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.She ripped open my shirt and pushed the sleeves up.She pulled tubes and needles out of the machine and pressed them against my skin.I closed my eyes so I didn’t have to see.Something sharp pricked a vein in my forearm.A strange peace settled over me.Maybe it was time for me to die.I’d survived more than any human had a right to.I’d done things that no one should do to anyone.I’d done my best.That was all anyone could ask of me.At least now I could relax.I opened my eyes to find the Vei woman studying my face.Her eyes had an orange color to them that was rare among Vei.They glowed like the lava lakes of the Blackglass region of Heaven.She leaned in close and pressed something into my hand.Two somethings.One round and metallic, the other smooth as glass.“A gift from Desmond,” she whispered.I stared.A conversation came back to me, drifting across endless ages, or maybe just a couple of days.Desmond’s source inside the Collective.She turned away, and I gripped what she’d given me tight to conceal it from Stretch.The woman moved to the back of the room, glanced back at me once, and nodded almost imperceptibly.I didn’t respond.Stretch came back to inspect the machine.I think he was just pretending he knew what he was doing.He rubbed his chin and nodded.“Let’s get on with it.” He grabbed hold of a face mask with a thin hose attached and moved to place it over my mouth and nose.“Wait,” I said.“Before you do that, I just wanna know something.”He paused.“What?”“Who killed my friend? Who killed Claudia?”“Why?”“Because.” I strained against my neck brace, trying to lean forward.“I need to know.Was it AISOR? Was it Kowalski?”“Kowalski is a coward.He wouldn’t have the guts.”“Then who? Was it you? Was it Bohr?”He shrugged.“She’s dead.You’re about to be dead.It doesn’t matter.”“No,” I said.Cold liquid poured across the object in my hand.A nonsense tune sang in my head.It mixed with the pain, the rage, the frustration, the desperation.“No, what?”“It matters,” I said.“It matters to me!”Chaos flashed in my head, and the Pin Hole opened.In an instant, every strap binding me came loose.I was free.I braced myself against my wrist straps and kicked out with both feet.My shoes slammed into Stretch’s chest.He stumbled and fell, eyes bugging out.His coat flew open as he hit the ground, exposing the shotgun.I ripped the cannulas from my arms and dived forward.At the same time, one of the gangsters by the door let out a burst of gunfire.It would’ve got me clean in the torso if I wasn’t already on the ground.The Vei woman pulled her revolver from her belt and pointed it at the other Collectivists.But I had more immediate worries.I grabbed hold of Stretch’s shotgun.Unfortunately, he had the trigger end.With all my strength I forced it up.It went off, blowing a hole in the bathroom ceiling.The barrel grew hot against my palm.White dust rained on me.Two more shots went off, the muzzle lighting up the room.I was damn near deaf already.Still on his back, Stretch landed a boot in my stomach and I rolled away, gasping.I was still gripping the Pin Hole coin and vial of Kemia the woman had given me.The bottle was tiny, and I’d already used almost all of it just to free myself.Still, I might have enough for one more.I let the Pin Hole close and grabbed for my jacket where it lay discarded on the floor.I had to get my coins.But then I heard the click-clack of the shotgun pumping.I looked back at Stretch and found him sitting up, pointing the gun at me.My stomach went cold.Everything slowed.The butt of an assault rifle collided with the side of his head.His eyes went fuzzy and he dropped to the side.The shotgun boomed.I put my hands out like they could shield me from the buck shot.But the blow had thrown his aim off.He’d missed me.I was alive.Then I pulled on my jacket and hot pain ripped through my shoulder.I touched the skin, and it came away red.A couple of pellets must’ve clipped me.“Christ, that stings,” I said.“Shut up and move,” the Vei woman said.“They’re coming.”I looked up and froze.The two gangsters lay on the bathroom floor, an entry wound in each of their heads.Blood leaked into the cracks between the tiles.The Vei woman picked up one of their assault rifles and slung it across her shoulder, then gripped the other in her hands.“You killed them,” I said.“What are you, the commentator?” She stuck her head out the door.Footsteps stomped from the factory floor.“Get a gun and let’s go.And take this.”She reached into her pocket and tossed me a full-sized bottle of Kemia.I caught it in mid-air.The silver liquid glinted.I looked at the gangsters’ bodies once more.I remembered another set of dead gangsters.Bloodied, burned, killed by my madness.I shook my head.Not now.Not here.I pulled on my jacket and fished out a couple of coins.As I got to my feet, keeping my weight off my injured arm, my shoe nudged Stretch’s short-barreled shotgun.I paused for a moment, then I picked it up.It was heavier than I expected.Could I really shoot someone with it?“Come on!” the Vei woman said.Screw it.I found the safety, held down the slide release, and pumped the shotgun.A shell sprang out of the chamber.I worked the pump action again and again until no more shells came out.“What the hell are you doing?” she asked as I trotted over to her.I shrugged.“You told me to get a gun.” I held it up by the barrel to show her how I could whack someone with the butt.She bared her teeth, but then she glanced down the hallway.“Here they come.Go!” She fired a burst back toward the factory floor.I ducked behind her, pulled the cork out of the Kemia bottle with my teeth, and spat it into my hand.“What’s your name?” I asked.“Lucetta.” Another burst of gunfire.“Miles,” I said, while I poured Kemia onto another coin.“Pleased to make your acquaintance.”She ignored me and bared her teeth.“Can you do something useful?”“On it.How’s this?”The Pin Hole opened, and the air turned to thick smoke in an instant.I could barely see Lucetta in front of me.She fired off another few rounds into the cloud and jerked her head in the opposite direction.