Nom nom tired, nom nom gotta pee...let's make this quick! BIG thank you to SNOOGL3BAB1, MizzC, Darelle The Author, Sweetiepye2, TRIGGER MIKE THE GREAT, sagi babe, and boondocksgroupie1 for the reviews! Now, school has started back for me, and I'm going to be focused primarily on that...so updates (as you can already tell) will not be very frequent. Am I out of ideas? Hell no! Am I out of time?
Er...basically.
So, just sit back, bear with me, and if you get that tired of waiting for my updates...it's called an imagination. Use it. Hahhahha
Disclaimer: Still don't own it.
Warning: Um...this isn't a very happy chapter. So if you're on Prozac, you might want to take it now...
(Joking. But seriously. Not. Happy.)
Old Soul
Chapter Ten
Maya
When I was twelve years old, my mother bought me my first cell phone.
While everyone else my age had been blessed with the sleek, glossy cutting edge of technology, sending photos, messages, and calls to everyone to stay connected, I was out of the loop. I'd never fit in with the people my age anyways, so my mother figured getting me my own phone would help her be able to find me as well as help me keep in touch with friends easier. Or at least get some friends. Her plan, sadly, was foiled the moment I held the phone, equipped with a full keyboard as well as its own music player, and wrinkled my nose in disproval, as well as complete confusion.
"How the hell do you call people?" I'd asked.
That was just one of many examples of how technologically impaired I am, which was why it probably hadn't made much sense to volunteer myself to destroy the hard drive. If the choice had been between me, a squirrel, and a rock, the latter two would be better options than me. However, it was done. And now I was cornered in a third story bedroom with a feeble lock and house full of dangerous people, who were already rampaging through the first floor as well as the basement. I could hear them searching through our things, looking for evidence that suggested we were anyone but who we said we were.
Shit.
"Arggh!" I let out a quiet groan of frustration, running my hands through my tangled hair and yanking it from the roots in frustration. "What am I supposed to do?"
Silence.
Well, wow. Who had I really been waiting for to respond, the fucking Calvary?
I couldn't use something heavy to break the computer to tiny pieces…even if I did, the hard drive could still be repaired somehow. Right…?!
I could hear people shouting to each other in the kitchen. I didn't have enough time to be standing around wearing stupid facial expressions!
"Okay. Think Maya, think," I whispered aloud, pacing, my converse taping the floor as if they had an anticipation of their own. "Maya Jambalaya." I began spouting off nicknames that I'd heard directed towards me, trying to brainstorm until I had some kind of idea to get me out of this mess, and failing at it. "Maya Maya bo baya, banana fanna fo fya-"
I could hear heavy footsteps racing up to the second floor. Damn it.
"Fee fi mo Maya." I smacked myself in the forehead. "What am I doing? You can do this, Maya!" I thought of a childhood friend of mine, Ross Stevens, who used to always mispronounce my name just to annoy me. "Myer, Myer." I shook my head. "Myer, Myer, pants on…"
I froze, something in my brain seeming to fall in place, the clicking sensation of an idea shocking me like an electric fence.
"Fire."
Fire. I could burn the hard drive! We weren't going to be able to come back, not with people so suspicious. If the fire spread to other parts of the house, it didn't matter. We wouldn't be here.
Oh man, I just hoped it didn't spread to the neighbors…
I ran for the set of dresser drawers, muttering a quick prayer for probably the first time in ten years, hoping that there was a lighter, a box of matches, two sticks, anything in these drawers that caught fire. I groaned when, typically, there was nothing of the sort.
Thanks a lot, God.
I silently unlocked the door, peeking out to make sure no one had yet gotten on the third floor. When I was met by a heavy, empty air, which was occasionally broken by the shouts of "Clear!" downstairs, I rushed into the third floor bathroom, which was luckily right beside Hiro's room. I threw open drawer after drawer, finally finding a box of matches in the second one from the bottom. "Yes!" I breathed, sighing in relief.
The relief didn't last for long.
"Aye, David," I heard from right below me, the voice making my breath catch in my throat. "Did you hear that?"
I quickly shut off the bathroom light and stepped into the hallway, right on time to see a tall, broad shouldered man staring right at me from halfway up the stairs. He was wearing a suit, his brown hair messy and his brown eyes glaring at me. My eyes widened as I spotted the gold cross above a shining gold badge on his breast pocket.
"I found one!" He suddenly shouted, advancing up the stairs. "Bruce, get up here! You-" He pointed at me. "Stay there."
Somehow my feet found themselves, and before I could comprehend what I was doing I was racing forward, catching him off guard. I gave him a rough shove with all the strength I could muster before running back to Hiro's room. I spun around in time to see him losing his footing, falling back down the stairs. I heard several people gasp.
"What the-"
"What happened?"
"Get that woman!" The man shouted. I saw him crawling to his feet and withdrawing a gun from a holster on his side but I was already slamming the bedroom door shut, locking it as well as shoving a chair underneath the handle. I ran to the computer, examining the disk drive.
If I simply shoved a lit match in there, would it even catch fire? Or would it go out?
My eyes fell on a bottle of some cheap wine that was half hidden under Hiro's pillow, about a quarter full. I stared back at the matches, then back towards the wine. There was sudden pounding on the door.
