Strong and Sweet
“You and your friends know death is sitting on your couch, eating your snacks, and you throw a party anyway.”
Jade was the first person to wash the blood from Gaia’s hands. Calloused fingers rubbed soap across scarred skin, doused in water made holy by this ritual.
Gaia stared at her own hands many nights later, fires casting light where the moon would not. Crouching behind a charred office chair, she methodically reloaded her rifle. Manny fired from the shadows to her right, and the shattering of glass drove her onto her toes and forward. Tensing every muscle in anticipation of stray bullets, she dove into the store. Her heavy leather and denim saved her limbs from the jagged shards. Manny fired more shots. Warnings, for now.
Shaking open a crudely-stitched canvas bag, she ran past expired bottles of anti-aging serums and a bin of dusty squishmallows. In the dim light, it was hard to read the aisle markers, but the pharmacy was clearly marked—by signage and by the body leaned against its wall. She jumped over the stripped, gray-fleshed legs and flung herself over the counter. Little remained of its stock, but she stuffed every white paper bag she could see into her sack. What could not be used could be resold.
The cash register had long ago been forced open, but a small gleam from its empty bowels caught Gaia’s eye. A single, half crusted-over dime. Metal was metal. Pocketing it, she caught the first sounds of counterfire. Deep breath. They had a plan for this. She crawled through the open drive-through window and sprinted on soft soles toward their rendezvous.
The bullet that tore through Gaia’s calf had not been aimed at her. It had been shot before she ever entered the intersection. Fools have higher body counts than assassins. The man who loomed over her now, a hooded silhouette with gleaming white teeth, scooped up her bag with a skeletal, pale hand and turned away without a word. Blood and saliva pooled in her mouth as she bit her own tongue to keep from shrieking. Dark red leaked from the palms clamped to the ends of the hole he had carved through her. Lifting one hand to shoot back was inadvisable. She would lose blood and the others would hear new prey.
But the explosion of gray and pink and red as her bullet tunneled through his brain lit up her eyes like fireworks. Two thuds, a body and a fleeting chance at salvation. Hands back to stemming the hemorrhaging wound. Footsteps. Her muscles tensed again, but the steps were solid and slightly off-kilter. Manny. Oh god, Manny.
“Shit shit shit.”
“Shut up. Grab the bag.”
“Come on, I need to carry you.”
“Yes, and I need to carry the bag.”
They moved through the fire-lit streets as a scarlet nesting doll, Gaia’s ragged body wrapped around the bulky medicine bag, Manny’s arms trembling to contain it all. Gaia’s life faded to a world of single inputs. Warmth. Darkness. Emptiness. Bill’s frowning, grandfatherly face. Still empty. Thirst. Water, no, tears.
“I killed a man.”
Jade didn’t reply. Gaia repeated herself, despite the pain that gnawed at every higher thought.
“I killed a man.”
Manny sat down, beer foam dribbling down his brown, scraggly beard. He splashed clear liquor into a metal cup and handed it to Gaia.
“Go easy, you’re still a bit anemic.”
Gaia laughed at his warning. Jade and Manny stared at their feet. It was all ridiculous. Why couldn’t they laugh too?
“Did I get any?”
“Bill says there were some antibiotics. Used some on you after he stitched you up. Stuff for blood pressure. No pain meds. A few inhalers.”
Staring at her bandaged leg, Gaia breathed in sharply. She understood. A sob rose at the back of her throat and she hurled it out as a bellowing yell.
“Gyahhhhhh! You wasted it.”
“Gaia—”
Jade’s eyes leaked tears in thin rivers across her cheeks.
“I’m dead. You wasted antibiotics, of all things, on a dead woman! How many times? How many times have we agreed not to be sentimental?”
Jade whispered into Manny’s ear, and he stooped to step out of their little tarp shelter.
“Hey! We are still talking about this, okay?”
“Gaia.”
Jade wrapped her fingers around Gaia’s raised fist, bringing it gently to her side. Gaia’s heart ached and floundered. Rage and grief burned in streaks down her throat. Jade knelt with her knees barely touching Gaia’s ribcage and brought her fingers to the wounded woman’s chin. Gaia’s eyes darted away, then slowly drifted to Jade’s. They beheld each other as their breaths gradually fell in sync. Gaia’s next words emerged soft and trembling.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“You’re going to be okay.”
“No…I can’t…I don’t have any time left. My body’s shutting down and…that was my last chance.”
“Other people are looking. Carrie. Dez. Even Bill. And even me.”
Jade lifted her shirt to show a streak of scabbed over skin on her ribcage. It would scar. Fear and anger clawed back up Gaia’s throat. She was the one whose organs were failing. All the scars should be hers.
“You’re crazy. I’ll leave. I’ll leave if you’re going to risk it all looking for something that isn’t out there just because you can’t stomach death.”
The smirk that passed over Jade’s lips caught Gaia off guard. A wind picked up and barged its way through their flimsy home. Jade breathed the cool air in deeply.
“Everyone can stomach death these days. We’re all best friends with death. He comes knocking on every door, and they’ve all been blown off the hinges. No way to keep him out even if you wanted to. That used to scare me. But then I met you. You and your friends know death is sitting on your couch, eating your snacks, and you throw a party anyway.”
“But—”
“You are going to die. So am I. And I am going to spend every day I get with as much joy and love as I can stomach. It is the only thing I can do to make any goddamn sense out of this world.”
Gaia wanted to shake the naivety out of Jade. Or scream at her until she broke. But the young woman’s optimism had wormed its way into Gaia’s heart, pumping its irresistible warmth and comfort through her veins. Her hand finally relaxed, uncoiling from a fist to find Jade’s fingers.
An owl hooted loudly overhead, and both women burst into hysterical laughter. The silence that followed drew their eyes and lips together. Jade eventually laid down with Gaia nestled against her, a ruddy cheek pressed against her curly hair.
“I killed a man.”
“I know.”
The drum of gunshots beat in the distance.
Thank you for reading Every Nook Uncanny. If you liked what you read, please share and comment. The audio version of this story will be available this Friday. You can follow Mae on Twitter.