His Favorite Girl (18 page)

"Hey, bartender, turn that up!" the guy shouted.

I looked over to find a small group of people had gathered at the bar.  They were all watching the flat screen TVs.

"Everyone, quiet!" the same guy called out.

The volume died drastically as the bartender turned up the television.

". . . goes without saying that we can't show you any live footage from the area, but officials have described this shocking event as a city-wide orgy, with literally thousands of people having sexual intercourse seemingly at random on the street.  We realize this information is difficult to accept, but anyone in the outlying communities of Indianapolis are strongly advised
not
to enter the city.  This event is
not
believed to have been staged by a flash mob or performance artists.  Again, the event officials are describing seems to be something that is affecting nearly everyone in the Indianapolis metropolitan area.  Sources indicate that even
police officers
have been affected."

I felt a hand on my shoulder and nearly screamed.

It was Patton, his face a ghostly white.  He was crying.

"We have to go," he barely choked out.

"Indianapolis?" Mr. Harding said.  "That's your town, isn't it?  Hey, what's wrong with your friend here?  She's telling me not to take the job."

We both ignored him.

"He did it," Patton said, shaking his head.  "I can't believe he really did it."

If I hadn't been so angry at dinner that night, I would have reme
mbered.

The water supply.

─Enough to Fill a City─

WE DROVE thirty hours straight without stopping, and by the time we reached Indianapolis I was in a dream-like state.  No sleep, no food the entire trip.  We stopped only for gas, and though Patton offered to buy me snacks, I declined.  I had no appetite.  It was all I could do to choke down water.

Water.

We barely made it into the city.  The interstate was clogged with wrecked vehicles.  Hundreds of them.  Thousands.  I had to close my eyes as Patton slowly weaved through them.  Some of the cars had dead bodies inside.

When I felt the car veering onto our exit, I opened my eyes, dreading what I might see.

I closed them almost immediately.

All I saw was sex.

Two large, hairy men, one wearing suit pants around his ankles and nothing else, clinging to a light pole, and another man fucking him, this one wearing nothing but a hardhat.

An old woman on her back in the middle of the street, a teenager atop her.
  She wasn't moving.

A homeless man wandering aimlessly, stroking his hairy dick.  He was close to the car, and when he saw me he turned and headed in my direction, pointing it at me.

And more.

Things I don't dare describe.

I sobbed hysterically as Patton made his way through the city.  The smell of smoke came through the air vents at one point, just before Patton breathed, "Jesus, every other building is on fire."

"Don't tell me," I cried.  "I can't . . ."

I could barely speak.  I was losing my mind.  I could have stopped this.  I could have prevented it.

Now I deserved to die.

Finally the car stopped.

"Melissa."

I nodded but kept my eyes closed.

"We're here," he said.  I'm going to get out and come around to your side.  I'm locking the door when I get out, so you have to unlock it when I get to you, okay?  I'm going to open up the store first, then come to you.  Okay?  Melissa? 
Melissa!"

I jumped, opening my eyes and looking at him.  In my periphery I could see naked bodies.  Luckily through my tears they were just blurs of skin-colored movement.  I kept my focus on Patton.

"Did you hear what I said?"

"Yes."

"Tell me."

"You're going to lock the door when you get out, open the store, and then come for me."

"So you have to unlock it for me when I get to you."

"Okay."

"I'll be a sitting duck out there.  People are fucking all around us."

"Are there any . . ."

I couldn't finish my sentence.

"Just be ready.  Keep your head down and your finger on the unlock button.  I'll knock on the window.  You have to respond immediately."

I nodded, felt around the arm rest for the unlock button, and closed my eyes.

Patton opened the door, hit the lock, and slammed it shut behind him.

Now by myself, I could hear the moaning, the rhythmic cries . . . and screaming.  Terrible, mortifying screaming that stripped away any shreds of a soul I had left.

Then I heard closer screaming.  A man, just to my right, growing louder and louder as he drew closer, until suddenly it stopped.