I grabbed the bottle of wine as well as the pillowcase off of his pillow, twisting the end so that I could drop it in the bottle. I shook it around so that the wine seeped into the material of the white pillowcase, ripping the cloth out after a few seconds. I dropped the bottle, shoving the pillowcase into the disk drive of the CPU (or at least that's what I thought it was) and taking the box of matches in both hands, trying my best to ignore the door, which was almost open.
I tried to strike the match against the side of the box, but my hand was shaking so hard that I almost dropped it instead of lighting it. I took a deep breath, steadying my hand as well as narrowing my eyes, and tried again.
The orange flame rose up in a cloud of black smoke, and I wasted no time in holding it up to the hanging corner of the pillowcase, backing away a little as the once tiny flame began spreading like wildfire. I threw the still lit match onto Hiro's bed for good measure, running to the windows and lifting one open, groaning as the old frame squeaked and resisted stubbornly. "Come…on!" I gasped. It cracked, but didn't budge.
I let out another groan, this time out of frustration, and backed away, taking a deep breath. I ran towards the window and spun around, kicking out the glass. It shattered all over the place but I ignored it, hoisting myself over the window so that I was sticking half in, half out. The cold air mixed with snow whipped against me on one side, while I could feel the pulsing heat from the spreading fire on my other. I glanced down towards the ground, which seemed to be a lot worse of a fall than anticipated.
Gulp.
I gazed back into the room just in time to see the door bust open, three men pouring inside. They noticed me just as I noticed them.
"Freeze!" One of them yelled, pointing his gun. I did no such thing; instead I dropped out the window, letting out a tiny scream as I hung to the frame by my fingers, my feet dangling uselessly in the air. I felt them slipping and I glanced down below me, seeing the walkway for the fire escape. It had to be at least a ten foot drop, since the entrance onto it happened to be on the opposite side of the house, outside of Caesar's window.
This was probably a bad time to remember that I was scared of heights.
I heard shooting and saw bullets whizzing out the window, just as I heard a loud crack, followed by an explosion. I screamed as a wall of flames shot out over my head, felt my fingers burning…I quickly let go, which emitted another shriek out of me as I plummeted below, my hands still grasping the empty air, still burning…
The fall was over just when it began. One moment I was tumbling through space and the next my back was hitting the cold, black walkway of the escape with a bone shaking thud. I felt my head hit the railing and I hissed in pain. "Ow," I whimpered, rolling slowly onto my side. I hadn't prepared for the fall well at all. I tried to sit up but a piercing pain shot through my back and I was forced to lie back down, staring up at the sky, silently hoping with every fiber of my being that no one would find me.
"You've gotta get up," I whispered to myself, trying not to cry out in pain. "There are people looking for you. Well…if they aren't all burning to a crisp." I glanced over my head to see flames licking the window pane which I had been on less than a minute before. "You're going to probably join them if you don't move."
I rolled onto my stomach, slowly moving my arms upwards to examine my hands. They were splotchy and red, with a few places sporting some nifty angry red burn marks. My stomach churned, but before I could move again there was another blast, this time shaking the ground underneath me. I made myself sit upright before I could chicken out, not able to stop the cry of pain that escaped my slightly parted lips.
Geez, it hurt so much…
I limped down the stairs of the fire escape, holding my side and breathing a little easier when my feet touched the sidewalk…but not by much. It hurt too much to fully breathe.
I set off down the sidewalk, trying to keep the limping to a minimum and appear less suspicious than I really was, ignoring the rush of people who were sprinting past me to look at the house. I ducked around the side alleyway, my eyes doing a quick sweep of the perimeter to see the white van I was hoping to spot, sitting in the corner. I hastened my limp, reaching the driver door in record time.
Was there a spare key still taped underneath the muffler? Did I even know what a muffler was? Nope, but I didn't need to in order to spot the key, held in place by a scrap of tape. I ripped it off, unlocking the door and hastily sliding inside. I wasted no time in cutting on the engine, throwing the van into reverse, and backing up, spinning around until I was speeding on the main drag, my body aching and begging for rest. As soon as I was sure I was out of the red I reached into my pocket, dragging out my cell phone. I didn't need more than a second to notice that the battery icon in the right hand corner was red and flashing, a sign that it was low. Damn.
I flipped it open, dialing a number I knew all too well and ignoring a loud thump I heard around the trunk area. I didn't have much time.
I wasn't sure if any of us did.
Jazmine
I still don't know how he did it. But one moment, I was standing around, keeping an eye out for any authority figure or even worse, the owner of the very motorcycle we were "borrowing", as Huey found fit to put it, and the next moment he was pulling me roughly onto the seat behind him, my arms instinctively wrapping around his waist, my feet finding the rests, my head burrowing into his shoulder. The engine came to life with a furious roar, much more deafening than either of the one we'd taken up here, and with a blink of an eye we were speeding through the streets, Huey silent and my eyes watering at the corners from the cold.
"What's going on?" I managed over the roaring, my breath practically being tugged out of my throat as the cold hit it. "Why is this happening?"
Huey's answer was true, yet unhelpful. "Because people suck."
"Where are we even going?" I tried, my ponytail whipping into my face. Unfortunately, two helmets were something that hadn't been included in our freebie plan. "Isn't the house in the opposite direction?"
