Chapter 7

Well, that's not good. Tess takes a deep breath before continuing. "It doesn't have to be this way. You can help people."

Bette is starting to lose her already feisty temper. "Yes, it does. These people helped me. I owe them this."

"Just like I did? Like I helped you? If you think what I did to you was bad, these people are worse. They're using you. I was going to let you go, these people, they won't. You know too much, they will kill you."

She turns her head slightly over to us, never taking her eyes off of Bette. "Go, run, both of you."

Bette's eyes light up, literally, there are orange balls floating around in her eyes. "No!" she screams.

Tess snaps her head back to look Bette straight in the eye with a kind of fury that far surpasses Bette's. Bette takes a step back. "You don't need them. You want me, and I'm not trying to run," she turns her head back to us, "Go." I flick my eyes back over to Bette and she doesn't object.

Mom looks over at me, and then back at Tess. "Save the kid, Chloe." Mom sighs and looks back at me. She shakes her head and grabs my arm. She starts running down the street.

"We can't leave her!" I yell as Mom drags me down the street. We turn the corner and I'm still looking back.

She leads me down the street. "Stop!" she lets go of me. We're breathing heavy.

"Stay here, I have to go back and help her, but I won't go anywhere if you don't promise to stay here!"

"Okay, okay, go," I pretend to submit. Mom nods and takes off back to where Tess was. After she turns the corner I take off in the opposite direction, hoping to cut around, maybe through one of the alleyways. I turn randomly, hoping that I might make my way over. Finally, I come through an alleyway that leads out to the street where Tess and Bette are facing off.

"Stop talking! Chloe, I don't want to hurt you. You haven't done anything to me, or anyone else. Tess is the one that needs to pay. If you leave I won't come after you, but if you stay, I 'll have no choice but to hurt you," Bette threatens.

Tess' eyes flick up as though she just realized something. Then she really freaks me out, I hear her voice in my head. "Kid, leave, you're only going to get hurt."

"No," I argue back, surprising even myself.

"Stay hidden," she says breaking the link.

"Well, you leave me with no choice," Bette replies, shooting blasts in Tess and Mom's direction. It's aimed right for Tess. Mom dives right, she lands in the street and looks back up at Bette. Tess does a back hand spring to avoid it. I thought that only worked in movies. Mom's back up and beside Tess. They charge her, dodging the different blasts Bette sends at them. Tess tosses Mom a pistol. She catches it, still running toward Bette.

Bette aims one at their heads and they both slide under it all the while continuing their advances. They each shoot one of her shoulders. "Agh!" she cries out. Tess delivers a spin kick to the head, successfully knocking her out.

"You can come out now, kid," Tess calls out. I come out of the alleyway.

"You do not know how to stay put do you?" Mom asks. I shrug.

"Not really, no." While the rest of us are making light, Tess is still dead-serious.

"We better keep moving. There might be more coming."

Tess turns to leave but Mom stops her. "What about Bette? She'll bleed to death. We can't just leave her," she pauses, "She's just confused."

"I'm sorry if I stopped feeling bad for her after she tried to kill me…twice!" Tess also pauses, "Grab her, and let's go." Mom grabs Bette.

"The next place is just a few blocks away." We walk in silence. Tess keeps looking at Bette warily. We finally reach the safe-house. It's a rundown old house that's boarded up and everything. We walk in the door. "Lay her down on the couch," Tess orders.

Tess goes into another room and comes back with handcuffs. "Where did you get those?" I ask.

"Did you really think I didn't have them?" She replies.

Tess chains her to the couch. "Bandages?" Mom reminds her.

Tess disappears again and comes back with bandages. "I'll wrap her up. You two need to talk," Tess says.

Mom replies, "Yes, we definitely do."