The Last Coffee Shop

Chapter 14: Death and the (Iron) Maiden

Mads glared from Luc to the girls, and then pushed past the bounty hunter, careful to avoid the sword.

"Hello?" she whispered.

The middle girl didn't react, her head still slumped over her chest, but the other two flinched back at Mads' approach.

"Please, she's hurt," said the girl on the right. "Give us a little time." Her voice was reedy, barely audible.

"Oh." Mads fumbled for words. "Luc, they're children."

The girl who had spoken seemed to be in her teens. She had on heavy makeup and was so gaunt and underfed that it was hard to tell just how young she was.

Luc sighed. "There's no going back now. Here, take this." He handed the sword into Mads' unresisting fingers, and stepped closer to the girls.

The girls cringed in tandem. "Please!" wailed the second girl, clutching the still-limp middle girl to her side.

Luc spread his hands. "I know you have no reason to trust me, lovelies, but I'm not here to hurt you. Far from it." He knelt near the cots and pulled out his lock-picking kit, then extended his hands again, showing that the only thing he held was the kit.

The girls shrank back even further, their limbs quivering and their eyes swallowing their pinched faces. The middle girl slumped between the other two, and it was hard to tell if she was even conscious.

Mads gripped the sword tight, and felt an unfamiliar rage waking inside of her at the sight of these girls. Her skin felt hot, and her heart was racing. "What kind of monster . . ." she began.

"Shhh." Luc cut her off, glancing back at the doorway. "Someone's coming. Shut the door." The chains fell open in his hands, though he hadn't even been looking at the locks.

Mads whipped around, the sword held out front of her. Her heart was racing, but she wasn't afraid. She wanted someone to come. She wanted to see someone pay for whatever terrible things had happened to these girls. Behind her, the locks clinked as the last shackle gave way, and Mads heard Luc's suit crinkle as he rose to join her.

But before Mads reached the door, a man appeared in the doorway, wearing a haz suit like hers. His face was almost as pinched as the girls' were, but he didn't look afraid. Mads heard the girls gasp behind her, and her heart lurched.

"What is the name of . . ." His gun was out before he finished, but Luc's sword had sliced into his suit before he could level the gun.

The sword seemed heavier than before, and Mads shoved it with all her strength and urgency, acting on instinct. She saw the man's eyes pop, widen, and he gaped at her in shock. He looked like a fish, eyes goggling wildly as they both looked down at the sword protruding from his gut.

"Well go ahead," said Luc, behind her. "Finish the job." He dodged around Mads and grabbed the man's gun before it fell. "Too late to go back."

Mads stared at her hands holding the sword, at the man's wild eyes, at the place where the blade and his suit met. She shoved again, unable to look away from the man's rolling eyes, his shocked expression. "Luc . . ., " she let go and stumbled back, her stomach heaving.

Luc sighed and yanked the sword out with a deft flick of his wrist. It came back scarlet, dripping with life. The man swayed a bit, his hands coming up to grab at Luc, but Luc was faster, stepping in to slice the man's throat with a terribly powerful backhand stroke.

A moment later, the body toppled, sending the helmeted head clattering to the side, blood pooling from severed arteries. Mads stared at the redness, the wrongness of it. Blood wasn't supposed to be outside your body. Heads were supposed to detach. She felt like she was watching a cheap netdrama. The blood was too red to be real, right?