"We can't chance anyone seeing us leave from here and follow us home," Huey said honestly, to my surprise. I wasn't used to him giving straight answers so easily. "We're going to meet Caesar and Cairo somewhere, as soon as they find a location and tell me."
"Okay," Was all I could manage to whisper. I ducked my head back down, my arms numb. I felt Huey tense.
"Are you alright?"
I swallowed painfully before nodding. "I'm fine."
I tried to ignore the insanity around us, but tuning people out was something I'd never been good at. I watched confused bystanders wander around, their eyes as lost as their limb's movements. I watched as people ran away from others, ducking behind trucks and buildings, cowering behind trashcans as if playing some sick game of hide and seek. I wished that I could somehow cover my eyes. Maybe if I didn't look at any of it, it wouldn't be real.
The snow that had been falling so gracefully before had now turned into ice; it beat down on us like tiny rocks. I jumped as I felt a sudden vibrating that had nothing to do with the motorcycle, and Huey shook in front of me, most likely laughing. "It's a phone, not a time bomb," He commented. "It's probably Caesar with a meeting spot."
"Huey, slow down." We'd reached some suburban part of Chicago; the houses weren't nearly as close together, the roads not as wide. "I think we're safe."
"I think," I heard Huey mutter as we approached a sharp turn, "That you should leave the driving to me."
Just when I went to reply, there was a severe skidding sound, followed by the squelch of tires. I felt Huey tense, the muscles in his arms tightening as he tried to steer the motorcycle away from the quickly approaching shoulder of the road-
-And then there was a sickening crash as we hit a snow embankment. I was suddenly flying off the side of the motorcycle, landing hard in the snow covered ground and rolling roughly down a hill, roots and brush catching every inch of my exposed skin. When I came to a stop face down in the frozen ground, I slowly lifted my head, my shoulders straining and I pushed my way up to my elbows.
Then, I screamed.
Huey was laying face down in the snow, still on the slope near the road which I'd already rolled down. The motorcycle's wheels were slowly rotating, the bike on its side. Even from here I could see how Huey's left leg was bent in an impossible angle…and that he wasn't moving.
At all.
I jumped up to my feet, ignoring the searing pain in my arm, frantically climbing over myself to reach him. "Huey!" I shrieked, ignoring that we were supposed to be hiding, that we were supposed to be unseen, unheard. My mind was whirling, the gears working overtime. Did I remember CPR? Was there some way to make sure he didn't have brain damage? Was he even alive?
"Huey!" I sank down to my knees in front of him, tentatively reaching towards him, my fingers hesitating just inches away from him. If I touched him, would I hurt him worse? Could I fix this? I rocked back on my knees, just being aware of the stinging pain in my own ankle, the steady pounding that was beating in my head with the pulsating of my heart, like a drum. "Huey, no…"
He was so still. I thought of all the people who I'd seen, as quiet and stiff as death itself. I couldn't imagine Huey being one of those people. I didn't want to.
"Wake up!" I pleaded, my voice giving in to a sob. I didn't even care about the risk of further injury; I threw myself onto his back, wrapping my arms around his neck and crying into his ear. "Huey, you can't leave me! You can't leave me all alone here!" I choked, sitting upright and grabbing fistfuls of his collar, shaking him. "Get your ass up!"
To my surprise he suddenly lifted his head, giving me a look. "You know," He said in a perfectly calm voice. "Maybe if you yell just a bit louder, Tanzania might be able to hear you, too."
"Huey!" I threw my arms around him all over again, ignoring his groaning. "You're alive!"
"Barely," He snapped, straining against me. "Can you get off for a sec? You're killing me worse than the crash." When I obediently backed away, leaving him space for air, he looked me over. "Are you okay?"
I nodded, examining him as well. "I think your leg is broken."
"I think you're right." I noticed how pale his face was, bloodless. "I'm trying not to think about it too much. The less I do, the less pain I feel."
"Do you…want to try and move it?" When my timid suggestion was met by a stony silence, I glared at him. "Well, I'm just trying to help!"
"You'd be more help if you didn't."
"Don't get mad at me," I snapped under my breath before I could stop myself, turning away. "I'm not the one who crashed the damn motorcycle."
When my comment was met by silence, I glanced up to see Huey staring in the opposite direction, his head bent. I sat up straighter.
"I almost killed you." His tone was filled with anger, not towards me, but towards himself."I should've been more careful."
"You almost killed yourself, too." I closed the space in between us again, putting a hand on his shoulder, guilt curling along my insides like an infection. "Accidents happen. Don't beat yourself up." I winced, glancing at his leg. "No pun intended."
"You would've been better off if I left you at the protest to fend for yourself." Huey leaned back against the grass, staring into the sky. I could see in the way his fists were clenched how much pain he was in. "I can't even protect you now. I'm useless with my leg like this."
"You're never useless," I told him, glaring at him. "Since when does Huey Freeman throw pity parties?"
"Since Huey Freeman started screwing up." He managed a dry laugh. "I almost killed us, Jazmine. How can you take that lightly?"
"Because you almost did, but you didn't." My own voice was flat. "It's done with. So we should move on now."
"And how do you propose we do that?" He snapped, struggling to sit up. His eyes narrowed. "I can't drive a motorcycle with a busted leg. You sure as hell can't. Do you even know where we are?"
