Bliss - Chapter 12 (Out of Context)

Chapter 12: The Stick

Weddle peered through the now unlocked and loosely opened window of the alleged bakery. He did not see anybody moving around and gave the all-clear to Anya and Jonesy as they waited below.

            “Ready?” Weddle whispered down.

            “Ready, Boss.”

            Anya responded with a quick nod before leaping up to the windowsill and slinking in. Jonesy leapt as high as he could and clasped Weddle’s outstretched arm to pull them both fully up and into the facility. The warehouse was only lit in a few areas and it bathed the vast majority of their path in the shadows as they ducked behind large pallets of bagged and bucketed chemical concoctions. The primary production line was Weddle’s target and he assumed it was on the locked end of the facility, away from all the stored supplies. Without seeing a soul in the warehouse, Anya gave up on stealthy navigation and just walked to the door. Taking her cue, Weddle and Jonesy calmly strolled over as well. Weddle hurriedly and successfully picked the lock and gently pushed the door open. To their immediate dismay, the abandoned nature of the warehouse did not extend to the production facility.

            “Fuck.” Weddle angrily whispered.

            “Why are there so many people here?” Jonesy whispered back.

            “That pig-fucker probably realized he needed a new front after our chat. They’re probably moving shit out of here.”

            “What do we do, Boss?”

            “If we don’t act tonight, we miss our only opening.” Anya peered through the door.

            “She’s right. Well, sorry Jonesy. Things are about to get very violent.”

            “I count seven in the main room. If we are quiet like a mouse, we can probably stab and smother them without alarm.” Anya crouched down.

            “Sir, I’m going to have to object to that plan.”

            “I told you early on. This job is going to involve violence.”

            “Not that. I mean, a bit of that. Maybe we can just knock them out. But the part that does not work is you. I can hear you half a mile away.”

            Weddle observed his hooved feet for a moment. “Well, guess you two got this.”

            “Better idea.” Anya slithered away into the dark warehouse for a moment. “Put these on.” She reappeared and held two small bags of sweetener and some cords.

            “Not dampening my criminal mastermind theory. Give me a minute.”

            After a quick moment of fumbling around with the logistics of the impromptu footwear, Weddle secured the step softeners to his hooves and now stepped with the quiet air of a donut hitting the floor. His overall balance and coordination was noticeably lessened, but the trio took things slow as they skulked around in the still dimly lit production facility. They started off in the relative middle of the room and worked towards the front first, as the actual production line of bliss likely sat in the brightly lit area at the back. As they crept behind a stack of blue barrels, the first of what would be many victims stood in front. The somewhat scrawny beast held a clipboard and counted out the inventory. With a decided lack of hesitation, Anya sprang out, snatched the pen from his hand, and stabbed him through the throat with it. She cupped her hand around his mouth to silence the guttural noises that came forth. He crumpled to the ground and Anya dragged his corpse to the mound of orange sacks full of a sulfate mixture and buried him under a few.

            “One down.” She whispered to the stunned boys.

            “Jonesy, you have my blessing, my respect, and my sympathy.” Weddle patted the imp’s shoulder before sliding along to their next targets.

            They posted up out of sight of a woman and a man carrying a large crate on to a truck. As the pair disappeared into the truck bed, Anya slid under the truck while Weddle and Jonesy took to the nearest side and waited.

            “Does it really matter the why of it all? Boss said move it, so were moving it.” The man said.

            “It matters. This is a fucking rush job. He’s scarred of something.” The woman retorted.

            “Think Zion caught wind of the op?”

            “Doubt it. Guys a braindead loser. Gotta be a family of idiots for him to catch you.” She cackled.

            Before the man could join in the revelry, Anya snatched his leg, sending him plummeting from the truck. His neck impacted the outstretched foot of the cat, causing it to snap on impact without the harsh thud an unsupported fall would have made. Weddle followed suit with the woman’s leg, but she caught herself and pivoted. In a panic, before she could sound an alarm, Jonesy coiled his arms around her head and neck with as much pressure as he could. Weddle held her legs in place to keep her from causing a ruckus.

            “Dude, squeeze harder.” Weddle whispered.

            “This doesn’t feel right, Boss. Do we have to kill her?”

            “Yep. Not killing her would be sexist, and our business is currently at least three to two girl to guy. We do not stand for that here.”

            As they continued to apply pressure, she slipped her hand free, grabbed at a knife in her pocket, and stabbed Jonesy in the arm. He silently screamed for a moment before Anya pulled the knife out and used it to stab the woman in the chest repeatedly.

