Kill Switch (Notes of Necrosoph Book 4), page 8
But if that was the case, I could always…
I sucked it up and morphed. The pain hit before the morph by a millisecond, then I was screaming in and out of the void as I appeared beside the dude's car. I whistled, and as he turned, bewildered and wide-eyed, I scraped the point of my knife across the side of the car in a pointless act of vandalism I regretted instantly for its moronic nature and because I'd blunt my knife.
"What the…? How did you…?"
"I'm your worst nightmare. You want to take out your frustrations on someone? Pick someone your size. You're a bully. I gave you countless chances to leave this alone. You already nearly killed me, and I get that you're angry with the weather, with the stupid laws, the whole thing, but you have to be honest with yourself and admit it for what it is."
"You vanished! How did you do that?"
"I am not like you. I'm different. To be honest, that was a stupid thing to do. But nobody is watching, are they? That's why you did this to me. Because you can. I get it now. You just needed an excuse to do something violent. And not being seen was that excuse. Not the fucking peaches. Which, by the way, were delicious." I licked my lips and smiled at the confused man.
Looking at it from his point of view, it was understandable how shell-shocked he was. After all, people do not simply vanish and appear behind you. It doesn't compute for regular folk. Their brain can't handle it and it crosses their wires, utterly disturbs what they think is true and what's magic.
That's what was going through his head right now. How had I performed this trick? How was it done? What trickery was this.
I didn't give him time to think. As he walked back towards me, I morphed again, opened my car door, and pulled out the bag of peaches.
"Here," I told him. "I honestly don't want to fight. I have killed more people than you could possibly imagine or believe. I have done it to protect my family. Or killed because people attacked me. Have even killed because they threatened to hurt my dog. And I have killed because it is them or me. But I only do it as a last resort. If there is no other option. There's an option. So take the damn peaches and go home. But promise me one thing?"
"What?" he asked in a daze.
"Don't let it change you. All this that's happening, the way the world is now. It's never going to return to how it was. I don't know what's coming, but everything has changed so much already. You can bet it will change again. Trust me, it always does. So go with it. Try to find peace somewhere. And enjoy the peaches."
I threw the bag at him. Surprisingly, he caught it. I reached back into the car and ripped the loaf in half. "And a bonus for you." I chucked the loaf which he caught one-handed.
He stared at the bag then pulled out a perfect, rose-tinted peach.
"Go on, take a bite," I encouraged.
He bit into it. Juice dribbled down his beard. He locked eyes on me and said, "Sorry."
I nodded, then got in my car and drove away.
"Guy sure did like his peaches," I told myself as I rejoined the A5 and continued on my way to destroy the life of a stranger.
Then I changed my mind and turned around.
TOUGH DECISIONS
I pulled up beside the battered Tesla where the fruit lover was standing and eating the peaches greedily. The stones were discarded at his feet. The paper bag was on the ground too. So was the half loaf of bread I'd given him. It was squashed. He'd stuck his boot on it.
"It's me again," I told him as I exited the car.
He wiped his mouth as he glanced down at the mess at his feet then up at me. This blight on the earth, this maggot, glared, trying to act the hard man. "You forget something?" he asked gruffly.
"Kind of. I think I made a mistake. I was trying to be nice. I'm not even sure why. Maybe because I'm sick of the killing. Sick of bad things happening. Bad people." I locked my eyes on his and refused to look away even as he glanced sideways.
"Yeah, well, these are tough times and people do desperate things."
"Right?" I agreed. "And that's why I was so calm when we just spoke. Even though you tried to kill me because you wanted peaches. I decided to give you a chance, was going to give you a chance. I gave you my bread." I made it a point to stare at the mushy loaf.
"Sorry, dropped it. It's just bread." He shrugged.
"No, it isn't just fucking bread," I hissed. "It's everything. Those peaches you're stuffing into your face then dropping on the ground, that bag there, and especially the bread I shared with you, it's everything."
