Chapter 14 – Cry Freedom

(Well, first of all, thank you thank you thank you to everyone who reviewed – I'm over the 100 mark! Yay! Seriously, thanks. Okay. Some catty comments about Mew in this chapter, but it's Kell talking, not me…honest…)

It was two weeks later. I was sitting in the dining hall, eating supper, and GG-watching.

Cube had been replaced by another girl GG. Mew, I learnt her name was. She had been the girl in blue who'd kept checking her make-up in the bus window.

She spent most of her time sulking, pretty face drawn into a scowl, not talking to anyone. And – you guessed it – gazing at her face in any reflective surface she could find.

People had picked on her at first, but she didn't make a good target for bullying. She walked away quickly, lurked in public places, flirted like crazy with the two guy GGs in with us to get them to be bodyguards. The ginger-haired one practically fell on the floor and licked her prison-issue shoes whenever she smiled at him. It was sickening.

I studied her, noting how she was examining her skin in the surface of her spoon. Now that the guards had realised we knew how to use plastic stuff as weapons, we had metal spoons to eat with and not much else.

She stroked her eyelashes, making them curl upwards. Licked her lips, pushed her hair back behind her ears. Just like a cat, really. I wondered if that was how she'd got her name. Despite lack of makeup, nice clothes, or hair conditioner, she was still pretty, but it was a flat, boring prettiness that I was willing to bet would vanish once she turned forty. If she got to that age.

So her weak point appeared to be her looks…

And she herself was the weak point of that ginger kid.

I quickly glanced down at my supper, trying to hide a smile. Softly, softly, catchee GG. If I could pull this off, I could really be proud of myself. It was like an art, setting up a trap, or knowing how to cut through stone and change its shape.

You may have dropped out, Chiyo, I thought. But I'm still in the game. And love's not going to get me.

The bell to finish rang, and I got up, carried my plate over to the hatch, and then joined the crowd walking out of the dining hall. Another day nearly over. Maybe I'd dream about someplace good. Or maybe I'd get another meeting with Shiro. Yay. We had an hour now until lights out. The excitement was killing me.

I was on the third floor. As the cell door slammed shut behind me, I dropped down on my bunk and sighed.

Both the Noise Tank and the yellow girl had been freed now. My new cell mate was another yellow, and she didn't talk to me. She didn't talk to anyone, just sat there staring at the wall. She was a really far gone rudie.

The fact that both my old cell mates were out now made me wonder whether I really was here for life. Onishima wouldn't want to lose his spy. I knew more arrests had been made because of what I'd found out. Of all the stuff I've done, that's what I'm least proud of.

But as long as no one found out…but how long was I trapped here for? How?

I gripped the edge of the blanket and tried not to panic. That would do no good at all. I wasn't gonna end up like Miss Chatty on the bunk above me, living in my own head. I wasn't going to go crazy. I would survive. I hummed the song under my breath, and tried to sleep.

It was about half an hour later when I heard the door being unlocked.

Most of the guards rattle it like they're duelling with it. This one didn't. It was silent, like they didn't want to be heard.

The door creaked open. A blonde girl in a guard's uniform stood there. She hissed, "Come on! We're busting out of here!"

I recognised her. It was Gum.

I got to my feet and gave my cellmate a poke in the back. "Move it."

She stared at me blankly, but she did what I said.

Outside the corridor was filled with rudies. The GGs saving the world again? Looked like it. I scanned the crowd for them. Cube wasn't there. Piranha, Garam and Mew were, looking excited. I couldn't see Combo either, and wondered if he'd been the other GG on the outside.

I saw San, Shar, and Dash. San stood with a group of what I was beginning to think of as the last generation of Love Shockers. As Gum moved onto the next cell, I forced my way through the crowd to them. Just being able to talk to them without getting yelled at for associating with my own gang was invigorating.

"Hey," I called. "What's going on?"

San gave me a cool look. "Oh, it's you. I was just telling the others how you got beaten up by a GG."

"I did not."

"Well, that's what I heard. Cube, wasn't it? She's my cellmate."

"Your point being?"

"Most of the other girls don't want to associate with such a weak leader."

I wondered if pulling San's hair out strand by strand would help my case, and decided it wouldn't.

"Oh, and who said I was weak?" I said.

"Sorry, Kell, but Cube is way cooler than you are." San gave me a grin. "And as I know you don't exactly love the GGs, I think we should get a new leader."

"Co-operation is better than competition, you know," said one of the other Love Shockers.

"I'm not palling up with the GGs," Shar said. "No way."

"Me either." Dash pulled a face like she'd just eaten a mouldy nut.

"Then you guys can form the GG-bashing society, and I'll stay in the Love Shockers," San said. "See ya!"

She gave us a little flicky-finger wave, and turned away.

