Runaway: The Hunters' Return - 1 E-Book

Kasey Infinita

• Herausgeber: Youcanprint
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Zackary Davis, a sixteen-year-old kid from New York, has a near-death experience one night while looking for his friend, Adonis. Upon learning that a group of teenagers born with supernatural abilities are under attack yet again by the so-called Hunters, this time intent on capturing Zack, he decides to step up and fight for his life.

Leseprobe

Indice

Prologo

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Title | Runaway: The Hunters' Return

Author | Kasey Infinita

Cover Design by Kasey Infinita

ISBN |9791221424461

© 2022 - All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author.

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Runaway: The Hunters’ Return is a work of fiction. Names,

places, characters and incidents are the products of the author’s

imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, persons, or

locales is entirely coincidental.

To my readers.

If I’d known then what I know now, I never would’ve snuck out. I could’ve spared myself so much grief, death, and suffering. Now, I know what you’re thinking: you’re just some character from a story. Everything turns out fine in the end, anyway. Yeah, sure. In most cases, that’s what happens. Thing is, what you’re about to read isn’t pure fiction. This stuff goes on every day, right under your nose, and you don’t even notice. I hope that by understanding my story, you’ll start to see more of the world I live in and pay more attention to people like me.

Friendly word of advice: if you ever, ever, think something isn’t right, follow your instinct and run as far as you can.

Okay, I can teli you’re getting bored now. Here’s a quick life lesson for those who don’t want to keep reading: Stay away from dark alleyways. Come to think of it, stay away from alleys in general. I’m not kidding. The reason is completely different from anything you might be expecting.

If you’re stili with me, I’ll stop stalling. My name is Zack Davis. Here’s how my life changed at sixteen, and no, there’s no way it’s going back to the way it used to be.

Fasten your seatbelts, because it’s a rough ride.

...............

I grew up in a small town in the state of New York. I went to high school just like any other sixteen year old kid. I did my homework, played video games, and went skateboarding with other teens in the neighborhood. And, like most teenagers, I got bored with life sometimes. I didn’t like studying. Heck, who does? I didn’t even know what I was going to do in the future, and had no clear idea of what job I wanted. Most of what I was being taught seemed pointless. My mom got pretty fed up with me when I started down that path. She usually started ranting about how a lot of things were taken for granted, but later in life we’d need them. Thinking about it now, the irony is hilarious.

School aside, I had a really good life. I hung out with the popular kids, had a great relationship with other people and played lots of sports. Even though people always told me I was really talented, I ignored them. I kept thinking all I would ever amount to was being who I already was: just another kid from New York. What else could I possibly be? There was, like, a one in a million chance I’d make it big. Why hang onto that small sliver of hope? Try focusing on what’s right in front of you, not what might be. Make it happen yourself, don’t wait for it to just magically appear.

I usually stopped thinking about my future and complicated stuff like that when I met up with my childhood best friend, Adonis Foster. I don’t even remember the day we met. We grew up together, so he was pretty much always there for me. The dude was a mess, but deep down he was one of the nicest people I’d ever met.

Adonis was the shy type, who got bullied often and didn’t know how to stand up for himself. Most of the time, he had a hard time even asking people for a pencil in class. Funnily enough, Adonis looked like the boy your mom wouldn’t want you to come home with. You know those emo kids from the early 2000’s who listen to My Chemical Romance? The ones with long dark hair and cold eyes, who always wore black and tried to hide in the shadows? The whole gag with the kids who posted pictures of themselves crying black eyeliner in the bathroom? Picture that kid, add about three hundred tons of anxiety, and BOOM. Now you have a perfect mental image of Adonis. Mind you, I said image. I promise you he doesn’t say horrible things like say it’s not aphase, mom, or you wouldn’t understand, or can we go to Hot Topic?

Still, he was cool. He didn’t try to get rid of me, so I guess he was okay with me, too. I’ll admit we looked pretty funny together, being complete opposites, but there’s that one saying about how introverts don’t make friends and get adopted by extroverts, and that’s exactly how it went. Thing is, I’m the last person you want to ‘adopt’ you. Even though Adonis couldn’t be forced to step out of his comfort zone, we did get into trouble together for almost bringing down the chemistry lab.

