Part 22
"It's nice to see you two again, it's been a while," Claudia said as she sat smoking in the back seat of Jorgen's car through a hole in the black bandanna tied around her face.
"Is nice to see you also, Claudia," Jorgen said as he sped along the road, glancing at her in the rear view mirror.
"Viveka says, how have you been?" He added.
Claudia shrugged and exhaled smoke, "Eh, okay. I haven't been doing much but taking care of Theresa, you know? Eleven hasn't been giving me any work because he knows that takes up all my free time. Well, except this."
"When is she coming back?" Jorgen asked.
Claudia took a drag from her cigarette, "I really don't know. I mean she had major surgery and everything and it's not like I'm a doctor, you know?"
Jorgen nodded, "I hopes it soon."
Viveka rolled her eyes as she sat in the passenger seat, gazing from the window. Outside was the ocean, stretching as far as she could see, a mixture of brown and green and blue.
"What have you two been up to?" Claudia asked curiously, flicking her cigarette out of the window.
"Um, just stuffs," Jorgen said. "I has been taking care of my garden. A few weeks ago Elevens gave Viveka a job."
"What job?" She asked.
"She hads to kill a lots of people. How much was it?" He asked.
"Nineteen," Viveka's voice rang out to him.
"Nineteen," Jorgen said.
Claudia's eyes went wide for a moment and her brows furrowed, "Wait, are you talking about those kids who watched that one girl get raped at a party?"
Viveka nodded.
"Holy shit. You can kill fucking nineteen people at once?" Claudia asked, surprised and somewhat incredulous.
"She says nineteen is smalls potato. Ands that she did nots kill them. She cursed them to die," Jorgen explained.
"Wait, so like . . .what's the limit?" Claudia inquired. "A hundred people? A thousand? Is it easier to curse than it is to straight up kill?"
Viveka smiled softly, still staring out at the ocean.
"They's both easy. Eleven just likes the slow way more, she says. She don'ts know how much she can kill," he said.
"Well you've got to have some idea, right? I don't need like, an exact number or anything," Claudia said.
"Potenskully, millions," Jorgen answered.
"Millions?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "Millions. With an M?"
Viveka nodded.
"How?!" Claudia asked in surprise.
"She coulds make the water poison," he said.
Claudia relaxed somewhat, "That doesn't really count. I mean like, of your own power."
Jorgen paused for a moment, then answered, "Hundreds."
"At once?" She asked.
Viveka nodded.
"That's . . . kinda fucking scary," she said. "I mean do they have warning or is it just out of the blue, bam, you're dead?"
Viveka shrugged.
"If is just one person no, no warning. If not a curse and lots of peoples and she cans sense them, no warning. But if strangers or curse or far away giving them somethings help her focus and finds them," Jorgen explained.
"Um . . . okay?" Claudia said, not exactly sure what Jorgen was saying.
"Sometimes yes, sometimes no," he said.
"What do you mean find them?" She asked.
"Is hard to explain," he said. "Not here, but in the spiritual. If she can feel them there, she cans kill them no warning."
"But otherwise she needs something given to the person?" Claudia asked.
"Yeah, I gives it to them for her. She finds it, she finds them," he said.
"Oh, okay," Claudia said, finally understanding what he meant.
Days ago Eleven had called each of them to him and given them a shared mission. A few hours south of the city was a small town surrounding a military base. The three of them were tasked with infiltrating the base and raiding the armory to bring back as many weapons and as much ammunition for Eleven's soldiers as possible.
Eventually they reached the motel where Eleven had made reservations and they checked in with false identification with rooms right next to each other. After settling in Claudia went without her bandanna next door to Jorgen and Viveka's room. As she opened the door and peered into the room she saw the dark green carpeting and the white walls, the two king sized beds covered in green and pink floral comforters and pillows. Laying on the bed closest to the door was Viveka staring up at the ceiling vacantly. Sitting at the foot of the other bed was Jorgen with the remote in his hand, flipping through muted channels on the tv on its stand in the wall angled above him.
