The basement was filled with the bzzt bzzt sounds of the old fashioned defibrillator paddles against Jason's chest. Cloe was laying in the hospital cot about ten feet away, lighting an after-shock cigarette. She was still nude, her body sweating and slightly singed, the scent of cigarettes, sex, soot, and tomatoes hung in the air around her. It had taken Max almost five minutes to bring her back, and the smell of burnt flesh would probably cling to her for days, intermingled with her normal bodily scents. Cloe would have the burn scars forever. Later that night she would return to her luxury apartment through the window by the fire escape, maybe to sleep. The following morning she would shower off the stench of the small basement, and use make up to cover the scars before tying up her artificial brown hair and going to school again.
With a groan, and coughing gag, Jason finally opened his eyes. Maxine smiled, and set the old defibrillator aside. "Welcome back to reality." She said.
That's what they always said to one another, after shocking. To be honest, Max was surprised that he'd decided to shut out, after watching Cloe. He was a coward, really. He hated shocking, that was clear, but he was a slave to it. To the addiction, and to Cloe.
Jason sat up, and looked at his goddess with expectant eyes, whose color was muted in the low light of the single bulb."Give me a ciggy, Clo." Jason grunted, reaching out his hand. His short blonde hair was standing slightly on end from the shcoks.
"Get your own damn cigarette, you useless shocker." Cloe rolled her eyes, ignoring the rude gesture that followed her response. It was her last one, afterall.
Jason lay back on the old cot, and sniffed the air, inhaling the smell of his own charred flesh. "Took awhile, didn't it?" he asked Max nervously. His whole body was aching... but at least he didn't have scars, like Cloe.
Maxine, who was starting to undress, getting ready for her own shock said "Yeah, I think the 'frib is burning out."
Cloe sighed, "Wonderful." she tapped the ashes off of her cigarette, and then took a last puff before handing the butt to Jason so that he could finish it. She pulled on her blue jeans and old black T-shirt, hallmarks of the last decade, or maybe the one before. She picked up the used syringe, and looked at the liquid in it. "There's barely enough here, you sure you want a go?" She asked, spitting out some extra saliva onto the cement floor.
Max nodded, settling down on Cloe's cot, now that she was nude. "I paid for it, didn't I?" she asked, "Just because I gave you both free hits doesn't mean I get to be jipped."
"I told you, we'll pay later." Cloe rolled her eyes, wiping the needle clean on her jeans.
"What, like you paid the fuckin' Den? Don't give me that shit." Max scrunched up her eyes, and cried out in pain as Cloe stuck the needle into her arm, and injected the liquid inside. The three minutes to shut out was the worst part of shocking, Max thought. Sometimes she wondered if all this was worth it. In the beginning, she and Cloe and Jason had just gone down to the Den. They had real hospital beds there, enough juice for everyone and modern defibrillators. The whole thing was very safe. It was guaranteed. It was pleasant too. They had something to stop the pain of the shut out. But the Den was a private club. If you couldn't pay, you couldn't go.
"It was their own fault." Cloe huffed, "They wouldn't give me an extension on the credit." That was the root of the trouble. They'd taken out credit with the Den to feed the addiction. They couldn't pay. Life found them here now, in the basement of an old abandoned hospital. Shocking was different, here. It was very painful, especially shut out.
Jason looked away, making a face. The sight of someone shutting out was never one that he liked. "Hurry that up, will you?" he asked Cloe.
"One speed only, booger breath." She said. She pressed two fingers against Max's neck, checking for her pulse, now that the girl had stopped talking. "Almost there." she said as she felt it slow, and patter erratically. Then there was nothing. Cloe switched on the defibrillator, and pressed the paddles onto Maxine's base chest.
Jason closed his eyes, hearing the old machine. Bzzt... bzzt... bzzt... After the third one, he looked back over at them, feeling a little queasy. "Is that working?" He asked, stamping out the finally exhausted cigarette.
"It will work." Cloe said, but her voice quivered a little in her throat. "The thing's old, Jason."
The buzzes more, and Jason hopped up, staggering a little from weakness before he set his fingers on Max's neck, checking for the pulse. "Do it again." he said.
Bzzt. Bzzzzzzzt. A crackle of electricity sparked the dry air around them, and the smell of burnt flesh that already lingered grew stronger. Burn marks were appearing on Max's torso. She'd have her own scars now. "Shit!" Cloe said, and kicked the leg of Max's cot. "Shit Jason, its not working!"
"Shut the fuck up and do it again!" He said, sounding very scared. This was getting serious. Bzzt. Bzzzt. The time to bring her back was probably passed by now... but Max showed no signs of life. After another minute of trying, Cloe set the defibrillator down. "Its no use...."She sighed, feeling a lump in her throat as she looked at Max's form, strung out across the cot and burnt just slightly. She looked soiled, like a discarded plaything.
Jason grunted, sweating nervously and picked it up, taking over the chore. Bzzt. Bzzzzzt. Bzzzzzzzzzzzzt. Max's body began to smoke as he held the paddles down to prolong the shock. Still he did it again.
"Jason! Jason knock it the fuck out!" Cloe said, trying to bat him away, "She's fucking dead! You're going to activate her chip!"
Jason yelped at the idea, elbowed Cloe out of the way rather hard, ignoring her. From birth, each person had a chip, which would activate at the time of death in order alert the authorities... of course, electricity tended to mess it up, but it was part of the dangers of shocking. It was an illegal practice, and those little chips brought the cops right to them. Bzzzt. Bzzzzzt. Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt. Once more, and Maxine's body burst into flame at the site of the paddles. Jason cursed and jumped back, and Cloe shoved him aside and used an old rag to smother the fire.
"Now she's fucking dead for sure!" Cloe snapped, "You moron!"She shoved him again, "You killed her!"Her voice was getting louder than she realized.
Jason back up, looking scared and guilty. "I was trying to save her!" he said, "She was already dead!"He was shouting too.
A little beeping starting from Max's body, and Cloe jumped and paled, her heart pattering fast in her chest; probably too fast, considering how soon she'd just shocked. "Someone is going down for murder..." she whispered before looking at Jason. They both knew it was his fingerprints that were the freshest on the defibrillator.
Jason ran a hand through his hair, panting, flushed with pure fear. "Come on, Clo, don't just abandon me..." He begged, grabbing her wrist. The menacing beeping of the chip in Max's chest growing louder. There was the wail of a siren, getting closer to them, and Jason fell into outright panic. "Please... Don't let them find me! Don't let them kill me!" He fell onto his knees. "Please, God, Clo!"
Cloe stared at him, white with fear. She didn't know what to do. Quivering, she turned, and took off up the stairs as fast as she could manage. The next morning in the shower, she couldn't help but wonder why he was so afraid of death. Death was nothing but a step on the way to the euphoria of electroshock.