I glanced around for the first time. "Um…a cornfield, from the looks of it."
"Exactly." His voice was sarcastic. "We're in a damn cornfield. What the hell can we do from a damn cornfield?"
"I don't know, but you could use your damn phone to call damn Caesar and try to come up with a damn plan!" I snapped, standing up and whirling away from him, staring into the snow covered field. "Until we have no hope, I refuse to feel sorry for us, Huey." I crouched down in front of him, my hand out. "Give me the phone."
Huey stared up at me, at a loss for words for practically the first time in his life. His eyes narrowed, but I noticed the corners of his mouth turning upwards. "Still positive no matter the situation, I see," He said, pulling a cell phone from his pocket. He ignored my hand, flipping it open himself and dialing a number. He pressed it up to his ear, still examining me. I stared back, my eyes softening.
"Do we really have a choice?" I asked quietly without expecting a response, jamming my hands in my pockets. There was a pause. Then, his eyes widened.
"Maya?"
I jerked, staring around with wide eyes before realizing that he was speaking into the phone. "No, I wasn't expecting you, I was calling…I guess you called me at the same time." I felt my breath catch in my throat for some unknown reason, watching his face as it turned from confused to concerned. "Wait, stop talking so fast, calm down…"
The next few seconds were so quiet that I thought maybe she'd hung up. Then, Huey flew up.
"Wait, what?" He jerked up, forgetting about his leg, and fell back with a groan. "Shit. No, not you. I broke my leg." He shook his head as I crouched down again, resting a hand on his shoulder with concern. "Long story. What do you mean the house got raided?"
My jaw dropped. I could only stare in horror at my injured friend as he listened intently to Maya's words, or at least tried to. Even I could barely understand the rushed, slurred babble that was erupting from the earpiece of Huey's phone. I absentmindedly massaged his hurt knee as I crawled closer to him, my eyes begging for answers.
"I can't understand you. Are you hurt?" Huey's voice was rising, yet still held a gentler tone than he used with most people. "What do you mean you don't know?" He sighed, rubbing his temples. "You have the van? Right. Okay, this is what we're going to do."
I felt a surge of relief now that Huey was back to making commands. He was a natural born leader. For him not to have any sort of faith in a situation…well, it had to be a lost cause.
"Jazmine and I, we're stranded out here…I want to say about ten minutes from the city," Huey said slowly into the phone. "I think we're close to Potter's Mill, but I'm not sure. I'd rather not chance looking for help, there's too many Anti-s out here. I need you to come get us, if you can. Or send someone else after you meet up with everyone else. Have you called them?" He suddenly held the phone away from his face for a moment, staring at it in what seemed to be shock. He placed it back to his ear. "Jazmine?" He looked at me. "She's fine."
While Huey continued to talk to Maya I got up, walking around and scanning our surroundings again. If our situation wasn't so grave, I'd think that our surroundings would be more suited for the front of a Christmas card. The tall stalks reached for the sky, which was filled with gray clouds, minus a small patch of sunset that could be seen over the western horizon. In the distance, about a half a mile away, I could see a tiny farmhouse, its lights beckoning warmly towards me. I turned around again to give Huey a glance, my boots making crunching sounds in the ice. By the time I was back to Huey's side he'd shut the phone and was leaning back again, his eyes squeezed shut and a look of frustration on his face. "What's wrong?"
"Everything." He looked up at me. "Something happened back at the house. Maya said it was an ambush, but that's all I got out of her, she was talking so fast and the phone was breaking up." He covered his face with his hand. "She sounded hurt. Her phone died. The last thing I heard her say was that she was on her way."
I shook my head. "What the hell is happening?"
"I wish I knew." Huey's hand dropped. "I know one thing; we can't just sit here. Caesar and Cairo are heading to a safe house. When they get there, they're going to let us know where it is. When Maya gets here, we can all go."
"So what, we wait?"
"What else do you think we should do?"
I contemplated for a moment before nodding towards the opposite direction, the farmhouse barely visible over the crops. "I think we should go there."
Huey looked to where I was gesturing, his eyes skeptical. "I think we shouldn't."
"Huey." I stomped my foot. "We're going to freeze to death!"
"And if they're Anti-s, we'll be shot to death! What's the difference?"
"The difference," I remarked coldly. "Is that waiting for answers to smack you in the face typically doesn't work. I've been there, done that." Before Huey could react I was bending down, trying my best to lift him.
"What are you doing?"
"We're going to that farmhouse." When Huey didn't budge I groaned. "Come on. Just lean on me."
"Jazmine, you aren't strong enough to support me." Huey shook his head. "Don't even try."
"You sure don't have much faith in me these days." I folded my arms over my chest, glancing away. Huey's eyebrows knotted together in confusion.
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, let's see." I began ticking off examples on each finger. "For one, you didn't think I was strong enough to handle you telling me why you had to leave, or why my parents were killed. For another, you didn't think I was strong or brave enough to join the resistance-"
"That's not true."
"-For another," I went on, ignoring him. "You didn't think I was suited to go to the protest today…now you don't even trust me when I'm trying to help you. Why do you even have me around?" I plopped down by a tree a good ten feet away, turning away from him. "You obviously don't think I'm very useful."
