horrors2

King_Plum_the_Nth.Untitled.tex

  1\chapauth{King Plum the Nth}
  2\chapter{Untitled}
  3
  4
  5I'd never been to San Diego before. Never been further west
  6than Iowa. But I like to travel and I like my job, so when my job
  7called on me to travel, I packed my Beretta and bought a one way
  8ticket to SoCal. One way because, in my line of work, you can never
  9be sure if you'll be coming back. My name is Luke Bavarious,
 10I'm a private detective and this is the story of how I died.
 11
 12
 13
 14The bus disgorged its wretched few passengers into a diseased
 15corner of the city. In some ways, all cities are the same, and San
 16Diego was no different. You won't find a bus depo or the
 17train station in a nice part of town. No, the rich white folk pawn
 18this stuff off on the poor blacks. As if their urban lives
 19weren't hard enough; the man sweeps all his dirt under the
 20rug of the black culture's communities.
 21
 22
 23
 24I hadn't been on the streets of San Diago more than ten
 25minutes when I was mugged the first time.
 26
 27
 28
 29``The fuck you doin' in our neighborhood,
 30whitie?''
 31
 32
 33
 34I could've cried. There were four of them. They were tough,
 35angry black youths, and if they pushed this too far, they'd
 36get hurt. ``Just passing through,'' I said.
 37
 38
 39
 40``Passing like a piece of shit, mo'fucker. Gotta pay to
 41walk our streets.''
 42
 43
 44
 45``It's public property,'' I didn't break eye
 46contact. Like dealing with an angry dog, when you talk to a gang
 47member, you can't show fear. ``I'm the public. Let
 48me past,'' I unbuttoned my jacket, flashed my Beretta.
 49``There's doesn't have to be any
 50trouble.''
 51
 52
 53
 54The kid, their leader, lifted the hem of his hoody with a slow
 55insolent gesture to show off his own piece, a Glock. Two of the
 56others reached for the back of their waist bands. I tried again,
 57using their language: ``Don't start none, won't be
 58none.'' I'd tried in vein.
 59
 60
 61
 62``Stupid mo'fucker.'' The leader jerked his piece
 63from his pants. His draw was admirably fast. These kids knew
 64violence, they were born it, it was their legacy. A cold, harsh
 65society had turned an indifferent shoulder to them and they had
 66risen to the challenge, becoming the only thing they could be in
 67this city. They were tough, but I was professional. My Beretta
 68barked four times, once for each of them, and the fight was over
 69before it began. They weren't dead, but they couldn't
 70threaten me anymore. I moved on. Violence isn't the answer,
 71but sometimes it can teach a lesson that needs to be learned.
 72
 73
 74
 75The lady, Kelly, my client back in New York, had told me all about
 76San Diego. Said her old man had taken her and her sister, Amy,
 77there after the divorce. Kelly'd been a little girl, the
 78sister was a baby. ``The kids at my new school,'' she
 79said, ``taught me fast. My first day, they told me it
 80wasn't smart to wear so much red.'' We made love for
 81hours that night. It was glorious but I never felt like she was
 82really there under me. She was that little girl again, scared to
 83finish her first day at school in that pretty red dress.
 84
 85
 86
 87So she'd gotten old enough and run away, all the way to New
 88York City. But her baby sister, fifteen now, was still trapped with
 89the father. Still trapped in San Diego. She'd hired me to go
 90find her, save her, and bring her back. ``He won't give
 91you any trouble, Luke. Just make sure you see him during the day.
 92He works at night.'' She'd paid me in cash and her
 93body.
 94
 95
 96
 97I found the little cinderblock house she'd described and I
 98knocked at the door. The only answer was a dog barking in the next
 99yard. I walked around the front yard a bit, looked and saw I
100wasn't being watched, and slipped around the corner of the
101house. I let myself into the fenced off back yard, peering in
102windows as I passed. The place looked deserted. Around back, I
103found a narrow concrete stairway leading down to a basement door. I
104figured what the hell and went down the stairs and tried the door.
105It was open. I went in.
106
107
108
109It was gloomy and smelled damp and it looked pretty empty. All I
110saw was a couple of cardboard boxes, a water heater, a couple of
111coffins. ``What the hell?!'' Curiosity is a big part of
112my job but I wish I hadn't given into it then. I walked over
113to the first coffin, lifted the lid. There was the too fresh body
114of a man, thirty something, long black hair pulled straight back
115from the temples, a trickle of blood running down from his livid
116lips. I stared, shocked, and as I did, his eyes snapped open.
117Before I could do more than gasp his hand was on my throat.
118
119
120
121``Who are you,'' he demanded. ``What do you
122want?''
123
124
125
126``Your daughter,'' I choked. ``She sent
127me.''
128
129
130
131``My daughter?'' His eyes glanced to my right.
132``She's right there.'' I looked as best I could and
133saw a young woman, the spitting image of my client but a decade
134younger.
135
136
137
138``Oh,'' he said, rising from his coffin, ``you mean
139the traitor.''
140
141
142
143``She said{\ldots}'' I was choking to death in his grasp.
144I produced the Beretta, painfully slow, but it was like he wanted
145me to shoot him. I squeezed off the last few shots, right into his
146gut. He didn't so much as flinch.
147
148
149
150``I know what she said,'' he said. ``She said I was
151harsh. That I abused them.'' He grimaced horribly and his eye
152teeth erected into fangs. ``But she never understood. You have
153to be tough to live in a city like this, Mr.\ Bavarious. I only
154wanted to make my little girls tough.'' The world was fading,
155purple splotches exploding in my vision. ``Amy will show you
156what I mean.'' The girl hissed, drawing her lips back from
157cobra-like fangs.
158
159
160
161{\ldots}I guess you wouldn't say I died exactly. Could a dead
162man tell you his tale? But that's the story of how I stopped
163living. 
164 
165
166
167