"Come on," I said. "Let's just get out of here first." The crowd was moving off down the corridor. "Then we can sort out Little Miss Co-operation."

Shar nodded, and she and Dash followed me down the corridor.

When I next saw Cube, she would be deader than Ancient Rome, and a lot less memorable. Just you wait.

"That's the last corridor," Gum called. "Let's go."

The crowd began to hurry as we followed her down to the main entrance. The air was humming with suppressed excitement, like an orchestra tuning up, or drumbeats, low and quick. Despite my rage at what San had said, I caught some of it, and my spirits lifted a little. If I could get out – if –

Gum was looking back at us, eyes narrowed. I glared at her. She may be saving me, but she was still a GG.

Suddenly a plan started to form in my head. Why not finish off the perfect night with a little revenge?

I left Shar and Dash and headed towards Gum.

"Listen, GG," I hissed. "I don't know whether you're gonna rescue your little dark-haired friend –" Where was Cube, anyway? – "but you just tell her from me if she gets out that Kell is going to get her and she is going to be dead."

"I don't take Love Shocker messages," Gum retorted. "Tell her yourself."

I sneered at her and walked back to Shar and Dash.

"What was all that about?" Dash asked.

"We're starting our campaign against the GGs," I said.

"We are? Kell, we just got practically booted out of our gang for saying that sort of stuff."

"Kris is still out there and she has some more rudies with her. We need to get to them first. As soon as we get out, you guys run to her and tell her not to listen to San. Tell her San's gone nuts. Tell her San's betraying us to the GGs. Anything. And tell the other Love Shockers just how bad the GGs are."

"What'll you be doing?"

I smiled. "Thinking. You got a weapon of any sort?"

Dash bent down and pulled a small, twisted knife out of her shoe. It had been wrapped in a bit of blanket to act as a scabbard. "Here."

"Thanks. I'll see you later tonight."

Ahead of us an alarm went off as we reached the main door. I gulped. We had to make it. We had to.

I saw Gamma rush forward and start poking around inside the ID scanner next to the door. And then he'd got it open – the door, I mean – and we were out.

Fresh air. Night sky. Music. The smell of cars and takeaway and grass.

Freedom!

"Get moving," I hissed to Shar and Dash. "And don't get caught."

They nodded, and ran.

I hurried through the main gate, and back into reality.

Now what?

I'd sent Shar and Dash off as back-up. Now I had to think. San was going to be a real problem. She'd obviously got friendly with Cube, and she was a persuasive talker.

I leant against a Benten building, and tried to plan.

"Gotcha!"

I jumped, and turned to see Onishima charging towards me with four other cops.

"It's me," I said. "You remember, your undercover spy?"

Our eyes met. I hoped mine told him that no way was I going back to jail.

"What the hell is going on?" Onishima roared. "Why aren't you behind bars?"

"Duh. I escaped. We all did." I kept my voice low. If any rudie saw me talking to him, I'd be dead meat.

Onishima looked from side to side, then called to his goons, "Get moving! Go nab as many rudies as you can!"

They nodded, and hurried off down the street.

Onishima grabbed my wrist and dragged me into a deserted building and up some steps. "Did you have anything to do with this?"

"No. It was the GGs, all right?"

"What now, then? I don't need you any more."

"Oh, I think you do," I said, heart suddenly quickening. "I can still keep talking. And now I'm free, Shiro's gonna find it a lot harder to find me."

He gripped my wrist hard enough to click the bones.

"But I won't talk," I said. "Just leave the Love Shockers alone. Keep Shibuya nice and quiet. And that's exactly what I'll be too."

"You little –"

I pulled my arm free from his hand. "Don't bother, Onishima. I'll give you my number. Call me if you feel like complaining."

Then I waltzed down the steps away from him.

I saw, coming out of the prison direction, Gum, Cube, San, Piranha, and two GG guys. Well, well. I watched as they hurried past my alleyway, and saw Onishima dash out of the building and round the other way, to cut them off.

"Gotcha!"

I rolled my eyes. Geez, couldn't he think up a new catchphrase once in a while?

The GGs plus San came running round the corner and dashed up the steps into the building. I knew you could get off that roof by grinding – if you had skates on. We sure didn't.

Oh, dear. What were they going to do now?

Onishima hadn't followed them round. Was he waiting at the bottom, waiting for them to fall? Seemed likely.

If San turned into pavement pizza, that would solve a lot of my problems.

I waited, and listened.

Finally Onishima came charging round the corner with the other cops. "Get up there! Maybe we'll nab at least one of 'em!"

"Something went wrong?" I said.

He glared at me. "Shut up and tell me how to get rid of those punks."

"I'm working on that myself," I said.

"Oh, yeah? How?"

"People crumple if you hit their weak points."

