The Yellow Pill (3 page)

The ground was just blurry stripes of black and grey
as she leapt the dizzying gaps between the buildings when possible, using connecting
ventilations pipes when not. The small rifle was strapped to her back and she
was having a hard time not getting too carried away about carrying a weapon.
She knew the reason Jin had asked for her was for her capacity to not fall off
the roof and not for her shooting skills. 

Frey slid down a
ventilation pipe to the side. Confident that it would hold, she put her weight
on it. The trick was not to think too much. Not too much calculation
nor
take too long. Just jump.

She shoved off
the platform and jumped.

Frey slid onto
her side when she landed, shoving the sniper rifle back between her shoulder
blades. She could see the little train of carts being hauled by Andree’s gang.
Jin was close to the head of the band, walking backwards, looking up at her.

The small company
made it to the next bend without incident. She slid down a drainpipe to a
balcony below. The adjacent fire escapes were so closely positioned they almost
touched, only requiring her to take one step over to reach the next building.

The sudden
movement was lightning fast, and she would have missed it, had she not looked
down to see where her foot was going. Five men were right below her, and they
were all armed. Frey froze. She was like a sitting duck up here.

One leg was over the
railing, her hands out for balance. There were more signs of movement, and more
people came creeping out from the shadows. Frey bared her teeth and swore
mentally, knowing she had to warn the caravan or both she and Jin could kiss
their payment goodbye.

Her fingers
slowly twitched behind her back and fumbled for the safety, then the trigger.
There was no way she would get the bloody thing off without alerting those
below, but she could fire a shot right here, right now. But when she did, all
eyes would be on her…

Damn!

Frey fired. Covering her face, she threw her body at the window, curling
up into a tight ball, her insides contracting and cramping. Sudden gunfire
erupted, one shot brushing her jacket as she fell through the wood and glass,
landing hard on the floor. Frey felt the shards cutting into her back and
shoulder, the blood warm and sticky as it trickled down her side. She heaved
herself up, grabbed a chair and hurled it through the opposite window, the
sound of glass shattering overwhelming the yelling. She quickly grabbed onto
the fire escape, and climbed for all she was worth, barely avoiding the
bullets.

Frey rolled onto the roof, her mind working franticly to figure out how
to get off it alive. Her eyes stayed on a heavy metal bucket, and she let it
fly over the edge to draw the pursuers off.

Frey twisted and pushed off the roof, guts clenching as she hoped they
had taken her bait. The gun weighed her down, slowing her slightly as she
bolted towards the edges of buildings, throwing herself over gaping drops
without leaving time for thought.

The carts came into view. One was tipped over, its contents spilling out
onto the broad street, packages getting soaked in filth. Her team was under
fire, a few taking cover behind the toppled wagon, others in the alleyways
behind.

Frey spotted Jin crouching behind a container with, big piles of waste
overflowing it’s sides, liquid and garbage splattering from the shootout.

Frey slid into place with her back to a metal chimney. Using the top as
support, she aimed for the one who had been keeping Jin pinned down behind his
cover. Frey had to duck for cover when attention was drawn to her. She took a
deep breath and cast the rifle up into firing position once more. Brick
exploded, fragments flying everywhere together with brains as the bullet left a
big hole right through the man’s forehead. Her team was finally pushing back
the assault.

A warm pain flooded though her as a bullet bite into her flesh. Dropping
to her knee with a moan, she clutched at her arm, feeling the hot blood pump
between her fingers. Frey tore her bandana off, using her teeth to tighten it
around the wound. Biting down hard in pain and anger, she sprang back up from
cover, keeping the rifle in place with the help of the chimney and her
shoulder.

But by now her team had pushed the assault back, the last of them
backing away into the wreckages. Her whole arm throbbed as she slipped the
rifle back into place. Walking up to the edge, she got Jin’s attention and
motioned him to continue. They couldn’t afford to delay. Gunfights could
attract others, and another attack was something they couldn’t afford right
now.

Jin gave her
a thumbs
up. They tipped the wagon
back up and began loading unspoiled contents back on. Frey pushed the pain to
the back of her mind as she followed from the roof, with the knowledge that the
extra food would be worth it.

“Thanks, but no thanks,” Frey said for the final time. Having heard
enough she turned and walked out of the apartment, leaving the man sitting on his
couch, looking surprised and not very happy. The guard at the door let her
pass. She heard Jin mumbling something before following.

Frey jogged down the stairs, wanting to be gone from this place as soon
as possible. She didn’t like it. Not one bit.

“Frey! Wait up.” Jin ran up to her and the two of them walked down the
crowded street together.

“I hope you’re not goanna question me…” she said, knowing he wanted to
lecture her in what an opportunity they were missing. “You know I don’t deal in
drugs,
no matter
how good the pay may be.”

Jin closed his mouth again. He used his little finger to scratch his
ear. “Oh well… I would be better off arguing with a rock for all the good it’s
going to do me.”

She rolled her eyes.

Jin elbowed her in her ribs, nudging her arm on the way. “We’re goanna
go get that looked at,” he said when he saw her arm.

“I’ll go get it done later,” Frey said, voice strained with pain, not
looking at him.

Jin shook his head. “I’ll chuck you over my shoulder and take you myself
if you refuse to go.” He made a grab for her healthy arm and she danced to the
side.

“I’ll go, I’ll go.” She didn’t admit he was right. “Like talking to a
rock.”

“You saved my life out
there
Frey, the least I
can do is pay for a few stitches,” Jin said.

“Yeah, well, I still think a cup of brown powder is too much to pay for
a few stinking stitches,” she said.

