Angels and Killers

Amber wasn't sure she liked keeping her very existence hidden, even if it was for the sake of safety. But her parents insisted, and she somewhat agreed. If the would-be killer learned she, Micaiah, and Caroline were alive, the three of them might not even wake up the next morning.

She'd been there late. The police hadn't pulled the tarp off the pool for quite some time, and when they did, Amber had seen them carrying someone away on a stretcher covered in a bloody white sheet. Everyone else was dead. Amber couldn't quite wrap her head around that yet. She'd been in the same class as most of them for at least five years, excluding Ivy and Leeli, who'd been boosted up a grade the year before. All these people she'd known and grown used to were gone forever. What a strange thing death was. It held no bindings on people like Kitty Grant, but it took 20 other people so easily. No, billions of other people.

When Amber really thought about it, Kitty's life only confused her more. She'd been at the funeral and seen the casket buried. Sure, the casket had never been open, and the people who carried it didn't look like they were straining much, if at all, but it seemed like way too solemn an occasion to play tricks in. Had Kitty truly come back from some sort of afterlife, or limbo? Or was there some truth to what Kitty herself had confessed online not too long ago: that she was a cyborg. Technology might allow it, but to replace someone's throat after they'd been killed? To actually bring them back to life? That wasn't possible. Not as far as Amber knew.

"Hey," someone said from the door.

"Think of the devil," said Amber. She sat up on her bed and nodded to her desk chair. Kitty Grant smiled and sat. "Of course you'd know I'm alive. You work with the news or something?"

"No. I figured you'd get lonely," Kitty said. "I already visited Micaiah. How's your neck healing up?"

Amber touched the bandage around her neck. "Pretty well. I'll have a scar, but it'll heal."

"And your hands?"

Amber showed her. Her left pinky was amputated at the base and her ring finger wouldn't move independently. Scars were already forming all over both hands.

"That looks so painful," said Kitty, cringing.

"It's not so bad. How long will I have to stay hidden here, do you think?"

Kitty shrugged. "Until they catch that redhead."

"How do you know about that? That wasn't in the news."

"A certain foul-mouthed free runner told me. Said if anyone could catch a killer, it was me."

Amber raised an eyebrow. "You okay with people thinking of you like . . . well, a superhero?"

"No."

"I thought so. Do you have any kind of superpowers?"

"Apparently I'm hard to kill."

"But you're mortal. Right? You're not some kind of goddess or angel?"

"I'm no angel," said Kitty. She looked at her hands. "I'm entirely mortal."

***

Kayla was quite happy with her first snuff film. She made a few last minute adjustments—most notably, muting what she'd said to Micaiah after she'd supposedly died, erasing any sign of regret from that kill. She left her dialogue with Tay in. Alyssa would probably like that. She saved the movie as a .wmv file and waited. And waited. And waited some more. She thought to occupy the time. She'd left 22 people dead, 23 if Micaiah had actually died. The news seemed to think she had. Kayla wasn't so sure. It made her wet to recall her kills, but she didn't want to do it again. Horny as she was, she decided, she wasn't a sociopath.

If Micaiah had truly survived, she'd have told the police everything she knew. However, she was reasonably certain Micaiah didn't recognize her. Red hair styled differently and a complete lack of makeup made a bigger difference than she'd thought at first. She'd have to dye her hair again soon, or maybe move away with Bart and Alyssa under the guise of a family fleeing from a serial killer. Several families already were, so they wouldn't be an anomaly.

Bart entered the room beside her. "Ready?" he said.

"Just finished," said Kayla. "Actually no. Computer says ten seconds. Now fifteen. Now twenty. Now five. All right, now I'm done."

Bart looked around the corner and called Alyssa. She arrived half a minute later with her shirt already bunched up in her hands. "Bart, Kayla, get naked and get on the bed. Kayla, press play."

Kayla tossed her shirt and skirt aside. She opened her movie and dragged it up onto the big screen in front of the bed. It buffered for a few seconds, then started. Kayla joined Bart and Alyssa on the bed. Alyssa grabbed her breast. "You really are hotter as a redhead."

The first scene started. Kayla watched Kelsey shower naked for a moment before she saw herself step into the frame with a knife. The on-screen Kayla waited until Kelsey spoke, then put the knife in her head. Kayla felt Alyssa's hand on her crotch.

"Not a bad opener. Let's open you up down here too."

Kayla rested her head on Alyssa's shoulder and watched her film. She reached over and found Bart's hand already pleasuring Alyssa. So she let her fingers take a quick dip between Bart's, then ran two damp lines up Alyssa's torso before settling on her breasts. When Leeli died on-screen, Alyssa kissed Kayla.

"That was Fay Ryan's sister," she said. "Good job on her. Apparently Fay's got PTSD now."

"I destroyed her life."

"Yeah, that happens when you kill people."