"Melissa!"

Patton rapped on the window right next to my ear.

I hit the unlock button and the car door flew open.

"Come on!"

He jerked me out of the car and pulled me toward the door.  I opened my eyes but kept them on the ground, and the only thing I saw was a man lying naked on the sidewalk with his head twisted to the side in an impossible way.

He was dead.

Patton had broken his neck.

Inside the store, Patton pulled the door shut and locked it.  Then he came and wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me tight.

"That was close," he said.  "Are you okay?"

"No I'm not okay!"

I was barely standing.  If I'd had a gun right then, I can say with utmost certainty I would have put it in my mouth and squeezed the trigger.

"We need to get inside," he said, speaking softly.

It hit me so fast I tore away from him and sprinted for the manager's office, Patton chasing after me and calling my name.

Flora
.

As it turns out, I had to wait for him anyway.  The moving bookshelf was blocking the elevator, and I didn't know how to get it out of the way.  I tried to push it before Patton caught up to me, but it wouldn't budge.

Patton went around behind the desk and punched some numbers in a panel.  Then he came and stood next to me, waiting for the doors to open.

On Level A, I ran through the lobby into the hallway, past Bob's office and mine, and slammed into the wall, pressing the elevator button furiously.

Patton was right next to me this time, and when I pulled the same stunt on Level B, he actually ran ahead of me, which scared me half to death.  All the lights were out on this floor except for the backlights illuminating those creepy jars.

So many fucking elevators!

By the time I reached the last one, Patton was standing inside, holding the Open button.

"She better be okay," I said as we rode up to Level C.  "I'm gonna kill them all if she's not okay."

"They have no reason to hurt her," Patton assured me.  "This was Brian's doing.  It has nothing to do with Flora."  The elevator stopped, and suddenly Patton said, "Oh shit.  Oh shit.  Come on, come on, open goddamn it!"

The doors opened and Patton pushed me out into the lobby, where the boy Damien lay in the middle of the floor masturbating.  Otherwise the lobby was empty.

I turned back to the elevator in shock to find the doors closing on Patton.

"I'm sorry," he said.  "I have to check on the girls.  I'll come b--"

His words were cut off.

I turned.  Damien had spotted me and was climbing to his feet.

Luckily I was faster than him.  I sprinted across the lobby and down the hallway, throwing the door open to my room and slamming it shut behind me.

"Flora!"

She wasn't there.

I checked the closet and then came around the bed, noticing something peculiar as I surveyed the room.

On the kitchen counter were over a dozen gallon jugs of water.

"What?  How--"

My foot hit something solid and heavy, and when I looked down I screamed.

Between the bed and the corridor lay Frog Girl, her throat slit from ear to ear, mouth and eyes wide open in an expression of glee.

I collapsed next to her and vomited, my right hand pressing into the blood-soaked section of carpet right by her head.

Gallons of water.

They'd known in advance.

But how?

There could only be one answer.

I spit several times and then climbed to my feet.

The entire floor was empty.  I'll try again tomorrow
.

I'm leaving tomorrow.

Crawling through the vents, I broke down crying, convinced Flora was dead and I would probably come upon Judy in the same position.

I was wrong.

She was sitting with her back to the wall, knees pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped around her legs, staring blankly.  When I called her name she didn't even turn.

I climbed down the steps, so weak I had to crawl over to her.  Her lips were cracked.  She looked dehydrated, malnourished.  No one had brought her food and water for two days.

"Judy?  What's happening?"

"Brian spiked the water supply," she said, her voice monotone, emotionless.

"You warned Flora, didn't you?"

"Yes.  I had to.  I told her to order lots of water and not to shower or drink from the tap starting Wednesday.  She must not have listened.  I haven't seen her since Tuesday.  I've been too scared to go to your room."  She turned and looked at me.  "I'm really thirsty."

"I'll get you some water."

