Page 124 of Savior
“Maybe you should wait outside. Keep watch.” I say to Axel.
Looking around inside for a moment, Axel nods. To my surprise, considering the push back I’ve been getting from him recently, he doesn’t argue. I fight the urge to smile at the glimpse of innocence he still has about him.
“Yeah, okay. I’ll call if anyone shows up.” Axel says.
Crossing the threshold, I spot a woman seated in a filthy old armchair in the living room off the foyer. She perks up slightly upon noticing us, placing a bit of tin foil on the small table beside her. She plucks the crack pipe from her thin lips, placing it down as well, before getting up and moving towards the boom box blaring on the floor. Twisting the dial, she lowers the music a few notches.
“You looking for a date, hot stuff?” the strung out looking, dirty blonde woman, and I don’t just mean the shade of her hair, approaches me as I make my way further inside. Her raised voice is hoarse, as she asks me once more, “You want your dick sucked, honey?” She tugs the strap of her ill-fitting, stained tank top up her thin shoulder, as her bloodshot gaze rakes me over.
Disturbing.
I glance around the interior of this reeking, condemnable shithole. It’s even worse than the outside. The walls and ceilings are stained and streaked with water damage, probably from decades old leaks that were never repaired. There isn’t a single wall in sight without a hole, chipping paint or peeling, dated wallpaper. The old furniture is filthy, stained up as well with fuck knows what, and I don’t want to imagine, either. An old chandelier hangs above us, matching broken sconces leading up the staircase with a broken banister. The lead crystals, coated in so much yellow nicotine, the light doesn’t even pass through them, contributing to the dimness of this structure. Though, I’m surprised this place even has electricity to begin with.
I bring my attention back to the crack whore. “I’m looking for someone.”
“Look no further, darlin’. Hell, I’ll do you at a discount. Tall and handsome. We don’t get many like you coming through here.”
“I’ll have to take a rain check on that...” If I were single, sex starved, and she was the only female left on this planet, I’d still rather stick my dick in a meat grinder. But there’s no reason to be rude. God knows, if life landed her here, she’s got enough problems.
She shifts her attention to Viking, standing right behind me. “How ‘bout you, big boy?”
I glance back at him in time to catch his grimace. He doesn’t even attempt to hide his repulsion. “Hell. The Fuck. No.” Sensitivity is not one of Viking’s strong suits.
Before he says anything else that might hurt her feelings, and before she can move on to solicit poor Axel next, I take a step closer to her, pulling her attention back to me. “We’re looking for a gentleman with a dark goatee. Skinny. Shaved head. Know anybody like that?”
“Ain’t no gentlemen here.” She mutters, just loud enough for me to hear her as she pulls a bent cigarette from between her tits, placing it to her wrinkled smoker’s lips. “But sounds like you’re looking for Rat. He’s upstairs with a new gash. Room six. Maybe she’ll be more to your liking when he’s done with her.” She says almost bitterly, the cigarette bobbing between her lips as she speaks. “You biker types seem to prefer the young ones over us seasoned gals.” She turns from us without much of a care now, returning to her dirty chair.
I don’t bother letting her know we’re not here to risk our dicks falling off for a twenty-dollar blow or bang. Instead, Viking and I make our way up the sagging steps.
Upstairs is a long hall with closed doors, the sound of working girls getting their Johns off, resonating through the rotting walls. We come to stand before room six.
“Watch my back.” I whisper to Viking, taking a step closer to the door. It’s slightly ajar, about half an inch. I can’t quite hear the door creak on its rusty hinges, but I can feel the slight vibration of it as I push it open a few more inches. The music is still pumping loud enough from down stairs, that they either don’t notice, or are too high, to care.
The scumfuck that gave us the slip at the roach motel, is sitting on the edge of a mattress with a half-naked brunette girl. She looks to be barely in her twenties. No track marks on her arms. She seems way too clean, and is way too pretty, to be in a place like this.
“I really don’t want to...” She says to him, speaking just loud enough to be heard over the music. He’s holding a small, black zippered pouch in his hands, shifting himself to face her more directly.
“Come on baby, it’ll make you feel so good. I promise.” He unzips the bag, removing a floppy rubber tube. “Just hold out your arm. I’ll do you, and then you can do me. Trust me, all the slits pedaling pussy say this line of work is easier done, high.”
“I don’t want it. Just put on a condom and I’ll do you without the junk.” she sounds increasingly more wary, “I heard this shit can hook you for life.”
He grabs her long, straight hair, yanking her head back, causing her to let out a little squeak mixed with pain and fear.
“That’s the idea, bitch. Besides, if I don’t keep the boss happy, it’s my fucking ass on the line! Ain’t no little gash worth meeting my end over, not even one so pretty as you.”
As she struggles with his arm, her hair still snared in his fist, he pulls a needle out of the bag…
This has gone far enough. I pull my gun, shoving the door open with my boot as I step into the room.“Drop that shit and let her go.”
Both of their heads snap in my direction, before his eyes shift frantically around the room for something. Probably a weapon.
“Don’t make any sudden moves. I’ve got you locked between the eyes. Let her go. Or I’m going to be the one doing you.”
He releases her hair and she scrambles up the mattress, away from him, her back up against the filthy wall.
“You got clothes around here to put on, doll?” I ask her, keeping my eyes trained on the junkie fuck.
“Y-yes…” she stammers.
