"I need my hands right now, honey. I'm going to put the phone down," Kai said.
"Please don't."
Kai looked down. It was about a hundred feet to the pavement. In one hand, she held on to a little piece of decorative brick that jutted out from the building. In the other, she held a cell phone.
"I really need to."
"Don't you have your headset with you?"
Kai tried not to yell at her. Her fingers were getting numb. She had to put the phone down and get her hands moving again, or she was going to take a nice long pavement dive.
"I'll call you as soon as I get to the next ledge."
"Hurry."
If I hurry, I'm dead, sweetypie. She snapped the phone shut and felt for a pocket, trying not to look down. Her shirt had folded over; she couldn't get it in. Her eyes flicked to her hip. That was no pocket. She'd been trying to stuff it into the seam of her pants. She aimed it at the tight pocket, feeling the thing against her leg, not looking farther than that.
There was a gust of wind right as she loosened her grip to tuck it in; it almost lifted her off her feet. It buffeted her ears, deafening her, lashing hair across her face like a whip. But her thumb and forefinger clamped down in a death grip over the little plastic phone and she didn't lose it. She was almost as scared of losing the phone as she was of falling. In a way, more scared.
If you'd been wearing baggy clothes instead of your hot jogger getup, that wind would have plucked you off the building like nothing. You'd be falling right now, and you still wouldn't have hit the ground.
She grimaced through her teeth at the brick.
There are worse ways to die. Think about those. She did. It helped her climb.
Her other hand, the one on the building, didn't panic. It knew what to do. She was a rock climber, by hobby and trade. Her body knew how to navigate the hard places. There was another gust, just as strong; this time, she hardly noticed it. This was between her and the brick. Wind wasn't invited.
She risked another look down. People wandered around on the street, mostly women, mostly aimless. Mostly ignoring her. There was a small crowd, though, that didn't. They stood on the sidewalk, directly below her, and smiled up at her. They'd been wearing that same smile for the last fifteen minutes. They hadn't moved. Kai was pretty sure they hadn't even blinked.
There was a lull in the wind; she felt for another handhold, found it, latched on just as it started up again. Not yet, ladies. The ocean wind was relentless but she was getting the rhythm. She was learning to anticipate the lulls. It never stopped, not in this city, but there were spaces in between.
There were two possible scenarios if she fell. The best case would be if she cracked her skull, her neck, and her spine all at the same time and died instantly.
The worst case would be if they caught her.
She'd been having such a nice day before everyone went insane.
---
The men were all gone. They had-- each and every one of them-- marched out of the building, single file, and gone somewhere. Like drones. They were doing the dirty work of this little apocalypse. She saw some of them, a few streets over, smashing in the doors and windows of a barricaded building. A little army.
The women stayed at home and converted each other.
Gee, I sure do love misogynistic aliens. Or viruses. Or whatever caused it.
So she didn't have to worry about the maintenance man, a hairy bear of a man, or that creepy guy down on the third floor who had put a webcam in his peephole to record everyone walking by outside. She had to worry about Jan, the bible student from next door, and Tricia, the redhead from across the hall.
She was pretty sure she could take any one of them-- alone. Problem was they didn't act alone. They didn't communicate telepathically or anything-- but if five of them saw you, five of them would come for you. Together. They would hold you down. Together. You'd be covered in a pile of woman, each of them holding a limb to the floor, maybe one wrapped around your waist, hugging you like a big teddy bear-- each of them smiling like you were trading secrets.
It seemed like such an innocuous thing. Kai was sure that many women, in the last moment that they owned their minds, had been comforted by it. You went out pressed under warm flesh, not with cold wires buried in your head. And you went out with a kiss.
That's how they did it. A kiss. Kai wasn't sure how it worked-- maybe it was a chemical in their system, maybe it was-- and she tried not to think it, but there it was-- their tongues-- but that's how it happened. She'd seen it happen.
