by Nicole Thorn
I scrambled to find something to say that wouldn’t end with us being put in the back of a police car. We wouldn’t let it get as far as the station of course but killing two officers wasn’t really on my list of things to do before I died, and these people were only trying to do their jobs. I wouldn’t hurt them unless they gave me a reason to.
I swallowed, trying to speak. “I... people came after us,” I said.
“A man walked toward us with obvious intent to harm,” Becket added. “If she didn’t do something, we may not be here right now.”
“So, it was self-defense,” Song asked, not quite doubtful. “What about the people you were speaking with? We saw them bring you over to a group of people, and you didn’t leave. Were you forced into it?”
We sort of were. Dolan asked us to come over and explain what happened, so we went with him. Really, we probably could have left if we wanted to but I was so far past caring at that point. Though... this was a good way out.
“Yes,” I lied, and then took Becket’s hand, hoping he would catch on. “They said that if we didn’t follow them, then we would die. So, we did as they said because I didn’t want to lose Becket, too.”
I felt guilty for saying something so untrue about people who offered us help but it was a means to an end. If I bought Dolan some candy later, he would probably forgive me for this small sin.
“That’s how you got out alive?” Black asked us. “You did as you were told, and they let you live?”
I nodded. “Maybe it wasn’t my family they were after when they attacked our store because they clearly didn’t want me dead. Just... just the rest of them,” I said sadly.
“You probably have little to do with the business side of things,” the woman remarked. “But the rest of your family did.”
“What happens now?” I asked. “Are we going to prison?”
Black took another deep breath. “If what you say is true, then you were forced into it. Depending on how good a lawyer you get, you might get off pretty easy. But we’re still piecing together the remaining footage from the ball. We have other people to question, and evidence to go over. This won’t be finished for a very long time, and both of you are not in the clear. We need to bring you in for more questioning.”
Oh, this was not at all good.
I heard the faint knocking of glass from behind us. Then it shattered, and the officers went for their guns, telling us to move out of the way. We did as we were told.
I smiled when I saw three bodies happily sauntering through the house, smiling back at us as Dolan waved grandly.
“Put your weapon down!” Black ordered Dolan, who had a bat over his shoulders. Then there was Kentucky with her machete, and Merry with no weapon at all, which was oddly scarier.
“Nah,” Dolan said. “We’re all good.”
Both of the officers stopped, eyes going wide as they began to gasp. I didn’t know what was happening but Becket watched them with focused eyes. They both dropped hard to the floor, their guns sliding away from them. Merry scooped them up, smirking at each, and she tucked them away.
“Um,” I said to Becket. “You do that?”
“Yes. Cut off the blood to their brains. They’re not dead but they’ll be out for a while.”
“Dammit!” Dolan groaned. “You kids keep stealing all my fun. I mean... I’m glad we didn’t get shot but you gotta give me something! What’s the point of any of this if you can’t crack someone in the head once in a while?”
“Sorry?” Becket said.
I rubbed his back and kissed his arm. “Don’t worry about it, sweetie. You did really good. That was pretty cool, actually.”
“I agree,” Merry said. “Simple. Clean. I like it.”
“I prefer more blood,” Kentucky added. “If you don’t make a mess, it’s like it never happened.”
Dolan snapped, pointing at her. “She gets it.”
I sighed. “We have enough issues as it is, so blood and dead cops would have been bad.” And again, I didn’t think they deserved to die for this, though I didn’t like the woman accusing us of things. We did them, sure but don’t assume anything. Rude.
“Not a problem,” Dolan said. “You kids all packed up and ready to go?”
“We are,” Becket said.
“Good.” The man smiled wide at us. “Then that means this is the first day of the rest of your life... I always wanted to say that.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
A Family of Sorts
Becket
Dolan stuffed us all into the back of a beat-up old bus that had loose seats. The windows were so scratched up that the scenery turned into a foggy blur as we started driving. I could not tell where we were going. All I knew was that Dolan was either a terrible driver, or we passed over every rock and pothole the road had to offer.