"What are you talking about?" He tensed up and changed his stance from casual to ready to fight. He had no idea.
"I'm talking about what's wrong with the world. I'm talking about me trying to be nice and not hurt anyone. For a change, I wanted to be the good guy. Even though you are clearly psychotic and tried to ram me off the road, I still gave you the benefit of the doubt. I wanted to believe you were just having a rough time and that the way things are right now was just too much for you. And I nearly convinced myself. But you aren't good. You aren't nice. You're mean, don't give a shit about anyone else, are so consumed with how unfair the world is for you. Just you. You're a bully. That's what you are. And I despise bullies."
His face reddened as he threw the peaches to the ground and snarled, "You'd best get back in your car and get the fuck out of here before I do something you'll regret. You don't get to talk to me like that. Nobody talks to me like that."
"What, you just take what you want and backhand anyone that argues, is that it?"
"I stand up for myself."
"No, I stand up for myself. You're a bully. There's a big difference. So, I want my peaches back." I stared at the pulpy mess, the litter, and just sighed. "You're a litter lout too. Pick it up. All of it. And maybe I won't poke your eyes out."
"Haha, you're crazy, you know that? I'll destroy you. I don't take shit from anyone. Especially not some wimp who thinks he can bluff it out."
He stepped forward; I caught the smell of his body odor. Stale, but with a sickly sweet aroma of peaches. He pulled a fake punch and said, "Boo!" expecting me to jump back and he'd have a good laugh about it, but I didn't move a muscle. I could read him; I'd had years of practice. He frowned, then rubbed at the sweat on his forehead. Then he grinned. "Guess you and me are going to have to sort this out like men then. None of your magic tricks," he warned.
"Guess so." I unfastened my knife again and gripped the ebony handle. It felt like coming home.
"Hey, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" he blurted, eyes wide.
"I'm going to kill you," I told him.
"Haha, very funny. Come on, fight me like a man. Put your hands up and let's have at it."
I frowned, making a show of it, exaggerating my movements. "Why would I do that? I have a knife. I told you, I'm going to kill you. After what you did, the fact you could have killed not only me but others on the road, I think that's fair, don't you?"
"Are you bloody serious?" he asked, still unsure if I was joking or not.
"Let's find out." I shifted left, and as he moved to follow, not even considering it was a feint, I turned sharply to my right, ducked, swung at my waist so my right arm could get in low and fast at his side, and embedded the knife into his kidney. I yanked out hard, skipped lightly behind him, then reached around and slit his throat before he had the chance to do anything but scream. It cut off fast as blood bubbled from his gaping neck wound.
I jumped back as he toppled over; his head smashed into the curb and cracked his skull. Blood seeped from the fracture. The pool spread, mingling with the peaches, and soaked into the bread and bag.
I walked to my car, grabbed a bag, and scooped everything up then wondered what I should do with it. Find a bin, I supposed, but nobody came here, no bins would be emptied, so I'd take it with me then burn it later.
What about this guy?
I looked skyward, but of course there were no drones, no cameras here either, but had we been seen on the road? Would someone remember me if the body was found here? Would there be a search for a missing person and could it lead to me eventually?
Maybe I was over thinking things. But it always paid to be careful and ensure your tracks were covered. I went through the whole scenario. Cars had passed us. What had they seen? Nothing. We were alone on the road when he'd rammed me. What could link me to him then? The damn peaches, that was what. He'd come after me, and if anyone inquired at the shop about him, my name would come up, and my details thanks to the bank card. Damn. This wasn't good.
What to do?
"Where are you, my friend?" I called to Tyr.
"Tyr is here," he replied. I scoured the sky and he suddenly appeared, a glowing fireball as the sun reflected off his immortal hide. Tyr spiraled down then landed silently on the grass beside the man.
"Soph killed man?"
"Yes, I did."
