Max Collins - Skin Game

“Bet your pasty white ass.”

“You know, you liking me doesn’t seem that different from when I sickened you.”

“It’s a fine line,” Cindy admitted.

Sketch smiled, shook his head, and headed outside to his bike.

Turning back to glance at Max’s locker one last time, Original Cindy looked farther down the aisle and saw that kid no one ever seemed to notice. What was his name? Bobby Suzuki? Tommy Nagasaki? Kid had less personality than Normal in his sleep.

Sitting in front of his locker, the kid glanced around, and apparently didn’t catch her watching as he pulled a bottle of pills out and unscrewed the lid. It looked identical to the bottle of Tryptophan pills that Max kept in her locker to control her seizures.

Slowly moving closer, careful not to be spotted, Original Cindy watched as he shook two pills out into his hand. He screwed the lid back on the bottle and stuck it in the pocket of his vest. She caught only a glimpse of the pills in the kid’s hand as they headed to his mouth, but that was enough for her to see the pills were just like the ones Max took.

Sliding up next to him, she asked, “Hey, Tommy boy — you stealin’ my girl’s meds?”

The kid shook his head emphatically. “No, no. I’d never hurt Max... And it’s Bobby.”

“So, if I check my main girl’s locker I’m gonna find her meds still in there?”

Now the kid nodded with equal enthusiasm. “Go ahead and look. I swear I didn’t take anything!”

Eyeballing the guy — God, what a nonentity! — Original Cindy moved over in front of Max’s locker and dialed the combination lock.

Opening the door, she looked inside and saw Max’s bottle perched on the top shelf, where it always sat, safe and sound. She picked it up, shook it, found it to be maybe three-quarters full. That seemed about right.

“All right, Robby,” she said. “My bad.”

“It’s Bobby... Can I go now?”

“No — not till you tell me why you’re takin’ Tryptophan.”

“It just relaxes me. It’s over-the-counter med.”

“Not in that quantity. Listen, Timmy — maybe you weren’t around durin’ the party we had the other day...”

“The hostage crisis? I was here. Don’t you remember?”

“Yeah, sure. Anyway — if you was here, you should know where I stand on a certain controversial issue.”

“I do. You’re Max’s friend.”

“And you’re...”

They both looked around to make sure no one was watching.

“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked.

Normal strolled by, like a hall monitor trolling for trouble. “You two still here? This is not Club Med, people. There’s work to do — get moving.”

They walked outside together and mounted their bicycles. She looked at the kid in the morning sunshine. For some reason, she felt like this was the first time she’d really seen him.

Why did she think of him as a kid? He could be twenty... or thirty... or...? Whatever, he was of indeterminate race, with full lips and black curly hair that reminded her a little of her own. Like Max, he appeared to be a mixture of all people, only his features seemed almost blurred compared to Max’s well-defined face.

Looking closer, though, he might have some Afro blood in him...

Together, they rode away slowly, her envelope stuck inside her vest, his package in a bag over his shoulder.

“I never told Max,” he said, “but, yes, I’m a transgenic, too.”

They rode side by side in the street.

“How long you been passin’?” she asked.

He shrugged one shoulder. “Since Max got us out of Manticore.”

“That’s not all that long... You seem to be fitting in okay.”

“That’s no problem for me.”

“You and Max are friends?” Funny, she thought, that Max would have a friend at Jam Pony that Cindy didn’t also know.

He nodded. “If it wasn’t for Max, I’d still be there. At Manticore.”

“But Manticore was burned.”

“I’d just be some more ashes.”

“I gotta say, man, you seem so regular, I woulda thought you were on the outside as long as Max.”

They paused at a light.

He shook his head. “I’m supposed to seem regular — that’s what I do.”

She shook her head. “It’s still not safe for you out here by yourself.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” he said with a sad smile. “But they’re all in Terminal City and I’m stuck here. What am I gonna do — march up to the gate and ask to be let in?”

Cindy thought about that. “There’s other ways.”

“You think?”

“I’m here, ain’t I?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you saw what went down Friday.”

“Sure.”

The light changed.

“I was with her when she left, right? And we all ended up in Terminal City.”

“And you got out?”

“What do you think, chump? Do I look like a mirage to you?”

“Come to think of it, Sketchy went along with you and Max, too, didn’t he?”

She nodded.

“And that friend of Max’s — Logan?”

“You know him?” she asked, a little puzzled now.

“Seen him with Max before. Stops by Jam Pony sometimes.”

That was true.

“Yeah,” she said, “Logan went, too.”

“Did all of you leave?”

They were riding slowly through the light traffic.

“Well... you saw Sketch at work, right?”

“What about Logan?”

She frowned. “Why are you so interested in Logan?”

“Well, it’s just... I wondered if he was transgenic, too — ’cause that’s the only way he could stay in Terminal City, right? I mean, ordinaries get sick if they stay too long.”

“Well... you’re right about that. That’s why Max got us out of there — me and Sketch and Logan.”

“If she got you out, could you get me in, the same way?”

Something felt way whack about this to her. If this mouth-breather was a transgenic, why hadn’t Max or Alec ever pointed him out? And why in the hell was he so worried about the three ordinaries? Last, but not least, she reminded herself, was the fact that now he suddenly wanted to know the route she’d used to get in and out of Terminal City...

They were at another light.

“Look, Teddy,” she said slowly. “It’s not that I don’t trust you — it’s just that I need some kind of...”

“Proof,” he said. “I’ve been a human the whole time you’ve known me... with no sign of transgenic ability... then I start in with all these questions.”

She nodded, liking the fact that he got it so fast. “That’s a big bingo, Barney. Why don’t you whip up a little super somethin’ for me?”

“Can’t do it,” he said, almost sadly. “The drug — the Tryptophan you saw me taking earlier?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s an inhibitor. It works to keep my abilities from taking over my life.”

“That’s not how it affects Max...”

“We’re all different. You know what an X5 is? I’m not an X5. I’m more like Joshua.”

“You ain’t no dog boy.”

“No — and I can show you what I am, later... when the dose has worn off. But not now.”

“Works for me,” she said, suddenly nervous. “Look, I better get my shit in gear — Normal’ll fire my ass.”

“I want your help, Cindy.”

“Maybe we could hook up at Crash later, Benny, and when nobody’s lookin’, you could show me your stuff, then.”

“Sure.”

Original Cindy nodded at the guy and pedaled away.

That weirdo was way too interested in Max... Cindy felt like she’d nearly, if accidentally, betrayed her best friend. No way in freakin’ hell would she show that strange character — soul brother or not — the tunnel into Terminal City.

After pumping a few times, Original Cindy glanced back and he waved. She faked a smile and waved herself. Then, once she’d gone two blocks, she looked back again and he was gone.