Ch 6. Rest well

Once the elevator opens wide, Eury and Sammy hastily take a first to leap outside, become mystified by the ‘exotic’ sights and almost immediately feel like reeking in a corner from the smell. Diaz, remembering what he forgot about, gently hit his forehead and apologized for not warning them about the lack of most cleaning services the upper levels benefited from.

-” Especially since most of what’s cleaned up there gets dumped down here”, mumbled the boy, slowly raising his temper. This time though, the usual feeling of anger is diminished a bit, even painted over because of the new anomaly in his life.

He felt his blood rising when Eury turned around and, while her body modifications just screamed ceiling walker, that feeling of contempt mixed with other feelings in a tumble in his stomach. His rage, for once in a while, seemed to be losing to the intensided beating heart, warming ears and, weirdly, of a frog sized nod in his throat.

-”I should give them my spare masks.”, he thought with a voice that sounded deeper. Or at least that’s how Diaz perceived it. “ Wait! Do I sound like that in real life? What if I don’t? What even is my real voice like?” The boy coughed each time he felt his voice crack, with the final attempt coming out in a deeper, forced tone. “ Do you guys want some masks?”

Eury gave him a thumbs. “ Great idea. By the way, are you ok? Something wrong with your throat?”

Diaz- “ What? No! no. I’m fine, just, you know, the different air”, he twirled his palms around, as if it condensed everything he wanted to explain into that simple motion. He then coughed again, finding his usual, mellower voice. “ We should move, by the way. By vomiting in that corner, on the side of the elevator, you have technically vandalised the building. Punishment is extra forced labour.”

Eury- “ Of course it is. Seems like you were right by the way, you sound better now.”, she remarked while grabbing Sammy by an arm and followed Diaz’s route through the tight corners of mud huts and ancient buildings made out of rusted metal.

After each encounter with a passerby, the underground worker advised the two to not make eye contact with anyone. “ Especially Sammy. Keep yourself wrapped under all that clothing.”

Along the way, the trio passed through a crowded bazaar where hundreds of mutilated bodies with sunken eyes that mostly had the ground under attention shoved from one stall to another. Eury tried to follow Diaz’s lead, but the sights compelled her a few times to keep staring at the sizzling rat meat or weird clothes that were put for sale.

Eury- “ Hey, after we settle in, do you think we can come back?” to which Diaz turned around, unsure of what engrossed her about it. He shrugged and nodded, which made the girl grin and shine like a lampost. “ You’re the man”, she signaled with two thumbs up. Or “thank you”, Diaz couldn’t guess anymore as his head was slowly boiling.

Sammy had the same excited expression as Eury, hidden though under the layers of fabric. After he finished his own window shopping, he tugged at his preferred spot on Diaz’s shirt and tried to make puppy eyes to convince him. “ Please, let’s come back”, he chirped.

The underground worker glared at him, and without saying a word, he lifted the boy on his shoulders, sighted and fastened his pace. “Kkk…but another time.”

…

An old man was pounding gently on a rusty nail, while taking looks back to the door to see if his junior had arrived yet. He never said it, but his heart always skipped a beat whenever Diaz told him that he was off to his elevator maintenance shift. It was a good, paying, job but still one of the most dangerous around.

His movement was robotic, repeated and sweat dripped, sliding off his shaved head and face through the deep wrinkles, until the droplets fell off the man’s face and gathered into a tiny puddle below. Something was chirping on the back of his neck. The old engineer missed when his pupil entered the tower, and didn’t even hear him when he pushed an the ejected card.

-” Wha…Right, I should move to the next nail”, exclaimed Zuwa as if he just rebooted to his normal state. He then looked at the tiny puddle for a few seconds. The old man was still as a statue, unflinching. Only the tiny shuffles of Sammy brought his attention to the guests.

Zuwa- “Oh... Welcome? Friends of yours, my boy?”

Eury’s back swiftly stood straight up, legs parallel to one another and a brief, friendly smile slightly extended the corners of her mouth. She knew that a bright smile might scare off any person not familiar to her, and not showing any signs of respect might be taken the wrong way.

-“It’s freaking me out how easily I can do this now”, she thought while trying to read more about the old man from their first interactions. “ Easy handshake? Good, friendly. A confused brow was to be expected, but otherwise he seems at the very least easygoing. It’s good that he keeps his attention on us even when asking Diaz for clarifications. This might go our way if he thinks we’re just from another part of-”

Zuwa- “ So why are you with these ceiling walkers, anyway?” To Eury’s dismay, the old handyman’s perception was also a trait kept active. Possibly boosted when the card was reintroduced.