"Oh, geez, a psychology freak."

"How about you just leave Shibuya completely alone?" I said. "I'll handle the GGs. I'll call you when you can come pick them up. Don't you call me, I don't want my gang to know about this."

"You think you can handle them?"

"Yes." I hoped I could, anyway.

"Fine. You better be telling the truth."

"Of course I am!" I made my eyes wide.

"You help me. Or I come and haul your ass back to jail. And no tagging, okay? While we're kept out of Shibuya, no tagging by anyone."

"I'll try," I said. "But you see, tagging may be a central part of the war against the GGs, so…" I shrugged.

Onishima glowered. "Whatever. I just want to see those punks behind bars. And if you don't help me you'll end up with them."

"Of course," I said. For once, someone who let me manipulate them. Could I pick 'em or what?

We swapped contact numbers, and then I dashed round to the other side of the rooftops. I could just see the GGs and San picking their way carefully across.

I needed to stick with San. If she got to the Love Shockers before Shar and Dash did – or even after, she was a good speaker – then I'd be toast.

So there was only one option. I didn't really like it, but it was all I could do.

The GGs and San had reached the edge of Benten-cho. They looked sickeningly happy. Gum was walking with the GG leader, hand in hand. Cube was walking with this weird-looking guy who towered above her. Forgot Coin so soon? I wondered. Piranha was strolling along like she didn't have a care in the world.

Now who had she killed?

A GG's sister.

I tried to think. One of the girl GGs…I couldn't remember any names, not now. But that might be very useful. Piranha looked so calm right now. Did the GGs know who she used to be?

Inquiries would have to be made.

I kept in the night shadows, watched as San, laughing, turned to walk away from the GGs. I made a mental note of which road the latter took, then headed after San.

Following her, I remembered Alex. I'd not seen her for like ten months. Had she survived? Had Babs remembered her? Or was she dead now?

Somehow that thought didn't give me as much pleasure as it ought to have done.

I shook Alex out of my brain. I had a plan to consider, and Sandra Gilbert was going to playing a central part in it.

San was heading back to our HQ, I figured. I gripped Dash's knife. I'd have to make my move before she got there…but on the other hand I couldn't go too early. The timing on this was doing my head in. I had to keep the Love Shockers on my side. I didn't like what I was going to have to do, but – well, look at it this way. I needed to smush the GGs or Onishima would make trouble for me. I needed the Love Shockers to help smush the GGs. San would stop me holding onto the Love Shockers. Ergo, San needed to be out of the picture.

Could I afford to let San speak to the others? There'd be questions later…

Maybe I should anticipate those questions, and be obvious for once.

I put the knife away, and caught up with San as she reached the door of the HQ. "Hey, how's it hanging?"

"What do you want?"

"You can't kick me out of the gang, Sandra."

"And why not?"

"Democracy, sweetie. We need to ask the others."

San scowled. "Fine."

"Are all your has-been Love Shocker friends still hanging?"

She shook her head. "Some of them have quit. Prison put them off being rudies."

"Let's go."

I pushed open the door, and stepped into the main hall.

After ten months it should have changed, but it hadn't. Same old, same old. Shadows and dust in the corners, and those empty walkways above us.

There were nine Love Shockers standing there, watching as we entered. I recognised Shar, Dash, Kris and Babs – reinstated, I guess – but none of the others.

"You guys are all out?" Kris called. "Are you okay?"

"We're fine," I said. "But San's got a little proposition for you all."

San glared at me, then stepped forward. "Listen," she said. "While I was in jail, I got talking to some of the GGs –"

Dash made throwing-up noises, and San glared at her.

"They're not that bad," she said. "I think we should leave them alone."

"Well, Kell's the leader," Kris said. "What does she think?"

"That's the thing," I said. "San thinks a GG-lover should be leader now. And as some of you know, I can't be called that."

"The GGs are stronger than us," San said. "Why bother to fight them?"

"If we don't fight them, where do we go?" Babs asked. "Start a feud with the Noise Tanks or the Poison Jammers?"

San shrugged. "Do we have to keep trying to start turf wars all the time?"

"San, you're not suggesting we join the GGs, are you?" Shar said.

"I don't know what I'm suggesting. I just think we've been going about this all wrong."

"Let's just cool down a bit," I said. "Kris, why not introduce me to the rest of these people?"

Kris shrugged, and introduced me to three of the Love Shockers. The other two, I learnt, had come from prison, and wanted to rejoin.

"Okay," I said. "Now listen. I have a plan to get rid of the GGs once and for all, and I also know that the cops are gonna lay off Shibuya for a bit, meaning the stage is clear for us to start fighting."

"What's this plan?" Babs asked.

"We hit each of the GGs separately, and we fight as low and dirty as we possibly can."