Manny and I sat in the very back, huddled into the corner of the bus, holding hands. Dolan was up front, with Kentucky right behind him. Her chin rested on the seat, and she’d point things out on occasion. I couldn’t hear her from where I sat but based on Dolan’s laughter, she must have been amusing.
I turned my attention back to Manny. She peered up at me and smiled. It was such a simple look but the love I saw in her eyes meant the world to me. I could drown in that, and yet never die. “How are you feeling?” she asked, leaning into me. The comedy/tragedy masks had remained on her face somehow, and they both seemed to be laughing at me, not that I minded.
“I’m fine,” I said. “You?”
“Relieved that we’re finally moving,” Manny responded. She squeezed my fingers tightly. “I was worried that someone would take you away from me.”
“Never,” I said, immediately.
Another smile spread across her face, and her eyes seemed to twinkle at me. I would have kissed her but we hit a particularly bad pothole and ended up almost bouncing out of the seat.
“Sorry!” Dolan called over his shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’re almost there!”
I glanced at Manny, and she shrugged. We almost spilled out of our seats when Dolan took a corner. Manny’s shoulder slammed into mine when the bus righted itself, and I caught her easily. She glared up front. “Remind me never to get in a car that he’s driving again.”
“Okay,” I said.
Manny patted my thigh as the bus came shuddering to a stop. “C’mon kids,” Dolan called back to us. “We’ve got about an hour to pack this place up and head out before the cops find us. Not that I’m worried, or anything. It’s mostly because our deposit is up, and the people renting this house are...” His voice trailed away as he got off the bus.
Kentucky stood up again and turned to look back at us. She chewed on some gum, looking amused. “Yeah, c’mon. We won’t bite but if we do, please bite back. We love that.” She gave us a wink, and then Manny and I sat alone on the bus. We left our bags, figuring we’d only have to load them up again later, and climbed off the bus.
The yellow paint job on the outside had been covered with green spray paint. It had started chipping off, leaving gray, rusted metal behind. Every time I looked at the bus, I got more concerned about Manny’s safety. If she died on that thing, I didn’t think I’d ever get over it.
We had come up to a house that stood on the edge of the woods. There were others around but most of them were empty. Summer homes. Most people didn’t like to use them during winter because the heater was shoddy, if my memory was correct. My father had explained it to me once.
The thought filled me with an emptiness I had to shove aside, before Manny grew concerned. I didn’t want her to worry over me. I hadn’t earned that kind of love or care. I hadn’t earned anything.
Kentucky held the door open, and we stepped inside the small house, into chaos. There were people everywhere. At second glance, I realized there were only about fifteen to twenty but the amount of noise they made caused it to seem like more. Dolan put his fingers into his mouth while Merry closed the door behind us.
A piercing w
histle brought silence to the room, and all eyes turned to us. “Kids, we’ve got some new additions,” Dolan called out. “This here is Becket, and this one is Manny. Treat them like family.”
Someone threw a water balloon at us. It missed but Dolan raised an eyebrow and said, “Don’t mind Cyn. She’s still pissed that her parents named her something so awful.” He clapped his hands together. “Gather up your belongings. We’re hitting the road.”
“Do we have a new job?” Kentucky asked, raising her eyebrows.
“Not yet but soon,” Dolan responded. He turned to look at us with a wide grin. “There’s always someone looking for a little outside help. I’m sure I’ll get a contract the second I change our status to available.”
“Status?” Manny asked.
Dolan nodded. “On the website.”
“You have a website?” Manny sounded surprised, and maybe a little horrified.
“Oh, it’s not mine,” Dolan said. “But these people need to find me somewhere, and all the other mercenaries. So, someone made a website with all kinds of protections on it, and we pay a flat fee every month to stay on it.”
Manny stared at him.
