John's Lawn

 Hey guys, to start this final series of entries off, I want you all to know, I’m not who you might think I am. Joseph asked for me to relay my side of the story since he thought you guys might… well I’ll just say find it fun. While I would generally say no, I erm… owe him a bit I suppose you could say… it’ll make sense later. To preface, while this series won’t just be me, we’re going to try and keep it in chronological order. Since he still only has fragmented memories of the first month or two, I’ll be telling my side for a little while before he comes along. I can’t guarantee the frequency of these updates, but I’ll try to keep them consistent for Joseph’s sake. So without any more delay, I hope to keep everything… fun and interesting for you all.

It was some time after Maerod was captured by the squad of USPM soldiers. I came home after helping Rachel with a small project. Calling for Joseph left me with no response. Knowing his car was parked outside, I went to knock on his door. When no answer came, I called out, “I’m coming in, put some pants on.”

I waited a few seconds before opening the door to an empty room. His computer was running with the monitor on, open to part 16 of, well, this series of events. I glanced around, his mythril dagger was still on its wall mount, gun still on his desk, nothing was out of the ordinary. I headed to my room, calling Chad, he picked up right as I closed the door behind me.

“Hey bro, what’s goin on?” I could hear him hammering something in the background.

“Joseph’s not with you, is he.”

“Nah, I dropped by earlier to see if he wanted to get some training in and all that, but he didn’t answer or anything. Door was locked, so I let him be.”

“Shit, alright. Good luck with whatever you’re working on, I gotta go.” Generally, I would’ve called Joseph first to see where he was. But nothing in his room added up. Ultimately, I decided to make one more call before trying Joseph’s number.

The phone rang for a good five minutes before the other end was picked up, “Abraham speaking, how are things going Terry? Well, I hope.”

“You’ve got a tracker on Joseph’s phone right?” I asked, pacing around my room.

“A tad abrupt, but yes, I have trackers on the phones of everyone I know.” He responded, cocky as ever.

“Alright, send me his location. I’ve got a feeling something’s wrong.”

“Have you tried calling him?” I could hear clicking in the background.

“No, if he’s been captured, they might just track my phone down. It could’ve been the USPM or PFBI as far as I know, and I really don’t feel like dealing with either if I can avoid it.”

“That sounds like rather circular logic…” The line went silent for a moment, “Well, it seems your suspicions may be justified. I can’t seem to get an exact location, merely an approximation. I knew I should’ve just given him an implant.”

“Well, where does it look like he is?”

“Somewhere in Idaho.”

“That’s it!?” My voice rose along with my legs.

“Calm down Terry, I can hear the static over the phone. Listen, I may be able to get some more information with a bit of digging.” He paused for a few moments, “Or perhaps not, they must have fried the tracker the  moment they entered the state, the last location I’m seeing was on the Western border.”

“How about you go do some searching on your end, when you’re finished, come on over and we can discuss everything. I don’t want to lose anoth-” I cut myself off, “Nevermind, don’t worry about it.”

“If this is ab-”

“THANK YOU, Abraham!” I ended the call before anything else came through.

Sitting in my ergo chair, I called another number. Putting the phone between my head and shoulder, I turned on a custom VPN and hopped on Tor.

“FetchQuest support, this is Gary, how may I help you today.” The Boston accent from the other line was palpable.

“Yeah, this is T-1867, please put me through to Malena. I’ve got something important to discuss with her.”

“I’m sorry sir, she’s currently in a meeting-”

“I can assure you, SIR! It is of the utmost urgency!”

“I really would like to help you sir, but this is a highly classified meeting. I can’t just call her.”

“Then put me on the phone with someone who CAN! She WILL want to hear this. Not in an hour, not tomorrow, right now.”

“R-right away sir, of course. Give me a moment and I’ll have her on the line right away.” As the hold music began to sound, I continued to the FetchQuest website. A few clicks later, I was ready to set my account to inactive, just waiting for the queue.

A few more minutes of the elevator music passed before I heard the Tennessee accent sound through my phone, “Terry, NEVER interrupt me in a meetin’ again! It’s hard ‘nuff handlin’ all these businesses without you callin’ me while discussin’ legalities!”

“I really do apologize ma’am, I know how busy you are, but I thought you may want to hear it from me. I’ll need to take a break from sales for a little while. I know I’m your largest source for smaller atypicals on the west coast, but something came up. I’m not sure how long I’ll be MIA.”

