Kimi's tears stuck with me as I walked into the night. I told her the one truth I'd been hiding for months. Pretending it was just a crush or some office attraction made it easy to ignore. But after kissing her, having heard her say, "I love you," first; I had to tell her. If I died, I wouldn't forgive myself.
I laughed to myself. If I die, I can't do shit.
A car slowly pulled to a stop beside me. I glanced at it, immediately scanning it and my surroundings to make sure it wasn't Mark. The people inside didn't pay me attention; they'd stopped to light their joint.
Yet, because I scanned the neighborhood, Mark's radius was closer than I thought. What usually looked like a regular map in my line of vision, was now accompanied by a small, red dot. I found him. I was just two streets away. Glancing to my right, I could cut behind the houses and get to him faster.
"Yo, my man!" one of the guys inside the car called to me. I turned back, cocking a brow at him. I didn't respond but nodded, waiting. "Want a hit?" he asked.
I blinked. No, I didn't want their drugs. Why would they share with someone they didn't know? Shit. Sucking my teeth, I shook my head and turned away from them. But he spoke again. "Hey! Wait!"
This time I stopped without turning. I waited, looking ahead at the alleyway tucked between two brick buildings. While the two guys laughed in the car, I scanned the area again. Police weren't nearby. Street activity was scarce. No one would sound the alarms if shit went left. I just needed to get to Mark and end this.
"Hey! Come on, man!" the guy laughed.
The cackling from the two men irritated me. Clenching my jaw, I turned. The one who offered me drugs was hanging out of his window. He had a grin on his face; a lighter in his hand. As he lit fire to the joint again, he took a hit, then blew smoke in my direction. The other guy on the driver's side also pulled himself out of his window. He sat on the ledge, leaning on the car's roof. He smirked and lifted his chin. "Mark said to tell you he's waiting for you."
My eyes widened. How did they know Mark? Did he send his boys to find me? Mr. Passenger Seat let out another puff of smoke. "Yeah," he agreed with his friend, "he said if we saw you, to tell you he's at the park."
So, Mark sent them. He wasn't as advanced as I thought. Couldn't he locate me himself? I took one step to the car. "What park?"
The driver scratched his chin with his thumb. "He said you'd know; it meant something to y'all."
I wouldn't need my computer scans if it was the park I thought of. Powering them off made sense. I'd conserve energy. Turning on the balls of my feet, I waved at the car with two fingers before hurrying down the alley. My shoulders were hunched, head down; I focused on the uneven asphalt. A rat scurried by my feet. I watched it for a second before looking ahead.
Pauline's Park was our spot growing up. All of us—Mark, Ruben, and me. We met there every day after school. Hell, it was our hiding place after we robbed a place. It was also where Tommy had me practice; using the guns I hadn't agreed to. Pauline's Park was where I'd thrown all morality to the wind; where it all ended.
I broke out into a run. With my heart hammering in my chest, I sped through the alley, out into the neighboring street, and into the next. A homeless person leaning against an open dumpster spotted me and watched me with wide, curious eyes. No. I couldn't have witnesses. Not that the guy would say anything, but the fewer people spotting me was better.
"Adrenaline detected. Strengthening muscles to ninety-five percent."
I pumped my arms and legs. I ran faster. Dust and dirt trailed behind me as I darted out of the alley; I hoped the homeless man lost track. I could be a dream in his eyes.
"Bone shields at fifty percent."
I stopped in front of Pauline Park. I wasn't tired; I didn't break a sweat. Scanning the front gate, I looked for him. Night covered the area, and without light, I couldn't spot him. I knew I had to be patient. This wasn't Tommy. Mark wasn't a normal man. Mark could do much worse if Tommy managed to hit me with a pipe. Clenching my jaw, my probability of survival dropped to forty percent; I couldn't make mistakes. Take your time, Gio. Don't rush through this.
"Bone shields at sixty percent."
Sitting right on Bonita Ave, the park was a ghost. The old playground, surrounded by trees, was covered in shadows. Mark picked a good place to hide. Or had he chosen it for sentimental value? At this point, I wasn't sure and didn't care. I crossed the street and cleared my throat. Once on the grass, I cupped my hands over my mouth and shouted, "Mark!"
Nothing. Just the wind. I chuckled and shook my head. "Mark!" I called out again. "I know you're here—" Fucker. I wanted to say it, but I stopped. Something moved ahead. Subtle, but there, underneath a tree. A shadow leaned against the bark, unmoving for a moment. When it turned, I caught the glow of a red-enhanced eye. I powered mine, too, allowing the green to illuminate my surrounding area.
"Are you just going to bring attention this way?" Mark called out. "Or you're going to kill me already?"
"Bone shields at seventy-five percent."
Leaves crunched under my feet as I approached him. He still wore the same clothes, but something was different. More blood splattered across the front of his shirt. When he moved, the stains glowed with the moonlight. Had he gone back to see Brenda?
Shaking my head, I stopped a few feet from Mark. He smirked and turned around fully, leaning against the tree. He slid his hand over his chin before glancing up at the sky. "Maybe I shouldn't have said you'll kill me," he laughed. "I think it's the other way around."
