It wasn’t so much the grunting and groaning that Crystal despised, it was the length of time that it took some of her Johns to get the job done.
There was only so much fake moaning and insincere flattery she could manage.
With each new client, as she lay under the slobs, she would be thinking about shopping or fantasising about a nice holiday somewhere.
However, lately she could not stop thinking about Sylvan and Justen. It was nice to have the company. It was almost like having a family.
She moved her head to the side as she prevented the slob from sticking his tongue in her mouth.
“What the fuck! I said no kissing ok buster? Just get it done already will ya?”
With that resolved, she went back to thinking about Sylvan and Justen.
She wondered whether she should take Sylvan back to hospital. She was beginning to worry that Sylvan might be getting sicker.
She frowned. She wasn’t a nurse.
What the hell was I thinking?
As for the kid, she had no idea where he had disappeared to and she was in two minds whether or not to go to the police.
The slob started thrusting faster and his breathing became heavier.
“Ohh baby, yeah that’s it fuck me harder, oh yeah, do it baby, that’s it ohh, ohh,” she added that extra moan just for dramatic effect.
Maybe I should look at doing pornos, she thought and then decided against it.
Those bastards always insist on cleanliness and usually come down hard on any drug taking; she thought and then groaned a little more.
She reached down with her hand and lightly squeezed her john’s nuts.
That usually does the trick; she thought and then started thrusting upwards to meet the man’s thrusts.
“Ohhh baby, come on, come with me baby, oooohhhh,” she moaned in her best porno voice.
Shit I hope that cheap rubber don’t break in me, she thought as she heard the distinctive groan of the John climaxing.
His body went suddenly rigid and then limp as the sexual tension released.
Crystal let out a small breath of relief and then started shoving the lump off her.
“Ok that’s it buddy time’s up.
Come on get off me ya great lump.”
“Ok ok jeez can’t a guy enjoy a bit of afterglow?”
“Listen, er whatever ya name is…”
“It’s John”
“Really? No shit! How about that?
“Anyways, listen John, I aint got no time for any afterglow. I’m a busy girl ya know, now be a good boy and go ’ome to ya wife, she’s probbly worried ’bout ya,” Crystal said as she hurriedly got dressed and shoved the wad of notes down into her bra.
“Yeah, alright but just so’s ya know, you’re a much better fuck than me missus. She just gives me a pity fuck every other month,” John said as he tucked his penis back into his Garfield boxer shorts.
“Yeah, yeah whatever, but I don’t have to put up with ya whining now do I.
“Now off ya go, just text me the next time you’re gettin’ twitchy ok?” Crystal said as she finished straightening her clothes, strode across the sleazy room and then blew John a kiss as she pulled the door closed behind her.
She left John huffing and puffing as he struggled to do up his Nikes over his bulbous stomach.
Shit! I hate it when they get all forlorn on me, she thought as she hurried out of the sleazy hotel.
She stopped to say her goodbyes to Joe the hotel manager who just grunted and raised his head from his crossword puzzle just long enough to acknowledge Crystal.
Once out on the street Crystal had a slight attack of guilt when she realised that she had left Sylvan all alone for at least a couple of hours.
She shivered slightly as the effects of her last hit were slowly starting to dissipate.
She had a quick look in her handbag and was relieved to see the little zip lock plastic bag with the familiar brown crystals and her spare stash of heroin hypodermics.
She felt for the smooth surface of the small glass pipe which she used to ingest the meth.
Satisfied that she had sufficient substance to see her through the night she hurried in the direction of her home.
She walked warily through the back streets, making sure that she stayed in the shadows. She had heard all of the stories of the disappearing homeless. She felt sad. She had known quite a few of the people who had disappeared.
Where did they all go? She wondered, as she hunched her shoulders, and crossed her arms defensively across her breasts.
She hurried her pace slightly, fearful that someone might jump out of the shadows and make her disappear as well.
The sharp crack of a car backfiring made her jump. She felt a sense of relief when she saw the familiar facade of her building.
