Chapter Two: Chicken Legs and Closets.
She crept forward sweeping out of people's way as they walked passed. Silent, invisible, but not ethereal, so hitting someone was not a chance she could take. Slipping across the rather large dining hall was relatively easy for the room was spacious, tables well spread out from eachother, only a main kitchen buffet line had more people gathered around it then compared to any standing or sitting in the eating area.
Nick watched, well watched nothing really on from a far corner, choosing a table along side the wall and towards the back, here he slumped down in his chair, pulling his hood up over his head and trying to be as unnoticeable as possible. As of current time they had yet to be found, nor were there any mention or announcements on the ship, he hadn't seen a security guard in sometime and that troubled him. Either their friend knocked cold in the cabin room had yet to be found, or he was awake, giving the physical details of what he seen or hadn't seen for that matter. Either way the ship was no longer safe, and the sooner they could slip into some dark quiet space the better. But Nick was starving, the growl in his lean stomach said so. This endeavor for sustenance, though risky, was the best thing he could think of. He just wished he could see where the kid was at the moment. That was, until, Nick spied pieces of food "falling" off the table randomly and soon disappearing.
Food was easy, she snickered softly as she slipped chicken leg after chicken leg into her sweater pocket, caring little if she was getting all messy. The simple smell of food made her want to jump on the table, invisible or not and devour everything she could get her little hands on. Moving along she kept in between a very large man carrying on about the corn-beef being too cold and some old wrinkley woman smoking a cigarette, hair piled up ten feet on her head as she spooned globs of macaroni salad on her paper plate.
'ooooo macaroni salad' the girl's mind cooed as she eyed the old lady's plate, if only she'd put it down to use both hands, she could nab it right quick. Invisible eyes watched her move carefully, waiting for the moment to strike.
' Now Sophie, calm down, it's not important and you have enough.' The young girl grumbled to herself as the old hag above glared down thinking she heard something. Sophie heard the lady spit something about mice near the food and quickly put down her plate to point at the cook on hand and pull the half burned cigarette from her mouth.
'Bingo!' Sophie took her chance, nabbing the plate and slipped in close to her, cupping the salad in her hands she closed her palm and ran away, darting from table to table until she finally reached Nick.
All he saw was white gooey macaroni suddenly spill on to the tabletop. Followed by legs, two bread rolls, and a big green apple. Placed with tenderly with love of course.
Nick winced in disgust not waiting for Sophie to reappear before reprimanding her. " You know you could have taken some damn plates too." He snapped, reaching out for a chicken leg, the sudden smell made his hungry stomach lurch with desire, but now was not the time.
" I can't make em disappear." Replied Sophie's echoing voice becoming solid in the end as she finally appeared. " Besides, you should be thankful, those chicken legs where really hot in my pocket, and I nearly burned my fingers, see?!" As she held out her hand, fingers pale yet glistening with grease and mayo.
Nick clicked his tongue and spoke of it no more, wrapping all the food up into a few napkins and placing it in his dusty old knapsack. " Come on you, we need to find a place to lay low until we dock in the States."
Glancing round, making sure the scene was clear he slipped the sack on his shoulder and motioned for Sophie to follow him.
Night came quickly, the boat was quiet and so was the area the two managed to secure for the evening. It was on the third floor near the engine room, a small supply closet that looked like it hadn't been used in years. So amongst the old mops, smelly cleaners, and spiders they rested. Sophie settling in early after filling herself stuffed with chicken, she now laid sprawled out, head resting on a roll of two-ply as she snored gently.
Nick sat up, keeping watch as he liked to admit but truthfully he couldn't sleep that night, or any night in the longest of time. The dark circles under his eyes told enough of it. He had been so worried as of late, there seemed no time for sleep, he had always kept a lookout while the kid would rest and plan night after night their plan of escape.
