Hypothetical Asshole
known Edward long, all of them slightly less than Boston, but Amber’s heart panged nonetheless; in the short period she knew him, he had gotten into her heart, the emptiness undeniable. Hell, none of them had known each other long, but in a way, it felt like a lifetime already.
They were back at their rented warehouse after a paranoid back-and-forth journey until daylight hit, when they knew Eziel’s kin could not follow them without a physical escort. Jayson went so far as to kill a bird he thought was following them, using his PMR-30.
All of them were exhausted, but none wanted to be alone, trying to sleep, trying not to dwell on their situation. For her, it felt better to talk it out. Miserable together was always better than miserable alone.
“Is he still passed out?” Ralph asked.
Amber nodded. “Just checked.”
Jayson lay back on a couch, hands behind his head. Ralph sat on the other couch, Amber in a recliner but not reclined. Krull listened from his workshop area, busy with some other handy-dandy device Amber hoped.
“We all need to get some sleep,” Ralph said, “as much as we don’t want to be alone with our thoughts.”
“Sleep for what?” Jayson asked. “What can we do?”
“Nothing?” Amber said. “Is that what you’re proposing?”
Jayson rolled his eyes. “No. It’s just… you know, we’ve lost Edward; Lorcthe is trapped in that pyramid thingy that we don’t have; Ash is out there hopefully convincing his buddies not to arrest us; we’re trying to fight enemies we can’t see; the twister thing is still making fucked-up babies with the help of an incubus and succubus; and Boston… Well, I don’t know where his head is at anymore, after all this. It’s a miracle Eziel didn’t kill us all.”
Focused on Jayson’s rant, Amber didn’t notice Boston had come up until she saw him leaning on a post.
“How did we get back here?” Boston asked.
“Ash let us go,” Amber said. “He said he’d try to explain everything to the police. Having multiple witnesses would help, he said. After you fell to the ground, the child’s body that Eziel took over collapsed, and then the boy started screaming. Ash had to console him; he wouldn’t stop, just screaming over and over, shaking. We had to go, couldn’t chance remaining. Paid a man to take us in his minivan. Once out of the area, we got the stranger to drive us to a car rental agency. Used your ID, sorry.”
Boston shrugged it off.
“After that,” she continued, “we drove around, back and forth, all over the city, until daylight, and then drove here when we were sure no one had followed.”
“Good,” Boston said. “Thank you. Smart. I-I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Ralph asked.
“For what I did. I’m sorry.” Boston turned his head away, but not before Amber saw tears pooling in his eyes.
“Dude,” Jayson said, “just stop. You had to. If you didn’t, we’d all be dead or getting tortured right now.”
“Maybe,” Boston said.
Krull walked up to Boston and nodded at him to kneel. When Boston did, Krull embraced him. “Thank you,” Krull said. “You did what I could not, what needed to be done.” Krull released, and Boston sat back against the post. “I lost everything because of Eziel. I wasn’t just taken months ago to help him. My m-mother was killed in front of me to assure allegiance, with the threat of my father’s death if I didn’t comply. Once locked in that cellar, I had no contact, electronic or otherwise. It didn’t take long once I was out to find out my father, according to the article online, had his neck broken, the killer still at large. And it wasn’t any coincidence it happened the day I was taken. Eziel probably killed him the moment I was out of the house, the same method my mother died.”
“I’m so sorry,” Boston said.
Krull glanced at the floor. “Yeah, me too. Only saving grace is they went quickly. Point is, Eziel is a hateful, spiteful being that would see every one of us suffer and die, and I mean every single human being. In the illustrious words of Sean Connery’s character, Malone, from The Untouchables, ‘What are you prepared to do?’”
“Eziel wants us to stop,” Boston said, “to cower. Not to be crude or sound cliche, but I want to tear him a new asshole.”
“Excellent,” Jayson said. “He is an asshole, but does he have an asshole?”
“Are we seriously discussing this?” Amber asked.
“Well,” Ralph said, “when he’s possessing someone, he does.”
“Yeah,” Jayson said, “but then we’d just be tearing some poor bastard a new asshole.”
Boston smiled, and Amber joined him.
“It’s a hypothetical,” Krull said. “We’ll tear him a hypothetical asshole.”
“And how do we go about doing that?” Jayson asked.
“I’ll have just the thing momentarily,” Krull said. “A thought… Lorcthe… It’s occurred to me the whole thing was a ruse. Eziel has the device. He could have freed her, the whole”—Krull air quoted—“capture a put-on for show.”
“But he despises her,” Amber said. “Doesn’t he? The whole traitor thing.”
“Maybe,” Krull said. “We’ve only us to trust, no one and nothing else. The only reason I bring it up is because of her last word: Wilkinson.”
“So what?” Jayson said.
“Her human name was Crystal. I suspect Wilkinson is the last name. If I were a betting man, I’d wager she wants us to go to her place. What will we find there? A wild goose chase?”
“We need all the help we can get,” Boston said. “I’ve nothing to go on but my gut, and I don’t think we were played. I think she genuinely wanted to help. As a precaution, we only move in daylight from now on. I won’t be put in that position again.” Even with his mouth closed, she could tell Boston was grinding down on his teeth.
Amber stared at him. “I’ll go to Lorcthe’s place.”
“Shouldn’t we all go?” Ralph asked. “Stay together.”
“Time is short,” Krull said.
Jayson smiled.
“Hilarious,” Krull said. “Give me some time. If you’ll indulge, I believe we’ll have a very nice Fuck you! to Eziel. We’ll need to split up. Oh, and regarding the issue with the light sticks fritzing electronic devices: We should probably have phones, or any device, turned off if we think we’ll be in a situation that requires it. Sorry about that.”
As Krull noshed on his fingernails, he explained his plan. To Amber’s surprise, Ralph volunteered to go with Boston, and Krull insisted upon joining Boston. She and Jayson would check out Lorcthe’s place, assuming they could find it. If indeed the plan worked, they would never stop running, because they still had no way of defeating Eziel or its ilk, and for that matter, the twister.
“Nobody take any chances,” Boston said. “Any sign of trouble, get out, get into daylight, and shoot if you have to. Don’t hesitate.”