Diaz- “ Ah, nothing to worry about. Just another pair of runaways, you know how they are.” Now the girl was unsure of what was even happening. Others? Is this a trend around here? Does the leadership above know about this?

Diaz- “ Only thing weird about them is that it seems like some weird rili…religo..ri-li-gi-ous group is after them. Well, the kid at the very least.” Zuwa, supported by his mechanical legs, crouched to Sammy’s level and took a look at him. After scanning the frightened child from top to toe, he only had two questions for Eury.

Zuwa- “ Puritanical sect or inclusive sect?”

The girl needed a moment to comprehend the question, as she wasn’t familiar with the terms either. Diaz as well was caught off guard by the old man; he didn’t do it often, but sometimes he spouted random information that reminded Diaz that Zuwa was an exiled for over 40 years now.

Sammy- “ The first one”, he replied shyly instead, which made the old squirm with disgust.

Zuwa- “ Yeah, that’s enough for me to say yes. Y can take a room here in the tower.”

Eury- “ Wait, really? That’s it?”, to which Zuwa only nodded.

Eury- “ You don’t want to know more or why- actually, I have a question. You know about the guys that are after Sammy?”

Zuwa- “ Lady, I’m more shocked by how little you know. You’ll have to tell me more about how you got yourself caught up in all this mess later; as a payment. For now, just know that the sect is interested in humans with as little modifications as possible. Biologically pure; no matter what, everything needs to be done through the most biological means possible.” The handyman gesticulated amply with his hand while emphasizing the “everything” to make it as clear as possible.

Diaz and Eury heads both run round the same hamster wheel, as neither got his point until after a few spins.

Eury- “ Holy fucking- that’s disgusting.” She picked up Sammy, still unaware of the implications of his targeting, and gave him a long hug. The thought made her realize something, though. People are still interested in that kind of activity, even might pay for it. Or do weird things, like helping out stragglers.

The girl then turned to each of the strangers that, on apparent whims, just agreed to help two weird, frightened and visibly confused runaways with a place to hide. But at the same time, she knew the cost of things. Mainly that everything in their world had to be paid somehow.

Eury- “ I..thank you for your help. Seriously. And I promise, as long as no one does anything to harm Sammy, I’ll do whatever it takes to pay you for food and shelter. Name whatever kind of job, or service and I will gladly do it.”

More like a joke, Diaz tried to imply more with his response -“any kind of service?”, but immediately felt like a concrete bar struck his stomach when she, in all honesty, said that-

Eury- “ Yes. Any kind. If you have a ‘room’ or ‘club’ or anything the kind that hires people for more-”

Zuwa- “ Ow, ow, calm down. What even made you think th- I mean, from we talked about, just-”

Diaz- “Yeah! Stop saying stupid stuff like that. I-”, he intervened a bit louder and upset than he wanted.

Eury- “ I’m not saying stupid stuff, I think I’m proposing some normal options here”, she yelled back, with a bit of shake in her tone.

Diaz- “ Jumping right into prost-”, but then he saw Sammy’s confused face- “ adult service isn’t exactly the first option you should consider.”

Eury- “ Why not? It would be the easiest and fastest way to earn some credits. Everyone knows this.”

Diaz- “ Who the hell is everyone? Also, down here, it’s the easiest way to earn some diseases the ceiling walkers have never heard of.”

Eury- “ Yeah? Like what?”

Diaz, squinting and fired up now, tried to recount any weird STD stories he heard about. “ Ummm…there’s like-”

Zuwa- “ The Vegas hiatus!”, the old man interjected, before exploding in a laughing fit after both Diaz and Eury contemplated what that name could entail. “ Just kidding, just kidding. Both of you are so easy to trick. Also, yes, young lady, we don’t have any access to medical care over here that isn’t based on toughing out in a cold sweet. So I wouldn’t advise that kind of job down here. Most brothels here are unfortunately meat factories, no contract, no care.”

Eury- “ Fine”, she replied, upset to have been defeated that easily.

Diaz- “ Good”, he responded, also upset for reasons unknown to him.

Zuwa- “ Listen, I think you and the kid should take a nap for now. Here’s the key to the door, and you can move any furniture to block the door if you want. I get it, I understand your fears.”

The last part weirded out Eury, but then she remembered the obvious. Diaz and Zuwa were still strangers, one she knew for a few hours and the other for a few minutes. “ Right. Mind if I investigate the room for any cameras or hidden doors or something.”

Zuwa- “ Be my guest. It’s better to be safe than sorry. As for payment, we’ll talk after you two are up, ok?”

Eury- “...Right. That’s…thanks for understanding. “ She then turned to Diaz. “ Thanks for helping us back there, by the way. Good night, I guess.”

Diaz- “Right”, he puffed, tired.” Rest well.”