Chapter 5 Chapter 5
Chapter 5 Chapter 5
Beck
Misty stood, her back straightened and walked over to a computer desk against the wall. I took in the three expensive looking monitors and the sleek appearance of the overall display. It was a stark contrast to the rest of the homely furnishings in the apartment. They appeared to be haphazard hand-me-downs or repurposed accessories for her and the little girl's needs. They were functional, yet they held no rhyme or reason. It gave no read on the dweller’s personality.
She powered the machine on, and I dragged a chair over as she sat in the worn gaming chair, that sported duct tape in places to hold the arms and such together. As the machine came to life, her fingers flew over the keys. A moment later, she opened a file and dragged it over to the main screen.
“After Ads messaged me, I did some digging. Cutting through their security was a nightmare, but I managed to pull some footage. The memory was deleted, but I was able to revive it.” She clicked on one that showed a very prim and proper Adelaide with her arms full of paperwork and a tray of coffee as she paused at the door, about to open it. She hesitated, moments passed, and she straightened before she pushed her way inside with a rush. A few moments later, she storms out empty handed and moving quickly before Creedon follows several long seconds later, clutching his chest and with a look on his face that promises someone is about to pay. The video stops.
Misty clicks over to another file, moving it over before she presses play. It’s a long corridor with an elevator at the end. Adelaide comes into view and hits the button, the doors open, and she steps inside she turns as Creedon comes into view, barreling down the hall. The video pixilates, and suddenly, he is blocking the view of Adelaide. Her body shifts, her eyes wide as it pixilates again. She’s on the floor with Creedon towering over her body. He stands, throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of trash and walks out, his face angular, a telltale sign the wolf in him was in some measure of control, before he disappears from the frame around a corner.
I ran my fingers through my hair. This was bad. There were bad human halves and bad animal halves. When they came together, you got monsters like this piece of shit.
“He needs to be put down,” I said with a sigh. I already knew it by the state of the woman I had saved. This, however, confirmed it without a doubt. The two weeks she endured his brutality, I have no idea how she survived. I just hoped she could manage until we somehow figured out how to take him down. I couldn’t explain it. Adelaide had somehow struck a nerve within me deeper than I’ve ever gotten with a charge. She was different, she had strength, and it had been as if fate had set us on each other's path, forcing us to collide by spilling my coffee across the concrete to get my attention. More than that, regardless of how I looked, she treated me like a person; she didn’t balk at my harshness, she found comfort in it. Maybe it was just the twinge in my chest that I was helping another rider’s kin after he had fallen. However, I watched that young woman look at defeat in the form of a damn hamburger and basically flip it off by eating it against her dying will to live. This woman beside me had her own load of shit to deal with, and Adelaide meant enough to her that she was already digging, as if she was gearing up to do this shit all on her own. Something told me she didn’t need me to bring Creedon down.
“Are you willing to help me get to him?” I asked.
She grinned darkly, and I chuckled inwardly. She may be but a human woman, but she held a wrath even I would be leery of.
“I want to tear him apart from the inside. I’ve already gotten into the security infrastructure; it’s only a matter of time before I ease my way into all the nooks and crannies of the interface of his company. The bastard is going down, one way or another.”
“Partner?” I asked, offering my hand for her to shake on it.
She folded her arms across her chest and looked over at the broken door.
“Depends, how am I supposed to sleep when just anyone could walk right in and gut me?” she asked.
“Oh, not with me on guard, Sweetheart,” I promised.
“How do you plan on guarding us, Señor Oso \[Mr. Bear\]?” she asked, arching a brow.
“Suppose I could sleep in the hallway, just to be safe.” I shrugged, having already resigned myself to guard duty one way or another. “Like I said, I’ll fix the door in the morning and deal with your landlady.”
She snorted. “Good luck with that,” she said, before she sighed. “I guess you can sleep on the couch.” She cocked her head eyeing me up and down and looking at the small couch. “On second thought, you might not fit; the floor may be more comfortable in the hallway, your choice,” she said, getting up and walking into the hallway. I stood confused where she meant for me to stay when a pillow and blanket were launched my way. I caught them.
“You decide, I’m going to bed, I get up early,” she warned, with a yawn as she stretched and walked away. “We can plot tomorrow,” she promised before turning into her bedroom and shutting the door and locking it. She wasn’t convinced she could fully trust me, I supposed. Misty and Cricket murmured to each other, the radio drowning them out, before soft snores filtered from the room. I replayed the footage over and over on her computer, ignoring the strings of code blinking to life on the far left screen before I called it quits. I glanced at the door and back to the small couch before I decided to fold my large body onto the worn piece of furniture, the springs digging into my back. It was 2 a.m. according to the clock on the wall when I stirred to hear the woman down the hall pause at the broken door and keep walking. Proof she didn’t care enough to check in on the inhabitants before she moved on to her own door and unlocked it. So many people were self-serving, I thought before I drifted off again. My dreams were muddled with the dark reality of my past and the waves of my present. Adelaide wasn’t the only one riddled with nightmares.