After school, the two of us always walked together until we reached an intersection, where we had to part ways. We weren’t next-door neighbors, but we could still walk to each other’s houses in ten minutes.

One day after school, the two of us were taking our usual route together when something unusual happened. Cliché, right? Doing something completely normal, then something life- changing comes around the corner and slams into you before you even know what happened. You usually don’t even know it until it’s too late. I know what you’re thinking. Cool! You’re going to find out you have superpowers or something! To that, I say HA!

And, no, not exactly.

At any rate, Adonis and I were walking together and talking the way we always did. That meant I did all the talking while Adonis just nodded, interjecting with a few monosyllables every now and then. It also meant I’d brought my skateboard along, and kept skating ahead before circling back to him, who, per norm, looked like a disappointed single mom watching over her rebellious teenage son.

But something about my friend seemed off that day. He was more tense than usual, shaking his long black hair in front of his eyes as he stared at the ground. From what I could see of his face, he was paler than usual, and Adonis is a literal vampire. His hands were clenched in his pockets, and the shoulders of his large T-shirt slumped forward. Everything about him seemed as though he was trying to hide. I tried to shake it off at first. He always tried to do anything in his power to go unnoticed, even in the cafeteria. But after a while, it started to bother me. He was way too tense, and it was just the two of us. Usually he knew how to relax when we were alone.

“Dude, you okay?” I finally asked. “Nobody’s even around.”

Adonis’s head snapped up. Oh, another reason why he got bullied often: he has heterochromia, which basically means his eyes are two different colors. It’s not that obvious, since his right one is blue and his left one green, but it’s still, well, abnormal. Usually he hated making eye contact, as it tended to make him nervous, but this time he looked me dead in the eye. That was when I knew something wasn’t right. He wasn’t just anxious as usual, he looked almost...afraid. The eye contact could’ve meant he was trying to convey a message he couldn’t say out loud.

“I’m fine.” He went back to glaring at his sneakers. That didn’t convince me, but I let it slide. Adonis wasn’t really talkative. If he was having problems at home, he usually didn’t say anything. Plus, after a few days, things cleared up, and he was his regular old self.. .just a big ball of anxiety.

As we passed through a small park, Adonis turned to me again. In the shade of the trees, his eyes looked almost like they were both the same shade of green, dark and dull. Awkwardly clearing his throat, he said, “I think I forgot something back at school. You go on ahead. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I frowned. Adonis forgot something? When did that ever happen? He usually double checked everything just so that he wasn’t forced to go back and have to interact with another human being. “You sure? I can come with -”

“Don’t worry,” he interrupted, scanning the park with panicky eyes. “I won’t take long anyways.”

I should’ve known he needed my help, despite how much he tried to deny it. I should’ve also realized that he’d told me to go on without him, despite it being something quick. Usually if something took a few minutes, we waited for each other. Now, it was like he was trying to get rid of me. At the time, though, all I said was, “Alright. See you tomorrow.”

Adonis simply nodded and spun on his heel, walking back with his head down again, trying to merge with the buildings on the street. I stared after him, torn between going after him and going home. Even now, I have no idea what the best option would’ve been. Both were bad choices. I decided I’d just do what he said. I started down the path to my house.

When I got home, my mom was cooking in the kitchen. Poking her head around the corner, she called, “You home, Zack?”

“Yeah.” I tossed my backpack in the corner and slid into one of the chairs at the table.

My mom smiled at me. She was a pretty Latina woman in her mid-forties, with long brown hair that cascaded over one shoulder and dark eyes. She had flour smeared on one cheek, but she either didn’t notice or didn’t have the time to clean it off. “Did you have a good day?”

