Chapter 18

Okay, that could have gone better. I thought to myself, as I trudged my way from the elevator back up on 150 to my nearby apartment.

The first few times I’d gone to throw the poison into sub 10 had all gone about the same as the first. There’d been somewhere between four and ten kids hanging out in the stairwells. I’d killed them quickly and quietly, chucked my candy through the door, and made a run for it. It’d even leveled me up to 3, though I’d decided to hold off on selecting a new skill or perk until later.

The fourth and fifth time had gone even smoother, since there hadn’t been anyone at all on the stairs or right inside the door to that level. I still wasn’t sure if that meant those areas weren’t as densely inhabited, or if I’d just caused enough of a distraction with my previous visits to draw the kids away from them.

But the last one…well that one had just been shitty. There had been no fewer than twenty kids hanging out in the stairwell, and they had obviously been ready for trouble. Calling them kids might be something of a misnomer as well. They’d been significantly older than the previous groups I’d run into, with some of them around my own age. They’d also had more chrome. I’d managed to kill most of them in the stairwell, even if I’d had to resort to my .45s to get the job done. But just as I was about to finish them off, they were suddenly reinforced by a seemingly unending stream of raggedy kids pouring into the stairwell. Really should have bought some damn grenades. I sighed to myself as I walked tiredly along.

In the end, I’d just chucked my last two boxes of poison into the crowd on the stairs and ran upwards as fast as I could. Given that some of them had chrome and long enough legs to actually keep up with me, it’d gotten a bit dicier than I’d have liked.

At least I got the full 500 XP for a half dozen or so of them. A quick glance at my stats showed that I’d hit level 5 with all the kids I’d left bullet ridden behind me, and I was already two thirds of the way to level 6.

During my mad run, I had primarily moved to using the .45 Python I’d taken off fuji and was going to need to buy some new clips, as I’d just dropped them on the stairs as I emptied them while I went. Didn’t hurt though that I’d spent so much time running that I’d managed a handful of Body XP alerts as well, not to mention an equal number of handgun alerts.

My mind flashed back to the nightmarish retreat up the stairs as I poured lead behind me into my pursuers. They’d come within a hair’s breadth of swarming me on several occasions, and the only reason I’d made it out of there was due to their inability to cut through my trench coat with their ever present knives. A few of them had even had guns. I rubbed at my bruised ribs. I had unexpectedly tested my shirt’s bullet resistance and found it to be acceptable, but no matter how you cut it, getting shot fucking hurts.

I hadn’t trusted my ability to get through the doors of the various sub levels with them right on my tail, and it hadn’t been until I was all the way up on the ground floor that I’d opened enough space to exit the stairwell. That hadn’t stopped them from following me, and I’d ended up sprinting through the mall-like business district there, scattering crowds of shoppers, as a horde of children screaming bloody murder pelted hell mell after me with knives raised.

Eventually, I’d hit the megabuilding’s west exit and headed outside entirely. With nothing but a straight shot north along the side of the megabuilding, I’d run as fast as I could, which was enough to put the smaller kids well in my rear view mirror. But some of those little fucks must have had some good chrome or something, because a decent number of them had been steadily closing in on me. In a moment of panic, I’d jammed a Skill Point that I’d earned with my earlier murders into Body. The instant increase in physical ability had immediately become apparent as I’d pulled away from the little freaks and had made tracks all the way around the megabuilding in a six mile run to the east entrance.

Reentering the megabuilding, I’d taken the nearest stairwell up to level 2 and there caught an elevator headed up. I’d been so paranoid about a poorly dressed kid I’d seen amongst the crowd in the elevator being one of the kids from sub 10 that I had gotten off on level 145, walked up the stairs a few levels and then caught a completely different elevator that came to a stop nearer my apartment.

As my trip home neared its end, I heard the telltale sound of a guitar reverberating through the halls. I made the last turn home and saw Abby camped out on the floor next to her apartment’s door, playing a happy little tune as her fingers danced over the fretboard. “Hey, Mal!” she chirped as she let a final note ring slowly to silence.

“Hey there, sensei, how’s biz?” I came to a tired stop and leaned a shoulder against her door frame.

“Good!” she replied cheerfully. “Lizzy gave me permission to join a rock band, if I can find one she says won’t scav me out for parts!”

“Well, congratulations. I look forward to telling everyone I know that I knew you back before you made it big.” I smiled down at her as her fingers seemingly unconsciously began plucking out a quick melody on her guitar.

“Oh, you should talk to Lizzy. She told me to tell her if you stopped by.” She momentarily ceased plucking at her guitar to wave at her apartment door which slid open. Turning to look inside, I saw Lizzy sitting at a table by the window as she poked a finger at a pad, hearing the door open she looked up and favored me with a smile.

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“Oh, hi, Malcolm! I was going to stop by and talk with you later, but this works too. Say, did you do your whole poison thing yet?” Lizzy asked.

I pivoted smoothly to stand in the doorway, facing in, without removing my shoulder from the door frame. “Yep, just getting back from that right now. Poison has been introduced into their natural habitat. Went totally smooth,” I lied.

