Chapter 2: Full Fire & Empty Smoke (III)

 "Get in." She said not even acknowledging my hello.

"Why?" That was Zza, responding before I could in a quick triggered aggravated voice. It was like she jumped in my skin and spoke the words from my mouth, stealing the words and emotions right out of my mind.

Ou-Kai'e Anmanari, a nineteen year old Grim Reaper Runt, or a GR'Runt for short. Once the dark skinned beauty reached The Law's Adulthood, the chocolate lady immediately submitted for The GIMP Trials.

A year before that, our paths crossed and our past was written by intimacy.

It became the teaching of one and the craving of another, until the roles became distorted by longing and circumstance. The ending was much more unfortunate than platonic, with Ou-Kai'e wanting more of me and I wanted her to remove the sword from my chest.

The sword wielding savaged sighed and grimaced behind her shades toward the street, obviously unhappy with my baron attitude. Without looking our way, she held up a platinum edged Red Joker card in her middle and index fingers.

An order from Our Godfather Kake.

Ou-Kai'e could have flashed that omnipotent verdict earlier to get me in her Bugatti with no argument or restraint. The sword wielding savage must have hoped that I'd entered her slashing range on good faith alone.

"Do you have your sword with you?" I asked her cautiously, staying complacent on the sidewalk with my Fray Proxy shielded behind me.

Ou-Kai'e exhaled another aggravated sigh, "I always have my soul, Smoke. It is in the trunk, though, so you have nothing to be so fucking cautious about. I've only come by the direct orders of Our God Authority, nothing more."

Smoke. Haven't heard her call me that since we separated for good.

"Let's go, Zza." I told my Fray Proxy, tossing the filter of burned out cloved cigarette into the snow.

"Who is that, Asha?" The sonic youth asked under her breath as we proceeded to the three-eyes madame's vehicle.

"Old news."

That's all you needed to know, Zza, and quite frankly, I already think that's as much as you'd like to know, little one.

When I approached the foreign stallion, I looked thru the open window to make sure I wasn't jested into entering.

"There's no back seat." I said about the obvious coupe, mostly to throw off my own paranoid suspicion.

"Really? I hadn't noticed." Ou-Kai'e responded with over exaggerated sarcasm.

"Where is Zza supposed to sit, fucking wise ass?" I questioned the sword wielding savage, cursing at her sarcasm.

"Who?" She answered with a question, feigning oblivion to the nine year old right next to me.

I pointed up and down the sonic youth's frame, "My Fray Proxy, K.O.. You know, the invisible girl with me that's so obviously wearing the see thru black bomber jacket." I attacked her attitude with sarcasm of my own, throwing in her nickname to punctuate what kind of annoying she is being.

"I don't fucking know, Smoke. Let her take the bus or catch an Uber back to her crib, I'm sure she'll be fine." The sword wielding savage suggested with all kinds of seriousness, not the least bit concerned of Zza's safety.

The red skinned nine year old sneered at the dark brown nineteen year old thru the rear tinted window, shooting daggers at Ou-Kai'e's moral insults.

"She's nine, K.O.." I informed her with a straight face, already worn by the sword wielding savage's obligated and brooding attitude.

I didn't bother to wait for her to continue disrespecting my Fray Proxy, taking Zza by the hand as I opened the extravagant car door. Plopping down in the fine foreign leather seat, I patted between my legs for the exotic sprite to sit there.

The sonic youth didn't enter right away, blankly staring at Ou-Kai'e for a very long and obscure moment. Before she finally sat down, the red skinned girl zipped the over sized jacket up to the bottom of her chest.

When we both settled in and closed the door, Ou-Kai'e rolled up the passenger side window and sped away from the curb.

The inside of the foreign beast was just as extravagant as it's exterior design, but still much simpler than you'd expect. The digitized numbers on the air conditioner's meter read that the temperature inside the Bugatti was 78 degrees, explaining the warm atmosphere despite the awkward energies between Ou-Kai'e and I.

Zza sat back and rested on my upper body, peeping up at me with a cute smile and then back to the snow plowed street. She reached inside her coat while humming Some Nights, Intro by Fun., rustling around the inside breast pocket.

"Where are we headed?" I asked Ou-Kai'e.

"I'm not telling you shit." The sword wielding savage responded coldly, shifting her driving speed from sixty to eighty before I could blink.

"And why not?" I continued inquiring matter-of-factly, not giving the GR'Runt the energy that she was hoping for.

Zza continued humming and rustling in her coat pocket.

"Because you'd leave, Smoke. You'd get out the car at first opportunity and probably haul an Uber to the appointed destination. I have been given very strict orders to PERSONALLY transport you to the appointed X. You saw the Red Joker, so I'm sure you cou- HOLD ON!"

Amid explaining her firm anonymity, an all red pick-up truck came flying towards us at it's top speed. Catching the oncoming monster in my peripheral vision, I wrapped my arms around Zza and secured her as tight as I could. The truck slammed into the right tail light as Ou-Kai'e tried to speed away, sending us into a skidding spin. The east and west intersection lights turned green when our cycle started, sending traffic our way to continue the vehicular onslaught.

Before we were sandwiched by a gray Toyota and a white Nissan, the sword wielding savage caught the rhythm of the spin. She quickly switched the e-brake on and off to slow the cycle, then speeding down the north intersection.

Two more red pick-ups sped out from opposite perpendicular streets. The first one joined the other two, their snow chained tires made for a much more difficult escape.

"The Red Throats. Our Godfather Kake was wary of this as well as the majority of the Sics Six Six and Seveign Seven Seven." Ou-Kai'e explained while concentrating on swaying and swerving on snow, gravel and ice. "Open the glove compartment, would you?" She nonchalantly requested, cold, calm and collected in this literally icy predicament.

The sword wielding savage almost made the Bugatti's tropical warmth drop to an all mighty blizzard.

I did as she asked and pulled the handle of the glove compartment, but the curving door didn't just drop down freely per usual. The modified cubby opened mechanically, housing three loaded pistols and two clips in between each of them.

"Take one." Ou-Kai'e told me, grabbing one with her right hand and steering with her left.

I didn't want to take a weapon at first, hoping the sword wielding savage's developing skills was ready enough to make a clean getaway. Not only because my nine year old Fray Proxy is here with me, also because she is sitting in my lap to make her involved first hand.

This needed to be ended quickly.

So there is no need to handle it quietly.