It was, not coincidentally, why she was currently clinging to the outside of her apartment building, somewhere between the eighth and ninth floors.
---
"Give us a kiss", is what the woman had said. Kai heard it, clearly, through the bathroom door. She was at Simone's place, after their afternoon jog. It was a ritual: jog for a half hour, come back to Simone's, ruin it with ice cream.
"Are you drunk?" Simone's voice filtered through the wood. Kai finished washing her face, patted it with a towel, and went out. Simone was by the door with another woman.
"Kai, this is my, um, neighbor."
The woman's face was flushed. She was grinning, ear to ear, staring at Simone, with her head tilted ever so slightly to the side. The blush went all the way to the tips of her ears. That girl had either just run a marathon or had the best sex of her life.
"Just one," the woman sighed, and leaned in. Simone held her by the shoulders, at arm's length, and laughed. The woman let herself be grabbed. She seemed to enjoy it. Her body had that fluidity of the highly inebriated; a ripple radiated out from Simone's hands, down the woman's arms and stomach, past her hips, right through her knees.
"My drunk neighbor. Patti? You need to go home and sleep it off. You hearing me?"
Patti nodded.
"Come with me," Patti said.
"I never get tired of meeting your friends," Kai said. She passed them on her way to the kitchen. It didn't seem strange, not after the shit they'd already seen that day. It was October 26th but the whole city was acting like it was the first day of spring. No, like horny teenagers alone in their parents' house with a bottle of rum on the first day of spring.
They'd passed girls making out on park benches; couples groping in doorways; one lucky guy on a street corner with two girls (who couldn't have been a day over nineteen) clinging to him; a crossing guard kissing a plump old woman; their own doorman, Walt, frenching the hot club chick from the first floor. Nice going, Walt! Score!
It was just enough to be out of the ordinary, but not enough to write a book about. They'd had calories to burn.
Kai dug in the freezer.
"Um, hi, do I know you?" Simone's voice came from the living room. Kai shoved aside some frozen dinners to get at the cartons of ice cream. Mmmm. Chunky Monkey. "Is this a friend of yours?" She looked for a spoon. No little teaspoon was going to do; she wanted a tablespoon. Something with a nice sturdy handle. Ice cream wasn't going to be eaten, it was going to be shoveled.
"Hey. Hey." Simone's voice rose. Kai paused in front of the silverware drawer, listening. "HEY." She put the carton down. "Kai--"
Kai dropped the spoon and ran into the living room.
Another woman was there, in the doorway, behind Simone. Her arms were wrapped around Simone's, pinning her elbows to her sides. Simone's upper body strained in the tight T-shirt. She was struggling. Patti was in front, leaning into her. No, pressing against her like a lover, one hand on her cheek, one leg trailing up like a tango dancer, her breasts dragging up Simone's stomach.
The hand on Simone's face suddenly gripped her chin, and Patti's head snaked forward. She kissed Simone square on the lips. Simone yelled into her mouth: "Kai--" Patti's tongue darted in. Her hand squeezed Simone's ass through the spandex jogging shorts.
"What the fuck is going on here?"
Patti and the other woman let go at the same time. Simone spat and bent over.
Kai was across the room in a heartbeat; she seized Patti by the arms and threw her into the hall; Patti sailed backwards like a sack of grain, her heels barely touching the carpet. Her back and head struck the plaster on the other side of the hall; it shook the wall. But her face... she absorbed the pain like a caress. She breathed in. She looked like she'd just been spanked. She looked like she wanted more.
Kai shoved the other woman out the door. The other woman let herself be shoved. Kai put her hand on Simone's back.
"Are you ok?"
"...no..." she coughed.
"Go sober up, you stupid cunts," she said through her teeth. They just looked at her. She shut the door. It didn't occur to her to lock it.
That was, in retrospect, a mistake.
She rubbed her friend's back.
"Who was that other woman?"