I felt a sudden sharp pain from my calf and flinched, looking down I saw Abby crouched behind me holding a bloody shiv. “Did you just stab me, sensei?” I asked, somewhat flabbergasted.

“What?! No! I just pulled this knife out of your leg. How did you not know you had a knife sticking out of you?!” She waved the bloody implement at me threateningly for daring to impune her honor.

“Smooth, huh?” queried Lizzy with a smirk as I pulled an AeroMed out of my pocket and huffed it down before chucking the empty inhaler over my shoulder into the hallway.

I sighed out the chemical taste of the inhaler and shrugged my shoulder. “Smooth enough. Had to kill 50 or 60 of ‘em. Might have gotten a little hairy, but I dropped off the poison as planned.” I smiled as I felt the inhaler going to work, healing the stab wound in my leg. I could feel blood running down my ankle and pooling in my shoe though, I’d need to clean that out later.

“Perfect! I was talking with a couple of my old friends, and they just picked up brand new thermal blades. They were looking for a target that didn’t have much in the way of guns, and I thought of the basement gig. So…I was wondering if the three of us could tag along when you head down to finish them off? Obviously we’d want a cut, but given that you invested in the poison to make it reasonably possible, I was thinking like you’d get the first 50 grand to cover your costs and then we split the rest of the creds evenly? Feel free to say no, I know I’m kinda trying to butt into your gig here.” She seemed a bit uncertain as to my reaction as she finished in a rush.

I considered it. I really didn’t want to deal with a swarm like that all by myself again. I also didn’t have the creds to afford the gun or guns I’d need to mow down that many people in a timely manner. I’d already been planning to ask Sara along for a cut anyway. But I also didn’t want to share the payday…”I’d be willing to cut you in. But I already did all the heavy lifting on this gig, so it wouldn’t be an even cut. I could do 20 grand each though, and I was planning to invite Sara along too. So that would be five of us, if she’s in. Should be doable with that many, since we’re just going down to clear out the dregs. Obviously I’d want to meet your friends beforehand, but…Think that’d work for ya?” I asked.

Lizzy took her own turn to consider the offered deal, but after a minute gave me a nod. “I think so. I’m in, at any rate, but I can’t speak for my friends. I’ll set up a meet in a few days and you can talk to them yourself.”

“Sounds good. Message me the details. I’m gonna go get me a shower and a nap.” I gave her a friendly wave and walked away from the door towards my apartment.

“And also a new pair of pants!” Chirped Abby in my wake.

“Also pants!” I added in agreement over my shoulder to a laugh from Lizzy that was cut off as the door slid shut.

==

I sighed as I held up my freshly washed dark brown pants. They were pretty much a total loss. When I’d thrown them into the washer/dryer, before I jumped in the shower, I’d figured they might well be salvageable, but it seemed I’d missed a couple of cuts other than the stab in my calf that Abby had helped me with. Washing the pants had caused those cuts to fray badly, the left pant leg was barely holding on by a literal thread at the knee. I guess that’s why CW brand is so cheap. Luckily my bland name brandless shoes had handled the washer ok and were still serviceable, but I was down to two pairs of pants to my name. I’d probably need to stop by a shop and pick up some more, and since I’m heading back down to sub 10 next week I should probably make at least one pair tier 1. I really hoped I could afford them. The 5 grand I had left in my account wasn’t going to go very far.

I grabbed one of the few remaining cans of AraAra tea out of the fridge and took a seat on the couch, propping my crossed ankles on the coffee table as I pulled up a map and started idly searching for clothing shops nearby. I found a small business on the other side of the level that looked promising. It wasn’t a chain store, so it should have a variety of brands, unfortunately there wasn’t any pricing available on their items through the net so I’d have to go in person later.

I idly flicked through the channels on TV as I sipped my tea, but couldn’t find anything worth watching.

Having not talked with Sara all day, I sent her a quick message asking what she was up to. I got a reply back after a minute or so, letting me know that she was in the middle of getting her hair cut, and was in the process of picking up some of the things she’d commissioned the other day when she went shopping with Gary. I gave Sara a brief rundown on the gig I’d been working, and even sent her a vid clip I’d been in the process of cutting together showing the purchase of the poison, and how I introduced it to sub level 10. Having a computer in your head has all kinds of useful features, but being able to edit video while you’re in the shower is pretty cool.

As I finished my tea and decided to head for bed, I got one last message from her, basically laughing at me for running away from little kids. It was a little embarrassing…but there had been a hell of a lot of them.

Walking up the stairs to my loft, I just flopped forward face first onto the bed. Really need to get some good sleep today. I had to remember that I had poison in my system that I needed to eliminate via the rest function…or maybe not. Depends on my- The thought was interrupted as a menu popped up in my vision asking me how long I wanted to sleep for. Holy shit! I completely forgot about the IA’s sleep timer! With a smile I quickly selected 8 hours, and everything instantly went black.