THE SECRET OF DARK WEST
Compendium 2020 – Story 4
By Andrew Hawnt
“Show
me what my money has bought me,” Leonard Faraday demanded from
beneath the oversized brim of his dark grey hat. “I hate being here
as much as you love it.”
Benny
smirked. “Sure, Mr Faraday. Step over here and let's talk.”
Faraday
glanced at his two guards and nodded back towards the man sat on the
steps outside the slum of the Kiki Dee block. They followed him over
the street, the limo behind them sealing itself in a bulletproof
shell as they did. Benny grinned. He loved Faraday's theatrics.
“I
need to know if everything's ready. Are you going to deliver, or do I
find myself another willing business associate in Dark West?”
Benny
stood and glared down at Faraday, who was easily eight inches
shorter. “Now I know your boys are armed, Mr
Faraday, but don't think we aren't prepared. Dark West knows me,
looks out for me. There's no trouble here that doesn't get paid back,
understand?”
Faraday's
goons slid hands into pockets. Benny got the message.
“I got it all set up.” He
pointed to the sprawl of Edge One, its neon-bathed city spires
piercing the sky, some of its tallest structures making the fog that
hug around them glow with a pink and cyan haze. “That city won't
know what hit it. It's gonna be something else.”
“Midnight.
Everything is ready for midnight, yes?”
“Yes
sir,” Benny grinned. “The party will start at midnight on the
dot. Thirty-two minutes to go until your money pays off.
“It
had better be, Benjamin. Dark West has had more than its fair share
from me. Everything you wanted. Everything anyone involved wanted.
I've funded more sordid desires in the last three months with you
than any government in history.”
“We've
all got our wants, haven't we?”
“We
have indeed. Where are the troops?”
“What's
in it for us?”
Faraday
choked, outraged. “What? Are you asking for more? Now? Typical Dark
West ganger. I feed you. I supply your drugs and your whores and your
weapons and everything you needed to build what I asked for, now you
had better deliver it or these will be your final moments alive.”
Benny
glanced around at high windows and shadowy alcoves in the crumbling
apartment blocks and forgotten warehouses of the town he was part of.
He nodded.
The
shots were instantaneous, both hitting their targets perfectly,
tearing the heads off of Faraday's goons and toppling their corpses
like expensively dressed mannequins. Faraday stood screaming, his
coat soaked in blood and viscous chunks of brain and face.
“Stop
your screaming,” Benny said. He bounded closer to Faraday and
punched him square in the mouth, dislodging two teeth and splitting
the billionaire's lip. “Now you listen to Benny, rich man. Follow
me.”
Faraday
saw the laser sights now, their beams converging on him as Benny
sauntered around the corner from Kiki Dee block. He followed, trying
not to think of the gore that covered him or the fact that the pass
for the limo was in their coats somewhere. He focused on Benny.
Dark
West was even worse than he remembered. Gangs stared at him from
beneath filthy caps. Whores delirious on Stim and doses of White
Eyes. Buildings that were on the verge of crumbling. The husks of
burned cars. The boarded windows of businesses that had probably died
when their owners had. It was a long way from his penthouse in Edge
One.
“Here
we are,” Benny said, stopping beside a makeshift tent in the middle
of the street. He held an entrance flap open. “Come see where your
money went.”
“No,”
Faraday sneered. “You're only going to kill me. Why bother?”
Benny
stepped back towards him, slowly this time. “What did you think was
going to happen? You send money and drugs and guns and everything
else that makes people do stupid things into a town full of lost
people? You try and turn us into an army so you can take over Edge
One and live like a king? What about your faithful subjects, your
majesty? What would we get when you take over as king of the castle,
eh? You wouldn't give us another thought. You'd leave us to die.”
“I
gave you everything you wanted.”
“No,
Mr Leonard Farraday,” you gave us the things that would keep us
hooked, keep us hiding, keep us doing bad things so we wouldn't try
to leave Dark West. You didn't give us what we wanted. What we wanted
was a chance to be over there ourselves. To live clean and good lives
with real food and no disease. Be real people. What you did was take
advantage of the shit that people like you have forced us into and
made it worse for your own gain.”
“You're
scum. You and everyone in Dark West. You'll never change. You'll
never be part of Edge One. You're animals here. Animals in a slum
cage, where you belong.”
Benny
grabbed him by the lapel. “You know what you've got here?
Yeah, Dark West isn't somewhere you'd want to raise your kids, but
we're not stupid. We suffer. We think. We're angry. You know the
junkies and prostitutes and gangers and killers here? We've got
scientists among us. Engineers. Soldiers. Thinkers. You treat us like
animals so you can get your shot at the big leagues in Edge One, but
what if those leagues ceased to be?”
He
pulled Faraday into the tent, hesitated a moment, and flung the man
down the rough staircase that the tent was covering. Faraday landed
heavily on the floor of the subterranean chamber, twisted, spitting
blood and moaning in pain.
“It's
okay,” Benny smiled as he came down the steps. “Here's what your
money bought.”
Benny
pulled Faraday up, and other hands joined him. Faraday saw them then.
The people of Dark West. The secret beneath their streets. The secret
his money had built.
“Where's...
my army?”
“Who
needs an army when you can achieve the same goal with one shot?”
Faraday
was raised up and held in place with chains. More chains soon
crisscrossed his body as workers brought more. They made sure that
he would be the meat between Edge One and the detonator. The massive
charge was affixed to a heavy-duty steel platform, which was
connected to ancient railway tracks. Faraday could feel the hum of
reactors inside it. He knew the segmented surface of the monstrous
sphere meant that it would become much more than just one charge. It
would cause unimaginable devastation. Engines were powered and ready.
“Congratulations,”
Benny said flatly to the immobile Faraday as the engines were set in
motion. “You still get to be the man who brought down the city.”
Faraday's
screams could only be heard for a few seconds as the platform
accelerated underground, but the workers of Dark West knew they would
last all the way back to the foundations of Edge One.
===
©
Andrew Hawnt 2020
About
Compendium 2020:
Compendium
2020 is a project from author Andrew Hawnt and consists of 52 weekly
stories encompassing science fiction, fantasy and horror. They are a
mix of short stories and flash fiction, 100% original and written
throughout 2020. Why is he doing this? To keep the words flowing. To
keep the ideas coming. To see how far he can explore the worlds that
live in his head.
About
Andrew Hawnt:
You
can find Andrew on Facebook at facebook.com/andrewhawntauthor and on
Twitter and Instagram as @andrewhawnt. Formerly a musician and DJ,
Andrew is known for his books, comic book writing, music journalism
and more, including fiction in Doctor Who Adventures, the Judge Dredd
Megazine and others. Look out for his film work soon.
Comments