Page 5 of Even Robots Die
I take a big gulp of my beer and turn around so I can look at the room.
Now that I look closely, I can see that a lot of people in the room have blood on their clothes. No one seems to pay attention to it and worse, I think I’m attracting more attention by being clean than any of the bloody people.
I take another big gulp of my beer and turn back in the barmaid’s direction.
I need to get out of here. I don’t think I’m in the right place or that I’ll get anything out of the people here.
I drop my beer bottle on the counter and I’m surprised to see that there’s a coaster for me.
It has the wolf and the porcupine emblems of the bar on it. I don’t know if they look like they’re fighting or hugging, but that’s not what catches my attention.
On the side there is a small smudge of ink that looks a bit out of place on the design. I grab the coaster to get a closer look and turn it.
I turn it back so the wolf and the porcupine face me again immediately, take one last gulp of my beer and drop it to the counter without finishing it. I won’t get anything I need here now.
I make my way to the door and stuff the coaster in my pocket.
I feel someone trying to grab me, but I keep walking and elbow whoever it was.
I might not know how to fight, but you don’t live in Paris without at least learning how to fend off the creeps.
When I’m finally out of the bar, I don’t stop, I keep walking in the direction of the closest hotel.
I need to be away from the streets for a little while.
I pay for my room and walk up the two stories of stairs before I open my room for the night, enter, lock the door, and drop my bag on the ground next to it.
By the time I sit on the bed, my heartbeat is fast and I have to take a breath to calm down.
No more bars for me until I find my dad, I tell myself.
Well, that might not be true.
I retrieve the coaster from my pocket and there on the back, that same message I saw quickly in the dim lighting of the bar is glaring at me.
2am at the back of the L&P
I’m not sure if it’s a date or if the barmaid recognized I needed intel. Hell, I’m not even sure it’s from the barmaid.
But there is no way I’m not going.
I guess I better take a nap and sleep the beer away.
I’m not going home tonight, anyway.
4
Florentine
Sleep doesn’t really come while I wait, but I still stay in my room. I have no idea at what hour of the day or night they’re going to let another bull-shifter run after everyone in the streets, and the interweb was no help. It looks like each year they change the time and it’s supposed to be random. You need to be in some sort of holo group to get the time it starts, and even then you would only get a thirty minute head start.
I tried to join one of the groups, but they asked far too many questions and I gave up. It’s easier to avoid the streets altogether.
At least until two in the morning.
Which is in only ten minutes, so I get ready to go.
How many weapons do I need? I would love to say none because there is still a chance that I could just get lucky tonight. But I remember the crowd at the bar, and two in the morning might be closing time, but if I know anything, it’s that drunkards never vanish right when a bar closes.
