Missed Your Lips

Chapter 6 – Disillusion


We were sitting at the small breakfast table, the long silence stretched out between us. While I got dried off and tried to find some semblance of my dignity, Blitz had managed to get take-out delivered. The smell of sesame chicken, egg rolls, and fried rice woke my hunger that was long forgotten by my more pressing bodily needs.

“I apologize for not making it here sooner,” he said. “Vince warned me that your time was coming.”

I almost choked on my rice. “My time?” I stuttered, trying not to spit the remaining food from my mouth. “Does this have anything to do with me being a doll?”

Blitz nodded while munching on an egg roll. “It’s the way your body was engineered. You’re manufactured to create and maintain a constant state of pleasure when commanded. There are other types of dolls, but your type is the most popular.”

I slammed my fist onto the table. “Manufactured? Commanded? I was human once! I saw visions of my life through my dreams!”

I pushed the chair away from the table, but before I could rise, Blitz grabbed my arm. Calm down, I heard through my mind.

Unnerved by his outburst and confused by my ability to hear it, I leaned back in my chair and stared at his concerned face while I tried to wrap my mind around what he was telling me.

“What I don’t understand is why now? In the year that I worked at the bar, I never felt anything like this. And I think I would remember it if it did happen.”

Blitz sighed, and left the table, taking his plate to the sink. This subject seemed to disturb him, like he was personally involved with it on some level. I hardly knew the man, but he had cared for me like I was an old friend. As far as I knew, we had only met days ago. If he was anything like Vince, he was not a trusting person, and yet he didn’t hesitate to bring me into his home when I was in danger. Like my past, he too was an enigma. He didn’t speak again until he went through the motions of rinsing his dish off. He turned to face me, rubbing his eyes while he leaned against the counter.

“This was how Vince explained it to me,” he started. “The human body has certain needs that must be met to keep it properly functioning, and if those needs are not met at regular intervals, then the body warns you before it forces you to fulfill those needs. Like hunger, thirst, and sleep, no body can function if one of its main drivers is not getting satisfied.”

Blitz ran a hand through his hair; his frustration for our situation was continuing to get to him. “As a doll, you are different. You still have a body’s basic needs, but the general altered your brain to make sure you were always ready to meet his physical needs.”

He looked away from me again. If I hadn’t been completely focused on him, I would never have caught the hint of anxious amusement that flashed in his smile. I blinked again and it was gone, his face set back into its worried lines. In one motion, he was leaving the kitchen, heading towards the northern line of windows. The late afternoon sun cast his large shadow across the floor, throwing it towards the library.

I went after him, leaving my half-eaten plate behind. As I drew closer, I heard him whispering to himself. When I reached him, I put my hand on his back. And just as I was about to speak, his thoughts radiated through my mind. Damn you Vince! I can’t do this! It’s been too long. She won’t remember. She won’t understand. I can’t deal with this!

I pulled my hand away as if touching his skin had burned the flesh on my fingers. He whirled around when he realized I was there. I saw fear in his eyes, but he blinked it away as soon as I recognized it. I couldn’t understand why this subject troubled him so much, especially since he had no personal relationship with me. Was this what he thought I couldn’t understand?

“Please do not touch me without permission,” he said, turning back to the darkening skyline outside the window.

I took my place next to him, staring out at the setting sun. “You can’t expect me to understand the situation when your story makes no sense. I didn’t like the feelings my body was releasing, and I was scared because I had no idea how to fix it. But you did, and now you’re not explaining yourself clearly, and you’re acting like you’re afraid of me. Please, you have to tell me what’s wrong with me!”

I heard him sigh, but he still refused to look at me. In the world below, the buildings of the business district darkened as their workers left for the day. The pale light from the neon bulbs of the Strip was creeping into the room now. I couldn’t see Blitz’s face once the sun set below the horizon, so his reactions were hidden from me.

“You need sex to survive,” he blurted out, breaking the silence. “Vince kept the urges under control by drugging you every day, but he warned me that three days without it, your body would react naturally. He was afraid it would be amplified because it had been suppressed for so long.”

So that was it. I required something I knew nothing about to live normally. At least that explained some of the weird things Vince made me do. “So that’s why he always had to fix my dinners.” I laughed, but stopped when I had another interesting thought. “Is that why he never made me dance on stage before, because it might ‘wake’ this need in me?”

Blitz shook his head. “No, he actually said it was to protect his patrons. I mean, you saw what happened when you were on stage.”

The memory of the men pulling me from the stage was still fresh, their sweaty hands wrapped around my legs, ripping the clothes from my body. Yet something about it still didn’t make sense. “But it was only a few guys. The others just stood by and watched.”

