Iznil: Here's another Chapter.

Chapter 12

Porter was waiting by a beat up old pickup in the parking lot. Jamie didn't know if she'd seen such a rusty vehicle in a long time and the bumper looked like it was about to fall to the ground.

"Will this thing get us there?" she asked skeptically.

Porter patted the blue truck with a hopeful grin. "Old Freddy will do more than get us there. He'll last few more years. I'll be driving him to College next year."

Jamie hopped into the passenger seat and pulled on her seatbelt. "Lets park in the trees again," she said once he had gotten into the car, "just to be careful."

He nodded and shifted the car into drive.

They drove for a few minutes in silence before Porter asked suddenly, "How old are you?"

Jamie blinked, almost forgetting her age. "Seventeen," she managed finally.

"And why did you move here of all places?"

"To kill—why are you asking me all these questions?" Jamie asked feeling a little perturbed. She wasn't used to handing out information so readily.

"Because that's what friends do," Porter replied. "I've seen parts of your mind. I know how it is for you. I want to teach you how to have friends."

Friends. The word bounced around in her mind for a moment before roiling into her stomach. She didn't think he could feel her emotions anymore. Not enough to read what was going through her anymore. His were a faint buzz in the back of her mind, unreadable to her. Her cells were reverting back to normal.

Werewolves couldn't read humans. It was a strange twist of nature. She supposed that's why it was so easy for their kind to rationalize a human death. Not all of them, of course. But when their connection was so strong to each other, it must have been hard to see humans as people. They couldn't easily empathize with humans.

"Oh," she said, feeling deflated. She didn't know why she had expected anything more than friends. Why would he want a human when he could have something more intimate, something closer with his own kind?

"We came here because my dad had found some information. He believed there was a werewolf colony here. He wanted—wants to destroy it."

"Some werewolf colony," Porter replied, taking no note to the emotions swimming around her being in dark splotches. If he had noticed them, he probably would have assumed she was feeling darkly about her past. "There're only six families in town. Small families too."

"Yes," Jamie replied. "He knows that now."

"Why does he hate us so much?"

"Because of my mother," Jamie said. "She was killed by a werewolf."

"Warm hugs and the smell of cinnamon," Porter said absently and then looked up, his cheeks tingeing with embarrassment.

Jamie nodded. No doubt he'd found that in her mind earlier. That was exactly how she remembered her mother. The most vivid things, anyway. Her smile, the way that she laughed…those qualities had long since lost their starkness in her memories. Even the picture that normally sat upon the dining room wall did nothing to spark those memories in her. It was flat and lifeless, like a picture of someone she'd heard of but never met.

She added. "His name was Sidney Torrison. I think he was of some significance to werewolves at the time. Some sort of ring leader."

By the way Porter's eyebrows raised at the name, she was pretty sure she was right on the mark.

"My father followed his trail for years. If there was anything he did in his life, he wanted to get revenge on that man. He killed him a couple of years ago."

"So that's who," Porter said with light dawning in his eyes. "Yes. He was a ringleader. He managed to get a lot of werewolves on his side. He thought of humans as just food and wanted us all to feel that way. There was a huge political split between the human eaters and the human sympathizers. Most of the 'wolves moved back to the sympathizing side when Torrison died. Nobody was ever able to find out who did it."

Jamie's eyebrows rose in surprise. This was news to her. She wondered why her father had never known about the good 'wolves. She supposed he was too consumed with hatred to worry about technicalities. Important technicalities.

"I thought," Jamie continued, surprising herself. She never talked about this with others. She'd never even mentioned it to Doug. "Well, I hoped," she amended, "that when he had killed Torrison, that all the hate would leave him. I thought his quest would be over…but it wasn't. It was like he was more consumed than ever. He suddenly had no reason for being anymore so had to invent one."

"Reason for being?" Porter nearly choked as he guided the vehicle into the stand of trees. "How about being a father? Being a good citizen? How about fighting for justice and good?"