I just nodded. Her head disappeared back to the kitchen as I placed my chin in my hand. My thoughts wandered back to Adonis. Why had he seemed so on edge? The more I tried to brush it off, the more anxious I got. Even though he’d told me he was fine, I kept overthinking things and managed to convince myself he was in danger. Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and sent him a text, asking if he got what he needed from school. What happened next was more concerning than anything. He replied immediately, almost like he was waiting for someone to contact him. Adonis always took at least an hour to answer, if not more. Once I found out why, I teased him about it for a long time. Even if he saw the message, he’d spend at least half an hour thinking about what to reply, and usually didn’t open it so he didn’t have to freak out. Once a girl texted him how are you? and it took him hours to answer one word: yes.

But now, in a matter of seconds, I had my answer. And it wasn’t one word that had nothing to do with what I’d asked.

Usually people are happy when they get an immediate reply from a friend. It may seem strange, but it was the complete opposite for me. Had he known I was going to text him?

Idiot, I mentally scolded myself. This isn’t some horror movie. Chili out.

Feel free to call me paranoid, but I freaked out when he added another message, telling me to come meet him at the flower shop, when my mom was sound asleep. The shop wasn’t that far away, maybe a five minute walk, but that wasn’t what concerned me. He could’ve waited to meet me at school the next day, or even that aftemoon. Why did it have to be something my mom didn’t need to know?

Stili, I had known Adonis for almost all my life. I trusted him...which might have been a mistake. I replied to him, confirming I’d meet him that night.

That was my first step to my long and painful journey.

Sneaking out of the house was a lot easier than expected, considering I’d never done it before. Finding Adonis was not.

I wandered along the streets, keeping close to lampposts and pretty much any source of light I could find. Not a single person was out. That should’ve been enough to send me back home. Even in a small town like mine, no matter the time of the day, men, women, and children were bustling around, trying to get to work or school, or going for some last-minute shopping. But no - that night the streets were eerily silent. I kept forging forward.

Tall apartment buildings lined the sides of the roads. Lights flickered on and off in the windows. People were either getting ready for bed or getting up for a midnight snack. Looking up at them, I felt small. New York had the ability to make anyone feel like an ant, even if it was a place as small as Hudson or Fairport. At night, it seemed to say, I will consume you.

I shook those thoughts off. I live here, I told myself. It’s exactly the way you’ve always known it, just less crowded and darker. I almost laughed. I had to stop watching horror movies. My imagination was a bit too vivid.

As soon as I reached the flower shop, the first thing I noticed was that Adonis wasn’t there. I shrugged. Every morning before school, I was forced to wait for him. He’d check that he had everything he needed and more, then would take out anything extra and get rid of it, because he didn’t want to be the only one who brought extra. Then he’d tell himself he actually needed it and put it back in. This could go on for a long, long time.

I leaned against the tinted glass door of the flower shop, staring at the flickering street lamp above me. It was summertime, and we were in our last week of school. Adonis and I would spend our days skating at the park, or meeting up with some friends from school. My mind began to wander, trying not to panic when Adonis still wasn’t showing up, when my phone rang.

I fished my phone out of my shorts pocket and swiped to answer. “Adonis? You do know you don’t need to double-check everything, right?”

“Go home,” he hissed, his voice deep and hushed. “Change of plans.”

I blinked. Turning on my heel, I tried looking for him, but didn’t see him or his emo hair anywhere. “You can’t call me out of the house at this time of the night and tell me to turn right back around. Come on, man.”

Adonis was silent for a count of three. “I need to go,” he snapped. I heard a few scuffling noises on the other end of the phone, like he was stuffing something into a bag or starting to run away. “You should, too, if you value your life.”

My heart stopped for a second. “What are you talking about?”

My phone started beeping, indicating that he had hung up on me. I lowered it from my ear, staring at his contact name flashing on the screen. What was that? Why did he seem so desperate? Why was his life in danger, and most importantly, why did he think mine was?

I almost called him back, but out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glint of light coming from a nearby alleyway. I turned towards it, but it was gone in a second. Probably a biker, I thought. Standing there for a few seconds, I debated my options. I could go look for Adonis, or stay right where I was. If I went looking for my friend, who knew if I’d have found him. Either way, it made no sense that he told me to come out then leave. It was too out of character. Also, what did anything have to do with our lives being on the line here?

