Chain Gang All Stars

The sounds of going and coming always preceded the March’s end. They’d arrived. They’d found road. A hyper-highway of humans napping or catching up on news as their vehicles charioted them where they hoped to be.

On the shoulder the van was waiting for them. The Anchor stopped just ahead of the Angola-Hammond Chain and adhered to the air, where it waited near their ride.

“Fuck yes,” Randy Mac said.

“Drop your weapons, convicts,” Jerry said, an unfamiliar disdain glowing on him. He held a Slate in his hands like a threat, showing them the black mirror, their lives in his hands.

“Everything okay, Jerry?” Staxxx asked.

“I said drop your weapons. No trouble.”

They dropped the weapons and stood together as the HMCs scanned across their bodies. The end-of-March Lineup was the end of the weekly LinkLyfe stream. It was the last thing viewers saw for free. The people who would see them next, on the BattleGround or at whatever Hub City attraction they were headed to, would have to pay.

“Well, I’ll be happy to hear about whatever’s bothering you once we get on the road,” Staxxx said.

“You don’t worry about me. I’m just fine,” Jerry said as the cameras finished scanning the Links’ bodies and flew into the head of the Anchor.

“Okay, I’m just saying, ’cause you don’t seem fine. Yo—”

“Shut it, convict, or I’ll have you eat Taser for the first half mile,” Jerry snapped.

Staxxx looked wide-eyed at Jerry, then smiled and zipped her lips before tucking the invisible key into her sports bra.

The Anchor floated slowly and precisely toward Jerry and the van. The HMCs latched into the Anchor and then it rotated in the air, as if going to bed, tucking itself into a space near the bottom of the vehicle. Jerry would load the Links’ weapons into the same compartment.

Once the HMCs were away and the Anchor had tucked itself in, Jerry seemed to relax. Which was strange, Thurwar thought, as it was then, in those moments between March and city, in the boring but necessary transport, that they were the most dangerous. How easy would it be to pluck Jerry from his life out there. He could only do so much on the Slate before his neck snapped, should they wish it.

“Sorry to be short with y’all. Just under a lot of stress right now and the bosses are watching. ’Cause of the protests and whatnot. Let’s get in quick,” he said, and Thurwar stopped thinking about the man’s death. It was too easy. “I’m gonna go ahead and blue y’all, okay?”

“More than okay, Jerry. That’d be swell,” said Randy Mac, his voice saccharine.

“We know the drill,” Bad Water said. “I’d like to sit down.” He did not move but he shifted his shoulders in the direction of the van.

Thurwar forgot about Bad Water constantly. She guessed he was speaking up now because he’d been included earlier. Socialization has an inertia.

“That’s right, hurry it up, busman,” Gunny Puddles said. Thurwar knew he was likely angry that Bad Water had spent time with her and Staxxx.

“Okay, quiet game starts now,” Jerry said. He tapped a screen quickly and then her wrists glowed blue in the early sun.

“All right, load up,” Jerry said. “I’ll put everything in the compartment after y’all get settled.” And the Links obeyed, shuffled in, all still following Thurwar. Thurwar looked back at Hass Omaha once before stepping forward and into the van. She took the far-left corner and pressed her shoulder blades into the back of the seat. They all faced one another in the back of the van. It was just a rectangle of space, benches along the walls, except for where the door opened and then finally closed once Bad Water had waddled in.

Thurwar felt the artificial cool humming in through vents near her ankles, felt its contrast to the natural cool of the morning. She looked over at Staxxx, who was still now, drawn into herself. Staring straight into nothing. Thurwar rubbed Staxxx with her shoulder, felt her warm. Staxxx kept looking ahead.

Thurwar rubbed again. Staxxx rocked gently to the side, then returned to center, her back to the metal separating the Links from the driver’s seat. The door of the van was still open; Jerry was loading their weapons into an under-compartment. She didn’t like to think about people handling Hass Omaha and knew it was an abomination for someone like Jerry even to touch Hass’s handle. Then she heard the clang and settle, felt the compartment close. Staxxx still stared out at the road, less grounded than she had been. She was a person elsewhere.

She watched Staxxx’s chest, saw the pair of Xs there, one for Dame Killowat and another for Herder Yurt, both kills she’d made with Thurwar at her side in a doubles match. She’d gotten the marks to commemorate the fallen that she’d felled with Thurwar there by her side. “Close to my heart,” she’d said when she’d returned to Thurwar’s arms, marked with fresh blood ink.

Thurwar poked at Staxxx’s stomach, then again, hard between the ribs, as Jerry appeared at the van’s rear. “Should be a short ride. There’s some ruckus and crowds gathered, so don’t do anything stupid,” he said. Then, “Sorry.”

He didn’t tap the Slate in his front pocket, but he said the words in a way that made it seem like he had. Thurwar wanted him to leave, so she didn’t move again until he’d slammed the door shut.

She waited until she felt him enter the driver’s seat, then she squeezed and tickled Staxxx’s side. Staxxx had always contained both hot and cold. Two fronts meeting. But Thurwar felt committed to bringing the present, jovial Staxxx back to the space. Arriving in a Hub City after the March was always jarring, with the press and all that followed. It was best to be sharp leading into it. She gently brought a finger to Staxxx’s chin and tapped twice before quickly sticking a finger up Staxxx’s nose. She was in and out, fast and efficient. Thurwar could see Sai was holding back a laugh. Randy watched, jaw clenched. Gunny Puddles stared, angry or sad as he always was. She moved a little farther away from Staxxx so they weren’t touching at all. Staxxx looked at Thurwar, confused, almost as though she was surprised to be there. Her eyes were wide and wonderful.

“I love y—” Thurwar said as quickly as possible, and then she was electric with pain. She felt the shock as a hot squeeze that made her breathless. She dropped in a heap to the floor of the van and the pain moved efficiently, snapped itself closed once it was done. She let herself lie there for a moment, breathing in until her body returned to her control. Then she sat next to Staxxx again and Staxxx laid her head on her lap for the rest of the ride.