John's Lawn

His fist met my face, rocketing me into a nearby tree, it splintered as I coughed out a mouthful of black blood. Before I could catch my breath, his fist slammed into my head again, his fist a piston, repeatedly smashing my face with each word, “Snap, the, hell, out, of, it!”

As my vision flickered, I sprung the tentacles from my back, lunging me forward, and tackling him to the ground. He was already starting to look shorter as I jerked backward to get some distance, the fluidity of my tentacles making up for my stiffening limbs.

Abraham shot back up, dashing at me for a punch that met the tree behind me as I slung toward another using the base of the tree. As it fell, snow was kicked up, creating a cloud in the snowstorm. I held my tentacles around me as the cloud of powder surrounded me. I was airborne, no air entering or leaving me. The pain in the center of my back suddenly and aggressively assaulted my senses. Dazed, I didn’t notice when my face crashed into the frozen dirt beneath the snow. It was around the third punch when I could process my surroundings again, then I threw him off using two of my limbs.

Taking a full-bodied breath, I used my tentacles like a spring, shooting up to grab a tree branch. Reaching higher limbs, I managed to find a stable branch to perch on, then, I focused. My hands began to merge with the branch, allowing my limbs to loosen as they shrank. But before I could do much more, the tree was falling. Defusing my hands I jumped down, landing directly on Abraham, and wrapping two tentacles around each of his limbs. I punched his chest repeatedly, eventually cracking the purple armor, when he suddenly broke free, tearing each tentacle from my back.

Fire shot from my back, scorching my nerves, and making my vision blur. In that split second, Abraham punched me in the gut hard enough to send me two feet in the air, followed by grabbing my face directly. I felt my soul being sucked from me as he knocked over tree after tree with nothing but my head. When he finally flung me against one of the towering pines, nearly cracking my spine, nothing but white met my gaze. Grabbing the stump I was leaning against, I tried semi-fusing with the tree, but Abraham had already caught up. Punching me in the guts repeatedly, then picking me up and slamming my back on the splintered trunk over and over again.

But the more he slammed me, the less I felt it, only about 30 seconds later, my vision cleared to see him ready to throw me into the air. 

My tentacles shot back out, much thinner than before, and I grabbed his right arm with all eight tentacles, inverting our positions and smashing him between two pines on a loop until my knees nearly started shaking. Soon enough, I didn’t even have the strength to hold him. The armor on his left arm and right leg were buried, but I still couldn’t muster the strength. My tentacles receded, and I would’ve dropped to one knee had I not been so tall.

As Abraham stood, removing one of his heavily plated boots, he slowly stepped toward me, a newfound power oozing from him, “I really didn’t want to have to do this Terry, but what can I say, you’re stronger than me, always have been. Are you willing to listen to reason yet?” As he stepped closer, I began shrinking, regaining the ability to move.

“Fucking hell, you’re really gonna drain your best friend over a disagreement? Maybe you are as insane as knock-off Smudge said you were.”

He let out a contemptuous hiss, “Like you’re much better. When was the last time you fed on a child?”

“Abraham,” I growled back, my body limp enough that I finally collapsed to my knees.

“Oh no, if you’re going to bring morality into the discussion, I truly would like to hear your excuse.” He finally reached me, kicking me back into the tree from before, and pressing his bare foot against my face, “Children, the most innocent of all humans, and you eat them. We’re both just trying to survive.” He flexed his leg, and I felt the weight of the tree give out. Given everything he’d sucked out of me, he could’ve taken Maerod on in that moment, I knew he was going to win our fight, “So why don’t you tell me how I’m so bad a person trying to beat some sense into my friend, Kenet.”

A newfound strength surged through me, and I collapsed into the fallen tree, sucking out every last drop of energy from the interconnected root system. The now rotten tree spat me out as it crumbled to the ground like a tower of lincoln logs, along with countless others. Throwing all of my body weight at him, I heard a crack. I flung him into the air, using a branch to slingshot me into him with a tentacle. Around halfway up, I caught two more branches, using my limbs like rubberbands to shoot myself down onto Abraham, splintering the plate mail. With him struggling to stand back up, I flung back at him. Using him like a pole, I spun around him a couple times before stopping, using the built momentum to fling him into one of the now-dead trees, sending it collapsing onto him.

I took a moment, my body aching, tentacles bleeding, and feeling like overstretched Silly Putty. I fell to one knee, surprised at how much I’d shrunk. My face was down, the pores in my skin trying to suck in air from the surrounding area. Then, the rotting tree was pushed to the side, and I could see Abraham’s armor seemingly fusing back together. He’d even managed to find his missing pieces. I only had a few seconds to wonder how long I’d been there before everything went dark.

