The shotgun turret had performed exactly as advertised, and with the third shade dispatched, I went back to check on the first shade, the one I had run over. It wasn’t completely dead, so I emptied the Walther PPK into it, and just to be sure, the two rounds from my trusty Derringer. After I saw the shade evaporate into nothing, I hopped back in the Ranger and began the long trip back to Somerville.
As I drove, I checked my levels–I’d gone up another five, and was now level 18. I turned the leveling math over and over in my mind, but remained stumped. The first time I’d killed the two shades, I’d gone up ten levels; this time I’d killed three, but gone up only half that. Richard said leveling might have something to do with how powerful the shades were, but I was starting to wonder whether it also had something to do with how I killed them.
Thinking back, the truck had done most of the work for me. I had only killed one outright with my personal weapons, and, wow, had that hand-to-hand combat been rewarding. Swinging the truck door like a baseball bat had been surprisingly easy, definitely something I couldn’t have done before my last level up. I had batted the shade away from me at least fifteen feet.
I’d turned off all of my upgrades for the trip back home and set the app to provide only the new options for my most recent level up.
Current Level:
D18/D100
Equipped Upgrades:
None
Available Upgrades:
Spike Strip Deployment System
Smoke Grenade Dispenser
Harpoon Gun
Scrap Metal Armor Plates
Roof Hatch with Rifle Mount
Nitrous Boost
Current Vehicle:
Level 13. Ford Ranger
Available Vehicles:
Level 14. Chevy S-10
Level 15. Dodge Dakota
Level 16. GMC Sonoma
Level 17. Toyota Tacoma
Level 18. Mazda B-Series truck
Damn. At license level D18, I was still two levels away from evolving from “Peak Human” into “Enhanced Human.” Based on my newfound strength, I was already very much looking forward to what the next milestone would mean for my abilities.
As I drove, I caught up on the numerous messages that had come in from Dispatch, Lanie, and from someone new named “regular_dick_s.” Who the hell was that?
fourth_wall: Whatever you’re doing up there, Somerville, you just leveled. And now you’re showing as offline. Status?
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songbird: Max, are you okay?
songbird: Where are you? Please let me know you aren’t dead.
fourth_wall: You’re back online and leveled again. Report in ASAP. I have another job for you.
regular_dick_s: Looks like you survived the fight with those shades. Nicely done. Good luck back home.
I immediately messaged Lanie back.
Max: I’m alive and on the way home. I’ll fill you in when I get back. Can I see you?
I thought hard about what to say to Dispatch, recalling Lanie's comparison of fourth_wall to her “Nan.” I had the feeling I needed to be careful about which details I passed on. There was something about knowing Big Brother was constantly looking over my shoulder that I didn’t like.
Max: I’ll be back in five hours. Send the fare information. I’ll be ready.
The new chat tab had to be none other than Richard Simmons. I was a little surprised by the obvious penis joke in his handle, but then again, he’d clearly done enough drugs to kill a horse, and I supposed nothing should surprise me. I appreciated that he hadn’t mentioned anything about the release of the shades. I’d have to try to find out more, but discreetly…at a minimum, I wanted to get Lanie’s take on it before I said anything to Dispatch.
Back home, I met Cam at the apartment. The landlord had clearly prioritized the repairs, and a lot of work had been done on The Central in the past 36 hours. The broken windows had been boarded over, and the external holes had been patched. There were still some creepy claw marks on the internal walls, but all in all, it was livable, which was more than I’d hoped for.
Cam had managed to smooth things over with both our new troop assignments. He’d apparently explained our “break-in,” and we’d been given the go-ahead to be off Friday, despite it being our second day on the job. Understanding only went so far, though, and it was clear we’d be expected to report in on Monday as usual. That left us the rest of today and all of Sunday to clean up our personal items, which were still strewn all over the apartment. By midnight, we had the place mostly clean.
“So…” Cam began. “Everything good with you?” I shrugged.
“Come on, Max. You’re not fooling me. Your ‘work friends’ have already come knocking at our front door. I think the cat’s out of the bag.” He wasn’t wrong, but I felt uneasy about him talking so openly about things he wasn’t supposed to know. Still, what could it hurt, given he DID know about the Endr app already?
“The things that made those marks are called shades, though Lanie and Axel call them Fines.”
“Who?” he asked.
“Lanie’s… a friend.” I found myself smiling like an idiot. Cam picked up on it, naturally. That’s what happens when you’ve known each other since elementary school, I guess.
“Ohhhh…Lanie ‘the friend.’ I see. So, who’s Axel then? Is he the guy Dan Driver mentioned at O’Connor’s?” I nodded. “Shit, man. That means he’s…” Cam’s eyes were wide.
I nodded. He’d come to the same realization I had. Axel had to be the Ramcharger Killer.
“Back to the shades. You’ll never guess what these things are.”
“Hellspawn? Demons? Something out of Constantine or Spawn would be my guess.”
“Huh, that’s actually not far off,” I admitted. “Listen, man, we need to be careful. These things…I think they’re hunting me.”
“Oh, that’s great. Just great!” Cam threw his hands up in the air. “So, what now? You going to try to talk me into sleeping over at my parents’ house again?”
“It wouldn’t hurt,” I said cautiously. I couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to Cam. It was one thing if they came for me, given I had the truck and a whole mess of new abilities. But Cam…
“Is there an option B?” he asked.
My phone vibrated, cutting off his question. I knew what it was before I looked. I could see the alert in my mind, too. Cam eyeballed my buzzing pocket.
“Another job?” he asked. I nodded. “Read it to me. What’s the worst that could happen? We already have demons making home visits.”
Pulling out the phone, I opened the message from Dispatch and read it out loud.
New Fare Assigned!
Target: Mervin Rodriguez
Profession: Ironworker
Location: Quincy, Massachusetts
I read him the rest of the details, including who requested the transfer and where good old Mervin would be spending the rest of his days. When I was done, Cam was pale, and his eyes were even wider. “Take this,” I said, handing Cam my reloaded Derringer. He laughed when he saw the miniature weapon, but he didn’t refuse it either. “I think it has some kind of magical properties that might work better on the shades.”
“Noisy Cricket,” he joked. His voice was flat, though, lacking his normal good humor. I tried to search his expression, but he abruptly stood and walked to his room, closing the door firmly behind him.
It had felt good not keeping my new reality from my closest friend, but I didn’t like the way he’d looked at me, like I was someone he didn’t really know anymore. Something inside Cam had begun to truly understand the gravity of what I had been saddled with. The question was whether he could get beyond it and whether we’d ever be able to get back to just being two kids from Winter Hill.
- - -
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