I thought it might be a prank. Someone could’ve put him up to it, but the fear in his voice sounded real. Adonis was not a good actor. I frowned. This had to do with why he was so tense that morning.

Maybe he was having family issues. I racked my brain, trying to figure out what might have happened. He’d lost his mom a year before in an accident. He was an only child and lived with his dad, but as far as I could remember, he was a nice guy. Adonis had never mentioned him being abusive or anything, and there were never signs of physical abuse on him. Maybe they got into an argument, I guessed. But stili...

I heard a metallic clang from the alleyway in front of me, closer than the light had been. You know when cartoon characters get hit in the face by a trash lid? That’s exactly what it sounded like. I sighed. Stray cats always showed up outside my house and rummaged around in our trash cans. Of course they had to follow me around. But as I looked into the alleyway, I spotted the glint of light again.

Maybe the biker had stopped, I thought. I could ask him if he’d seen Adonis. He was pretty recognizable.

I should’ve run as far as I could. Needless to say, what awaited me in that alley was not a friendly biker. And, of course, I had to be an idiot. What fun would it be if I was actually smart, right?

I ran straight across the street and plunged into the darkness.

My first impression of the alley was: yuck.

It was lined with Dumpsters, each one more disgusting than the last. The smeli was unbearable. I couldn’t see light coming from the other side, which meant that it was a dead end. The tall buildings on either side both had rusted fire escapes, and I was not tempted to try them out. If there ever was a fire in either of those houses, the people living there wouldn’t die from the fire. They’d die falling from a broken fire escape. There’s my happy thought of the day, I thought.

I stood there for a second, completely lost. Why had I felt compelled to come here? Where had the light come from, if it wasn’t from a bike? Sadly, I got the answer to the second question first A loud bang sounded behind me and echoed across the walls. My shock was delayed, and I whirled around after a second, trying to find the source of the sound. I didn’t know how, but I recognized it, despite never having heard it before.. .well, not in real life, anyway.

Someone had fired a gunshot.

Great, I thought. Now I’m going to get caught in a shooting.

I ended up actually considering the fire escapes, then decided I didn’t want to fall and break my head as soon as the rusty steps crumbled under my feet. Running out of the alley wasn’t an option, either. If there was a gang nearby, they would’ve jumped me with no warning and who knows what would’ve happened to me. I scrambled for cover in between two Dumpsters instead, trying to ignore the stench and make myself as small as possible. I crouched quietly and prayed nobody would come near me. Of course, life said LOL.

Footsteps sounded in the alleyway, indicating someone had either seen or heard me. I silently cursed myself. If I hadn’t gone down there, I wouldn’t have been in danger of dying. Adonis had warned me. That caused me to jolt. How had he known people were shooting here? Had he come here, seen them and ran away, warning me to do the same? No, I thought. He wouldn’t have abandoned me when I was in danger, right?

Another flash of light appeared right in front of me. This time, I had a better glimpse as the person walked past me. It was a gun. I put a hand over my mouth to try and stop myself from breathing too hard, also because the stink from the Dumpsters was getting worse by the second. The person with the gun stopped, but another set of footsteps kept walking forward. Great, I thought. Now there ’s two of them. Nice going, Zack!

The two people started rummaging around in the Dumpsters. The air smelled even worse. I doubted they were homeless dudes looking for something to eat. The homeless didn’t walk around carrying guns. They were looking for someone...and that most likely was me. How did they know I was there? If they’d seen me go in there, I probably would’ve seen them, too. I couldn’t understand anything that was going on. The only thing I could do was keep quiet and hope they’d leave soon - preferably without hurting me.

As the footsteps neared the Dumpsters where I was wedged, I started saying my last prayers. Go away, I pleaded. I’m not here!

