That asshole!
Mark is fuming. He hates those kids with a burning passion. And John most of all …
It's unbelievable to think that anyone would find it fun, a sport, to hurt anyone. Especially Madelyn Shannon, the sweetest person ever.
Mark looks at the bathroom door, which has remained closed. He can hear John's voice floating up the stairs being cocky and arrogant as ever. He can't let him get away with that.
Letting his emotions get the best of him, Mark runs down the stairs and throws himself at the unsuspecting John. "What the Hell?" the kid asks as Mark shoves him backwards on the floor. Mark kicks him before pulling him up by his shirt. His friends stand speechless and frozen around them.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mark snaps back before backhanding him. Someone finally snaps out of the daze and lays a hand on Mark's shoulder. Mark slams John back onto the ground and spins on whoever's behind him. He twists the guy's arm and flips him down alongside John.
Everyone looks at each other wide eyed. "Touch Maddy again, any of you," Mark spits. "And I will know about it. And you will regret doing that."
"We'll get the principal on you for this!" some girl threatens as she leans over John.
Mark smiles at the hypocrite, the blood dripping off John's face empowering him. "Tell the principal whatever you want. I don't even go to this school!" He walks away content, everyone petrified behind him.
At the top of the stairs, Mark finds Maddy staring at him in awe. "What did you do?" she screams.
Mark looks at her for a moment before continuing walking. "I dealt with a problem," he says calmly.
Maddy shakes her head. "Mark, your job description is to defend me to the point that I can get to Terra Nova unharmed. You've crossed a line! I've dealt with this for years, three more weeks won't make a difference." she yells. "You really can't help yourself, can you? It will be worse now! Things will just-"
"They won't hurt you anymore, Maddy," Mark interrupts. "I made sure of it."
"I already told you I can take care of myself. You should have just trusted me Mark!"
"Oh right," Mark says sarcastically. "Because you were doing so well on your own before I got here."
"I was managing," Maddy says. "Now can you just leave me alone for now on?" Maddy storms off to the library with Mark on her tail. Mark realizes that she goes to the library to hide, not because she isn't hungry. He's so frustrated with everything, including that she's so furious when he just tried to help her.
They get to the library and Maddy pulls out her Plex. Mark watches her out of the corner of his eye and sees her smile though she's staring off into space and not reading anything. Maybe she didn't mean what she said; maybe she's glad he stepped in. But that is just a maybe. "I'm sorry," Mark offers, though deep down he honestly doesn't mean it. "But it isn't that I don't trust you, it's just that I don't trust tho-"
"You aren't supposed to care," Maddy answers, snapping out of her daze and not looking at him. "You are supposed to get me to Hope Plaza in sixteen days, then collect your money. So can we please just stop talking? Stop pretending that we are friends in some skewed sense of the word? Stop acting like you care." Mark looks at her curiously, but Maddy focuses on the Plex in front of her.
His suspicions must be right – she isn't really angry at what he did; she's angry at the situation itself.
That afternoon Mark and Maddy walk home, Maddy walking a few feet ahead of Mark and not talking to him. They get inside and Maddy sits at the counter, eating a snack and messing with her Plex. Mark leaves her alone for a while, that is until a thud sounds from within the bedroom. Mark is on his feet in an instant, gun in hand. "Mark," Maddy says slowly, jumping up and blocking his path. "It's nothing, okay? Can you just relax?"
"Maddy move," Mark says, not in the mood. "I'll relax when I'm sure it's nothing."
"What would be hideing back there?" she asks with emphasis on the word hide.
Mark looks at her strangely. He ends up physically moving Maddy out of his way so that he can get past her. He rips the curtain to the bedroom back, but nothing is revealed. "Told you," Maddy says. But Mark still feels on edge. She seems relieved. What is she hiding now?
Mark just sighs and heads back over to the couch. "Do you happen to have an extra data card?" Maddy asks.
"You don't?" Mark quips back, slightly annoyed she's icing him out but still asking for favors.
"My last spare was smashed by someone's foot today," she answers tensely.
Mark sighs and promises to be right back, before popping next door. He rummages through his duffle until he finds an empty card, not truly sure why he's doing this. He promptly returns to the Shannons' apartment, but doesn't see Maddy. His heart momentarily stops until he hears the hushed whispers coming from the back bedroom. "I know, I know, and I'm sorry but you have to be quiet a little bit longer, okay? Soon we will be leaving and everything will be better, alright?"
