James Axler – Way of the Wolf

“I pass,” Jak answered.

The doctor nodded slowly, then looked back at Dean. “What about you, boy?”

“No.”

Kirkland heaved a loud sigh, then laughed as if in disbelief. But the effort was strained and didn’t come off as natural. “You boys really don’t know what you’re passing up.”

“Mebbe,” Jak said. “But walking in today, got different impression of ville. White wash buildings. Church. Figured something like this wouldn’t exist.”

“Every ville has its dark underbelly,” Kirkland replied. “Hell, after sky dark most of what was left was dark underbelly. You expect good people to survive something like that, come clawing back from radiated lands and near Stone Age conditions?” The doctor laughed and belched. “I’ll tell you what doesn’t fit here is that white wash look. Those people are delusional if they think a pedestrian society can exist anywhere right now.”

“Must think so.”

“Only because I allow them to believe in that delusion. I keep Hazard well stocked in weak people, make no mistake about that. But they serve my purpose. And I don’t give a damn about any of them.” Kirkland laughed. “But you try and get one of them on the street to believe that. I allow them to raise their families here. Protect the weak ones from stickies. And they labor in my ville, stocking my larder and providing me with amusement.”

Jak kept his face immobile, proud of the way Dean did the same. The companions had seen some hard times, dealt with some harsh barons, but Kirkland promised to be one of the most inherently evil.

“I’ll talk to you boys tomorrow,” the doctor said as he stood. He glanced toward the curtained stage, then waved. Konikka came out a moment later, sashaying across the runway with less enthusiasm than she’d carried before. The mood in the room darkened immediately as the men stared after her with greedy lust.

Jak figured it was a good thing the girl’s eyes were covered by the mirror lenses, because he didn’t think she’d be able to hide the reluctance in her gaze that she tried so hard to hide from her moves. The girl linked her arm in the doctor’s.

Kirkland looked at Jak. “If you should decide to change your mind on my offer, let me know.”

The albino teen watched the man leave the room, noticing how the other men gave him a wide berth. The three men at the bar averted their faces, but Kirkland noticed them anyway. He didn’t stop or acknowledge them, though.

“He’s gone,” Dean said after the man left, “and I’m glad to be rid of him. I’m beginning to think the worst thing we could’ve done was come here.”

“For him or us,” Jak agreed. “Remains be seen how hand takes shape. Let’s go.” He left his drink on the table and walked into a narrow hallway where he figured the washroom was. He stepped over Sykes’s unconscious body. Even without looking, he knew the three men were following him and Dean.

He walked through the door on the left, led by the stench of urine and the soured stink of sweat. The washroom was uncommonly small, decorated with pinups from skin magazines Jak had seen before. There were pictures on the walls that looked like the women in them were trying to turn themselves inside out. He’d never cared for that kind of thing, and couldn’t understand how other men could. His own rutting urges were triggered by different things.

The men in the washroom gave them notice, but ignored them for the most part.

Looking at the back wall, Jak spotted the small window above the piss trough. He didn’t pause, not knowing if the three men following them would figure on taking them when the chance presented itself to hem them in.

He stepped up on the trough, making a couple of the men nearest him on either side shy away. He ignored them, grabbing the window latch and unlocking it. He shoved the window open with a creak. The night air rushed in, still carrying the scent of the ville, but lots cleaner than the interior of the washroom.

Jak hoisted himself up and climbed through the window. It let out into an alley filled with grass and weeds growing up between chunks of cracked pavement. He pulled himself through, then reached back for Dean.