CH3c
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JULY 11TH, 2011
The room was dark, dank and smelled of dust and sewage. It was the perfect hideout—the perfect place to keep secrets hidden from the eyes of the innocent and righteous.
A light flickered on with the yank of a rusted old chain.
"My husband's death will be avenged." A hand softly landed on a table placed in the middle of the dark room. Two dark eyes looked up from the blackness. "I will not rest until those beasts are brought to me and brought to justice! I want them dead!"
"We will find them, Odessa." From the quiet corners across the room, a tall, thin Asian woman dressed in tight black leather stepped into the light. She moved so silently and with so much ease, the naked eye would have been gouged out and served on a platter before even noticing her in the room. "I will bring them to you."
"We will bring them to you." In the opposite corner stood a large bulky older man in a pinstriped suit. He was grinning devilishly with a lit cigar sticking out from his pearly white teeth. "You don't get all the credit, Glasgow." He held up a silver pistol and waved it at her airily.
"I don't care who has to do it. I want it done." There was deep hatred mixed with pain in the eyes of Purvis Jameson's widow. Her hands were now clenched into fists.
"Yes ma'am. We already have several leads on them."
"We'll report back as soon as possible."
Odessa Jameson had taken several thousand dollars from her husband's overflowing bank account and hired the two assassins to take revenge on the slave and the refugee who had murdered him. From her pocket she took out a large stack of hundreds and slammed them down on the table. "I will not tolerate failure." She pulled up her colorful ruffled, layered skirts and exited the room, marching up an ominously dark staircase, opening the door at the top with so much force it barely stayed on the hinges, and stomping on out into the golden morning light without so much as shedding a single tear.
Shuchun Glasgow strode over to the monetary offering on the table and picked it up. "After this, I'm retiring early," she said to her partner. She glanced back to the him as he stood in the corner of the room. "This woman's out of her mind paying us this much. I've killed plenty of men-"
"Women and children, too." Gustav Gladhand took the cigar out of his mouth and breathed out a dark black cloud into the room. "Sometimes I wonder if it's okay to sleep at night when I'm around you." He chuckled and placed his monstrous-sized hand on his partner's shoulder. She brushed him off.
"I've no sympathy for these creatures."
"They've no sympathy for us." Gustav took his pinstriped hat off and set it down. He and Glasgow had been assassins for hire since the virus broke out and the infecteds had started their killings. They both took their job very seriously, but viewed their victims differently. Each time they were hired for a mission, they went through a process to desensitize themselves before executing their targets. "Even if there was a cure, their society would never accept them back."
"There's no way to save them. The government has failed and failed again in finding that cure." Glasgow took a small concealed dagger from her belt strap and looked at her reflection in its blade. "The thrill of the kill keeps me going anyway."
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"I can't see me lovin' nobody but you for all my liiiife!"
Seline grumbled at Jed to shut up and tried to get back to sleep. It was futile. He continued to belt out lyrics even though there was still no background music playing: "When you're with me, baby, the skies'll be blue for all my liiife!" She sat up and growled at him, but she let up when she realized she was back in the plane.
"'Mornin' beautiful!" Jed chimed at her. He was smiling big again, ears perked up and everything. "'You sleep well?"
"…Yes," she responded after letting her mind catch up with her. She reached up and touched her forehead. She felt strangely calm. When she moved, she could feel bandages on her neck and shoulder. She touched the white cloths and a grin appeared on her face. "Did you do this?" she asked the goofy pilot, lightly pushing his shoulder.
"With miss Peray's help of course!" he responded.
"He's a terrible doctor." Little Beedie was perched high and mightily on top of the suitcases in the space behind the seats. She'd decided to come with them! She had her arms crossed and her nose in the air. She'd removed her trench coat to reveal underneath that she had a white tank top on. "If not for miss Peray, you poor pooches would be dying slow, painful deaths in the desert. You be grateful you found me. I'm best thing to ever happen to you."
"Thank you," Seline nodded to her. "I noticed you also bound up my leg again." Seline's broken leg was re-bound with fresh bandages. It took a little more effort than normal, but she wiggled her toes. Beedie had done a much better job than Jed.
"Amazed you manage to get to my burrow on it. You need at least few weeks of recuperation."
"Did you put me on any painkillers?" Seline asked, unsure about how calm and happy she was feeling. "I know I need 'em, but I don't really trust myself on 'em." Seline grinned sheepishly at Jed.
"You're tellin' me!"
"Sorry…"
"No painkillers," Beedie said to Seline. Jed made a disgruntled face, like he knew what Beedie was going to say. She continued, "you're on what he's on." She held up a white plastic case with a syringe inside it.
"You mean you got into his drugs? Well that's just hysterical!" Seline giggled at Jed. "I dunno about you, but I feel great. My teeth don't hurt, I don't wanna strangle babies and my mind hasn't been this clear in years!"
"You're welcome," Jed muttered. "She took 'em from me without my consent."
"The drugs make him cranky," Beedie whispered to Seline, since she apparently knew. She'd been on the plane with him for over an hour while Seline was asleep.
"That's enough from you, ya little rat."
Seline and Beedie stared at Jed, both shocked that something so mean would come out of his mouth. Yes, it'd only been a few hours, but it was still a surprise that he could say anything insulting to anyone.
"I didn't mean that!" It took several seconds, but Jed finally realized what he'd said. "Aw jeeze, I don't mean it. You're right. It's the medication." He was frowning deeply at himself. It seemed to Seline that the drugs gave him a anti-high, and that he would only feel happy and spontaneous again once they wore off. In a circular mirror on the dash, Jed could see Beedie in the back looking skeptical and scowling at him. "I'm a lot happier when I'm off it. I don't remember much of myself, but from how I act on the drugs, I'm kind of a douche. Sorry sorry sorry…"
Neither Seline nor Beedie said anything to him.
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