He remembered the very night in fact that he plotted this scheme of stowing away on the boat-----
For three weeks they had been running from what the thieves liked to call "The Noose". A devilish like man, dark, bleak, nearly emotionless save for anger. And three weeks earlier the Noose had been their employer, well at least Nick's. Life till then had been difficult, every morning the lad expected to die, and every night he prayed that he would. The Noose, or Mr. Ladzly as he was also known kept an assortment of different folks to do his bidding, some human, and even a few mutants, Nick being one of them.
It was on a certain special "mission" that Nick had literally run into the little scab that now clung to his side night and day. She was the daughter of a man Nick was ment to find and give a little message to. It wasn't much, just a threat that the Noose wanted payment and the guy's bill was up. Nick simply had to take something of value and that was all, just a little scare to get the guy moving. What he found that day, the picture still burned within his brain.
The door to the apartment was wide open, Nick didn't even bother to knock as he walked softly inside, looking around for said man. The small flat was deadly quiet except for a small plunk, plunk, plunk of water far of in the background. The boy happened to follow it into the bathroom to find the man he was sent to see, laying in the bathtub, arms and legs hanging out of blood-water, a small noted was on the ground. He hesitated to pick it up for there were still fresh red stained fingerprints on it. The note read:
Paid in full Frank
Keep the change...
~ Harvey
Nick dropped the note then, recognizing the signature, the name. It was one of Ladzly's more obnoxious revivals, beating his boss to the punch so to speak. There was a sudden slam out side the bathroom, as the front door closed and Nick heard a girl calling that she was home. He quickly shut off the lights in the bathroom and went outside wiping the blood off his hands and on his pants, trying to figure whether to run or what.
And when he crept into the living room, crouched behind the couch he saw her, Sophie, throwing her backpack on the ground as she sang into the kitchen, calling out to no one that she had a very good day at school and there was this boy she liked that talked to her. As she stuffed her mouth with a handful of grapes she yelled out again, calling for him. Nick's heart fell. He couldn't let her see that, what was left of her father in the bathroom, it just wasn't right, even if he was there to threaten the guy after all, it wasn't fair. He stood then as the girl jumped nearly across the room, dropping grapes onto the floor as she cried out----
Nick shivered, closing his eyes as he rubbed out the memory with his fingers, pressing in till his eyeballs began to hurt. He sighed looking at Sophie who had rolled over and curled up in a little ball, hugging herself in tight.
He realized then how cold and damp it was in the closet room and grumbled, pulling of his coat he crawled over to her and covered her with it. With her small frame it served as quite a nice blanket. Sophie mumbled something incoherent and smiled, pulling the coat up around her.
He sat back, feeling the chill start to seep trough his skin, hugging himself he closed his eyes. ' You gotta sleep man, you're no good to anyone as a zombie.' Nick tried to relax, driving his worried thoughts from his mind, though they some how seemed to creep back a few seconds later. Nick did in fact wonder what they would be like, the people they were going to see in America. It was an establishment of sorts, a safe house for mutants hidden somewhere in Maine, a place he had over heard two mutants calling "The Guiding Hand". He'd never heard of the place before but the two lads he heard it from said something about it being weird and full of stories. He hoped then that some of them where true, and all this was not in vain. That he hadn't risked his own life and Sophie's on some lie.
Nick leaned back hugging himself harder as he suddenly shivered. He'd take his coat back if he wasn't feeling so damn sorry for the runt. Smiling to himself he chuckled gently, sifting to the side as a mop careened over and smacked into some old piled up buckets, making one hell of a racket and causing Nick to nearly jump out of his skin. His head whipped round, looking down to Sophie who simply moaned softly and kicked her leg slightly.
The lad relaxed, cursing out the mop and standing up, stretching out his back as he took a few steps towards the door, the sudden gravity giving him shrill uncomfortable notice that he had to pee. As Nick neared the door, about to open it when he heard the sound of soft whispers near by, and the echo of footsteps coming down the hall, towards the closet.