            “See, that’s what you get for being sexist, Jonesy.” Weddle joked as he rolled the bodies under the truck.

            “He’s right though. It should not matter to you the gender of the being you kill.” Anya tore a piece of the woman’s shirt mid roll to make a tourniquet.

            “I’ll keep that in mind.” Jonesy said with a whimper as pressure was applied.

            “You want the knife for the next one?” Anya offered the bloody blade to him and stared intently into his eyes.

            “I feel like you will make better use of it.”

            “I will, but anything that improves your lethality would be nice.”

            “Sorry I am not good at murder.”

            “You’ll get there. I have faith.” She quickly leaned forward and kissed him before she slithered away to the next target.

            Weddle patted the bewildered imp’s shoulder, then dragged him along to the next part of the warehouse. By the time they arrived, Anya had snared her next target and plunged the knife cleanly into the side of his head. She dragged the body over to a trash bin and folded them inside of it. Her eyes darted to a small enclosure that they could not spy into. She looked back to Weddle for confirmation and they proceeded along unnoticed. They pushed open a gated fence quietly and snuck in. They could hear someone grunting and groaning around the corner. Then a hint of distress took over the masculine voice.

            “Fuck, fuck. June you druggy bitch. Wake up.” His order was followed by the distinct sound of a slap. “Oh, fuck… your sister’s gonna kill me. She’s going to string me up by the balls and flay my dick. Oh fuck.”

            With morbid curiosity growing, Weddle and Anya leaned around to take a peek of what horrid event had played out. The man, who looked to be a darker skinned molshean, stood with his pants around his ankles. He was between a pair of slender blue legs that dangled lifelessly from a table. As Weddle peered further along, he could feel an awful twitch in his heart. The girl laying on the table was the lovely twilian that he had spoken with outside this facility with Jonesy. He could see the lively green powder smeared across her hand and nose. The molshean stood in a small panic as he continued to eye up the overdosed girl before a truly decrepit thought overtook him. He pulled her body closer and continued what he had been in the middle of. Anya snapped beside him in an instant, doing the apparently assigned work of the girl’s sister as he screamed into her suffocating palm. Weddle approached with an understandable disgust and hatred. He punched the demented man in the throat, leaving him to choke to death on the pain Anya was inflicting.

            “That was depraved.” Anya’s voice was scornful.

            “Yeah. Sick fuck.”

            “Do I even want to come out from here?” Jonesy whispered from around the corner.

            “Probably not. Poor girl.” Weddle looked at the mostly disrobed girl briefly before looking away out of respect. “We’ve met her before.” Weddle explained.

            “Does she work for Toltchkin?”

            “I think so. Her sister must be the taller one… I think they were his underlords.”

            “Then she was going to die anyway.”

            “Yeah.” He sighed.

            A sudden coughing fit alarmed both of them as the presumed dead girl shot to life and began hacking up some ill placed bliss. Weddle and Anya were too surprised to respond correctly to this revelation. The girl’s eyes remained closed as she faced the ground.

            “Woah, that was fucking gnarly.” She steadied her breath for a moment. Before she could turn to face the stunned duo, Weddle snatched a hanging towel from the shelf next to him and wrapped it around her eyes. “Oh, keeping it kinky?” She reclined and relaxed. “I’m down. Gonna tie up my hands?” She clasped them together and held them out.

            Anya, also still sort of panicking internally about the situation, grabbed another cloth and bound her hands. The tied-up girl giggled and moaned as she secured Anya between her legs, blissfully unaware of the situation. Anya and Weddle shared a glance to discuss the situation at hand. With little more than a synchronous glance at another loose cloth, a decision was reached. The tied-up girl was now gagged, still very much to her oblivious delight. Weddle found a loose cord and tied her legs together once Anya was free from them. Weddle lifted her from the table and set her against the wall below a window.

            “Don’tcha think that’s a little far?” She mumbled through the gag. “Percy?” She mumbled after being met with silence.

            “You are very lucky.” Anya whispered into the now terrified ear. “We should kill you, but you just escaped death once. If you make any noise, I will smother you in a bag of bliss. Clear?”

            The girl responded with a frenzied nod as she began quivering. Anya and Weddle silently walked back to Jonesy and out of the enclosure.

            “And I’m the sexist one?” Jonesy quipped.

            “Dude, she literally OD’d and then got fucked as a corpse. I think a bit of mercy is not unreasonable.”

            “I’m with him on this.” Anya added.

            “Whatever. I’m glad she is okay.”

            “We will see if she can dodge death again when we blow this place up. Let’s go.” Weddle motioned to the door.