"I don't..." she coughed, "know." She straightened up, looked at Kai, and then her eyes unfocused and she stumbled back against the wall. Her head tilted to the side; she slid down.
"Simone?" Kai dropped to her knees beside her. "You ok?" Simone's head lolled; her eyelids drooped. Kai patted her cheek. "Simone?"
Simone's eyes rolled up.
"I'm calling an ambulance." But she was afraid to let go; Simone was going limp. Her head fell forward. Nope, this was a time to get the fucking phone. Kai let go and leaped across the room for the phone, dialing 9-1-1 as she ran back to her friend. It was busy.
9-1-1 was busy.
"Goddamn it!" She tried again. Busy again. She put it on auto-dial and left it speaker-up on the floor beside them. The one that had her from behind must have collapsed her lung, squeezing her like that. She was going to have to give her mouth to mouth.
"I'm going to lean you back, ok girl?"
Simone answered by going totally limp. Oh, shit. Don't do that. Do the opposite of that. Kai turned her to the side and laid her down, cradling her head. Don't die. She pinched her friend's nose and tilted her head back. All because I just had to have ice cream right at that moment. Simone's lips parted.
Kai took a breath and leaned forward. But just before their lips touched, Simone's body spasmed; her eyes opened wide, her back arched, her lips sucked in air. Her hands balled into fists and her legs squeezed together, making her thigh muscles stand out through the black elastic fabric.
And if your lips had touched, you'd be like her now.
"You ok?"
Simone's eyes focused. She didn't answer.
"Hey, can you hear me?"
Simone looked at her. She was blushing. She smiled, and put her arms around Kai's neck. Kai mistook it for a hug, and hugged back.
"You scared the shit out of me," she said into the woman's neck. It was still sweaty from the jog.
"Mm." Simone broke the embrace, but kept her fingers laced behind Kai's neck.
"I am going to go find those cunts and kick their asses."
"No, stay," Simone sighed. She looked radiant, a young girl in love. Her grip tightened. She pulled Kai's face towards hers.
"Heh. I think you're still a little out of it. Though I have been mistaken for Prince Charming once or twice, it's true." Their noses touched. Kai let herself be pulled; recently almost-dead friends were allowed to act weird.
"Give us a kiss," Simone whispered. Their lips were so close she could feel the woman's breath. Kai jerked her head back.
"What did you say?"
"Just one." She tried to pull Kai back down. Kai wasn't being pulled.
"I'm calling an ambulance anyway. I think you're delirious from lack of oxygen or something, or maybe a vessel burst in there or--" She looked at the phone. It was still on auto-dial; 9-1-1 was still busy. Must be a big day for prank calls. Nice. It's probably a herd of old ladies, tying up the line because they can't find their car keys while my friend almost dies.
She got up. Simone held on for as long as she could, then the grip broke; she didn't seem to be at full strength. Her movement had a slow, dreamlike quality to it. Kai watched as she rolled over and got up. She seemed to be enjoying the movement itself, like... a lot like the bitch she'd just thrown into the hall, actually.
Simone walked towards her, falling into every step like she was underwater.
"Please give us a kiss?" she asked politely.
"You are starting to freak me right the hell out. Come on, we're going to my place. We'll keep trying an ambulance there. I don't want you to be alone right now."
"No, we don't want to be either." She reached out. Kai took her wrists and held them at her sides, as gently as she could. Simone let herself be handled. She seemed to like it.
"I think you should--"
The door opened.
It was Patti and the woman from before, and another woman. They stood in the doorway wearing identical grins.
"Will you give us--"
"Oh I'll give you a kiss all right," Kai growled. She motioned to the woman that had grabbed Simone. "Come here."
But Simone's arms were around her again. Simone's face nuzzled her neck.
"This one will give us a kiss," Simone said.
Kai's skin turned cold. She pushed her friend away. The three women entered the room.
In the hall, two more women passed the doorway, saw them, came back. The six of them looked at her.
