'No one ever died for my sins in hell
As far as I can tell
At least the ones I got away with.'
Movement I - Jesus of Suburbia.
Jesus of Suburbia - Green Day.
Chapter Eleven - Pure Luck.
Cody walked along the cold, desolate street in complete silence. A street lamp flickered eerily above his head as his eyes darted around the barren roads and alleyways. There was nobody around. There were no sounds to be heard. There was just him. And an empty street.
Cody's mind wandered in time with each footstep he took up the road. He was trying to recall any single memory that explained how he ended up walking along by himself, but all his brain could do was draw blanks. He almost dared to open his mouth and call Bailey's name into the bleak shadows of the town, but soon thought against it, biting his tongue and simply holding his curious gaze to the poorly maintained buildings and houses all around him.
Squinting his vision, Cody tried to look for a single light, or something, switched on in any of the homes, but still, there was nothing of the like to be seen. There were many open windows he could see that allowed him to peer right into the living rooms of almost every house around him. They were just all totally vacant.
But even so, no matter how creepy and uncanny the entire situation seemed, the emotion was one that Cody was more than used to by now.
Without Zack safe and by his side, this intense feeling of loneliness was merely just a part of him. There was no escaping it.
All of a sudden, Cody froze at the abrupt sound of an almighty, roaring rumble. He felt the ground beneath his feet vibrate slightly before it began to shake uncontrollably and violently. In the next instant, the bold, double white lines that ran down the centre of the road acted as an unstitched seam as a long crack in the gravel thundered along the entire length of the street.
All Cody could do was watch, his mouth agape, as the concreted ground seemed to unexplainably peel away right before his eyes and become replaced with what he could sense and smell to be fresh, ocean water – the last thing he wanted to be reminded of.
Just as he was about to voice his total and utter bewilderment, a huge sea-breeze gust of wind caught itself under his feet and immediately caused Cody to lose his balance and land flat on his backside, slipping that much closer to the dangerous edge of the footpath before falling into a gigantic rush of cold water.
The salt stung Cody's eyes and throat as his senses went ballistic with shock. His clothes hung heavy against his saturated body as he tried with all his might to swim back to the surface, but instead, he was forcefully pulled back under by the harsh swash and backwash of the waves.
The desire for Cody to simply open his mouth and scream out a blend of pure terror and frustration became almost too much for him, until he felt a sudden tug on the sleeve of his t-shirt. Forcing himself to hold his breath for a second or two longer, Cody waited anxiously as his unknown saviour pulled his limp body safely to the layer of oxygen that eagerly anticipated his return. Once he felt the sheer intoxicating element refill his lungs, Cody blinked the few droplets of ocean water out of his eyes and risked gazing up at the person who had saved his life. As soon as he did, a pair of sharp, blue eyes mirrored the expression in his own.
And Cody felt his heart stop.
"…Zack?"
The older twin smiled warmly at his younger brother. Cody resisted the urge to struggle free from Zack's grip to pinch himself, just to make sure that what he was seeing was real. In the next instant, however, before he had the chance to say anything more, Cody blinked and suddenly he was lying down looking up at the plain, white ceiling above his head.
His eyelids fluttered a few more times before realisation set in. It was all just a dream.
Sighing to himself in disappointment, Cody allowed a yawn to escape his lips as he calmly lifted himself up into a sitting position. Bailey was lying next to him, undisturbed and softly lost in her own dream world. Brayden had sprawled himself out on the small couch near the door and Hog was flat on his face, but still in an extremely deep sleep, on the floor.
Just as Ty had told them, the six of them had managed to find another abandoned place about a half hour walk along the outskirts of the city to stay while they were waiting for Nate's deal with 'X' to close. It wasn't as big or comfy as what the group's abode back in town may have been, but it was certainly better than nothing.
Yawning once again, Cody scratched the back of his neck as he allowed the image of his twin to flash back through his mind once more. It wasn't the first time he had had a dream like that since the accident. They were actually becoming a lot more frequent, when he could essentially manage to sleep, that was. The only thing Cody wished was that they would last longer – long enough for him to say something to Zack. To ask him if he was ok.
The younger twin was then drawn out of his daydream as he felt his girlfriend stir slightly next to him. Cody smiled affectionately at the farm-girl and kissed her gently on the forehead. He was thankful that he hadn't woken her during his nightmare, and that it was quiet enough now for her to continue sleeping.
This thought abruptly brought a new one to his mind as Cody frowned. Looking back over towards Brayden and Hog, the younger twin tilted his head in confusion. Where were Nate and Ty?
Glancing back at Bailey for a quick second, Cody then gently crawled out of the double bed, stepped over Hog's limp body and quietly crept out the front door, closing it softly behind him. The very first image that appeared in his vision was Ty.