TBC.....
She crept forward sweeping out of people's way as they walked passed. Silent, invisible, but not ethereal, so hitting someone was not a chance she could take. Slipping across the rather large dining hall was relatively easy for the room was spacious, tables well spread out from eachother, only a main kitchen buffet line had more people gathered around it then compared to any standing or sitting in the eating area.
Nick watched, well watched nothing really on from a far corner, choosing a table along side the wall and towards the back, here he slumped down in his chair, pulling his hood up over his head and trying to be as unnoticeable as possible. As of current time they had yet to be found, nor were there any mention or announcements on the ship, he hadn't seen a security guard in sometime and that troubled him. Either their friend knocked cold in the cabin room had yet to be found, or he was awake, giving the physical details of what he seen or hadn't seen for that matter. Either way the ship was no longer safe, and the sooner they could slip into some dark quiet space the better. But Nick was starving, the growl in his lean stomach said so. This endeavor for sustenance, though risky, was the best thing he could think of. He just wished he could see where the kid was at the moment. That was, until, Nick spied pieces of food "falling" off the table randomly and soon disappearing.
Food was easy, she snickered softly as she slipped chicken leg after chicken leg into her sweater pocket, caring little if she was getting all messy. The simple smell of food made her want to jump on the table, invisible or not and devour everything she could get her little hands on. Moving along she kept in between a very large man carrying on about the corn-beef being too cold and some old wrinkley woman smoking a cigarette, hair piled up ten feet on her head as she spooned globs of macaroni salad on her paper plate.
'ooooo macaroni salad' the girl's mind cooed as she eyed the old lady's plate, if only she'd put it down to use both hands, she could nab it right quick. Invisible eyes watched her move carefully, waiting for the moment to strike.
' Now Sophie, calm down, it's not important and you have enough.' The young girl grumbled to herself as the old hag above glared down thinking she heard something. Sophie heard the lady spit something about mice near the food and quickly put down her plate to point at the cook on hand and pull the half burned cigarette from her mouth.
'Bingo!' Sophie took her chance, nabbing the plate and slipped in close to her, cupping the salad in her hands she closed her palm and ran away, darting from table to table until she finally reached Nick.
All he saw was white gooey macaroni suddenly spill on to the tabletop. Followed by legs, two bread rolls, and a big green apple. Placed with tenderly with love of course.
Nick winced in disgust not waiting for Sophie to reappear before reprimanding her. " You know you could have taken some damn plates too." He snapped, reaching out for a chicken leg, the sudden smell made his hungry stomach lurch with desire, but now was not the time.
" I can't make em disappear." Replied Sophie's echoing voice becoming solid in the end as she finally appeared. " Besides, you should be thankful, those chicken legs where really hot in my pocket, and I nearly burned my fingers, see?!" As she held out her hand, fingers pale yet glistening with grease and mayo.
Nick clicked his tongue and spoke of it no more, wrapping all the food up into a few napkins and placing it in his dusty old knapsack. " Come on you, we need to find a place to lay low until we dock in the States."
Glancing round, making sure the scene was clear he slipped the sack on his shoulder and motioned for Sophie to follow him.
Night came quickly, the boat was quiet and so was the area the two managed to secure for the evening. It was on the third floor near the engine room, a small supply closet that looked like it hadn't been used in years. So amongst the old mops, smelly cleaners, and spiders they rested. Sophie settling in early after filling herself stuffed with chicken, she now laid sprawled out, head resting on a roll of two-ply as she snored gently.
Nick sat up, keeping watch as he liked to admit but truthfully he couldn't sleep that night, or any night in the longest of time. The dark circles under his eyes told enough of it. He had been so worried as of late, there seemed no time for sleep, he had always kept a lookout while the kid would rest and plan night after night their plan of escape.
