Page 126 of Tapeworld Induction

They walked down the concrete path to Tower 57, a tall white building with a blocky appearance. It always reminded Isaak of one of the most popular games ever made, where you had to escape zombies by night and build up your home in an apocalyptic wasteland by day.

There were no lifts. Or, at least, they didn’t work anymore. So they were forced to climb the stairs, and his knee ached. He was used to it. But it forced him to slow down.

Standing further up the steps than him, Dylan traced back. Then she knelt down, her knee touching the wooden slats, only the fabric of her white dress preventing full contact.

“No, it’s okay, leave it—” he protested.

“Shh… Does this help?” She made circular motions with her hand beneath the bony structure of his knee, warmth radiating through his jeans. She blushed, eyes darting away from staring up at him while kneeling on the floor.

Isaak closed his eyes and leaned against the wall. “That… that’s actually very nice,” his cheeks warmed. “I…”

Dylan kept going, gently massaging around where it hurt, prodding and pushing his muscles.

He released the tension in his leg, and put his weight on the other one. He looked down at her, catching her looking at him.

She stopped massaging him, simply holding his leg with both hands.

“That’s so much better.”

She had soothed his pain with a smile on her face, giving him all the strength he needed to carry on.

“I should warn you,” he said as they approached the door, “he’s nowhere near as nice as Sacha.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

He pressed the doorbell for Jeff’s place.

The sound rang dull and kept going. No face appeared at the door. Soon, Isaak started pounding with full-fisted knocks, Dylan staring at him wide-eyed.

But it worked.

“Hey, hey!” Jeff said as he opened it. “Oh, it’s you. What do you want?”

There was something about Jeff that brought out this basic disgust in Isaak. It’s not that Jeff didn’t keep up with good hygiene – he did. But there was an air of unpleasantness that wouldn’t leave him.

Deep breath. “I need a favour.”

“I charge for those. You should know that, dude.” Jeff pushed back his frayed hair from his eyes.

Isaak still had a small amount of credits in his account, for a rainy day, and the weather forecast was looking pretty damn wet right now. But he could barely pay his bills, let alone bribe Jeff to help them. He didn’t really have a choice though.

Just as he went to flash the payment implant on his wrist, Dylan pushed on the door. “Let us in. We’re in a hurry.”

“Who’s the chick?”

Dylan’s brows pinched together as she gave him a death stare. “The ‘chick’ will kick your ass if you’re not careful.” Threat in her voice. That was new.

“Feisty one, aren’t you?” Jeff said without batting an eye. He gave her a once-over, his gaze following her curves, stopping to take note of her bare arms and legs. Isaak was ready to punch him himself if he didn’t behave. “Got a name?”

“Dylan.” She pushed on the door again. “Remember it. Now let us in.”

To Isaak’s surprise, Jeff unchained the door. “I’m just kidding with you guys. Come on in. Let’s hope your knocking woke up the neighbours!” he said, with a flash of his white teeth. He banged on his wall. “Wake up!”

Jeff was wearing a bright-green robe over cream pyjama bottoms and a white-and-black striped t-shirt, printed with the poster art for an animated movie from before the revolution, an ecological piece from a famous studio. Jeff was portly, but confidently so. He was puffing on a synthtube, the flavour impossible to discern.

It was unclear how many of his screws had come loose over the years.

From their previous encounters, what Isaak remembered most was that Jeff was really only concerned with one thing: Jeff.