Most of the Love Shockers looked pleased by that. San and Kris didn't.

"See?" San snapped. "The only way we can beat them is if we fight dirty, and some of us don't actually want to do that!"

"Why not?" Shar asked. "You think they're gonna be pals with us now? Nuh-uh. We're gonna have to fight back, and quickly."

San scowled. "In that case, I don't think I want to be part of this gang any more."

"Then you can just leave," I said. This was perfect. "Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out!"

San stormed over to the exit. "I'm gonna tell the GGs what's going on. Then you'll be sorry."

She marched out, and slammed the door behind her.

Kris sighed. "We have to, Kell?"

"We have to. Now I'm going after San." I looked at my watch. It was half past ten. "Try and pacify her a bit."

I hurried out into the dark streets. San was hurrying away down the road.

"San, wait up!" I called.

She stopped. "What is it? I'm not coming back."

"Oh, come on," I said. "Mightn't it just be easier if you did?"

San shrugged. "I don't want to join in with your nasty games."

As she turned away, I took out the knife.

"Don't then. But where will you go?"

"I'm not sure. Some other place. That's all rudies do, go from place to place."

"Mm. That's for sure."

We'd almost reached the bus terminal now. Empty, as all of Shibuya-cho was at night.

"Come on," I said. "Look, let's at least go home and change. These uniforms are doing my head in, and I'd like to get my skates on again."

I wasn't confronting the GGs in prison uniform. No way.

"Fine," San said. "But I'm still not joining in with this fight-dirty thing, okay?"

"Of course you're not." I slipped the knife back into my pocket.

I wasn't putting it off. I just didn't want anything to go wrong.

By three a.m. we'd all got back into Love Shocker clothes, located some more skates from the all-night place, and celebrated our freedom. I did that wholeheartedly. Even choosing when to sleep, or what to eat, was exciting now.

Or who to hurt.

The plan was taking shape. I could barely restrain the smile on my face.

Eventually everyone dozed off. Except me.

My heart was crashing against my ribs like waves. I wasn't sure whether I was scared or excited, but whichever it was, I couldn't let it stop me.

First, I wrote two notes by the light of the streetlamps. I put one in my pocket, and left the other one by San's bed.

Then I checked that I still had the knife. I unwrapped it, and ran the edge along my finger. Blood spilled out of the thin line I'd slit and ran down my skin.

"San," I hissed. "San, what are you doing?"

She opened her eyes, sat up –

I cut her throat.

San's eyes widened in horror, then she dropped back onto her bed. Blood was already beginning to pump out of the wound.

"Guys," I yelled. "Guys, wake up!"

Kris opened her eyes. "Kell, what is it – oh, my god –"

"Look," I said, and held up the note I'd written.

Kris read it, and her eyes narrowed. "What happened?"

"I was woken up by her writing this note, and I asked her what she was doing, and she told me she was gonna betray us all, like it says, and I – I lost my temper, I guess, I grabbed the knife, and…"

Kris looked from me to San. "Wake up the others."

The girls awoke crossly, but they quickly changed their tune when they saw San.

"Read the note, Kell," Kris said.

I cleared my throat. "Dear everyone, I'm sick of this stupid gang and its stupid leader. I've gone to the GGs and I'm going to tell them where you are. Then they'll come and tag your backs ten times and then maybe you'll stop thinking you're all so much better than me. You didn't even help my sister and I'll never forgive you for that. It's signed San."

There was a silence, then Shar said, "That little cow."

"You caught her at it?" Dash asked.

I nodded.

"It's okay," one of the old Love Shockers said. "Traitors like that don't deserve life."

"What do we do now?" Babs said, looking at me.

"Well, I've actually got an idea…I know a way we could get revenge on a GG tonight," I said, slowly, like I was just thinking it up.

"What?"

"San was friends with a GG," I said. "She could say that she'd heard that I was going to get them, and arrange a meeting. Then we just wait…"

"You mean, we write a note asking this GG to meet San in the bus terminal or something, and then lie in wait ourselves?" Dash said.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"I like it," Shar said.

"I'll write the note," I said. "Then one of you guys can shove it under the garage door, and then we wait."

"What if no one's awake?"

"Then we'll have had a nice night adventure, and no harm done," I said. "But bang on the door when you deliver the note. Try and wake them up."

I stared round at their faces. Everyone looked grim.

"Listen," I said. "We nearly got taken out for good by the GGs this time. We can't afford to play nice any more." I emphasised that bit. "We have got to hurt, we have got to fight them, otherwise we're just never gonna get our own turf or even keep surviving as a gang."

They nodded. I couldn't believe it. Had they actually taken the bait? I sure hoped so.

"You're right," Kris said. "I hoped we could stop fighting, but…" She looked at San, and shuddered. "I guess this is reality. Let's go."