Trial X6

Virus Bitch

  "Huh...."

  "Virus bitch going down?"

  "I'm working on it."

  "Max and Logan getting busy?"

  "I just want to be able to shake his hand without killing him." Max was at a table working on the papers the scientist had given her before leaving town without finishing the cure for her virus. I watched from a chair as she looked over the papers and wrote notes down. "Why do doctors always have such lousy handwriting?" She asked. "I pay that Manticore creep 5 grand for a cure, and what do I get? A bunch of scribblings I can't even read."

  Joshua stood up after she spoke and went over to a lamp. He tried pulling it over to her but ended up unplugging it. So, he plugged it back in again, then dragged her and the desk over to the light instead.

  "Hey! Joshua, what are you doing?"

  "Helping." He said while facing the lamp over the desk.

  "Wanna help?" He nodded. "Um, get me another pencil." He stared at her, then smacked the table.

  "Pencil!" He said before going off.

  "I think I saw some when I was cleaning up the basement." I told him as he was walking past me. Joshua nodded and went downstairs. Max tapped her paper with the eraser of the pencil while looking over the scribbled-on pages. It had been months since the Manticore guy skipped town now, but Max still didn't know how to figure out a cure from the doctor's chicken scratch.

  After a while of writing, Max's pencil broke, and she looked up from what she was doing. She glanced at me, then called Joshua's name. Max got up to go find the missing transgenic when silence answered. I, however, stayed where I was while just staring at the fireplace.

  My ear twitched when I heard them both coming back upstairs. Turning my head slightly, I saw Joshua carrying in a giant canvas covered in fresh paint. 'So that's what was taking him so long....'

  "Hey, Shadow, found Joshua a new hobby. Might keep him out of trouble." Max shrugged while Joshua started to set up the painting and put out the paints. "Well, anyway, I gotta blaze. See you guys later." She waved before leaving, and I stood out of the chair to go over to Joshua.

  "You really do that?"

  "Yeah. Picasso in my cocktail." He answered with a grin.

  "It's nice. When I go out tomorrow, I'll get you some more canvases and paints, okay?"

  "Okay." He nodded happily.

  "Alright, I'm going to go take a nap." I pat his shoulder and went downstairs. Though I could go weeks without sleep, I still needed it and I was actually more nocturnal. But ever since Lydecker took off my tracker and I had day shifts at the factory, I've been active during the day, and it had been messing with me. So, when I got the job at the strip club, I was able to fix my resting schedule....then Max made me quit, and now she was trying to get Normal to hire me at Jam Pony.

  I walked over to my cot while pulling off my hat. Running my fingers through my short hair, I sighed. Kicking off my shoes and slipping out of my jacket, I then pulled my tail out of my pants and took off my belt. Crawling onto the sleeping bag, I felt my eyelids growing heavy as sleep called to me.

  I wasn't asleep for even a few hours when I woke up to someone shouting "Beautiful!" and howling. My eyes shot open, and I bolted out of the cot. When I was on my feet, my ears swiveled to determine what was going on.

  "Get crazy!" More howling followed. "Oh! It's pretty, it's pretty!" I pinched the bridge of my nose while placing a hand on my hip.

  "What in the world is going on up there?" I mumbled to myself.

  "Joshua!" I heard the dog transgenic shout his own name. Then he was barking, howling, and repeatedly saying his name more. I hesitated at the bottom of the stairs, wondering whether I really wanted to know what was going on up there or not. After a minute or two, it went quiet.

  When the silence stayed, I fell back into my cot by the stairs.

  The howling eventually started up again, however, it was mixed with whimpering this time. I sat up and sighed while my head fell back. Standing up, I decided to just go upstairs and see what was happening up there. Taking the stairs one at a time, I started to scratch my stomach and stretch.

  I froze in the entryway of the living room. There were papers everywhere, and the room was a complete mess. In the far back corner by the fireplace sat Joshua and Alec, and I mentally groaned. 'Of course. Who else would get Joshua to howl like that?'

  Joshua looked sad for a second before raising his head as he perked up.

  "Steal it."

  "Steal it, yeah." Alec gave a fake laugh. "Can we, uh, crack one of these windows open because I think the paint fumes in here are turning your brain into oatmeal!" He pointed to his head while looking at Joshua. The dog-looking man smiled while continuing to say steal it as he stood up, looking hopefully at Alec. "Listen to me okay, if we jack that painting, Rita's going to know it was us." He raised his arms and shook his head. "Can't have that, 'kay? That's a career-ender. Not the plan." Then, Joshua began to sulk, and Alec started to say that Joshua could buy Max a new doctor, even a hospital, with the money he'd be making.

  While Joshua was whimpering, he glanced over at me and momentarily froze.

  "Tell her you lost the papers. Tell her your dog ate. Tell her you ate it, hah." Alec pointed at Joshua as the taller man turned to him. "Max will get over it."

  "Max will get over what?" I finally spoke up, getting the gist of the situation. Alec spun around, scared at first, then calmed down once he saw that I wasn't Max. He put a hand into his pocket while patting Joshua's chest with his other hand.

  "Josh here accidentally peed on the carpet." He looked me up and down. "Now, who's your little friend here?" Alec glanced back and forth between Joshua and I. "She your playmate?"

  "Don't act like you don't know me."

  "....I don't know you, do I?" He crossed his arms while raising a brow. "Because I think I'd remember a transgenic with fuzzy ears and a nice face." He smirked.

  "Alright, dick, you really do have an ass for a brain." I narrowed my eyes at him while he did the same.

  "You." He nearly hissed. "You're worse than Max."

  "Well, I would've still been sleeping if you hadn't gotten Joshua all riled up and howling." I grumbled. Alec gave a smug look.

  "Oh, did we interrupt the princess and her beauty sleep?"

  "If anyone's a princess around here, it's you. Also, how did Manticore mess up on Ben's clone? You're like a completely different person." He rolled his eyes.

  "Maybe because I am! I'm no clone, and because of that guy, I got stuck in psyche evaluation for months!" Alec then lowered his hands at his sides. "Why does everyone think I'm him?"

  "So, twins." I muttered. "What are you doing here, anyway?" And just before he answered, Max came in.

  "Joshua?" She called out, and Alec quickly left while sending good luck Joshua's way. I, on the other hand, went upstairs to the bathroom. No way was I gonna be around when Max found out here papers were sold and stuck on one of Joshua's paintings.