Max's finger tapped the side of the cup. He didn't realize that he was
doing it, but when he heard the sound he stopped. He was sitting in the
corner table at a diner, watching the door. His laptop was open in front
of him and his finger hitting the arrow key as he was scrolling down the
pages of various images.
"Isn't technology grand," the waitress
said as she came over and refilled the coffee mug. "You have the
entire world at your fingertips."
"Entire worlds," Max corrected her with a smile.
"So
what is a fellow like you doing here alone on a Friday night?" the
waitress asked; she was a young twenty-something girl and she was
obviously flirting with Max.
He had started coming into the
diner five weeks ago, every night around the same time and had brought
his laptop with him. So she figured she'd make a move since he was
obviously single.
"Waiting for a friend," Max replied, and he
could see her look turn to a sort-of frown. "And then it's off to
somewhere else."
"Oh," the waitress replied; she kept her
friendly tone. Though she knew her luck was always bad and that she was cursed to be alone. She gave him a perky smile and
headed off to the next booth where two gentlemen were sitting and chowing
down on some food.
Max typed on the laptop. He typed in the name
of the waitress, 'Kelli', and following, 'will win some money and live the
cozy life'. He hit the Enter button and smiled.
Maggie looked to one side and spat out blood. The fall that should of
killed her hadn't, but it did hurt a lot. She knew that she
had taken some serious damage to her body.
That's not good.
She
staggered off to one side and fell to her knees. Trying to catch her
breath, she was fighting to breath and that hurt as well. As if millions
of shards of tiny glass were circulating in her lungs.
Is this what it feels like to die?
She
coughed again and more blood trickled out. She knew that if she didn't find a
place to rest that the internal damage might cause major problems later
one. She could feel her body trying to heal itself. It was one of the
benefits of being a guardian; something she felt she had to do in order
to protect the last haven.
Hurts like a bitch!
She
crawled on hands and knees through the debris around her, until she saw a
makeshift shack and crawled towards the little shelter. Time to rest
and let the body do what it does naturally, healing itself as much as
possible.
"Need my beauty sleep," Mags muttered to herself.
"Not here, toots," a gruffled voice said. "This is my hidey hole. Go find yourself another one."
Max was waiting behind a pillar with his guns drawn, ready for action.
The problem was that there was no action happening yet, but he was sticking
to the plan. A perfect plan that was laid out a couple of hours before.
He was sitting there in the car port waiting. And several
minutes ticked by like millenniums passing. Suki was a few yards away
from him; he could see her behind a barrier, the Godhammer resting in
her lap. She was bored as well.
But this wasn't a time or the
place to be bored and let your guard down. Just then the elevator doors
began to chime; Max straightened up. Soon it would be showtime. As soon as Suki
heard the chime, she spat out the bubble gum and winked at Max.
A car was pulling into the parking garage; Max could hear a
familiar riff of a Talking Heads song getting louder. He heard the
music, the beginning of Burning Down The House. Suki heard it
too, and she cracked a smile, and just as soon as the elevator doors opened,
both went into action singing the song as it was being played; weapons
blazing in a symphony of music.
