The ripping sound of Glorious Conductive Adhesion Barrier Strips in Judicious Rolls being torn free made my teeth hurt. The strip that Jayq tore free wrapped around the goon’s wrist, keeping his soulgem pressed down against the grain of the chair. Jayq tore another few strips of Glorious Con…okay, fine, duct tape and strapped them over the guy’s mouth.
“Okay, uh…” I stepped back, looking around the abandoned apartment building that we had found at the edge of Stern’s city-body. The sunlight was getting low, with the horizon becoming bathed in the reddish, bloody colors of a really nice sunset, and the whole of Stern Hand of Industry spread out before us, like a gleaming tapestry. I looked back at Jayq as she taped the guy’s legs to the chair. “Do…you know what you’re doing?”
“I second that question,” Boolian said, his head stuck out of my pocket.
“Oh, yeah!” Jayq ripped another hunk of tape, this time with her teeth, and strapped the other guy’s leg to the chair. She pocketed the roll of tape and turned to me, grinning. “I’ve seen Burn Notice.”
I looked at Boolian. He looked at me and shrugged.
###
The goon’s body flew through the plate glass. The chair tumbled, and he slammed into the pavement thirty feet straight down.
I looked out. Jayq looked out too.
“…I thought you said you knew what you were doing!” I shouted at Jayq.
“To be fair, I…didn’t know the window would break that easily.”
I put my hands over my face.
“What the hell!?”
I slid my hands away from my face.
The cooling body had, like all bodies, released its inventory. I saw the expected profusion of weapons, coins, spare clothes, and other bits of minutia that anyone might carry.
But I also saw a second body. Naked, emaciated, and crawling away desperately.
I looked at Jayq, then at Boolian. “Feather Fall!” I shouted, then jumped out of the window. Boolian yelped, clinging to my pocket as gravity tried to rip him out of comforting warmth of the pocket. He waved one paw and a glowing light surrounded us, slowing us down just before we hit the ground. I ran towards the person, who had managed to get to his feet and started to run.
“I won’t go back!” He shouted over his shoulder. I ran forward, jumped up, ran along the wall, then leaped down to land before the man, who ran directly into me. He was stick figure thin, and I grabbed him by his hips as he collapsed against me.
“Whoa! Whoa!” I said. “It’s okay! You’re safe!”
He blinked, looking into my face.
“D-Do you want food?” I asked.
He burst into tears as Jayq, who had taken the stairs, ran out…and started looting the corpse.
“Jayq!”
“What?” She looked up. “You caught him!”
new folks!
I'm looking for that bright side.