By William S. Frisbee Jr.

The music throbbed so loud and heavy that it weakened a person's body, numbing nerves and weakening muscles. It was a very loud way to relax. The name of the club, Lucifer's Hammer was aptly named because the name was like what the music did to people's body, pounded it, tenderizing it, with sounds of hell.

Kat's head bobbed to the music a little out of sync with the music. Not that it was unusual, almost everyone was out of sync, listening to the music with their bones as well as their ears. Drugs didn't help people tune into reality, and the drugs seemed to be plentiful, further desensitizing the people that didn't look like people.

That was one of the reasons Kat liked this place so much. Sometimes you could get a high just off the air and music. It forced its way into your heart and soul like a burrowing creature, ripping its way into your mind whether you wanted it to or not.

Tonight Kat definitely wanted to escape reality. He had seen two people killed, violently and in cold blood. Kat wanted to forget the look of fear in their eyes right before a bullet had forced its way through their bodies, tearing them apart from the inside out. The chaos of colors and the crush of bodies couldn't seem to block out those images. The loud mind numbing music couldn't drown out the cries for mercy and the whimpering of the dying.

He wanted some drugs, something to help him forget the horror he had witnessed and helped protect. Because he hadn't done anything to prevent it, Kat felt responsible.

Some girl, her nose pierced in about eight different places, her face covered with neon paint tried to touch Kat's spikes. Slapping her hand away, Kat pushed his way through the crowd. Vigs might be here tonight, he always had some good shit, some of the hard stuff and he was always fair to Kat.

Finally he made it through the press to Vig's table but someone else was occupying it, two guys with their lips locked, fondling each other like they were alone. Kat swore but nobody noticed over the music, he wanted Vigs. Someone threw a boot at the band but it bounced off the glowing force field. The volume raised a bit as people jeered the thrower, but the band was so caught up in their screaming they didn't even notice.

Kat watched the band for a few moments as he tried to think where Vigs might be. The band was nothing special, just some Acid Metal group that had crawled out of the gutter. Kat had no idea what they were singing about because they were anything but coherent.

Leaning against the wall Kat wanted to cry then he saw Murk talking with some other dead header. In partial relief Kat stifled the sob, Murk might know where Vigs was.

"Murk!" Kat screamed but Murk didn't notice Kat until Kat grabbed him by the shoulder. Murk turned to him and Kat almost recoiled. A shiny electronic eye gleamed at Kat from the socket. It looked cybernetic but Kat had not idea where Murk had gotten the money for it. It was probably just cheap tech.

"Watcha think!" Murk yelled when he saw Kat.

"Icy Man!" Kat yelled back. "Where's Vigs!"

"Fuckif-I-know!" Murk yelled back. Kat swore and pressed his way back into the mob.

Finally he found Thrub, another dealer. Thrub wasn't as good as Vigs but he had some shit for Kat. He charged too much for it, Kat thought as he made his way out, but he had to have the stuff.

Outside the memories came back to Kat. Gil had been okay. Kat didn't think it was right for Mongo to squeak Gil like that but Kat guessed Mongo didn't have much choice. Gil wasn't willing to squeak the other gang member so Mongo had squeaked him and then the other ganger.

It was supposed to be a bonding thing, Kat knew. Gil was supposed to show he would kill for Mongo's gang. The other ganger had begged for his life, with broken teeth and tears in his eyes he had begged to live. He had been willing to do anything to keep living but Mongo had wanted Gil to prove his loyalty and Gil had stopped just short of killing the other ganger.

Standing outside in the damp, trash filled darkness Kat tried to come to grips with what he had seen. He couldn't though. Last week he had wanted to join Mongo's gang and Mongo was willing to let him. Now he wasn't so sure. Life was brutal, Kat knew that, but the other ganger had been killed in cold blood.

He wished his brother were here, he would understand, but he had moved up out of the gutters and joined the Marines. He had a purpose in life, he got fed regularly now and didn't live in the gutters anymore. He remembered his brother was here on Earth but thinking about it he couldn't bring himself to make the call. His brother was a big tough killer now, combat vet and all. He would probably laugh at his younger brother.

Kat needed a place to hang for a while. He couldn't do the wrap here in the streets, someone would probably rob him while he was under so he headed over to Seeks.

Seek's place was a dive, a true shit hole but Seek didn't mind friends using his pit and that made it a heaven, wich is what Kat needed right now since he was in hell.