Someone answered my prayers, but my savior wasn’t anything I could’ve ever imagined. A girl’s voice yelled, “Hey!” The two people stopped. In the dim light, I saw the bigger one turn and face the voice. He held the gun loosely in his hand, which probably meant he wasn’t concerned about the girl. Honestly, I didn’t blame him. He was big and burly, with muscles that bulged from under his black T-shirt and tattoos all up and down his arms. I couldn’t see his face thanks to the dark, and I really didn’t want to. The other guy was nowhere in sight - probably at the end of the alleyway.

Burly Man spoke with a high and nasal voice. It sounded like he had been punched in the face and was still in pain. “What do you want, kid?”

“This is my alley,” she replied. “Get out.”

Something was strange about her. Maybe she didn’t see those two had guns. She wouldn’t have been that confident otherwise. Another thing was when she spoke, she hesitated a bit before every word and had a slight accent, like English was her second language. Lastly: her alley? What did that mean?

Maybe she was homeless, I guessed. She didn’t sound too happy about other people trespassing. But, come on. Why would you think it’d be a good idea to threaten two grown men, especially when one of them could snap your neck like a twig?

The second guy sneered. His voice was deep and raspy, like he had been smoking cigarettes since he was born. “Choose your next words wisely. They might be your last.”

“I could say the same for you,” the girl replied evenly. “I warn you one last time: get out of my alley.”

The guy with the nasal voice laughed. He cocked his gun and pointed it in the direction of the girl’s voice. “Or what? Get a load of this pipsqueak!”

I was tempted to jump out and help the girl. Whoever she was, and however confident she may have been, she was in trouble. There was no way that she’d come out unscathed if the two of them ganged up on her. Bad things happened in alley fights, and were usually worse when it came to young girls. But how could I help? The only weapon I had was my killer personality, but I doubted any of the people in front of me would be swayed.

Bang.

I instinctively put my hands over my head. There she goes, I thought. The girl was dead. Then those guys would find me and shoot me too, if I was lucky. If not, they’d have their fun torturing me first and then they’d kill me.

I quickly realized that the glimmer of the gun hadn’t moved from my line of sight. Burly Man hadn’t moved a muscle. His gun wasn’t steaming from the bullet. My second guess was that Smoker had shot, but it didn’t make sense. The sound of the bullet seemed to be coming from my right, where the entrance to the alley was.. .That was when it clicked.

The girl had pulled a gun.

A thump told me she had hit Smoker, since Burly was still standing in front of me. Honestly, that scared me more. What would happen when the girl found me there? Would she shoot me, too? For a moment, I was more terrified of this new girl than these two gang members. If she was this hostile about people showing up in her alley and she knew I was hiding there, waiting for the violence to be over.yeah, this wouldn’t end well.

A second of silence passed, then Burly roared with rage. “I’ll kill you!”

“I’d like to see you try, Fatso.”

Yeah, this wasn’t any regular homeless girl. She spoke with confidence, like nobody could do anything to hurt her. Yet she sounded younger than the man, or maybe that was because it didn’t sound like her nose was broken. Burly was easily past his thirties, considering how big he was and the tone of his voice. Scary Girl had to be around my age, maybe a bit older, but I couldn’t be sure, since I hadn’t gotten to see her (which was completely fine by me). One thing was certain: she wasn’t an adult yet. She’d taken a man’s life without blinking an eye, and she didn’t seem the least bit concerned her life was on the line.

Who was this kid?

Burly wrapped two hands around the gun handle, and I knew the guy was either going to shoot back or charge the girl. Turns out it was the second option. He disappeared from view, and I heard heavy footsteps pounding on the ground. Okay, I thought. This is where she really dies.

If you have a gun, catching someone off guard and killing them is easy. But this guy moved so fast I almost couldn’t see him. Even if the girl could shoot before he got to her, going for a moving target was no easy task. Plus, with his size and strength, he probably wouldn’t go down with a single bullet.

Once again, I was wrong. I heard quite a bit of scuffling, grunting, gunshots and cracks of bones breaking. It was sickening. I expected to hear the girl yell out in pain at some point, but the only thing I heard from her was heavy panting. In fact, Burly sounded like he was having a tough time standing his ground against her. I really needed to get out of that alley. I didn’t want to get on her bad side.

