The hotel entrance was a mess of broken glass and twisted metal. Zarek stepped inside, iron pipe in hand.
The lobby was dark. Suitcases and clothes were scattered across the floor, and a trail of black blood led toward the stairs.
He picked up a bottle of water and an energy bar from one of the bags.
"Good enough."
A scream came from somewhere above.
Zarek looked up. It was cut short. Then came a heavy thud.
He smiled and started up the stairs. Two steps at a time.
The fourth floor was almost completely dark. A broken emergency light flickered at the end of the hallway.
Zarek took a few steps forward.
Something moved above him.
He looked up.
Too late.
A black shape crashed down from the ceiling.
Zarek raised his arms, but the impact still sent him flying backward.
His spine slammed into the iron railing.
"Fuck!"
The thing landed on him.
It was humanoid, but barely. Its skin was gone in several places, exposing wet gray flesh underneath. Its arms were too long, and sharp bone spikes grew from its fingers.
One of those spikes punched into Zarek’s shoulder.
Blood poured down his arm.
The creature opened its mouth.
Its jaw split sideways.
Zarek shoved his forearm into its mouth before it could bite his face.
The teeth sank into his flesh.
His face twisted.
"Fuck!"
The monster pushed harder.
Zarek’s back dug into the railing.
Its claws scratched across his chest as it tried to tear him apart.
Zarek grabbed the pipe with his free hand.
He swung.
CRACK!
The pipe smashed into the side of its head.
The creature jerked sideways but didn’t fall.
It screamed.
Zarek swung again.
CRACK!
This time, part of its skull caved in.
Gray fluid splashed across his face.
The monster clawed at him wildly.
One spike scraped across his cheek.
Zarek grabbed its throat.
"Stay still!"
He slammed its head against the floor.
BAM!
The creature thrashed.
BAM!
Again.
Its claws dug into his shoulder.
Zarek gritted his teeth and raised the pipe.
The creature snapped at his face.
He jammed the pipe between its jaws.
Its teeth clamped down on the metal.
Zarek pushed.
The monster pushed back.
For a moment, neither moved.
Its claws tore deeper into his shoulder.
Blood ran down his arm.
Zarek’s grip tightened.
"You’re fucking strong."
The creature suddenly twisted its body and threw him sideways.
Zarek hit the floor hard.
The pipe flew from his hand.
The monster charged.
He rolled away.
Its claws smashed into the floor where his head had been.
Zarek kicked its stomach.
The creature barely moved.
"Shit."
It turned and swung.
Zarek ducked.
The bone spike passed over his head.
He punched it in the ribs.
Nothing.
The creature grabbed his shirt and threw him into the wall.
The back of his head struck the plaster.
His vision blurred.
The monster rushed toward him.
Zarek saw the pipe lying a few feet away.
He pushed himself up.
The creature lunged.
He stepped aside.
Its claws smashed into the wall.
Zarek grabbed the pipe.
He swung at its knee.
CRACK!
The leg bent sideways.
The creature stumbled.
Zarek didn’t give it time to recover.
He swung again.
CRACK!
The pipe smashed into its ribs.
The monster screamed and crashed against the wall.
Zarek rushed forward and drove his shoulder into it.
Both of them hit the floor.
The creature rolled over him and pinned him down.
Its mouth opened.
Zarek shoved both hands against its jaw.
The teeth stopped inches from his face.
The monster pushed down.
His arms shook.
His shoulder burned.
His chest felt like it was being crushed.
"Get..."
The jaws moved closer.
"...the fuck..."
Closer.
"...OFF ME!"
Zarek roared and twisted his body.
The monster lost its balance.
Zarek rolled with it.
His hand found the pipe.
He grabbed it and drove the bent end straight into the creature’s mouth.
The monster screamed.
Zarek pushed harder.
The pipe tore through the roof of its mouth.
Blood exploded across his hands.
The creature thrashed violently.
Zarek held on.
"Die!"
He drove the pipe deeper.
CRUNCH!
The creature suddenly went still.
Its claws loosened.
Its body collapsed on top of him.
