Surge (113 page)

“All’s fair in war,” Patsy says.

“Good thing I’m retiring then,” Olivia replies as she pulls Vicky off of a raider. He was still alive, so she walks over and sinks her knife into his eye.

“You mean that you’re done with this shit?” Patsy asks as he points around the room. “I thought this was your forte.”

“Nope, I’m sick of being covered in blood, and having fuckheads shoot at me.”

“So, what’ll you do when we get back?” I ask.

“Cook?” Olivia says with a shrug. “Garden? Teach freaking ballet, I don’t care, so long as it isn’t this.”

“You’ll be bored out of your mind in under a week,” Patsy counters as we make our way over to her.

“Maybe,” she allows. “But I’m gonna give it a shot. Or at least take a breather, before I join back up.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” I say.

“Me too,” Olivia says. “Now, let’s find Cole.”

“No need to find me, sweet Livi,” a male voice announces. “For I have already found you.”

<~~~<~~~
~~~>~~~>

“Cole,” Olivia hisses as she looks to the left.

We’re still about twenty feet away from her, when my head snaps to view the man who entered from the other side of the room. I follow her gaze, and find the murderer from the newspapers. He’s still in his pressed suit that he was wearing for dinner, but his hair has been mussed, probably from Olivia strangling him with her chain.

“Who are your friends?” Cole asks.

“None of your fucking business,” she retorts.

“I believe it is,” he says with a smooth voice. This asshole could give Akio a run for his money with the cultured tone he’s using. He sounds kind of like a gentleman from the nineteen hundreds, but I know for a fact that this douchebag ain’t no damn gentleman. “You see, pet, they’ve broken into
my
home, and killed
my
men, so I think that it’s only reasonable if I kill them.”
‘Pet?’
Seriously? Who the fuck is this guy?

“I’m not your fucking pet,” Olivia snaps.

“Ah-ah, temper temper,” Cole says as he
‘tsks’
at her. “Do we need to have another go with the flogger?”

“I got a better idea,” Patsy says. “How about I hold you down, and Olivia can dish out some punishment of her own?”

“See, that’s what’s wrong with men these days,” Cole says and points at Patsy. “They’re too soft. Women need a strong hand to keep them under control, without it, they’re flighty and easily lost. They need a man to direct them.”

“I’ll direct you, with my foot up your ass,” I say.

“Livi, who are these men?” Cole asks.

“I already said, none of your fucking business,” she says.

“You want to repeat that?” Cole asks. His tone is calm, but his jaw is clenched.

“
None
of your
fucking
business,” Olivia repeats. “Are you deaf? Old age getting the best of you? Or is it that all the crazy bull shit bouncing around your head, is blocking you from comprehending the words coming out of my mouth?”

“You’ll regret that,” he says.

“See, that’s where you’re wrong,” Patsy interrupts as he points his gun at Cole’s chest. “
You’ll
regret the day that you even looked at Ollie, ‘cause she got lots of friends lining up to take shots at you. What the fuck do you got? Corpses and body parts?”

“No, he got me.” I hear a gun cock beside my ear, and turn to look at it, receiving a pistol whip to the temple for my trouble. Mother fucker, that hurt.

“Oh, Tim, you are
so
going to regret that,” Olivia promises.

“Why? Is this pretty boy the new guy you’re fucking?” Tim asks.

“I ain’t no fucking pretty boy,” I retort. “And what she does, is none of your goddamn business, you Marlon Brando wannabe.”

“Brando ain’t got nothin’ on me,” Tim says. Even though I can’t see him, I know from his tone, that he’s puffed up with pride and thinking that he’s superior to the actor.

“Nah, you got that the other way around,” I say. “Brando could kick your ass six ways from Sunday, with both arms tied behind his back, and a peg leg.” I don’t hear Tim’s response, because Cole’s voice echoes across the room.

“Is he, Livi?” Cole demands. “Is he like the one who soiled my pet?”

“Nope, he isn’t,” she replies. “I don’t even know him; or the other one, for that matter. Just a couple of trespassers.”

“I think you do,” Tim says, and digs his gun into my scabbed cheek. I feel the dried flesh rip away, and the wound reopen. Olivia keeps her eyes locked on Cole, but I see her hands grip Victoria’s dog catcher a little tighter, as she takes a small step forward. “Why else would they be here?”

“Because we needed shit,” I answer. I get another whack to the head for talking, but I’ll take fifty more if need be, for Olivia to make her way to Cole. She’s already cut the distance a quarter of the way without being noticed, since these morons are distracted with their bad guy monologues.

“I ain’t asking you, pretty boy,” Tim hisses. “I’m asking the whore.”

“Rape doesn’t make her a whore, you sick fuck,” I retort.

“It ain’t rape, if she’s a whore,” Tim says. That makes absolutely no sense, if a girl says no, that means NO; but this moron just keeps talking. “After all, she was giving it away for free, now weren’t you, slut? We seen it, didn’t we Boss? She was up on the roof with the last one.”

“Yeah, we saw her in action,” Cole agrees. “But she didn’t perform the same way for me. Why is that, sweet Livi? Do you not find me pleasing?”

“No, I find you repulsive,” Olivia answers as she freezes her forward movement.

“You don’t mean that,” Cole says with a shake of his head.

“But I do,” she says. Olivia nods her head while sneaking another step closer to her tormentor. Another four feet, and Victoria will be within arm’s reach of him.

“Would I be repulsive if I were the last man left?” Cole asks.

“Yes,” Olivia replies. “Even then, you would still be the most vile creature I’ve ever laid my eyes on.”

“I guess we’ll see about that,” Cole says and raises his gun at Patsy. I hear the bullet go off, at the same time I see Olivia throw Victoria at Cole.

“Boss!” Tim shouts.

Using his panic against him, I grip his wrist and twist it, before landing an elbow in his gut. I hear him grunt, but not that crack of bone I was looking for. Raising his fist above my head, I spin while holding it, turning him around and jerking his elbow behind his back. I go to kick the back of his knees out, only to have the bastard donkey kick me in the balls. Breathing through the pain, I resist the urge to cup my crotch and blink away the wetness in my eyes. No way in hell is this fucker getting a tear out of me, no matter how much my dick feels like it was steamrolled.

Even with me protesting the movement, I hunch over, and lose my hold on Tim; the low blowing prick. Using his height advantage, he grabs me by the scruff of my neck, and brings his knee up to meet in the face. I feel pain burst from my eye socket, but use my still functional right one to see where to gut punch his ass. Yeah, the balls would be a good choice, but I know that gut punches could be more damaging if you hit the right spot. I pull back my right arm, and punch where I think his kidney should be, feeling my previously busted fingers make contact with ribs; informing me that I went too high.

Even with my misdirected shot, it does damage. Broken, or even bruised, ribs hurt like a bitch. I would know, since I cracked three of them sophomore year of high school in a football game. I’m not sure which Tim is suffering from, but I use it to my advantage. Forcing my back to straighten, I use my left hand to jab him twice in the abdomen to get him to block low, before going for the knockout. When Tim’s hand moves down, I go up, and land a haymaker to his jaw.

Tim goes lights out, and drops bonelessly to the ground. I know he isn’t dead, but he’ll be out for a while, so I glance around the room. Victoria’s down, and not moving, then I spot the puddle of black blood under her head; so someone took care of her. I don’t see Patsy, but I continue searching until I spot black hair. Olivia’s fist fighting Cole, and I mean literally fist fighting.

The asshole may not be that tall, since he’s only about 5’10”, but he still has a good amount of height and weight on her; not to mention he’s a dude, and he’s punching a woman. Even if I didn’t know or care about Olivia, I would be pissed; but since this is Olivia, I’m fucking nuclear. No mother fucker is going to put his hands on her in my presence, without swallowing his goddamn teeth.

I step forward, preparing to kill this mother fucker with my bare hands, when I feel something smash against the back of my head. I stumble a few steps forward, before my vision goes black.

<~~~<~~~
~~~>~~~>