Kai put the couch between them. They split up without breaking step, three coming around each side. She looked at Simone. Simone looked back. She wore the exact same expression as the rest.
She just wanted a kiss.
"I don't know what the fuck is going on here, but the first one of you to come near me is going down. Then the second one." They didn't pause. They didn't seem to mind that idea at all-- and judging by the way Patti had enjoyed being thrown against the wall, Kai guessed they really wouldn't mind.
She backed against the window.
"I'm warning you." The ones in front were close enough to reach out and touch her. They did.
Then Kai did the thing that had kept her mind free until now. A little thing clicked on deep inside her head. She'd been able to do that since she was a kid; it was one of the reasons she'd become a rock climber. That little switch would flip, she'd see the entire situation, and she'd react. It had saved her from being hit by a car once; it had saved more than one of her climbing partners.
Her mind looked at the situation, ignored how insane it was, made a judgment, and then her body reacted.
She threw the window open and climbed out. Hands grabbed at her shirt. She kicked at them and edged out onto the ledge. She didn't look down. She knew how far it was.
Four heads poked out the window. Simone's was one of them. Behind them, the other two (or was it three by then? more?) crowded in, trying to find a place.
Kai edged out until she reached the corner of the building. Then she looked up and judged how far it was to the tenth floor.
---
It was amazingly quiet on the street below. Sometimes she'd hear a scream from a neighboring building, but the streets were dead calm. No one was trying to get out anymore; they were locking themselves in.
Not how I pictured the end of the world, but prom didn't turn out how I imagined it either.
She guessed it had started sometime that morning and had built from there. Cascaded exponentially. They should have noticed something while they were out running. But they'd been in the zone. Sure, they'd seen the makeout sessions, but they didn't look like end of the world makeout sessions. She wondered how many women had reached out for her and Simone as they ran by, just a hair too fast, oblivious that they were being chased.
Kai looked up and judged the distance again.
She was on the ninth floor, making a diagonal towards her apartment. Her roommate, Holly, was in there, scared stiff. Mostly because Kai had scared her stiff with the phone call, but, apparently it was on the news too.
The authorities were thinking of quarantining Boston, but their chance had come and gone hours ago. Kai doubted that they'd said that part on the news. By the time anyone important found out that something big was happening, it would have already spread to thirty major cities around the world.
The trains to New York ran all day. It was a short ride, not much longer than a shuttle flight-- and the shuttles ran all day too: to New York, Washington D.C., Newark. Holly said that Logan Airport had been shut down in the last hour, so that only left, oh, a few thousand flights that had made it out into the wide world.
The nonstop flights to LA would still be in the air. The earlier flights to Chicago and Dallas would have landed hours ago; the later would still be in the air. The British Air flights would be at almost 40,000 feet, on their way to London. Lufthansa to Frankfurt. KLM to Amsterdam. Alitalia to Milan. Aer Lingus to Dublin.
But Chicago was the real killer. Connecting flights went out of there to... well, everywhere. People were already on those connecting flights, and they were just now locking down Logan.
And they were going to try to quarantine all of New York and Boston? Kai snickered at the brick. She'd be safer, clinging to that ledge, than most people around the world, if she could hang on that long.
"Hey!" A voice shouted from somewhere behind her. Kai turned her head. A woman was leaning out a window from a building across the street.
Hi. Pardon me if I don't wave.
"Are you still... normal?"
Kai nodded. But the woman was making a fuck of a lot of noise. She tightened her right hand on the mortar, then let go with her left so she could put a finger to her lips.
Be quiet! They'll hear you!
"I thought I was the only one!" The woman shouted through the wind.
Quiet! Kai smacked the finger against her lips to give the dumb, panicked broad the idea. The woman cocked her head.
"Do you need help?"
No, I'm fine. Insert Spiderwoman joke here.
"Maybe I could get over there! We could team up! I have a gun!"
That's nice. How many bullets do you have? How good is your aim?