“
Food’s getting
harder to get…”

Frey said nothing, although words were itching to get out.

Jin handed her leather jacket back to her, and Frey winced as she
shrugged it back on, but said nothing about the pain. Showing weakness in Slum
City was a guaranteed way to meet your maker.

Frey flexed her hand. “You
wanna
go scrap
hunting?”

He smiled down at her, winking. “Alright.”

The
scrap yard was a sea of metal, machines, junk, animal carcasses, wood, glass
and if you looked hard enough, the odd thing of value you could trade at the
markets.

Jin walked in front of her, picking his way carefully among the unstable
piles of garbage, his eyes scanning a short radius around him. Miniature
avalanches raced down the steep slope, the clatter of metal blending with all
the other noises from the scrap yard. They were far from the only ones out here,
but the yard was vast and they ran little chance of bumping into strangers by
mistake. Frey moved as carefully as Jin. Stumble and fall and you would be
lucky to get away with a broken leg.

Frey pulled out a
long cord, but when it had nothing of interest on the other end, it ended up
rolling down the side as well.

“Hey, Frey,” Jin
said.

She looked up and
saw Jin staring at a man balancing on top of a wrecked car. It was hard to hear
what the man was yelling, but it was clear he wasn’t quite right in the head.
The man was screaming at nobody and everybody, moving around in circles on top
of an upside-down turned car, waving his arms in the air like he was fighting
with someone.

“Can you hear
what he’s yelling?” Jin asked.

Frey strained her
ears, trying to pick out the words above the racket. “Eye? The eye… alone
something…
don’t
let them… spot? No,
drop
you…
took my-“ Frey stopped, shaking her head. “He doesn’t make much sense.” She
didn’t admit that even though he seemed to be spewing insanity, his words still
made her shiver.

The man took a
step backwards, his foot hooking into the exhaustion pipe and suddenly his arms
were waving for balance instead. He came to a stop at the
bottom,
metal and debris slower at settling around him like miniature waves, gleaming
and sharp. Frey could see he would never walk again.

Before Jin could
grab her, she slid down the side, going as fast as she dared. She ran towards
the unmoving heap and saw that he was still breathing… barely. He was going to
be dead very soon.

She kneeled next
to him just as he opened his eyes. They were grey, and full of pain. There was
blood on his face, but his eyes were clear and stayed right on hers. His lips
moved, and at first there was no sound. Then it came in a whisper so silently Frey
had to lean in to hear him.

“They wanted me
to forget…” big tears rolled down his dirty cheeks. “They exiled me…
put
me here… they-they are watching.” His hand crept towards his chest. Frey took
it on impulse and placed it on his slightly moving ribcage so he wouldn’t have
to struggle, but his fingers continued to grope at his neck. “Do not let them…”

The man’s head
rolled to the side, his grey eyes going dull as the breath left him.

Frey knew he had
been crazy, and crazy people said strange things. But still… She pulled his
blue collar to the side to check for a necklace, but there was nothing there.
As her hand went over the fabric she felt something solid and hard seeming to
come from within the collar. The fabric was incredibly soft to her touch, the
tiny, white ornamental stripes almost
invisible
as
they were so delicate. Her fingers snagged at the shirt.

Looking around
she saw a shard of glass. Frey could hear Jin calling her name together with
the sound of him sliding down the hill. She hurried to cut a small opening,
pulling out a white object. It was tiny and compact. It was also crystal white
and sleek.

The first thing
that hit her was how much it reminded her of the container from the drop…

Frey slid it into
her pocket just as Jin grabbed her good arm hard and yanked her hard to her
feet.

“Stop running
away like that! You
like
giving me heart attacks?” He half yelled,
refusing to let her arm go as if he was scolding a little child.

Frey swallowed
her initial response, seeing that his anger came from worry. She sighed and
smiled to herself, not able to be angry with him for getting worried about her
all the time. “Yeah, yeah. Sorry, Jin.”

Frey looked over
her shoulder at the dead man. The dogs and rats would be feasting on him before
long.

Frey felt Jin’s
heavy hand on her head as he sighed as well. “Well, whatever. Come on. We might
still find something useful.” He nodded towards the body. “You search him?”

“Yup. Nothing,” she
said, already walking away from the scene, Jin following. Keeping Frey out of
trouble seemed to be Jin’s number one mission. It meant she couldn’t show him
the strange object. He would see it as a threat and get rid of it, and she
wasn’t about to let that happen. The tips of her fingers gave it one last
curious caress before slipping it into a pocket within her bandana.

The sky was getting dark fast and the digital stars
became visible while Frey and Jin made their way into the big market. You could
walk through it for half the night and not have seen all the junk that was
being traded here. The steam and noise of China Town was more intense than
normal, the sea of bodies even thicker and the smells like an explosion in the
nose, both foul and strangely intoxicating.

Bloody love the
night markets.

Those who
couldn’t get a good spot for their stalls on the main street hung their wares
from the windows, small neon signs luring people up dark, crooked stairways.
Frey tended to avoid those.

Beggars and street
rats were shoved to the very edges to leave room for everyone else. The extra
signs and lights made the whole of China Town light up in spite of the
surrounding steam and fog. It was messy and smelly, crowded and on the border
of chaos, but she liked it this way. She felt she could blend in with everybody
else. Stay out of unwanted attention.

Jin pressed close
to her, the two of them moving from stall to stall as best they could. Frey had
pulled up her bloody bandana against the sewer stink and steam, now breathing
the smell of iron instead. Jin’s proper gasmask covered the lower part of his
face, only leaving his eyes visible. His eyes were relaxed, his posture giving
away that he enjoyed it as much as her.