Kayla felt numb for the next few minutes, but she started dripping again soon enough. Alyssa turned on the bed so her back faced Bart. She kept her eyes on the screen as her husband started spooning her. Kayla kept playing with Alyssa's breasts and Alyssa kept her hands on Kayla's cunt. Kayla came when the meat grinder scene came up. Watching Chika's head explode sent her into a series of convulsions. She kept her voice down so she could hear the movie, though.

"Best birthday gift in a long time," Alyssa said as Jamie's head and spine ripped away from her body in slow motion. "You're officially awesome, Kayla."

Kayla smiled. It might not last long, but she enjoyed Alyssa's approval—and her touches and kisses. She didn't love Kayla. Kayla didn't love her either. There was nothing but lust there and Kayla loved it. She had to keep Alyssa happy enough with her life that the woman wouldn't pleasure herself with Kayla's death, but if that meant making more snuff films featuring people she actually didn't hate, could she do it?

No.

That meant Kayla had to get away, and fast. She couldn't just leave Summermount hanging, so to speak. She'd ended more than 25 lives and ruined hundreds more. She couldn't leave. Not until she'd made something right.

"Good God, Kayla," said Bart. "That was the fastest knife beheading I've ever seen."

Kayla let out a long breath, kissed Alyssa's neck, and enjoyed the movie to the end.

***

At Adrian's door after a night sleeping beside the pet store, Kitty heard a girl's voice inside. She went in. Irri Snowski sat at Adrian's computer in one of his T-shirts. She was typing, and fast. Adrian sat on a chair next to her. He nodded at Kitty and motioned for her to join him and Irri at the computer. Kitty sat quietly and looked at the screen. Irri was typing in the application Adrian used to code corelets.

"This is amazing," said Irri. "Kitty, have you looked at your own code yet?"

"No," Kitty admitted. "I don't understand a word of it. Corelet is confusing."

"It's not so hard, look." Irri pointed out a block of code on the screen. "This section processes what you see. See, it's got the same structure as the code your brain uses to process the same stuff. And this section over here. . ." Irri clicked onto a new tab. Kitty noted the scroll bar to the side grow smaller and smaller as a lot of text loaded. "This entire thing guides how you feel about cats."

Kitty smiled. "I never thought it was that complicated. I pretty much thought the code went like, 'if cat is true, init adorableness breakdown.'"

Irri stared in awe at Kitty with a dumbstruck smile on her face. "God, you're amazing. Adrian, how in the world did you do this?"

Adrian shrugged. "Some of it's her actual brain. That and her virtual memory is a bit more extended than yours at the moment. You've only been alive for an hour or so. She's been around for weeks."

"And any idea why my brain memories don't work yet?" Irri said.

Adrian thought about it. "Yeah, but I didn't think it would be too big an issue. Your neuromorphic CPUs—yours too, Kitty—their neurons only process one thing at once, but there are trillions of them jammed in there. A real brain's neural network does a bunch of things at once. But really, if you can actually remember things, Kitty, then compatibility isn't the problem. I'm not sure what it is."

Kitty raised an eyebrow. "Mind if I let you and Irri figure that out? And speaking of you, Irri, I didn't take you for the computer-ish type."

"Type," Irri repeated. "You do puns too. You're brilliant, aren't you?"

Kitty blinked.

"I was computer-ish, apparently," said Irri. "Adrian says he made my corelets based on the overall impression he got from what everyone who knew me said about me. Did you know I wanted to be a pole dancer?"

"Yes, actually," said Kitty. "On the online news site, in the comments section, someone posted some pretty honest things about you. I thought they were lies at the time."

"What a dick," Irri muttered. "At least make me out to be an angel the day after I die."

"It was two days."

"Oh, that makes it all better."

Adrian put a hand on Irri's shoulder and a hand on Kitty's. "Angels," he said. "Let's go with that. If anyone asks, hint toward it. I'll spread rumors."

"Why not tell the truth?" Irri said.

"Because then twenty-three people would suddenly be lined up asking me to bring back their daughters or sisters, and I just don't have that kind of money. Unless the cops have some sort of breakthrough soon, that number's only gonna go up. Irri, you don't remember who killed you by any chance, do you?"

"A girl. Who I kissed. And her partner, who I didn't see."

"No details?" Adrian said.

"Not a thing—no, weird eyes. She had odd eyes."

Adrian looked at Kitty. "Do we know any lesbians with noteworthy eyes?"

Kitty shrugged. "Anything else distinctive about her?"

Irri shook her head. "I dunno." She put her forehead in her hands. "I'll see if I can remember."

"Oh," Kitty said. "I should have mentioned this earlier, but I have news you might want to know. Micaiah Miller and Amber Levine are alive."

"The news said twenty-three though," Adrian said. He nodded at Irri, who brought up the news page. "Yeah," he said. "Right there. Twenty-three dead, including the single employee working there that day. That means one girl must've been absent."