Mark's hands find his gun as he slowly pulls back the curtain to clear the room. "Maddy?" he asks cautiously. Maddy spins around and Mark immediately lowers his weapon. There, standing behind Maddy and clinging to her legs, is a small girl.
"Mark," she says quickly. "I can explain … I just …" Both girls' eyes are dilated with fear. "She's my cousin," Maddy says after a moment. "My mom's sister and her husband died and we took her in so she didn't end up somewhere terrible. We have to keep her a secret because 'a family is four'."
Mark stares at the little girl who looks so much like Maddy it's incredible – the same tan skin, wavy dark hair. "If I checked your family's records would your mom even have a sister?"
"Please," Maddy said near the point of tears. "Please just accept that she's my cousin and move on."
"She's your sister," Mark says, not as a question, but a statement. As this sinks in, his brain starts buzzing. Holy shit, this family is insane. This family has an illegal child. She looks to be at least five, if not older. How were they able to hide from population control for so long?
"Mark," Maddy rushes, "you weren't supposed to come back so quickly, but I had to check on her to make sure she didn't hurt herself because of that thud we heard, I just-"
"Maddy," Mark cut off her rambling. "I don't – I'm not going to turn you into population control. I wouldn't do that."
"Why not?" Maddy asks uncertainly. "You'd get paid big, especially for a family who's supposed to be going to Terra Nova." A tear falls from her eyes and the other girl looks so scared, more so since she understands her sister is.
"I'm not like that," Mark says. "I'm not going to tear apart a family for some quick cash." He sounds convincing, but looks angry.
"If my parents found out you knew-"
"Good Lord Maddy," Mark snaps and the girl clinging to Maddy jumps. "Just something else to hide from your parents, right? Something else to contend with." He is so frustrated that this job keeps getting harder and harder with more and more ultimatums. But mostly the frustration doesn't stem from the fact it's more work and more to worry about but from the fact that he cares. Why the Hell does he care about this girl who will be leaving forever in about two weeks? Mark doesn't know why, but he does care that's for sure.
"I'm so sorry," Maddy quivers. "You can tell them about school, about John, about any of that, I don't care. Tell my parents I messed up royally! But I'm begging you not to turn my family in to population control. Zoe is too little! She wouldn't survive one of the concentration camps for illegals, I can't let that happen. It would be all my fault!" she cries silently as she pleads with the guard. "Mark, p-please you can turn me in instead! Frame me for starting that fight at school today, I don't care. Then you can still collect a reward for supplying evidence, just don't do anything that incriminates Zoe."
Mark stares at Maddy in shock. She sounds like a broken record – "I don't care, I don't care, I don't care." But she has to care. No, Mark realizes, it's that she doesn't care what happens to herself as long as her sister is okay. Maddy would give up going to Terra Nova, she would let herself get arrested for something she didn't do, just to protect Zoe? Deep down Mark probably would have done the same for any of this siblings, birth or not, but it's so shocking to hear Maddy say it out loud. How could he turn her in? How could he be responsible for hurting her? He couldn't be. He wouldn't be able to stand carrying that guilt around with him.
"I already told you I won't go to population control, Maddy," Mark says. "And I'm not turning you in either. It's my job to get you to Terra Nova and that won't change. The only difference is that in sixteen days I'll evidently be helping to smuggle your sister into Hope Plaza. I'll help get her to Terra Nova, too."
Maddy's jaw falls to the floor. Instead of answering or thinking, she takes a few quick steps forward into Mark's arms. After a moment of hesitation, Mark hugs her back. "Thank you," Maddy whispers into his shoulder.
Mark just shrugs. "I swear I'm not an evil person. I can't imagine ever reporting someone, knowing that their child would be practically sentenced to death by working in some factory with no air filtration."
"No," Maddy says looking up at him. "Thank you for everything. I've … I've only dreamed about seeing John lying on the floor like that."
At that point Mark just laughs, "Those are some sinister dreams, Madelyn Shannon. Besides, what are friends for?"
Maddy finally pulls away and raises one eyebrow. "So we're friends?" she asks.
"We don't have to be," Mark answers, a small smile playing on his lips. "We can pretend that was just a standard security guard – guardee hug."
Maddy blushes profusely. "First of all, guardee isn't a word, second I'm just … very relieved. And thankful." She leans down closer to the floor and looks at the small, worried girl clinging onto the bed spread behind them. "Zoe?" she asks, wiping the last few stray tears from her face. "Would you like to meet my friend Mark?"
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