7.c.vi.
“Anything
broken or sprained real bad?” Business Woman asked.
“My shoulder,”
said Demand. “But nothing that’ll keep
me from moving.”
“I’m fine,”
said Supply.
Business Woman
looked around. It was dark in the
trench. The walls were charcoal grey and
there were marks, like cliff shearing, scraping down them. She pushed her way past an errand boy and a
couple of day traders and called out, “Bull!
Bull Market? You okay? Are you hurt?”
She rounded a
corner easing past two of the polo-clad sect as they helped a fine-suited trader
gain his feet. Both had visible
injuries. A gashed and bleeding head, a
leg that seemed to attach incorrectly, a broken nose, and extremely dislocated
fingers. Beyond them was Bull Market. He
was doubled over, writhing and moaning.
“Bull, buddy,
what’s wrong?” Business Woman asked, ignoring the pleads of the injured day
traders nearby.
“Get away from
me,” he grunted. “Go! While you still can.”
“Bull Market,
listen to–”
“Go! I can’t stop him. He’s coming.
Run!” Bull Market screamed. Then
his back arched and something deep inside him cracked. He howled, in agony, and tore at his chest,
ripped open the buttons of his shirt, and yanked frantically at his tie.
“Oh shit,”
said Business Woman. She turned and ran
back down the corridor, shouting, “Go! Go!
It’s nineteen eighty-seven all over again. Run!”
“What is
it? What’s happened?” Supply said as she and Demand took their cues
and ran. Several of the more intelligent
day traders followed suit.
“It’s Bull
Market,” said Business Woman. “He’s gone
Bear!”
Bull Market’s
thick, bovine face contorted unnaturally as he shrieked. Hollow, wet sounds, like rocks scraping
together in a bowl of oatmeal, grated beneath his skin. His blunted teeth cracked and then splintered
into sharp, jagged points. Tufts of
coarse, musky hair sprouted all over his body.
His suit, ragged and torn, clung to him in tatters.
And then Bear
Market roared.
A couple of
the less intelligent day traders, having ignored Business Woman’s subtle hints
that they should vacate the area, caught sight of Bear Market. Realization came too late. The beast was upon them, clawing and gnashing
and growling. Jagged teeth ripped away
huge chunks of spurting flesh.
Blood and
screams painted the dark walls of the labyrinth.
