It was the dead of night and Olivia was on the street again. It wasn't the first time. It wouldn't be the last. She was sure of it. She was a teenager that had never really had a home to call her own, despite CPS's best efforts. She didn't really mind it, she thought as she waited for her sketchy contact to meet her in the shadowy part outside of the trailer park in Franklinton.

She looked down the road again and stuffed in her pockets. Her contact was late, as usual. She had a knife on her always, because she liked the night. She did NOT like what the night could bring to a wandering seventeen year old. She gripped the handle in her pouch pocket at the sound of footsteps.

"Livvy," a voice hissed.

She relaxed her grip and sighed in relief.

Tonight's contact, named Shawn, was about twenty-one. An addict, but not exactly a rapist or a killer. Even though it was about forty degrees out he was still wearing a mesh tank top and skinny jeans. She had always hesitated to ask what he did all night where he could dress like that and not get scolded at by old church ladies or laughed at by gruff middle aged men looking for any chance to blame a millenial.

"Hey," she said. "You got anything?"

Shawn was often looking for people to run "errands" for him. These errands were always kept in black plastic bags that should have been used to pick up dog poop. She was pretty sure it wasn't actually dog poop given the light in people's eyes when she delivered the goods.

"Yeah," Shawn said.

He sniffed and wiped his nose with his hand. Olivia wanted to grimace, but it wouldn't do any good to offend Shawn before money changed hands. So she grit her teeth and held out her hand. He started to put the bag in hand when she pulled back at the last minute..

"One hundred dollars," she said.

Shawn's smile fell.

"What?"

Olivia wiggled her fingers.

"One hundred."

He scowled.

"I paid you fifty last time."

"This is different. That bag looks…" She looked at it, ready to make some half-assed excuse about why she should be paid extra, and suddenly the bag actually did look off. Nothing was piled within, weighted at the bottom. She had been ready to start swindling the man and pretend like it was something she wouldn't do. She recognized that it was blocky and shaped like an "L" through the plastic.

Apparently it actually was something she wasn't willing to hold.

Olivia snatched her hand back. "What the hell, Shawn!" Shawn winced at her suddenly tone. He put a finger to his lip and shushed her loudly, making spittle as he did. Olivia made a face and raised her hands up, indicating their surroundings. "We're on a dark country road. Who are we keeping our voices down for?"

Shawn sucked in air through his nose and exhaled wearily.

"I came to you for this because I thought I could get a good price from you," he said. Olivia's lips twitched at the admission, but otherwise gave no reaction.

"So you're saying I should be charging more?"

"No no no no," Shawn went on. He reached behind one of his piercing riddled ears and scratched hard. "What I'm saying is I thought we were friends. I didn't think you'd pull something like this. That's immature. You're immature." Olivia waited for the tirade to stop. Chemically unhinged guys needed to let steam off pretty often. It was better just to wait it out until they, hopefully, began to see just how unreasonable they were being.

She put her hands in her pocket when he started forward to hand off the bag..

"Is that going to kill someone?" she asked, dipping a chin at the suspected gun. Again he gave her that incredulous look. As if Olivia were trying to pay for something with an expired coupon. When she remained unmoved Shawn straightened and shifted his stance.

"I'll pay one-fifty."

She shook her head.

"Five hundred."

It was a risk asking for five times what she normally did this for. Then again she was also half hoping he would decline and let her go home without something like a gun that was likely stolen so that the weapon couldn't be linked to the killer in anyway.

Shawn shook his head..

"That's my entire take."

Olivia swallowed hard, her eyes darting between Shawn and the gun. She fidgeted with her fingers in her hoodie pocket. Judging from Shawn's sudden stillness she guessed that he was rigid, hoping that she should leave the price alone.

He could pay her price, she guessed. He just didn't want to. She could walk away now. Maybe she should. Then again… the money. She made an impulsive then. If she could convince Shawn to take this price she would do it. If he didn't then maybe it wasn't meant to be.

Olivia straightened, resolved with this new low.

God, she really hoped it wasn't meant to be.

"Not my problem. You need to negotiate your prices better. Five hundred. Take it or leave it," Olivia insisted.

Shawn was just plain pissed now.

Olivia's gut twisted with a new anxiety.

Maybe she was pushing her luck. She was alone out here, with nothing but a dagger. She had never had to actually attack anyone with her blade and she'd certainly never wanted to kill one of her very few contacts. Franklinton was a new town for her and her college stash and post foster home life was already looking bleak. She just didn't have the kind of dedication it took to get good grades or join a sports team for a scholarship. She didn't know when she was going to hear back about the state grants she's applied for. She had to secure her future by any means necessary, including being a drug runner.

Or a gun runner, she supposed.

But five hundred dollars would get her up to a solid ten thousand. She would love to add an extra digit to her savings. Or, as it was, the stash that was in a shoebox under her bed.

Shawn bit his lip.

Then her gut told her that Shawn was lying about the meager take he'd agreed to. She smothered a smile of relief when Shawn's shoulders sagged in defeat.

"Fine," he said stretching out he "F" as if he was tempted to use a different word with four letters. Muttering he stabbed his hand in the back pocket of his pants and revealed a pretty impressive wad of cash.

Olivia smiled and held her hand out patiently while he counted out hundreds and twenties.

"This is bad business. I'll remember this," Shawn grumbled.

"Back at you, buddy. I hope you don't have your fingerprints on this suspiciously shaped item that I'm delivering." Shawn offered the probable gun and she pulled her sleeve over her hand to accept the item. Shawn turned around and headed back to the mobile home park without so much as a goodbye. Olivia didn't really need one so she turned the other direction to

In the other was five hundred dollars.

Back this way there wasn't anyone on the road this time of night. It was quiet. The fog was heavy and the sounds of frogs croaking was soothing. Maybe Olivia would make her home here or somewhere like it. The country was much more peaceful than the city.

It was on that thought that the ground shook.

Olivia stopped cold as the tall trees on either side of the road swayed gently in the reaction. Then came a warm breeze, like air rolling out of a hot oven. She turned toward direction of inexplicable energy, mind suddenly churning with thoughts of nuclear bombs and fallout. There was nothing else. Not for a long moment.

Then an explosion from the mobile homes.

A meth lab explosion.

Olivia sighed, suddenly feeling silly for thinking it was a nuclear blast. Then guilt for knowing that she was probably indirectly involved with the idiots that blew their home and endangered their neighbors in the far off mobile home park. Her cheeks burned at that, but also that wind of heat was enough to sway the trees all the way down the road. Could a reaction like that come from a chemical explosion that far away?

It was the gun in her pocket making her paranoid. She needed to get home soon and wait for Shawn to text her the address of the delivery.

Olivia turned, doubling her speed as she walked down the highway and into town before someone could catch her out after curfew. That was another thing about the night. It was bound to bring strange things that would be better off unexplained.