"I have--" The woman cut the sentence short and spun. She faced away from the window, towards her front door. Kai couldn't hear what the woman heard, but she didn't need to.
Hope you don't have any mistletoe around, lady.
Kai heard the faint crack as the woman's door burst open. The women outside hadn't smashed it open-- no, the women who were affected seemed to do everything slowly, languorously, with relish. No, the door had broken because so many of them had been leaning on it.
"Get back!" Flashes filled the apartment, followed quickly by the smacking report of gunfire. It echoed between the buildings, down the street. Kai counted. Six. That's how many bullets she'd had. She'd probably only hit a couple of them, if that.
"Get away from me!" The woman threw the gun, then ran to the window. She looked at Kai. Kai just watched. The woman climbed onto the sill. The throng reached for her.
She jumped. Kai turned her head away. She put her forehead against the brick.
She should have been too high up to hear the thud, but she heard it anyway.
Guess she wasn't so stupid after all.
---
Her cell rang. She was just below the tenth floor ledge. Once she was up there, it would be a short walk to her window. She got a foothold and answered it.
"Where are you?"
"Almost there. Just stay quiet." Neither of them found it ironic that Kai, hanging from the outside of the building by her fingers and toes, was comforting Holly, up in the dark safety of their apartment. It wasn't ironic. It was who they were.
"The news says they've lost contact with most of the city. The local stations have stopped broadcasting. I've been watching national."
"You should put on something like Comedy Central, sweety."
"Don't wanna."
Kai looked at the mortar. It was crumbling up here.
"I need to put the phone down again. Open the window. Quietly."
"Ok." There were sounds of movement. "I keep--" She was cut off.
"What?"
"Was that you?" Holly whispered.
"Was what me? I'm not even to the window yet."
"I heard something. By the door."
Well I'm not at the door, am I?
"I think it's... Tricia?"
"Do not answer it," Kai hissed into the phone.
"But she's... what if she needs help?"
"Keep your voice down! That's not Tricia, it's whatever..." owns her now? "It's not her."
"But she's..." she trailed off. "She's calling my name, Kai."
"Don't--"
Holly cut her off by sucking in a breath.
"What is it?"
"I think she heard me."
Kai bit her lip.
"I'll be right there. Don't breathe."
She jammed the phone into her pocket as fast as she could, and then she felt it slip out of her fingers. You tried to jam it into the fucking seam of your pants again! It bounced off her leg and fell towards the women waiting on the street below. Kai watched it. The wind picked that moment to lull, and it fell straight for them.
The crowd had grown. There were at least twenty now, all watching her, apparently with nothing better to do. They ran out of people to kiss. They didn't seem to make the connection that they could walk upstairs and catch her when she went in. They didn't think that far. The phone flipped through the air.
One of the women caught it. She looked at it like a carnival prize. She held it to her ear and began speaking into it.
Oh, no.
Kai scrambled for the ledge, forgetting safety protocol, forgetting everything. The brick crumbled, broke away. Her heart leaped. She swung out, hanging by her left hand. The tiny tiny sidewalk and the tiny tiny people looked up at her. She let the motion carry her out, not fighting it, then pulled herself back as the swing finished its arc. Too close. She felt ahead, finding the secure bricks. She got the ledge.
She was up.
She padded down the ledge to the window. It was open; Holly was crouching by it.
"Is she still there?"
"Yes. She keeps knocking."
"We have to let her in."
"What?"
"We have to, or others will see her and know we're in here. Quick. Open the door."
Holly moved without being told twice. She opened it.
"Hello--" Tricia began, then Holly grabbed her by the shirt and pulled her in. Kai stuck her head out. The hall was empty.
Tricia stood there by the door, smiling. She was wearing a long T-shirt and nothing else-- pale, freckled legs poked out below it. She must have been getting ready for bed when they got her.