“That way.”I jogged through the smoke, with Lucetta coming up behind, throwing cover fire to keep the gangsters away [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.She ripped open my shirt and pushed the sleeves up.She pulled tubes and needles out of the machine and pressed them against my skin.I closed my eyes so I didn’t have to see.Something sharp pricked a vein in my forearm.A strange peace settled over me.Maybe it was time for me to die.I’d survived more than any human had a right to.I’d done things that no one should do to anyone.I’d done my best.That was all anyone could ask of me.At least now I could relax.I opened my eyes to find the Vei woman studying my face.Her eyes had an orange color to them that was rare among Vei.They glowed like the lava lakes of the Blackglass region of Heaven.She leaned in close and pressed something into my hand.Two somethings.One round and metallic, the other smooth as glass.“A gift from Desmond,” she whispered.I stared.A conversation came back to me, drifting across endless ages, or maybe just a couple of days.Desmond’s source inside the Collective.She turned away, and I gripped what she’d given me tight to conceal it from Stretch.The woman moved to the back of the room, glanced back at me once, and nodded almost imperceptibly.I didn’t respond.Stretch came back to inspect the machine.I think he was just pretending he knew what he was doing.He rubbed his chin and nodded.“Let’s get on with it.” He grabbed hold of a face mask with a thin hose attached and moved to place it over my mouth and nose.“Wait,” I said.“Before you do that, I just wanna know something.”He paused.“What?”“Who killed my friend? Who killed Claudia?”“Why?”“Because.” I strained against my neck brace, trying to lean forward.“I need to know.Was it AISOR? Was it Kowalski?”“Kowalski is a coward.He wouldn’t have the guts.”“Then who? Was it you? Was it Bohr?”He shrugged.“She’s dead.You’re about to be dead.It doesn’t matter.”“No,” I said.Cold liquid poured across the object in my hand.A nonsense tune sang in my head.It mixed with the pain, the rage, the frustration, the desperation.“No, what?”“It matters,” I said.“It matters to me!”Chaos flashed in my head, and the Pin Hole opened.In an instant, every strap binding me came loose.I was free.I braced myself against my wrist straps and kicked out with both feet.My shoes slammed into Stretch’s chest.He stumbled and fell, eyes bugging out.His coat flew open as he hit the ground, exposing the shotgun.I ripped the cannulas from my arms and dived forward.At the same time, one of the gangsters by the door let out a burst of gunfire.It would’ve got me clean in the torso if I wasn’t already on the ground.The Vei woman pulled her revolver from her belt and pointed it at the other Collectivists.But I had more immediate worries.I grabbed hold of Stretch’s shotgun.Unfortunately, he had the trigger end.With all my strength I forced it up.It went off, blowing a hole in the bathroom ceiling.The barrel grew hot against my palm.White dust rained on me.Two more shots went off, the muzzle lighting up the room.I was damn near deaf already.Still on his back, Stretch landed a boot in my stomach and I rolled away, gasping.I was still gripping the Pin Hole coin and vial of Kemia the woman had given me.The bottle was tiny, and I’d already used almost all of it just to free myself.Still, I might have enough for one more.I let the Pin Hole close and grabbed for my jacket where it lay discarded on the floor.I had to get my coins.But then I heard the click-clack of the shotgun pumping.I looked back at Stretch and found him sitting up, pointing the gun at me.My stomach went cold.Everything slowed.The butt of an assault rifle collided with the side of his head.His eyes went fuzzy and he dropped to the side.The shotgun boomed.I put my hands out like they could shield me from the buck shot.But the blow had thrown his aim off.He’d missed me.I was alive.Then I pulled on my jacket and hot pain ripped through my shoulder.I touched the skin, and it came away red.A couple of pellets must’ve clipped me.“Christ, that stings,” I said.“Shut up and move,” the Vei woman said.“They’re coming.”I looked up and froze.The two gangsters lay on the bathroom floor, an entry wound in each of their heads.Blood leaked into the cracks between the tiles.The Vei woman picked up one of their assault rifles and slung it across her shoulder, then gripped the other in her hands.“You killed them,” I said.“What are you, the commentator?” She stuck her head out the door.Footsteps stomped from the factory floor.“Get a gun and let’s go.And take this.”She reached into her pocket and tossed me a full-sized bottle of Kemia.I caught it in mid-air.The silver liquid glinted.I looked at the gangsters’ bodies once more.I remembered another set of dead gangsters.Bloodied, burned, killed by my madness.I shook my head.Not now.Not here.I pulled on my jacket and fished out a couple of coins.As I got to my feet, keeping my weight off my injured arm, my shoe nudged Stretch’s short-barreled shotgun.I paused for a moment, then I picked it up.It was heavier than I expected.Could I really shoot someone with it?“Come on!” the Vei woman said.Screw it.I found the safety, held down the slide release, and pumped the shotgun.A shell sprang out of the chamber.I worked the pump action again and again until no more shells came out.“What the hell are you doing?” she asked as I trotted over to her.I shrugged.“You told me to get a gun.” I held it up by the barrel to show her how I could whack someone with the butt.She bared her teeth, but then she glanced down the hallway.“Here they come.Go!” She fired a burst back toward the factory floor.I ducked behind her, pulled the cork out of the Kemia bottle with my teeth, and spat it into my hand.“What’s your name?” I asked.“Lucetta.” Another burst of gunfire.“Miles,” I said, while I poured Kemia onto another coin.“Pleased to make your acquaintance.”She ignored me and bared her teeth.“Can you do something useful?”“On it.How’s this?”The Pin Hole opened, and the air turned to thick smoke in an instant.I could barely see Lucetta in front of me.She fired off another few rounds into the cloud and jerked her head in the opposite direction.“That way.”I jogged through the smoke, with Lucetta coming up behind, throwing cover fire to keep the gangsters away [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]