Chapter 24
Cleanup or The Burning S***pile
“I'm afraid not, Leo. There are no disposal of body quests,” Imp answered.
Just as well. Leo had no idea how to dispose of the bodies in a way that wouldn't get him into even more trouble.
The fact that there was no pounding on the front door suggested that, either the neighbors hadn't heard anything, or they had and were used to strange noises coming from this house.
He pulled a Demon Tear from his substantial supply and focused it on healing his aching head.
The real question was, how long would it be before people noticed the creature was missing and came to look? He used his implant to contact Mr. Osmond.
Future Man 10/16: Teach, I have a problem.
Leo explained what had just happened to Mr. Osmond.
Teach: Shit. I distinctly remember telling you to avoid drawing the attention of the police. When they discover your victim's partially Changed body trapped in the freezer with some half-eaten kids, they will cover it up, but they'll still come after you since, thanks to the drone footage, you are the obvious suspect. Clean up any sign you were there. Wash with vinegar, alcohol, or gasoline to get rid of your fingerprints. Dispose of your shoes and clothes when you get home. Do you have an incinerator? Better yet, when you get home, stick your shoes and clothes in a garbage bag, stuff them into your pack, and bring them all to my place as soon as you can.
Future Man 10/16: Will do.
Teach: And get me the name of the person you killed and her address, so I can figure out how deep the shit is that you've gotten yourself, and probably us, into.
Future Man 10/16: Yes sir.
Leo cleaned the mess he'd made in the old lady's house, starting with the butcher knife and blood stains around the freezer. Then he went back to the kitchen, throwing away the broken chair, turning off the stove, and moving everything more or less back to where it should be. Fortunately, he'd been wearing gloves, so fingerprints wouldn't be a problem. He was also fortunate that he was wearing his old shoes so he wouldn't have to get rid of his nice new shoes. He went through her purse, disturbing the contents as little as possible. Her name had been April Mary Duggan. She'd had a son and three grandkids and she'd recently turned 73.
He grabbed the purse along with her cellphone and stuck them in the freezer with her and the other bodies. If someone searched the house and found her purse and cellphone, they'd know something had happened to her. If they didn't find them, they'd hopefully assume she was on a trip or something.
There was a plaintive meow. Sparkles peeked at him through the doorway. The orange tabby cat was skin and bones. When Leo tried to approach, it backed away quickly.
He checked the refrigerator and pantry for milk or cat food, but found none, or anything else he would willingly feed a cat. “I wish I had food for you. Sorry.”
After carefully looking over the place for signs of his presence, Leo left, letting the cat out as he did so. At least poor Sparkles would have some chance of surviving now. Sparkles didn't have a collar, so anyone finding it would be unlikely to try to return it to its former owner.
He walked home slowly, using more Demon Tears to accelerate his healing. He was careful not to look at the drone following him. By the time he made it home, his head only hurt a bit, and he'd stopped getting dizzy spells. He noticed Sparkles tailing him, but figured the cat, being a cat, would do what it wanted.
It was only 6:30 in the evening. With everything that had happened, it felt like it should have been much later.
Both parents were working tonight because it was Thursday and they were planning to eat out on Friday. Friday was also the day the public would learn the Bio-Blessed imitator Body Booster's stock was completely worthless.
The only one to notice Leo enter the house was Lydia. She looked up from her cellphone. “What happened to you?”
“Fell down some stairs,” he responded, too physically and mentally exhausted to do anything more than collapse on the couch.
Lydia looked at his bruised face. “No, you didn't. What happened, really?”
“Got into this fight with a child-eating monster. The monster was pretty tough,” Leo responded.
Lydia snorted. “Whatever.”
Leo dragged himself to his feet and looked out the window. Sparkles was hanging around his yard. He went to the fridge and found a nearly empty carton of milk that had gone bad. Cats didn't mind sour milk. He poured it into a bowl and set it on the front porch. “Here, kitty.”
“What are you doing now?” Lydia asked from the doorway, watching him. “You can't feed stray cats. Cats are like poor people. You feed them and they never go away.”
Sparkles didn't move, watching him beside their locust tree.
“Since when are you an expert on poor people?” Leo backed away from the bowl and went inside to collapse on the couch again. “I fed you last night. Is that why you're still around?”
“I'm your sister, stupid. I have no choice, and I'm not poor.”
“Well, the cat's name is Sparkles, and it may have saved my life. It's obviously starving and it followed me home. So I'm feeding it.”
“Whatever.”
“Oh yeah. Your friend with the brother who took the demon jelly and couldn't fly? Your friend wouldn't happen to have any demon jelly left, would he? Or be able to obtain some?”
“No,” Lydia said, too quickly. “My friend told me her brother now believes he's a dictator of some African country and threatened to kill her. You're crazy enough as it is.”
“It's not for me. I know a guy who knows a guy with money, who wants some for research purposes. If you were able to obtain some, no questions asked, the guy with money would make it worth your while.”
“Worth my while as in how much?”
“Say a hundred dollars on top of whatever your friend is asking for.”
