~A.N. Sorry for the delay in chapters. Between finals, graduation, and work there hasn't been much time for it. But there is now, and the next chapter of 'the 'lost girls' will be out shortly, with more of the ninja turtles than these characters you don't know yet. And as a side note, anyone who wouldn't mind doing some beta-testing on this (or frankly, any) story, I am always looking for someone. Please e-mail me at sara_ni_sasami@yahoo.com. Thnx!
Mercy~
The clerk was distracted.
After eighteen weeks we had finally made a science out of it. One would stay by the checkout, rifling the magazines or candy, keeping the clerk's eyes otherwise employed while another took 'discounts' farther back in the store. Tonight it was me and Hope. She was a great distraction. Together, we were unstoppable. :D
I slid a box of devil dogs into my coat as I turned down the isle. We had been hitting the minimarts and gas stations in a ten block area. Although we only shopped once or twice a week, we sensed people catching on, and had to go out of the neighborhood from time to time to break up the patterns. It was fool proof. By now my pockets were full. There was one last compartment inside my jacket, in which I dropped a loaf of bread. We ate a lot of junk because that was the easiest to filch. Because of it - real food had become treat a treat. With the peanut butter and strawberry jelly we already had, we could now make some sandwiches.
I caught Hope's eye from the end of the isle, and she snatched a magazine from the rack. It startled the clerk, and I walked out beside another patron who was leaving. I could hear Hope's cheerful voice teasing.
"How much is this!" The door jangled as it closed after me, and I went to the corner to wait. "Can I have it for free if I show you my boobs!" Out of the shop, I started to laugh. Of all of us, Hope was the most ostentatious, and was blaringly funny when she had a mind to be. Which was apparently now. She would never try to pull that stuff with Angel around. Merely the suggestion of removing a piece of protective clothing would have upset her. I wasn't that worried though.
Hope joined me a few moments later, the magazine back safely in the rack. We both laughed. It was great being out together. Or just out for that matter. During the day we were always hole up at our hide-out, these weeks an abandoned factory, and couldn't get out for any exercise or fun. All we did was read or watch television on a mini TV found at a junk yard. No cable, but there was a VCR and we had videos.
At night was when we could roam. It was also when all the wierdos came out. But I guess we fit the description too. Oh well. Hope pulled a package of dig-dongs from my pocket and tore it open. We were coming under a street lamp and I pulled her hat down farther as she passed underneath, just in case. It was hard to find hats that would stay on our heads now. Hope's was clearly too small, but she liked it anyway. One hand jamming the ding-dong in her mouth, she whined and swatted me away, her eyes furrowed with a playful indignation. I sighed and smiled, nudging her closer to the edge of the sidewalk.
"Hey!" She called out of her ding-donged mouth. "Stop that!" I laughingly traipsed ahead of her, bulked down by food but somehow still ahead. I heard her trash talking behind me. With any luck, she would continue on it home. She still deserved a pillow thrashing from last time, which I could not begin out in the open.
I was thinking along this line when we were suddenly stopped. Coming to an end of a block, at least five black clad men jumped out from behind the building corner. We shrieked at their brandished weapons. Short swords and staffs. Each and all glaring at us, but temporarily frozen. My heart stopped in my chest, and my mind went numb.
What were we to do? The regular clickings of my mind that would've brought some actual thought process were absent. Just the sight of these men knocked every sense from my head, just like an animal caught in a headlight. A turtle. Hope was frozen solid.
The men looked between us. They looked to each other. They looked at our chests, then at us. Their weapons were still raised, although they themselves seemed to be lowering. The ten seconds it took for them to look all about had seemed to protract into hours. With the same numbness, I watched them back away. One bowed his masked head briefly before vanishing as strangely as they had arrived. And we were left alone. Completely unscathed. Hope said nothing, but I knew she had covered over her lively spirit with something else. Unsure of what was to be done next, I made a suggestion.
"Let's go." Hope nodded, and we trotted off. As soon as possible we left the dark by streets for something well lit. We hardly spoke, and only thought of getting home. My senses were on overdrive as I tried to see if the men were following us. From their awkward departure I would guess not, but the threat still trailed after us. Hope stayed close beside me like a lost puppy.