—————————————–

I awoke sometime later in the back of the car. My muscles were shredded, back numb, and I had a throbbing in my head. Abraham tossed a water bottle at my stomach, followed by my bag, “I’m sure you brought some of the Doc’s meds with you, I hope you know I didn’t intend for things to get sooo… out of hand. I just… need you to get that what you’re doing isn’t healthy. I hope Joseph is safe, same as you. But don’t think I didn’t notice those posters, it’s obvious you’re still not over her. Not to mention your prior, ahem slipup?”

I downed a few pills, “I hear you, and it’s clear you’re serious. I mean, I’ve never been called… well you know, by a friend before.”

“Right,” he reached for where his neck should’ve been, then put his hand back on the steering wheel, “I apologize for that.” Slush squeezing out from under the tires filled the vacant air, “You never have exactly explained that.”

“It was erm, well, you know, I’ve gone by a lot of names, Der Grossman was the first I can remember. Then as I gained sentience, I started taking up local names. But when I’d move, I’d try and change things up. Guess you could say I killed a lot of people in the days of that one. But I’ve moved since then. Not to mention…” I trailed off.

He shifted in his seat uncomfortably, “How long has it been since… since that name?”

I stiffened, “Decades, maybe 50 years?” I said, thinking back to the exact date, but refusing to let my mind wander further.

“I see…” Everything went silent again, nothing but the sound of tires on pavement. It stayed that way till we pulled up to a dilapidated structure in the middle of buttfuck nowhere a couple hours later. 

The entrance had been caved in. Clearly, the USPM wasn’t taking no for an answer, and that became crystal clear when we entered the building. The entire place was a crumbling mess, there wasn’t a single thing that seemed to be in the right place, including the lack of dead bodies.

“You think he’s dead?” My words reverberated off the metal walls.

“Doesn’t look like anyone was even here when they made their way through. I presume they must’ve evacuated.”

“Come to think of it, I don’t actually remember hearing any other voices over the phone. You don’t think the USPM has been planning for this have you?”

Abraham scoffed, “Doubtful, all for one human? They wouldn’t put that much money into capturing you, let alone a partial vampire. His nutrient condenser is hardly even developed.”

“Jesus, did you take cryptology lessons from Chad? It’s a stem.”

“Ah yes, how intuitive, everyone knows the biology of a vampire, the stomach, the heart, the kidney, oh and don’t forget the stem, Jeremy!” He mocked, grabbing his head with both hands to shake it side to side.

“Look, it makes sense if you know what it does. Maybe go hit up Rachel if you wanna get the name of an organ changed, I’m sure she could help with that.” I was about to give him a jack-off gesture when I realized he’d lost interest.

“Is that him? And lying next to… I’ll be damned, a Neural Segmenter?”

“You’d have more of an idea than me.”

As we finished walking over to the unconscious man, his eyes fluttered open, “Well it appears the boy is not yet dead, wouldn’t you say?”

I rolled my head, “I guess not, he did get pretty fucked up though. Are you the one I spoke with over the phone?”

“Oh, you must be Terr–ibly sorry about Joseph.” Sweat quickly beaded on his forehead as he sat up, quickly grabbing forehead in apparent pain.

“Don’t worry, we saw how demolished the entrance was. No way a human like you could deal with something like that. Odd that the government would send itself after itself though. You got oil here or something?”

“Probably in the fridge.” he replied.

“It was a–” I sighed, “–nevermind, did they leave anything behind that can help us track them down?”

He paused, his hand making its way down to his stubble, “The head memory thing? Though, it’s probably broken. The phone, assuming it somehow survived everything. Maybe they left the typewriter? I can’t think of anything else.”

Abraham took a step forward, “The headpiece should do fine boy, thank you for your assistance. If I may take the broken device, I can fix it. I helped design it myself after all.”

The kid looked around, clearing debris until eventually, he found the Neural Segmenter on the ground beside him, he also picked up a set of papers, “Here, take the scripting too. I hope it helps him remember something.”

After I gathered everything under one arm, Abraham took his hand, “Thank you.” The kid’s pain was evident from the handshake, “The name’s Abraham, I wish you luck with whatever finds you in the future.”

As Abraham readied to leave, I took the boy’s hand as well, taking care to go easy on him, “I really do appreciate this, should any information come up, I’m sure you’ll let us know.” I spiked my heart rate, hoping the static would send the message.