“I'll look into it.” She looked over at him. “Are you sure you don't want it for yourself? You're already taking those strange red pills.”
“Dammit, Lydia! Those are muscle enhancers to make me stronger. And stay out of my stuff.”
Lydia looked dubious. “What muscle enhancers? The only decent muscle enhancer is Bio-Blessed.”
Leo took a deep breath. Then another. His first inclination was to smack his sister, hard, and shout about how bad that stuff was and how he'd just killed an old lady because she'd used the stuff and turned into a monster and ate some kids. But he knew that wouldn't accomplish anything.
So he shrugged and reached for his cellphone. “I didn't know you were taking that stuff. That's fine. You'll look cool with a giant nose wart.”
“What?”
“You didn't know? Kids who take Bio-Blessed tend to get giant warts, giant zits, or other facial growths, which is fine by me. I'll just take pictures of you and post them everywhere.”
“That is not true. My friend takes plenty, and she looks great.”
“There was this girl in my class who took that stuff and got a giant wart, inches long, growing out of her nose. We laughed at her so hard.”
“No, you didn't. You made that up.” She used her phone to text someone.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“It's true. Media covers it up. Also, most people who take the stuff are rich, so they take a few weeks off, get plastic surgery, and that's it.”
Lydia stared at her cellphone for a minute.
“Dusty says that kind of thing hardly ever happens and that nose wart was only half an inch long and you're a jerkbag.”
“Half an inch isn't too bad.” Leo pointed the camera at Lydia's face. “I think I see one beginning to form. And I don't think your friend really called me a jerkbag.”
“I hate you!” Lydia got up and kicked Leo in the leg, the one previously hurt by the monster hours before, and stormed off.
Ow.
Curious, Leo limped to the window to check on the cat. The bowl of milk had been licked clean and Sparkles was resting in a nearby tree.
Teach: Fortunately for you, the woman you killed is known to be reclusive. With luck, we'll have at least a week before anyone notices she's missing. And longer before anyone thinks to check the basement freezer. In the meantime, please don't kill anyone else without consulting me.
Future Man 10/16: I'll do that. Thanks.
Lydia came storming back and kicked him again in the same place as before. “I do not have the beginnings of a nose wart!”
“Ow.” Leo smiled, holding up his cellphone. “If you say so. Give it time. Have some more Bio-Blessed. I'll show you how to steal Mom and Dad's supply. There's a brand of aspirin that looks a lot like a Bio-Blessed pill.”
“So you have taken it,” she said.
“Hell no. I wouldn't touch that stuff for anything. But I know how to steal some for you. I think you'd look good with a nose wart.”
She kicked him again. “Creep.”
“Oh yeah. Stay away from Dad tomorrow. I have a feeling he's going to lose a lot of money in the stock market. You do not want to be near him when this happens.”
“Is that part of...?” she asked.
“Yeah. It's part of you know what.” He dragged himself to his feet. “I'm going to go study. Remember to ask your friend about the other thing.”
“Creep.”
Leo limped to his bedroom and collapsed, not wanting to do anything but lie there, feel hopeless, and cry. He remembered what Mr. Osmond had said. If this was all a game, there had to be a way to win. But how? High-Level Bosses were so overpowered. Curious, he checked his stats. Swordsman Rare and Assassin Uncommon had been added to his short list of character choices. Combined with his rarity bonus, this gave him Assassin Rare, or if he wanted, Swordsman Epic.
Swordsman Epic would be like his old Swordsman Common, but infinitely better. He suspected that, in a few weeks post-Change, he'd be stronger than he'd been after fifty years of training in his previous future.
Assassin Rare would come with far more stealth capabilities. He wouldn't have the offensive capability of the Swordsman Epic, but he'd be able to choose when to fight, and get close enough to the monsters to attack with pinpoint precision.
Either choice would be great. For anyone normal.
But neither character was for him. He needed a character class that would let him change the future. Unfortunately, the only thing all the different character classes had in common was that they all got their asses kicked. The “Beware the Guardian” comment was interesting, considering the Guardian character class was no exception to this rule. Were the aliens worried that a certain Guardian might actually pose a threat? If so, how? Or was it some kind of ruse?
These thoughts kept going through his head until he passed out from mental and physical exhaustion.
***
Friday, September 26, 2059
20 days to the apocalypse
Leo dragged himself out of bed. A faint meowing led him to Lydia's room, where Sparkles the cat had made itself at home curled up on Lydia's bed.
“I thought you hated cats,” Leo said, amused. “I thought cats were like poor people.”
“Shut up. Just ignore my mean, creepy brother,” she said to the cat. “Sparkles is a nice kitty.”
“Put that thing outside, Lydia,” Mom said. “We are not getting a cat.”
“But Mom! poor Sparkles was starving. She's an indoor cat. She can't survive in the wild."
“How would you know that?” Leo asked.
“I can tell.”
Sparkles let out a pitiable meow and walked over to Mom, rubbing against her legs.
“Still not getting a cat,” Mom said.
“But, Mom!”
