Moral Zero (15 page)

Fourteen.
Johnny didn’t take his eyes off Red. Sounds right up your alley. Or right up hers.

Fuck!
Kidd Red threw his hands up in the air, then laid them down again on his lap and shook his head several times. It’s too young.

Surely not for you?
Johnny smirked.

I’m not goin
below fourteen. It ain’t right.

What’
s the youngest you’ve ever had? Mr White enquired.

Thirteen, when I were
a bit younger. And I only got with her cause she had tits like melons.

T
hirteen was a normal age to have sex in the past. Everyone did it, said Johnny.

That’s the past. We know better now.

Do we.

Yeah.

I wonder what will be considered abnormal in the future. What new lines of perversion will be drawn. Rearranged. To cast every previous generation down to Hell.

They were n
atural too, said Red wistfully. You know those growth ‘plants don’t take no effect at that age.

Sure they do.
I’ve seen a few. District Fourteen, you can find them all over. They got new implants now that work on early starters. They’re going for younger and younger. Like you.

Red ignored this.
You could tell, anyhow. No matter how fuckin good they get, I know what’s real. All soft and jigglin and . . . yeah. It was an exception to the rule.

What, the pedophile rule.

It’s not pedophilia if I’m not touching kids! Besides, I’m too young to be a pedophile.

You’ve never too young to
be a pedophile.

What, so you ca
n get a fuckin ten year old pedophile?

You’re not ten
years old, you’re a grown man.

A youn
g man. Who ain’t touchin no kids.

And why aren’t you?

I told you, it’s wrong.

Johnny laughed. Wrong
he says. Wrong. What’s right about any of this? He waved his arm around.

We mi
ght not be the nicest of guys -

There’s an understatement.

- But we’re just playin around. Pedophilia, now that’s some kinda mental disorder. They’re fucked in the head.

Why is it a disorder?

Because . . . Cause it’s fuckin unnatural.

Unnatural.
Some folks might be pretty hot up on the idea that anal sex is unnatural.

Red
grinned like a naughty child. Anal sex feels pretty natural to me. And animals do it.

Animals are also pedophiles.

Animals just don’t give a shit.

Exactly.

Red dropped his smile. But seriously, my shit’s harmless.

Would all the girls you’ve savagely spea
red in the ass agree with that?

Hey! I ain’t no
sadist like you man. I’m out for both our enjoyment.

And then there’s your scatological obsession. You with
your cock all steeped in shit. Low down with the pigs.

Watch your mout
h, I ain’t ready to masturbate.

Now I know most folks out there would
definitely
think you’re mentally . . . unsound for all that.

Red pffted.
Whatever.  I ain’t into children.

Sure you are.
As far into them as you can get.

No. They’re too underdeveloped. He beckoned at Mr White.
You know me White, you know I like tits and ass.

Mr White nodded mutely, so Re
d turned back to Johnny. They’re undeveloped in the brain too.

I thought you liked that?
Johnny wouldn’t cease with the jibes.

Not like that. They lack perception,
y’know? Appreciation of the corruption. They don’t know shit. They don’t know what they want. It’s just, just abuse, and not the good kind neither.

I like them clever, said Johnny. W
ell, certain forms of cleverness. Cotton-ons. I want ones with the best understanding, the best understanding of what’s happening to them. I want to see clarity in their eyes. Horror and clarity. Horror and understanding.

He
took a big gulp of whiskey. But you like dumb bimbos.

Red
mouth upturned wryly. They are fun when they’re thick, that’s for sure.

I alw
ays knew you were a cock fiend.

Red stuck his tongue out.

Johnny rolled his eyes. Tell me Red, what if you saw a girl with huge tits and a fat ass. Rest of her slim. Just how you like. Thick black eyeshadow, red lipstick. Mini-skirted. Tight shirt tied round her midriff, exposing a whole ton of flesh that makes your mouth water. She’s all over you. Wanting you.

You sound like
you’re turnin yourself on now.

Johnny ignored this.
She tells you she’s twelve. What do you do?

Red paused to contemplate.
How big are the tits? What ratios we talkin here?

My point made.

Pah.

They call you Kidd Red
because you leave infants bleeding out their butts.

Fuck off.

You’re going to fuck a middle aged woman just to spite me now aren’t you?

I was goin
to fuck one anyway.

I bet.

My daughter will be here tomorrow anyhow. I can wait.

Your daughter.
Of course. And how old is she again?

Fifteen.

No comment. Johnny Black downed the last of his whiskey and smashed the glass back onto the bar. He got up to go, and the others followed suit.

Wait, did I hear
right, your daughter? said Mr White, confused.

He’s just being facetious.

No, I ain’t. You’ll see her tomorrow.

Johnny stared at him.
Are you real? He tapped hard on Red’s forehead. Is there anyone in there? Is this a setup?

Of course I’m for rea
l, chuckled Red, dodging out the way of Johnny’s finger. You couldn’t fake a fella like me.

Bec
ause there’s a lot of them about you know. Most of the people in the city are just empty vassals. They got so little to them that they may as well be cut-outs.

I know it.

STREET

Mr White tried to get in Red’
s forward view as they exited the bar and walked down the street, half walking backwards, his hands protesting before his mouth had started. Red, Red. Red.

That’s me
, said Red, not slowing.