Once inside the derelict building, she stepped over Leroy as she entered the foyer and quietly made her way up the stairs. She had decided not to wake Leroy. He had looked very peaceful clutching his brown bagged bottle to his chest as he slept.
She briefly wondered what strange dreams the old man had.
Did he even have dreams?
She made her way up to her floor and peered out of the stairwell into the darkened corridor.
I wish the super would fix the lighting, it’s as dark as an arsehole in here, she thought as she groped her way to the door of her apartment. She felt a little tremor of trepidation as she turned the door handle and made her way into her apartment.
“Hello, Sylvan, are ya ok sweetie?” She asked quietly as she progressed further into the room.
The fact there was no response caused little concern as she had expected Sylvan to be pretty much unconscious, but decided that she had better check her out and make sure that her condition had not worsened since she left.
The lighting in the room was quite dim and she cursed herself for not taking the time to turn on the light.
She could just barely make out the form of a body in the bed and she quietly made her way closer and reached out her hand to tenderly stroke her friend’s hair.
“Sylvan honey, are you ok? I just had to duck out, I…”
Suddenly a hand shot out from below the covers and grasped Crystal’s hand in a crushing grip.
Instinctively she tried to pull back her hand but it was caught in a vice like grip.
“What the fuck?” She shrieked as she struggled to free herself.
She almost pissed herself when she saw the ugly disfigured face of her captor as he sat up in the bed and twisted her scrawny arm and caused her to bend down, her face level with his.
She smelt his foul breath as he glared at her. In the dim lighting the expression was demonic.
From this vantage point she could clearly see the horrific scar that seared across the captors ugly features.
She swallowed hard and tried to summon her anger to confront the demon.
“Ok buster, who the fuck are ya? And what have ya done with me friend and….ouch! Stop twisting me arm ya son of a bitch, you’re hurting me,” she almost shouted through the pain.
Her breathing became rapid as she struggled to pull away from the monster.
“For fucks sake, just tell me what ya want!”
She almost fell to her knees when her captor raised himself from the bed and started steering her across the room to one of her dining chairs.
She collapsed onto the chair and she gasped suddenly as he released her arm and stood behind her.
She felt the coldness of a blade pressed hard into her throat. She froze as she realised that he could kill her instantly if she tried to struggle.
She decided to try a different approach.
“Ok now, why don’t we just be friends? I could make ya feel really good. Why don’t ya just relax and let Crystal do what she does best ok sweetie?
“Ya don’t want to hurt me do ya? I’ll do whatever ya want. I’ll even give it to ya on the house, ok?” She said in her most seductive voice.
She felt his hot breath on her ear as he bent down close and her blood ran cold as he whispered.
“I don’t want to fuck you; I just want to know where the girl and her kid are. Tell me now or I will slice you from ear to ear.”
Crystal started to panic. She understood that this could be her last moments.
Oh my God how I need a hit, she thought as she scratched at her arms. They felt like there were millions of tiny worms crawling under her skin.
Her breathing became erratic as she struggled to come up with anything that she could tell this maniac.
She wanted to scream, I DON’T KNOW WHERE SHE IS!!
She began to sob hysterically.
“Please don’t hurt me mista!” She managed to blubber meekly through her sobs.
“Now listen, just answer the fucking question bitch,” her attacker said malevolently as he pressed the blade harder into her neck causing small blood droplets to form around the edges of the blade.
Crystal could feel the warmth of urine running down her leg.
She closed her eyes tightly and tried to think of anything that she could tell this maniac. Suddenly she remembered the mysterious disappearances of her friends.
“Mm. mista,.. maybe they’ve been taken.” she managed to blurt out. She felt the blade ease off a little and then pressed harder again.
“Taken where?” The attacker said, emphasising the question with a quick jolt of the blade.
Crystal felt the jolt and clenched her teeth.
“I..I don’t know where. Nobody knows. They just disappear,” Crystal said the last part quietly.