Leo ate quickly. At this point, it was best to act as normal as possible, which meant going to school. He half expected police to show up at the door and take him in for questioning about the being he'd killed the day before. But nothing happened, and he managed to make it to school without incident.
Charlotte smiled conspiratorially at him when he passed her in the hall. He laughed, remembering Brick and the Ex-Lax cupcakes.
School was uneventful. Even Brick and his cronies left him alone.
He wasn't looking forward to going home, remembering the previous future, with Dad screaming and throwing things, Mom trying to console Dad, and failing. Dad destroying the flat screen, then proceeding to go through the house smashing things. No, Friday was not a good day. No choice but to go home and try to keep poor Lydia out of the line of fire.
He let himself in as quietly as possible. The flat screen was on. The first thing he noticed was Mom, Dad, and Lydia watching the news. And the second was they were surprisingly calm.
“...A note was found on the Body Booster CEO's desk this morning. The note consisted of an apology and an explanation. It turns out that during the past year, the lab tests for Body Booster have been faked and the secret ingredient in his Bio-Blessed imitator was, in fact, Bio-Blessed. The note was found the day after the entire Board of Directors of Body Booster, Inc. and ninety-one members of Congress sold their Body Booster stock, for what they assure us are unrelated reasons. They had no idea the stock was going to crash. Senator Bumblin was saying...”
Dad clicked the remote.
“The Body Booster CEO spent billions of dollars, stolen from prospective investors, on Bio-Blessed. Is there any way we can get that money back?” The news spokesperson asked.
“That question has come up before,” the expert replied. “Bio-Blessed, Inc. has assured us that it's not part of their business model to refuse, or return, money gained by customers through illegal or immoral means, as this would adversely affect their stock price. And due to their wealth and connections, Bio-Blessed, Inc. is legally untouchable. So the short answer is no.”
Dad hit the remote again.
“We have a satellite photo of Body Booster CEO Peter Gabson fleeing the country. Look at that guy's wings! He's keeping low to avoid radar. We believe he's heading for a country with no extradition treaties with the US. He's flying well over 100 miles an hour. I bet he wishes he could fly a lot faster, considering how many people want to kill him right now.”
The detailed satellite photo showed the CEO's elongated arms and large, bat-like, membrane wings.
“Leo said you'd be freaking out right now, Dad,” Lydia said. “Leo said you're too dumb to buy decent stocks.”
“Shut up, Lydia. I said you were dumb,” Leo said. “And Dad, you seem awfully calm for having just lost over 100,000 dollars.”
“Get over here,” Dad responded.
Nervously, Leo approached him, not sure what to expect. Dad reached out an arm and lightly smacked the back of Leo's head. “That's for having so little faith in your dad. You didn't think I was holding onto that stock, did you? First, you tell me the stock's garbage. Then your teacher, Mr. Osmond, calls it a burning shitpile. 'It's a burning shitpile.' he said. 'Get rid of that stock. Or you will spend the rest of your life regretting it.'” Dad smacked Leo's head a second time. “I respect Mr. Osmond now. Three days after I sold it, the stock died. Think I'll send him a gift basket.”
I changed the future for the better, Leo thought, if only he could stop his parents from becoming monsters.
“You'll let me keep the cat, right?” Lydia said. “Because I had faith in you. I'm not like my stupid brother.”
“You're my favorite daughter, Lydia, but don't press your luck.”
“I'm your only daughter.”
“We're not keeping that cat,” Mom said.
“I was going to take us to our usual place, but tonight we're going to Dave's Steakhouse. We've got things to celebrate.”
A few hours later, they were sitting at a table in one of the nicest restaurants Leo had ever been to. The friendly, well-dressed wait staff brought them to a table and gave them fancy menus filled with high-priced food. Chandeliers, peaceful music, and a tasteful decor all added to the pleasant atmosphere. Leo was glad he wasn't expected to pay. He had no idea what he wanted to eat. Hell, he wasn't sure what half the items on the menu were.
An older couple talked quietly at the neighboring table. The man looked skinny, not quite Afflicted, but moving in that direction. A waitress brought the old couple two of the biggest steaks Leo had ever seen. He watched them nervously, thankful Imp hadn't given him any more monster-killing quests.
“Leo? Earth to Leo,” Dad was looking at him. “You ready to order?”
“Yeah. Sorry,” Both Dad and a formally dressed waiter were staring at him, waiting for him to order. He looked at the menu again quickly. “Uh. I'll take the clam chowder and salad special.” He was hungry, but he knew the serving sizes were large enough for him not to worry.
“And he'll have a T-Bone steak to go with that,” Lydia said quickly.
With a shrug, Leo nodded.
“Very good,” the waiter said. “I'll be back with your order.”
Within a short time, they had way more food on their table than they could eat and they all proceeded to stuff themselves. Mom and Dad drank a bottle of Bio-Blessed infused wine and grew rambunctious, laughing loudly at their stupid jokes.
Lost in thought. Leo didn't say much. He and Mr. Osmond had convinced his dad to sell the bad stock instead of holding onto it and losing a fortune. This proved without a doubt that he could change the future for the better. The question was, could he change the end of the world? And if so, how?