"Do you think they're after us?" She hissed.
"I don't know… Let's go faster." We picked up to a sprint, ducking below the street shadows. The load of food now seemed burdensome, when I wanted a getaway. I struggled back mental pictures of all sorts as we closed in on the warehouse. The dilapidated structures offered solace, and the impression of sanctuary. A façade.
We ducked into the metal utility door, propped open in the alley by a collapsed boot. From the broken lamps in the street, we sunk into the depths of the cavernous house. Darkness enveloped us like a familiar blanket. We weaved through the maze of forgotten boxes, across to the far office that was tucked into the corner. Pale moonlight through the shattered window holes illuminated the gray floor. We skirted the edges of fluorescence.
The office door, dingy with neglect, was ajar. We sunk inside, and hurried to the matressed corner. The form bundled in bed sheets looked up from a dog-eared magazine. I dumped my coat on the ground, Hope joined Bliss after shedding her cover, and huddled into a safe pair.
"What is it?" Bliss asked as I crawled into the corner with them. Hope waited for me to explain about the men, and I shakily did. Our brief encounter with danger had a delayed reaction, but instead of fear, I felt anxious, and bundled close with my girlfriends. Bliss' eyes grew apprehensive. But our presence had assuaged her before she had ever reached the same dread that we had just felt. Amongst ourselves, we were comfortable and safe again. Hope settled into the nest of blankets and began pushing the event from her mind. I grabbed the box of devil dogs and pulled one of the sheets over me, cutting out the damp and musky drafts.
"Where's Angel?" In her absence, I expected her to have been wandering in the shadows somewhere. But we had been back nearly ten minutes and she hadn't shown up.
"I thought she was with you?" Bliss tossed another plastic wrapper aside.
"Nooo…" Looking into the deeper depths of the warehouse, I struggled to make some outline, some shadow out of place from Angel acting weird. It wouldn't be out of the question that Bliss had missed Angel's presence. She often became wrapped up in her own romantic fantasies when no one was nearby. Imagination was the one humanity we had left. But I didn't sense Angel anywhere in the building. She had a unique spiritual signature, it was something I could detect, and she wasn't here. "Did you check the service?" We still had use of a message service, at least we would for the next few weeks until it was canceled. Angel had urged us to leave messages if we were ever in a jam, or needed to get in contact. Anything really, since we weren't being billed.
Bliss tilted over, leaning to grab the cell phone from her bag of things. She swallowed down the rest of the chocolate and turned the phone on with a touch of her long thin finger. The glow made her face look all the more green, with a hollow glow. Hope had stopped dining as well and watched Bliss call into the service. She put the phone to her ear, and we could all hear the quiet feminine voice from the other end. Bliss's face contorted questionablely. Not changing her puzzled expression, she pushed the key pad and handed me the phone. Something I had to hear for myself then.
"Hey, it's me." The voice in my ear was tired, worn and wearied. "I'm… alright. I guess." Hope had crawled closer to me, tilting her head to hear better. "I've just met some people. They're… like us." Her voice fumbled. What does she mean, like us? "I'll, uh… be back as soon as I can. You don't need to worry. Um… bye." Short and to the point. The phone service beeped to signal the end of the message, and proceeded to ask if I wanted to hear it over again. I had to admit, I wanted to hear more about that 'people like us' comment. Was that supposed to be cryptic?
Either way, there was no way to find out now. She had left no number or address . All we could do was wait for her to come back, or call again. That didn't sit well. Not with those crazy weapon wielding men out there. I turned the phone off and set it back in its bag. Hope huddled closer to me and we exchanged worried expressions.
"What was that about? Where is she?" Bliss asked. As if we knew.
"Let's just…" I began. They both silenced in a way I hadn't heard before. "…wait until morning." Angel said she'd be back. But something sounded wrong. None the less, Hope and Bliss both settled back into the mattress. I took a twizzler and drew a sheet over my shoulders. Now was the waiting game.
It was closing in on dawn when I couldn't wait any longer. The sun was almost an hour away, we were running out of time. Hope's eyes had become sunken by this point. I wish she had slept and let me worry alone. But her wakefulness represented something, I thought. Unity, something nice like that. I was proud. Maybe things could work out.