"Two beds? Aren't you two fancy," Claudia said as she shut the door behind her and sat down at the foot of Viveka's bed.
"I don'ts want to fucks my sister! We's from Sweden not fucking Alsabama!" Jorgen said loudly, with a revolted look on his face.
Viveka's mouth opened wide as if she were laughing along with Claudia.
"No, no, I didn't mean it like that," Claudia said between giggling breaths.
She took several deep breaths and spoke again, "I mean, it's just unusual for me to see two beds in a hotel room is all."
"Yeah?" Jorgen asked.
"Yeah, I didn't mean anything by it," she explained.
Jorgen nodded, "Okay. I'm sorry I yells, it's just so gross out."
"Yeah . . .," Claudia said, trailing off into silence.
Viveka tilted her head down to look at Claudia as she lay in bed. She began to gently push on Claudia's lower back with her sandal-clad foot.
After a few moments Claudia broke the silence.
"So," she asked. "What's the plan now? I don't think they're gonna just let us drive in and take it all, right?"
Jorgen smiled, "That woulds be nice."
"Yeah, but why would he send us for that? Anyone could do that," she said.
"Yeah, you's right. What's we gonna do?" He asked.
Claudia reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out her pack of cigarettes.
She placed one between her lips and said, "Good question."
Claudia took a drag from her cigarette and fell back into bed. She wrapped both her arms around Viveka's skirt-covered leg and looked up at her making an angry face.
"I got you now!" Claudia said jokingly.
Viveka made a scared face then seemed to giggle with Claudia.
Viveka snatched the ashtray from the bedside table and placed it on her stomach. Claudia tapped the ashes from her cigarette into the ashtray and exhaled two streams of smoke from her nostrils.
"Viveka says, Ams I going to have to be the one to says it?" Jorgen asked.
"Yes?" Claudia said, somewhat confused.
Viveka sighed loudly.
"She says, the most oblious plan was to go to the base and kills all of them," he said.
"Really?" Claudia asked.
She took a quick drag from her cigarette.
"Really," Jorgen said.
"Don't you think that's a little too much? I mean it's not like it's area 51 or anything, it's just a training camp," Claudia argued.
"She says, why else would I be here? Ams I to gives moral support? It's easy. I kills them, you hits the cameras, Jorgen does the heavy liftings. Then we brings in the car, puts what we can in there and go," Jorgen said.
"Fuck, most of them are just kids trying to get paid college in there! They're innocent kids. There's a better way to do this. I can . . . I dunno, seduce some fucking colonel or something and make him order his dudes to give us the stuff and a big fucking truck to drive it on!" Claudia said loudly.
Viveka smirked.
"She says, does you really think you has that types of sway in your step?" Jorgen questioned, Viveka's face matching the words he spoke.
"Oh, so I'm ugly, is that it?" Claudia asked, her head weaving slightly as she spoke.
"No, but you're nots that pretty. My way is better than yours. Also, wouldn't Theresa gets jealous of you fucking some weird man?" Jorgen asked.
"Viveka!" He whined, "Why does you have to talks to her like that? She's Claudia, we like her, yeah?"
"She wouldn't get jealous because I didn't fucking say I'd fucking fuck him, I said SEDUCE, not jump on top of and ride like a motherfucking mechanical bull," Claudia sneered, finally recoiling from Viveka's leg.
"She says she's sorry. She says she misspoke. That it's no way to talks to a friend. I means it would put you in least danger. If you're inside and too loud everyone will wake up and hear you and you're caught. If we neutalice the threats before we go in we cans be loud as we want," Jorgen said with a heavy sigh.
"Fuck that, I've got cat-like reflexes," Claudia teased.
"Notstwithstanding! It's easy. They'll blames it on a bilogistical attack," Jorgen said.
"I guess," Claudia said.
"And we cans take a truck while we're there," he said.
"And we can steal some uniforms and me and Viveka can drive it home free and Jorgen can take the car," she added.
"She says, wouldn'ts you rather has someone who can talk?" He asked.
"Nah, I want some girl time," Claudia said with a grin.