Husk

Chapter 8 - Rex

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Chapter 8

 I make my way to shanty little alley full of shops. The buildings here stop at 24 stories. The view from the ground is amazing. A part of me wonders if I died and I'm in some kind of limbo. I never realized how there are so many people. Millions. Billions in the world. I think I read there were 9 billion people in the world now, even with all the wars. That's a third with husks... so 30 billion clones. 300,000 plus storage facilities and warehouses... the governments weren't kidding when they said they would find a way to make jobs. They just created a new industry. That topped with our need to get into space. Brent was right if we don't start going into deep space soon we're simply going to implode on ourselves. Hell they already tell us the east and west coasts are redzones, wastelands barren of life.

In the shanty town I walk into a small clothing shop. An Asian woman is at the front desk. She stares at me. She holds a phone to her head. I lift my hand and tell her not to call anyone. I lay my wallet and card onto her register and walk to the back changing room. I grab a new shirt, jacket, and pants on my way to the back. Not even checking the sizes, I'm just hoping whatever I grabbed fits. I sit in the backroom. I slam my arm into the wall and pop my shoulder back into place. I take my old shirt and bandage my elbows and knees. I'm not cut too badly but I don't want to bleed all over the place. My heart is still beating a million miles an hour. I can't believe it. How many people had to die just so I could get here.

 I fall asleep for a minute.

In my dream I can see myself. I'm a little kid, I couldn't be older then 8 or 9 playing street hockey with father. We're playing in a cultisact we once lived at. He's pretending to be a goalie. He says something that sounds like he's calling himself the goalie of my favorite team... I can't hear him. My adrenaline is pumping as I hit the puck back and forth. Finally I get close enough. I shoot. I SCORE. Dad congratulates me. He picks me up and puts me on his shoulders. Mom opens the door. I see her smile as dad turns and faces her. Rex runs out the door. He runs so fast within a few seconds he is jumping up on dad's chest. Dad uses one hand to steady me on his shoulders and another to pet Rex and tell him he is a "good boy".

I forgot I even liked hockey.

I wake up and immediately stand. My body is so numb I don't feel anything. Azra's work is only a few blocks from where I am. I leave my credit card at the desk and tell the lady at the desk to take out whatever she needs.

I begin to run. I wonder how much my body can take before collapsing. I feel like I should be dead by now. It doesn't matter. It doesn't even matter that I don't have a husk to go to if I do. That if I died now this would be it. None of that matters now. All that matters is Azra that I get to her. That I save her from whatever the hell is going on. Maybe I should have let the stalker killed me. What if I get to her and she is already dead, what if they have already gotten to her. My legs feel numb. I want to just fall down. I want to sleep. I want to stop. I want to just break, but I know if I stop I may never make it in time.

I'm one block from her building. I can see it. I can see the fire. I can see her building is on fire. I can see the people pouring out of the building. The kids and patients litter the streets. How could they do this? I scream her name "AZRA" I scream it over and over. I come to a police barricade. If this officer only knew I was the cause of all this I'm sure he would gun me down right here on the spot. Everyone would probably call him a hero. I bet he would get a medal.

 Out of the corner of my eye there she is... Her beautiful black hair and blue eyes. She's staring right at me. She runs over to me. I feel her wrap her arms around me. I feel her breath hit my face. It smells so fresh... minty even. It reminded me how dirty I was. Underneath these new clothes I was soaked in sweat and asphalt wrapped in bandages made from blood soaked threads of a cheap suit. Even my new clothes were soaked in sweat and had blood stains from where my nose was continuing to bleed and the blood on my hands. I bet I was a sight.

 "Seth, what happened to you?" she asked.

"It's a long story... we have to go, Cross is dead, and there are people after us."

"Cross is dead?" she took a small step back, "After us?" She questioned. If not for my clothes she would have probably thought I was playing a game. Something that would have led to a fun night in bed (or a night for me on the couch). "Trust me I know this sounds..." I felt like I needed to convince her to leave with me but then she cut me off, "I trust you, I know where we need to go. Cross told me if anything ever happened to him under any circumstance then I was to go deliver a message to a friend of his as soon as I found out. He said that his friend would have answers. Follow me..."

She walked over to a friend of hers, a girl named Sheila, I had only met her a few times but she was kind enough. Azra asked her for her keys and Sheila took a quick glance at me and quickly gave them up saying that she would get her husband to come pick her up. I'm sure Azra said she was taking me to the main hospital a few miles away. We both knew that was a lie. I followed Azra to Sheila's car. It was parked not even a block from where we were on the side of the street. Far enough away from the police, the barricade, and anything else that might have been going on.

 Sheila's seats were leather. Her car was practically brand new. Electric. Different A/C for the driver and passenger. It felt great. Azra said we had an hours drive to were we were going. She said we were going to meet a man that Cross had called his "inside man". I knew exactly who she was talking about... this must have been the same man that gave Cross access to the black list, this was the same man that knew about the stalker, the bombs, this was the man behind it all.

Azra also informed me this was the man behind the resistance. The architect of the R2R.

A man named Archer.

I had no idea Azra knew anything like this. I felt like I was looking at someone new. Some stranger I had never met... then I remembered. Azra hates husks... what is going to happen when she finds out about me. What about herself... Cross had said that he burned her implant, and if my memory serves me right then you have to die to have your implant burned. That means Azra herself is a husk but with the burn she would never know. She would never question it. Cross told her he removed her implant. The liar. More in common then I ever imagined. I fell asleep before I could even begin to ask her anything more about it. My head balanced on my seat belt.

I'm still in my hockey gear. Rex and I are playing in the cultisact. He is going after the puck as I skate around and shift it back and forth in front of me. My father has gone inside. I could see him and my mother inside the window watching us. Finally Rex and I settle down. He sits beside me on the side of the road.

I see Azra smile at me. We're under the sheets. She is gazing up at me. I have never felt so much love.

Rex licks my hand and looks up at me. His tongue is sticking out the side of his mouth. I love this dog. I give Rex a big hug.

My hips move into hers. Azra kisses my neck.

A car comes speeding around the cultisack. A drunk driver. He is probably going 40-50 mph. Rex stands in front of me and begins to growl.

Azra stops kissing my neck. I give her a smile and watch as she closes her eyes.

The car runs into Rex before the driver slams his breaks. He didn't stop fast enough to not break my neck.

I see my father standing over me. He is crying. My mother is standing beside him screaming. I can hear my father's voice. He is telling me it will all be ok. I start to mumble. My mother stops screaming trying to listen to me. She is calling 911. I am mumbling for Rex, I am saying his name over and over.

My father begins to speak. He asks me a simple question, "Do you want Rex to go to heaven or do you want a clone of him." At that age I believed a clone to be nothing more then a copy. Maybe we are just that. I tell my father clear as day that I want Rex to go to heaven. I tell him...

 "No one can replace Rex".

 My father begins to choke me.