Dolan ruffled her hair with a huge smile, then walked off.
“He’s joking, right?” Manny asked.
Merry shrugged a shoulder. “We never really know but we get jobs regularly, so if he is, then he’s keeping his cards close to his chest. Now, I’ve got like four things I need to go pack. Shouldn’t take me too long. An hour at the most.” She wandered off with Kentucky, leaving Manny and myself behind.
She took me to a corner with a couch, shoving me down on it so that we could watch all the kids moving around. The oldest appeared to be Kentucky, who couldn’t have been more than twenty-two, and the youngest looked about fourteen. He also stuck out the most because had dyed green hair and a tendency to yell at everything around us while flailing.
“That’s Rave,” someone said from our right. Manny jumped but I just looked over to find the kid that had been nailed with the chandelier. He sat on a couch, with his legs propped up in front of him. His eyes were kind of glassy, probably from painkillers or the pain itself. “Ignore him. He’s a brat but won’t cause too much trouble unless you give him a reason.”
“Okay,” Manny said.
The kid held his hand out. “I’m Duncan. I’d like to thank you both for helping me not die. I’ve always thought that not dying was a good goal in life, even if it’s unattainable.”
Manny shook his hand, and I followed suit. He dropped it back down, then laid flat on the couch. He had kind of a gray cast to him, which his brown hair did not help. Neither did his gray eyes because they gave us something to compare the color to. Normally, he had darkish skin. I thought he might be half-Hispanic but it was hard to tell when he looked so ill.
“Are you feeling better?” Manny asked.
“I’m high out of my mind right now, which is pretty good,” Duncan said thoughtfully. “It would be better if I had something to munch on. I don’t suppose either of you brought fries?”
“No,” Manny said. “I left all my potatoes at home.”
“Damn,” Duncan responded. “I could really use some salty goodness. I guess I’ll have to settle for the tears of my enemy. Excuse me while I go find my enemy, and make them cry.”
He started to sit up but another boy shoved him down with a careless flick of his wrist. “You will do no such thing, you fool,” the new guy said.
“C’mon, Grover. It’ll be fun. We can have sex in their blood. Haven’t you ever wanted to do that?”
“Not particularly,” Grover responded dryly. He glanced at us, sighing. “He’s not joking when he says he’s high out of his mind. Please don’t let him get up. Last time he did, I found him passed out on the bathroom floor, mumbling about how the dust bunnies tried to rise up and overthrow him as their king.”
Manny compressed her lips, while I cocked my head. “Why was he their king?”
“I’ve no idea,” Grover said, running a hand through dark red hair. He turned back to Duncan. “Stay here. I’ll pack your shit but if you move again, you ain’t getting any of this until I declare you one hundred percent healed. Understood?” He waved to his body to emphasize the point.
Duncan nodded severely. “Yes. I understand. No sit, no dick.”
Manny’s lips compressed again as Grover walked away, shaking his head. Duncan turned back to her. “He’s such a worrier. Ignore him, and help me get up and get potatoes. Don’t you want some?”
“Why don’t you stay here, and I’ll hunt up some food for you?” Manny asked.
Duncan gave her a huge smiled, agreeing. The two of us stood up and started looking around. We found no food but we did find Kentucky. She leaned against the counter, cleaning her machete. When she saw us, her smile seemed genuine. “Hey. Something up?”
“There is a high kid on the couch who wants fries,” I said.
Kentucky scrunched her face up. “Of course. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll find something for Duncan. How are the two of you doing?”
“Good,” Manny said immediately. “Everyone here seems pretty young.”
Kentucky popped her gum again, twirling her machete in her hand. It was a laid-back gesture that suggested she had done it a thousand times before. “Yeah,” she said. “Dolan’s got a knack for finding fucked up kids and giving them the family they need. When he found me, I was fifteen, posing as a prostitute, and killing people in back alleys when they tried to buy me. It paid the rent but was a terrible way to stay off the radar. I had more cops after me than you did. Now I’m a reformed serial killer.” She winked at the tail end of that.
