Dead End (Book 2): A Very Good Neighbor Read online

  “She said that. Really, you know Tip, I think you should leave. Now. You think I'm disgusting? Fine, but go think that away from me, will you? You think I'm a freak? Why? What did I ever do to you to make you think that? Save your life? Ask if you wanted to have sex? Cause newsflash, you like sex. So that shouldn't be much of an insult, even if you hate me... So, yeah, leave now please.” With his left hand he made a shewing motion, keeping his right close to his side.

  That got a scowl from Tipper, but also one from Carley. Directed at him, of course.

  “I'm sure that she didn't mean it. You're just being oversensitive. You need to grow up a bit Jake. The whole world doesn't revolve around you. Maybe she was just having a bad day? Did you consider that? Maybe you should try discussing things before driving people away.”

  It didn't help that she clenched her right fist and started turning red while she did it. It wasn't a natural color of red either. It was a stroke inducing thing, that made the veins in her head pop up. Jake pulled his nine and started to pull the trigger. He didn't know what it was that Carley could do maybe, but he knew she was about to do it. He was most of the way to taking her out when Sammi spoke.

  “Stop.” She said softly, far more commandingly than he'd heard her before. He hesitated, but then was able to begin again after a second.

  “Shut up Sammi. She's going to try and kill me, or is trying. Whichever. I won't give her that chance.”

  Carley, for her part, stopped what she was doing and let her fist go.

  “Crap. Sorry. I wasn't going to. I'm, it's just...” She gasped, out of breath.

  “Sorry.” She finished, a bit lamely.

  Jake pointed the weapon at Tipper.

  “So, why did you come? I guess that needs to be out there or whatever, before you leave? So that you can feel self-righteous or whatever later?” He didn't pull his attention off the super-warrior in front of him. It would have to be head shots. He'd seen Vickie take a round to the middle and not even do more than grin about it.

  It was Sammi that spoke again, her voice a little wry.

  “Really we came to make sure you were OK. Tipper feels very bad about what she said. I think she wants to apologize, don't you Tipper? Carley came to offer emotional support, realizing your feelings may have been hurt, what with one thing and another. She really did seem sincere earlier, when I mentioned coming out here today. I see it was a mistake.”

  The short haired blond woman scowled at Sammi and shook her head.

  “I meant it. I mean it now. It's just, look Jake, what you're going through, it just doesn't make any sense to any of us. We aren't interested in you, that's all... It isn't personal or anything, we just don't have feelings for you like that. I... why can't you see that? It's not some big thing... You keep acting like it's important or something.”

  Jake... hesitated for a second and then looked at Sammi.

  “So, yeah, well nice to see you. Anyway, I have work to do, so...” The sweeping gesture he made was away from his house, technically they were in the yard, even if the grass had been dug up and cut into pieces of sod, which he started putting back into place, hoping it wasn't a total mistake to put his side arm away.

  That Carley was so delusional as to not understand that he had feelings too, and that maybe, just maybe, she wasn't in the right... That did not fill him with a sense of confidence in her. Sammi didn't help though, even when Tipper looked ready to walk away. At least she was getting the hint.

  “Jake. This is too important for you to just send us away like that and you know it. I can accept that Carley may have been a mistake to bring, but we still need to get things fixed up. I didn't realize that Tipper had proclaimed herself against you so strongly, but there are some things you should all know before writing the others off. Shall we?” She pointed towards his house as if she had a right to take the others in. Then, she was always a bit bossy.

  Carley started to walk and after a second Tip did too. Jake didn't, rearranging the sod squares. He hadn't been kidding about work to be done. They didn't go in at least, just standing in front of the door waiting on him. His hope that they'd get bored and leave proved fruitless, making him a little sad.

  “The whole point,” he mentioned as he walked over towards his front door, after finishing the sod work. “Of being here, instead of the House, is to avoid situations like this. I don't know why this is all so hard for you to understand. I'm here to be alone, so I don't have to deal with stupid people...”

