Part I: Parasitic Psychosis, Chapter I: 5 Years Later

Part I: Parasitic Psychosis
Chapter I: 5 Years Later
Sydd is talking to Fred, a short, stocky man, one of his drug mules. “I’m losing my patience with you Fred, what do you mean you don’t have all the money?” Sydd asks him, annoyed.
“Hey man, I- I sold the stuff, I don’t know what you want from me.” Fred says, terrified.
“The rest of the cash, where is it?”
“I- I don’t know, man.”
“You’re either undercharging our customers, or you’re dipping into the supply.”
“Well, I-”
“You what?”
“I’ll pay you back somehow man, just please give me more time.”
“Do you know how much it takes to assemble one of these packs?”
“Three thou- uh, three thousand?”
“Try ten.”
“Ten? Oh, Jesus.”
“We’re short a thousand. Which means a whole ten percent is missing. Now, ten percent doesn’t sound like a lot, but let me put it in perspective. A ten percent chance of rain is a small percentage, it means it’s very unlikely it will happen. But when you take the fact that ten percent of ten thousand is a thousand, well, that’s a lot of f*****g money missing.”
“I’m sorry, I-”
“YOU WHAT????” Sydd yells.
“I’m sorry, I only did a line here and there, a gram of weed here and there-”
“So you’ve been stealing from me.”
“I’m sorry, my tolerance is getting stronger, just doing drugs with you isn’t enough to feed my habit anymore.”
“Oh, is that so? I’m sorry, I thought I was supplying you with enough, my bad.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah, everything is going to be ok, just come down to the basement with me.”
“Thanks man, I thought you’d freak out or something.” They both make their way down to the basement. “Huh, looks like a butcher shop down here, with the plastic, the blood, the drain in the floor...why are we down here anyway?”
“No reason.” Sydd says as he takes out a knife and stabs Fred in the chest. “What did I tell you when you started pushing for me? Don’t.” He stabs him in a different place on his chest. “F*****g.” He stabs him again. “Steal. From. Me.” After every word, he stabs him in a different place on his chest, before cutting his throat. “Great, now I have to clean up. He chops up and dissolves the body, and takes a shower. He throws his clothes away and makes his way upstairs, naked.
“Damn, Sydd. Another one?” Frank asks.
“He stole from us.”
“How much?”
“A thousand.”
“Ah, gotcha. F**k him, then.”
“How’s business?”
“Bro, you were right about the old folks’ home. Thank the American government for making medication so damn expensive.”
“Told you, I just wish we thought of it earlier.”
“You realize we have to replace Fred now?”
“Pssh, that’ll be easy, we just gotta find a desperate enough junkie, and most of our customers are.”
“That’s true, you want anything? I’m rolling a frozen blunt.”
“F**k yeah, I’m down.” Frank rolls a blunt and sprinkles it with meth.
“I gotta tell you man, ever since you came home from the hospital, you’ve changed.”
“Yeah, brain damage will do that to ya.”
“So, do you not feel anything at all?”
“No f***s given.”
“Do you enjoy it?”
“Enjoy what?”
“Killing people. You’ve only been home a year, and you’ve killed nine people.”
“It’s all part of the job, I don’t particularly enjoy it, but there is a rush. Now I know how Rob and Zakk must have felt.”
“Well, it’s keeping your brother alive, so I guess you gotta do what you gotta.”
“I forgot all about that. I haven’t visited him since I got out of the hospital.”
“Are you gonna?”
“Nah, I don’t give a f**k.”
“Woah. You really have changed, that was the whole reason you started doing this, remember?”
“Oh yeah! Oh well, now it’s a job, my career. Besides, Zakk taught me everything I know, I figured I might take his place one day.”
“What are you, psychic?”
“Nah man, I was already in too deep, I figured it was inevitable. It was either this, jail, or dead.”
“Yeah, I’m uh, kinda glad you survived, trying to do this on my own sucked a*s.”
“Don’t go all soft on me now.”
“No, it’s not that, it’s just that you know what you’re doing, unlike those dopes Don sent to sub for you. As much as it was extra work for me, doing it myself was easier than dealing with those idiots.”
“Yeah well, I didn’t know the extent of Vera’s madness.”
“That’s what happens when you think with your dick.”
“Amen, brother.”
“Well, at least she’s dead. She can’t hurt anyone anymore.”
“Like I give a s**t about other people being hurt.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true. Wanna do some angel dust?”
“I’d like to, but I need to be lucid for another few hours. Once we hit Slow Time, then I’ll gladly do a line.”
“Maybe we should raise our prices, that might reduce the likelihood of so much being stolen from us.”
“We’ve gotta clear it with Don first.”
“It’s more money for him.”
“Yeah, but less people will be able to afford it, so we might end up losing business.”
“Good point.”
“Yeah, I’m trying to keep a low profile. Killing a person here or there is one thing, but if we start fronting to people who can’t afford to pay us back, a sudden surge in missing junkies is going to be suspicious as f**k.”
“Damn, you’re just full of good points today, aren’t you?”
