Hunted|Haunted - Chapter 15 - Mail, package, baggage

The dryness and warmth of the mail train quickly put both of them to sleep, and empty sacks weren't all that bad to sleep on.

Surprisingly, this time Nex wasn't woken up, which unnerved him enough to wake up early (by his standards anyway) on his own. What he saw made him unsure he did, though.

Despite Tove scaring him out of his mind just a couple of hours ago, now Toma was happily playing a makeshift board game with her. Cogs was sitting nearby, supervising, or just overlooking both of them, and Neven seemed to still be asleep. As soon as the toy moved, Tove stopped the game and pulled Neven out.

— Okay, brother, spill the beans.
— What?
— Are you deaf or sommen? You say that a lot.
— I don't understand at least half of each sentence coming out of your mouth.
— Damn, didja die that long ago?
— For gods' sake, why does everyone keep calling me old… My environment only ever spoke Old Vex, the fact that I speak this much Redar is already a miracle.
— Okie, I'll talk like my momma's momma. You're weird, suspicious and all that, and either you stop with the secrecy and tell how it is, or we'll have lotta problems. Cuz the way you're being doesn't exactly help the thing we're trying to do.
— Since when are you involved in the search?
— Since brother hole bowl over there told me eeny's looking for his dad. Not good to have eenys separated from family for long. And, well, between the lot of you, no one can swing, and the way you're going, you'll need it at least once, so I better stick around. Don't get me wrong, brother hole bowl, ya swing alright, but I fold storage containers barehanded.

Cogs chuckled at “hole bowl”, but nodded, waving his hand in a universal “no offence taken” gesture.

— So yeah, spill the beans.
— I'm not keeping any secrets.
— So not only you're a dumbass, but also a liar.
— … Have it your way. What do you want to know?
— For starters, who are you to the kid?
— His father's twin brother.
— WHAT?! — Toma almost chirped.
— … I get why you're shocked, your mum explicitly told me to hide the fact, but what is your problem?
— You never mentioned that! —Cogs said.
— Which part of “he looks like me but with a beard” and me referring to "our" father makes it sound like we are not related?
— But why does dad have a different surname?
— Our father disowned him a long time ago, and not wanting to have anything to do with him, Krsto changed his name. What else am I “hiding” from you?
— Ey, don't look at me like that, all of that is new to me. How'd you die?
— Neven Lowac happened to die in the Lowac massacre. Strange, isn't it?

His tone seething with scorn, his words like hungry coyotes gnawing at their prey.

— … Do you want to find dad to kill him back?
— He did not kill me.
— Well, he caused the massacre.
— He did not kill me. That is the end of it. I want to find Krsto for the same reasons you do, because I believe he is supposed to be with his family.
— You're being very not secretive right now – in her mockery, Tove tried to poke at Neven, narrowly missing the safe part of his chest and digging her finger deep into the bullet wound.

Tove flinched, shell-shocked, for once completely assembled and empty-eyed.

— I'm sorry for touching you. Ever. I won't.

And went to sit in the far corner of the wagon, staring somewhere beyond the horizon. Her index finger was no longer connected to the hand, floating a bit to the left.

— Good to know I am the weird and suspicious one here. Give me some peace for once.

Neven returned to his place inside the toy.

— Why were you awake during that? — Her voice was quiet and shaky – You're not supposed to see your insides and stay alive, why did she keep you awake?
— She preferred to erase my memories later, but she never quite had the time to actually get to that.
— Were there others?
— Probably. I wouldn't know.
— The fuck just happened? — Cogs contemplated.
— Trust me, brother hole bowl, you're better off confused.
— You referring to everyone like brother this or brother that, makes it sound like we're monks.
— Are you against that, brother tinyfluff? — Tove seemed to return to her usual, jolly state.

Nex, who just quietly observed what was happening from his sitting position, finally remembered that he had a body he needed to move, stirring and stretching his limbs.

