Shun
Sometime last night, the storm that was ripping apart the night had ended, and all was quiet outside. Since there were no empty extra storage units, I had gone back to Ron's room and slept there. He had crashed on the couch. The peaceful silence was broken by the sounds of yelling and laughter.
The gang was back. Ron and I figured last night that they had some common sense and stayed out of the weather that was pelting the city last night. Now that the rain was gone, they were on the move and finally got back. Ceram walked into the storage unit and looked at me, then at Ron.
He wore a smile on his face when he said, "It's good to see you kept an eye on our old friend. Remember, we don't want him running off from us again." Ceram laughed when he walked out, and I saw Ron tense up. He mumbled, "I can't stand him."
Nobody could, but they weren't about to admit it in front of Ceram himself. No. Opinions on gang leaders and members were kept until they could be spilt at places like the Lion's Den. That was how a lot of fights broke out. Somebody else walked into the storage unit, and leaned against the door.
The strawberry blonde hair could only belong to Zach. He ignored me and looked at Ron. "You missed a hell of a lot of action last night, Ron. Theo actually got shot and got sent to the hospital. After we left of course. Wouldn't want to be around when the ambulance and cops showed up, now would we?"
Ron shook his head. I didn't know who Theo was, but Zach didn't seem to shaken up by his injury. Zach pushed himself from the doorframe and walked out of the room. I asked Ron, "Who's Theo?" Ron shook his head and told me, "He was a newbie we got about a month ago. He never showed much potential of being any help to the gang, and I had heard that Ceram was planning on getting rid of his so that Theo wouldn't hold the gang back….Looks like they did it."
Ceram had certainly gotten more violent since I had been in the gang, and that worried me. Because when I finally did find out who hurt Alice, I was going to run off again. The gang would have served its purpose by then and would no longer be of use for me.
But if Ceram had shot one of his own gang members just because he might not have been able to run as fast, then it wouldn't look good for me if they found me if I left again. That's when I had decided it. I turned to Ron and told him, "We're going to find Hilton today."
Alice
I wanted to know what happened to the poor person who had been shot. I knew well enough that the others were right about it being gang related, but I wanted to know who he was. He could have been a by-stander, in the gangs….Or he could have been the one who attacked me.
The possibilities for my attackers were endless. They could have been anyone on the streets, and walking by hundreds of people and looking for their next victim. Dan and the others had gone downstairs to the hospital's cafeteria, and that left me all alone in my room.
I untangled the wires around my IV line, and freed the wheels at the base of the machine. I walked out of the room with the IV being wheeled next to me since it was connected to my arm. No nurses were at the station since it was their lunch break, and that gave me the chance to check out the patient board.
All the names of patients on this floor of the hospital were written on a whiteboard with a dry-erase marker. I scrolled down the neatly written names, and read the admission time and reason for admittance. I saw my name and read mine. Assaulted/Coma. I wiped the coma part out of it, since I wasn't in one still, and I probably wasn't going to go back into one either.
I then found a recent entry, and read his name and reason. Theo Giovanni; Gunshot wound. I saw his room number and started to walk down the hall to look for it. A nurse walked past me, but didn't even glance at me. She seemed too focused on her phone. I found the room shortly after, and knocked on the door before entering.
There was a young looking boy laying in the hospital bed, and his chest and stomach were bandaged up. He was groaning in pain, and I saw why; the pain killers in his IV line had been kinked up and couldn't get to them. I moved the line, and the liquid started to drip again. The boy immediately looked like he felt better. His eyes were still shut though. I said softly, "Theo? Theo?"
His eyes opened and revealed two dark blue orbs. He asked weakly, "Am I dead?" I shook my head and told him, "No. You're in a hospital." Could this person really know something about who attacked me? He's only just a kid though. His eyes found my IV line. "You're not a doctor. Who are you?" I shifted my weight from foot to foot. "I'm a patient down the hall." His eyes narrowed at me and he asked, "Why are you in my room then? Shouldn't you be in your own room?"
I ignored the tone in his voice, and attributed it to him just being in pain. I told him, "I was just wondering if I could talk to you. Ask you some questions and such." He held a steady gaze with me when he asked, "What type of questions?"
I tried to act nonchalant when I said, "Oh, just questions about what happened to you and what you like to do in your free-time. Is that ok with you?" He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sure. It's not like I have anything better to do in this place." I pulled up a chair and sat down in it. "Ok. So what exactly happened to you? I mean, I know you were shot and all that, but why?"
He didn't seem to want to answer that question. I felt awkward now and said, "Alright, we can come back to that one." My eyes fell on his arm. Three raised scars came together and made something that looked like an "A". Where have I seen this before? Theo snapped at me, "Why are you staring at my arm? I thought you were in here to ask me questions."
