Trashland a Go-Go (8 page)

“Continue!” the Queen barked once the din of laughter had faded.

Adrian gathered himself and explained that Coco had woken up not far from the kingdom and needed help getting home. He started confidently, but under the scrutiny of the Queen, he wavered. Coco watched him struggle to gain composure.

“So,” the Queen sighed heavily, “You’ve brought an outsider to my kingdom?” She crossed her arms over her chest and squinted disapproval at Adrian.

He opened his mouth to argue. Coco could see that he obviously did not want to displease the Queen. He looked to Coco, and then back down the table with wanting eyes. Then he bowed his head in submission and uttered a simple, “Yes, your Majesty.”

“I see,” the Queen said. “I would ask you why…” Adrian looked up with a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes. The monarch continued, “but I know quite well that the answer is
stupidity
. Now take your seat. I’ll deal with you after dinner.”

After a stony end to dinner, Coco and Adrian stood and waited for the other knights to say their goodbyes to the Queen. They bowed low, giving praise. Coco watched each knight bend down and kiss the Queen’s hand before exiting. Coco could see small pebbles pop off the Queen’s dress each time a knight kissed her hand. Some landed on the floor and rolled around listlessly, while the next knight side-stepped them or tried to crush them under his large black rubber boot.

“What are those things?” Coco whispered to Adrian.

“Spores,” he whispered back as one launched onto the neck of a knight who’d lingered just a bit too long.

The knight stood, oblivious to the spore. As he passed Coco, she saw the purplish blob throb and pulsate on the knight’s neck. He walked through a door, and turned to smile with the sweetest of adoration at the Queen. He stared longingly at her and she waved coyly at him while he blew a kiss at her.

“I guess they do work,” Coco snickered to herself.

Adrian looked at her sheepishly. He didn’t seem to find any amusement in the situation.

“Adrian,” the Queen called out to him. “Come and speak with me. Bring your stray along.”

“My name is Coco.”

“I do not recall addressing it, Adrian. Tell it not to speak to me.” The Queen rolled her head back and gazed at the ceiling, nose in the air.

“Please refrain from addressing the Queen unless she has acknowledged you specifically,” Adrian said. His voice was firm.

Coco did not enjoy being spoken to in this way. Nor did she relish the idea of the two of them having a conversation about her as though she weren’t standing right in front of them.

“Good night, Adrian.” The Queen extended her hand and smiled a shiny, silver smile.

Adrian bowed on one knee as the other knights had, and pressed his closed mouth to her pale hand.

Coco stood behind him with her arms crossed, glaring at the Queen, who stared directly into her eyes over the top of Adrian’s head. She gave Coco a mean little crooked smile and wriggled in her seat for a moment before she bounced, ever-so-slightly.

The Queen did not break eye contact with Coco while she released another small purple orb. It made a small arc, and Coco watched in horror as it planted itself firmly on the back of Adrian’s head.

“No!” Coco reached out to grab the pulsating thing latched to the back of Adrian’s head. The Queen clapped loudly and two guards appeared from the door behind her seat. They rushed to Coco and each grabbed one of her arms. They held her firmly while she thrashed.

Coco called out to Adrian for help. He turned slowly on his heel and stared at her with cold vacancy behind his eyes while the Queen began to shriek in terror.

Rudy was flung from his hiding spot in Coco’s sleeve when the guards snatched her. He chose to fly a large loop around the chaos rather than fall to the ground.

The Queen was frozen in fear when she saw him. She sat and screamed, gaping at Rudy while he maneuvered through the people in the room.

She finally snapped out of her paralysis and screamed, “Smash it! Kill it!” The Queen flung her hand over her open mouth and pointed, following Rudy with her finger.

Not particularly wanting to be squashed, Rudy flew around the room looking for an escape. He found a door left slightly ajar that led to the courtyard.

The two guards held firmly to Coco. Adrian was unresponsive under the spell of the spore. Rudy had abandoned Coco to save himself. She wanted to be mad at him for leaving her, but what could a fly really do to save her?

The Queen shot out of her seat and stomped over to Coco, each step an expression of her fury and hatred. “You dare to bring a fly to my Court?!” she shouted, so close to Coco that spit flew into her face.

“It’s just a little fly. I don’t see the problem. If you would have kept your goons off of me, you wouldn’t have known he was there.” Coco jerked an arm feebly.

“THAT ISN’T THE POINT!” the Queen shrieked. She threw her hands in the air and turned her back to Coco, stalking back and forth.

When the Queen’s back was turned, the guard to Coco’s right tightened his grip on her arm and hissed, “The Queen is terrified of flies. You’ve fucked up big, little sister.”

The Queen turned to face Coco again with fire in her eye. The light bulb in place of her other eye was flashing erratically. She strode back over to Coco, and with each step her anger gave way to amusement. This confused and frightened Coco.

The Queen stood in front of her, smirking. Her lips parted slowly. She flashed her bear trap grin and locked eyes with Coco as she addressed the guards and waved a dismissive hand in the air. “Take her to the Chamber.”

