Diamond (14 page)

She couldn’t be concerned with what the others were doing; she had to worry about herself. There was a loud screeching sound, and Nadya knew without even looking what it was. A reaping machine. The Ragers had stepped up their game. Instead of stalking their prey one by one, they were now herding them like cattle. The loud engine clanged loudly as it came veering down the street. The Gearheads thought twice about fighting the four of them and scattered into the alleys and side streets.

“Lip! Why the fuck are the two of you out here? Lindy and I had this.”

Diamond’s large hand painfully grabbed Nadya’s shoulder, tugging her towards the theater. Lindy and Lip followed closely behind. Screams of those being captured could be heard as they took shelter behind a counter inside the theater. Shadows ran past the window as the people tried to escape the Ragers. She couldn’t stop the bile rising up in her throat. A memory of being hauled down a street surfaced. She’d been caught by a Rager once. Tied and dragged like a piece of meat. She’d escaped, but barely. Her ears grew hot, and her breath felt as if it would choke what little life she had left. Her gut was telling her to go out and fight. She wasn’t a coward. She didn’t duck behind counters and wait out danger. She faced it head-on. She’d seen plenty of reaping machines in Inwood. Had even been privy to a war party or two.

Nadya’s body tightened. She was ready. The noise of the machine carried into the theater. It felt like the thing was right on top of them. They were all quiet. No one said a word as the procession of Ragers passed by. Nadya popped her head over the counter for a look and cringed at what she saw. There were people on chains being led by one person in the front while another person brought up the rear. She could smell the captives’ desolation. It clogged her throat and made her stomach curdle. There were even children in that procession of doom, following one right after the other, tears tracking a clean path down their dirt-covered faces. Gearheads and inner-city gangs and people from some of the surrounding areas walked single-file to their deaths.

This was Diamond’s city, it was why Anna and her people had stayed near the marsh. He should have patrolled more, trained the people for combat. It would have given them the proper tools to protect themselves. Instead, he wanted to peddle ass and harvest organs, and hide behind a fucking counter. Keeping the city in a perpetual state of oppression. He gave them things, but it wasn’t what they needed. He didn’t give them hope for survival. That was no way to live.

The same guy, who seconds earlier had tried to run his knife through her face, ran up to the door, banging against the glass. Nadya watched. Her emotions muted to his needs. She wanted to feel sorry for the guy.
Feelings are for the weak
, her mind supplied. Every time she thought to let someone in, allow them to get close, her gut warned her. There were no written laws, but the spoken ones were clear. Trade or negotiate. Gearheads did neither. They’d attacked today without cause. Attempted to take them by force. The male at the door picked up a rock and launched it through the window.

“You’re fucking kidding me, right?”

Lip was the only one to comment as the four of them looked to the other for a solution. It was Diamond who pointed to a set of double doors.

“There should be an exit through there.”

“Should be and is are two different things. I need reassurance,” Lindy challenged.

“Lins, there will be an exit. If it wasn’t for your fucking shoes, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Lip shot back.

“Fuck you, Lip!”

“Sweetheart, I wouldn’t hit that if you were the last pussy left in all the universe. I’d quit cold-turkey.”

“If you guys are finished. I’d like to live instead of becoming someone’s meal.”

Which is exactly what would happen if they didn’t leave. The procession may have kept moving down the block, but Ragers were known to have scouts. There was always someone who stayed behind, making sure they’d rounded up every possible food source they could. They didn’t bother to try and cultivate their food or go out in search of animals. To them, humans were the natural things to eat.

Nadya followed Diamond through the double doors. There was an exit sign down at the very end of the aisle on the left, but they had bigger problems. They’d walked out of one fire and fell face-first into hell.

V

“Lip, take care of the idiot who smashed the window. I don’t want his trail anywhere near ours. I want you to take his fucking head off. I mean that in the literal sense, brother, not the metaphorical. Because of him, we have to deal with this shit.”

