Tape the Devil's Mouth
a Niko short story
By Kayti Nika Raet
Copyright 2013 Kayti Nika Raet
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This book is a work of fiction. Any names, places, character and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination and are purely fictions. Any resemblances to any persons, living or dead, are completely coincidental.
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This short story depicts the first chapter of NIKO from Malik's point of view, be sure to download Niko and find out what happens next!
Tape the Devil's Mouth
A Niko short story
By
Kayti Nika Raet
Malik Ramsey sat back with a groan. He decided he sucked at subterfuge.
“Finally.” Ben said. “I thought you guys’d never escape.” A fellow Slither hunter he was the one piloting the helicopter this time. He and Duc usually switched off. Malik was never in rotation, he wanted to learn but he was afraid he would lose control at some crucial juncture and kill them all.
"Liar." Ari said cheerfully, belting herself into her seat. "You wouldn't dare." She knew how to fly as well but she was usually the one holding the camera on these trips.
Ben let out a noncommital hum but it was true, they always went together.
"So what happened?" Duc wanted to know as the helicopter rose into the air.
Ari fiddled with her camera her hair falling forward like an inky curtain. "The Director's not convinced that we're doing our jobs."
"Well we're not." Duc pointed oit.
"I know that." She looked up shoving a thickk strand out of her face. "But the Director kept asking me all these questions like she knows we're up to something. I was doing a pretty good job evading them and everything until bonehead here walks in with this huge pack and the Director's like, 'Care to explain, Ms Banerjee?' "
Ben laughed, the sound coming in loud through Malik's headset.
Feeling the need to defend himself Malik was obligated to point out a certain fact. "She's usually in her office all day. How could I know that she was going to come down all twelve flights just to check up on us?"
"Lurking like a Slither." Ben added.
Ari tapped her chin. "Do Slithers even lutk? They seem more inclined to pounce and disembowel."
"One must learn to lurk before one pounces." Ben said with mock solemity.
Malik gazed out the window they were beginning to clear the tallest buildings. He couldn’t fly but he loved looking down on Amaryllis City from above. It sprawled across the land not resembling its floral namesake in the slightest. Walls protected its borders though Ben had said that they weren’t as fortified as its sister city Cherai, it was probably why of the three their city suffered through the most attacks.
Beyond the wall and divided into four sections were the slums. Applicants who failed to enter the city because of one reason or another settled there. There were always talks of cleaning up the slums or getting rid of them all together but talk like that never went anywhere, or at least they hadn’t during his lifetime.
"What did you tell her?" Duc asked after they'd been in the air for several minutes.
Malik looked down at the backpack nestled between his knees."I told her that if Ari's camera breaks down again I was carrying all the necessary equipment to fix it on the spot." It was the only way he could plausibly explain for the pack's size. What he was really carrying was food and boots. Thankfully he hadn't been caught carrying the water, all that sloshing could be heard from several yards away.
“You know that means we have to come back with some photos now.” Duc pointed out.
Malik frowned, he hadn't thought that far ahead he'd just been trying to get them out of the hotel without the Director discovering what they were really up to.
He reached out and grabbed the folder that was alwayd tucked within reach. "I doubt there's anyone near here that the Director already knows about, it's only the ones we've been keeping back."
The city had completely disappeared from view, there was nothing below them now but a wasted landscape dotted with crumbling metropolis and small Outsider communities struggling to survive.
“Alright." Ari said after a moment. "Which one is the least likely to get us into trouble?"
He paged through the folder again, settling on the black and white photo of a house— well house was a nice way of describing it— pinned to a single sheet of paper with a few notes scribbled on one side. "This one's only fifteen minutes out of our way." He read. "Someone said they saw a girl killing Slithers with a baseball bat. The man was drunk, and the girl was too young to have possibly manifested. We paid him his 50q, took a picture of the house and shelved it."
"Sounds good."
"Sounds perfect." Duc agreed, then he snickered. "The lies people tell for 50q."
"He could have added a flamethrower." Ben's voice came out dry. "If he was going for fantasy might as well make it interesting."
"Aw, don't be mean, I doubt he even knows what a flamethrower is." Ari said. "Besides, maybe he wished there were more people like us coming Outside."
Ben shook his head. "I'm just say, a baseball bat? If that were me I would have armed my dream girl with— "
"We don't want to know." Ari interrupted loudly. "We don't want to know what goes on in that pervy brain of yours."
"I think the word you're looking for is 'creative'." Ben corrected. "Oh, look, they're expecting us."
Down below a crowd was forming, this was one of their regular spots and the crowd waited for supplies, expectant. They probably needed to come by less often or word about the four of them and their distinctive helicopter would eventually reach Amaryllis City. The Director would not be pleased.
“Okay guys,” Ari said as the helicopter touched down with a little jolt. “Same as usual, I friend them, Ben treats them, and you guys watch our back.”
Malik was already spanning his crossbow and fitting the bolt into place. Maybe this time they would get lucky and a Slither would come sniffing.
He slid open the door while Ari grabbed the backpacks. The blades were still spinning as he stepped down, slapping his locks against his face.
Whenever they came to a new area if the sight and sound of the helicopter didn’t frighten them off him and Duc stepping down with their crossbows, or any weapon really, usually did and they would spend at least an hour trying to convince the Outsiders that they weren’t a threat.
The Outsiders that met them now were quite used to them, they kept well away from the helicopter blades and pretty much ignored him and Duc, categorizing hem as mildly important but not worthy of the clamor that Ari would receive.
She stepped down next and Malik felt a moment of fierce pride. Ari was always stunning in that moment, dark skin, flashing black eyes and equally dark hair. One would never have guessed that she’d once been an Outsider like them.
She hefted a pack higher up her shoulder and waved. He and Duc shared a grin.
“All right, everyone,” Ari said her voice carrying despite the roar of the helicopter blades. “It’s been eons since we’ve been gone and eons before we come back. So let’s keep thi
ngs nice and orderly and everybody will get some.”
She walked purposely toward a low awning. Once, far back in the past it had been the corner and partial ceiling of a building but the rain had eaten through most of it and now passing travelers used it as a rest stop during the night.
Ari quickly appropriated it as a stall, setting up with the help of an Outsider.
A clamor rose up again, this one mostly female as Ben finally stepped down. He carried the remaining backpack. Adjusting his grip on the medical case he waved and pointed to a small empty building.
Malik had no idea what the building was used for when they were gone but whenever they arrived it was where Ben would set bones, treat minor wounds, or anything else that didn’t require surgery.
There were doctors Outside but while their services were easily affordable---free--- they were too thinly dispersed. A small cut could become a fatal infection in the time it took to reach them.
A line quickly formed at the door.
In front of Ari’s table a line was forming as well. Small necessities garnished her table, anything that was able to be squeezed into three backpacks, seeds, batteries, Instameal packets among others, all sold for a very low price to preserve the dignity of any Outsiders who might have felt looked down upon had they been free.
Ari drew a line at water, it was available to anyone despite their funds though Malik always wondered how an extra cup every couple of months was supposed to do any good,