Somebody Kat didn't know let him in when he mentioned Seek's name. Loud music assaulted his senses as he entered, but he didn't mind, it would make the trip all the more different. A vid fought for dominance with the music but nobody seemed to care since most of them were in a drugged stupor. Finding an unoccupied pile of cushions Kat sank down and pulled out the needle. They said the high tech air pads didn't work as well as the needle so Kat had never tried them, but he had his own needle though and didn't share it with anyone. He didn't want to catch some deadly shit. That was the wrong way to go.

Slipping the needle into a vein Kat sank into a near thoughtless oblivion. It was a nightmare of blood and screaming, someone was begging for mercy and Mongo was laughing. Mongo laughed as blood came out of his mouth. Kat tried to scream but his body wouldn't obey his commands anymore.

Someone was shaking Kat and yelling into his ear. Hundreds of thousands of needles pierced Kat's body while somebody hammered his head with an anvil.

"G'way!" Kat yelled wishing they would let him go back to sleep. He knew it wouldn't happen though and he knew he couldn't get back to sleep either.

"Mongo's lookin' for ya!" Seek said.

"So," Kat grumbled.

"Says you squealed 'bout somethin."

"Na man," Kat said trying to think who Mongo was and who owned the voice.

"He wants to talk to you or your body, word is. There's also a warrant out for his arrest."

Kat couldn't think right but he could think. Someone must have gone to the cops about the murder and Mongo thought it was him. Remembering the ganger that had been killed Kat knew what Mongo would do when he caught him. Kat wasn't a member of Mongo's gang, he was just a punker without protection. Fear helped clear his mind his mind but it still felt like his hair was growing in the wrong direction and beginning to tickle his brain.

"You gotta let me stay here man," Kat said opening his eyes to the blinding brightness. At first he couldn't see anything but eventually he could make out Seek's form crouching next to him. Several other punks watched him and Seek silently, Kat began to think they were looking at a dead person.

"Nah man," Seek said shaking his head. "Mongo's dangerous. I won't turn ya in to him but I can't let you stay here."

"Where will I go!" Kat said looking at the others nearby. Which one of them would tell Mongo where he went?

"Not here man," Seek said firmly.

"I thought we were friends man, I thought we were like brothers. You said I could always stay here!" Kat said, his body hurt, his mind hurt and he felt like he was going to puke.

"That was before Mongo," Seek said shaking his head sadly. Even Kat could tell that Seek was frightened. Kat's world dropped out beneath him. He thought Seek would stick up for him through thick or thin.

"He's gonna kill me!" Kat said feeling desperate. If Seek was going to throw him out who wouldn't?

"You can try to make peace with Mongo," Seek said and Kat knew that even Seek knew it was impossible. "C'mon man. Mongo might be enroute here now."

That spurred Kat to action, he wanted to lay there and cry but he also wanted to live. Despite the pain of sudden movement Kat pulled himself to his feet and stumbled out the door. He didn't even look back. Kat cried as he stumbled out. He might not even live to see his eighteenth birthday next month.

Things had been going so well. Mongo was going to let him join his gang, and it wasn't some teeny bopper gang either, it was a real street gang.

Outside, some rain filtered down from above. Around him the sky scrapers towered up into the gloom and the bridges from the different scrapers reached out to each other blocking they sky from anyone at ground level. Trash, thrown down from above littered the streets along with trash form the ground dwellers. Looking up Kat wished he were an uppie, or a middie and didn't live down near the ground crushed beneath their shadows.

Briefly he considered his mother's place but he didn't want to get into another argument with her. She would try and get him to go to the police and that would make things worse. She just didn't understand what it was like growing up today. A guy had to have friends, comrades, pals, he had to 'belong'. If Mom had her way, Kat thought, he wouldn't even leave the apartment. Even the threat of death couldn’t make him go back there. He couldn’t explain why, even to himself, but he didn’t want to go home.

Kat jammed his hands into his pockets and shuffled down the street. His eyes nervously darted to the shadows looking for Mongo's treads. If a tread saw him, he might just try and squeak Kat to try and win Mongo's favor.

He tried to think of a place to hide. He didn't have any money, except maybe a few dollars, he'd blown the last of it on the wrap. Without money he didn't stand a chance. He wished uppies or middies came down here more, he might be able to rob one or two. He knew it would be suicide to go up the scrapers because of all the cameras and cops.

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