Jamie shook her head, realizing it as she spoke it. "He's too far gone."

They jumped out of the vehicle and headed through the trees toward the field. Their feet barely made a sound against the soft dirt. There was the occasional crunch of a leaf that could not be helped.

"You're very good," Porter remarked of her footwork, "for a human."

They moved into the field, the long yellow grass tickling her knees.

"It's what I've been raised for," Jamie said with a sigh.

"I hear Mrs. Carlyle is pretty keen on taking you in," Porter suggested and then winced. "Your father might not take you in after you've betrayed him…if he's still alive."

Jamie cringed at this. Not only at the thought of her father's death, but the thought of living with Amber for a year—it brought a vile taste to the back of her throat. "It's very nice of her," Jamie managed to say in a somewhat pleasant voice, "but I think I'll have to say no."

"It's Amber, isn't it?" Porter said with an astute glance. "Don't judge her by what you've seen. She's just worried about her sister—and yes she can be a pain. She can be a formidable enemy but she can also be the best of friends. She's someone you will want on your side."

Jamie snorted as she took the first step on the front porch. A formidable enemy? Even right from the start, she had picked Amber out as the weakest link. She was hot-tempered, weaker, and didn't like to get her hands dirty. The only thing she had going for her was that she could argue the legs off a mule.

Porter opened the door and allowed her to walk in first—ever the gentleman. The problem was that he treated everyone that way. She was no exception. It was infuriating to try to make out what he thought of her. Other than worry and friendship. That much she could see clearly.

They hurried up the stairs to her room. The wooden floorboards creaked beneath her feet. Porter scuffed a small throw rug with his foot, upraising her bare walls. "No pictures? No bands?"

"No time," Jamie responded and began to pull out a few outfits. She chose her least favorite pairs, knowing her father and brother wouldn't miss them if they happened to return for any reason. She packed them into her backpack.

She felt strangely like she was being watched. She shouldn't have brought Porter here. She didn't know what kind of surveillance her father might still have on the house. Her father usually didn't keep her room on surveillance, but she had brought him through half of the house! She cursed herself for being such a weakling; for not wanting to be alone. She was always alone. Why should things be different now?

They should leave. She zipped up the backpack hurriedly.

"Let's go," she said.

Porter put a hand on her arm, trying to calm her. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," she took a deep breath, shaking her head desperately. "I just—we need to leave. Now!"

As he was nodding she happened to look up through the window out onto the driveway below. A car was pulling into the driveway. It was the green jeep that the Colonel had bought for Doug and her. She stood paralyzed as Doug pulled the car into park. He hadn't looked up yet.

Jamie moved like lightening. She sprung at Porter, bringing her feet around the back of his knees. Otherwise, her weight wouldn't have been enough to fell him, even with his slight build. They both tumbled to the floor. Porter landed hard, the air exploding from his as she landed on him. His jaw bounced back into her cheek, jarring her teeth.

She cursed silently, hoping against hope that Doug hadn't seen them.

She moved off of Porter's disgruntled form.

"Hurry," she whispered. "Get under the bed! He can't see you here!"

Porter followed her instructions without question. This wasn't the time to hesitate. She moved the covers about to hide any sight of the boy lying under the bed. She dumped her backpack in the closet and hurried to the top of the stairs.

She gripped the banister and tried to control her breathing. In her present form, she looked like a fox caught in a hen house. Her brother would notice that something was wrong right away. She leaned against the banister and tried to calm herself. The banister wobbled slightly under her weight. It had always been loose.

She set on an indifferent expression and walked down the stairs to meet the boy coming through the front door. Doug's head came around to look at her. To her relief, a smile spread across his gaunt cheeks. She hurried to him and gave him a genuine hug.

"I knew it," he said, hugging her back. "I knew you were too good for a pack of werewolves. My little sister."

She pulled back. "It was horrible," she lied.