“Should we kill him?” A female voice asks.

“Not yet,” another says. “The boss said to wait.”

“But he’s coming to,” a third one says. “Look.” I feel a kick land in my stomach, making me grunt. “See?”

“Yeah, but he isn’t going anywhere,” the first one says. I pry my eyes open to see what’s going on, only to snap them shut against the glaring light. Jesus Christ, why is my head throbbing?

“How long are we supposed to hold him?”

“Until the Boss comes to get him,” the first one replies. “He said that he had some questioning to do, before he killed them.”

“What about
Livi
?”

The sneer the woman puts on this name, leaves no doubt that she doesn’t like Olivia one bit. Along with the name, my foggy brain starts connecting pieces. Compound, we finally arrived at the compound. Cougar tits, she tried hitting on me, and I had no wish to explore Cob Web Cove. Letter, Olivia left me a letter. Kelly, she was stuffed in the Jag’s trunk. Webby, he used his water bottle to make the wheezers back off. Patsy, he and I were going to get Olivia. Victoria, Tim, Cole, the pieces all come together, and one shoves its way to the forefront of my mind. Where the fuck is my Tomb Raider?

I rip my eyes open, and ignore the sensation of needles stabbing my irises, to take in my surroundings. I’m on a cold floor, and it’s damp, so I’m guessing it’s the basement. The leaky pipe in the corner is what confirms it for me, along with the tiny window on the wall. The bright light is actually the sun streaming in from that window. Why must that asshole always wake me? This time, I’m not pissed about it, since I have shit to do; but it’s the principle that counts. I’ll curse the big yellow bastard out later, right now, I have to figure how the fuck to get out of here, and who the hell is talking. They haven’t shut up, and it’s messing with my concentration.

“Can you all shut the fuck up!” I shout. The pleasure of shouting is short lived, when I feel lightning pain bounce around my skull like a pinball machine. I receive another kick to the stomach, but I’d take that over another one of those mental jabs.

“Watch your mouth, scumbag!” I take that back, I’d rather choke the bitch that’s screaming in my ears.

“Fuck you, cunt,” I retort. I expected another kick to my ribs; instead, I get a black haired bitch up in my face.

“You wanna run that by me again?”

“I said,
fuck
you, you
fucking
cunt,” I hiss out.

I see her lips purse, and her dark brown eyes narrow to slits, before I receive a wallop from a handgun to my nose. I laugh at her, since the bitch couldn’t even do it properly; sure it stings, but my nose ain’t broken. No, the honor of my reset nose belongs entirely to Cory. I feel satisfaction course through me, when I see her lose the fierceness, in favor of confusion because I’m not sniveling at her abuse. Too bad bitch, you’ll have to work for it, and I tell her so.

“You’ll have to do better than that, Mariella.”

“How the fuck do you know my name?” Mariella demands, confirming my suspicions of her identity. I make note that she’s also the bitch who ripped Olivia around by her hair when she was upstairs.

“Watch your mouth, slutface,” I say.

“Answer the question,” she snaps.

“Back your skank ass up, and I might feel obliged to answer you.” I wait for her to back the fuck off, so that I can get a better look at the room, before I answer. “Your repetitive use of nose breaking gave you away, or
attempted
nose breaking in my case, you weak bitch.”