With a last snap and shout of pain came another thump - the sound of someone’s body collapsing on the ground. Only then did I risk peeking out between the Dumpsters.

Two bodies were sprawled across the concrete at opposite ends of the alley. One was at the back, drowned in a pool of blood. That had to be Smoker. The other was crawling at the entrance of the alley, coughing and groaning, similarly covered in blood. His head was drenched in it, and his left leg was bent at an unnatural angle as he struggled to get up. A red boot stomped his head into the ground with another crack.

“Stay down, mutt,” the girl growled.

With the streetlight at her back, I could only make out her silhouette. She wore a baggy sweatshirt and a hood covering the top of her head, despite it being summertime. She was tall, probably as tall as me, and her bulky boots were slightly concerning. I hoped they were supposed to be red, and not stained by the blood of her victims. Her jeans were black like her hoodie and were all ripped up. Again, I hoped they were supposed to be ripped, and weren’t torn to shreds because of all the fights she got in. Her fists were dripping blood, which probably meant her knuckles were cracked open. She was panting heavily as she shoved something into her pocket...Her gun, I assumed.

“He called me pipsqueak.” She kicked his body. “I’m taller than both of them”

I resisted the urge to throw up. As bad as those guys might have been, this girl was worse. There was no doubt about that. She had just killed two men in cold blood, and was now mangling one of their corpses and calling them names. I have to get out of here, I thought for the millionth time. Like, now.

Once again, life said LOL.

She lifted her head, and the two of us briefly made eye contact. In the shadow of her hood, I couldn’t see much aside from the fact that she had a black mask covering the bottom half of her face. She clearly didn’t want people recognizing her, which concerned me even more. Was she on the run or something? Then I belatedly realized that she had seen me, too. And I was about to get the snot kicked out of me.

The girl slipped her hand back in her hoodie pocket and rapidly approached me. I tried to scramble backwards, but there was nowhere to run, unless I wanted to merge with the wall. She grabbed the collar of my shirt, lifted me up and slammed me against the wall. Another thing I briefly noticed: Scary Girl was strong enough to pick me up off the ground with one arm. There was no doubt that she had been trained to kill. She couldn’t have gotten that strong by herself. But why did she think I was a threat? I’d literally been cowering in between two Dumpsters the whole fight.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

Now that she was closer, I saw she had short, blonde hair that poked out of her hood and fell messily onto her forehead. Her eyes were the most intense and darkest shade of blue I’d ever seen. She had a spray of freckles across the bridge of her nose and a scar on her left eyebrow. I just wished I could’ve seen that face from far, far away, preferably behind a strong wall of glass. Or, you know, on a television screen broadcasting from somewhere on the other side of the world.

I tried to say something along the lines of, “I’m not a threat”, “please get off of me”, or “have you seen Adonis?”, but the only thing I managed to get out was, “Don’t kill me!”

The girl seemed to find this amusing. She cocked her scarred eyebrow. “Give me one good reason why not.”

I tried to think of something, anything, I could say to at least spare me a few seconds of life. But even if I could, and I tried attacking her and running away, she would absolutely destroy me. I also didn’t think she’d find any of my jokes funny.

Before I could decide on what to do, I was saved once again.

I’d been spared from two gangsters by a teenaged girl who stomped their heads into the ground. I could only hope this wouldn’t be a similar situation. Anybody who could bring this girl down was someone to stay even further away from.

“Danny!” a higher pitched voice called. “I heard gunshots. Is everything okay?”

My second savior bounced into the alley. She was a lot less intimidating than the other teen, thankfully. She wore a dark blue cloak over her shoulders with the hood covering her head. Red bangs poked through, and she wore a playful white and blue dress that reached mid-thigh. Her gray high tops slapped against the pavement as she skipped towards us. She came to a stop next to her friend, and her head barely reached the other girl’s shoulder. A white mask covered her face, and her eyes were as clear as the sky. She didn’t make any threatening moves, which was slightly reassuring.

The scary girl (did her friend call her Danny?) didn’t even turn her way. “This idiot was hiding while I took out those two. I’m gonna kill him, so scram before things get messy.”