"Could we please talk about this some other time that isn't now."
"It's never a good time to talk about feelings with you, Huey!" I snapped. "It's never a good time to talk to you about anything. I don't even know why I try."
And with that I slammed my back into the tree trunk, averting my gaze. It was a bit of a mistake being that I was already sore all over, but I refused to let my pain show, just like Huey was trying not to let his be exposed. After a few uncomfortable moments of silence, I heard Huey speak.
"I guess the only thing we have to do then is wait."
I knew that he was talking about waiting for help. Only something inside me wanted to believe that there was more meaning behind his words.
"Yeah," I whispered, my eyes locked on the house across the way. "I guess it is."
Riley
"Damn, bitch! Can we get a car out dis bitch?"
"What do you want me to do you ass, steal one?"
"Hell yeah!" I pointed across the street to where a homeless man had broken a car window just moments before, crawling in. A few moments later the car was roaring to life and he was speeding away from the curb, cackling. "Everyone else is doing it!"
"You must've just loved peer pressure when you were younger," Cindy retorted in that smart tone of her's, rolling her eyes and starting down the curb. "Come on! We don't have time for this! We're supposed to be finding Trey and Aubrey's address so we can tell the others where the safe house-"
"Hell naw." I stood rooted to the spot in the center of the street, my arms folded across my chest. No one told me what to do. "I ain't goin nowhere until we get a vehicle. Shit, deez boots ain't made for walking."
"Riley!" Cindy smacked herself in the forehead, storming back towards me. "This isn't a game! This is life or death!"
"Yeah, yeah." I followed Cindy, rolling my eyes as we crept down the dark sidewalk, glancing around and examining our surroundings. I kinda wondered why Cindy was the one leading when I was the one originally from Chicago, but she looked so determined that I didn't even try to bother her ass. At least, not until she suddenly yelped, jumping so high in the air I thought dat bitch was bout to spout wings and fly up outta there.
"Da hell?"
"Oh! My phone!" Cindy fell back down to earth, reaching into her coat pocket and taking out her sidekick, pressing the talk button and jamming it up to my ear. "Riley, talk to him," She demanded, her eyes suddenly too interested in the street addresses of houses and buildings we were passing. I stared at the phone warily.
"Who da fuck is this?"
"Just talk!"
"Aye." I cleared my throat. "Who dis?"
"Riley, come on." Caesar's voice practically blared through the earpiece. "Who do you think?"
"Nigga, I don't cur bout yo number like that!" I watched Cindy's lips move as she read, her head peering into an alleyway. "Where you at?"
"Cairo and I are near Monroe Parkway," He said, his voice rushed. "We're heading to Lena and Katrina's. How's Cindy?"
I rolled my eyes. "I ain't no messenger."
"Riley, give her the phone."
"She don't want it!" I told him. When my response was met by silence I smacked my lips. "Nigga you think I'm lyin? She bout threw this shit at me."
"Riley, tell her I'm sorry." Caesar's voice was suddenly remorseful. "Tell her I'll prove how sorry I am when we get everything sorted out-"
"Must I repeat myself? I ain't. No-"
"Riley, give me the phone," Cindy suddenly said from my side, her hand out and her expression pained. I handed her that shit as if it were on fire, watching her put it up to her ear. "Hello?" She was quiet for a few moments, turning so that her back was to me. "Caesar."
She was so quiet I couldn't even hear her ass forreal, so I leaned against the apartment complex we was in front of, scowling. After a few more seconds passed though, I heard her voice rise. "Caesar, you hurt me! You're not the only one that's been suffering! Do you think this is really the time-" She stopped, her breath shaky. "I'm fine. Riley and I are both fine. We're trying to find Trey and Aubrey." There was another pause. "…They're already with Lena and Katrina? How do you know?" More silence. "Well, calling them does make sense…"
After another pause, I heard a sob come from Cindy's throat and I gave her a startled look. "What did you want me to do, pretend everything was supposed to be okay? It obviously wasn't! You hated me then, you hate me now…no, I never hated you. I've always loved you. I can't imagine living without you."
"Boo. Y'all gay!" I snapped. Cindy gave me a scowl through her tears, but she was smiling.
"I love you too. I've missed you so much-"
"Can we wrap dis up? I'm getting cold," I told her, glancing into the distance where I could see flashing lights. "Cindy, we gotta move."
She looked up too, her eyes narrowing. "Babe, I gotta go. We'll be there soon…I love you, too," She said into the mouthpiece. "I…yeah. We'll be careful." She flipped the phone shut and I all but dragged her into an alleyway, both of us crouching behind trashcans and watching the slowly passing squad car.
"Okay…what we do now?" I asked, glancing towards Cindy. Already I could see a familiar pink glow in her cheeks that wasn't just from the old, her blue eyes sparking for the first time in what seemed like weeks.
People think I don't notice these things.
The hell I don't.
"There's so much going on right now, so many crimes…I think we can pull it off." Cindy spun towards me, blond hair flying. "Riley, do you have a gun on you?"
"Hell yea!" I pat my side, giving her a look. "The fuck I look like, not havin a gun? I rep the streets! I always have a-"
"Okay, Riles, It was a yes or no question." Cindy rolled her eyes, smirking. "Here's the deal. Caesar and Cairo are about twenty minutes from Rena and Katrina's. Trey and Aubrey were at the protest, so they went there as well. We're going, too."