"Is Flora okay?"  Still deadpan, indifferent, as though she were only asking out of politeness, as though she didn't care at all.  It must be the dehydration, the lack of energy.

"I don't know," I said, choking up again.  "She's not there.  F-Frog is dead."

"That's sad."

She closed her eyes, looking like she was about to faint.

"I'll go get you some water," I said.  "Then I have to go find Flora."

I turned and started to crawl back up the stairs.

"I switched it."

"Huh?"

I stopped and looked down at her.  She was smiling.

"I switched it," she said.

"Judy, what are you talk--"

"Brian had a really good plan," she said.  "When I went back to Level B the day you and Patton left, I found him stacking these big plastic containers we have on a skid.  You wouldn't believe how much supply we have--especially Love and Libido."

I sat down on the step about halfway up the staircase.

"Did I tell you about the Love Drug?  What it can do?  Its manipulative capacities?  Brian thought if he contaminated the city's water supply, everyone would be affected, even Sean.  Then he could talk Sean into letting him have free reign over Level E.  He would have won, Melissa.  Brian would have taken over this company.  I couldn't allow that.  So I switched it."

"You switched what, Judy?"

She rolled her head from side to side like someone listening to music.  Then she looked up at the ceiling above me and pointed.  "I took that rope ladder down so I could get in and out of the room where Brian was storing the skid of containers.  I switched out the Love Drug with the Libido Drug.  It took a while, but it was easy.  All I had to do was change the labels."

My stomach twisted into a knot.

"Judy . . . you didn't.  All those people, Judy.  All those
children!"

"It had to be done," she said, rocking her head back and forth.  "I couldn't let him use the Love Drug.  If you love someone, you'll do anything they ask.  It had to be done."

I crawled back to the shower room, and when I stood up out of the vent, Patton was standing on the other side of the Jacuzzi pool, shaking his head, grimacing, crying.

"Come on," he said shakily.

I came down to meet him.

"Are they okay?"

"Some," he said, the word coming out in a whimper.  He broke down.  "About half of them were affected.  Some of the teachers, too.  Ms. Lane told me Sean had every single one of them
inspected
. . . for virginity . . . and the ones with broken hymens were taken away."

"Oh my God," I cried.  "Where?"

But we both knew where.

Level E.

The prison cells.

"He's waiting for us in the lobby," Patton said.  "He wants us to come up."

"What about Flora?"

But Patton just shook his head and headed into the corridor.

I followed him, grabbing his arm and closing my eyes as we passed Frog.

In the lobby, Sean stood in his standard suit and sunglasses, no longer dressed like a modern cowboy.
  On his forehead was a large gash, stitched up and clean but still nasty-looking, like someone had split his head open with an axe.

As we approached, he chuckled and said, "Well well well well well . . . if it isn't my most favorite girl in the whole wide world."

What a terrifying thought, to be
his
favorite girl.

"Where's Brian?" Patton demanded, his voice booming like thunder in the near-empty lobby.  Damien still lay masturbating on the floor, breathing rapidly.

"He's upstairs, waiting on you guys," Sean said.  "We've all be waiting for you."

Before getting on the elevator, Patton stopped and turned to his brother.  "You know we had nothing to do with this."

"That remains to be seen, I think.  We'll discuss it upstairs, and we should hurry.  Mr. Shriver is waiting."

Oh shit.

"Mr. Shriver is back?" Patton asked.

"Yes, unfortunately he had to
come home a little early.  He's not too happy about it, either.  Let's just hope you
didn't
have anything to do with this, right brother?"  Sean slapped Patton on the back, then rubbed it aggressively, guiding him into the elevator.

I hesitated.

"Come on, sugar, we don't have all day," Sean said.

"Did you kill Flora?" I asked, not moving.

"No, of course not.  You really think I'd do a thing like that?  Your girl Frog put up a hell of a fight, though," he said, pointing at the wound on his forehead.  "First time anyone's ever drawn blood from me.  Right Patton?"

I wanted to knock his fucking teeth out.