Page 25 of Fragile Facade
She stops spinning, pausing with her back to him. No one puts their back to a strange man in a mask, especially not in Moros, so I pull a dagger free from its holster and position my feet to throw it.
“What ever for?” she asks the empty street.
“Who are you?” Menace gets closer.
I can’t see her face, but I swear to fuck I see her teeth flash through a sick smile before she twirls to face Menace. My dagger flies at the same time she pulls a gun free and a bang goes off. My second dagger flies as Menace clutches his stomach, and Ransom leaps over the side of the building, just like Monster is doing from his side of the street, when Menace hits the ground. The woman’s gun clatters to the street, going off again all on its own.
“Reaper Corp is coming,” the lady shouts as I climb over the front of The Midnight Diner. “And you can’t stop us.” Her robes open to reveal my daggers in her gut… and her hands. In both of them, a red light blinks, counting down time.
“Menace!” I shout, my feet hitting the ground painfully.
“Monster, get back!” Ransom shouts, running straight for him.
But Monster drops right on top of the woman, knocking the handheld explosives from her grip. He rips her hat off and his yellow mask looks down at her. A breath later, the yellow is splashed red, and this woman chortles as she dies.
“Any others?” I ask my earpiece and start running.
“Death Row is clear.”
My breath dampens the inside of my mask as I run to Menace, sliding to his side as he bleeds out on the street. I see the frosty blue of his eyes through his mask, panicked, but mostly just pissed off.
“The explosives!” he chokes out in a ragged yell.
Both small explosives are just sitting on the pavement, still blinking. Their size doesn’t matter; they’re meant to cause chaos, and they will if we don’t get off this street. I press my hands to the bullet hole in Menace’s side, looking at Ransom as I do it. Glitch isn’t here, and he’s the only one of us who knows how to disarm a bomb. He shakes his head, knowing they’re going to go off.
Right next to Menace.
“Let’s go!” I shout.
Monster and Ransom grab Menace’s legs and I grab his armpits. We drag him down Death Row, blood oozing from his abdomen and harsh, wheezing breaths panting through his lips.
“Leave me behind the dumpster and fucking run!” Menace demands. “Hurry up.”
The first bomb clicks. Then explodes. My chest booms, harder than it did the night I felt Ghost’s heartbeat. The echo of the explosion sends me flying down Death Row, my arms still hooked under Menace’s armpits. Suspended in time, everything muffles and slows down. The sound doesn’t register right away, the boom of it so powerful my ears ring without hearing, my lungs cease, and my eyes close at the heat. When I slam against the ground with Menace between my legs, the second explosion strikes, shattering glass, setting off car alarms, and making debris rain down on us.
I try to blink through it, to get my eyes to focus, but all I see is smoke and fire and blood. Dust and debris make them water and sting. Shit. I look down, watching Menace struggle to sit up, blood coating the street and making his black outfit appear wet. Dampness trickles from my ears, sticking the sides of my mask to my face as I look back, making sure no other explosions are going to shatter us further.
“Director! We need Medic,” Ransom shouts. Monster is next to him, the two of them stumbling towards us. I press my hands to Menace’s stomach again, making him hiss out in pain.
“Thought you liked pain?” I ask to distract him, my voice too far away from my lips.
He chokes out a laugh, grimacing as his breathing intensifies. “Only when my dick is hard.”
Monster kneels next to me, yanking at Menace’s shirt to find the bullet hole.
“I’m a nurse!” someone shouts, and for the first time in a while, Monster makes a sound. He growls at the nurse approaching us wearily, her hands lifted in innocence.
“Let her through,” I tell Monster. “His face is covered.”
Monster points at his torso, indicating that his many tattoos are distinguishable. I stand, approaching the nurse. Grabbing her by her slender throat, not to harm, but to get all her attention, I bend until my face is right in front of hers. “If you recognize a single thing about him, you will keep it to your fucking self, got it?”
“I p-promise. I-I only want to help.”
I study her for a long few seconds, finding her sincere. She’s friends with Glitch’s parents, and I recognize her as a good Moros local. “Thank you.”
I let her through, and Ransom grabs her hand to help her over the debris. Director tells us Medic is coming, and I stand here, looking at the carnage ofmyfucking street!Mytown does not deserve to suffer a scar like this. Death Mark is burning on one side, and the windows of The Ambient Raven are blown out. The Neon Demon’s front windows are no better, shattered, leaking fluorescent purple neon light onto Death Row. Cars burn, the sidewalk is destroyed, and decorations from Halloween are strewn everywhere, catching fire.
No. Reaper Corp will not have my town.