He nodded grimly. "Don't you worry. They'll pay for every hand they laid on you."

She nodded, feeling her heart thump in her chest. She shouldn't have said that. Now Doug would go after them with everything he had. If only she could turn back time and stop the words from escaping her mouth.

"I'm sorry we left without you. Dad didn't think you'd last a minute. He thought you'd spew everything when they threatened to kill you. I told him you were better than that. He's had the cameras trained on here since we left and nothing's happened. He's gone to get some lunch right now, but when he gets back to the control room he'll see everything's fine." He whispered in her ear, his voice lower than the sensors could pick up. "I can't wait to stick it to him."

Jamie swallowed sickly. Any moment, the Colonel would be playing the tapes back to see Porter and her walking through the house. How could she and Porter get away before the Colonel sent the alarm?

"So everything's all right?" She managed to speak without sounding too weak. "Everything's in place?"

Doug grinned with accomplishment. "I set it all up this morning. We can make the ransom call tonight. The weather report said it's going to be really cold this weekend, so we'll make the pick up date sooner. That way we'll give them less time to act."

Jamie smiled, her heart thumping within her breast. "Great."

"Yeah, it is great." Doug exclaimed, a grin bursting across his features. "I did an absolutely perfect job on the explosives. Jamie, you're never going to guess—"

Doug's cell rang and he sighed. "Must be dad. What does he want now?"

Jamie slipped one foot behind her, darting a quick glance on her surroundings. There was no plausible way she could stop Doug from answering the phone, except—

Jamie snatched the phone away from his fingers and flipped it on. "Hello? Dad you'll never guess how I got away! How could you leave me there?"

All the while she was speaking excitedly into the phone, the Colonel was yelling murderously. "You traitor! You freak! How could you do this, you murder lover?"

"I love you too," Jamie managed to say sweetly.

Doug gave her an odd look. They had never been a family for affectionate words. She silently cursed herself for the comment. She was just too nervous to think straight.

"Okay," Doug said, reaching for the phone. "It's my turn."

He took it from her grasp before she could protest. Jamie did the only thing she could think of at that moment, working on desperation. She gripped a post in the rickety banister and ripped it free. Doug gave her an odd look, like he couldn't figure out what she was doing and began to talk into the phone.

She pulled the post back and swung for Doug's head like she was trying to hit a home run. She lost momentum at the end with a cringe. She didn't want to kill him—just incapacitate him for the time being.

The post connected with Doug's skull and he dropped to the floor. The cell skittered from his grasp and bounced on the hardwood. He was out cold. A large goose egg was beginning to form on his forehead.

As she leaned down to check her brother's pulse, the Colonel was still yelling at her through the phone. "I'm sorry Doug," she whispered. "This is the way it has to be. I really do love you."

She straightened smoothing, with a hurried glance up the stairs. "Come on, Porter! We got to leave now!"

Porter appeared at the top of the stairs in moments. Her backpack was slung over his shoulder. He looked down at Doug in surprise. He hurried to grasp her by the shoulders with a smoldering look in his silver-blue eyes. "Why didn't you call for help?" He demanded. "You could have been hurt!"

"No time," she responded on a breath of air. "He'll be awake in moments."

They leaped over her brother's prone form and dove for the door. The two zipped into the fields running pace for pace. The front door crashed open behind them and Jamie and she heard the sound of thudding feet.

"Faster!" She managed to gulp between quick breaths.

Porter reached his hand around her back, gripping hard. He doubled the speed, sweeping across the ground inhumanly fast. The ground sped beneath her at a shocking pace. She only managed to bounce her sneakers against the ground about three times before they had reached the grove of trees. She was practically flying.

Porter deposited her on the ground before the passenger door and sped to his side.

"Jamie!" Doug screamed across the field. He was closing in fast, but not fast enough. "Jamie!"

Jamie hopped into the car and slammed the door behind her. "Drive!"