“I’ve been in this business a long time. Speaking of which, I gotta call Don.” He takes out his cell phone and calls a number, then after one ring, he hangs up. Two hours later, he gets a call back. “Hey dad, I had to throw away another turkey. I’ll pick another one soon. Fido, Rex, Envy, and Dog, poor turkey. Have a nice day.” He hangs up.
“What did he say?”
“He didn’t say anything, it was a one way conversation. He has a little notebook full of our operation written in code, so even if a guard reads it, he doesn’t know what the hell it means.”
“Got it... I think.”
“In code, I told him I had to take out a pusher, and that I’ll replace him soon. The dog names spell out Fred.”
“You called him dad.”
“He’s the boss. Besides, the calls are monitored, so I call him once and hang up, since beepers don’t exist anymore. He calls back when he can, and then I talk to him in code.”
“Damn, you’ve got it down to a science.”
“Big Brother is everywhere nowadays, gotta be careful.”
“What happens if they crack the code?”
“I doubt it, only the top people like us, and Don himself know the code. Mules and pushers don’t know s**t except that they’re supposed to sell. The only way the authorities will understand the code is if someone talks. Of course, if someone gets busted, it’s one of our jobs to take that person out.”
“What do you mean, one of our jobs?”
“Anyone in our position, which means if you or I get busted, he’ll send someone to take us out.”
“Ah, s**t. How come I didn’t know that?”
“Because you obviously didn’t listen to me the first time I told you this. I knew I shouldn’t have tried to talk to you while you were tripping.”
“Sorry, man.”
“It’s cool, are you up to the task if you have to?”
“Well, I mean, if you can do it, I guess I can too.”
“Being fucked up helps if you’re chicken s**t.”
“It’s just that I’ve never killed anyone before.”
“Like I said, drugs help.” There is a knock at the door. A jittery man is at the door. “Come on in, Joe.”
“Hey, got any ice?” Joe says.
“Of course, how much do you need?” Sydd asks.
“Two grams.”
“Got the cash?”
“Yeah, right here.” he takes out and hands Sydd the money.
“Pleasure doing business with you.”
“Of course.” Joe leaves.
“Why didn’t you ask him to replace Fred?” Frank asks.
“He already has a legitimate job, it wouldn’t work out.”
“Oh, I see, you need someone who will do anything to get high.”
“Exactly, the problem is that trusting junkies is a really hard thing to do. They could make off with the party pack and we never see them again.”
“So how do you know who to pick?”
“That’s why we have the death contract, so they know what they’re getting into.”
“And they’re ok with it?”
“You are, aren’t you?”
“Well yeah, but I don’t give a s**t if I die.”
“Exactly. We need someone who doesn’t care about their life, or someone who is so desperate that they’ll do anything, including give up their life.”
“Seems kind of extreme.”
“It’s a dangerous business, Frank. You should know, you blew up your girlfriend, remember?”
“Oh come on, I wasn’t even home when that happened!”
“And you served time for it anyway.”
“Yeah, I guess I did.” There’s another knock at the door. A sickly looking man is there.
“What do you need, Chris?”
“Look, I need dope, man. Just one bag.” Chris says.
“Got the cash?”
“I’ve got half of it.”
“Then you’re only getting a half of a bag.”
“But that’s not enough!”
“How bout a deal? You sell for us, and we’ll keep you high.”
“Dude! That would be sweet!”
“There’s rules, though. Once you get in, there’s no getting out.”
“I’ll do whatever, man. I just wanna get high and stay high.”
“Anything?”
“I’ll sell to kids, I’ll suck your dick, whatever you want, man.”
“What about your life?”
“What about it?”
“Would you be willing to give up your life if you had to?”
“Sure man, if the heroin doesn’t kill me, I’m sure something else will.”
“Come on, we have a lot to talk about.” Chris sits down and talks with Sydd and Frank.
“So, what do I have to do?”
“You’re going to stand on a corner and sell to anyone who approaches you.” Sydd says.
“Seems easy enough.”
“Yeah, what would you do if the cops caught you?”
“Run the other way, man.”
“Ok, but what if they catch and interrogate you?”
“Well, I- I don’t, I mean, I won’t rat if that’s what you think.”
“Of course you won’t, cause if you get caught, you’ll die before you get the chance to talk.”
“Are you- are you serious?”
“What, you think this is a game?”
“No, I just didn’t realize-”
“Hey man, you said it yourself, if the dope doesn’t get you, something else will.”
“Ok, I’ll do it.”
“You sure? Your life is on the line, here.”
“I said I’ll do it, just give me some dope!” Sydd brandishes a knife, and slices open the top of Chris’ hand, leaving a small, but bleeding cut. “What the f**k was that for?”
“To show you that I’m serious. Still wanna do it?”
“As long as I get high, I don’t give a f**k.”
“And nobody will miss you?”
“Nah, my family don’t talk to me no more, and you guys are the only people I talk to.”
“Perfect, be here tomorrow at five p.m and we’ll get you started. Now, let’s take care of that pain, shall we?” Sydd opens up a bag of heroin, and dumps it on Chris’ open wound.
“What the hell are you- oh yeah, that’s good, that’s what I neeeded.”
“Mission accomplished.”