            Weddle hurried along away from the enclosure with the others in tow. One of the seven people out on the floor headed off to the bathroom, leaving Anya and Weddle plenty of clearance to sneak up behind the other two as they sat on a pallet, enjoying a quick break.

            “… and of course,” they heard the being on the right grumble, “I get told we all have to come in tonight to fucking pack. You know who’s not here?”

            “Stu?” The other guy acknowledged apathetically.

            “Fucking Stu. Guy never does shit around here, yet the boss loves him. Sends him on all the fun shit.”

            “What fun shit?”

            “You know, the racketeering stuff. Beating down the little pussies that try to run our dealers.”

            “Yeah, that’s because Stu is built like a truck.”

            “My point exactly. His big ass should be here moving shit.”

            “He just has better luck.” Weddle whispered before he and Anya struck.

            They snatched both guys from the pallet and quickly wrung their necks until there was no resistance.

            “And you two feel nothing for all this?” Jonesy whined.

            “Oh, no. I feel awful having to do this. These guys probably don’t deserve this shit. But, they chose their life and their profession. Just as I chose mine and suffered for it.”

            “The moment you feel no emotion when taking a life is when you cease to live. The rending of soul from flesh should always illicit a feeling.” Anya’s blunt observation shook both men.

            “And, uh… what do you feel when killing?” Weddle nervously questioned.

            “Excitement.” Her tail wagged to confirm.

            “That’s fucking disturbing, but I am more and more happy that you are with us and not against us.”

            “As you should be.” Anya nodded for a moment before her eyes went wide and she plunged to the ground. “Get down.” She yanked Jonesy to her side and Weddle joined them.

            From an exit door across the room entered the taller of the two twilians. A short but portly oinkaran stayed at her side as she fumed in a lengthy tirade into a portable phone. The language she spoke was foreign to the trio, but it was clearly not a language she used lightly as it amplified her polished deep voice. The hog at her side flinched with every violent syllable. A final guttural groan echoed through the warehouse as she clutched at her phone.

            “Take this! Take it before I throw it again!” She shoved the electronic into the pig’s chest before lowering her head and gripping her neck tensely.

            “Do---does uh, the boss even speak that language?” He nervously queried.

            “He is gonna learn to translate. Go tell those lazy fucks to wrap up the batch. I don’t care what stage it is at. If he wants this place down tonight, it is down tonight. Now, where the fuck is Julene?”

            “Oh… well, she came in to help with inventory a bit ago.”

            “Where is she?”

            “Umm… well. I dooon’t know.” He raised his arms to cover his face from what must have been a commonly vicious assault.

            “Fuck!” She belted out loudly. “Julene! You druggy whore. Where are you?” She shouted as she began storming through the front of the warehouse.

            Realizing that back tracking to stop her was a pointless activity, Weddle signaled to Anya to deal with the pig while he rushed towards the back. Jonesy followed Weddle in the shadows as they neared the fluorescent lights of the production line. The whole section was enveloped in blurred plastic sheeting to help limit contamination. From Jonesy’s experience, bliss was highly flammable. Weddle seized this information when plotting his revenge and now held the equally flammable sweetener bags that had been his shoes for this event. He lit a match, cradled a now erupting fire in the confection based incendiary device before heaving it over the plastic lining. The trailing fireball spilled out quickly and engulfed the area in flames and horrified screams. The screams drowned out Weddle’s clomping hooves as he and Jonesy sprinted towards the door the towering twilian had entered. Anya stood in waiting, covered in an alarming amount of blood, from her last encounter. An intense fire scorched the ceiling and bellowed out across the facility as they scrambled out into the open air. For those that are familiar with thermodynamics, you likely understand what a backdraft is and understand why the massive fireball tailed the trio out into the alley. Weddle was briefly engulfed in flames, burning and singeing his clothes along with a bit of his fur. Jonesy rushed to pat down the flames without caution and soon had his boss extinguished.

            “In hindsight, you are fireproof, right?” Weddle asked regaining his breath and an upright position.

            “Yeah. Probably could have handled that last part. Sorry.”

            “All good. It’s done.” Weddle sighed.

            “We should run. It’s going to explode.” Anya added calmly before sprinting away.

            Given the accuracy of her track record, Jonesy and Weddle sprinted after her and just rounded the corner out onto the street of safety when the colossal blast shook the riverside lane and sent the towering fireball into the night sky. There was no time to stop as they distanced themselves from the scene of their crimes and Weddle’s retribution. The distant wail of sirens and emergency responders echoed across the city all through the now fire lit night.