CD Chapter Fourteen (Patreon)

The store was, indeed, flooded with customers that day. Club Sepia was new, hot, and, apparently, offering a two thousand dollar prize for the winner of their drag show. Several people bought dresses like the one Ava wore, and many of those upgraded to better foundation garments so the deceptively simple column of silver satin would fall correctly. Ava wondered bemusedly just how many people would be wearing the same dress tonight, and was almost tempted to go just so she could find out.

By the end of her shift, Ava was almost tottering in her strappy silver platform heels, and she collapsed gratefully into a chair in the back room to pull them off. The door to the break room opened, and Ava looked up, blinking. Mandy, Alexis, Sue, and VaVa were there, holding flutes of something fizzy and golden.

VaVa strode over, handing hers to Ava. Leaning in, she whispered, “Sparkling cider, little Miss Underage. Don’t accept any refills, though.” She winked exaggeratedly, kissed the air near Ava’s cheek, and returned to the door, waving gracefully. “Ta, children. Someone has to adult around here. Enjoy your break, and Ava,” she pointed at Ava, as if anyone was in any doubt as to who she meant, “I’ll see you tomorrow for your scheduled shift.”

Mandy grinned, tilting her champagne flute forward. A delicate chime filled the room as it tapped against Ava’s. Straightening, she pulled her left hand from behind her back, revealing a tiny three-tier cake covered in sugar flowers. Ava’s mouth dropped open. “How-?”

Alexis, a slim, golden blonde who looked like a full-color version of Ava, grinned. “VaVa called us to see if we could cover some of your shifts next week. When we heard you were leaving, well,” she rolled her eyes, both of which were a matching vibrant blue, “a lady never misses a chance to party. We’re also celebrating my going full-time, though, so don’t think about backing out.” She arched a brow and dropped a wink so Ava would know she was teasing.

Ava smiled back a little weakly. Alexis had been aiming for a full-time position for a while, and while she was nice, Ava doubted she’d be missed by this particular co-worker. Still, Ava raised her glass. “To new opportunities,” she offered weakly, and all four glasses rang together.

Fortunately, the fifteen-minute break went by quickly, and the slim slice of cake Ava ate managed to perk her up enough that she thought she could make it home without falling asleep on the bus. When Mandy and Ava finally exited into the afternoon sunshine, Mandy offered an apologetic smile.

“I didn’t even think about the fact that VaVa would have to spill the beans when she called around to find people to cover you. Alexis and Sue showed up with the champagne, and VaVa sent me out to get the cake and some non-alcoholic bubbly for you. I don’t think you even noticed when I left.” She grinned as Ava flushed guiltily.

“That’s okay, but, Ava,” Amanda reached out to grasp Ava’s hand. “Don’t forget to call. Or text. Or, better yet, come find me in VO. Refuge is my home base, so if you get close enough, you can send me a message, or leave a note on the board. Refuge has its own Traveler’s Guild now, and Doom is working on building a guildhouse in town.”

Ava looked down, feeling the warm hand on her own, and, for once, not minding the touch. “Okay. I may actually get to play more after this, and maybe I won’t need to stay in Bloodhaven anymore. I’ll see.”

Amanda lifted her screen, which was a fairly recent model of the rolled screen that debuted only a year or so ago. “If you don’t, I’m going to call you,” she threatened playfully, before sobering. “At least let me know you’re safe, okay? Sometimes, you-know-who’s plans get away from her. She’s really smart, but maybe a little too schemey for the good of those around her. Don’t get caught up in anything dangerous.”

Ava closed her lips on the words, too late, and she just smiled and nodded. After a tiny, tentative hug, the two friends parted; Amanda heading for a nearby rideshare hub, while Ava crossed the street to her bus stop.

She drowsed on the way home, but managed to keep her eyes open and at least look like she was aware enough to fend off pickpockets and perverts. When the bus pulled up at the stop closest to her apartment building, she and a small crowd of other people hurried off, and she made her way home.