"Nope," said Kitty. "Twenty-four people were in that park. Caroline Leese was there, but the killer didn't even touch her. The news says she was absent. She wasn't.

Micaiah and Amber were both there and they both survived, but the killer tried to kill them both."

Adrian looked sideways at the screen, then at Kitty. "Why hide the survivors?"

"To protect them, maybe? I'm not entirely sure. Casey told me all she heard, but she didn't say anything about reasons."

"Casey's in on this too?" said Adrian.

"She is," Kitty confirmed. "At least, she's listening to things she's not supposed to hear. She seems to think I can stop the killer."

Adrian seemed to contemplate this. "I'm not sure how you'd do that," he said. "You don't have any more information than the police."

"Exactly," said Kitty. "I'm not a superhero. I'm just a person who likes cats."

Irri poked Kitty's arm. "Do you want to be a superhero?"

"No. I don't."

"But you do want to help people and save lives."

"Yes."

"Then just do what you want and ignore any tags you get. Your life is yours, not theirs."

"Cool."

Kitty still disliked that word.

***

Kayla lay, panting, on Bart and Alyssa's bed. She was soaked with cum and sweat and the movie had long since ended. Her limbs were tangled up in Alyssa's and Bart was in the basement, presumably making more manikins. He'd asked Kayla to join him when she and Alyssa finished up.

"I still wanna kill you," Alyssa said. "I still want to rip you open and take a bath in your blood. But if you can make something this great, I suppose I could keep you around."

"Happy to hear it," said Kayla. "Now you should show me your movies. I still wanna know how you killed someone with a plastic coat hanger."

"I'll show you that one first."

"Awesome."

They made out for another few minutes before Alyssa stopped. "Didn't Bart want to see you in the basement?"

"I suppose he did," said Kayla. "You okay if I go?"

"Actually, I'm worried you'll steal my husband from me, you sexy little whore." Alyssa smiled. "Go on. I'm pretty sure you'll like what he's got for you."

Kayla got out of the bed and washed herself off in the shower across the hall. She dressed in a low-cut crop top and gym shorts, then descended the long staircase to the basement. Bart was there, predictably working on a new manikin. Kayla stood quietly and watched him for a few minutes.

"Fifty thousand per kill," said Bart. "And twenty-two recorded kills. That's one million, one hundred thousand dollars. Good job. You're lucky, though."

"Why?"

Bart tapped Kayla's shoulder with a knife she hadn't even seen him holding. "My employer wanted you dead. I sent him them your movie. That convinced them to both spare you and pay you in advance.”

"Wait, I get that money?"

Bart looked at her. "No, it's all going to charity. Of course it's yours. Your work, your money. It's on the table over there." Bart nodded to the table they'd killed Irri Snowski on. There was a suitcase on it. Kayla opened it to find the most money she had ever seen in one place, stacked neatly in several rows of $500 bills. With this, she could skip town, flee from Alyssa and the inevitable consequences of her kills, and live the rest of her life comfortably somewhere far away. Maybe Canada.

"Thanks," she said. "I'll put this to good use."

***

Bart woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of typing. He started to sit up, but Alyssa's naked body on top of him made it difficult to do so. So he stayed where he was and craned his neck to see what Kayla was doing on the computer. It was all text and a couple pictures he couldn't make out. It wasn't porn or snuff. He started to say something, but stopped. Waking Alyssa in the middle of the night usually didn't turn out well. So he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. Kayla didn't stop typing for at least another 30 minutes. When she did, there were footsteps fading for a few seconds, and then a door opened and shut. Then there was silence, and Bart slept.

***

Alyssa wandered the streets of Summermount the next day. Now that Kayla's big killing spree was over, she didn't feel like abstaining from murder any longer. She was out for Kitty Grant and Casey Shaw, but she'd take Fay Ryan if she found the reporter somewhere, thereby eliminating the last of the Ryan girls. She fully intended to mimic Kayla's work on Leeli, just so Fay could feel her sister's pain for the last few moments of her life.

She spotted Kitty Grant first, along with another girl she didn't recognize at first. Kitty wore the same type of thing she always wore: a zip-up hoodie and loose-fitting jeans. The girl next to her, a blond, dressed a bit more fashionably in a halter top and miniskirt. The door in front of them opened to show a familiar blond-framed face. Alyssa blinked and looked again. Was that Micaiah? The girl Kayla had strangled to death? Kitty and the other girl stepped inside. The girl who'd opened the door looked left, then right, then closed the door. Alyssa had seen a red mark around her neck.

This made no sense. Just like Kitty, Micaiah had apparently died and come back to life. But the news had confirmed her dead. Then again, the news had confirmed Kitty dead for at least a week before she turned up alive. What was going on here? And who was the girl Kitty was with? She looked vaguely familiar.

Alyssa didn't know what to think, but she knew one thing for sure: Kayla had missed one.