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Chapter 2: Decisions

"No." I said trying to force my answer.

"What do you mean 'no', Puppycat?" Rain repeated. He looked at me with estranged eyes and a definite frown on his face. His green lantern, flaring and dancing under the night sky, was becoming too intimidating.

"Thank you for the food, but I cannot get into that business. You guys are starting off small but we know what happens later on." I couldn't afford losing my freedom. My freedom determines who and where I'm going to be and I can't be there if I'm stuck in jail.

"I'm sorry."

"No," Rain held back in his rage, "I'm sorry."

He turned around swiftly and walked away.

Beetle stared at me for a second. His eyes weren't as furious as Rain's, but I could tell that he wasn't happy with my answer. At first I thought he was going to walk away with him, but he just stood there. Maybe he was hoping I would change my mind.

But I couldn't.

"I'm sorry Beetle, but I can't do this right now."

"You've done this job before," Beetle frowned, "what's the difference now?"

"The difference," I started explaining, "is that there was a specific reason for our decision. It wasn't a choice we could make." It wasn't like I was trying to raise my voice at him or anything, but I couldn't help it. I just started to unleash all my worries onto him. "I know that you have a choice and say in the matter now, but you can't just run back into danger again. We have a plan, Beetle, and that plan is to lay low until we can live in Middle Space."

"But how long is that going to take!?" Beetle fought back, "We can't wait that long. By the time we get the money we'll be old and frail. This job is a chance for us to go and get there faster. A shortcut."

"But what happens when you run into trouble, Beetle!?"

"I WON'T!"

"You WILL," I shouted in his face, "Zesi is not careful at all and you know it. You guys got lucky this time, but what happens when you get caught, huh? What happens when you are all taken away into Space Castle and put into the dungeons? Where would that leave our plan? Where would that leave me? Where would that leave Ally? Where would that leave you?"

"How would you know?" Beetle's lantern starting growing brighter, "You weren't there tonight. We were careful, Zesi was careful. I'm just doing whatever it takes for us to move to Middle Space, why can't you understand that? Not too long ago, you were one of us, but now… now you're just a flower boy."

Flower boy?

"AHHH," I screamed, breathing out my frustration.

"It's not my fault you'd rather grow and sell these worthless flowers for something like $50. That's not my problem." Beetle was sounding oblivious now.

"Yeah it isn't," I fumed, "your problem is that you'd want to think like everyone else, now that you're part of this little gang of robbers. You don't realize how dangerous it would be to keep stealing from Spiral Space. And. And-"

"And your problem is that you've never been able to get along with Zesi because you don't trust him. I don't even think you trust anyone at all." Beetle interjected, "Not even me."

"No, I don't." I blurted out, "I don't trust you at all. I didn't even trust you to the point where I could have told you about how much the flowers here are actually worth. And maybe because I don't trust you that you're never going to get out of here the same time I will."

"What?" Beetle's face was in full shock.

"You'd think I'd accept this job as a 'flower boy' if I'd only by getting 50 bucks out of it? You must be a complete idiot to believe that." I started rambling on. "I'm going to get far more than what you would imagine for these cheap flowers. True that you might be taking a shortcut and maybe it'll take you about a few years to save up. But me? It'll only take me two weeks. In just two weeks I'm going to be out of here. Out of Dead Space. Into a nice home. And out from people like you."

And just like that, Beetle just stormed back into the Space Robber's hideout.

What was the big deal? Why couldn't he just stay back and lay low like we planned? Things couldn't be like before, not when we came close to our end…

It's been a few days now since our argument. Actually, I wouldn't say it was an argument, per say, I mean I wasn't at fault. But, it has been a few days now and the more I think about my friends getting into danger, the more I feel worried.

For the past nights, I've been hearing the dead silence across the street. Sometimes I would hear a loud crash here and there, but no sign of any lanterns. Usually, Ally would be the one blazing her lights in the abandoned factory, shining it throughout the late parts of the night and the old, dusty couple next door would yell at them for making such a sight.

But silence had taken over.

Nothing but the blizzard winds, rushing through Dead Space.

I didn't want to say it out loud, but I was worried for them. Something didn't seem right. Even if I didn't trust Zesi, and I don't and I never will, he would at least have a couple of them stay in the factory until some sign was given. A sign that was changed long after I left. Could it have been the soldiers? No, there would've been a public announcement. The Blizzard Thieves? No, the factory would've either been burned down or used as their new base.

I was getting worried. Something seriously didn't feel right.

