the way you touch a puppy. This is our last time to play.

Hand on the slack, I haul his body. His skin divorces against the paved cement. Dewy new raw skin attaches to exposed aggregate concrete. His weeps play a song, a tune as we reach the middle of the street.

There’s no telling if the man will cease and desist at the center of our universe. He’s the first of many to fall.

Collapse of the building feels imminent. Its sounds crippled from an otherwise consistent gong. His breathing stiffens at the defeat of my movements, the drag, how it scrapes, how it deceives.

“You think Domino was your regional manager of this joint? Could be a good thing. New faces. She seemed ready to go. This generation of yours has gotten too soft for us old heads. Love that for you.”

No cars work past nightfall. Nobody will hit me, ‘cause the fuses don’t work unless the sun’s up. It won’t rise for another hour or two. Body wobbles in a state of delirium, we’ve only made it to a block away from the structure. Breath wheezes in unison of his weeps. Crickets scream over our voices, chirr with siren gongs.

“Got a friend who can’t wait to meet you. His names Alucard. He’s a real looker too. He’s definitely your type.”

Knees begin to lock, I squat. Fucker is heavy from behind. Use the slack of the rope to create leverage with my full body. Shoulders ache, veins tingle in my sciatica. Vision tunnels out, double, triple. Colors don’t match each other where they should. Logic defies me, no chemical cure.

Agent Parker’s body is a hefty obstacle. We reach the end of the street about a half mile, middle between his life and mine. Shift is swift, violent seizures flip his body and it bounces his back. Drop the rope in mid action, my fingers a fish out of water. Less than a minute, and a fresh carcass can explode its preserves. Tear out his gag, his mouth wet with cortisol. Rope against the jaw, teeth down. Hold his tongue. Use my bloody fist to level his head. Our eyes look at each other, no one is home.

We share fear for the wrong reasons, his helplessness wrecks my insides for a second of empathy.

Shrieks follow from a distance, the balconies around the skyscraper start to come unhinged. Alone, and awake the collapse begins. Large dust swells fall from its structure and you know it’s going to be bad. Your body hovers over Parker’s and you blockade his naked mole rat skinny body. Brace for the worst, hope for the best.

---

Alucard picks up speed when he sees dust swells down and a skyscraper in the distance explodes. Shrapnel from the building chuck itself into neighboring homes. Flames jump ship. The city begins to burn, slow. Sirens blaring, it vibrates the city. Cells in his body ignite, scream with rage.

An unfortunate soul stepped out and stared at the casualties. Alucard raised his jaws, and propelled his body toward it. Skin musk faded away at his touch. Teeth to jugular, claws behead it. The door behind the human slams and locks. His hind legs kick its body.

No time to savor it. No time to devour what should be mine.

Anise is somewhere in the city. She could be dead. Due to his size Alucard could pick up speed, a little under thirty miles per hour. Buildings zoomed past his peripheral, blended where lines became sounds, worlds pitch discomposure.

Scent picks up Anise, its faint, failing. Dust plumes cover part of her body. No desire to eat its grain. Where did it come from? What are the Agents trying to hide? Alucard thinks of sand beads near the edge of this city, its ocean. Wind travels and takes it with it. Thought tech was self cleaning, with hands no one can see.

Two bodies, in the middle of the street, hover. Dusted into near stone, they were. He can see part of Anise’s coat. Pivots around her and lifts the creature she protects with his mouth. Mouth doesn’t rip deep into the flesh. He can feel its decay. Anise hangs above, can’t see in front of him. Carries them away, they must go far.

Far away from here.

---

Lifelines held together by leylines. Our lifetimes glimmer fades in and out. My body drops in front of home, carried by the Alucard Taxi. He’s hissing in a steady tempo, rings in my ears. Waves in and out. Parker no longer has his gag, he whimpers. Chest decays from the bacteria spit in Alucard’s mouth.

Stupid, stupid girl. You could’ve left him behind. This was too risky. It wasn’t worth it. I know you can hear me, speak girl.

“It was a gift for you. I understand my actions were brash. They left the door open for me. I had to take the opportunity.”

Opportunity at getting yourself killed? Taking out the building was not the plan. You were supposed to scout them. In and out like a ghost. That’s our memo. Now everyone knows our faces.

“It was too easy, they had minimal security. I have cores for the takeover. We can leave when the dust settles. A new location, this is a good thing.”

Parker screams, believe the mixture of pain, delirium and Alucard’s voice translating on a speaker is driving him mad. Some sort of fucked up fairy tale. Tech was transcendent, and Alucard’s species had been extinct. Never seen one in his life. Never saw a picture from the past. They don’t teach the Agents in the ways of old.

Shut up, peasant. I’ll make it quick. Your time. Alucard points his large eyes toward Parker’s face. Isssss coming soon enough. The adults musssst speak.

“He was making clones and taking advantage of women. Clones meant the Agents could be immortal. They couldn’t talk. I don’t think their lifespans were very long. That’s the disgusting meat you ate earlier. This was a hub for it.”

I don’t care if he was making species of human look alikessss. You will suffer for this, Anise. They will come for all of us, now that the secret is out.

“I didn’t need you to save me. I would’ve come with him regardless.”

I can smell your blood all over you. You’re weak. It’ssss not your fault, your species is easy to kill. We will discuss more when we go dark. We don’t make decisions without each other Anise. Do you remember why?

“If I don’t abide by your rule of blood, it ends the contract and my life is yours.”

Yessss. Is this your sacrifice for your mistake?

“Alucard, this is Agent Parker Smith 306. He betrayed our international agreement. Under our law in the house, I give you a treaty arrangement for my mistake. His sacrifice will hold meaning for all the Agents who can listen. We will come for you in the age of gluttony.”

Alucard opens his jaws, spit drips onto Parker’s skin. Dragon body moves in slow motion, magnetic, my eyes follow. Flaccid brightness from the burning city warms my skin. Black smoke pulls up into the air. Carnage, humans’ wicked ruins live inside Alucard’s mouth. Screams distort into heated noises, Parker’s head string cheeses in his dissemblance. In the zero hour, this tinderbox crumbles. Audio displays of power fade away from reality. Bones swallowed like vultures, audiences to terminate DNA.

Alucard’s eyes look right through me. I crack a smile, my teeth stained red. Our war is a virtue unspoken. Head bounces on the cement, you’ll get everything you want.

Before the street cleaners come.

Before the meeting of the sun.

---