Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Mechanical Affection ❯ Chapter 15 ( Chapter 15 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Mechanical Affection- Chapter 15

Mr. Trident, whose name I’d misplaced, rubbed his palms over his face. Come on man, don’t stress. Everything’s just fine. I jerked my head and let out a gurgling noise that was supposed to be comforting. From the pale-faced angry-eyed glare I got, I’m assuming it was less than effective. I shifted and bumped into my shiny new companion, complete with wacky hand-painted muzzle. He was watching Mr. Trident with interest but noticed I looked at him and barked at me. I leaned away. I didn’t like that he made weird noises only at me. I don’t speak… Whatever the hell that was supposed to be.
Mr. Trident stood and both our heads moved in unison to watch him as he began to pace in front of us. When he finally stopped, he pointed to my half faced partner, “You, New York,” And I thought I was bad at names, “You stay here.” He told him before pointing to me, “Mitch, come here.” I looked at New York who watched me. I walked forward a step and was followed. Our breather was quick to move forward and shove him back, “No!” He ordered and I stopped. Backing up, I stood beside New York, “Mitch, stop that. Come here.” Not by myself I’m not. I want to take New York with me. He palmed if face and groaned into it, I liked the noise and we stepped together towards him, “It’s too late for this…” He mumbled and we got a little closer. His hand dropped and he pushed New York again. I snarled, “Mitch, come to bed. New York. You sleep out here… I’ll figure out what to do with you in the morning.” He said, voice trembling. I think it was the stress.
I moved in close and bumped the breather. Come on, buddy. Just one night. We’d be angels. Quiet face eating angels.
“Matt. Need some help?” We all looked at the girl who came over. I growled lowly but wasn’t noticed as Matt tossed her a rope and gestured to New York. She didn’t need to be told twice. Grabbing him by his New York flavored tee shirt, she looped the rope around his waist and he rasped angrily at her. Arms flailing, he attempted to stop her… I couldn’t help but notice how poor of a job he was doing. That couldn’t have been a real attempt, “You’re just going to leave him tied up?” She asked.
“At least until morning… Then I can drive his ass back to the curb where he came from.” Ouch, hey now. That’s a little rash don’t you think. He should stay. I tried to get closer to New York but Matt grabbed me by the shoulder and held me close. Groaning, I reached for him and he reached back, “Stop that.” Matt grabbed my arm.
“You’re just going to get rid of him?” She asked.
“This isn’t a halfway house for the undead.” Matt told her and he got a clipped response from the girl, “Mitch is different. You know he is.”
“And what about him?” She stepped away from New York who was trying his best to get back to me. He reached with a hand and staggered until the rope stopped him. Then he reached down and grabbed it, “Seems different to me.” She said watching as New York began to snarl and froth at the mouth, clawing at the rope on his stomach. I didn’t like seeing him tied up and this time, when I pulled I got free. Matt followed and pulled New York’s arms from the rope.
“No! You stay!” I was beginning to wonder if he thought we were some breed of trained animal he could order around. They struggled a moment until the rope came loose and New York stumbled away with me close behind. When we stopped, we stopped together and turned to look back at the breathers. Matt’s face was in his hands again. Arching his back, he screamed at the sky in frustration. Served him right. I liked New York… He was clever, like me, “Mitch…” Whiner. Seeing that I wasn’t going to be swayed he looked at the girl, “Claire,” Right, that was her name, “He’s filthy.” He justified, “He smells.” Oh and I’m sure I smell like roses and sunshine, “I don’t want him in the tent with Mitch and me.” Well that was just too damn bad. It was both of us or neither of us. This was a battle he was not going to win.
Claire laughed, “Good luck with that… Listen I’ll help out in the morning. Try to get some sleep.” She told him as she began to walk away. Help was certainly short lived this side of the camp. Then again, she probably could see he wasn’t getting his way.
Matt threw his arms up and turned away, disappearing into the tent… Neither of us then.
New York grunted at me and started to walk towards the woods. I stood and stared after him. I wasn’t going anywhere… New York stopped and looked back at me. When I didn’t move he came back and made some bizarre sounds that sounded like croaking. His argument didn’t sway me. Jerking my head I shuffled over to the tent to get settled in for the night. It was dark… And cold… It would have been warmer inside.
New York joined me and we stood side by side, heads tipped downwards as we waited passively for day to come…
“Mitch… Mitch.” I felt warmth spread over my chest and I looked up. I must have zoned out a bit because there was someone warm in front of me and he was pulling me forward. I fell into him and let out a happy gurgling noise as I grabbed firmly onto him and attempted to bite into him. It took a moment to realize it wasn’t going to happen and that the breather was holding me back, “Come to bed.” He said and pulled the tent flap away as he pushed me inside. I landed on my face and struggled at the feeling of being laid down. I had managed to roll over when I was joined by the breather and… Someone else. My head felt foggy, “Damn it… New York. Fine. There. You stay there.” New York was shoved up on the other side of the tent and the breather… What was his name again? Well, he laid down in a huff and pinned me to the ground. He held me there, head resting on my shoulder like a pillow. He was warm… That was nice. This was nice.
The sun slowly warmed the fabric all around and the breathing next to me started to pick up as the breather stirred. Then, as quickly as I’d noticed him waking, he was up. On his knees he shouted incoherently as he ripped off his shirt and covered his mouth. I almost missed the look of pure venom on his face as he grabbed half face and shoved him out the tent, followed soon after by himself and me. Grabbing a stick off the ground, he beat the tent with it as he vented and I just watched as he made a spectacle of himself. I guess that black gunk that had seeped out of half face had him waking up on the wrong side of the bed.
We were joined by a girl and she got him calmed down enough that the words slowed enough for comprehension, “Feel better?” She was mocking him… He mostly deserved it.