"Okay…so?"
"So, we're gonna need us a nice, fast car." Cindy grinned at me, nodding over the cans. "And I think I know where we can get one."
I glanced in the direction she was staring, my eyes growing. I looked back to see if she was kidding.
…Dis bitch was for serious.
"Yeah nigga yeah!" I cackled, already forming a plan in my head. "Yeah, dis how we gon handle dem punk ass bitches…"
Huey
It happened so quickly I barely even realized it was happening until it had…well…happened.
One moment I was sprawled out on the gentle slope of the cornfield Jazmine and I had been in for at least the last forty five minutes, my eyes closed, trying to take nice even breaths and ignore the fact that I had a bone poking out of my leg (I'd rolled up my pants leg to check while Jazmine was turned away, focused on ignoring me), and in the next moment Jazmine had somehow silently come up, grabbed me by my middle, and hoisted my upright. I had been so shocked that it didn't even register to resist; instead I instinctively leaned into her, standing on my good leg and letting her support my weight. While I could see the strain in her eyes, her stance was strong. I let my arm fall around her shoulders.
"The height difference doesn't make this too easy," I pointed out, too tired to be stubborn. Jazmine attempted to shrug, but gave up.
"I'm five nine," She remarked in a proud voice. "I'm not that much shorter than you."
"Yeah, if you don't think five inches is that much." I shook my head. "What are you doing?"
"I think that crash must've broke your brain, because if you think about it, we've been in plain view for a good half hour," She said, taking a step forward, her arm around my waist. I stepped forward as well with my good leg, pausing when I heard her groan. "It's okay," She said quietly. "I won't let you fall."
I nodded, trying again. I felt her shaking under my weight, but we stayed upright. "We can't just sit by the road," She went on as we slowly headed towards the swaying stalks of the cornfield. "If the wrong person rode by, we'd be screwed."
She did have a point. "Jazmine," I asked as our slow process to the field continued, trying to fill the gap of silence. "How was it? Back in Woodcrest before Caesar came and…you know."
For a minute she was quiet, and I thought she didn't hear me. Then, she opened her mouth.
"It was alright. I mean, all those new laws haven't spread down there, not like it has in the south and on the east coast."
"I mean," I clarified. "With you."
"Oh." Jazmine stared straight ahead, her eyes narrowed. "I got by. It was hard, for a while." She stared up at me, her eyes soft. "But I got by."
I stared down at her, the words bubbling out of my mouth before I could force them back down into the deep part of my subconscious. "I missed you," I told her, my voice fierce. Her eyebrows lifted. "Every day. I thought about you every single day I was away from Woodcrest. I never stopped."
Jazmine's mouth fell open in a perfect O, her green eyes staring into mine, as if searching for some evidence of a lie. Her mouth shut, the opened again…only whatever she was going to say didn't come out, for there was a sudden banging from behind us.
We spun around to see Maya slamming the van's door shut, doing some kind of limp/run towards us, her forehead bleeding and her clothes torn and filled with what looked like soot or dirt. "Maya!" I felt Jazmine drawing away from me but I pulled her closer, partly because she was my only mean of support.
Partly.
"Huey! Jazmine!" Maya seemed to be on the verge of tears as she half fell, half crawled towards us. "Everything is messed up! He tried to kill-" She stopped, catching her breath and inspecting us. "One of you are losing a lot of blood."
Jazmine and I glanced at each other before glancing down. I grit my teeth. No wonder my pants leg had been so much colder than the rest of me.
"That…would be me," I groaned. Maya took a tentative step towards me, her hand outstretched.
"Huey…"
"We've gotta get out of here." Jazmine's voice was sharp as needles. "We've gotta find out what's going on."
"Oh, I can tell you what's going on!" Maya suddenly spat, her eyes flashing angrily. Only her anger wasn't directed towards either of us. "It was-"
Before she could finish the back of the van flew open, and Duey jumped out, falling to his knees. Maya shrieked. I felt Jazmine jerk, and I tensed. "Duey!" Jazmine sighed, putting her free hand over her chest. "You're okay."
"I'd be better-" Duey ground out, looking up slowly, his lip bleeding. "If Maya wouldn't have tried to kill me."
Jazmine's head as well as my own flew in Maya's direction. Maya was staring at Duey with a horrorstruck look, her fists clenched. "Excuse me?" She snapped, her nose wrinkled in disgust as she backed away from him. "You tried to kill me! You shot at Hiro and I!"
"Yeah, because you called the FBI on our asses!" Duey snapped, rising to his feet, wincing and bracing the back of the van's bumper for support. "You ratted us out! Thank to you, our house is gone!"
"What," I asked, turning a critical eye on Maya. "Is he talking about?"
"He's lying!" Maya practically cried, her voice pleading as she reached towards us; on the opposite side, Duey was doing the same. "He tried to kill Hiro and I, he was on their side-"
"Why would I do that? Huey, she told them everything. Our passwords, our real names…they know we're alive. All of us."Duey shook his head, gripping his side and wincing in pain. "I can't believe you'd lie about me."
