As previously warned, we'll now be heading down a dark part of the road in our journey. What else can I say without giving anything away? It is what it is.


The Ice Cracks

My mind kept wandering back to that night in Irby's. I didn't like the sly way Kyle looked at me. I didn't like the way he chased me through the streets of Chamberlain the night Ace stole his Chevy. I didn't like seeing the pure fear in June's eyes, knowing she'd have to face him again.

Kyle Jefferson scared me. I felt like he had it out for me. But I couldn't bring myself to express my concerns to Ace. Not because I was embarrassed about it; I didn't want to raise any red flags when I didn't even know for sure that Kyle was a real threat. Ace and Eyeball were on talking terms again, Ace was finally getting all the help he needed with the mechanics, and the workshop was running smoother than it had in weeks. I couldn't unnecessarily disrupt that. And I couldn't stop boosting. No way could I stop. In fact, I needed to push harder if I were to make payment on time that month.

And so, I pushed. I went out almost every night, stretching myself to the farthest reaches, finding fresh areas to harvest so I wouldn't saturate any one particular place. I'd sneak out of The Rock by train and then go by bus and get off at random destinations. And I was cautious. I'd take trains leaving at different times. I would wait, hide and scout for at least half-an-hour to make sure I wasn't being followed before boarding. Night after night nothing happened. For two weeks, everything was as dark and as quiet as it always was.

And I admit it – I got complacent. I started arriving later and didn't scout around as well as I could have. Maybe all that wouldn't have helped me anyway. If he really had it out for me, he would have gotten me one way or another.

I heard shuffling in the leaves behind me and then a single twig snapped. I looked over my shoulder, but he moved so fast that I didn't have a chance to see him. I felt a hand strap over my mouth, and he held it tight. So tight I couldn't breathe enough to scream. I struggled and I bucked and I tried to bite his hand, but I couldn't get my teeth in. He brought one of my arms up behind my back and I could feel the pull of my shoulder nearly popping out of its socket.

"You stay shut up," he seethed into my ear. "Squeal and I'll snap your arm. Nod to say you understand."

I quickly nodded. I had to.

He lifted the finger covering my nostrils and I sucked in a relieving but stressfully slow lungful of air. He backed me out of the bushes and onto the road where one of his buddies was waiting for him. It was the same guy that had been with him the night Ace and I stole the Chevy. The white Ford that I had run and hid from finally found me.

I was ushered into the back seat, and Kyle took his hand off my mouth but continued to restrain me as the driver put his foot down and took us away into the night. Boy, I struggled. I wouldn't consider myself strong at all, but I gave him a hard time keeping me under control. I didn't feel afraid of him now. The only emotion I had in me was hate and I was gonna physically scream it at him. I must have seemed like a psycho feral on steroids. I even snarled at him like one.

Until he hit me.

He gripped the back of my neck and shoved my head into the driver's seat, banging it hard on the leather and giving me an instant headache. I ceased my struggle and felt woozy.

"Hey, go easy on her!" the driver protested.

"Me go easy on her? She fucking bit me!"

"She's Ace's girl – what did you expect? Some easy little patsy?"

"At least she's docile now. And if you start up on me again, bitch, you're gettin' another one – you got it?"

We must have only driven for ten minutes or so, but it seemed like an hour. I don't know where we pulled into, but we bumped around on unsteady ground, and I could hear gravel crunch under our tires. There was no road noise and it was really dark like we were well away from streetlights. This wasn't good. It wasn't good at all.

We parked up and the driver left the engine running so we could see by the light of the dashboard.

"What the hell do you want from me?" I asked. My voice was coming out quiet although I was trying speak at full volume. I couldn't focus properly. I felt like I was half-conscious or half-way between sleep and awake.

"I want you to tell me Ace stole my car. I wanna know why you been sneakin' on the train so much. I ain't dumb you know, and I think you and Ace are up to some serious shit."

"Ace didn't steal your car. And… I don't have a car of my own… anymore… so, I've been sneaking on the train to see a sick friend of mine out in-"

Kyle banged my head on the driver's seat again, but not so hard this time. Probably because it wasn't in self-defense like before. "I just told you, I ain't dumb! I know that asshole. He used to lift anythin' that wasn't nailed down and sell it off… through me. Yeah. We used to be partners, me and him. A 50/50 split until the asshole got greedy and wanted more of a cut. I said no sir and our business was done. I got out and went straight. But him… he ain't never goin' straight. That guy's as crooked as a bag 'a snakes and he always will be. Now, I'm goin' tell you somethin' princess – I'm goin'a find out what you're all up to, and then I'm goin' stick him for it!"

"I think you're gonna kill me no matter what I say. So, I'm not telling you shit!"

"Maybe you're right," he said to the driver. "Maybe she is gonna be a tough nut to crack. Maybe…" he said, pressing himself in closer to me, "maybe she just needs some softening up."

Kyle adjusted the front of his pants and smirked at me. And before I could think the words, 'he can't be serious', he yanked my legs up and across the seat, pulling me flat on my back. I screamed, but he quickly muffled it by covering my mouth, and he flung a knee overtop of me to sit astride my hips and pin me down with his weight. He jammed one of my hands under my back and held the other tight above my head while he leaned down over top of me until his nose was an inch from mine.

"Now's your chance to talk to me, darlin'. 'Cause once I get started, I ain't gonna stop."