“Much.” He replied, hands on his hips as he turned to us, the culprits, “Claire, watch Mitch. I’ve got to get New York cleaned up.”
“You’re not seriously calling him New York.” I wouldn’t be so sure. I’m pretty sure that was his name.
“Yes, I am.” Mr. Trident said as he grabbed me by the hem of my pants, “What would you have me call him? It’s not like he came with an ID.” Oh, so it wasn’t his name. Well, I liked it well enough.
“Matt…” She rolled her eyes.
“Claire…” He rolled his eyes.
Well, now that we all knew each other’s names, the day could officially begin. I kind of hoped it would start with a snack. My stomach ached to be filled with something warm and bloody. I hadn’t eaten in ages, probably, and it was damn time I got to stuff my face with someone else’s face… That didn’t sound right.
“Just watch him…” If she watched closely maybe I’d do tricks. He rubbed my back and leaned in to kiss my cheek, “Be good while I’m gone.” I’m always on my best behavior.
Matt pushed me into Claire’s arm and she shook her head, “Come on. You can help us tend the animals this morning.” Apparently by us… She meant the kids. Gathering them up from around the camp they followed along like baby ducklings, all in a line. As we got nearer to our destination, my body started to clam up. While I liked the idea of possibly munching a chicken, the reality was less delightful as their rabid dog began to bark maliciously at me. Hissing and seething, I resisted Claire’s pulls towards the pen. When we got close enough to see him, the dog lunged and snapped at me. I hate dogs, “Dodger, shut up!” Clair shouted, eat word stern and loud but it only quieted the wretched beast. I could still hear him growling as I was ushered by.
A basket was thrust in my arms and my fingers forcefully curled my fingers around the handle, “Hold this.” Fine, “Susan, you pick up any eggs.” She pointed to the chickens, “Benny, Fred, get the feed. Jeffery, Jake, water.” Oh my god, there were so many names. There was little hope of me matching them with faces. Except for Susan, that was the girl. But the other ones? Not a chance.
Dumbly, I followed after Susan and we collected some things before Claire took the basket and ordered me to do something else. Mostly just carrying things… Or dragging them… The animals seemed too spooked for me to do anything really interactive. I couldn’t really blame them. I’d take a bite of any one of them in a heartbeat. I was so hungry.
Benny or maybe it was Freddy? Or Jeffy- Jeff? One of the boys, does it really matter which one? Kept splashing me with the water. Claire told him to stop and he said it was an accident, but I don’t believe him. I was still glaring at him when my party came to collect me from chore duty. I still vaguely remembered them from Claire’s conversations with the kids. Something about Matt and jealousy and possibly laziness. I hadn’t really been following along. I was busy, and I’m a terrible multi-tasker.
Matt led us over to the river and took a seat in an old lawn chair. He didn’t look at us for a long time, just staring at the water as New York and I basked in the sun like lizards. It surprised me when he did speak, “You know… Just because I want you, doesn’t mean I want every dead guy that comes my way.” I think he was angry at me. Leaning back, he turned in his seat to look at the two of us, “New York can stay… But I’m not doing this for him, Mitch. I’m doing this for you. Do you understand?” I wasn’t sure I did, but I told him I did anyway. I was glad to have someone around that could understand me… Sort of, “And you. This isn’t a free ride. You’ll have to earn your keep.” New York made one of those weird noises neither breather nor zombie made. I really think he was trying to talk, which would be normal if he didn’t do such a darn good job at it, “So… Let’s get to work.” Out of the chair, he took me by the hand and led us away to be collared and leashed for the ride.
The truck seemed a bit cramped with half face there- Er New York. He was sitting next to Matt, and consequently me. I was on Matt’s lap and he was being a perfect gentleman about it. I’m not sure why, but I had expected something else.  To the other side Claire, who I gathered from what little conversation there was, would be helping ‘train’ New York. She was leaning really far away from me. Did I do something wrong? Probably.
Up front we had our fire haired driver and Blue Eyes. We, New York and I, were staring at Blue Eyes. I’m sure he could feel it. Something was wrong with him… Not physically, not that I could tell, but I didn’t trust him. New York clicked his teeth and made a hissing noise and I grunted a little like I was agreeing with him. Then New York looked away at the streets passing buy. He stared so hard at them, I couldn’t help but look away to see what he was looking at… Rubble. Broken windows and smoldering flesh that I could almost remember the taste of. Though, to be fair, the taste wouldn’t have been from that breed of animal. I couldn’t be sure if they had been breathers or not when they went up, but they were dead all the same now.
“There won’t be anything here.” Matt murmured with his chin on my shoulder. He seemed sad. I turned my face and knocked heads with him. Cheer up, man. Nothing we could do about it. No point in worrying over it. Live in the moment, preferably not their moment because they weren’t exactly living it up over there.
Leaning forward, squashing me a bit, Matt tapped the seat in front of us and the car pulled over. The back seat emptied and Matt relayed the rules of engagement, which really just consisted of which arm to look at depending on if the answer was yes or no. Claire had made it easy by putting a pink glove on one hand and not the other. Then we trekked inside. I missed New York while he was away with Claire. We were just finishing up checking out a room when Matt grabbed me around the waist. He didn’t say anything just held me there as his warmth crept under my skin and turned my brain to more mush than it already was. Groaning pleasantly, I pushed back up into him and I could feel him nuzzle my neck a bit before he let me go and walked on… That was weird right?


Another short update before I cut you loose for the week. You can expect another update next weekend.
And… a small bit of trivia (because I can!): In the original outline, New York was named Lance. This was in reference to his face, which has been cut (or possibly chewed) away. However, his name was officially changed to New York when the Empire State Building was introduced as another defining characteristic of the character. That and because Matt isn’t all that clever.