I lifted a brow. "You seem pretty calm for someone who killed their girl." I pointed at his shirt. "Is that her blood?"
"Yes, but that was an accident." Clenching his jaw, he bared his teeth and corrected me. His eye flashed red. "If you hadn't been a snoopin' bitch, she'd still be with me. I wanted to kill you, but no, Brenda still had some love for your ass and got in the way and—"
"That's what you're going to go with?" I stepped forward. A branch snapped this time. "She was protecting me. Me, the father of her child—"
"You," he hissed, pointing at me. "Brenda sold you out before. Do you realize that?"
I stopped. My head dipped to one side. Sold me out? Brenda hadn't been a part of the crime. She wasn't even on the witness stand. "What?"
Mark approached. "I found Paxton. They needed a crime. They needed a victim." Griff had said that. Mark helped plant the pieces to the puzzle. Mark pointed at his chest with his thumb. "But I was going to get a big cut. Not from the robbery; you know that shit was chump change. But Paxton? Shit, what they were willing to pay all of us for this—"
"I didn't get anything," I said, gritting my teeth.
"But you did, though," he said.
"Adrenaline at max level. Bone shield at eighty percent."
"Paxton Corp. gave you all these enhancements and a stipend, right? The money you've been putting away for Maggie?" Mark circled me.
I copied his movements, following him in the opposite direction. "What does this have to do with Brenda?"
"She knew." Mark nodded and pressed his tongue into his cheek. "She knew you'd go away for a long time. And I," he slapped his chest, "promised to take care of her. Forever. Her and Maggie."
"You didn't help Maggie," I said through gritted teeth. "Ruben did."
"Yeah, well," Mark slid his tongue over his teeth, "more money for us then."
Our shoes had dug into the grass; blades of green pressed into the dirt—our revolving line of lies, betrayal, and truths. Who knew the three could meet in a conversation? Why were we talking.... I didn't care about the realities now. I'd spent my entire life needing answers, expecting them to be fed to me on a goddamn spoon. Everyone said it. My obvious trait. Yet, today, every person I came across decided to be a fucking canary.
The truth of the matter was greed had betrayed me. It formed inside of my friends and brothers; each day, it destroyed us. This went beyond revenge.
"Bone shield at one hundred percent."
My green light illuminated my space. I stopped as Mark's red eye did the same. "I don't know why we're even talking, Luis."
Mark smirked. "Luis Raphael, the drug lord on the block." His mood had quickly changed. He was furious a second before. Now, he grinned. His eyes flashed as if he was ready to play. The computer's defects were universal, regardless of whether it was a newer model or not. But I saw the error; could he see his? I can play with this.
Rubbing my wrists, I pushed the tension out of my wrists and nodded. "I'm sure Paxton paid for that big ass house you have, not the drugs. Putting nickel bags on the streets doesn't bring that kind of money. But that name?" I pointed at him. "Did they give you that name, too?"
His brows lifted. "Nah, it's my middle name. You forgot?"
I tongued my cheek. Was he lying? Possibly. I hadn't known his middle name, but it wasn't uncommon to have more than one. Shit, I had two myself.
"I needed some kind of protection after we robbed that bank, so they used what they could. Worked out, huh? You thought I was dead."
I slid my tongue over my teeth and chuckled. "Yeah, I did. Sorry, I cared so much."
"Oh, my heart." He flattened his hand over his chest. "Since all of this is officially out, do you know why Paxton reached out to create me, just like they created you?"
"I know," I said.
"Oh." He raised his brows and grinned. "Then you'd know why what I said at first made more sense, right? Not you here to kill me, but me to kill you. Because that's what I'm designed to do. You're dangerous and out of control. Seeing that you're here planning to kill me," he motioned towards the quiet park, "I think Paxton was right to make me."
I wonder if that was the story Griff told Mark to get him to sign that contract. A way to have him give up what was left of his innocence, if that was what I could call it. If he became augmented, like me, then he could kill me. I was more than just 'dangerous and out of control.' Looking at Mark and his twitching smile, I knew what I was to him—I was his guilt. He betrayed me. Getting rid of me meant he could bury his lie and his shame; pretend to be what he always wanted to be—a leader.
"That wasn't what Griff told me." I cracked my knuckles.
Mark sucked his teeth. "Maybe he lied to you."
"Or," I unzipped my sweater, took it off, and threw it on the grass, "maybe he lied to you."
"Enhancements all fully active. Initializing."
"Maybe. I guess we'll find out which one of us got the real story," Mark rolled his shoulders back. Electricity pushed out of him and into the ground. I saw the lines, his power; red and uneven, like his greed and beliefs.
Paxton's goal of creating stronger, faster, wiser people was simple. We believed machines could do that. Phones were upgraded every year. Televisions connected to our houses. You could turn off your lights by telling a little box in the living room that you were ready to go to bed. All of that was simple. But what happened to those? They got upgrades because they weren't perfect. They broke down and changed.
Like me, I was different than I was six years ago, six months ago. Shit, I was different than I was this morning. And Mark, he had to see me, too. I powered up like a light bulb, ready to strike.
"Maybe," I agreed. I charged at him. And Mark reacted the way I needed him to. Let's go, fucker!