— Morning or whatever… How long has it been? — He meant to ask how long they've been on the train for, but he was too tired to speak long sentences. Despite waking up not that long ago.
— You're the only one with a watch, so “a while”, I guess, but the sun is up.
— Right… — Nex blinked under the mask, then rolled up his sleeve, checking the time. — A while indeed… — It's been five hours since they left savtpunks.
— We have been stopping a lot, so we still have some time to go.
— Good… — Nex nodded, yawning under the mask. — Thought we’d missed it… — A familiar itch started somewhere inside his brain. An itch he couldn't scratch. He reached into the pocket of his jacket, where the blister with pills was located… And froze in place when all his hand grasped was emptiness. — What the…
— Looking for this? — Cogs showed his hand, holding precisely the blister with the pills Nex was looking for.

Nexialist felt his eye twitch.

— Dude, you weren't about to shoot up in front of the kid, were you? Not cool.
— I wasn't- I don't even use needles! — Nex screamed in indignation. — And I need this to focus, so cut the bullcrap!
— Nuh-uh, you don’t.
— What’y’re need to focus on, there ain't even any mail left in this wagon. — Which Tove found out having spent the night bored out of her mind.
— Yeah? Well, what if someone comes to check the wagon?!
— If you don’t yell like crazy, they don’t.
— What's the problem with stimulants, again? — Makes sense Neven didn’t know that. Or maybe he did. You know, before all the stimulants.
— Brother, you saw your own liver in a jar, you shut up about medicine.
— Sure, sure… Not like I'm getting parenting advice from a desecrated bitch, who barely lived enough to grow a third branch.
— Why are you fighting so much? And don't call her that!
— No, kid, that's- that's the appropriate word here, I am a canine female, that's what one of them is called. But also, fellow canid, fuck off? You're the closest to being the kid's parent, and you're defending the only alive adult taking drugs?
— Nex, were you under the influence during the time that I've known you? Yes? Great, I don't care. He can tell the kid apart from a cat, and in the fight between the two, Toma would've won.

Nex felt increasing frustration, but Cogs only looked at him, then at Toma and nodded in agreement.

— Yea, no offence Nex, but the only person you’d beat in a fight would be somebody without legs. And don’t you even start.
— .. Okie, I see your point. — Tove said without much emotion to it.
…
— What?
— That one definitely already existed, dude, think.

That's when it dawned on Neven. Tove was not, in fact, picking a fight.

— You are aware we're having an argument, right?
— Since when?
…
— Just to clarify. Yesterday's fight was an act of aggression?
— Not really? But, eh, I've been told my enthusiasm looks scary as all fuck, and, like, dude, you're the first dead dude I've met that feels pain.

Never has Neven felt this confused in his entire life.

 

— And for others, it feels like…?
— Like when your leg fell asleep, but you're hip deep in beer, had some beer, and also kinda nice because you hadn't felt anything in 20 years.
— Or sometimes also like it tickles, but you forgot what tickling is, and now something just slightly scratches your skin.
…
Eventually, he facepalmed so hard the doll fell through him.
— Sonovabitch, you befriend like that?!
— I guess so, sonovawitch.
— You're not very good at making friends. — Toma concluded.

A new, sudden itch pulled Nex's attention away from his pills, which were still held by Cogs. On his hand, as if written with an invisible pen, appeared red, blistering words.

I know your name.

— I. Grobar

— What the…? — unsure if this wasn't another of his hallucinations, he tried to scratch it off, only breaking the skin and spilling sticky lymph fluid. — Am I tweaking?

Toma has gone pale.