We started pulling on layers and I roused Bliss. She had been up all day, and we had to help get her ready. Dolled up in jeans, sweaters, overcoats, hats, kiddie gloves, and boots; we were on our way out twenty minutes later, pulling Bliss's hat over her head. The dusk before light was like a filter over the city. Still cool, but with the promise of warming up. We took the alley out to the street. Then down in the direction Bliss thought she had seen our missing friend leave in. Where are you… Angel… There was one of our old stays ten or so blocks in that direction, so we would head straight for it. Hopefully avoiding anymore sword wielding maniacs. So I felt bad for us when my senses started to draw me away from the straight and narrow.
It was like a tugging, telling me we was going the wrong way. I slowed and looked down the side street I was being directed towards.
"This way." I took Hope by the elbow and guided her across the street. Although she followed obediently, I could feel her trepidation through my fingers. But I had to move past the feeling in order to keep a bead on the directions I was receiving. Down the street, and through an alley onto a street I wasn't familiar with. Hope was pulling back, trailing with sleepy Bliss, but I could feel the guide moving on, and I pulled her ahead with me to follow. We hurried down the sidewalk, catching a few curious eyes from open windows. Heavily cloaked girls with hats and gloves in August, making an awkward jog down the street. I ignored the looks.
"Wait….here." I felt the guide change. It was no longer leading, and now only pervading emotions were left. They were new and strong, and so many that they confused my mind. But I understood where they were coming from, and went right into the alley.
We were only in a few steps when I got a good look at the scene, and stopped us all. There was a lot of dry blood on the ground, puddled and streaked, beside a spray of bullets. Fear, urgency, lots of violence. And Angel. Angel most definitely was here. She was hurt, but she wasn't the only one. I felt the ghost of her spirit circling in the alley, in the whirlwind of emotions. I felt her the strongest, a deep impression of her had been left. So deep that I suspect that it also recognized me. Something serious had happened, and she wanted me with her, she didn't know her future. Her pain gave her spirit a focus, and I had to step back to keep my mind clear.
My foot stepped into something firm that immediately collapsed under the weight. I stepped aside again and raised my foot, bringing a fedora hat with it. I recognized it as Angel's, with the nick in the side. The hole through the center worried me though. But at the same time I was sure she was alive.
Hope, however, was doing everything to keep from screaming her head off. I grabbed one of the hands clamped over her mouth, and carted her away. Angel was dissipating, and I worried that I couldn't follow her anymore. But true to form, the haunting guided me out of the alley.
"Where are we going." Bliss tightened her coat around her, glancing anxiously at the open street we were on. She and Hope followed me down the sidewalk. I was glad to have their support, and didn't have to explain myself. Not as though I could explain things to myself alone. We walked into the street, but there was no physical trail left there. I still felt the trace of her though, and followed it. It lead through the streets. We crossed alleys, and snuck through some broken buildings just to keep in line. While I didn't exactly question my senses, I did begin wondering about the source. Where did Angel think she was going?
"Where the hell was she going?" I murmured. Something was wrong with the lead. As we came across an undeveloped plot between two battered buildings, an idea struck me. We were traveling on the wrong level. The trail was confused because we had been too far above the real path. "Oh god no." I eyed the rusty rim of the sewer pipe. It jutted out from the sunken side of the plot, beckoning mockingly. Hope and Bliss caught my line of sight when I stopped, and shared my… concerns.
"No way." Bliss outright refused belief.
"Grooooooss." Hope cringed. But I was now sure that that was were Angel had gone. It was the 'why' that worried me. Why had she gone into sewers? Had she been escaping something, or had someone dragged her body down? I put that thought out of my mind.
"You guys want to go back?" They didn't respond. Of course they wanted to. But it was worrisome that Angel had been gone so long without telling someone. And that we had been lead to some place like a sewer trying to find her. They looked around cautiously, giving their assent. I stepped onto the slant of a wall that dipped into the lot, and slid down. Hope and Bliss followed until we all stumbled onto the ground level. Construction equipment was littered around, and we had to weave through to reach the open pipe. We all wrinkled our beaks, and I clasped my hands around the sharp rim. Middle of the night, and we were crawling into the plumbing of New York; there was no god.