“Because you smell like sex to the ‘normal’ people. They simply have to smell any form of excitement from you, and it sends them into a lustful state,” he said, running his hand through his hair again. “It’s different for those of us with upgraded bodies. We only seek you out when your body is in its heated state. Like the humans, we will feel compelled to help you. At the time, you didn’t have that type of stimulation flowing through you, so men like the soldiers didn’t feel a need to react, only to observe.”

I walked away from him, finding the futon very inviting, a beacon of comfort in an otherwise dark and lonely room. The forgotten book was still lying on the floor. Blitz followed me, taking a seat next to me. He noticed the discarded book in my hands, and took it from me, turning it over to look at the cover.

“Well, at least we know what triggered your excitable state this time.”

I had to laugh. “Yeah, that and a dream of you sucking on my neck.”

He laughed with me, possibly to relieve the room’s tension. I smiled at him as I thought about my predicament. “So basically, this general that made me was a complete dog.”

“Yeah,” he said, his laughter dying quickly. “It’s something that a lot of the top brass were investing in. Like the other men with dolls, he was under a lot of pressure. All that was needed was a few switched wires in your head, and you became his obedient servant, always ready and willing upon his return from the battlefield. Too bad he never actually got to use his pet.”

That caught me by surprise. “Wait, he never used me?”

“Nope. You were taken just after he received you. A group of mercenaries raided their camp, and they took you thinking you were a hostage.”

Wow, three days ago I could barely get two words from this man. Now he knows all about my past. Was this Vince’s handiwork? I was going to kick his ass!

“And it’s this general who is looking for me now?”

Blitz shook his head. “No, it’s his son. Seems you were part of his inheritance when his father died.”

“But…”

Blitz put his hand on mine. Shhh, that’s enough for now.

His touch was warm, and suddenly I was very tired. I didn’t know why, but I really wanted to go to bed, regardless of the fact that my companion was spilling the secrets of my past. I fell over, landing on the pillow that I had dreamed on earlier. Blitz patted my hand before getting up. He lifted my feet onto the futon, and covered me with the blanket. I moaned as he pushed my hair from my face.

“At least you’re here if it happens again…” I mumbled, slipping back into sleep.

In my mind I heard, That’s what scares me…


~*~*~

“How is she?” Vince asked after slamming a shot of tequila.

“Confused, vexed, sexually-frustrated,” Blitz said, slamming back his own shot.

Vince nodded, and poured two more shots for the both of them. “I feel for her. How are you holding up?”

The two men swallowed the second shots together. Blitz laughed as they slammed the glasses onto the empty bar. “About the same. I don’t know if I can handle helping her three days from now.”

“You know,” Vince said, digging around in his back pocket to produce a pill packet. “I still have a supply of these. You could start giving them to her immediately. It’s not been out of her system for too long, so she should go back to normal in a couple of days.”

Blitz leaned against the bar, seriously thinking about Vince’s offer. It wasn’t without merit, but was it really the best thing for both of them? What if he could make her remember her former life? Yeah it had some painful moments, but would those bad memories outweigh the good ones?

“What can I do about her memories? She doesn’t remember anything. All she has is the random dream that pushes to the surface, and most of those have not been pleasant. Hell, she woke me up on the first night, and I had to chase her into the living room to get her under control. The next morning, it was like it never happened.”

Vince hopped up onto the bar, sitting comfortable against the beer tap while staring out at the empty stage. “Did you ever think to just reactivate her?”

“I can’t,” Blitz said, shaking his head. “I don’t know what they did to her during her last trip to the lab. I’ve heard that the newer models can be traced with GPS once their patrons activate them. If that bastard has her programmed with a satellite link, that would explain why he only recently found her. Damn him and his dumb luck.”

Too many things can wrong at this point, Blitz thought. It really wasn’t safe coming here either. The military probably had a tail on him already. It was putting all of them in danger just to come here and make himself feel better. Unfortunately Vince was the only one who stuck with him when she was taken. Vince was the one who took the gun from his mouth, kept him in the real world long enough to get his head straight. He had made a new life without her, learned how to survive after knowing the love of a good woman. When he heard she was alive, he was relieved, but couldn’t bear to see her. It had taken over a year before he dared to walk into his old friend’s bar again, some ten years since she was stolen from him. Would anything really be different this time? How long would it take for the military to find them?

Blitz poured and drank one more shot before making his way to the door. With his hand on the handle, he said, “I’ll take her out of town. We still have a safe house near the lake. She’s bored at my place as it is, maybe the mountain air will liven her up.”

Vince laughed. “So, is taking her out of the city safer for her, or you? You know they’ll find you; it’s only a matter of time. Can you handle losing her again?”

“Well, I won’t expect you to show up and take my gun away this time,” he whispered, and stepped out into the darkness.




Hope you enjoy the new chap, and thank you for reading!