There was a long pause, “…Oh, I see. That’s quite unfortunate, I’ll be sure ta inform the managers I have over there. Nothin’ is currently in processin’?”

“No ma’am, I sold out last week and haven’t had a chance to pick up any new assets.”

“Understood, don’t be gone too long ya hear? Gotta keep the customers on the west coast happy.”

“Of course, I’ll be sure to inform… one of your managers when I’m available again.”

“Thank you kindly.” She chirped, before hanging up.

Setting the phone in my lap, I took a breath, then clicked the ‘active’ button, temporarily disabling my account.

Closing Tor, I headed to my basement, leaving the door open. Glancing around, I ensured the cages were all empty. They ranged in size from rat to wolf, clients want all sorts of atypicals. As you’ve heard, rakes are rather common, but sometimes I’ll get an order for something called a CaLa. Their hide is tough as hell, Chad ordered some a while back so he could tan the hides for a car someone wanted modifying. Of course, that isn’t all, but I don’t feel like giving a cryptology lesson right now. Suffice it to say, there’s a lot of shit out there, and most of it hasn’t been discovered by humans.

There was one jar that had a pixie in it and looked like it was on its dying breath. Dialing another number, I headed back up the stairs to get ready. After a couple of rings, he answered. There were some muffled screams in the background, “Yes Terry, What do you need? I’m rather busy today. I’m doing some cyberneti—”

“Look Doc, I’ve got a pixie. It’s got a couple days left in it so if you want it it’ll only be 500.”

The other end was almost silent for a short while, “Terry what’s going—”

“LOOK DOC!” I cleared my throat, “Sorry, I’m just trying to clear my inventory right now and it’s all I have left. I don’t want a perfectly good pixie going to waste, do you want it or not?”

A new scream sounded, “Yes, I can be by later tonight.”

“Shit, okay, just send me the right amount in Hornet, spare key is in the usual spot. I might not be around for a little while.” I hung up.

Zipping up my hoodie, I folded a pair of sunglasses and hung them by the top of the zipper. I headed to the bathroom, opened the mirror panel, and pulled out my weekly meds. After getting them all in a cup, I dry-swallowed them and brought the bottles to my room.

I needed to prep a bag, and whatever was going on, it wasn’t going to be solved in a week. Next was a portable charger, laptop, and car adapter for charging, along with a few other miscellanea. 

I finished putting the laptop in my backpack when a ringing sounded from my pocket. Checking my phone, I saw the caller ID, “Joseph where the fuck are you!”

A terrified voice came over the speaker, “Is this the legendary being known as Terry?”

“This is Terry, yes. Who might this be? I know you aren’t Joseph.” I tried to relax, but I was only growing more agitated.

“An employee of the PFBI. One who would consider Joseph a friend, which is why I called you.”

I took a deep breath before continuing, “I don’t recall him talking about any human friends. What happened? If you give the wrong answer, I am prepared to kill you.”

I swore I could almost hear this piss trail down his leg, “You’re focusing your rage at the right person, but the wrong organization. By request of the USPM, Joseph was to be interrogated. Afterward…”

“Always with the fucking USPM, one moment they want to help take down a murderer. The next, they’re trying to ‘take care’ of a liability.” The thought of their commander shipped some new rage to my hand, nearly causing me to crush my phone. “I hope you don’t mind telling me where you are right now.”

“That wouldn’t help at this point. After the interrogation, his…” The kid gulped, “Shit, how do I say this? His… his memory was wiped. Joseph as you knew him is gone.”

It wasn’t as bad as I’d expected, “No, YOU don’t understand. That group was using you to handle their dirty work, along with any paperwork. They’re probably waiting for the right time to show back up.”

There was a pause on the other end, “We… don’t have the manpower to fight them off, nor to refuse their request. They’ll likely destroy his phone if I give it to him to track his location. Any ideas?”

Just then, I heard the bash of the front door slamming into the wall, “Hold on, Abraham just showed up from his search.” Throwing the phone to my bed, Abraham threw open my door.

“No luck, unfortunately, how are things here?”

“Good news is, we’ll be able to make our way to him. The bad news is, he’s gonna be gone by the time we get there. It’s the USPM.”

“GOD DAMNIT! I have someone I need to call then. If Dexter is behind this, I swear to the gods.” He pulled out a laptop from a bag hanging from his daunting purple armor, he’d gone out prepared for something, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what. 

As he sat on my bed, he plopped his head on his lap, setting the laptop right in front of it. He typed with one hand holding the phone against some earholes in the helmet, one on the keyboard.