  Was it polite enough to say, if he left off the fact that he thought they were those morons? Carley and Tipper at least? Apparently not. Both of them frowned at him. Refreshingly enough, he found that he just couldn't care about that anymore.

  “Fine you can come in, but if you want to get home in the light...” Then it was too late already. For all he knew that was a moot point anyway. Sammi could see in the dark. Maybe the others could too?

  He just started on dinner, almost deciding to make a point by fixing just enough for himself, but he really did have extra. Even some pine nuts to go with it and some late apples that he fried with it. He had garlic too, but Sammi hated that, so he left it out. It wasn't grand food, but good enough that his mouth watered as he served it up to everyone. It was, he knew, a little simple, just one dish, with no sides, but there was more meat than they'd been getting, if fewer vegetables.

  “Thank you Jake, this is very nice.” Sammi said, her voice pleased at the offering. Kind and a bit regal.

  It was dark enough that Jake just left the front of the little wood stove open for light. He had some candles, but hadn't been using any yet. The light through the metal mesh he'd put in place was enough.

  Tipper mumbled a bit, “Yeah. Thanks.”

  He couldn't tell if she was just being surly in her hate and disgust of him or if she didn't like the food. Maybe both. Pine nuts may have been gourmet, once upon a time, but they still tasted like floor cleaner. Sammi had showed him how to harvest them and he'd found a few left when he'd looked two days before. It helped with variety.

  Carley didn't say anything at all. Then, it was pretty freaking clear she didn't think much of him at all.

  They ate quietly, and he washed everything up before Sammi started speaking again.

  “Alright...” She began, almost as if telling a story or something.

  “Killgrades are biological assassins, created thousands of years ago. Inside their bodies are thousands of compounds, most of them lethal. They can bring them forth selectively. As a side effect however, most of the Killgrade males die early, rarely becoming old enough to breed even. It's led to a very female oriented culture.” The small woman, who looked very young suddenly, gestured to the pretty blond.

  “Everything about them is geared for their profession. Looks, aptitudes, and even desires. Carley isn't a feminist Jake, she's the exact opposite. A man hater if you will. She simply cannot see you as a valid individual. Most of the traditional targets of Killgrade have been men, and at the same time they have very few role models to teach them good habits or even manners in that regard. Truly, she's done a lot more than I would have expected from one of her kind so far, so perhaps there's some hope for her yet?”

  Carley fumed a bit, her face a strange and fearsome mask.

  “I think of Jake as a valid person!” She husked.

  Sammi shook her head slowly, “do you really think so? You can't even understand how every woman at the House rejecting him openly, over and over again, even, at times without him having asked anything of them, might affect him emotionally. You'd certainly understand if say, Tipper here were refused by all of the men, wouldn't you? Or if no women she liked would have her, even in such extreme circumstances?”

  “That's different, she's a woman.” Carley didn't blink.

  “And?” Sammi put in, leading her to something approaching thought outside herself.

  “And... it's different. Because men don't count.”

  Even Tipper gave her a long look th
en. Carley shook her head.

  “That didn't sound right, but, still, Jake just wants sex. That's all men ever want. It doesn't matter if they get it though. They don't... count.” At least she slowed down at the end a bit.

  Jake sighed.

  “I don't count? Why?”

  She couldn't answer that, but it was clear to him at least. He finally said it after several minutes of Carley trying to hand wave her way through the whole thing.

  “I don't count, because you can't see me as an actual person at all. For all your complaints of women being treated like second class citizens, you don't even see men at all, as more than targets. Except Holsom? Is that why you poisoned all of his bullets for him?” It was a stab in the dark, but...

  She nodded.

  “Yeah. I don't know why I loved him, he was a complete jerk, but I didn't want him to be killed. I figured you'd take him out, so I tried to level things. But when you got hit, it took so long to act. The poisons should have killed you instantly, even dried, each one had enough to kill thousands of men.”

