MAX HEADROOM: KILLER INSTINCT

-Chapter 17: Her Wounded Heart-

Jenny stepped onto the lift at Network 66 and made her way to the front door.

She had just learned the identity of the judge who would be trying Bryce's case and it made her blood run cold. It was Judge Adams, Network 66's most renowned adjudicator and the front man for that network's best known trial show 'In Your Court'.

Judge Adams was very good at his job. He had presided over the 'In Your Court' trials almost since the show had first aired two years earlier. His audiences loved him and it was rare that they would vote in an accused's favor if the judge appeared to be against them.

Jenny hailed a rickshaw, the same one driven by Edison's buddy Rik (though she did not know this). "Take me to Westford," she said. "An extra ten if you make it there is double time. Twenty more if you wait for me when we get there."

She hope Bryce would be playing basketball again when she arrived. It would be fun to watch him. She wondered if she might be in love with her former classmate. His killing of John Parker had terrified her, but in a way it had also fascinated her. And when she had learned the reason, her heart had gone out to him. She had broken all the rules to warn him. Yes, she realized, she did love him. Network policies be damned. She loved Bryce.

At the same time that Jenny was offering an extra ten to Rik, Bryce was passing the basketball to Riku. The game was not in their favor and they and their teammate Laura were determined to at least tie the score of twelve that Alison, T-Bone, and Ralph had managed to get.

"The teams aren't evenly matched," Riku complained.

"It was your idea to use red and blue bottle caps to decide the players," Bryce pointed out as Riku passed the ball back and Bryce took the shot.

"Yes," the former Network 23 employee laughed as it went in.

"Good. Now we're only eight points behind," Riku remarked as the ball was put back in play.

Laura dribbled, then passed to Riku. He passed it back to Laura, barely avoiding a capture of the ball by T-Bone. Then Laura passed the ball to Bryce, who was tackled by Alison so unexpectedly that they both lost track of the ball and ended up in a little pile with Alison on top of Bryce. It was as if they were seeing each other for the first time, not as victims of a shared pain, but simply as each other.

Alison remembered the impulsive kiss she'd given Bryce the day before. Now she wanted to give him another one, and not just to thank him. She couldn't believe it. She'd barely known this boy for a few days and she felt so much gratitude and love toward him that she thought her heart would burst with it. She leaned down and touched her lips to his a second time.

The rickshaw stopped and only moments before Jenny's felt her heart do the same. She stared at the scene before her; four basketball players waiting impatiently, one tapping his foot, another whistling, while her Bryce was being kissed by some pathetic floozy who'd only been in his life for a few days.

Jenny waited herself, wondering why Bryce wasn't shoving the bitch away. Wait a minute! Was he actually blushing? Surely her Bryce wasn't falling for this other girl.

"Get a room," Ralph called out, which was what finally caused Alison to pull back from the kiss and also to make Bryce's blush deepen.

"Get me out of here," Jenny hissed, darkly, to Rik as tears of heartbreak ran down her faee. "Get me the hell away from this place."

As the rickshaw traveled back to Network 66, Jenny looked back toward Westford one final time.

"God damn you, Bryce Lynch."

Back                         Home                              Max Headroom Main Page                              Next

Your Name or Alias:      Your E-mail (optional):

Please type your review below. Only positive reviews and constructive criticism will be posted!