"Have you ever tried nitro?"
Zack raised an eyebrow at Hayden's question. If he were being honest, he was kind of sick of dealing with the guy. His jaw was still a little sore from the punch earlier. He just wanted to go home. But he supposed he'd have to see what this was all about.
"I haven't even heard of that," he replied.
To his surprise, Hayden simply smiled in response, and reached into his jacket pocket. From it, he retrieved a small vial, similar to the ones used to carry oxycodipine. He threw it to Zack, who just barely caught it.
The vial was different from the ones he'd been used to. The lid was made of some kind of hard rubber, as opposed to metal, and it looked like it was fairly easy to open. There were some scratches, as if whoever had been handling it didn't really bother to be careful. And then there was the liquid inside.
It was a vivid red, almost the color of blood. The liquid was thick, and as Zack moved the vial around he noticed that it would stick to the glass. When left still, the liquid began to solidify into a small blob, making it look like some kind of jelly.
Zack then turned his attention back to Hayden.
"So, is this a new... product of yours?" he asked.
"Yeah," Hayden said. "A friend of mine figured out how to synthesize it on our own. Good for profits and all. I figured you might want to give it a try."
Zack smiled at that. He started heading back towards his car, beckoning Hayden to follow him.
"Why don't you show me how to use it then?" he said as he opened the car door.
With a nod, Hayden followed him and settled down on the passenger seat. Zack sat down on the driver's side, and then tossed the vial back to Hayden.
"Most people prefer to inject it directly into their veins," he said, as he opened the little container. "But you can actually just pop them into your mouth like candy."
He tipped the vial just enough to allow the drug to slide off and into his hand. Zack watched as the thick liquid slowly dribbled out. It looked like a blood clot. Hayden was unbothered by it, and soon enough the liquid had solidified back into its jelly-like consistency.
"Here, give me your hand," Hayden said.
Zack did as he was told, putting his hand palm up so that Hayden could pour the liquid onto it. He didn't expect Hayden to carefully hold his hand in place, as if to keep it steady. His skin was warm, which was a sharp contrast from the cold substance on his palm.
Hayden then looked directly into his eyes, still holding onto his hand. Zack wasn't sure of what else to do but to stare back, and they both stayed like that for a moment. Then suddenly, Hayden pulled his hand back and looked away.
"Anyway, just put that in your mouth, but don't swallow," he said. "Just let it dissolve on your tongue."
Zack gave another look to the clot-like substance, as if trying to find the courage to actually put that into his mouth. The drug had solidified once more, and it was like his hand hadn't been wet at all. In a single motion, he lifted his hand to his mouth as if swallowing a pill.
The liquid spread all over his tongue, and he was surprised to find that it tasted almost like candy. At first, it was sweet, but after a few seconds the taste became bitter. He stayed as still as a stone, trying to resist the urge to swallow.
It grew increasingly bitter; it had started out with something similar to the taste of a nice coffee, but soon it became almost unbearable. There was a metallic twinge to it, and Zack no longer had to fight the urge to swallow, because now all he wanted was to spit it all out.
But even if he tried, he couldn't bring himself to do it. His body was numb, and he felt like the world was going dark around him. There was a tingling sensation on his tongue that grew stronger, and it spread to his throat, his ears, eyes, nose, until his whole face was tingling. And then it spread through his body, an electrical jolt that gave it motion once again.
These first moments were an endurance test, after which he would get to the reward. It was strange, suddenly he felt energized in a way that he'd never felt before.
Even during his death race matches, when his body would be infused with enough oxycodipine to render him effectively immortal, he wouldn't feel as if anything was different. Of course, part of the drug's effect worked to suppress his natural survival instinct, but it was overall a very passive substance. This however, was something else.
If oxycodipine made it so that his body was immortal, nitro made him believe that he was. He felt like he could do anything.
There was a beast inside him desperately trying to claw its way out. His body moved on its own, and Zack had barely noticed that he had turned the car's ignition on.
"Hey, it's not a good idea to drive while you're under the influence." He heard Hayden pipe up next to him, although his voice sounded like it was coming from an empty cave.
Zack turned his head so that he'd meet Hayden's eyes with his own.
"Did you forget who you're talking to?" Zack smiled. "Driving under the influence is my job."
Before Hayden could answer, Zack had already pushed down the accelerator pedal, making the engine roar like a hungry monster. He then let go of the clutch, and the car jolted into motion, screaming away trough the dark roads of Nekroi City.
