Proxy: The Measure of a God

Chapter 7

    LUCAS STEERED WITH HIS LEFT hand and held the note with his right. After everything that had happened at MMC, the letter's vague offer of an exciting opportunity had piqued his interest.

    Maybe it could be me shooting ice next.

    "Do you need me to drive, since you can't keep your eyes on the road?"

    Lucas set the note down between the seats and looked ahead.

    "No, Uncle Keith, I'm good."

    "You know reading it over and over isn't going to change what it says, right?"

    They laughed. Lucas always felt Keith had received an undeserved reputation as a hard-ass. He could be, sure, but it wasn't his constant state.

    They were jostled when Lucas hit a pothole. The opera house, where the letter had directed Lucas, was not in the nicest part of town despite its clientele. The roads in the area hadn't been damaged as badly as others had been during the disaster, but for these roads, the disaster might have been an improvement.

    The car rocked with a second thud, and Lucas felt the car sink to the left. Keith smirked with a sideways look at Lucas, but Lucas shook his head.

    "I didn't hit a pothole that time," Lucas insisted.

    "So the pothole hit you?"

    "I'm actually going to pull over. I feel the car leaning left now."

    Keith grimaced and nodded as Lucas pulled over. When Lucas got out though, his worst fear was proven false. He did not have a flat tire, and there was nothing wrong with his suspension.

    An obiri was hanging on the roof. As it slid off the roof and made toward him, Lucas reached for the .45 on his right hip and felt nothing.

    I must've lost it at MMC. Fuck!

    Lucas's ears rang as the obiri was knocked to the floor, writhing on the ground and clutching at a hole in its head. Keith was standing on the other side of the car with one of his many guns in hand.

    "Are you okay?" Keith asked in a concerned tone.

    Lucas nodded.

    "Is the car okay?"

    Lucas nodded again.

    "Then let's go. Fast."

    Lucas watched the obiri squirm as he addressed his uncle. "You don't think we should check if there's more of them?"

    "I already know there's more of them," Keith answered calmly, motioning with his gun to Lucas's right.

    Lucas looked right and saw a large group dressed in gray running toward them from a few blocks away. The fact that he could make them out from that far gave him an idea of how many there were. Wide-eyed, Lucas turned back to his uncle, who was already getting back in the car.

    As Lucas got back in the car, he caught a glimpse of the obiri's face. Beneath the helmet, which had been shattered by the bullet, the thing was gray with yellow eyes.

    What the hell are these things?

    "Lucas!"

    Lucas snapped back to reality. He looked back at the group, shut the door, glanced in the rearview mirror, and started the engine.

    The obiri were only one block away now.

***

    LUPÉ SHOT A LOOK OVER her shoulder as she opened the door to the police station. The driver had talked her ear off on the way, telling her how he liked to prove chivalry wasn't dead. Lupé knew he wanted something in return but couldn't have been less interested. Still, she was glad he had given her a ride and had been friendly on the way over, saying things like "Yeah" during his pauses and smiling whenever he looked over at her.