Page 117 of Anarchy Missing

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR – CASE

Something is wrong with me.

The rope, tight around my neck. Molly pulling on it. The barbs sinking into my flesh. Cutting deep.

The jellyfish injections.

Nanites.

I reach around to the back of my neck to the patch Sheila attached to monitor me.

The pills Thomas gave me.

“No,” I yell, pointing the weapon straight at her chest. Lulu startles and I take a step back.

I scare her.

“Lulu,” I say, torn between doing what the city wants and easing her fear.

She is nothing to you, the voice says in my head.

I want to argue, but at that same moment, something hits the front window of my house, making the glass shatter. I turn away from Lulu and send another explosive cartridge off towards the approaching helicopter. Lincoln is hanging out the side door, his arms weaponized and shooting projectiles. One after the other, after the other, into the SmartGlass of my house.

Weakness floods through my body. I shoot back, just barely missing the helicopter.

“Stop!” Lulu is right up next to me now, her cold—freezing cold—hands gripping my overheated body. “Stop! Case! That’s Sheila! And Lincoln! Thomas and Molly! You can’t hurt them.”

“I can hurt them,” I say, baring my teeth to her in a snarl. “I put an end to the inhibitor and I can hurt them.”

“But you don’t want to, Case.” Her words are softer than I deserve right now. I don’t understand all of this completely, but I do know that I don’t deserve her thoughtful understanding. “You don’t want to hurt them. You don’t want to hurt me, either. Or the people down in Cathedral City. You want to help them, remember? Clean it up and make it good?”

“What the fuck do you think I’m doing?” I yell. “I am cleaning it up!”

“No,” she insists, still tugging on my arm. There’s steam coming off her hands from the heat trapped inside me. She’s gonna have burns all over her palms if she holds on any longer.

I shrug her off. “Don’t touch me.”

“Why?” she asks, making another grab for my arm. “Why shouldn’t I touch you? Tell me why.”

“Because you’re going to burn your hands, Lulu.”

“Why do you care if I burn my hands? You’re killing everyone, Case. You’ve been corrupted by some secret computer that weaseled its way into your house, and your company, and then finally your body. You’re being controlled, Case! Wake the fuck up!”

The helicopter swoops around in a wide arc just above my head. My trigger finger shoots automatically. Lulu jerks my arm, her hands still gripping hard. The projectile soars past the helicopter, allowing Lincoln just enough time to drop onto the roof.

My rage at her interference fills me up. Like I’m a deep, deep well of hate and anger. And when Thomas climbs over the side of the roof, I’m fully consumed with hate.

“Stay the fuck back!” I yell, pointing my weapon at all of them, one at a time.

“No,” Thomas says, shaking his head. “No. We’re not gonna—”

I shoot him. I shoot him and it feels so fucking good.

He goes flying back, skidding across the ice and snow on the roof, until he comes to a stop, his head pushed up against the lip of the roof.

“What are you doing, Case?” Lincoln asks, circling me. “You can’t kill him, you know this.”

I laugh. “Really?” I say, nodding my head to Thomas’s slumped body.