The pungent smell of chemicals assaulted Hayden's nose as soon as he stepped into the lab. They all called it a lab, but it was little more than a small bathroom, retrofitted to allow more space for all the chemistry paraphernalia.
Theia gave him a glance as he entered, and then quickly turned her attention back to her task. She was wearing a surgical mask.
"Close the door behind you," she said while looking at a beaker containing a red substance.
Hayden did as he was told, before approaching her. He really didn't get why she would worry about the door. Sure, the smell could raise an alarm to the neighbours, but it's not like the rackety wooden door did any good keeping all of it in.
They were in what was essentially a burner apartment, a small studio in Sector 7 of Nekroi City - where those with the lowest income were relegated to. The rest of the apartment, which consisted of a living room and a kitchen, was currently being watched over by Bulk, as well as some other guy whose name escaped Hayden's mind. Probably a new recruit.
The bathroom itself was cleaner than the rest of the place. The toilet had been completely removed, and Hayden presumed that if any of the apartment's occupants wanted to go for a piss, they'd have to do it outside. But the extra space allowed for a table to be placed inside the bathroom, on top of which were the fruits of Theia's hard work.
She had been grinding the metallic crystals with a pestle and mortar, until thet turned into a fine powder. Hayden grimaced when he remembered the sheer amount of crystals he had retrieved that day, wondering if Theia had to grind all of them by hand. The least she could do was offset some of the work to the meatheads outside.
"You came here to see how the sausage is made?" Theia asked, barely turning her attention away from her work.
Hayden shrugged. "I can't deny it, some of this stuff looks pretty cool."
Theia responded with a grunt, but Hayden recognized it as one of her pleased grunts. He watched as she collected the powder into a large beaker. The crystals had looked pretty before, but now in powder form they were even more mesmerizing.
The beauty was shortlived however, since Theia was quick to pour some sort of acid on the powder. The acid immediately began reacting, creating some sort of fizzy froth like a freshly opened can of soda. The smell made Hayden instinctively pull his shirt over his nose.
Almost immediately, red blobs rose up to the surface as the acid ate away at the powder. So it was that simple, Hayden thought.
After the reaction was done, Theia placed the contents of the beaker onto another contraption, which seemed to be draining the acid from the substance in an attempt to purify it.
"There's some chemical that gets released when the acid reacts to the crystal powder, and that's nitriodyn," Theia said. "Theoretically there's gotta be a way to make it without the crystal, but this is the most effective method we got. You just have to drain the acid, and you're done."
Her explanation made it sound like magic, but the results happened right in front of his eyes. Hayden couldn't deny it, this truly was the real deal.
"What happened to the sample I gave you yesterday?"
Hayden shrugged. "I sold it. What else was I supposed to do with it?"
"I guess you are our main dealer after all," Theia said. "I thought you would use it for yourself."
"Nitro? Nah," Hayden retorted, almost as if he was offended. "Not my thing."
Theia didn't have anything to say in response, so she just went back to her work. She had no reason to be interested in Hayden's side of the business, which normally he would appreciate, but now he felt some sort of empty hole in his chest. He fiddled with his fingers.
"You know, I sold the sample to that last guy," he blurted out before he could stop himself. "The oxycodipine guy. He's got a lot of money to pay for that stuff."
All of a sudden, Theia placed the beaker she was holding on the table, forcibly enough that Hayden worried the glass would crack. She looked at him. "What do you mean the last guy?"
He looked away from her gaze. "The guy we saw on TV."
It was difficult to make out Theia's expression, since half of her face was covered by a mask. But he could see her eyebrows shoot up and her eyes widen with a slight crinkle, as if he was a child caught in a lie. So he continued:
"He survived the crash in the end. Something to do with the oxycodipine," he sighed. "That's why he bought so much of it at once."
"Right," Theia seemed to relax a bit. "I have heard about some side effect of oxycodipine. These drugs, the neutroactivators... we don't fully understand what they're capable of."
"Yeah..." Hayden gave it some thought. "Nitriodyn is one of those, right?"
"It is," she said curtly. "You know, Hayden, I don't like it that you're selling drugs to that guy. He's clearly buying it on behalf of whatever death race team he drives for."
That detail had not escaped Hayden's mind when he first saw Zack on TV. Oxycodipine could theoretically be bought anywhere, as long as one had the license to use it. Nero made a business out of selling it ilegally, offering the drug to anyone willing to pay for it, which usually meant those who use it recreationally. But for an official death race team to be buying it through him...
"I just hope you're being careful," Theia said. "Oxycodipine may be regulated, but nitriodyn is flat out illegal."
