Little Lost Girl Read online

  "What the heck does it have to do with anything!?"

  "No offense, kid. Just saying. There are a bunch of things lurking around town that could kill you—I should know, noobtards like you keep the Cloning lights on to be honest—but none that can kill you so fast that you don't remember anything. Or there shouldn't be, at least."

  "Cheessake... Tessie is all alone out there. What if she stumbles upon whatever killed me?"

  "So… what's your plan, son?"

  I shrugged, a bit helplessly.

  He sighed. "Don't bring just fists to a claw fight, son. Pack a gun. Or invite some gun-packing friends. Okay?"

  "Okay."

  "Here," said Doc handing me a pillbox. I took it and gulped down four pills, for good measure. He raised an eyebrow yet had nothing to say.

  #

  Big and Jes were right outside Cloning. Jes ran forward to give me a hug. I hugged her back, her skin expelling a bitter, acrid smell… I couldn't help wrinkling my nose.

  Big caught that. "Could be worse," he grinned, and raised both his arms.

  Cheessake!

  I mean, the stench coming out of those armpits!

  He laughed. "Pills should kick in shortly, don't worry."

  "Holy shit!" I said. "Do I also…" I raised my arm and sniffed my own armpit: I smelled some quite potent chemical mixture but nothing rotting or offensive.

  "That's the point, bro," said Big. "You now smell like clone vats, and that's all your current nose has ever smelt. Because, like, your current you, you’ve been all your life just floating there, see? Everything else, like my sweating armpits and Akhbar's coffee and Vic's chili is new for your nostrils. The good news is that good smells better; bad news is that bad smells rotten like hell."

  "Don't worry, baby, it's easy to fix," Jes said. "Let's stuff your new you with the strongest smelling food you can get; tomorrow your flesh suit will smell like everybody else, and it's like your nose gets used to it."

  "Not now," I said. "Dinner's on me if you want. But we gotta find Tess before nightfall. There's something dangerous roaming around the woods and she's diurnal, ok?"

  Jes gave me nod, and a smile, and a warm reassuring look, and I knew everything was gonna be just fine.

  "Alright," said Big. "What hit you this time? Don't tell me it was the ground again…"

  "No clue. One moment I'm out there, next moment I'm back here chatting with Doc. Happened that fast."

  "Hutzs?" said Jes.

  "No way," said Big. "Not this close to town."

  "Focus, baby… What's the last thing you remember?"

  I closed my eyes. A strong, pungent scent… "Smelled like some critter I've smelt before, but not sure which," I said. "And a flutter in my belly like something is stalking me. That's all."

  They looked at each other.

  "Hey!" I said. "Sorry if I'm no tight-wired death-bringing machine like you guys, always aware of my surroundings, okay? Tess does all the scouting I need!"

  "Just trying to help, little brother."

  "It's ok, babe."

  "I wasn't focusing, I admit it. New suit, coupla blue pills…"

  "Yeah," smiled Big, "I know. Like the whole world's just been taken to the laundry, right?"

  "Yeah! I was smelling a bunch of negosias…"

  "What!?"

  "Y'know… those deep blue flowers?"

  Big bellowed in laughter; even Jes couldn't help smirking.

  "Fuck you," I said.

  "Sorry, lil’ bro!" Big said between gasps. "The thought of you bending over and getting fucked from behind…"

  "Wasn't bending over, mate! I was on my knees, and…"

  Big's laughter made the ground shake.

  Jes punched him in the shoulder.

  "Ouch!" he said.

  "You two done?" I asked.

  "Yeah."

  "Great. Let's go already. And find out what the fuck happened to me."

  #

  We made it to the Peaks in about forty. Jes insisted on scouting ahead as Big checked our surroundings.

  "Can't we just hurry up?"

  "Shush, twice cloned," said Big. "She's a big girl, your Tess. I'm more worried about us."

  Twenty paces ahead Jes raised her clenched fist; Big grabbed my shoulder and made me stop.

  "What!?" I said.

  "I said shush, damn it!"

  I shushed. Jes beckoned us forward.

  "Looks familiar?" she asked, pointing towards a bunch of blue negosias. The ground was easy to read: several splats of wet blood.