The theater belonged to one of his people. Clancy dealt in waste and harvest cleanup. The male was going to be pissed as hell that a window had been broken. Finding a replacement would be almost impossible.

Diamond was pissed himself. Eightball had slaughterhouses all over the city, and he knew Clancy oversaw a few. He’d thought for sure he had all of Clancy’s spots mapped, but apparently not. This building was supposed to be for removal only. Instead, it was fully functional, complete with operational packing. There was always someone trying to fuck the other person over. Clancy knew the consequences of going behind his back. Diamond was looking forward to hearing the other man’s excuses. He doubted the male spoke the language of lies well. Lost in thoughts of how to make Clancy sorry for going against him, he almost missed the sound of death at his back. The moans and cries of desperation on the other side of the door were muffled by the Ragers and Gearheads. He needed to pay better attention to his surroundings.

This building had been marked as cleared. Someone was sleeping on the job, or Eightball was trying to take a little extra on the side, this site had not been approved for anything other than waste and removal The site in front of him was nothing short of horrific. He hated coming to slaughterhouses. He was a son of a bitch, but he wasn’t a sadistic son of a bitch. Nadya, for reasons he didn’t try to understand, dug her nails into his forearm. He hadn’t realized she’d even grabbed him. He didn’t move her. He should have, but he didn’t. This was probably the first time she’d seen an actual slaughterhouse. It would be far more unsettling for her to witness than those who knew what went on in places like this. Not everyone knew what happened to the bodies that he harvested organs from. This would serve as a reminder of where she’d end up if she didn’t follow his rules.

The floor was soaked with blood from the bodies hanging from metal hooks attached to the ceiling. The theater had been built with a mezzanine, and it was low enough to serve its purpose. A revolving death trap that kept its food alive and struggling on the line. The procession to death was short. The hooks moved along a pulley system that led to an area where the meat was either shocked or stabbed to death. Since electricity was being rationed, it was a quick jab to the back of the skull, usually. Once they were dead, the bodies were moved to a bloodletting station and down the line until they eventually made it to the subdividing and packaging areas. Some of the packages were staying here in the city to be sold to those who thought eating the flesh of humans soaked in chemicals made the flesh clean and immune to the Rage. The rest would be boxed and sold to the fuckers on the Mainland. Kind of a big ‘fuck you very much for leaving us here to die.’ He told the Mainlanders the meat came from horses or deer. They didn’t know the difference.

Diamond would give Clancy credit, the idea—although harsh and inhumane—served its purpose. It was the only way to control population in the city. People oppressed found other ways to make themselves happy. Fucking was one of them, and as a result, there was an influx of bodies. Those who entered into contract with him for the purpose of harvesting their organs came to places like these if Eightball deemed their organs of no use. Only this place wasn’t a sanctioned slaughterhouse.

“What is this place?”

Nadya’s voice was a quiet whisper. Lins looked over and rolled her eyes.

“Little girl, you need to grow the fuck up. Where do you think people go when they die? Don’t tell me you’re one of those religious fanatics and think there is someone up in the heavens watching over us?” Lindy’s laugh was harsh. “Honey, the only God there is, wants no part of the shit that goes down in the city. Trust me, I would know. My family comes from below, and those fanatics pray to Palli, an Earth god who will never respond. You know why that is? ‘Cause there isn’t one out there. We’re all just here because, somehow, biology thought we deserved a chance at life. We fucked it up is all.”

“Lins, shut the fuck up, no one has time for your shit,” Diamond growled.

The nails digging into Diamond’s forearm sunk deeper into his flesh when Clancy floated up the aisle in his hover chair towards them. He was a huge man. Red, oily hair clung to his face and triple chin. Large pus bubbles were embedded around his eyes and lips—a defect from prolonged exposure to the chemicals inside of the slaughterhouse. His belly hung past his knees and rested against his swollen, chaffed legs. Every part of him was exposed. The male couldn’t wear clothing because of the lesions on his skin. It was too painful, and as a result, he smelled worse than the bodies that had soiled themselves as they awaited their deaths.