"Hey Tricia, check this out," Kai said. She held up her left hand. Tricia looked at it. Kai balled her other hand into a fist and cracked her across the jaw. The girl's head snapped to the side; she sank against Holly.
"You hit her!"
"Hold her there. I'm going to get some rope from my climbing kit." She paused, and blinked. "I have rope!" She hushed her voice to stop the excitement.
"Yeah?"
"That means we can get to the roof! With all my gear, I can get up there, then get a rope back down to you. We can bring up all the food we have, sleeping bags, everything! I don't know how long we'll last, but we'll be safer than we are in here."
Holly's eyes lit up.
"You're awesome."
Kai came back with the only rope they could spare: tent rope, not meant for holding weight. They rolled Tricia over and tied her hands behind her back.
"She looks so... delicate," Holly said. "Is she really dangerous?"
"Not unless she kisses you." They sat her in the corner. She didn't try to get away; she did a whole lot of squirming, though. They gagged her even though it didn't seem necessary. Her feet sought out things to play with. Holly looked at her.
"Maybe it's not that bad," she whispered.
"If I ever hear you say something like that again, I'll throw you out the window. Her mind is gone. She's hardly even a person anymore. Look at her."
Holly was looking at her.
Kai went into the bedroom again, came out with backpacks. She tossed them to Holly.
"Start filling those up with food, clothes, whatever else we'll need. I figure it'll take me an hour to get up there and get everything hooked up. We can come back down if we need to, or even break into other apartments--"
Someone knocked on the door. They froze.
"Hi, is anyone in there? Can I borrow a cup of sugar?"
A cup of sugar? Are you fucking kidding me? She wondered how many people had opened their doors for that. She put a finger to her lips. Holly nodded and went to the kitchen. Tricia rubbed her toes on the rug.
And when we get up there, let's pretend that it's not almost November, and that it'll be below freezing by morning, and that snow comes next. Maybe there would be a cure by then. Maybe anything. Just make it another day.
She laid her gear out on the floor and organized it. Tricia massaged the standing lamp with her foot; it was large, almost six feet tall, made of stainless steel. There was another knock at the door.
"Hi, my power is out. Do you have any candles?"
Kai counted the carbiners. Her eyes flicked to Tricia. The girl was practically making love to the lamp with her foot. Her face didn't betray any emotion but wonder. Kai felt the "this isn't real"s coming on and stuffed the feeling away. It was real, as real as Tricia's pale foot, pushing the lamp over--
Tricia extended her leg and sent the six feet of metal tipping through the air. Oh, shit. Kai saw it, too late. She dove for it. Not fast enough. The thing crashed to the floor, smashing the three light bulbs, bouncing and reverberating.
"Oh, hi! I'm so glad I found someone. Can I come in?" The voice said through the door.
Holly came to the kitchen doorway. Her face was white.
Kai closed her eyes.
"Hi! Can I use your phone? Mine's dead," another said.
Ok, two. We can take two.
"Hi! Is this Kai's place? I think I got some of your mail," said a third.
Ok, three. They could take three. They'd have to, otherwise the crowd would gather until there were ten, then twenty, then the door would break.
She found her heavy Maglite among the gear. Once upon a time, she'd nicknamed it Skullcracker. It had been a joke at the time. It's time to come into your namesake, she thought at the black steel. She motioned to Holly. Holly shook her head. Kai nodded. Holly shook her head.
"Just open it! Before there are any more!" she hissed. Holly just stood. She didn't have the little switch in her head like Kai did. "Ok, but you take one. Whichever looks weakest. Ok?"
Holly stared.
"Ok?"
She nodded. Kai opened the door.
"Hi!" she chirped. "Come on in! You found my mail? Thanks so much!"
They filed in, each of them looking around in exactly the same pattern. Their eyes fixed on Holly. They went straight for her, all three of them. They smell weakness.
