Chapter 3.5 – Juice Box
Back outside, the strange metallic smell is replaced with a combination of garbage and laundry. We came out of the club in a fenced off area filled with vents and garbage bins. There’s not any landmarks and I can’t say for sure where we’re at but if I had to guess we’re about a block away from the club. We passed a strip mall with a laundromat on the way here. Why would there be a tunnel leading here.
“I told you, stop fucking following me,” The woman catches my attention as she yells out from the rooftops.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you. I would have stopped if I had. I just wanted to talk, I thought you had cool sneakers. I didn’t know you were running from me, I thought you were chasing someone else, so I just followed along. I guess I was just being nosey. I had a joint today, and some drinks. I suppose I shouldn’t just be following random women. I’d probably remember that if I was sober. I’m not good at social situations so I hadn’t considered how odd it might be, terrorizing even, for a man to be chasing you. I’m really sorry about that,” I push as many words as I can through my exhausted lungs trying to explain myself.
“Please, just shut up,” she yells over me.
“Okay.”
The cold night air rushes past me before I spot two human-like streaks speeding into my vision and out in front of the woman. They come to a stop and it takes a moment before I realized they’re actually people. Two really pale men, identical haircuts, identical suits, the only difference being their faces and hair colors. One blonde, one silver, almost like they stepped out of some kind of anime. No, a comic book. The Flash could be real. This is insane. She doesn’t seem at all concerned about the speed they moved at. Is she some kind of meta too? Did I just stalk Wonder Woman? I hope I didn’t stalk Wonder Woman. The weed and alcohol can’t have hit me that hard. It should have worn off by now and I’ve been trying to chase her through tunnels. I stalked Wonder Woman. The only man to do that and survive was Batman. Am I Batman? Get it together, I am not Batman. Yet, I’m not Batman yet. This could be my origin story. Nope, straighten up, I need to straighten up.
I actually feel sick to my stomach as they stare each other down, almost like I want to pass out. I’m actually getting dizzy and feel the vomit making its way up my throat. They don’t look bothered by any of this and I’m on the verge of dropping to my knees or picking my favorite dumpster to throw up in. My head is pounding, and my ears are ringing. I feel like watching them is killing me.
“I don’t have anything for you,” she tells the men.
“We didn’t ask you for anything,” Blonde responds to her.
“She’s got a guilty conscience. Maybe we should rip it out of her,” Silver responds.
“Are we doing this before the sun comes up? I know you guys have a curfew,” she asks.
“Your move bitch,” Blonde smiles.
“Fuck you,” she moves so fast she vanishes from my vision.
The three are moving so fast I can’t seem to keep up with them. The nausea only seems to have gotten worse since they’ve started fighting. I’m not even sure if punches and kicks are landing when I can see them being thrown; maybe they’re being dodged entirely. A few times it looks like a person is thrown but they’re back into the mix so quick I might be mistaken. She seems to be fighting both without any problem. Am I dreaming? People don’t move like this. This looks like some insane video game sequence. Soon they’re back in their starting positions. Plenty of scratches and torn clothing.
“We’ll finish this later,” Silver says, obviously looking worst of all.
“Tell your boss to kiss my ass,” she laughs.
“Destiny is a fitting name, because you can’t avoid it,” Blonde says with a smile.
The two rush off behind her, the same way they came, she doesn’t even watch. They pass by me in a blur again, slightly slower. Maybe they’re tired. Moving like a Super Saiyan must take a toll on you. I wouldn’t know. I turn to watch where they’re heading and they actually seem to run up the walls. What am I looking at? One turns around and seems to rush back at Destiny, I feel the same feeling as before. I know he’s about to do hurt her, and she won’t even see it coming. She can take it, I’ve seen her fight these guys two on one, but I feel like I have to do something. I know I can’t move faster than he is, and I probably can’t knock him over either.
I do the next best thing; I step in his line. He’s following the same path as before; he’s moving too fast to turn on a dime. I don’t care what he is. The air is knocked out of my body so quickly I don’t have a chance to scream. The vomit finally comes out mixed with blood in a puddle next to me on the concrete. The pain in chest tells me this is far from a dream as I start to vomit more. I can’t feel anything but pain shooting out in different directions from my abdomen. A quick touch lets me know the back of my head is bleeding. I have to have a concussion because I can’t seem to focus my vision, maybe I’m going blind.
“The fuck is wrong with you juice box,” Blonde asks maybe smirking down at me.
Am I juice box? Why am I juice box? Even if I could get the words out, I wouldn’t get the chance to ask him. Destiny, if that is her name, uses her hand to run right through his neck. I close my eyes as droplets of blood fly towards me. The warm drops land on my face like a sticky rain. I hear the commotion of more fighting as my vision fades again. When I can focus Blonde is staring at me eyes wide gripping at his neck trying to stop the bleeding but the puddle of blood has already covered me. Up above Silver is fighting with Destiny and doesn’t look to be doing so well when he doesn’t have backup. It isn’t long before she’s taken him out as well.
“Well, you’re one fucked up juice box. But I owe you one,” she pulls me up to my feet and wraps an arm around her neck. “I don’t know why you thought it was a good idea to jump in front of him.”
“You’ve got nice shoes,” is all I can get out.
“Yours are pretty nice too, the blood adds to the value,” is she making a joke?
“Can you take me back to the club? My brother is there, and I don’t feel good. He’s younger than me, but acts like the big brother. I just let him, it’s the only time he’s responsible.”
“Back to the club, in this shape? No, we need to get you fixed up otherwise people are going to start asking questions.”