Tyr stared at me for a while, seeing all, knowing all. It was almost disturbing, but I had nothing to hide from my friend. He did not judge me; he wasn't wired that way. The world was a different place for a creature like Tyr. He was a true hunter, an immortal of the Necroverse, and under my care. He trusted me implicitly and knew me so well.
Tyr was now fully in control of his newfound abilities to see beyond the everyday and read mannerisms, but more than that. He had the abilities of a seer, could see the many possible futures, wind back the present to witness the past, and above all else he simply did not care about the man before us.
"Can you get rid of him for me, please?" I asked.
"Tyr can dissolve man no problem." Without any further communication, he simply craned his head forward and vomited the acid juices, a byproduct of the fires that burned within, and spewed over the man from head to toe. Not wasting an opportunity, I threw the bag onto the man's fast-dissolving stomach and everything slowly dissolved. First the skin bubbled, then the meat, then even the bones liquefied under the power of Tyr's acid.
The skull split open as the acid ate through the fracture first. Brain popped and spat then that too was gone as the head sank into the slushy pile.
Tyr watched it without emotion then opened his jaws wide and belched fire over the entire area, washing it clean and destroying any shred of evidence, until nothing was left but a patch of chewed tarmac.
He glanced over to me, watching me without moving, then asked, "Soph is happy?"
"I've been in better moods, my friend, but thank you for the help. What have you been up to? Having fun?"
He nodded his noble head. "Tyr has been hunting on the wing, catching birds for practice. Not many drones, only Necrodrones. Tyr likes it when they are quiet."
As if on cue, a solitary Necrodrone buzzed overhead then descended and spun around Tyr once. It darted over to me at head height and held still for a moment before lazily rising then shooting up. The damn thing might have been out of my sight, but I got the feeling it could see us in minute detail even from up high.
"I think it's time to leave," I told him.
"Tyr will follow Soph. Watch over him."
"Thank you, my friend. We will rest together this evening, if that sounds okay."
"Would like that. Be with Soph now Tyr is grown and big as the bus. Have large fire?"
"Um, it's a bit hot for a big one, but we'll have a fire for sure."
Tyr vanished. I heard the beating of his wings as he flew off, felt hot air waft my face. I could smell him. An unmistakable scent of dragon. Fiery, sharp, like a crisp fire. Yet he was invisible, and you would never know he was there unless you knew what the signs were.
I stared at the still-hissing ground. It was hard to believe a man had been lying there moments ago.
And the peaches. Those fucking peaches.
GETTING ON WITH IT
I ummed and aahed about what to do regards the car. At some point, and it could be within hours, the internet would be back on, someone would report this guy as missing, and the search might begin. It was doubtful it could be traced back to me, but there was always a risk. There was no body now, so it would be impossible to prove I'd done anything, but I hated crap like this. Last thing I wanted was the police snooping around. We had enough hassle in our life as it was.
Could the cameras monitoring the roads still be recording without internet to relay the information? I wished I could look it up to check. I decided that no, they were as good as dead. Nothing to worry about. But I should ditch the car anyway, as then I could easily deny all knowledge and there was no way to prove a damn thing. At times like this I missed having a companion, but I would hate for it to be Phage, and there was nobody else I would be able to endure at such a time.
Could I get Tyr to drive? He could become a man, and had some crazy powers now. Maybe he could drive the car out of here and push it off a cliff? No, that was stupid. He'd never manage it. Maybe I should just set fire to it? Burn it out. But what was the point? It would still be recognizable as a Tesla, and could be linked to the missing man. They would know it was his. But that wasn't right either, because he'd admitted it was stolen. I decided to just say screw it and leave it exactly where it was without touching it. Main thing was I couldn't be linked to him.
How many cameras were there on the roads? I figured a lot, but couldn't be sure, and I genuinely had no idea how they worked. Surely they would have computers inside that kept records even if they couldn't send the signals to a remote monitoring station. Were they even monitored? I tried to pull up old information I hadn't really taken in very well, and believed it was all handled via computers theses days. Automatic speeding fines, automatic license plate recognition, but how many of them still worked? After all, there weren't enough vehicles to worry about such things.