She turned, wrapped an arm through Adrian’s, and marched away with him in tow. The Queen’s skirts dragged in the dirt behind her while she stroked Adrian’s arm and beamed up at him. He smiled back at her with mindless saccharine worship. Coco watched as the door shut behind them.

The guards dragged Coco through the courtyard and out a side door. They led her down a muddy, littered path. There were no other people around. Coco flailed wildly, trying to free herself from the grip of their calloused hands.

They arrived at a sturdy looking, squat structure with a large metal door where two guards stood. The two men holding Coco threw her at the guards’ feet. She hit the ground face-first and tasted sickly, sour dirt.

“This one goes to the Chamber, by order of the Queen”

Coco looked up at the guards surrounding her.

The two at the door smirked down at her.

“On your feet.” the fatter one said.

She obeyed. She was clearly outnumbered.

Pieces of wrought iron fencing in various shades of rust had all been welded together to form a heavy door. The guard inserted a large skeleton key into the lock and heaved his bulk against the door to force it open.

Inside was a jail. A dungeon. Aluminum siding and chain link all fused together with wrought iron reinforcement to keep a handful of prisoners trapped. Two oversized birdcages dangled from the ceiling where two men, one in each cage, squatted inside looking hungry and tired. They were covered in shit, as were their cages and the floor below them.

The guards shoved her through the dungeon, past the other prisoners to another large door on the other side of the room. The fat guard jammed a key in the lock and tried to turn it.

“This damn thing is jammed. Hang on to her.” he fidgeted with his keys. He tried a different one.

While he busied himself with the task of keys, Coco couldn’t help but wonder what was on the other side of that door. Her thoughts were rudely interrupted when she felt the hand of the thinner guard squeeze her ass.

Coco’s elbow flew towards his face and struck a solid blow to his nose.

“Son of a bitch!” he screamed. He doubled over holding his face. Blood dripped from between his fingers.

The fat guard turned to see what had happened. He grabbed the wooden club from his holster and swung fiercely at Coco’s head.

Coco’s vision exploded with bright orange light and she crumpled into unconsciousness.

The stench woke Coco. She was afraid to open her eyes. She didn’t want to know where she was, or the source of the smell.

The back of her head throbbed. She thought of the purple brain sucking spores and desperately groped under her mess of hair to check if one of them was on her. She walked her fingers nimbly over her scalp and found only a large lump from where the guard had hit her.

Coco avoided opening her eyes as long as she could. Soon the urge to vomit was so great she had no choice, if only to find somewhere to be sick. When she opened them, she had trouble focusing.

Her dress was pulled up around her waist. Through her gauzy eyes, the room appeared to be a padded cell. On the floor nearby was her silver g-string.

The room smelled like shit. Literally.

Without much time to analyze it, she could see there was nothing else in the room with her. Just four, off-white, quilted walls, with a floor and ceiling to match. Clearly the only place to vomit was in the corner.

Coco stood and pulled her dress down. The floor was soft and uneven. The heels of her shoes dug into the plastic quilted floor and tore holes in it. The more she walked, the more it tore, until the quilted cushions fell apart and brown paste oozed from the floor like old pus from a wound. The smell of shit was instantly stronger. Coco fell to her knees and retched violently into the corner.

Hot stomach acid and roasted cat meat sprayed onto the floor, mingling with the stuff already pooling under her from the brown seepage her heels had unleashed. It was all too much. Coco threw up until she was gagging on green foam and there was nothing left inside her stomach. She heaved until tears were streaming down her face. She just wanted to go home.

Coco sat up and wiped her face with her dress. She tore a layer of fabric from her skirt and tied it around her face. She looked around her cell.

The Chamber was a very small padded room, much like that of a mental institution. But this room was padded with used diapers. Judging from the slow fountains of shit squeezing through the holes her stilettos had torn, they weren’t just baby diapers. Kernels of corn and peanuts were clearly visible in the brown muck. Coco dry heaved into her hands.

The door to the room was metal with a barred slat at eye level. Coco leapt up and pressed her face against it. She lifted her makeshift mask and gasped hungrily at the relatively fresh air on the other side with her face mashed against the bars. There didn’t appear to be anyone guarding her. There also didn’t appear to be a way out.

Coco stood with her face pressed to the bars until it hurt. She pressed her face so hard into the metal that she was sure it would bruise. But she didn’t care. She would do anything to breathe something beside the fetid air of the Chamber. She watched the shadows in the dark hall outside the door, and waited for a guard to check on her.

Rudy flew through the bars and landed on the wall. “This place is fucking great!” He hopped about the room happier than Coco had ever seen him.

“It’s not! It’s terrible and I have to get out of here!”

Rudy laughed, “Sorry sweetheart. The guards throw you in, and then drag you out. When you’re dead.” He settled into one of the holes torn by Coco’s shoes.

The fly sniffed the sludge, and rolled about giddily before he stopped and cocked his tiny bug head to one side. “You know, there is a way you could get out of here, but you aren’t going to like it.”

Coco wailed, “I’ll do anything, I don’t care! I have to get out of here!”

Rudy buzzed through the air and landed, with his petite shitty feet on Coco’s nose. “Dig.”