The Things We Bury - Part 2: No Big Apocalypse [Completed]

Chapter 6: Mayfly (Part 7 of 11)

Ballard looked like a narc from a '70s cop show with his stringy hair hanging over the shoulders of his beat-up, oxblood leather jacket. His partner Tazaki seemed to be playing along, leaning against the car cross-armed but not quite looking the part in his long sleeved polo and Roy Orbison sunglasses.

He was always wearing those lousy sunglasses of his. Night or day, inside or out, those Ray Bans sat on his nose. It was his disguise even when he wasn't supposed to be in disguise. Alicia knew he did it to camouflage his Asian features, but it only made her more aware of his foreignness.

The Society of the Immortal Blood was certainly no white supremacist group and she wasn't racist or anything but how could anyone become an incarnate if they could never actually pass for the great man. Of course, many said the same thing about the women who joined. Even though some women, like Janet for instance, had achieved the sixth tier and was a perfect incarnate, proving it could be done. Still, they said she could never make seventh, or the ultimate eighth tier, without getting reassignment surgery and taking it all the way. It didn't matter that she already was a better Kyle Silver than most of these jokers.

"So are you going to tell us why you pulled us off the search or do we have to guess?" Ballard demanded.

"Hey, don't look at me." Brett held up his hands in surrender.

Fucking wimp. He knew damn well why they were there.

They were outside a roadside bar halfway between Fort Stockton and Sheffield after a day of driving around and futile searching. Parked at the edge of the lot, they were left alone by the customers milling about by the door. The twang of the country western guitars filtered out into the cold night along with a few words about broken hearted love affairs. As if to mock their failure a little more, the forecast was actually calling for snow—snow in fucking Texas. Alicia hadn't even packed a warm sweater.

"Something is wrong," she said.

"Yeah, Babe. The Holy Beast is out there or have you forgotten."

"Shove it, Tazaki. The adults need to talk." Tazaki interrupted the process of getting a cigarette out and lit to mime laughter, clutching his belly as he rocked back and forth.

"Headquarters has gone dark and now Eagle team isn't answering."

Ballard cracked his knuckles, fingers spread like wings. "They're probably getting weather on the mountain. And if Eagle has dropped out... Well then, that's just less competition for us. Now, Ken and I just have to wait for you two losers to fuck off."

"This isn't a competition. We're in this together."

"I thought you said we couldn't let them beat us," Brett decided to chime in. Why couldn't the ass keep to his movie quotes tonight? They couldn't be any less helpful than this clueless act, which wasn't really an act.

"Shut up," she hissed at him from the side of her mouth.

Tazaki laughed genuinely this time, as sharp and brittle as the frost forming on the windscreens. "So what is this really about? Are you just trying to get our intel?"

"You have intel?" Brett asked.

Alicia spoke over him. "I'm worried. The girl has disappeared and we're completely cut off. Things are going to shit out here."

"So, Babe?" Tazaki said. "What do you propose we do about it?"

"Other than what we're suppose to be doing?" Ballard added. "We need to keep looking for her and stick to the plan."