As he adjusted his eyes to the bright, mid-morning sunlight, Cody lazily sauntered over to where Ty had perched herself on the top step of the front porch, a hazy cigarette hanging out of her mouth.
"Morning," Cody spoke with a somewhat upbeat tone.
Ty simply gazed up at him through her dull eyes, "Hi," she mustered, taking a long drag of her dart.
"Where's Nate?"
Flicking her long black hair over her shoulders, Ty shrugged, "Around the side tagging up, I think. Why?" she went on with a snort, "Boys giving you grief?"
"No," Cody answered simply, "Just wondering. I want to ask him what's going on. How much longer he thinks it'll take for Bailey and I to get to Newberry."
"Well, shouldn't that be a question for me?" Ty countered, "I mean, I am the one leading this little expedition."
Nodding his head in agreement, Cody waited in silence for a second or two before gesturing for Ty to go on, "Well?"
The gothic-looking girl thoughtfully chewed on her bottom lip around her lip piercing, "I suppose I'd be able to figure out the answer you're looking for faster if you told me why you want to get there so badly?"
Chuckling slightly at the girl's extreme persistence, Cody merely shook his head with a wry smile, "Forget about it."
Ty scoffed and shoved her smoke back in her mouth as Cody turned on his heels to go and find Nate, "Suit yourself, then," she called out sarcastically.
The younger twin halted in his tracks and turned back to Ty, peering curiously at the cynical smirk hidden behind the cigarette dangling from her lips. Again, he tilted his head a little, "You really should think about giving up, you know."
Ty's expression instantly creased into a frown, "What?"
"Well, not that it's any of my business, but I'm just saying," the blonde went on, "What with your terrific navigational skills and your ability to intrigue, you might actually be able to make something great of yourself in the future."
Ty paused, taking in Cody's words, "I intrigue you?"
Concealing his teasing smile, Cody only licked his lips before repeating himself, "Just saying."
Her sour expression continually increasing, Ty watched with an invincible scowl as Cody, again, attempted to about face in search of Nate. She was particularly confident, however, that Cody was not going to get away with such a lack of information.
"Why do you have to be so God damned nice all the time?" she snapped, regaining the younger twin's attention, "Didn't anyone ever tell you that it's the bad-boy types who get whatever they want to much more effect?"
The unusual and immensely short-lived bubbly tone to Cody's morning instantly diminished as Ty's words immediately welcomed the reminder of Zack back into his mind. He instantly sensed the scarce grin fall from his face as he pictured the mischievous one that more often than not plastered itself proudly across the face of his brother. Taking a few long seconds to think of another countering argument to Ty's, Cody stared at the impatient expression that sprung back at him from the green-eyed girl. After a moment or two, Cody subtly took a deep breath.
"Sometimes being a bad-boy takes you to places where others really don't want to see you end up," he began slowly, "Sometimes that one bit of extra 'badness' – no matter how much of a good idea it seems at the time – really isn't worth it in the end."
Ty directly fell to silence, locking her pastel green eyes with Cody's baby blues and allowed his words to cycle through her mind a few times, before emitting another snort, "And, what, you learnt that for yourself?"
Cody almost felt like he could laugh at the comment that left the teenage girl's mouth, though he instead merely spoke again in a dry, droning tone with a heave of his shoulders, "I guess you could say I have."
Then, before another single word could be spoken, Cody spun around and took off towards the side of the house to find Nate, leaving Ty sitting on the porch steps with nothing to comfort her thoughts but the sick taste and smell of her tobacco.
Just as she had told him, Cody found Ty's cousin quietly sitting around the side of the house with a few different coloured permanent markers etching, what looked to be, his own personal touch to the arty styles of the worn down building.
"Hey," Cody greeted, forcing a friendly smile as he took a seat on the ground next to the older boy.
Nate instantly glanced up, wearing a similar expression, "What's going on, man?"
"Not a lot. Actually, I came out here to ask you the same thing," Cody commenced, "Any idea where we're headed today?"
Nate shook his head, picking up a black marker, "Sorry, dude. The only thing I got planned is getting rid of the rest of that gear so I can get the other half of my pay from 'X'. Ask Ty."
Cody rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath, "Yeah, cause that went down well."
"Huh?"
Cody blinked, snapping back into reality, "Nothing, don't worry."
As the two then fell to silence, Cody allowed his vision to dart over the different drawings and inscribes that Nate had tagged the small section of brick with. His name, 'Nathan Lucas', was written in a bold, red colour in the centre and was surrounded by all kinds of random cartoons and words. It was all in fact quite artistic and well drawn.
"What's all this in aid of?" the younger twin asked inquisitively, breaking the silence.
Nate paused for a second or two and then put the cap back on the pen, pushing his weight back onto his hands to admire his work for a moment longer.