As usual, the door to the building was wide open, though it was theoretically a secure building. She just sighed and made her way up the stairs. She had a whole bag of groceries, still cold from the refrigerator at VaVa’s, and she’d have preferred to take the elevator, but it was notoriously unreliable. If it wasn’t already broken, then with her luck it would break with her in it. No, better safe than sorry.

When she opened the stairway door, she glanced up and down the hall. Every now and then one of her neighbors had a ‘guest’ who would pass out in the hall, or stand outside their door screaming threats. If this was one of those times, it was better to duck back into the stairway and wait it out. Fortunately, the only person in the dim, dirty hallway was an unfamiliar man standing outside the elevator door. He was large and muscular, and usually she’d be a little concerned, but he had a big grin on his face as he stared at something on his screen, and he was obviously completely engrossed in whatever he was watching.

As silently as she could, she let the door close behind her and ducked across to her own door, thumbing the lock quickly. Her thumb slid off, and the door swung open slowly under the pressure of her finger, revealing two burly men straining to lift her VR pod. Another, more familiar, man was standing in her tiny kitchen.

Ava dropped her bag, oranges spinning as they rolled out around her feet. “Dominic! What the hell? I just paid!”

Her landlord curled a lip at her, taking a long drag of his blunt. “Yeah? I also heard you quit your fancy job. Sounds like you’re planning to run off, and I know you don’t have enough to cover damage done to this excellent residence.”

She stared around. The place was tiny, and she spent as little time there as she possibly could. There wasn’t a paint chip missing that hadn’t been that way when she moved in. “What damage? I take better care of my part of this hellhole than anyone else who lives here, and you know it!”

Casually, Dominic punched out, knocking a hole in the wall beside him. A cockroach promptly crawled out of it, and she felt vomit rise in her throat. “What are you talking about, Ava? This place is falling apart!” He nodded to his goons, and one of them sneered at her and lifted a booted foot, kicking the thin plasterboard dividing her apartment from the next one. A squawk came, and then the sound of scurrying feet and a slamming door.

Yeah, Benny, thanks for nothing, Ava thought viciously as she listened to the man who had spent the last year swearing he’d ‘treat her right’ if she’d just go out with him. Turning back to Dominic, she took a step forward, lifting her screen. “I’m going to call the cops if you don’t get out right now.”

The slumlord just laughed, motioning for his men to continue working. He lifted his own screen. “I got your signature right here, babe. ‘If tenant, Ava Gardener, cannot pay for the repair of any damages incurred during her residence, the property owner, Dominic Mayhew, may seize furniture and other goods that equal the value of said repairs.’”

Ava faltered. She remembered that clause. It was pure bullshit, and they both knew it, but she knew she couldn’t afford to fight it. Her eyes widened as she remembered the money Amythyst had sent her. “I can pay for the damages!” She touched her screen and started recording. “And I’ll have proof that anything else that breaks is your fault. So put that pod back down!”

Dominic raised a brow, flicked the ashes from his cigarette onto the floor, and nodded to someone behind Ava. Instantly, a square, calloused hand engulfed Ava’s, squeezing until she dropped her screen. The man who had been standing near the elevator grinned at her with yellowed teeth, deliberately crowding close to her. Ava moved involuntarily, her skin crawling at the contact, and as soon as she was fully inside the apartment, the man shut the door behind her.

She swallowed hard. She was now trapped in a space the size of a storage shed with four men who most definitely did not have her best interests at heart, and all four of them were leering at her. Ava backed up, left fist clenching in the single, flesh-colored glove she wore.

One.

The man nearest her flicked a glance at his boss, who just shrugged.

Two.

Another man spat and lowered the end of her pod to the ground with exaggerated care.

Three.

The other end of the pod.

Four.

All four men edged closer to her.

Five!