  "Where's the rest of me?"

  "Bro…"

  "Something's lunch, babe," said Jes.

  "Damn it," I said. "I just hope the bastard…"

  She frowned and raised her hand to cut me off. "You hear?"

  The woods had gone mute, except for a nearby choir of growls and roars: Tessie, no doubt, and a pack of snatchs. I ran.

  Jes grabbed my wrist as I sped past her. She spun, redirected my momentum, and twisted my arm so tight that the ground was swept away from below my feet. I landed on my back like a ton of bricks, my lungs squeezed empty; as if that wasn't enough, she thrust her knee into my plexus.

  "Jes, what the f—"

  "Stay still!" she snarled. "And keep quiet!"

  #

  Big made sure I did nothing stupid while Jes crawled into position behind a huge boulder; the growls and roars came right from the other side. She carefully raised her head and peered.

  "Talk to us, girl," said Big through the comms.

  "Swiss cheeses," whispered Jes. "Come close. Nice and easy." We inched behind her, the hisses and snarls ever growing. Big glimpsed over the rocks and made the lowest whistle.

  "Can I…?" I asked

  "Will you behave?"

  "Yeah," I swore. Jes nodded at me.

  It was a stalemate. Tessie had her rear protected by the Cliff. The five snatchs could not fully surround her and weren't eager to make the first move, but she couldn't attack any of them without exposing her back to the beaks and claws of the rest of the pack.

  "Yo, pet boy," said Big. "Talk to me. This is your playground; what are the odds?"

  "The first snatch that attacks her dies; none of them is a one-on-one match for Tessie and they damn well know it. But as soon as she moves away from the wall the others will surround her and then she's screwed."

  "Why doesn't she just climb up the Cliff and escape?"

  "I… I don't know. She could; she's a much better climber than the snatchs. And I don't get why the snatchs themselves are staying. They don't like even odds: they either kill fast, or search for another prey. So I have no clue what’s going on…"

  "Hey, guys…" said Jes. "Behind Tess. On the ground. Is that…?"

  "Ho Ho Lee," said Big.

  "I'll be damned," I said. "That's me."

  It was me all right. Or better said all wrong: my previous body was lying with arms and legs sprawled in weird angles. There was a huge gash across my forehead, drenched in drying blood.

  "The snatchs are not after Tess," said Jes. "It's your blood that's kicking them berserk."

  "And your girl is keeping them at bay instead of running away," said Big. "Now that's some diehard loyalty right there."

  I looked at them. "What do we do?"

  "I agree with the snatchs," Big said. "I've never been a fan of even odds myself." And just like that, he matter-of-fact raised his cannon and fired.

  WHAAMM!

  "Swiss cheeses, Big!" I yelled, half blind from the flash and half deaf from the hiss.

  "Oh," he said. "Yeah, my bad. Forgot to say: take cover."

  WHAAMM!

  I stumbled back a few paces and felt the wheezing crack of a third shot, mingled with the scared whelps from the snatchs.

  "Hold it, Big!" I heard Jes say. "You will scare her."

  I forced myself to look. No, Tessie wasn't running away. She was giving chase to the three surviving snatchs; the other two were wriggling on the ground, soon to become charred carcasses. With the survivors gone, Tessie returned to my corpse.

  "Ugh…" said Big. "Is she about to… eat…?"

  No; no she wasn't. She sat beside dead me licking the deep gash across my face. Like a mother taking care of her cub. "She's cleaning my wound. Probably trying to wake me up."

  "Don't blame you if you feel jealous, girl," said Big to Jes. "That Tessie's really into your man."

  "Alright," I said. "If I stand up, will you knock me down again?"

  "Sorry, babe," said Jes. "It was for your own safety."

  "Go," said Big, scanning our surroundings. "All clear."

  I stood up and called, "Hey girl! Daddy's here!"

  Tessie raised her head, startled at my voice.

  I went towards her. "Who's daddy's girl, eh?" I said as I got closer. "Who's a little lost girl…"

  I noticed the flicker of doubt in her eyes as I approached…

  … the way she sniffed at my corpse on the ground, then the way she sniffed at me…

  Aw shit…

  … her doubt turning into anger and how she bared her fangs…

  … cheessake…

  I managed to turn around and yelled at Big: "DON'T YOU DARE SHOOT MY GIRL!!"