“You think you can track the location with the phone connection?”

“You bet your sweet ass– Uh, right, Dexter one moment, we need to have a chat.”

I tuned out of the conversation, picking my phone back up, “Alright, I just need you to stay on the line a little bit longer, Abraham is getting your location.”

“FUCK!” Abraham screamed, the sound reverberating from both where his head should’ve been and where it actually was.
Then I heard the person on the other end yell, “Just use the damn doorbell asshats!”

Abraham spoke, “Ten more seconds.”

“Just stay on the line for ten more seconds, and we’ll head there right away. Just so you know, if you’re lying to us, there are fates worse than death.”

A banging sounded in the background, “Hey, uh… Terry. You might want to teleport, like now!”

“What?, I don’t have government funding for that kind of shit. I live in an apartment for fucks sake. I’m heading over in Abraham’s car. Though, we have a shortcut. Try not to die.” The line went dead.

Turning to Abraham, he stared at me, “It’s going to be an eight-hour drive, easily. Are you sure he’ll make it till then?”

I stared, “This is our only shot.”

Silence met my ears, then, “All this work for a human?”

“You’re closer to a human than he is now.”

Standing, he met my gaze, “You put your life on the line for him at the bunker. You know, before the bite.”

“Yeah, like I knew there’d be anything remotely dangerous in there.”

“You called in favors, not only from me but Doc. He’s not an easy man to get favor–”

“We’re dropping IT. Got it?”

Picking up his laptop and head, he left the room, “Come on then, no time like the present. I have the sword in my car.”

I took a breath, “Of course, I’ll grab my bag.”

I hadn’t seen his car since the night of the bunker, aside from a few new carves in the black paint of his tinted Model S. They were deep, wide, and left some scorch marks, “Pyro?”

“More like a ventriloquist had an enchanted wooden doll. That’s the worst of the damage though. No matter, we ought to be on our way.” I nodded, throwing the bag in the back, and hopping in the passenger side.

——————————————

A couple of hours passed in silence, when Abraham broke me out of my daze, “Terry, we seriously need to talk about your attachment. I am all for saving Joseph, don’t get me wrong, I just–”

“That’s funny, I was under the impression we’d dro–”

“NO! I AM TALKING! You WILL hear me out! Do I make myself clear!?” I wanted to jump out of the car right there, but really, I knew this was coming. I’d been delaying the conversation for months behind closed doors, but this was the most persistent he’d ever been.

I sighed, “Yes.”

“You never got over her death, and that fact has never been more apparent than when Joseph moved in. You said you were fine, and I trusted that. But every other fucking month it’s something else, and with Maerod return–”

“Watch it.” The car stuttered.

“I’M INCLINED to believe, she’s reopened what you thought was healed! I suggest you let Joseph go once we’ve captured him!”

“I get that you think I’m using her as a sub–”

“But you are! I don’t think; the writing couldn’t be any clearer if you wrote it in base 10.” The car stuttered again, “If you can’t keep your emotions in check, I will pull over!”

“We’re in the mountains already, we might as well pull over now. Punching you in the face sounds therapeutic as hell right now.”

“Jesus Terry, you weren’t like this before. Threatening me with intent? Don’t think I didn’t notice the dip in power with that one. I think it’s important you take some time Terry, you’re letting a human get to you.”

“As I said before, you’re more human than him at this point.”

“THAT’S IT! You want a fight, we’re having one! Just know, out of respect, I don’t intend to use my sword. But I fully intend to go all out.” He swerved into a nearby turn, skidding in the light snow. As he pulled to a stop, the light flakes slowly dropping began picking up speed, 

I scoffed, “Oh, so we are actually doing this then? Don’t pussy out if I beat the shit out of you too hard.”

“Don’t forget what I’m capable of, you better take me out quick then.” He exited the car, leaving both his head and his sword behind. I nearly shuttered, but I contained myself as I followed suit.

I could hear his heavy footsteps crunching the snow into paper-thin sheets as I followed him. The snowflakes seemed to pick up in both speed and size as we made our way deeper into the forest. With each passing minute, I could feel the energy radiating from Abraham build. I had my concerns about him leaving his head behind, and it seemed I was right for that.

A few minutes later, he stopped, turning to me. Then, I spoke, “If you wanna turn back, now is the time. We can hop back in the car, and head on our way. I really don’t wanna hurt you.”

‘Please, you’ll be the one hurting after this.” Before I knew it, his fist was right in front of me.