The Girl Who Would Be King(149)
“That’s Liz,” he says.
I hold it up, one eyebrow cocked. “Um, it’s an ear,” I say, confused.
“It uh, it used to belong to this woman named Liz. She was Lola’s friend, has been with her since the beginning.”
“What happened to her?” I ask, holding the ear away from me.
“Lola killed her,” the other one says.
“What? On purpose?” I ask, looking back and forth from them to the ear. They nod. I cock my head. “Damn.” If she’s doing this to even her closest friend she’s even further gone than I thought. I put the disgusting ear in my pocket – it might be useful – and turn back to Lola’s thugs drawing myself up powerfully. “I suggest you guys get out of here. Your ‘king’ isn’t long for this world, and I’m not going to look kindly on anyone that’s still waiting for her to come home when I get back.” I motion to the walkie-talkie in thug number two’s hand. “I’d send out word to everyone. Some of you might even be able to sneak through the FBI lines and escape.” They look at me for about two seconds and I crack my neck while staring them down. At the sound of the crack they run full tilt out of the room, two of them dropping their guns in the process. I follow them out to the hallway and then fly down the stairs toward the garage.
Already word has made it to the ground floor and I see Lola’s people hightailing it for the borders. There are huge doors leading towards the parking garage and the handles are linked by a thick chain and massive lock. I snap the lock and remove the chain. When I push the doors open, letting in the light, I hear people scuttling away. The stench is incredible – piss and feces and body odor – but I don’t smell death, which is good. There’s a breaker box outside the garage and I fling the switch turning on the overhead lights. People scream. You’d think the dark would be more scary than the light, but I suppose any change is frightening. Inside, I see at well over a thousand men, women, and children, all in various states of dehydration and starving, but alive. A man in front shades his eyes from the light and looks at me. He yells back at the people behind him.
“It’s not her. It’s someone else,” he says.
Someone in the back shouts out. “Is it one of the guards?”
The man in front looks me up and down. “No,” he says. I hear a collective sigh of relief. “Who are you?” he asks and then tentatively adds. “The police?” I smile and step out of the way of the door so they can move past me.
“No, I’m not the police. But you’re free. Please help each other and make your way together south, I think that’s your best path out. Some of Lola’s men are still out there, but the police and FBI will see soon enough that they’re abandoning their posts. Stay together and stay calm and you should all be fine,” I say, moving to the exterior door and propping that open as well. Sunlight pours into the hallway and the hostages move toward it as if they are one. The man who has been speaking for the group pauses in front of me as they head toward the street.
“Will you come with us? Will you stay with us?” he asks. I open my mouth to tell him that I can’t when I’m lifted away, Lola having grabbed me by my neck. We’re flying together. She’s driving us forward, her hands around my neck, my back curled and legs dangling as we reach epic speeds. She’s screeching something so loudly I can’t make out the words. Finally on the third try, I realize what she’s saying.
•
“WHERE’S MY EAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!!!!!” I scream at her with such intensity that I think it’s tearing a hole in the universe. She’s blinking like she doesn’t understand my words and if it wasn’t for the fact that I can’t find Liz’s ear I would just bury her at the bottom of the ocean right now. My henchmen have abandoned me and from the sky I can see police and FBI pouring over my borders and into my lands. Plus, the bitch freed my smelly hostages. I couldn’t hate her more, and I don’t know why she’s so goddamn strong. I should easily be overpowering her since I have the stone. There’s a giant building at the end of this alley and I’m going to wedge her so deep inside the rock that she’ll never see daylight again.
I push forward harder and then pull up a second before impact. She goes shooting through the building, crashing through exterior walls and then interior walls, and even through people’s cubical walls like a character in a cartoon. Unfortunately, the building is inside my borders so there are no little worker-bee office-drones to accidentally get beheaded as she rockets through their workspace. I stand on the street and stare through the hole she’s created with her monstrous back. She’s soooo broad shouldered. Maybe she’ll go all the way through.