Raising her hand and holding her breath, Ava stretched her fingers wide, deploying the entirety of the five-million-Scoville-units red pepper gel that was hidden in the pouch located in the palm of her hand. It streamed out, sticking thickly to the faces and necks of all four men, while a relatively small amount drifted in the air between them.
Instantly, Ava ducked beneath the wildly swinging arms of Elevator Goon, snatching up her screen from where he’d dropped it. As howls of pain mixed with promises of retribution filled the halls of the apartment building, Ava raced to the stairs. Her long legs made jumping down half a flight easy, and the powerful ankles she’d developed through hours of wearing six-inch heels mostly kept her from stumbling.

Her eyes burned faintly as she ran back out into the sunlight. She’d gotten a little of the powerful gel on her face, and she hadn’t dared close her eyes as she ran out of the apartment, but she knew better than to rub her eyes. Until she could wash away the irritant properly, she couldn’t touch anything.

Through swelling eyes, she caught a glimpse of her goal; the Fast-Stop. The Fast-Stop was the only convenience store on 3rd that remained open twenty-four hours a day. According to rumor, the owner was ex-military, and he only hired ex-military staff. Ava generally bought everything the store sold at the Buy Fresh, using her employee discount, but she’d been in once or twice when she ran out of toilet paper, and from what she remembered, the man behind the counter looked tough as nails.

When she entered, staggering and half-blind, there was a Hispanic woman working, but when she saw Ava, her face went as hard as Ava imagined any soldier’s might. “Can I help you?” she asked carefully, lowering one hand beneath the counter.

Tears flooded Ava’s eyes, causing renewed stinging that only made her cry harder. “Please,” she gasped out, “help.” She held up her cracked screen. “I can pay, I just-”

But the woman was already out from behind the counter, eyes cold as she looked at the only other customer in the store. “Out,” she said, curtly, “we’re closed.” The man, who Ava vaguely recognized as another tenant of her apartment building, nodded, and darted out, leaving his basket on the floor behind him.

The woman crossed quickly to Ava’s side, supporting her even as she flipped the sign on the door and locked it. “What happened?” she asked, a faint accent touching her words.

Ava shook her head, not sure how to explain. “Someone… broke into my apartment. I think they were going to-” she broke off, and her tears were suddenly less because of pain and more because she realized just how close she had just come to something far worse than just being robbed.

The woman’s lips pinched, and she nodded, sliding an arm under Ava’s so she could help her to a chair sitting near the counter. Gingerly, she touched Ava’s cheek. “Pepper spray?”

Ava nodded, holding her hand out, palm up, the hollow shape of the deflated pouch destroying the illusion that she was bare-handed. Lips twitching, the woman curled Ava’s fingers closed. “You get them?”

Ava nodded, and the woman vanished from her blurry vision. When she returned, she held several bottles of water and… something else. Ava squinted, trying to make it out, and the woman held one of the light blue bottles up. “Antacid. Mix with water, and it’ll clear you up faster than anything else I have here. Better than eye drops, and it’s easier to make a lot. No time to wait for salt to dissolve and make saline solution.”

Quickly, she poured one bottle of antacid and one bottle of water into a larger container, closed the lid, and shook the mixture. After a moment, she unscrewed the lid and reached out to tilt Ava’s head back. “Keep your eyes open, or blink,” she said, gruffly, and poured. The instant the fluid touched Ava’s eyes and skin, the pain began to recede, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh my God,” she whispered, “thank you. How did you know to do that?”

Shrugging, the woman began making another batch of the miracle tonic. “You learn a lot of strange things in the military. One more time.” She held up the second bottle, and Ava didn’t protest as the contents were poured over her, more carefully this time, making sure to get every red spot on Ava’s fair skin.

Ava sat on the chair in the silent store, dripping, and started at the pool of milky fluid on the floor. She blinked furiously, trying to clear the haze from her eyes. “I’ll clean that up,” she said, “if you just show me where the mop is-”

A firm hand pressed her back into the chair. “Don’t worry about it. Now,” she paused, expectantly, until Ava offered her name, “Ava. I don’t suppose you want to file assault charges?”

