Renegade

Chapter 3: Day One, Part 2

Before anyone could make a sound, the creature was gone, running after the van. We looked on as he bolted away, faster than a cheetah. It-or he-soon caught up to the van, then overtook it. I began running across the bridge, the direction the action had fled. However, knowing that I could never catch up, I decided to go talk to the man that had shut down the machine. I was about to turn around when I saw the van flip on its side. Though I thought it was a bad idea to turn my back on the fight, I thought it would be worse if I let a lead get away. I walked back towards the crowd, up to where the man stood, watching. I went and introduced myself.

"Sir, hi, my name is John Colman, I'm a reporter with the Station. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions."

The man sighed. "Sure, why not." He offered his hand. "Name's Nick, Nick Pouser."

"Nice to meet you, Nick Pouser. I guess my first question would be: how did you shut down that machine when no one else could?"

"Well, I believe it was the Lord who sent me that inspiration, in the form of that guy." He pointed across the bridge and smiled. I looked back, and there was the fox. My eyes came back to Nick, who was now frowning.

"Really?" I asked, hoping to sound genuinely interested, because I was. "Can you tell me about him?"

"I can tell you that I better stop him from doing something stupid!" With that he took off down the bridge. "Miles! Miles, stop!" My gaze returned to the fox, and I gaped as he drew one of his swords. In his other hand, he had one of the kidnappers by the collar. He looked like he was begging for mercy. I took off running after Nick.

I arrived at the scene as Nick was trying to talk his friend Miles out of slashing the kidnapper's head off. "Miles, relax. You already saved that poor little girl. She's over there. Your job's done! We can go!"

"What about the next girl, and the one after that?" I gasped when I heard his voice. It was raspy, like he had started to lose his voice. "This has to stop" he continued. "And if I don't stop it, who will. How many lives will these guys destroy, how many have they already destroyed?" It was then that I looked into his eyes, and what I saw there set the tone for this entire adventure. I saw sorrow, loss, anger. I saw all the fresh, bleeding wounds of his soul. A lifetime of pain housed in the eyes of a kid who could be no older than fifteen. Then I heard something I hadn't heard in a long time. It was a voice in my head, but it wasn't my conscience. I had heard a calling from God before, but never one like this. Help him. I had decided long ago that when God spoke, it was a horrible idea to ignore him.

"Miles, the cops can handle it!"

"No!" he yelled. "I will do everything in my power to stop them. No more lives will ever be ruined because I failed to act!"

"Tails!" At that, I saw Miles drop his eyes. "It's not up to you. How many times have we been through this. No matter how you feel, God is still out there!"

"I thought I told you not to call me that" Miles said dejectedly.

"Only if I thought it was completely necessary. And it was. Remember who you are."

This last statement only fueled Miles's anger. "I know who I am! I'm the guy that stands between them," he said pointing at the kidnapper, "and the innocent people of this city."

Miles looked like he had finally decided to kill the kidnapper. I actually thought he was going to do it when Nick spoke up again. He sighed, "Sorry about this." Miles gave him a sideways glance. "Tails, what do you think Cosmo would want you to do?"

Suddenly, I saw the rage disappear from Miles's eyes. It was replaced by tears. "She would want me to stop." He choked out these words as he let the kidnapper fall to the ground, limp, unconscious.

"C'mon Miles. Let's go home. You'd better hide out while I bring the bike."

"Wait." I spoke without even thinking. "I can drive you." I couldn't let this kid get away. I had been give a mission, and I wasn't one to accept failure.

"I don't know, Mister Colman. We don't really want to draw attention to ourselves." He gave me a mistrusting look.

"Don't worry. This won't make it into my story. I promise."

Nick thought for a moment. He looked at Miles, who was now on his knees, with a blank look on his face. "Alright, Mister Colman, lead on." Nick turned around and hefted Tails onto his shoulder. "He gets like that sometimes" he explained when I gave him a questioning look. I didn't press the matter as I led them to my car.

Nick sat in the passenger seat, giving me directions as I drove him and Miles home. When I noticed that he kept looking at Miles in the back seat, I chanced a glance. I saw him curled up on the seat, chest heaving, and I realized he was sobbing. "Hey Nick, is there something wrong?" I asked as quietly as I could.

"Please, we don't want any reporters printing stuff about us."

"Then I'll push the reporter aside, but I'm still human. Is there something I can help with?"

"Not really. I don't feel free to tell you anything about Miles. Talk to him later if you want."

"Alright, then let's talk about you. You seem to put a lot of faith in God."

"Yes, sir."

"That's good, so do I."

"Really? A Christian reporter? That's something you don't see every day."

"Yeah, it kinda gets suppressed at work. Anyway, there's something you should know. When I saw Miles on that bridge today, I felt something. I think God has called me to help him."

"Unbelievable!" Nick shouted joyfully.

"What?"

"I heard that call when I first found Miles, and I've been praying for some help ever since."

"Why? Is it that hard of a job?" Nick gave me a "duh" look and pointed at Miles. I looked back again. He was still curled up, but he had stopped crying and fallen asleep.

"Remember when I said he gets like that sometimes." A sad smile appeared on his face. "That was code for at least once almost every day."

"What happened?"

He held up his hand. "Ask him when we stop."

It turned out we only had about ten minutes left in the trip. When we got there, I couldn't help staring. "Home" was the word that they liked to use to describe an alley in the Ditch. The Ditch was the sleazy part of town, the place where cops were scarce and people that would help you were scarcer. I knew I couldn't leave them here, especially not with Miles in this state. "Uhh, Nick, why don't I take you guys to my place?"

"I don't think Miles will like that. He likes it here."

"Really? Even if he does, he's in no state to be out here. He'll be dead by morning." It was already getting dark. Nick thought again. "It's only about fifteen minutes away" I offered

"Fine, it's probably for the best anyway. Let's go." Nick and I made small talk for the entirety of our trip to my house. When we got there, he opened the back door and carried Miles into the house.

"You can just set him on the couch. Do you want anything to eat, Nick?"

"Well, I don't mean to impose." Miles stirred. I looked over and found him curled up and crying again. Nick grimaced. "Oops."

"Listen, I've had a crazy day. I'm gonna go to sleep. Feel free to raid the fridge. Wake me if you need anything." I went into my bedroom. Honestly, I was a little nervous about having two homeless in my house, one being a sword wielding mutant fox. God, if I'm doing the right thing, please give me peace. The nervousness suddenly left me, and I fell asleep content.