  No wonder it sucked so much. He'd been sick for eleven days, wishing he could die, afraid he'd been changed into a zombie, the whole time.

  Sammi gasped.

  So did Tipper after a minute.

  Yeah, Jake could see that, since Carley had just announced she'd tried to kill him pretty blatantly. He leveled his gaze at the woman, who didn't seem to realize he was doing it at first, finally she sucked in a breath.

  “Crap. Um, sorry for almost killing you?”

  “Lame.” He said after half a second. “So lame. Do you have any idea how much that sucked? And worse, you tried to kill me to help Derrick Holsom, after you two had stopped sleeping together? You deserve to be shot just for that. How do I know you aren't going to try and do it again? That's the stupidest reason for trying to kill me I've ever heard.” Jake shook his head and went into a falsetto. “Oh, but I loved him so much, even though he was sleeping with almost all the women in the House. I know, let's kill Jake, he doesn't matter anyway.”

  It was too dark for his glare to mean anything, but Sammi put a tiny hand on his arm.

  “Easy Jake. She was under his thrall at the time. Perhaps giving her the benefit of the doubt would be a good plan?”

  That or a bullet through the brain...

  “Alright. If she does that turning red thing again though, or looks violent at all, I'm killing her. I really should do it now. I don't even know if that's a sign of her using her power. She could be spewing poisons into the air right now.”

  “Oh come on Jake, I said I was sorry, want do you want from me?” She looked at him like he was the one being a dumb-ass. He returned it though.

  “Oh, I don't know, how about you don't try to kill me again to start? Maybe you could try to remember that men are, believe it or not, people too? That even if you can't see it, or understand it, that the same emotions you'd feel in a situation still apply?” Or at least pretend that?

  She flipped a hand at him, but grinned.

  “Fine. I'll try. I make no claim I'll succeed.”

  Good enough. For now. If she didn't... Well, then he'd probably have to have another conversation with her about it. You didn't shoot people for being assholes. Unless that included trying to kill him, then he was totally killing her first.

  Tipper looked at the table and knocked on it three times, sharply, as if it had meaning.

  “So, why do I keep feeling like Jake is wrong? I want to like him, I really do, I just... Something isn't right. I can't explain it. It's like there are two of him, the good helpful Jake and the killer and I mean, come on, I'm a Valkyrie. We don't exactly shy away from warriors as a rule. He should be making me all wet and gooey inside as I contemplate having his babies, being the best human fighter I've ever seen... but I just...can't.”

  Sammi tapped the table herself, but just once.

  “That would probably be the incongruity. Jake has been forced to fight, to protect people and himself, when it's a thing very against his true nature. It would be similar to seeing a bunny rabbit pick up a sword and take on a wolf pack, and win. Over and over again. A part of our essential selves simply can't accept that part of things.”

  “Um... I don't follow Sam, what? I'll admit he doesn't look like Attila the Hun, but a bunny? I need some form of context here...”

  Sammi tilted her head and sighed.

  “Jake is... A Very Good Man, Tipper. Possibly, The Very Good Man. I'm a little surprised you haven't figured that out yet. Your legends are the same as ours.”

  “What?” The tone was shocked, and Carley was staring suddenly. She blanched, going white, then passed that, as if she might go all the way out. Jake wondered if he needed to shoot her. He didn't feel sick yet, but...

  Sammi just smiled.

  “Yes. It's definitely an uncomfortable thing to have forced on him, possibly the worst thing to be done to anyone that didn't involve physical torture, still, it's there. But his essence isn't what you see outwardly, so it strikes you as wrong. The very universe cries out that it shouldn't be happening. If he could have come into life in a different place, or time, well... you probably wouldn't have met at all then. People would have whisked him away to protect such a delicate and rare person.”

  Delicate? Rare? Not the way he'd want to be described with zombies and cannibals running around. It sounded a little... Tasty. He mentioned that to the room, but no one laughed.

  Sammi smiled at least, until Carley asked a single question.

  “How?”

  The girl shook her head and swallowed.

