“Watch out for arrows,” McGlade said. “They make them out of femur bones.”
So much for no projectiles.
I took in my surroundings, which were both dangerous and depressing, and wondered about the lack of people. I saw a few figures disappear behind doorways, a few heads duck beneath broken windows. Who would want to live in fear like this? Who could think this was freedom?
A clearly out-of-whack dissy paraded in front of us, holding up a plastic sign that read, repent now.
“Repent?” McGlade said. “I never pented in the first place.”
The dissy sneered. “God is watching you.”
“Sounds like he needs a better hobby,” McGlade answered.
Finally, we had our first approach. Weaselly looking guy standing on the corner. White, twenties, clothing and face so dirty it looked like he had recently been mining coal. He came up with his palms raised—a dissy gesture that showed he wasn’t holding a weapon.
“Got food? Duckets? I’ll suck you off for two duckets.”
“Tempting as that sounds,” McGlade said, “we’re looking for information. Know a guy named Rocket Corbitz?”
His eyes went from McGlade to me to McGlade to me, like he was watching a hypertennis match. “I know a lot of people. Whatcha paying?”
“Whatcha know?”
“Roider. Biggest in town. Got the rage.”
“Know where he is?” McGlade asked.
“How much?”
“Ten duckets. Five when you tell us. Five when we get there and you point him out.”
“Y’all are fuct. I’m not bringing you to Rocket. He’ll rip off my arms and shove ’em up my ass.”
“Okay,” McGlade said. “Eleven duckets.”
“No way in hell.”
Didn’t hear the term hell used much anymore. But where there was desperation, there was religion, and dissytown had plenty of both.
“Maybe we’re friends of Rocket’s.” I tried on a smile. “Maybe we want to give him some roids, make his biceps bigger.”
“His biceps can’t get bigger. And you don’t look like no dealer.”
“Four to point us in the right direction,” McGlade said.
“Five.”
“Three.”
I raised an eyebrow at McGlade, wondering if he understood the concept of haggling.
“Not worth it for less than five, man.”
“Three forty-nine,” McGlade said.
“Give him the damn five, McGlade.”
He shrugged and dug a wrinkled bill from his pocket.
The dissy looked around, apparently worried that Rocket would jump out and give him an arm enema. “Try Rosie’s.”
McGlade forked over the five and the weaselly man scurried away.
“You know where Rosie’s is?” I asked.
“That’s what you’re paying me for, hoss.” We set off walking. “You didn’t tell me Rocket was a roider.”
“News to me.”
I stepped on something, saw it was a syringe. Didn’t these idiots know that everything these days was available in pill form?
“Some of those guys can get pretty big,” McGlade said.
“I watch Mr. Hyperuniverse. I know.”
“Seeing it on your projector is one thing. You ever see a roider in person?”
“Haven’t had the pleasure.”
“It’s sort of like the cyborg in Terminator 39. But bigger.”
I glanced at him. “You scared, McGlade?”
“I don’t get scared.”
“Really?”
“Really. Before situations get scary, I run away.”
I didn’t buy it. Not the scared part. The running part. McGlade’s fastest speed was turtle, as evidenced by the way he lingered several steps behind me.
As we were cutting through an alley someone else approached us. A woman. I looked for hidden bows and arrows, but her tight outfit didn’t give her room to conceal anything. The bodysuit was neon green, made of shiny latex. It matched her hair color, which hung down to her waist. The fact that she wasn’t filthy made her stand out. So did the fact that her body was incredible.
“Dibs,” McGlade said.
“I thought you liked natural hair color.”
“I like anything with two tits and a pulse. And even the two tits are negotiable.”
She stopped a few feet in front of us. I noticed she was Asian, that her bodysuit extended to stiletto boots, and that it was so tight you could see her nipples.
“Nice,” McGlade said out of the corner of his mouth. “And proof that God doesn’t exist.”
“How so?”
“Because if God really existed, all women would be this hot.”
He had a point.
McGlade smacked his lips. “Anime chick. And I bet she’s a BHV.”