Asazi
Chapter 26
I awoke sometime around eight in the morning, it taking me a few seconds to realize that I had even fallen asleep… Torin was gone…Travion and most likely Summer…
You have to keep control, I told myself. Make everything seem all right… Slowly I realized that meant going to school…
I got to my feet and took a quick shower, focusing on nothing but the spots on the walls. Had to keep control, couldn't think about what happened…
I looked at myself in the mirror after getting out of the shower. My hair was stringy and damp with water; my face looking seriously stressed…I looked like shit. No…don't think about it, I mentally yelled at myself…
Take a deep breath…
Focus…
Focus…
Focus…
"DAMMIT!"
My fist came to life and slammed into the mirror, splattering it across the bathroom and into the sink…I cried, not because of physical pain…but because I couldn't run anymore…and I knew it…
"WHY," I yelled. "Why NOW??…"
I sobbed and sobbed…slowly but surely I began to feel better. I had to go to school…somehow, just go there and not come back…
I got everything from the house that would be important and put it in the trunk of the '96 Mitsubishi Gallant that Travion had bought a few months ago. It wasn't the best car but it had speed and good handling…it was a good car. I liked it.
I stepped outside, the dead bodies of Travion and the other man outside. I hadn't even gone into the room that all the other people were in…I got our whole Glock Armory from our basement and put the three boxes into the trunk.
The 'Glock Armory', as we named it, consisted of ten .45 Glocks, a whole box of ammunition (say, 2,000+ rounds), and another box full of various additions such as scopes, almost completely unheard of silencers made just for Glocks, and other various things…
I had more room so I put a lot of canned goods and assorted foods that wouldn't rot. Who knew how long I'd be out on the road, if I left? I also stuffed clothes into the backseats, car tools just in case of a break down and…I tried to think…yeah…that's about it… I looked at my watch.
It read 9:32.
I'd be late for school but at least I'd be there. Less suspicion. I suddenly remembered our emergency hideaway money that was hidden in the basement. I went and got it, the total being about seven thousand dollars in cash. A lot of money but Travion and Summer said that it would come in handy if they ever had to leave.
I suddenly remembered that I might have to snipe…I ran back inside and got our Remington sniper rifle. I was an excellent shot with it. Only missed four targets behind four hundred yards in my entire life. Travion and Summer both agreed that gun-shooting and math were my two main talents.
I made straight A's in math. My lowest grade in math on my report cards in my life was a 94…it just wasn't hard me…strange, I know… But then again, there are people that are like that when it comes to English and I hate English…
I got into the Gallant, started it and went down our driveway…Torin's car wasn't there. They must've come back to clean up…they probably thought I wasn't here… I thought it about it for a second and shrugged it off.
I made a left and in a few minutes reached the main road, turning right there. About another ten miles down the road, there was an intersection. I made a right there, turning into town…thoughts about the night before came into my mind. Torin and I watching the sunset…the rain…
I slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road, getting a couple of car honks from nearby drivers…if they thought I was gone when they got rid of Torin's car, why didn't they just come up to the house and look around? Why didn't they clean up all the bodies in the other room? Why didn't they get the truck and Travion and the guy whose neck I broke…?
I was confused. Something was wrong. I looked in my rear view…no cars that had been behind me earlier in the day were there now. I wasn't being followed…so why didn't they come up to the house?? It didn't make any sense…
I'll figure it out, I decided. The solution would hit me eventually…I pulled back into the lane and went down another few hundred yards down the road and over a hill…and the school came into view. The parking lot was full, the school quiet but not on the inside.
My watch read 9:47.
I pulled into the parking lot and got out, walking over to the trunk and pulling a Glock from the 'Armory'. I activated the alarm system we installed on the car and walked toward the school, expertly putting the Glock into my pants without it being seen by anybody near by.
I was still well-trained; just because we thought the past was behind us, Travion, Summer, and I still worked hard at being better shots, pickpockets, lock pickers, etc. Things that were illegal but lifesaving if our past caught up with us…and also if you needed some extra cash or something like that…
I smiled but with the smile came tears.
I fought them off, not letting one spill from my eyes. I reached the school doors and walked inside. I checked in with the office and they let me go to the end of second period. Instead of going there, I just went to the bathroom and waited for the bell to ring…in a few ever-lasting minutes it did. I stepped outside, not bothering to go to my locker, and went to my third period class, which was Pre-Calculus; I wouldn't need my book for that anyway.
I planned on doing nothing all day. Just making sure that my face was seen, my presence known. I kept the Glock in an easy-to-access position throughout the day.