As he slowly removed his hand from my mouth a face flashed in front of me that wasn't Kyle's. It was Lewis's. I saw him clear as day, leering at me with a cruel grin. But it was only a three-second flash and then Kyle was back.

"Tell me Ace stole my car!" he yelled at me. His face looked flustered and he was clearly starting to lose his cool. "Tell me he's sellin' them! And what have you got to do with it? Huh?" His voice rang so loudly in the small car that, already with a headache, I felt like he'd just shot an arrow through my brain.

"Alright. You're not gonna say nothin'? Then let's go, baby." Kyle pulled the zipper down on his jeans before wriggling them down past his ass.

"Jesus, Kyle," his driver said. "What are you doin'?"

"She's still got time to make it stop," Kyle whispered into my ear. "But, I'm conflicted, you know? I want her to talk… but, in a way now… I don't."

"Ace is gonna kill you for this!"

"I ain't scared of that douche. He ain't as tough as he thinks he is. Now, let's see what he's gettin' these days, shall we?"

He undid the button on my jeans and, unable to do much else, I spat in his face. I hit him a good one, right in the eye. He flinched and squinted and wiped it with his hand.

"OK, you wanna play it that way?" he said. He tightened his fist and struck me on my right cheekbone. My head thumped in agony. I saw stars. Little blue and red lights swarmed my vision in such abundance that I couldn't see him for a few seconds.

With my head rolling around in a daze, he unzipped me and then rolled me over like a ragdoll, onto my stomach.

"Kyle, you're taking this too far," the driver said sternly.

"Just shut up! If you don't like it, get outta the fucking car and keep watch!"

"Don't talk to me that way, asshole. Why you always gotta do this, huh? I try to look out for my brother and you fucking turn on me! You've gone nutso!"

I felt Kyle grab my back pockets and yank on them as he tried to pull my jeans down my legs. And then he paused for a second and took something out of my pocket.

"What's these?" he asked. He held out his findings for me to see. Sitting in the palm of his hand were my lock picking tools. The ones I took everywhere with me, especially if I was going out on a boost. "Looks like we got a tricky little bitch right here."

"Shit…" huffed his buddy… or brother. "She's the real deal!"

"Yeah." Kyle just sat on my backside, thinking for a minute.

"OK – that's all we need to know. We got enough for the bar guy. He gotta front up with some cash for this."

"Yeah… he gotta," Kyle said. "But… this proves it was all her fault. I'd still have my car if it weren't for her. We would've caught Ace that night and done him over right there and then. She gotta pay for that!"

"Come on man, don't be a fucking scumbag. Let her go."

"If this is all she's got to give, then that's what I'll take."

"Fuck this." The driver threw the car into gear and slammed his foot down on the gas. He turned sharply, throwing Kyle around in the back seat and, with his pants around his knees, he had trouble steadying himself. He had trouble holding me down. With my hands now free, I managed to flip myself over onto my back again. We bumped around wildly as the driver peeled it over the loose gravel, and I reached out to the door above me, feeling for the door handle. But I couldn't find it. Yeah, throwing myself out of a moving car was probably a stupid idea anyway.

Kyle saw what I was trying to do and grabbed me by the chest of my shirt, pulling me up off the seat. He backhanded me so hard across the face I saw stars again, but this time, everything faded to black.


I heard a weak moan in the distance that was actually mine. My senses were dampened. I could barely see, barely hear and could barely think. After a few minutes, I started to come around more. I realized that my surroundings were silent, and I could feel the coolness of an open space around me. I was out of the car. I was out of the car! And, most importantly, that jerk Kyle or his brother were nowhere around. I couldn't tell where I was exactly. It seemed like I was lying on a bench in a park somewhere.

My head pounded. It was the second worst headache I'd ever had after the time Lewis hit me with – what we think was – a crowbar. My brain felt swollen like it was too fat to fit in my skull, and I had trouble keeping my balance.

My watch said 4 am. I stumbled around for a while trying to find a way out of the park, and once I was out, I had to search for road signs to figure out where I was. I eventually got my bearings and realized I was at the Castle Rock Central Park which was just a few streets down from my place.

It took me half an hour to get home where it would have taken ten minutes if I was well. The doors were locked, so I had to knock on Natalie's bedroom window to wake her up and let me in.

"Oh, sweet heavens!" she said, pulling me inside. "Eyeball! Quickly!"

Natalie hugged me to her chest like a big mother bird, and I could hear a commotion down the hall of things being walked into and kicked over until Eyeball ran into the room, still zipping up his fly. It was only the second time I'd seen him shirtless, and even in my dazed state, I couldn't help check him out just a wee bit.

Eyeball chuckled when he saw me. "I didn't know you were the fightin' type, Cass!"

"I'm not."

"Well, that's a fine shiner if ever I saw one."

"Where's Ace?" Those little blue and red dots overwhelmed my vision again, and I knew what was coming. I felt like I was gonna hurl. Maybe having a previous head injury had made things worse, I don't know. I grabbed onto Natalie to hold myself up and then everything faded to black again.


Yep, that guy has issues. But I'm not going to drag out his storyline. He has two small purposes to fulfill and then I think we're done with him. We'll use him and then toss him to the side... mehehe.

I'm nearly done with the next chapter, but it's the last one I have written, so there won't be another one for a while until I write out the next batch.