He remembered the very night in fact that he plotted this scheme of stowing away on the boat-----
For three weeks they had been running from what the thieves liked to call "The Noose". A devilish like man, dark, bleak, nearly emotionless save for anger. And three weeks earlier the Noose had been their employer, well at least Nick's. Life till then had been difficult, every morning the lad expected to die, and every night he prayed that he would. The Noose, or Mr. Ladzly as he was also known kept an assortment of different folks to do his bidding, some human, and even a few mutants, Nick being one of them.
It was on a certain special "mission" that Nick had literally run into the little scab that now clung to his side night and day. She was the daughter of a man Nick was ment to find and give a little message to. It wasn't much, just a threat that the Noose wanted payment and the guy's bill was up. Nick simply had to take something of value and that was all, just a little scare to get the guy moving. What he found that day, the picture still burned within his brain.
The door to the apartment was wide open, Nick didn't even bother to knock as he walked softly inside, looking around for said man. The small flat was deadly quiet except for a small plunk, plunk, plunk of water far of in the background. The boy happened to follow it into the bathroom to find the man he was sent to see, laying in the bathtub, arms and legs hanging out of blood-water, a small noted was on the ground. He hesitated to pick it up for there were still fresh red stained fingerprints on it. The note read:
Paid in full Frank
Keep the change...
~ Harvey
Nick dropped the note then, recognizing the signature, the name. It was one of Ladzly's more obnoxious revivals, beating his boss to the punch so to speak. There was a sudden slam out side the bathroom, as the front door closed and Nick heard a girl calling that she was home. He quickly shut off the lights in the bathroom and went outside wiping the blood off his hands and on his pants, trying to figure whether to run or what.
And when he crept into the living room, crouched behind the couch he saw her, Sophie, throwing her backpack on the ground as she sang into the kitchen, calling out to no one that she had a very good day at school and there was this boy she liked that talked to her. As she stuffed her mouth with a handful of grapes she yelled out again, calling for him. Nick's heart fell. He couldn't let her see that, what was left of her father in the bathroom, it just wasn't right, even if he was there to threaten the guy after all, it wasn't fair. He stood then as the girl jumped nearly across the room, dropping grapes onto the floor as she cried out----
Nick shivered, closing his eyes as he rubbed out the memory with his fingers, pressing in till his eyeballs began to hurt. He sighed looking at Sophie who had rolled over and curled up in a little ball, hugging herself in tight.
He realized then how cold and damp it was in the closet room and grumbled, pulling of his coat he crawled over to her and covered her with it. With her small frame it served as quite a nice blanket. Sophie mumbled something incoherent and smiled, pulling the coat up around her.
He sat back, feeling the chill start to seep trough his skin, hugging himself he closed his eyes. ' You gotta sleep man, you're no good to anyone as a zombie.' Nick tried to relax, driving his worried thoughts from his mind, though they some how seemed to creep back a few seconds later. Nick did in fact wonder what they would be like, the people they were going to see in America. It was an establishment of sorts, a safe house for mutants hidden somewhere in Maine, a place he had over heard two mutants calling "The Guiding Hand". He'd never heard of the place before but the two lads he heard it from said something about it being weird and full of stories. He hoped then that some of them where true, and all this was not in vain. That he hadn't risked his own life and Sophie's on some lie.
Nick leaned back hugging himself harder as he suddenly shivered. He'd take his coat back if he wasn't feeling so damn sorry for the runt. Smiling to himself he chuckled gently, sifting to the side as a mop careened over and smacked into some old piled up buckets, making one hell of a racket and causing Nick to nearly jump out of his skin. His head whipped round, looking down to Sophie who simply moaned softly and kicked her leg slightly.
The lad relaxed, cursing out the mop and standing up, stretching out his back as he took a few steps towards the door, the sudden gravity giving him shrill uncomfortable notice that he had to pee. As Nick neared the door, about to open it when he heard the sound of soft whispers near by, and the echo of footsteps coming down the hall, towards the closet.
TBC.....