Chapter 5: A Friend
I leaned back in the waiting room chair and heard the soft noise of a TV propped on the corner of the ceiling.
It was being alone that made me think more than I liked to. Sure Felicia and Rachel were there, but they were still out cold, and it would be rude to wake them after a night like that. I flexed my left shoulder, trying to get the bruising pain to pass from the gunshot wound.
Instead of sitting there thinking I went to the front desk and asked if they had any bandages I could use to change out for my wound. In about fifteen minutes I was back in the waiting room, which still housed two sleeping girls, so I sat down and decided to watch the quiet TV in the corner of the waiting room.
"Back to you Hannah." "Thank you Tom. Rising crime rates in the city have the public in a bit of a panic. The police have issued an official statement, assuring that they are doing the best they can to quell the drastic spike in criminal activity. We go live now to James Littleton, who is at the police station."
The camera blacked out and came back on to a skinny looking man with black hair and a microphone, "Thank you Hannah. We're here with the Chief of Police, who surprisingly has a lot to say on the matter. Sir, what do you think is causing the sudden rise in crime, and what's the best way of alleviating it?"
The camera panned a bit to the left and the microphone was put close to the face of a man in a police uniform who looked to be in his late thirties, "Well it could be several things, we've seen an especially alarming number of youth in the harsher parts of the city taking to crime. Ultimately, this'll happen in every city with a large population, crime spikes every now and again, and our job is to get it back down, even if that's easier said than done. As for the methods we're using, higher patrol rates, longer hours, more officers. More crime equals more cops."
"Sounds like you've got it covered then, is there anything else you'd like to say?" "Yeah, be careful at night, always have your friends with you." "Simple, and yet wise advice, Hannah?"
I sighed and perched my hand on my cheek. I was getting bored already. I reached into my pocket and grabbed my smart phone, dialing a number.
After a few rings I heard a click, "This is Thomas Best."
"Hey boss, I'm calling in."
"Alright, you sick?"
"No, a friend got hurt."
"Ah, how long will you be?"
"Just a day is fine."
"It's alright, we've got heavy manning today, and you know Ms. Packard, that woman moves at inhuman speeds."
I let out a laugh, "Thanks boss."
"Alright, seeya tomorrow."
"Yeah, bye."
I felt a hand land on my shoulder and heard a laugh, "Isn't that a bit weird?"
I looked behind me and there was Rachel, with what I could only describe as a shit-eating grin on her face, ""Isn't what weird?"
"You only know Felicia, and you just met me. You don't know Tammy, so why'd you call her a friend."
I grinned sheepishly, "Erm... any friend of Felicia's is a friend of mine."
Did I mention before that I'm bad at lying?
"Right." Rachel shook her head and laughed, "Listen, as grateful as I am, you hardly know Felicia, you shouldn't skip work for a bunch of random girls you hardly even know."
I sighed and shook my head, "I have a problem."
"Oh?"
"I tend to not be able to ignore people that need help."
There was a moment of silence, and then Rachel started laughing...
and laughing, and laughing, and laughing.
It was at least a minute before she calmed down, "Oh man you are CLASSIC! I've never met a guy like you before. You trying to get Felicia's attention or something?"
I couldn't stop the blush, "Wha... NO!"
She grinned and gestured to the still sleeping girl, "Hey, who could blame you? Good luck." With another laugh she slapped me on the back and went to sit down with Felicia again.
I sighed, 'Shouldn't she be more worried?'
Ten minutes later Felicia was still asleep, and I decided to step outside the back for a smoke. The alley wasn't that dirty, but as all alleys were, it was mostly deserted and housed the hospital's trash bins. I rarely smoked, usually only when I was under stress or celebrating something for a special occasion, but I always carried a pack and a lighter with me. The box of Marbs in my pocket was down to one, but it had lasted me quite a long time; I couldn't even remember when I bought it.
I popped the smoke in my mouth and lit it before taking a deep drag.
It felt good.
This was good to do occasionally.
I hoped Twilight would be okay.
"Well, how are you?"
I looked to my right where the voice had come from.
"Having a late morning smoke?" The man speaking was in a grey hoodie with the hood pulled up, and wore tattered jeans that looked like they'd been sent through the grinder. He was pale... very pale, and his hair was done in dreadlocks that peaked out from his hood. He wore a necklace with an upside down cross, "that's always nice to do, but isn't juicy gossip so much more fun?"
He had an accent, but I couldn't quite place it. His voice was eerily smooth, and made me slightly uncomfortable.
My eyes narrowed, "Who are you?"
He grinned, "Just a friend William, just a friend."
The cigarette dropped to the ground and I stepped back, "How the hell do you know my name?"
"You must be soooo worried for your newest dear friend Twilight Sparkle."
My eyes widened and adrenaline coursed through me. Whoever this guy was he KNEW, and that meant my dreams were real, but then...