I shook myself back to Earth and cleared my throat. "Sorry. I zoned out for a moment. Theo, could you tell me about that scar on your arm?" He looked down at it and said, "It's a gang sign." Now I was getting somewhere. I pretended to act interested. "A gang? Is that why you got shot?"
Theo wouldn't meet my gaze when he said, "Yeah. Our boss decided I was some dead weight and took me out on our night run and shot me." I blinked in surprise. "Wow. That's harsh. But what's somebody like you doing with people like them in the first place?"
Theo shook his head and told me, "I was getting tired of being put down by people in my neighborhood, and joined the gang because I wanted them to be scared of me…..I ended up getting in too deep." This person in the hospital bed was only a kid, and was risking his life every night just because he wanted to stop being bullied. My attention went back to his arm. It was bugging the heck out of me. It then hit me.
"Shun? What's that mark on your arm?" I remembered he quickly covered it up, but when I slowed down the memory I was able to see the mark. It was the same symbol as the one on Theo's arm. I quickly asked, "Is there happen by chance somebody in the gang named Shun Kazami?"
Theo looked at me for a moment and said, "Yeah. I'd heard stories about him when I first joined. He had left the gang years ago, but came back the day I was shot. He was saying something about how he needed a place to hide from the cops that were after him. And then our boss decided to get some payback for leaving the gang and ended up beating him with a pipe. I thought it was kind of overkill in my opinion."
I was speechless. Shun? In a gang? But why, Shun? Theo started to cough, and when he took his hand from his mouth it was spotted with tiny drops of blood. I should have gone for a nurse, but I kept carrying on the conversation with this kid. "Where is Shun now?"
Theo looked pale in the face, and his hands were starting to shake. He said weakly, "He should still be at the warehouse." His eyes started to droop. I asked him quickly, "Where is this warehouse?" Theo looked at me for a moment, his eyes glazing over every minute.
The machines on him started to beep like mine had when I went into a coma. I raised my voice and said, "Theo, stay with me. Where is the warehouse?" A little beeping was sounding from outside of his room to signal a nurse that he needed help.
Theo looked at me and said weakly, "It's you. You're that girl they beat, aren't you?" I felt my eyes widen, and I went from the topic of the warehouse to what he was saying. "Theo! Who are you talking about? Who attacked me?" His eyes slowly closed, and one of the monitors on him let out a long droning sound that rang in my ears.
"Theo! Wake up!" Nurses swarmed in with a crash cart, and one of them herded me out of the room. She was asking me, "What were you doing in his room? Or more importantly, out of your own?"
I knew there was no point in running back into Theo's room later to see if he was awake, because a nurse was over at the patient board and erased his name and everything else in his slot. The only chance I had of finding out who put me in this hospital, was dead.
Shun
Ron looked like I had just said the most insane thing he had ever heard. He said, "You're kidding with me, right? Please tell me you're still not planning this suicide mission." I shot him a serious look and told him, "I want to find the person or people who hurt my friend, and I'm going to bring them into the police and try and clear my name up as good as I can…..I'll do whatever I have to in order to achieve this."
Ron ran a hand through his hair and started mumbling something to himself. I told him, "Ceram isn't going to let me go anywhere by myself, so he's probably going to send you with me. Either way, you're going to have to come along with me. But you have a choice; on your own will, or by force and threat to have a bullet shot in you like that Theo guy."
I didn't mean to sound harsh, but it was starting to become do or die time. And I couldn't bare to go another minute with knowing that the real criminals were still out there and at large while I was being plastered all over the city. And probably into the next town over.
Ron sighed and said to me, "Shun, you're still as insane and stupid as I remember, and that was one reason why I respected you. You were always willing to take risks to get what you wanted, and I see you haven't changed that about you." I smiled, and Ron did as well.
He asked me, "Are you sure you're able to make the trip though?" I stood up from the bed and showed him that I was able to stand firmly on my legs. "I'm good to go." Ron nodded his head and told me, "I'll go and tell Ceram something like we're going to the Lion's Den and that I'll keep an eye on you and make sure you don't run." I nodded my head and told him, "Sounds legit enough to me." Ron left out of the room. Don't worry, Alice. I'm almost there to finding who hurt you.
chapter title based off the song Would It Matter by Skillet. last chapter i asked about a Hunger Games book, and i now have a poll on my profile since i know a lot of people don't like to voice their opinions via review or PM. whoa. i just saw the moon out of the window and i thought it was like, something else. o.o that thing is big and bright tonight. it's pretty too. ^^ well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~