"Hey, ladies, over here. You don't want to kiss her, she's got cold-tongue. You know what I mean, right? It's just weird. C'mere." She puckered up. They turned for her in unison; she led them towards the bedroom. "Shut the door!" she shouted.
Holly's stasis broke and she swung the door shut; but a woman's hand from outside stopped it. The woman stuck her upper body through to block it. It was Jan, the bible student from next door. She was wearing a floral summer dress and a smile made of blank glee.
"Hi, would you like to buy some--" Holly pulled her in by the hair, slammed the door, and locked it.
Kai backed through the bedroom door to force them into single file. The flashlight was heavy in her hand. Now that it came down to it, she was having a hard time with the idea of using that on another woman. The first woman came through. The little switch in Kai's head flipped. The maglite swung, and the woman twisted as she fell to the floor. Not that hard of a time, though.
"You ok?" Holly called over the heads of the women. She was fighting with Jan: slapping, punching, shoving her away. Jan kept coming, reaching; she didn't seem to mind the blows, she seemed to like them. They LIKE being hit. Oh, how I do love misogynistic aliens. Or viruses, or... Holly hit her again. Jan licked the blood on her lips, and the look on her face said it tasted like ambrosia.
"I'm fine. Throw her out the window if you have to." She swung the light again. The next woman ducked her head back and away with an eerie, animal grace, avoiding the heavy steel. It startled Kai. So, they can move fast when they want to. She swung again, but the woman was out ahead of it. The crushing weight was just a hair too slow. They may like being hit, but they don't like being unconscious. They can't get all tonguey with you then.
"I'm coming over there." Holly threw Jan to the side.
"I'm fine. Deal with her." Kai liked the idea of taking on three alone much better than she liked the idea of Holly taking one.
Jan's arms snaked out as Holly shoved past; they moved like liquid, like everything these women did, but fast: water shooting out of a drainpipe. They wrapped around Holly's neck from behind in a tight hug.
"Get off me, skank!"
Jan rubbed her nose into Holly's hair.
"It's ok, I'll be right over," Kai swung the flashlight again, the woman avoided it with another feline motion, "just don't let her get her tongue in your mouth. I'm pretty sure they have to french you."
"Eeew." Holly slapped at the woman behind her, but she didn't have much leverage. She aimed an elbow into Jan's waist, which hit at about half strength because of the angle, and bothered Jan not at all. Jan tightened the hug around Holly's neck.
"I think-- oof!" Kai swung the light again, but this time, after ducking, the woman uncoiled, springing at her and wrapping her arms around Kai's waist. She smiled into Kai's belly button. The next came in.
Kai lifted the heavy metal to do the deed, and then she saw it. She narrowed her eyes. Jan wasn't hugging Holly. That was a sleeper hold.
"Holly, MOVE! Get her arms off of your neck!"
"I'm trying!" She flailed, but she was in a bad position; Jan was leaning her back; the blows landed at awkward angles or not at all, and Jan absorbed them like they were gifts.
Goddamn it. Kai brought the light down, but the next woman caught her wrist. Get off! She twisted; the woman hung on with both hands. It was like wrestling with taffy. Across the room, Holly kicked. She's got about five seconds. Kai punched the woman with her other hand; the woman blinked, dazed, and fell back-- but the flashlight also fell to the floor.
Holly blinked too. She seemed to freeze, one leg finishing its kick at the air. No! Kai dove for the door, shaking the arms from her waist, but they came back; they wrapped around her knees, pinning them together, and Kai went down, landing halfway into the living room.
Holly's eyes unfocused. They didn't quite close. Her expression went from angry, to puzzled, to blank. No! She went limp. Her chin rested peacefully against Jan's arm.
Kai rained blows down on the woman that clung to her; her knees were stuck, pinned together. Instead of letting go, the woman curled her legs up and wrapped her thighs around Kai's ankles.
Jan lowered Holly to the floor.
"Get away from her!"