“You left bodies in the alley. There’s going to be questions.”
“If they don’t bleed out, the sun will finish them off. No bodies.”
“What?”
“Wow, you smell like a nerd but you’re so dumb.”
“What?”
“I told you, stop fucking following me,” The woman catches my attention as she yells out from the rooftops.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you. I would have stopped if I had. I just wanted to talk, I thought you had cool sneakers. I didn’t know you were running from me, I thought you were chasing someone else, so I just followed along. I guess I was just being nosey. I had a joint today, and some drinks. I suppose I shouldn’t just be following random women. I’d probably remember that if I was sober. I’m not good at social situations so I hadn’t considered how odd it might be, terrorizing even, for a man to be chasing you. I’m really sorry about that,” I push as many words as I can through my exhausted lungs trying to explain myself.
“Please, just shut up,” she yells over me.
“Okay.”
The cold night air rushes past me before I spot two human-like streaks speeding into my vision and out in front of the woman. They come to a stop and it takes a moment before I realized they’re actually people. Two really pale men, identical haircuts, identical suits, the only difference being their faces and hair colors. One blonde, one silver, almost like they stepped out of some kind of anime. No, a comic book. The Flash could be real. This is insane. She doesn’t seem at all concerned about the speed they moved at. Is she some kind of meta too? Did I just stalk Wonder Woman? I hope I didn’t stalk Wonder Woman. The weed and alcohol can’t have hit me that hard. It should have worn off by now and I’ve been trying to chase her through tunnels. I stalked Wonder Woman. The only man to do that and survive was Batman. Am I Batman? Get it together, I am not Batman. Yet, I’m not Batman yet. This could be my origin story. Nope, straighten up, I need to straighten up.
I actually feel sick to my stomach as they stare each other down, almost like I want to pass out. I’m actually getting dizzy and feel the vomit making its way up my throat. They don’t look bothered by any of this and I’m on the verge of dropping to my knees or picking my favorite dumpster to throw up in. My head is pounding, and my ears are ringing. I feel like watching them is killing me.
“I don’t have anything for you,” she tells the men.
“We didn’t ask you for anything,” Blonde responds to her.
“She’s got a guilty conscience. Maybe we should rip it out of her,” Silver responds.
“Are we doing this before the sun comes up? I know you guys have a curfew,” she asks.
“Your move bitch,” Blonde smiles.
“Fuck you,” she moves so fast she vanishes from my vision.
The three are moving so fast I can’t seem to keep up with them. The nausea only seems to have gotten worse since they’ve started fighting. I’m not even sure if punches and kicks are landing when I can see them being thrown; maybe they’re being dodged entirely. A few times it looks like a person is thrown but they’re back into the mix so quick I might be mistaken. She seems to be fighting both without any problem. Am I dreaming? People don’t move like this. This looks like some insane video game sequence. Soon they’re back in their starting positions. Plenty of scratches and torn clothing.
“We’ll finish this later,” Silver says, obviously looking worst of all.
“Tell your boss to kiss my ass,” she laughs.
“Destiny is a fitting name, because you can’t avoid it,” Blonde says with a smile.
The two rush off behind her, the same way they came, she doesn’t even watch. They pass by me in a blur again, slightly slower. Maybe they’re tired. Moving like a Super Saiyan must take a toll on you. I wouldn’t know. I turn to watch where they’re heading and they actually seem to run up the walls. What am I looking at? One turns around and seems to rush back at Destiny, I feel the same feeling as before. I know he’s about to do hurt her, and she won’t even see it coming. She can take it, I’ve seen her fight these guys two on one, but I feel like I have to do something. I know I can’t move faster than he is, and I probably can’t knock him over either.
I do the next best thing; I step in his line. He’s following the same path as before; he’s moving too fast to turn on a dime. I don’t care what he is. The air is knocked out of my body so quickly I don’t have a chance to scream. The vomit finally comes out mixed with blood in a puddle next to me on the concrete. The pain in chest tells me this is far from a dream as I start to vomit more. I can’t feel anything but pain shooting out in different directions from my abdomen. A quick touch lets me know the back of my head is bleeding. I have to have a concussion because I can’t seem to focus my vision, maybe I’m going blind.
“The fuck is wrong with you juice box,” Blonde asks maybe smirking down at me.
Am I juice box? Why am I juice box? Even if I could get the words out, I wouldn’t get the chance to ask him. Destiny, if that is her name, uses her hand to run right through his neck. I close my eyes as droplets of blood fly towards me. The warm drops land on my face like a sticky rain. I hear the commotion of more fighting as my vision fades again. When I can focus Blonde is staring at me eyes wide gripping at his neck trying to stop the bleeding but the puddle of blood has already covered me. Up above Silver is fighting with Destiny and doesn’t look to be doing so well when he doesn’t have backup. It isn’t long before she’s taken him out as well.
“Well, you’re one fucked up juice box. But I owe you one,” she pulls me up to my feet and wraps an arm around her neck. “I don’t know why you thought it was a good idea to jump in front of him.”
“You’ve got nice shoes,” is all I can get out.
“Yours are pretty nice too, the blood adds to the value,” is she making a joke?
“Can you take me back to the club? My brother is there, and I don’t feel good. He’s younger than me, but acts like the big brother. I just let him, it’s the only time he’s responsible.”
“Back to the club, in this shape? No, we need to get you fixed up otherwise people are going to start asking questions.”
“You left bodies in the alley. There’s going to be questions.”
“If they don’t bleed out, the sun will finish them off. No bodies.”
“What?”
“Wow, you smell like a nerd but you’re so dumb.”
“What?”