Hayden scoffed. "Yeah, I get it. The sample I sold him yesterday, he paid it out of his own pocket. There's no official teams or whatever getting involved."
Theia shot him a look, but let the issue drop. "Whatever you say," she replied. "Out of all our dealers, you're still the one guy I trust with this kind of stuff."
The sample from earlier had finished purifying. Theia carefully placed the nitriodyn into various vials, and put those vials into little plastic bags. She then walked over to the corner of the room, a space that would have been used for the shower if this was a normal bathroom, and placed the plastic bags inside a large duffel bag.
"Here," she said. "This should be enough for about a week of sales." She gave him a pointed look. "Assuming none of your clients buy off half of your supply."
Hayden laughed as he went over to the bag. He found it surprisingly heavy as he lifted it up from the floor. "Hey, money is money, right? As long as I'm moving this, it shouldn't matter who buys and who doesn't."
"Well, aren't you a clever business man." Theia had a hint of a smile beneath her mask. "Now go do your rounds."
After giving a gesture of goodbye, Hayden exited through the door, with the bag in tow.
He walked all the way over to his car and tossed the bag on the passenger seat. His car didn't look all that out of place parked in the middle of Sector 7. It was an older model, the paint had been scraped off in some places, the seats were scuffed and a little uncomfortable. He had the money to buy something better, but he didn't see the need to. He didn't want anyone breaking into the car and stealing all his shit, nor the Enforcers to know what he was up to. No, these things are better when kept secret.
He drove away from the run down buildings, into an area even more run down. It was a small parking lot, which used to belong to an equally small factory, now abandoned. At some point the gates of the factory were pried open, and that's how they've been ever since, allowing anyone to enter the empty building. Every time Hayden would swing by, he would hear loud music playing from within. He parked his car near the gates.
After a few minutes, someone started to approach him. Hayden lowered the window, and the stranger quickened his pace.
"Yo," the man said. His clothes looked far too flashy for his surroundings, and his neck was adorned with golden chains. He kept a gun holstered at his belt, which he almost dropped as he dug into his pockets. He then dropped a wad of cash on Hayden's lap.
"You're here just in time," he continued. "My supply is running low."
Hayden carefully removed the rubber band from the stack of cash and began counting it. "I have a new product for you," he said without lifting his eyes from the money.
The other guy raised an eyebrow, but remained silent as Hayden finished counting the cash. Once he was done, he put it all on his pocket and then opened the duffel bag. After digging through it for a while, he retrieved a bag of oxycodipine - which was what his client had been here for - and another of nitriodyn. He shook it in front of the man.
"This is nitro," he said.
"Wait, for real?" the man said, before a smile flashed across his face. "I can't find that anywhere, not since the enforcers started cracking down on it."
"Those party goers have been missing out on some shit, then," Hayden said, gesturing towards the abandoned factory with his chin.
"How much is it?"
"Three hundred per vial."
The man's smile was gone, and he kicked the car with enough force to make it shake a little. "What the fuck!" he said.
"Like you said, this is rare stuff. I'm putting my ass on the line to even sell it to you." Hayden remained calm as he explained himself, looking at the man like he was a child throwing a tantrum. "It comes at a price."
The man sighed, and then he reached into his pocket again to retrieve more money. "Alright," he said, handing Hayden a big stack. "Give me the whole bag."
Hayden smiled before giving him the bag. "You won't regret it. Soon you'll have those fuckers lining up for it."
"I'll bet," the man said, hiding both bags on the inner pockets of his jacket. He paused for a moment. "You should come in the club at some point," he said. "I think tonight is about to get real interesting now that we have nitro on the menu."
"Thanks, but I still have business to do," Hayden said. He then turned on the ignition before putting the car into motion. "See ya. Let me know how the party went."
And with that, he was gone, leaving the man to walk back to the underground club. Hayden wasn't really sure if that was the owner, or if he just worked there. Either way, whoever owned that joint would charge a huge fee for the entrance. He'd only ever heard the stories of what kinds of debauchery went on in there, which would only be exacerbated by the new drugs they'd be bringing in.
He drove a few more miles, getting near the edge of Sector 7. He still had a few regulars on this sector, but his biggest clientele was located on the other sectors. He parked the car again as soon as he felt his phone vibrate - it seemed he'd gotten a text message.
His eyes widened a little when he saw the sender: it was none other than Zack.
"Swing by my house later if you can, I wanna buy more of that crap," the message read.
Hayden smiled. He quickly typed a response: "Sure," before putting the phone back in his pocket to continue his rounds. He'd make sure to save some for Zack.