"Whatever," I shook it off and started gazing at my plants. They were almost in bloom, just a few more days, and it'll bloom. A few more days and I'll be out of here: the place where I called home, the place I loved and hated, and the people with that Dead Space spirit. Oh, how I loved that spirit.

Just then, a loud crash bellowed within the factory. It sounded like glass on… metal? My hearing may not be as good as everyone else's but I was pretty sure it was an intentional sound. I looked over to the factory, and saw a bright light emanating within the first floor. Blizzard Thieves probably, they weren't as careful as they wanted to be.

But I could feel my eyes widen before I could tell what was happening. The light was growing fainter and fainter, to almost a dull hue of pink. The strange eminence was a call for help. I cautiously blended in to the shadows of the factory and scanned inside the broken window. I could see the old layout of machines that once produced metals, metals that were forged before the new era of gems. On a pile of scraps a glimmer of light flickered twice, then once, and then twice once more. A sign, during my days, to carry out the message of emergency. With just that signal, I rushed opened the fortified doors and came in to see Ally shivering as she laid with a large green sack.

"Ally," I whispered beneath my breath, "what happened?"

"Th-Th-" she shivered with intense eyes staring out on the floor, "They've been captured."

"What?!" I shouted, "I told them not to go to Spiral Space, it's dangerous as is."

"N-No," Ally breathed heavily, "Blizz-zard Thieves."

Just then, a cold breeze rushed into the desolate metal factory. I could make out the cheery laughter of those hoodlums through the long and shuddering breeze. I stared back down to Ally, who closed her eyes beneath the storm, holding harshly to the large green sack she curled up to. I could tell by the many sharp edges, that they stole a sack of jewels, but whose was it? I grabbed Ally and tossed her over my shoulder, while flinging the sack over my other shoulder. I needed to know the details, but Ally's health was more important.

It was morning by the time Ally had woken up and saw me sitting on my frail porch. I could feel her moving across the boards, taking a seat next to me. I turned and saw her gaze towards the factory; her eyes were lost in the thought of what had happened the night before. And then she began, hoarsely at first:

"We were in the middle of our excavation when the sirens started to echo throughout Spiral. Zesi told us to hide underneath one of the trucks, so that when the coast was clear we could just take the whole thing. I remember looking over to Beetle and we both were a little scared, 'why was the siren running?', 'did they find out about us?', 'we should just run, right?'. Those were the questions we whispered to each other, but we didn't take action. We just held on to the pipes underneath the truck like Zesi had ordered us to.

After the workers rushed out of the mining area, we grabbed the chance to escape with one of the trucks. At least we tried, but little did we know that they were there a few feet ahead of us, holding a large sack full of jewels that were supposedly 'ours' as Zesi said. We saw them running into the blizzards and then disappear like thin air. I saw how Zesi was muttering and cursing under his breath. He finally turned to us and said, 'we should take back what's ours and give those thieves a lesson they deserve, coming into our territory like that.' We didn't question his authority, because we didn't realize what we had gotten ourselves into." Ally looked into my eyes with growing intensity, "And then that's when everything fell apart."

I stayed quiet for a minute, trying to process all the information. So the thieves finally caught on to what the robbers were doing. This only meant Zesi wasn't as careful as he should've been. It was a dangerous course of action to take, but somehow I smiled inside, knowing how right I had been, but it wasn't the time to dwell into my emotions. It never was.

"How did you escape Ally?"

"We barged into their hideout in the caves near the mountain…" Ally started to curl up, still sitting on the porch, "things started to happen and I somehow wound up with the bag of jewels in my arms. Zesi told me to run out with Beetle and Rain, but they were nowhere to be seen. So, I just ran, I ran without looking back. It was bad Puppy!" Ally started to tear up.

I sighed, knowing full well what was going to happen next, "Wait here, I'll talk to the blizzards." I walked inside to get a small satchel, and then walked over to a patch of dirt next to the blooming flowers and started to dig up a parcel wound in bandage wraps. Because of the dirt, the bandage was ingrained with dark stains. I swore I wouldn't walk into this path again, but for the sake of time and the danger of my friends, I grabbed the wound parcel and placed it in my satchel. I turned and started to open the gate fence.

"Be careful PuppyCat," Ally tugged on my shirt, "and please don't open it."

I could feel the gaze towards my bag, imagining my last resort before returning to my old self. At the same time, I felt frightened, yet invigorated because it had been too long. I slowly gazed back towards Ally who let go of my shirt.

"You know more than I do that if the situation is that bad, I will resort to become who I hate to become. If need be, I will be that monster…" I could feel my eyes tighten back once again to its conflicting rage. "It is no longer my decision."