— That's mum's handwriting.
— How much do I have left?
— Imeje's not the kind to lethally curse. I'd say you'll have problems when she sees you.
— Damn, that's an ominous thing to write. Why not just, I dunno, actually do something? — Cogs said.
— The thing is, if she knows his name, she probably did. To what extent, though, remains a mystery.
— Can you not discuss this as if I'm not here being cursed with leprosy or some shit?!
— Leprosy? Don't kid yourself, we aren't barbarians.
— Dawg, my dearest motherfucker, you're probably the only one in the 20-mile radius who had anything to do with curses here.
— Well, think about it, what good is it to her to potentially expose her child to leprosy? Putting a kuzha bait on him is way less dangerous to Toma.
— You're like, doing the opposite of helping here, dunno if you noticed, but rikki-tweaky-tavi over there is about to have a stroke.
— THE FUCK IS A KUZHA?!
— Fucks sake, NEX, CALM YOUR TITS AND LET ME SEE IT. — Cogs moved, trying to look at what was now written on Nex’s hand. Then, after some looking and thinking, he asked, thoughtfully scratching his temple and not less thoughtfully holding the pills far enough that Nex couldn’t reach them. — So… Breathe. Think. Which name out of however many there are does she know?
— Fuck me if I know. — Nexialist grumbled, coiling on himself more. But then added, now more a curled ball of fabric and limbs than anything resembling a human. — Nario street one, probably. It would make sense, it’s most recently used...
— Alright. This means she doesn’t really know who you are. — Cogs tried to reach for Nex’s shoulder and even partially succeeded. Partially because his fingers slightly passed through it. — You’re safe. Well, as safe as it can get with an angry parent chasing your ass, but still – for now you’re in the clear.

Neven attempted to say something, but was swiftly slapped into the next wagon.

— Brother tinyfluf, any tips on countering curses?
— Tell an adult.
— Anything else?
— Uhh.. Iron does something.
— What does it do?
— I don't remember.
— Didn't you say you won't touch me? — Neven said, still rubbing his cheek.
— This is an emergency.
— This is stupid.
— Both, probably, but still, how about you wait with your revelation for like 10 minutes?
— I can't believe I bother…
— You better believe it, and fast. — Cogs, still hovering over Nex, turned his neck in a very humans-should n’t-be-able-to-do-that way and gave Neven a Look, crosses on his LED becoming something resembling angry eyes. — Or we are dumping you for Mrs. Grobar to find.

Neven, however, had experienced far worse looks in his life and was left unimpressed.

 

— Sure. Don't forget to give her a call, that we split ways. Or, you know, leave her a reminder to release the curse.
— Stop it already! Nothing of this matters! Harvey has anti-curse stuff anyway! — Toma shrieked at the top of his lungs.
— How are you so su-
— MUM SAID UNCLE HARVEY IS A CRAB-HANDED DUMBASS!
— …Makes all kinds of sense, actually. Thanks, kid. — Cogs thought for one more moment, then nodded and turned back to Nex, who was still curled on the floor and slightly trembling, trying to talk in a more comforting tone. — See, bro? Nothing that can’t be fixed. You won’t die, you probably won’t get maimed, and maybe you still can un-curse yourself. Or buy something that protects you from that.
— …Just shut up and give me my pills. — Nex eventually mumbled. — I don’t want to have capacity to care about anything right fucking now.

Cogs sighed, but, not seeing a better option, put a blister into one of the limbs that poked slightly out of the tightly curled mess.

— Fine. Dumb of ass.
— Says who?
— Touché.

Pulling Neven in the next wagon, Tove whispered.

— Okay, I'm hella curious what that revelation was.
— Don't want to wait to find out?
— Aren't we snarky?
— Buy my politeness.
— I'm babysitting them both for the next 4 hours.
— 3 hours, but no touching.
— Eh, sure.
— I am serious, the next time you touch me, I'm clawing your eyes out.
— Damn, I didn't slap you that hard.
— Hard enough to make me re-... Forget it.
— We have to find you a ghost girlfriend, dude. So, what was it?
— All names are equal if they are used.
— Oh, he's so fucked…

The train eventually came to a stop in a maintenance territory similar to the one they boarded in. Another twenty minutes of walking next to the tracks should lead them to the station.