"That's it!" In an instant I'd whipped my gun from my side, causing Jazmine to let out a tiny squeak and Maya's eyes to widen. Duey stared at it, as if processing it. I pointed it at the both of them, my eyes narrowed into slits. "Someone had better start telling me the truth. And now."
"Huey, please!" Maya sobbed, falling to her knees and crawling towards us. I pulled Jazmine back, my arm tightening around her shoulders. I felt her shaking beside me. "I wouldn't lie about this! You have to believe me-"
"I'm telling the truth, not her!" Duey cried out, his hands on his head. "Why would I tell some Record Analyst what we do? I'm more loyal than that!"
"Huey, please!" Maya cried. "He's a traitor!"
"Huey!" Duey begged.
"Huey!"
"Huey…"
The air was empty, void around us. In front of me, both Maya and Duey were pleading for the innocence, their lives. I shook my head, the gun still aimed at them.
"How do I know you both weren't in on it?" I asked, vaguely aware of how still Jazmine had gotten beside me. "What evidence do you have telling me that you aren't both trying to fuck with us right now?"
Maya and Duey exchanged looks before suddenly beginning to shove at each other in their haste to reach us. "Stay the fuck back!" I roared, still positioning the gun towards them. "I'll shoot both of you, I swear-"
My words were cut short when Jazmine suddenly let go of my, grabbing the gun and shoving me down. I let out a groan as I hit the icy ground, rubbing my side and glaring at her. "Jazmine! What are you-"
Her focus, however, wasn't on me. Instead she was clutching the handgun with both hands, pointing it straight towards one person.
"Why'd you do it?" She asked, her voice dangerously soft. I glanced at Maya, who was staring at Duey. He was gazing at the gun aimed at his forehead, his brow coated in sweat. When he didn't reply, Jazmine's eyes narrowed. "Answer me!" She screamed, the gun shaking in her hands. Duey swallowed.
"But I didn't-"
"Cut the bullshit!" Jazmine snapped, shaking her head. "If you're so clueless, how did you know that Maya spoke to a Record Analyst?"
I sat up, my eyes hardening. "Maybe he heard-"
"He didn't hear shit!" Jazmine said towards me. "Maya wouldn't do this to us, Huey. Especially not to you." She lowered the gun, staring into my eyes. "She cares about you way too much to hurt you that way."
Maya let out a sob of relief. Duey's face was hard as stone. Jazmine took a step towards him, my gun still in her hands. For a moment, no one spoke.
Then, Duey laughed.
"Jazmine Alston." He shook his head, holding his sides as if he seriously found the current situation to be funny. I felt my insides flare up with anger. "Aren't you the smart one."
"That isn't my name, you dumb fuck." Jazmine shook her head as well, eyes locked on him. "It's DuBois."
"Really? That isn't what your records said." When Jazmine raised an eyebrow, as well as myself, Duey went on. "Did you really think I could just let the daughter of the resistance's world renowned leader come up in here? Oh, no." He smiled. "You're too much of a threat to the government."
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I snapped. Maya ran to my side, crouching down. "You were supposed to be on our side, you idiot! We trusted you!"
"Yeah, when it was convenient for you." Duey rolled his eyes, pulling a gun from his side as well. Jazmine froze. "Face it, I was never a real part of the group. If I wouldn't have been Cairo's best friend you wouldn't have even thought twice about me. Everyone knows your special exceptions only apply to women." I watched him glanced from Maya to Jazmine. "I can't blame you on not being able to choose between them. They're both so beautiful-"
"Shut the hell up," I shot back, cutting him off. Duey shrugged.
"Fine. I don't really feel like talking much anyways." He scratched his chin with the tip of his gun. "Face it. Christianity's going to win. Just like it's supposed to." He raised the gun, pointing it towards Jazmine, who was frozen in fear. "Starting with the death of the proposed future leader."
"Jazmine!" I shouted, scrambling for my feet, trying to ignore the pain that shot through my leg. I hadn't even managed to get on one knee before there was a blast, one that rang in my ears, one that made my heart stop. I glanced upwards, expecting to see Jazmine's body sprawled on the ground.
Only…she wasn't there.
"Coward!" I suddenly heard Duey shout, and he took off past us. Maya and I spun towards the cornfield where Jazmine had disappeared into apparently, since Duey had taken off after her. "You gon point a gun? You'd better learn to use one!"
"Come on!" Maya gasped, shooting to her feet and pulling me upright as well. I climbed to my feet, putting all my weight on my good leg and letting Maya hold me upright. Since she was even shorter than Jazmine and a bit smaller it wasn't as easy as it had been before, but nonetheless we rushed for the cornfield, pushing through the tall stalks, the dying sun over the horizon making it that much harder to see. In the near distance we heard another blast, and Maya screamed.
"Jazmine!"
I stayed quiet, shaking my head. Jazmine was okay. She had to be. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if she wasn't…
I heard a rustle to my right and glanced up to see a quick flash of a black leather jacket and a head of thick, dark hair. In an instant it was gone, and I heard Duey speak again.
"Jazmine, Jazmine. Why are you running?" Maya and I glanced around. It sounded as if he were coming from every direction. "We both know you're not going to use that gun. Don't worry, though. I have no problem using mine." I heard a hushed chuckle ripple across the field, softer and more distant. "I promise I'll make it quick."