"Who the fuck are you? Answer me!"
He laughed, it was a sound that echoed in my head like an orchestra, "Oh you are too easy William, much too easy. You anger far too quickly and are very fun to play with. Tell me William..." He reached behind him, still with that grin on his face, and his hand emerged with a combat knife, "I'm sure you'd recognize what this is William, after all you've seen them quite often."
I set my left foot back and crouched down, widening my stance.
"Oh hooo, ready to fight are we? I wouldn't expect anything less, however..." he threw the knife in one of the many trash bins, "That's not what I'm here to do William, I detest getting my hands dirty after all. I merely wanted your response."
"And?"
His grin calmed into a smile, "And you passed with flying colors. Deep inside you is a killer William, a man of blood and violence, and honestly that's my favorite thing about this world." He turned to walk away, then stopped abruptly, "Oh, silly me I almost forgot."
There he was, a few meters away, in no way could he physically reach me in the amount of time that he did. He was on me in less than a second, digging his thumb into my forehead with a mad grin, "I never got any REAL chaos over there William, but here? Humans revel in it! It's fantastic, isn't it?"
My eyes widened, and I saw white.
"Do you honestly think you can do anything to save her? Do you think she even cares who you are? So you bumped into her on the street, whoopty do!"
"Jenkins... Jenkins wake up man. We gotta keep moving."
I felt the heat of the sun baring down on me. I felt hot sand on my right cheek, it was burning my face, but I could hardly move, and I was short of breath and on the verge of heat exhaustion.
"C'mon Jenkins, we gotta get to the rally point." I felt and arm snake under mine and heard a grunt of exertion. I put some effort into putting weight on me feet and moving with him, I didn't want him to have to carry my dead weight and I was still aware enough to help out a buddy.
"I don't think I'm gonna make it." I could barely talk, my tongue hurt and my throat felt like it was bleeding.
"You're not done yet Jenkins."
I tried to laugh, but it came out as more of a pathetic croak. I knew I was out of ammo, and my partner only had one magazine left.
I couldn't keep moving forever, I would eventually give into the heat and die in the desert.
"Leave me," I mumbled.
"You're fuckin' crazy man."
"Even if you can carry me... I'm gonna die. You got a wife back home, I don't have anybody."
"Bullshit... bullshit you got your parents man."
"I don't even... talk to them anymore."
"Fuck you." He solidified his grip on me and started moving a bit faster, "We're both getting to the FOB, I don't care how much you moan and complain at me." He let me down to the ground in a sitting position and started messing with his gear, I couldn't tell what he was doing because my vision was too blurry, but I heard a lot of shuffling around.
"Alright, your turn Jenkins." I felt him grab my vest and pull it off, and after that my helmet. After a few moments all I had was the load baring equipment and the pistol that was out of ammo.
I saw what he was doing, if we ditched the heavy stuff we had a better chance of making it all the way, but if we ran into the enemy we were screwed.
Still, we were low on ammo anyways; it was less of a risk to ditch the equipment and keep going than it was to die of exhaustion.
When he pulled me up the desert looked a lot less endless.
"William... are you okay?"
My eyes snapped open, and I heard the wail of police sirens several blocks away. It took me a moment to realize that I had fainted in the alley...
No, I didn't faint; I had been knocked out by that weird guy in the hoodie.
"What the hell are you doing sleeping out here?"
Above me stood Felicia and Rachel. I noticed that the sun was on the verge of going down and cursed under my breath, "I wasn't sleeping. I gotta get home." I stood with some difficulty, and Felicia helped hold me up when I got a bit wobbly.
Rachel huffed and crossed her arms, "You're kidding me, we looked everywhere for you and that's it? You're just going home."
I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed, "Listen, I've got something important to do... just... I'll meet you guys here tomorrow after work, okay?"
Rachel's expression became less hostile, "Alright, see you then I guess."
"I'll be behind you," said Felicia.
"Sure you don't want me to walk you home?"
Rachel grinned, "Easy there lover boy, I'll walk her."
I rolled my eyes, "Alright, I'll see you both tomorrow," then I turned and walked out of the alley.
Hopefully I would be able to catch a taxi.
I made it home no worse for the wear, and Mishmash was there to greet me as usual.
I fed him and then sat on the couch with a heavy sigh, turning the TV on as I did so.
Then I began to think.
Whoever that guy was he creeped me the hell out, and whatever he did to me obviously put me under for quite a bit.
He mentioned Twilight's name, which, though on the verge of the impossible, proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that my 'dreams' were the real thing.
'Tonight then. Tonight's when we leave for the veil.'
Just as dusk began to turn the sky orange I laid down and fell asleep.
I woke up with a start, and was immediately pulling my bag out from under the bed. It was effectively a saddle bag, and with some amount of effort I got it onto my back in a comfortable position.
"Spike, get up, we're leaving!"