  “Well, we know that A Very Good Man normally shows the best traits for his own world. Most of the time that's pretty positive. Peace, love, charity, compassion and total empathy. Honesty, probity and devotion to an ideal. It would be easy to pronounce those as the only traits of such a being, but think, what's needed now? A guardian, a warrior, a person that won't fold no matter how intense the pressure. Someone willing to enforce the rules, no matter how much it leaves them aching inside. A leader that shows how to survive by example, no matter how tired, how mistreated.”

  “I... can see that, I guess.” Tipper looked at him as if trying to see something that she hadn't before. “I don't get his preoccupation with sex though. Aren't VGM, I don't know, all saintly and that kind of thing?”

  Sammi sighed, “you claiming Jake has a preoccupation with sex is a little rich, don't you think? Besides, I believe that's part of what's needed in the here and now. People need to breed and there are dangerously few pure humans left. Just as much as Jake wishes for peace or to contribute to society, there is a biological urge to reproduce. It's what's needed, so it's what he becomes. They almost always like sex though. Just with higher population numbers, it wasn't as pressing on them. Not that we've seen one for the last few hundred years. Not a full embodiment like this.”

  Jake shook his head.

  “I thought that was supposed to be a joke. Your Uncle Robert said it was...”

  “No, he said there was a joke, “that you'd have to wait until the end of the world, to find a very good man”. It really is funnier in our language. It's kind of a play on words.” She sounded happier then.

  “So, that's worked out then, we can go home in the morning.” The girl made a point of taking his hand, subtly including him in the deal.

  “You can. I am home.” He said firmly. “Naming the problem doesn't fix it, and frankly, I'm not sure I actually believe you. Some of it sounds right, I mean I always feel horrible when I have to kill anyone, but that doesn't mean I'm some special person. Everyone feels bad about that. I've seen you all after you take even a zombie down, if they look too human. Sure I want peace, and love, and to help people, but that isn't all that big a deal. Everyone else wants those things too. Right?”

  Tipper nodded, “Right the very first thing everyone at the House thinks of each morning. So Jake's a VGM? Go figure.” She smiled at him then at least, as if what she said made sen
se.

  Carley nodded for a second, abstractly, not looking at anyone, then lurched up, moving the table and nearly getting shot as she ran to the front door. Sounds of retching came from near his bushes out front. He closed the door on her, because it was cold out and really, Jake didn't want to waste the heat if he could help it. Why she was vomiting didn't make sense yet, he just hoped it wasn't his cooking. The other two looked fine.

  After about five minutes Carley worked her way back in, fumbling enough that she probably didn't have secret night vision or something similar. Or she was hiding it really well.

  “Sorry.” She looked at Jake again. “Sorry.”

  She said it several more times, without explaining anything in between. Finally Jake chuckled. “Um, OK, I'll let the whole poisoning thing go this time. It wasn't like you got a choice in the matter.”

  “Sorry...” She said again. Then, finally she laughed.

  “I mean, I was raised on the tales, probably the same ones Sammi and Tip were, how rare and wondrous a thing A Very Good Man was and how, if we met one, we were to protect them at all cost, even if it meant our own deaths, or the lives of all our people. I meet one and what do I do? Treat him like crap, try to push him around, lecture him and then poison him on top of it.” Tears flowed down her cheeks.

  “Thank goodness I failed.”

  “Speaking of which, how did that happen?” Tipper added, as if truly perplexed. “Some kind of power or...” The woman looked at Sammi for an answer. It made sense, being the oldest person in the room.

  “No. He doesn't have any unusual abilities. He's strictly human. A very good one, but it isn't magical in nature, or heightened biology, just a preponderance of very enlightened traits and an ability to form to the world around himself. I think that the wound was just shallow enough and that riding on a bullet damaged enough of the poison to save him. That's all. It was close. More so than I think anyone realized, save perhaps Carley.”

  Jake raised his hand a bit, it showed in the glow from the fire.