The redhead furrowed her brows. She didn’t seem to like the idea of her friend slitting my throat. Maybe she’s actually kind of normal, I thought.

“But he might be a good guy.”

“I am!” I protested, and I felt Dan’s grip tighten on my throat. I didn’t want to say anything that might anger her further, but I figured I should shoot my shot. If the shorter girl thought I was good, maybe, just maybe, she could convince her scary friend. Majority rules, right? America’s supposed to be a democratic country, after all. “I just wandered in here and those two followed me. I don’t know who they were!”

Dan scowled. “So you led them here?”

“He seems nice,” the short girl pointed out. “Plus, he’s not threatening you or anyone else. I think we should let him go.” “Let him go?” Dan finally tore her gaze away from me to stare at the redhead. “Gwen, don’t you remember the last time I let someone go? Why should I do that again?”

Gwen seemed slightly hurt. “That wasn’t your fault.”

Now, that was a twist. Dan had actually had the chance to kill someone and she let them go? Who was the lucky dude? More importantly, what had they done to make Dan never want to spare someone again? This person could be on her same level, or worse. I decided I never wanted to cross paths with them.. .whoever they were.

“What’s going on?” I meekly asked. “I’d also appreciate it if neither of you slit my throat.”

Dan sighed, releasing me. She seemed to forget that her hand was the only thing holding me against the wall, so I promptly stumbled to the ground. (Knowing her, she probably didn’t forget; she did it on purpose). I coughed, brushing gravel off my stinging knees as I stood back up.

“Thanks a lot,” I muttered.

Dan shrugged, taking her hood off. Her hair was undercut and wavy, typical punk style. Belatedly, I wondered if she was a tomboy rebel who got kicked to the streets because her parents couldn’t handle her. That would’ve been the only thing that made sense that night.

Gwen, on the other hand, seemed a bit too innocent to be running with Dan. The blonde girl had asked her to leave the alleyway while she killed me, indicating she didn’t want her to see the mess. Another thing was Gwen seemed ready to trust me, while her friend couldn’t even look at me without the urge to kill me. I wondered what their story was. They definitely weren’t your typical homeless New Yorkers. Then again, they didn’t seem like they were running with a gang. I couldn’t see any visible tattoos on either of them, and the redhead was clearly unarmed, unlike her friend. So who exactly were they?

Gwen glanced behind her at the street. “You heard him too, didn’t you?”

Dan shook her head. “Didn’t see him, but sounded like his voice.” At that point she snapped, pulled out her gun and leveled it at my head. The cold metal pressed into my skin, which was a sensation I never wanted to feel again. “Did you take him?!” “Who?” I yelped, raising my hands.

There it was. The moment I realized I was seconds away from dying. Whatever I answered would tick the blonde off and she’d shoot. Do you realize how terrifying it is having your life in someone else’s hands? People usually throw around the phrases I’d die for you, and I trust you with my life, but very rarely understand the true meaning behind those words. If someone actually had power over your life, would you be that calm?

Sorry, I got philosophical. Where was I? Oh, right. I was on the brink of death.

The shorter girl saved me again. She reached out timidly and gently lowered her friend’s arm. “I think he’s telling the truth,” she said slowly. “He must be scared. I mean, he just witnessed you kill two men and you’re threatening him with a gun now.”

I wanted to shout,you’re an angeli

Dan didn’t stop glaring at me, but she stuffed her gun back into her pocket. “You trust too easily. What’s your name, loser?”

“I’m Zack,” I managed, wondering if it would be undignified to jump into a Dumpster and hide. I also asked myself if it would do any good to beg her not to come after my family. “Zack Davis.”

Both of them seemed shocked. I thought I said something wrong, or maybe they could tell I was scared of a couple teenage girls. It could’ve been both.

“If you really are that Zack,” Dan said, her glare becoming slightly less intimidating, “then you have to know where he is.”

“Who are you looking for?” I demanded. “I don’t even know who you are, never mind who this dude is.”