  Then a ton of bricks hit me and I felt my neck and spine go *crack*…

  #

  Blurry mist

  Cloudy white

  Foggy...

  "You're getting the hang of it, son, I'll give you that," said Doc's voice from the fog, "but aren't you, just saying, getting addicted to recloning?"

  I half growled, half sighed.

  Winked furiously.

  Focused.

  "This time you do know what happened, right?"

  I nodded. "Yeah… she attacked me. Why?"


  "You tell me. I usually deal with sentient beings." He raised a bushy eyebrow. "With a few notable exceptions."

  I shook my head. "I don't know… something's wrong with her. Confused. Like if seeing me twice…" I tried to stand up.

  He grabbed me by the shoulders and forced me to sit down. " No, you are not getting out there again today. No way, son. You'll thank me later for this, trust me: no. Not on my watch."

  "But…"

  "Sorry, kid: three strikes today. You're out."

  "Hey! My girl is out there!"

  "Oh, in that you are absolutely right."

  The door slid open. Jes bolted in, Big in shotgun. "Baby!" she said as she hugged me. "Oh, it was horrible!"

  "Was it?" I said. Dark gods did Jes stank of dirt and sweat.

  "Horrible twice, in fact," said Big. "There are now two ugly yous lying in that clearing. Dreadful, if you ask me."

  "And Tess? Big… don't you tell me that you…"

  "Relax," he said. "We backed away and left her alone in there, with you and you."

  I sighed. "Cheeses... What a mess."

  "Which I'm sure you'll take good care of tomorrow," said Doc. "You, Big: pet boy here does not leave town tonight. Crystal?"

  "Clear, Doc," Big said.

  #

  Big and Jes flanked me outside.

  Dari Cal's sky flashed its bright sunset colors like a whore pimping up for her night shift, all yellows and pinks and orange-reds. Harrison street was in the same mood, bustling with hunters, guards and farmers in dire need to turn that day's earnings into warm food and company. The clatter was deafening. The air reeked. I looked towards the dark woods outside.

  Big's huge hand squeezed the back of my neck. "No you ain't, bro."

  "But…"

  The steel grip tightened. "No. You ain't. Pills, now: go."

  "Damn it, Big," I said, trying to shake him off.

  He clamped his other paw around my left elbow.

  "C'mon, baby," said Jes, a worried look in her eyes. "Be a good boy. It's for your own good."

  "Fine, fine," I grumbled. I took out Doc's box, opened it, swallowed four pills; the clamp around my elbow withdrew, the one over my neck still tight. "You both happy now?" I gulped down two more.

  "That's enough," said Jes.

  I tried to swallow the rest of the pills; her arm shot in a flurry and the box was in her hand.

  I fumbled towards her.

  Big kept me in place. "C'mon, little brother! Do you really want me to knock your lights out? Knock it off!"

  I felt like crying, damn it, so useless and hopeless and helpless… "Tessie's all alone out there, don't you see?"

  "Easy, baby," said Jes, giving me a tight hug.

  Big squeezed my shoulder. Kinda gently.

  "We gotta help Tess…" I sobbed, but her warm embrace managed to soothe me down. Either that, or the pills were kicking in.

  "She'll be ok," said Big. "She always takes good care of herself, doesn't she?"

  "Yeah…" I said. "But now she's confused, and scared, and… what if she stays in the open with my corpses instead of finding shelter for the night?"

  "We'll have to find out tomorrow, little brother. One thing at a time".

  Where are you, Tess?

  Don't go running off-limits, girl…

  "Big's right, baby," Jes said. "We'll start fresh tomorrow. Night is no time for stumbling around in the forest."

  Hold on, girl… daddy's coming for you, I swear.

  "You just have to logoff from time to time, that's how it is," said Big. "There's wrong time and right time for everything, and you need to stay sharp for when the window comes."

  She nodded and smiled. "Remember that time during Hemlock's lockdown, Big?"

  "I remember those times a lot, lil' sis."