Zarek lay there for several seconds, breathing heavily.
Then he shoved the corpse away.
He sat up.
Blood covered his face, his arms, and most of his torn jumpsuit.
His shoulder was still bleeding.
Zarek wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
Then he laughed.
"Fuck... this is getting interesting."
A sob came from the far end of the hall, behind room 412.
Heavy furniture scraped against a door.
He spat blood on the corpse and kept walking.
The door was half-splintered already, the frame warped inward. He kicked it once beside the handle and the lock gave. It swung open and banged against the wall.
The room was wrecked. A mattress had been ripped open, springs sticking out like rusted ribs. In the corner by the bathroom stood a young woman with tangled, sweat-soaked hair, her clothes torn and gray with plaster dust. A strip of bedsheet was wrapped around her forearm, soaked through. Her lips were cracked. She held a heavy brass lamp in both hands like a club, and her arms were shaking so hard it rattled against the wall.
A smaller mutant dog lay on the floor beside her with its skull caved in. A marble ashtray sat next to it, wet with black blood. She had done that alone.
Her bloodshot eyes went to the pipe in his hand, then the gore on his neck, then his face.
"Who are you?" Her voice cracked. She raised the lamp. "Why are you here?"
Zarek stepped inside and kicked a piece of broken wood out of his way. He didn’t look at the lamp. His eyes moved over her instead: the battered frame, the sharp chin, the wild, stubborn look in her eyes.
"What do you think?"
He smiled.
"A world with no rules." He took a step closer. "A lone young man... full of vigor and desire."
The colour left her face. She backed into the corner until her shoulder hit the drywall, and the lamp sagged a few inches as terror pushed out the anger.
Zarek stopped two feet away. Only now did he request it.
Potential Assessment.
A translucent panel opened over her shaking body.
[Target Identified: Elsa.]
[Potential: Extremely High.]
[Growth Capacity: Exceptional.]
[Combat Potential: High.]
[Investment Viability: Extremely High.]
She hadn’t told him her name.
He read the rest twice. So this was what the system had flagged. A starving girl with a broken lamp who had killed a mutant with an ashtray and was still standing. He kept his face still and let the panel fade before she could catch anything in it.
"Please," she whispered. "I don’t have anything. There’s no money here. Take what’s in the drawers, just don’t..."
"I don’t want paper money." He tossed the water and the energy bar onto the desk beside her, where they landed with a thud.
She stared at them, then at him. "Why are you giving me this?"
"Because I found you interesting." He rested the pipe on his shoulder. "I can give you food, clean water, medicine, a weapon that isn’t a lamp, a roof that stays up. I can keep you alive while the rest of this city rots."
Hope flickered across her face for half a second, then died when she saw his eyes.
"What do you want?"
"You do what I tell you. All of it, no questions." He let his eyes drop over her face and come back up. "That includes my bed. Whenever I want you in it."
The room went silent. Her lips parted, and the disgust on her face was plain, with a hopeless panic under it.
"And if I say no?" Her voice shook. "If I tell you to get out?"
He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t look angry. He looked like a man being asked about the weather.
"Then I still want what I want. I’ll take it, and then I’ll leave." He tilted his head toward the corridor, where screams still drifted up the stairs. "And you’ll still be here. Maybe another one of those things comes up next. Maybe a man. They’ll want things too, and nobody’s checking what anyone does anymore. I’m just telling you up front. Maybe next time it won’t be one man. Maybe it’ll be a group. What do you think will happen to you? They’ll use you again and again. Even if you go numb, they won’t stop."
Her breath hitched. Just imagining it terrified her. If that really happened... no, no... Tears she had been holding back finally spilled down her cheeks.
"Cry if you want," Zarek said. "It doesn’t change the price."
He turned and walked toward the shattered doorway without waiting for an answer. "Eat. I’ll be back."
She didn’t touch the water. She didn’t look away from him either.
He stepped out and pulled the broken door half shut behind him. The cut on his shoulder burned with every step down the corridor, and he was smiling.
Extremely high potential.
He tightened his grip on the pipe.
Let’s see what you’re worth.