During lunch I hid in a corner, avoiding Elise and Delia. I couldn't face them. Not without blurting something that I would regret, or that they would feel guilty about knowing without telling the authorities…no, neither my friends nor the cops can know about…what's happened…
It seemed like the day was going by in slow motion. Every class seemed to last about ten hours instead of one. Until seventh period…that class was exactly what I needed.
I was one of the top athletes in the school; out of girls and guys. There were only a few people better than I was but I my biggest competition was a guy named Alex. He was buff, strong, a little like Torin but Alex's smile rarely faded.
Since I was good, Coach Grey moved me up into the top class of athletics. We went to the weight room twice a week and ran three days a week…and everyday got harder and harder. About once or twice a month though, the class I was in had to eat lunch alone, secluded from the rest of the school. It was weird but Coach Grey said it built teamwork.
Coach Grey was a strange person, I thought. You see, we would eat the once-a-month lunch thing and for the next couple weeks after that, Coach would put us not just through running and weight room, he'd make us face entire football teams. For instance, one time, about three days after we ate that special lunch, he put the whole football team on one end of the field, with pads, and then Grey put the top five athletes on the other end of the field, without pads. He said that they had to get through the team to the other side. There were also little tripwires everywhere and other little booby traps that were strategically placed around the field.
Only Alex did it. Alex…he had a crush on me. It was so obvious and very…horrific…
I smiled at the memory…that was a fun day…
I changed into my workout clothes and ran out to the track. Alex and the other athletes, Rosy, Gregg, and Jonathan were already out there, stretching.
For some reason, Alex was silent. Very unusual. I stretched too, enjoying the pain in my legs and arms. Pain was an emotion, something fake that our mind made up to take our minds off of our real lives…at least, that's what I think.
Coach Grey was suddenly in our little group, saying, "Today is a fun day."
We all knew what that meant. Today we should be going to the weight but every now and then he says on weight room days, 'it's a fun day' and that meant something hard was coming.
He continued, "At the end of last year, you fives' EOC was the football field and team against you." Out of the corner of my eye I saw the football team running out to the field, laughing at what was to come. They were excited about it…so was I. Another chance to prove myself…another time to take the pain.
Rosy looked at me. She was a very good runner, that being the main reason she made this group. She was worried. I remembered last year, she went home with a bloody nose and a jacked-up arm from the test…I went home with a couple nasty bruises but it was worth the fun.
The test was back and I was going to very much enjoy it…very much so.
"Alright. Like last year, there are traps set up on the field. But this time, they're a lot more complicated." He lowered his tone, spoke a few words to Rosy and a sigh of relief whooshed across her face. She was exempted. Probably so the school wouldn't get a lawsuit from her parents. But as for the rest of us…, "You know what to do," Grey said, "Get on the field and when I blow the whistle, get to the other side!"
The adrenaline was already beginning to come. I enjoyed the feeling as we jogged onto the field at the goal line…the football team was lined up, ready to come after us. Alex got close to me and just before the whistle blew, he said, "I'll cover your back." I looked at him and said quietly, "You cover my back and I break yours." And the whistle came.
I sprinted as fast as I could, adrenaline pumping through me. I could see Coach Grey watching the events take place. About the time I hit the fifty-yard line, I hit the wave of football players. I dodged left and then right, jumping off of somebody's shoulder and into the air…time slowed for a few seconds…and then I hit the ground and rolled.
I got up as fast as I could and took off for the end of the field, about thirty-five yards to go. I can do it, I can do it, I can—
BAM! I was tackled from behind, the dirt suddenly up in my face. I wriggled out of the football players' grip and got to my feet and—duck! I hit the ground and two people smashed into each other, a third person that had been in coming in midair towards me flew over me and into them. I got back to my feet and sprinted to the end as fast as I could…I was almost there when my foot suddenly couldn't come up and just before I hit the ground, the word tripwire entered my head.
I looked behind me to see three football players coming after me. In less than two seconds they'd reach me…and then it happened for the first time. Everything went in super slow motion, numbers everywhere, swirling around everything around me…math so complicated that I'd never seen it before yet I knew what it meant…
The tripwire! I grabbed the wire and pulled it from it away from the ground. I spun around, breaking it away from the rest of the booby trap, creating a very thin wire. Just after the spin was complete, I hit the ground, everything flowing so fluidly that it seemed planned, synchronized…then I followed with the rest of the plan that the numbers had decided. I snapped the wire out and through the facemask of one of the players. It scraped across his face and he fell, his fingers clutching at his face.
I did it to the two other guys and they both fell to the ground, literally screaming as the thin wire cut into their face like a whip…
And as fast as it started, it was over. It took me a second but then I turned and ran the last ten yards to the end of the field…
I heard Coach Grey yell from across the field that I could go in. I did so…not one word coming to my mind about what had happened…