You’re . . .
you’re incestuous? With your own daughter? Have I got that right? Or is that completely the wrong end of the stick. If so I apologise. It’s just you kinda made out -

No, that’s right man,
smiled Red. It’s alright though, don’t worry about it. I told you I was a bit fucked up. Some things just go down a certain way, y’know?

Johnny shook his head in front of them but said nothing.

You’ll meet her tomorrow, maybe. Don’t worry about it. Seriously. He laughed at Mr White’s expression.

But – but, she’s fifteen?

I know, I know. What can I say. I was an early starter.

Johnny
slowed down until they caught him up, and he moved close towards Red, right up to his ear. He twitched and leant away with a silly smile stamped on his face as if Johnny was some stinking drunkard.

I’m going to f
uck you up the ass someday.

Red couldn’t have taken it
seriously because he snorted. You think I ain’t had the tables turned on me before? I’ve had it a fair plenty number of times. I know how it feels.

You won’t know shit.

BAR

What was all that about
back there man? Kidd Red asked, trying to sound casual and leaning his back against the wall of the next bar. It could have been identical to the last one. Just rearranged, like the whole city was. Nothing new, just templates for the residency of all deviant souls. To fill in with oneself. The details in the people. Always in the people.

And the devil in the detail
.

All what?
Johnny replied emotionlessly.

All that pedophile shit.

Messing with you.

No you weren’t. Not fully.

What of it.

You don’t see
anythin wrong with pedophilia?

You do?

Yes!

Your morals seem very particular. Picky, even. Why do you not fuck
kids? Even though you kind of do.

I told you why.

You like dumb girls though. You like them young, dumb and full of cum. Their intellects must be those of girls younger than them. Hell, a twenty year old might have the intellect of a ten year old. You fuck them, you’re taking advantage.

It don’t work like that.

Tell me how it works.

Kidd Red sighed and stood up,
his back stiffer than before. I ain’t gettin into no argument about whether or not I’m takin advantage. Maybe I am, maybe I ain’t. Maybe everone is to some extent. I reckon so. But I will say there’s more to bein older than intelligence and the body. You know there is.

What’s that then?
Johnny Black smiled, relaxed and cool.

There’s experience. They’ve lived. They’ve seen things. That’s a kind of intelligence. They understand, where it
counts. They understand sex. Yeah, even if they ain’t had it before – although I’ll swear now that my preference ain’t never been for virgins. I like corruptin girls, sure, but I like somethin to start with. Only those that wanna be corrupted! I’m no predator, man. I’m just, well I’m just me. They gotta have that inner slut just waitin to be awakened. I can see it in their eyes, all dormant and nestin. And full-blown practiced whores who’ll do whatever right off the bat are a joy, a real fuckin joy to be with.

You like th
em with understanding too then, Johnny murmured. Maybe a different kind to me, but the same ball park, maybe. They gotta know what’s happening, the more they know it the better. That your cock is a cock, that their body is a body, and the two are together, and it is all real, all happening.

That their
asshole is an asshole. Red laid himself back against the wall, and his speech softened.

That my knife is a knife and their blood is caused by it. That th
eir pain is their pain, and it is right and true, though they do not understand why. Or perhaps they do. Perhaps we all do, when it comes to the final moments. I hope so.

Easy now,
Red muttered.

Perhaps
, just for this matter and nothing more, we’re two sides of the same coin, Johnny mused, stroking his thick stubble. You are the filth wizard.

Ha, I l
ike that. And you’re the fuckin sadist.

Something like that, at least.

Red’s eyes narrowed. Wait a fuckin second, have you just been playin devil’s advocate this whole fuckin time?

Johnny grinned, baring his
lion teeth without amusement. I’m not his advocate. I’m the Devil.

Yeah, yeah.
Red waved his hand distractedly. Then let’s get to the meat of the issue, right. Stop fuckin about. From everthin you said it seems to say that you think that my refusal to fuck kids is based on preference, nothin more. I’ve denied this, and I got no fuckin more I can say on the matter. It’s about a damn sight more than age of fuckin consent laws.

Johnny rolled his eyes.
Of course it is. It always has been. Rule is a madhouse, but the world’s no different, it’s just on a larger scale. You get nations with different AOCs and in each one it’s like that’s the moral truth. Is it hell. They’re just laws, and they lost their ground when relativism took over. Here, it’s blazing daylight, you can’t even see a shadow of the truth. You and me and our two-headed coin, we use our own judgement. Maybe we disagree on each other’s. But we’re thinking for ourselves. I am more than you, of course. You’re pretty much going on instinct, like an animal on heat.

Bullshit. I
seen no fuckin judgement from you on any account. You act against consent, I never do that.

Consent is never cut and paste.

What’s that supposed to mean?

Something to take from others. Stick it on your wall, big fucking woop, frame it like a diploma. People don’t even understand their own consent let alone another’s. It can mean anything. You can make it up. Artificial. Build it in a lab. Teach them to nod their heads like dolls. Give them a quiz before you have sex. Go out with them for a year first. Give them a contract to sign.
Witnesses and all. Make them study philosophy and ethics for half their life. Fuck it, it’s to no avail. It’s just a sliding scale, different degrees. So slippery, a ride in an eternal swamp. A slide from darkness to darkness.