“Are you?” I asked. “You seem to kill a lot, still.”
“Oh, that makes me a mass murderer. It’s completely different, sweetheart.”
“I can see that,” Manny said.
“Dolan wasn’t even worried that I’d kill him in his sleep,” Kentucky continued. Then her face turned a little wistful and sad. “I didn’t want to, though. He was the first person to show me any kindness. I think... He had two kids. Twins. They both died, and I think he took me in right afterward. I think he was lonely, and that he misses them, so he makes up for it by doing this.” She gestured to the house around us. Then she sighed. “Anyway, I have to get Duncan some food before he reverts to eating the couch. We’ll never get our safety deposit back if he does that Of course, with all the jewels we lifted, who needs deposits back?” She grabbed some crackers and left the room. Manny and I stood there, watching everyone pack with such efficiency. More than any teenagers I’d met could move with.
She stared up at me. “What do you think, Becket? Think we can stay here?”
“I like them,” I said, tucking my hands into my pockets. I tried to think of something else to stay. Something more, that would explain why I liked them, and why I liked staying here. Finally, I shrugged and said, “I think they are like me. Something isn’t right with them.”
Manny frowned, and put her arms around me. “There is nothing wrong with you,” she said. “But you are right. These people are like us. That shouldn’t comfort me as much as it does but I feel okay here. I haven’t felt okay in a long, long time.”
I brushed my hands down her hair, feeling each strand. “They’ll make sure I never lose you, and that’s all I want.”
Manny peered up at me with wide, adoring eyes. “That’s all I want, too.”
Epilogue
Hello Again
Manny
I had slept well, which I found interesting. Maybe better than I’d slept in a while but I couldn’t be sure. I’d also slept well that night Becket and I slept together for the first time. Despite all the bad things happening then, I’d slept okay. This was different because the bad things were over, and I could relax.
We were moving, and no one really knew where we were going. To get a job or settle for a while, I wasn’t sure. But we’d left right after we got to the house yes
terday, and spent the rest of the day driving. We’d stopped and checked into a motel, taking up most of the rooms with the twenty or so people we had with us. Becket and I got our own, which I was very happy about. Though I wouldn’t have minded if we had to share with Merry.
Becket and I were up and ready to go, waiting on the call from the rest of the team. Admittedly, I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. We worked for Dolan, obviously but Becket and I didn’t know how to do the job. Killing people when he pointed us in a direction? Was that it? I worried that I would fuck up and we would lose the new home we’d gotten.
I laid on Becket as he sat against the headboard of our bed, stroking my arm with his fingers. It made everything a lot less scary when he was there, and I could think about him instead.
I turned my head to get a glance at Becket. “Are you worried at all about all of this?”
“No,” he said simply. “Are you?”
“A little.”
“Why?”
I wiggled on him, turning so we were lying with our fronts against each other. My chest was at his stomach, and I rested my chin on my arms in front of me. “We have nowhere else to go. If something goes bad, then we’re all alone in the world.”
Becket shrugged. “I don’t think that will happen. But if it does, we still have each other. No matter what, you and I are the least each other will have. And if you’re all I have; I can get by on that with ease.”
I smiled and moved up so that our bodies were flush with each other. I gave him a kiss, and all the stress went away. All we needed to do was be good to the people around us and respect Dolan. We would be fine as long as we tried. I think.
A light knocking at our door had me up on my feet in a moment. Becket walked behind me, his hands on my hips as I went to invite the guest in.
It was Alice and Maggie, two other girls that worked for Dolan. I didn’t talk to them much so far but I had gathered a few things. Alice was barely twenty, with a curly mop of hair on her head. It was black, which made her sky-blue eyes pop like crazy. And she looked really sad all of the time but she never sounded sad. I couldn’t figure out if she was pretending, or if that was just her face.