"I can't just stand here!" I suddenly snapped, trying to push forward. Maya held me back.
"Huey, there's nothing we can do," She whispered, her eyes wide. "Your leg's broken, and we don't have a weapon."
There was another blast, followed by another. Our heads jerked up and we heard more rushing, someone hurriedly maneuvering through the long rows of corn stalks. I suddenly realized what Jazmine was trying to do.
"She's trying to lead him away from us," I said aloud, shaking my head. "She thinks if he goes after her, we can get out of here."
Maya stared up at me. "How do you know that?"
I shook my head. "Because I know her," I said quietly.
Jazmine
I raced through the darkening field, shoving through leaves and dying stalks, my boots pounding heavily on the cold ground below me. The sky was dark, minus the strip of orange in the horizon. The gun was in my right hand, my bangs were in my eyes, and my heart was pounding so hard that I thought it would beat straight out of my chest. I heard another blast from Duey's gun, followed by a whistling sound. I instinctively threw myself on the ground, as not even a second later a bullet whizzed past where I had been standing. I rolled over and shot to my feet, running in a new direction, away from the orange skyline.
"I know you're out here, Jazmine!" Duey's singsong voice belted out from somewhere behind me. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"
I kept running, darting through the field and impulsively switching directions, just to throw him off. I didn't want to kill him. Hell, I didn't want to kill anyone! But I sure as hell didn't want him to kill the others. If it was me he was after, then it would be me that he'd get.
Me, and only me.
"You stupid coward!" I heard ring across the field. With a star, I realized that it wasn't Duey's voice, but Huey's. "You want to take on someone? Why don't you come for someone your own size?"
"What are you doing?" I whispered to myself, freezing in my tracks. My fingers, toes, and nose were all numb from the cold, yet I was sweating underneath all my clothes.
"Jazmine has nothing to do with this!" I heard Huey shout. "This ain't about her being Tom DuBois' daughter! This is about you being a scared little boy who wants to take out his anger on someone weaker than him!"
Duey's voice suddenly rang out. "You want some of this, cripple?" I heard a rustling a good way across the otherwise quiet field, followed by footsteps pounding the ground as they ran. I realized, with a start, that he'd changed targets.
"No!" I gasped, taking off towards where I thought Huey's voice had come from, tears springing up and practically blurring my vision. "Duey, no! It's me you want!"
"It doesn't matter!" I heard him yell, ahead of me. "You'll all be dead by the end of the night!"
I pushed myself to go faster, my face and hands stinging from the leaves slapping at me, my eyes blinking in the dusk. I heard Duey come to a stop a little ways ahead and I broke into a sprint, running faster than I'd ever remembered running in my life. My chest was burning, threatening to burst form lack of air. My head was swimming.
But I didn't care. All I could think of were Huey and Maya, injured and defenseless, at the mercy of this fucking psycho. He had no mercy. I couldn't let him hurt them. I wouldn't.
I finally pushed through the final row of stalks to see Duey standing over Maya and Huey, who were leaning against the van. Huey was shielding Maya behind him, his eyes narrowed. Duey was staring at them both with a triumphant look on his face, his finger on the trigger. I raised my own gun with both hands, my eyes squeezing shut before narrowing into little slits.
'Duey.'
My mind let out one final thought and I squeezed the trigger, hearing more than seeing the bullet shoot towards him. Everything seemed to move in slow motion; my hands might as well have taken ten minutes to lower, the sound of the blast must've taken a good twenty minutes to fade. I watched the red stain slowly blossom like a rose on the back of Duey's T Shirt, watched as he fell to his knees, his gun dropping from his hand. My own gun dropped down in front of me as If I had been the one to be hit.
'I'm sorry.'
Duey landed face down in the cold grass, his limbs sprawled out. I dropped to my own knees, my heart cold, my eyes wet. I heard footsteps, then felt Maya's arms encircling me. I tried to pull away but she held on, sobbing into my shoulder.
"Thank you." I could hear tears in her voice as well. "Thank you so much."
I felt her let me go, felt her eyes staring down at me, waiting for a response, but I couldn't find one. My hands were shaking, and I raised them, examining them for some sort of change.
He was dead. I was a killer. I'd taken someone else's life. I squeezed my eyes shut, burying my head in my hands. "Caesar's on the phone!" I heard Maya shout from a distance. I didn't even bother asking her how she'd gotten her phone to cut back on. All I could see was Duey's body, laying there so still.
I was a monster.
"You didn't have a choice." I looked up through my tears to see Huey sitting beside me, watching Maya talk into the phone a few feet away. He looked at me. "You did what you had to do. This isn't your fault."
He was wrong. I swallowed, standing to me feet and shaking my head. He didn't understand. He couldn't.
I had officially done something Huey hadn't now; I'd killed another human being. We weren't equals. We weren't even close. I wasn't good enough for him.
I'd always thought he was too good for me. Now, I knew it was true.
Which was why I turned away from him, my hands in my pockets, to watch the last rays of sun disappear, like dying embers in a fireplace. Like the dying pieces of my heart, that felt as cold as the ground we stood on. I heard voices, was aware of movement, but I ignored it.
Maybe if I pretended none of it was there, it would be as if I'd died as well.
:Sobsobsob: so sad. :(
um...yeah...review? Yes? No?
-Kelsey