  Jes glanced at me; she knows I don't feel comfortable when the conversation goes down that particular memory lane. Hemlock was a couple of years before I was brewed, when Jes and Big were really close and tight and yeah, I don't like those stories that much.

  But at least it shakes me out of crybaby mode, though, so I said, "Alright, gang. You win."

  "So…?" said Big.

  "You've promised that if tonight I stuff myself with chili then tomorrow everything will smell better, right? So let's go one step at a time, dinner's on me tonight."

  Jes smiled. Big patted me in the back.

  Just hold on, Tessie.

  Daddy's coming for you.

  #

  Even at night and in the middle of a power outage, you'd have no problem finding "Land at Last". Come dusk, a thick gradient of kimchi and jalapeño and thick bean mole with garlic on top floats over our little town, so strong and powerful that your nose can nav you there better than the best PDA. Victor and Laura run the place; it was packed, as always, but Big is always able to land a table there. Some old debt either Victor or Laura owes him—don't ask.

  "The usual?" smiled Laura as we sat down.

  "With usual on top!" Big said.

  "Same for me," said Jes, and I was about to say that maybe we should actually try to go to the woods with some very powerful flashlights and call Tess to see if she came back, but then Doc pills took full hold of my brain, pushed Tessie out of my mind, and I said, "I'll have a lot of same for me, too!" and Laura brought us a double round of Vic's hi-octane Teqil and the noise and the booze and the extra fiery food took care of the rest.

  #

  A thick fog

  Suffocating

  Hard to breathe...

  "Not again!" I screamed. "Not again, fuck it! Not again!"

  Lights went on, Jes by my side wide awake. She pressed her palms against my chest. I calmed myself down: we were in our room; we were tangled in a bundle of clammy sheets, on top of our mattress. I was soaking wet with sweat. It was still dark outside.

  "Sorry, babe," I said. "Bad dream, I guess."

  "Shhh," she said. "It's ok. You died a ton today; would be a toll for any mind." She bent forward to kiss me, but as I turned to her she wrinkled her nose and backed away.

  "Baby," she chuckled, "you have the worst case of bad breath."

  I raised my arms and sniffed my armpits and yep, I smelled like after trailing the woods for a whole day. But it didn't feel as sharp as anything had felt right after being rebrewed. Guess that dinner at "Land at Last" had really made it work—.

  I'll be damned…

  "Get up, Jes. We gotta move."

  "Go back to sleep, baby," she said, hugging her pillow. "It was only a bad dream."

  I pulled the sweaty sheets away from the bed.

  "Hey!"

  "Hurry up, Jes. For once in this life, hurry up. We gotta find Tess."

  She went from dozy to battle ready in a split sec. "Just so you know," she said, "I'm not letting that bitch tear you into ribbons again."

  "Trust me. I know what went wrong."

  Her eyes narrowed. "Hundred per cent?"

  "Well… whereabouts…"

  Her pupils pierced my skull for one long moment; then she sped up with practiced precision and had all her gear ready way before I did.

  #

  Sunlight was only starting to color the sky deep blue; Big was already waiting for us. He looked serious as hell.

  "Happy to see us?" Jes said. "Or are you packing the biggest gun I've ever seen?"

  Big frowned. "Got a job," he said. He handed me his PDA. "Doc reported it," he added.

  I checked the target on the job. "Backstabbing BASTARD…!"

  "He had to, bro," he said. "Standard procedure. Tessie killed you, that makes it a target. You even confirmed it to Doc yourself."

  "But she didn't…!" I looked around: the city was waking up, every hunter checking the news…

  Big read my mind. "Early predator gets the prey, yes? Let's get moving."

  I stared at the huge cannon he calls gun. "Big… please, mate, listen to me…"

  "I'm giving you one shot, little brother," he said. "Just one shot to talk some sense into your pet. It kills you again, I'm taking it down."

  #

  The morning was bright, the air was crisp, and the sun don't shines on arseholes any more than it shone inside the caves by the Cliff.

  "She's in there," I said. "I can feel her."

  "It's been feeding," Big whispered, pointing at the snatch's carcass by one of the caverns.

  "She," I said. "She's not 'it', my Tessie. She's she."