We waved back as we walked ahead, wondering just where the headpiece would take us.

———————————————————

I slumped back in the passenger seat, “So are you gonna pull a bunny out of your hat for this one or what?”

Abraham stared ahead as snow blotted out anything more than three feet ahead of us, “These devices were built with microphones very few people are aware of. If I have a hand in something, I like to know anything going on with it. We’ll see if any of the components survived, then extract any data.”

“And if everything’s fucked?”

“If that comes to be, we can always visit the remnants, one of them aided me in the designs, and so long as where the information was stored is there, they’ll be able to extract it, no matter the state, so long as it’s only physical breaks. If they decomposed or oxidized it with anything though… well I suppose no need to worry about it unless it happens.”

“The Remnants? That’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. They’re still around?”

“Their numbers are few these days, however, their wisdom remains strong.”

“Right, you sure they’re willing to talk to us though? I mean, we’re basically demons as far as pacifists are concerned.”

“They’re not a fan of me, given our… history. But as I said, I do have allies within.”

I tilted my head to look out at the passing flurries, “At least one of us has a plan.” I sighed, thinking over everything that’d gone down previously. With Maerod, I’d been meticulous, ensuring we had every possible advantage, but now–

“I suppose you could call it a plan, but it’s more like a segment. Even if we get any data, there’s no telling if it’ll be useful. Quite frankly, I doubt we’ll be able to find him either way. Dexter didn’t have any information, and apparently, the USPM has been dealing with a lot of internal stress. The true question is why they’re so hell-bent on taking care of a single human if they have so many problems going on inside.”

I maintained my gaze, rolling my head, “This is the government, no matter how bad they’re crumbling, they’re going to control what they can. They saw an opportunity to have control and took it, what’s more to look into?”

“Well yes, but the fact remains that Joseph is hardly a liability. You saw how wrecked the PFBI headquarters was, they may not actually be part of the government, but they’re nothing to scoff at.”

I tossed his words around, trying to think of an explanation when I realized something, “What do you mean? They aren’t affiliated with any government organizations?”

“Um? No? You seriously didn’t know that?”

I turned to him, “Why would they dump Joseph on them then? They could’ve just wiped his memory and been done with it, why the extra steps?” I rolled the question around for a moment, “Wait, what exactly did you ask Dexter, and what did he tell you?”

“Well, I asked if he had any information on Joseph. He told me he didn’t have anything new. Then asked why I was calling. I explained that Joseph had been taken and the USPM was involved. He said that he didn’t have any information for me and that I’d have to talk to his commanding officer.”

“Is that what he said verbatim? That he didn’t have any details for you?”

He didn’t respond at first, mulling the implication over, “That sly bastard.” He pulled out his phone, putting it on speaker as he rang Dexter, fluctuating between one and two bars.

“D speaking, please take me off speaker before continuing.”

“It’s just Abraham and Terry, I will not take you off speaker.”

He let out an agitated sigh, “How can I help you two? You know I’m busy, and seriously, two calls in one day?”

“Dexter, that’s quite enough with the formalities. You know how I feel about misleading information, and I’m inclined to believe that you are withholding information from me. Did you have a part in Joseph’s disappearance or not?”

“I didn’t hold a direct part in his–”

“Give it to me straight Dexter!”

“All I’m saying–”

“DEXTER!”

“YES! Fucking hell you whiney bitch, I’ve got it under control. I’m trying to help Joseph get off the radar, get him out of the government’s line of sight. So, I might’ve… subtly suggested they leave a bit of a paper trail. Clearly, you guys are already figuring it out. Unfortunately, I can’t help you guys, I set everything up so it’ll all work out. If I get involved, Joseph will end up on a pike with his stem in a black market. So just play your roles right, don’t overthink, and Joseph will make it out alive, if a little damaged.” A familiar Texan accent, sounded in the background, “Anyway, I’ve got shit to do, keep your eyes out for the Apex–” The line went dead, the top of Abraham’s phone showing no service.

“That boy, I never know what side he’s on. He’s brilliant, but quite the wildcard.”

“So that’s that? We’re just letting him dangle some hints in front of us until we figure it out? GodDAMNIT!” The car stuttered.

“Well, he’s got a mind of his own and enough connections to put anyone he wants in a universe of agony.”

I sighed, looking back out the window, “Fuckin’ bullshit, that’s all this ever is. Let’s just head to the Remnants, I’ll figure something out to avoid being recognized.”

“Wait… What the hell did you do to them?”