But I wasn't taking any chances.
"Tyr, I need you again. I need you to go back to the shop and destroy any cameras in the area. I know it makes you feel funny, but you just need to fly close to them and they'll malfunction. Can you do that?"
"What they look like?"
I sent several mental images to him and I sensed him nod. Communication with Tyr was so different now. He used less words, but understood so much more.
While I checked the area to ensure I was in the clear, and I knew I was overthinking this, he updated me on his findings.
"Big yellow boxes not working. No computers. Big dark ones same. No strange things inside. Cameras on streets made Tyr's head go funny, but Tyr flew past and now not work."
"Great. That's great. Thank you."
I felt Tyr's hot breath on my neck. I turned and stared into his large eyes. He snorted; the scent of sulfur and death soothed me. "Soph happy now?"
"Yes, very. Sorry to be a pain."
"Tyr always help Soph. Are best friends. Like Jen."
"Yes, we are. Right, haha, wow, glad that's over with. Okay, that's it until later. Keep an eye on me. We'll find a place to camp for the night later on."
Tyr nodded then was gone again.
It wasn't difficult to understand why so many cameras were now defunct. Why bother? The checkpoints were how they controlled everyone's movements. That, and the drones which had improved coverage and were much better tech than many of the antiquated fixed cameras. My guess was that over the years many had been decommissioned, leaving just a few on the main roads but relying more on the drones and an actual police presence to deter people. It was one thing thinking you might be spotted via a camera, quite another to have an armed policeman telling you to go home or you'd be arrested.
I was in a catch-22. With the kill switch in full action, people were already acting wild, but if everything had been working then all of that would have been recorded yet probably never have happened.
What I really wanted was for it to be a hundred or maybe two-hundred years ago where none of this would have been a concern. I'd also have been able to keep the peaches.
Finally, I was satisfied, or satisfied enough that I could never be found guilty. Even if I got a visit, I could act dumb. Deny everything apart from having a ding with the guy then going on my way. I got back into the car and headed off.
It wasn't until I got several miles down the road that the obvious hit me. What the fuck had I been worried about? Every single year Phage and I headed out into this world full of drones and cameras and spies on every corner. The Necroverse always protected us. I made it a thing to ensure I never killed with a regular drone or camera watching, and always got rid of the body if I could, but I had never been visited by the law because I'd been tracked on camera. Our progress was always kept secret, or at least the important parts.
Maybe I didn't need to worry, or maybe now the kill switch was in operation I needed to worry more. The more I thought about it, the more I believed our unseen masters would take care of things. After all, they wanted the action to take place when the notes were fulfilled. They wanted us obeying their rules, not anyone else's. They needed the spectacle, the drama, the misery, and the blood. Always the blood.
Pain and heartache was their goal, their intent. Not some local policeman getting overly keen and taking you in for questioning.
Maybe I had nothing to worry about at all.
Maybe I had everything to worry about.
DRUKEN MUSINGS
After more mind-numbing miles than I cared to count, I was thoroughly bored.
No Tyr to talk to, no chance encounters with other creatures, no mishaps, trips, punctures, or moaning about the heat. I was trapped in a cool box while the world whizzed by without me being a part of it.
Traffic was sparse verging on comic. It was only when driving that you got the true picture of how much the world had reverted. The massive three, sometimes four-lane roads cutting deep swathes of death across the countryside, where nothing grew, were still a blight. More so than ever now they served such little purpose.
Had it really been so choked with traffic that even in the middle of nowhere we had to cater for so many vehicles? It had. It wasn't just cities that were rammed with vehicles, it was the whole country. Where had everyone been going? What were we all doing? It was understandable that delivery vehicles and certain trips were necessary, but what had everyone else been doing?