She felt crestfallen; she knew that she did not have the right answer and that her life was now over.
She prepared herself for the inevitable pain of the blade slicing open her throat. She thought of her Mother and a feeling of calm descended over her as she realised that she would soon be seeing her. She closed her eyes and held her breath.
The extreme violence of the blow to the back of her head was unexpected. The inevitable descent into blackness was also unexpected.
* * *
Stringer sat back down on the stained sheets of the bed that he had hidden in when the crack whore had shown up.
He was disappointed. He was hoping that either the kid or the girl Sylvan would have shown up.
He sat quietly as he stared at the glint of light that played along the blade of his knife and stared at the slumped form of the pathetic creature on the floor.
He pondered about her responses. She had unwittingly uncovered an unexpected scenario.
Stringer did not expect that the two separate aspects of Mundus Nova would suddenly overlap.
If the kid and his Mother had been taken by one of the Immortal Harvesters, then his hunt was over.
He could be assured that the operatives at the organ harvest would take care of silencing anyone who entered that facility.
His mind went over his journey from the girl’s parent’s house. He accessed his neural net and replayed the journey. He froze the replay when he noticed in his extreme periphery the image of the black van.
He zoomed in on the number plate of the van. He instantly recognised it as the Mundus Nova retrieval van.
He focussed on the image of the unconscious body at the bus shelter. He had a partial of the face and quickly ran a face recognition scan. The scan revealed a seventy five percent match. Not good enough. He needed certainty.
He also realised of course, that he still needed to find the boy. He wondered whether the kid may have also been taken by the harvesters.
He decided that the only way to know for sure would be to go the facility and check it out.
He could get lucky and find both of them.
Unfortunately he was forbidden to contact the Harvesters in case he was captured and questioned.
He was reluctant to contact the Boss, he didn’t need the aggravation. He knew however, that eventually he would have to if he was going to find the new location of the Traverser and have his freqlock reversed. But that could only occur after he had finished tying up all of the loose ends.
This of course would include removing any traces of his existence here in this world.
He had to ensure that there was nothing to link his actions to those of Mundus Nova.
He would either have to eliminate the nosy Feds or get inside the FBI.
He smiled at that idea. He loved a challenge.
He rose from the bed and surveyed the room.
He took a quick look at the contents of the hooker’s handbag. He saw the drug paraphernalia and chuckled at the primitive methods that the drug users of this world were forced to use to get a fix. He cringed at the thought of having to puncture his body with those crude delivery methods.
They did not have the luxury of direct neural stimulation.
All of the high without damaging the body, he thought as he threw the handbag onto the couch.
He decided against rummaging through drawers and cupboards. There was nothing more of use here.
He looked at the hooker’s body again. He wondered why he had only knocked her out. A swift slash would have silenced her forever.
He was however, cognizant of the fact, that there were rampant bodily fluid-borne diseases on this world and he knew that this hooker would definitely be a candidate for something really nasty. He did not want to risk an infection.
He tossed around the idea of letting her live. He doubted that she would present any danger and besides, he thought, her miserable existence was punishment enough.
However, he decided that he would keep with his credo of ‘no loose ends’.
She served no further purpose.
He retrieved the handbag and pulled out four hypodermics and plunged them one after another into the hooker’s neck.
He watched as the deadly overdose took effect and the hooker’s body convulsed violently, spittle and foam seeped from between her nicotine stained teeth.
After the convulsions subsided, he checked her carotid pulse and smiled.
Thanks for the info bitch – sleep tight.
He pulled a small metallic object from his pocket, flipped off the lid and then dropped it on the dead hooker’s body. He then quickly made his way out of the apartment.
As he strode through the darkened corridor he accessed his neural net and scanned for the address of the organ harvesting facility. Once it had been downloaded, he exited the building and jumped into the Camaro.
Wisps of blue smoke streamed from the car’s tyres as he sped off towards his target as yet another building vanished in an instant.