She tilted Holly's head back; Holly's lips parted. Her eyelids fluttered; she was almost awake, but not enough to keep the brain-dead bible student from making out with her.
Jan put her hands on Holly's cheeks in a gesture that was both tender and hungry. Their lips sealed together. Holly's eyes rolled beneath the lids.
NO!
Kai rolled onto her back to kick and then the other woman was on her, clinging to her waist, her face buried in Kai's stomach. She heard the door unlock. Jan.
More women came through the open door, attracted by the sounds of the struggle. Kai neck chopped the woman on her waist, knocking her unconscious, but two more took her place. Others untied Tricia.
Then they had her arms: hugging, clinging, pressing them to the carpet. She was covered in warm, soft weight. Kai screamed and thrashed. Thighs hugged her hips; breasts pressed against her arms; lips kissed her neck; the heat of one woman's crotch was on her leg, just above the knee.
They squirmed in a writhing pile of legs and arms and breasts and dumb, blank smiles on blushing faces. There were at least six. More were filing in.
A lot of women were probably glad to go out like this. Taken by force but a soft, innocuous force: a hug that won't let go.
Tricia's face appeared over hers.
"Give us a kiss," she said. Kai pursed her lips shut.
Those freckled cheeks and pink lips came down and sealed hot over hers. Fingers pinched her nose, forcing her to breathe through her mouth. The only thing they know is how to deal with a person in your position.
Kai breathed through her teeth. Tricia's tongue flicked against the barrier. So they do need to french you. That's good to know. I'll remember that for the next life.
The blanket of women was almost yielding: that was the really maddening thing about it. Well, if you hold out long enough, maybe they'll get bored and go away. She knew that wouldn't happen; the women on the street had watched her climb for an hour without even moving. But it was something nice to tell herself.
Tricia's breath was sweet in her mouth. The redhead raised her left hand and held out two fingers-- then she took the two fingers and pressed them against the side of Kai's neck.
That's your carotid artery.
"Take a nap, then give us a kiss," Tricia said into her mouth. Kai bucked. She howled. The warm, soft blanket absorbed her struggles like praise. She was nuzzled all over.
Well, let's see if she does it right. If she doesn't, you'll just get dizzy and see spots and stuff. If she does, you'll go out like a--
Kai blinked. Her mouth was open. Tricia was kissing her deeply, moaning into her mouth; she felt the tongue dance with her own, smelled the sweet breath.
Like that. She bit down, too late; drew blood, which only drove Tricia into more of a frenzy. Didn't matter. She'd been kissed.
They all let go, all of them at the same moment. Kai's tongue tingled; the sensation spread, up her cheeks and down her throat. They got up and stood in a loose ring around her. Their job was done. Kai sat up.
How long did it take with Simone? Sixty seconds? You've got what, forty seconds of free will left? A buzzing began to grow in her ears; it felt like it was coming from the base of her neck. It was a white static hiss. There were voices in it-- hundreds, thousands of them. She stood and staggered.
The sounds grew until it was all she could hear, then the cacophony of voices joined into one. It spoke to her.
Welcome, number 12,640,891.
Twelve million, huh. Yup, it'd made it to New York all right. Start spreadin the news.
How long now, fifteen seconds?
That little switch in Kai's head flipped. It knew what to do; it always did.
She sprinted for the window and dove out, head first.
Own this, creepy voice.
The women in the room just watched, their expressions never changing.
Kai sailed through the air. The women on the street had gathered to a throng; there were hundreds, packing the street, pressing against the brick, waiting. They saw her and spread into a tight circle, reacting instantly, like a school of fish. Some of them stretched jackets and shirts across the middle, forming a makeshift net. Others held their arms out.
You'll be going too fast by the time you hit the ground. They can't catch you.
The wind flipped her around and then she was facing up at the night sky, counting the seconds. She looked at the stars.
The sound grew, became louder than the wind, crowded out her thoughts. Didn't matter, not now.
You're free.
She smiled.
They caught her.