"Nothing," he finally answered, "Just for when boredom takes over."
A deep frown creased the centre of his brow as he thought about this a little more sincerely.
"Between all this shit I'm always caught up in, I guess it just reminds me that I'm still a kid."
At a loss of what there possibly was to say, Cody simply nodded his head, trying to understand where his companion was coming from. He probably held absolutely no right to say it, but in the mere twenty-four hours that he and his girlfriend had spent with Nate and the others, Cody could easily see how even a minute or two of normal teenage stuff would be nothing but a pure escape from what the reality of their lives really held. In a very large way, it was quite saddening to think about.
"Nate!"
The two boys immediately snapped their heads up at the sound of the booming voice that resonated from the balcony, both pairs of eyes widening at the strained expression that they found on the face of Brayden.
"What's up, Bray?" Nate asked with concern.
"I think we've gotta' leave," he responded slowly, "Ty said she saw… a visitor headed our way."
Nate gritted his teeth and jumped to his feet, as he was quickly followed by Cody, "Where's Bailey?" he abruptly spat.
"Ease up, she's inside," Brayden replied before looking back to the older boy, "What's the plan?"
"You and Hog just grab them boxes. And tell Bailey to come out here," he added quickly. Nate then beckoned Cody to follow him as he packed up his pens and walked around to the front of the house. Making it to the front yard, he stopped in his tracks, "Where the hell has Ty disappeared to now?"
"Cody?"
Disregarding the question from Nate, Cody turned his attention to the front steps and Bailey, in particular, as she made her way towards him.
"Bailey," he spoke with a genuine tone of happiness, wrapping his arms around her, "Are you ok? Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah, actually," Bailey answered, releasing Cody from her grip, "You?"
Cody froze, giving his girlfriend a questioning look. Biting her lip, Bailey smirked jokingly, "Sorry?"
Brushing the thought off, Cody shook his head nonchalantly and took the farm-girl's hand, "Forget it."
"Ok," she trailed off, "Where are we going? Is everything ok?"
"Yeah, yeah, it's fine," the younger twin assured her, "Nate's got it all under control."
Bailey frowned slightly as she looked over Cody's shoulder to where Nate was pacing around, looking up and down the street for his cousin.
"I'm sure he does," she quipped cynically.
"Got the gear, Nate," Hog then yelled as he and Brayden reappeared on the balcony, each of them holding one of the cardboard boxes.
"Alright, come on then, let's get outta' here," the older boy said as he gestured for Cody and Bailey to follow him, "I'm sure it won't be long until we find where Ty –"
As soon as the five rounded the first corner at the end of the block, Nate found himself stopping mid-sentence as their eyes all laid upon the images of Ty pulling her hair back into a ponytail while she sized up an unfamiliar boy in a hood that stood in her way.
"Whoa," Nate exclaimed, dashing to his cousin's side, "Easy, Ty, there's no need to get into a scuffle, is there?"
"This prick is one of Damon's thugs," the dark-haired girl sniped, shrugging herself from Nate's grip.
Cody sensed Bailey's clutch on his hand tighten ever so slightly as Brayden and Hog heaved the two boxes firmly in their grasp and Nate looked down to the shorter boy who had come very close to, undoubtedly, getting his backside handed to him by Ty.
"What are you, like, eleven?" he jibed mockingly.
The kid continued to gawk heatedly at them through his dark, brown eyes, clearly unimpressed, "I know who you are, Nate Lucas," he said, pushing his short, blonde hair back between his fingers, "Now, dickhead, gimme' back the stuff you took from Damon and you might not have to deal with the rest of us later."
Cody watched carefully, standing in front of Bailey, as the kid lowered his left hand from his head back to his side. Nate merely laughed at the kid's attempt at a threat but the younger twin's eyes suddenly enlarged to the size of saucers at his realisation of something. Something that may have been of potential danger.
"Nate," he spoke through clenched teeth, "His pocket."
The older boy stared at Cody for a quick second before focusing his vision to the boy's pocket, and more specifically, his right hand that sat in the depths of it, obviously holding onto something that was hidden away. After another second of thought, Nate's expression mimicked Cody's at the inclination of what the smaller brute could possibly be wielding.
"Alright," Nate spoke calmly, "Do you really want to have to do this the hard way?"
In the next moment, all heads turned as Ty loudly scoffed into the tense air and grabbed the box that Hog was holding right out of his grip, "I know I do. Bray!"
Catching on like lighting, Brayden – being the quicker of he and Hog – then sprinted after Ty as the two of them took off across the street, carrying the two boxes under their arms and leading Damon's friend on what was sure to be one insane wild goose chase.
"Shit, Ty!" Nate cursed, yelling to his cousin.
