THE GHOSTBORN: A slice of life, in 2082 C.E.

By TheRuneLion | Runesrealms | 22 Apr 2024


Somewhere in the city of Los Angiego...

Natasha was bored, curious and the subway wasn't noisy so she tried amusing herself with her companion.
"So, who are you, really?" Natasha asked the sleekly-dangerous looking woman in black leather. She was excruciatingly beautiful and Natasha's sharp eyes noted the absolute lack of any cosmetic enhancement work.
"I'm the one your father hired to make sure that the stalker gets the hint and leaves you alone." The woman said, and Natasha pegged her age as maybe twenty-two at most.
"Well, yah, I know that. But who are you? Y'must have a name?" Natasha tried as the woman's head turned just enough to bring her shade-shielded gaze onto her. Natasha could feel the gaze behind the dark lenses; Intent, intense, focussed and unsettling in some ways she'd never experienced before.
"Natasha, one of the rules of life in the modern world is to not poke and pry at people you know nothing about. I'm nobody. I am no one. I do not exist. I might as well merely be a hallucination you're experiencing." The woman said with a flat tone, a tinge of cautioning in it as well.
"Okay...uhm...can I see your eyes at least?" Natasha tried.
"No." The answer was immediate, instant, yet unhurried.
"M'kay...can I ask your name?" Natasha tried.
"Selina." The woman replied offhandedly, her head moving slowly and Natasha could tell she was surveying the area, the people, looking for trouble before it could surprise her.
"So, you're my bodyguard?"
"No. I'm just hired to deal with this stalker. I don't do bodyguard work." Selina replied.
Natasha took that in, something in Selina's voice, her tone, was scary, chillingly-scary.
As Selina adjusted her jacket's collar, Natasha noted with some surprise the extraordinarily long fingers she possessed. They were beautifully feminine, yet utterly inhuman, the end joint section the longest parts of her fingers.
"Custom work." Selina said, as if she'd read her mind and Natasha nodded in reply, unsure what to say.
"Uh, if you don't do bodyguard work, then why are you here protecting me?" She asked.
"Comes as part of dealing with your pest. He threatened to, and I quote; 'Cut the screams out of your flesh and bone'. Given how he's been getting increasingly frustrated and psychotic from what your father showed me, it's a genuine threat. He's intent on cutting you into pieces." Selina told her.
Natasha felt herself go cold, shocked to her core as the hideous realization forced it's way past denial that there was someone in the world that wanted her dead, and that it would be a horrible, nightmare dying.
"Wh-What're you gonna do about the stalker...about Peteysneaker?" She asked Selina, ignoring the almost begging tone in her voice.
"End the problem." She replied, plain, simple, direct.
"You mean...kill him??" Natasha asked in half-disbelief.
"I doubt very much inviting him out for coffee, cookies and cockswallowing would get him off your tail." Selina replied with a tinge-touch of humor.
Then her head moved slightly, sharply, and Selina was just gone.
Natasha heard the sound of a small cannon, twice, in near simultaneity and as she turned her head she was just in time to see Peteysneaker fall in dreadful limpness to the floor of the subway car.
Selina was only a few paces to Natasha's left, having gotten up, stepped past her, getting between her and Peteysneaker...
...then had drawn the largest handgun Natasha had ever seen or heard of to shoot him.
No one else on the subway reacted with more than mild and quickly passing interest, quickly going back to their own affairs, issues and problems.
Selina holstered the gun beneath her jacket, took out her phone, snapped some pictures then worked with an app for a few seconds before putting the phone away, motioning to Natasha to get up and follow as the next stop was coming up.
On the platform, Natasha stayed close to her , quiet but in turmoil with questions ricocheting around inside her head.
"What-What did...what was...how can you just walk away??" Natasha asked.
"I filed the after-incident report. What else do you expect?" Selina replied to her with.
"But, you killed him!" Natasha exclaimed, trying to understand.
"Natasha, you're fourteen. You think you have it all figured out. You do not. Not anywhere even remotely close. Life isn't like tv where it's all cut-and-dried, and the good guys always win, the cops always get the baddies. In reality, it's like this. Cross a line badly enough, cross it with the wrong people and you end up on the bad side of a gun held by someone like me. Killing him, so long as I don't start a small war with collateral property damages in excess of a million dollars, no one cares. Pull trigger, file with the app, nice and neat and done with." Selina told her in a plainly simple way as if discussing last week's weather.
Natasha stayed quiet, thinking about what she'd seen, been told as Selina led her to a secondary subway branch off the main platform where they boarded for the short trip to Natasha's home area of the city of Los Angiego.

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TheRuneLion
TheRuneLion

Author. Published with a few sales. I range from Hard sci-fi to space-fantasy but aimed at Mature Adults as sex IS very much part of the Human experience and I treat it as such in my stories. Very interested in Crypto as it is the future of Humanity.


Runesrealms
Runesrealms

ATTENTION; This Blog Is For Mature Adults 18 years of age and older ONLY I will keep things 'Tasteful' but relevant, just to say. I'm an Author and of course seek exposure of my work to an audience. I want to invite people to escape from the rather insane world we live in and enjoy some NON-WOKE old-fashioned beneficial escapism. Here's where you'll find sample, snippets, micro-pieces and where to purchase my stories if you wish to.

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