That slipped out involuntarily. I almost put my hands up, just in case I got a gun pulled on me again, but turned out I didn’t have to.

“He’s got a point,” Gwen giggled. “Sorry, but Danny here can be a bit much.”

“Shut up!” Dan hissed, elbowing the shorter girl. “Listen.” For a moment, all I could hear was my heart hammering in my rib cage. Gwen frowned as she looked back and forth before shrugging, indicating she hadn’t heard anything. I almost asked if the gunshots had left a ringing sound in her ears, but the blonde evidently had better hearing than we did. Her head snapped upwards.

“Stick with the idiot.”

“What’s happening?” Gwen asked anxiously.

“I said shut up,” she snapped. “It’d be best if you got out of here, too. Try to make as little noise as possible”

She raised her arm, like she had a burning question in class. Then she was gone. At the time, I had no idea how it happened. All that was left of Dan was a swirling trail of dust.

I blinked, thankful the blonde had gone, but still scared out of my mind. She’d probably appear out of nowhere again and yell boo, then laugh as I died from a heart attack. Boy, I was on a roll with dark thoughts.

“What exactly is going on?” I asked the redhead. She seemed quite a bit more sociable than her counterpart. Unfortunately, she didn’t answer my question and asked me one instead.

“Why are you out here?” She walked in a slow circle around me, scanning me up and down. “Are you with the gang, too? Is that why Danny wanted to kill you?”

For a moment, I was confused. Gang? Then I realized she was talking about the two guys Dan had murdered. If she knew the two of them were running with a gang, was she herself part of one? Strangely, Gwen didn’t strike me as the type. She seemed far too caring and too trusting. I decided I’d be honest with her.

“I was looking for a friend,” I explained. “He called me and told me to come here. By the time I got here, he said I’d better leave if I valued my life. And then those guys showed up.”

“It was Adonis, wasn’t it?” That caught me completely off guard. I stared at the girl, but she kept walking in a circle around me, as though she hadn’t said anything crazy - like, you know, knowing my best friend, when he’d never mentioned anything about her.

“How do you know him?”

Gwen’s eyebrows furrowed as she finally came to a stop. “He never told you?”

Whatever she said next was drowned out by a series of gunshots, screaming, and what sounded like bodies getting thrown into the wall. Dan had to be in the alley next to us. I instinctively backed away from the wall where I had been pinned.

“What is wrong with that girl?”

“Sounds like Danny’s got it covered” Gwen walked over to the Street and peeked around the corner of the alley.

Got it covered?SO those hellish sounds were normal for her? A small voice in the back of my head said that she might not even fully understand the situation, and that people could actually, you know, die. Not exist anymore. You get the idea.

Stili, something about the situation was off. Okay, the whole thing was off, but you know what I mean. If the two were running with a gang, why were they looking for a friend, and why did the two girls seem to care SO much for each other? AISO, why were they SO intent on finding this friend? Could they also have been looking for Adonis, just like me?

Turning back to me, Gwen started to say, “All clear...” but stopped short when she spotted something. She gasped, pulled her hood up and ran off to the next alleyway.

I stopped for a second. This was my chance to run. To dash off down the street, run into my house, dive into bed, and promise myself to never, ever sneak out again. But when I heard coughing from the alley next to the one I was in, I hesitated. Who knew what had happened? When Dan got into the mix, there’d been lots of violence.

But who knew if she was hurt? For some reason, I didn’t like the idea. I hated seeing people suffer, even if they happened to be young criminals in the making. Unable to stop myself, I followed after Gwen.

Dan was kneeling on the ground in the next alley, blood splattered all over her dark clothes. Her breathing was ragged, but when she lifted her gaze, it was pretty obvious she was mostly unharmed. Finding a teenage girl surrounded by a lake of someone else’s blood was unsettling to say the least. But what got my attention was who was lying at her feet.

It was a boy, lying face down on the concrete, his back rising and falling at a steady pace. His long, black hair was strewn about wildly across the ground. Even though I couldn’t see his face, I knew exactly who he was. I couldn’t bring myself to take another step.