Bailey watched in fear as Hog was left complaining about being slow, or something of the like, while Cody, on the other hand, suddenly gasped in shock as he saw Ty trip over something in the road and fall over, the contents of the box falling out around her.
"Ty!" he called anxiously. Without thinking, while Damon's thug continued on after Brayden, Cody freed himself from Bailey's hand and ran over to where Ty had collected herself on the pavement, bending down to help her gather, but ignoring, what he discovered to be a bunch of curious car parts.
Back on the footpath, it took Bailey a good few seconds to realise what Cody had done before she, too, took a step onto the road.
"Cody!" she called to her boyfriend as he and Ty picked themselves back up and prolonged on their way, out of sight. Much to her horror, however, the farm-girl's cries were vastly drowned out by the blaring, dreaded sound of a car horn.
Twisting her entire body around at whip-lashing speed, Bailey's jaw dropped as she shrieked in terror at the car ploughing towards her at an uncanny speed – the last image flying through her mind being that of her happy, smiling, beautiful boyfriend.
"Bailey!"
The Southern Belle's world suddenly slowed as she saw the car disappear out of her line of vision and she was forcefully yanked out of the way by her wrist. As her breath caught in the back of her throat, Bailey accidentally bit her tongue as her head collided with a soft thud against the amazing feeling of another human presence, while she watched out of the corner of her eye with an unexplainable amount of relief as the lethal motor vehicle continued on its way down the road.
Slowly beginning to regain her regular breathing pattern, Bailey shut her eyes tightly to blink away the tears that lined the brink of her vision as she felt her heartbeat decelerate at the same pace that she could hear the one inside of the chest of her saviour where her head now rested.
Swallowing hard, Bailey then took in a deep breath and gradually dared to timidly raise her head and meet eyes with the person who had grabbed her at the last possible second before God only knew what might have happened to her. When her bright, blue orbs encountered the sharp green of Nate's, she found herself gasping in surprise once more.
"Now do you trust me?" the older boy asked with a smile that revealed nothing but extreme relief.
Bailey stuttered over a reply, glancing to her left to see a similar expression spread completely across Hog's appearance, before she only then realised how lucky she had been – at the bare minimum – to have just scraped through an escape with her life. And as she launched herself into a slight jittery, scared tremble and collapsed her head back into the older boy's chest while a couple of small, reluctant tears fell down her cheeks, she rapidly became conscious of the fact that none of it would be so if it hadn't been for Nate.
Cody felt his heart pound heavily in his chest as he tried his absolute hardest to keep up with the quick pace that Ty and Brayden were sprinting ahead of him at. For a split second, as the two of them came to a sudden halt, the younger twin sensed a cloud of relief sweep over him, though this was quickly thwarted when he spotted three new boys standing ahead of them, looking angry at best.
"Jacket," Ty snapped under her breath as Cody instantly pulled his zipper up further to conceal the few car parts that he had hastily shoved in there while he and the dark-haired girl had been picking everything up off the gravel.
"And stay back," she added at the last minute just as the boy who seemed to be the leader of the group stepped forward and eyed the three of them up.
"You're the Lucas girl, aren't ya'?" the kid asked with a sick grin.
"And you're Damon," Ty countered.
Cody gulped slightly as he took in every feature of the infamous Damon. He was tall, almost as tall as Nate, and had greasy black hair slicked back in a ponytail. His fiery, dark eyes glared daggers at the younger twin and his two cohorts.
"Where's your fuckwit cousin?" he growled.
"Leave Nate out of this!" Brayden suddenly snapped furiously from under the hood that he had pulled over his face.
Damon's head shot over to Brayden as he wasted no time marching towards him and ripping the hood off his head, grabbing tightly onto the back of his neck, "What did you say, you little prick?"
Cody inhaled a breath coated with nerves as he frightfully watched while Brayden was obviously trying to keep his cool at the menace that loomed dangerously over him, waiting at any moment for Damon to snap.
"Whoa, man! Damon wait!"
Cody and Ty both looked up with panting reprieve as one of the other boys stepped forward and walked over to Brayden, his mouth hanging wide open and an evil frown creasing his forehead. In a matter of moments, the exact same appearance had welcomed itself among Brayden's features before the new boy opened his mouth,
"What the fuck are you doing here, Brayden?"
Ah, finally, a bit of drama :)
Hey everybody! What did we think here? I'll bet any of you who were a little suspicious of Nate are alot more fond of him now, right? I loved writing Cody's one on one moments with each of the Lucas cousins, it was fun to do because of how different they both are. Do we have any new opinions on either of them? I really enjoyed writing this whole chapter, actually - I'd had it planned for a while and was just thankful to get stuck into it! And also, would anyone care to guess who this mystery boy is who knows Brayden? I promise I'll try not to leave you all waiting too long :) Reviews would be awesome! :):) Till next time!
Reneyyyyyyy x.