Ava’s first inclination was to say yes, of course, but she bit her lip when she remembered her situation. She couldn’t afford to attract any attention to herself. Not right now. She shook her head regretfully. “I… can’t.”

One black eyebrow lifted, but the woman just said, “Too bad. Well, Ava, is there anything else I can help you with, then? I need to get the shop opened up again.”

Shaking her head, Ava tried again to get to her feet. This time the woman let her, and watched impassively as Ava took two careful steps, bracing herself against the counter. Now that she wasn’t being driven by adrenaline, her right hand throbbed painfully, and the muscles of her legs were already letting her know she’d regret her run soon.

She paused, staring down at her screen. She held it in her gloved left hand, and awkwardly used the swollen fingers of her right to prod at the shattered glass. Icons were still faintly visible, though they were shrouded in rainbows, so it wasn’t completely broken, just badly damaged. She held it up. “Do you have any TTT screens? Just a basic one will do.”

The Hispanic woman nodded, tucking a strand of faintly silver-laced black hair behind one ear. “Yeah. They’re behind the counter. Will that thing work to transfer your data?”

Ava nodded doubtfully. “I think so.”

Shrugging, the woman stepped behind her counter, pulling out a bulky screen sealed in excessive amounts of hard plastic. It was very similar to the screen the man had just broken, and Ava nodded, trying to smile. Her cheeks stretched, feeling like she had a fresh sunburn, and she winced. “I’ll have to transfer the data before I can pay, but I promise I can pay.”

“If you can’t, you talk to the boss,” the woman sounded darkly amused as she used a pair of scissors to cut the screen from its prison. Powering it on, she held it out to Ava. Ava accepted it and pressed the two devices together. As the new one powered up, it asked her to put in her password and a fingerprint, which she did. The moment it connected, a message popped up asking if she’d like to clone the screen, and she tapped yes. A whirling icon appeared, and Ava put the screen down, smiling awkwardly.

“It just has to connect. Sorry, um,” she hesitated.

“Guadalupe,” the woman said, her accent once again coming through.

“Thank you, Guadalupe,” Ava said, making sure to get the accent right. She was rewarded by a genuine smile from the older woman as Ava’s screen played a happy chime of music. Ava looked down.

ARE YOU SAFE? - A

Ava stilled, then touched the screen. It opened into a keyboard so she could reply.

Safe. Can’t go home.

Got it. I’ll take care of it. Do you need medical treatment?

Ava looked at her hand, which was rapidly changing colors.

Maybe.

A rolling eyes emoji rolled across her screen like a bowling ball someone had thrown from off-stage.

That’s a yes. A car is on its way. Codeword is ‘Dragon’. It’ll take you to the hospital. My treat.

Ava’s eyes burned again. No one had cared enough to check in on her in… a long time. She tried to force herself to believe that it was only because Amythyst needed her, but her gut told her the woman was just that kind of person. Someone who cared.

She looked up, seeing that Guadalupe’s eyes had been following the conversation, even upside down. The woman gave her an unrepentant shrug. “Glad someone is looking out for you.” She stepped around the counter and hurried off to get something from the shelves behind Ava. When she returned, she laid out a plain white t-shirt, a bottle of blue dish soap, and a small travel pack containing sample size shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, a toothbrush, and a comb.

“Sounds like you’re headed to the doctor, so you may not need this stuff. It’s not too expensive if you do.” She nodded toward the screen. “If you can’t go home.”

Ava nodded gratefully. “Yes, please.” She plucked at her brown Henley, which was clinging to her stickily. “Do you have a bathroom?”

Guadalupe nodded, pointing to the payment terminal. Ava tapped her screen on it, and gingerly thumbed her approval of the transaction. With a satisfied beep, the register sent her her receipt, and Guadalupe leaned past her to point down the aisle. “Through the door and on the left. Can’t miss it.”

Ava nodded in gratitude and headed toward the back, more than ready to clean up.