“Lavarious Diamond, what brings you to the theater? Have you brought me fresh meat?” Clancy eyed Nadya as if she were a prize, his breathing loud and labored as he tried to catch his breath.

“No. When were you going to tell me about the street sweeps with the Ragers? Or better yet, when were you going to tell me you had a slaughterhouse here. Isn’t this building tagged as waste removal?”

Clancy’s good eyebrow spiked with tension and his eyes began to look anywhere but at Diamond. Lip returned with the head of the male who’d broken through the window and tossed it down the aisle at Clancy’s chair.

“There, take that for payment, you sick fuck. He broke the window, and don’t try and send someone to the Quarry asking for repairs. Get it from the Gearheads, or better yet, try collecting it from the Ragers. Lavarious, the Ragers moved on. We’re clear to go whenever you’re ready.”

“We will leave, just as soon as Clancy answers my question.”

The male’s chair hovered back a little, and Diamond knew it was because he was worried.
He should be worried.
How had no one reported Ragers this close to the Quarry? They had protection, but security wasn’t beefed up to handle the procession that had passed a few moments ago outside. This would be a problem not only for him but also for clients. They wouldn’t venture towards the Quarry if they thought it wasn’t safe.

“Lavarious, you don’t understand. You can leave anytime you want– “

Diamond internally groaned. Why did everyone think he had it so easy? He couldn’t leave whenever he wanted. He was stuck in the city just like the rest of them. Clancy’s immobility was no one’s fault but his own. No one told him to be a gluttonous fuck and over indulge in human flesh as a substitute to food. Anytime Clancy wanted to leave the city, Diamond would gladly open the gates.

“No, and whoever told you that is a bold face liar. I can’t go back, and neither can anyone else who came from the Mainland during the Rage Wars.”

Clancy’s eyes drifted briefly towards Lindy.

“Why are you looking at her? She can’t help you. Now answer the fucking question. I’m tired of standing around in this house of horrors.”

“Marius came to me and we worked out a deal. I know it’s not what you wanted to hear, but it was either that or they were going to take over our harvesting operation.”

“Why didn’t you come to me? Why are you just now telling me this shit? How long has this been going on?”

Lindy cleared her throat before stepping forward.

“Lavarious, we have other things we need to tend to, and I think it’s safe to say that Clancy here knows he fucked up. I can have Emerald or Lip look into everything once we return.”

“Who died and made you the boss of my decisions? I’ll be the one to decide who looks into what. Things aren’t looking too good for you, Lins. You think because I let you ride my cock it earns you some sort of privilege? It earns you jack shit. Did you sleep in my bed last night? Do you
ever
get to rest your head on my pillow?” Lindy shook her head, her eyes glaring with anger. Diamond could see he’d embarrassed her. Whatever point she had been trying to make wasn’t going to cut it. “Exactly, here’s a clue, Lindy…you had a shot at that, and I’m happy as fuck I didn’t go through with it. No bitch of mine is going to try and lead behind the scenes without consulting me first.”

Diamond turned harsh eyes on Nadya. He didn’t know why, but being out here on the streets only served to piss him off more. Things were getting out of hand
.
Lip should have told him, hell, even Emerald should have come forward with all the fucked up shit going on outside the walls of the Quarry. Maybe they didn’t care because he acted like
he
didn’t care. In a way, some of this may even be his fault. The people looked to him, and he knew shit was nowhere near what it used to be or what it could be. Otherwise, Clancy wouldn’t feel the need to make deals with Marius. It cut deep, knowing he had no clue what was taking place outside the Quarry walls. And it pissed him off that a woman who wasn’t particularly endearing on the asset side—save for her virginity—was the reason it was all being shown to him now.