by Kym Brunner
When the zombie killer lopped off the head of the pilot, Lucy scrunched her face into my chest and screamed, so I did the only manly thing—I imitated her, screaming and holding my free hand to my mouth, making her laugh so hard, she choked on her Sprite. I patted her back until she recovered, and she put her hand on my knee when she thanked me. I never knew having a girlfriend was so much fun.
After the movie ended, I couldn’t tell you which passengers had survived the zombie attack and which ones bit the dust, but I did make up my mind to kiss Lucy before the evening was over. As we stood up and made our way to the exit, I thought of a great opportunity I couldn’t let pass me by. I purposely waited for the rest of our group to file out ahead of us by grabbing Lucy around the waist, tickling her, dawdling. When we reached the door, I casually pulled her to the side in the darkness.
She laughed quietly. “Hey! What are you doing?”
“This.” I leaned her against the wall in the dark and put my mouth on hers, and she gently kissed me back. Her lips were soft and buttery and I loved all ten seconds of it. The kiss was so amazing, I didn’t even bother checking to see if her eyes were closed. Who cared, anyway? I felt proud that I had found the guts to put myself out there and was rewarded for my efforts. “I was dying to do that all night,” I said, and then, thinking of the movie, I quickly added, “but I mean that in a healthy, alive way.”
She laughed again. “I liked it in a healthy, alive way too.”
We shared another mind-blowing kiss before heading out of the theater. I was so completely happy, I worried my heart would burst. No wonder Lincoln spent so much time trying to win over girls. This was exhilarating.
We caught up to the rest of the gang hand in hand, and Charlie spun around. “Goodness golly! I turn my back for a minute, and you two go sneaking off on us.”
“Our deepest apologies. Lucy and I were watching the credits.” I grinned and squeezed her hand, and she squeezed back.
“Thanks for making us wait,” Reed grumbled under his breath, cranky as an old man.
“We didn’t mind. Jeanette and I were practicing our dance moves.” Charlie grabbed Jeanette’s hand and spun her in a circle. She complied, giggling all the while. I noticed he didn’t let go of her hand afterward, so things must have been going well between the two of them also. Good for Charlie.
We plodded along behind a mass of people heading toward the lobby, but I didn’t care how long it would take. I wanted this night to last as long as possible. Lucy and I swung our hands as we walked, accidentally bumping the couple in front of us. The guy turned around.
“She did it,” I told him, pointing to Lucy.
“I did not!” she squealed, hitting me.
Reed shook his head and jammed his hands into his pockets.
So Reed was obviously still mad, even though I had already apologized twice. Couldn’t do anything more about it now. Maybe tomorrow I’d buy him lunch after we went off-roading. If that was still on.
When we got to the lobby, we stood in a circle off to the side, deciding what to do next. I couldn’t care less what we did as long as I could stay out with Lucy, so I spent my time amusing her by trying to beat her at thumb wars.
Reed zipped his hoodie. “Where are we going to eat?”
“Nowhere that I’m going to have to watch you guys hork down meat, or I’ll be sick.” Haley hugged her purse to her chest.
After I victoriously pinned Lucy’s thumb down, I asked Haley, “You mean watching all those people eat humans didn’t bother you, but having someone eat chicken will?”
Lucy slapped my arm playfully. “Be nice, Mercer.”
Haley scowled at me. “One’s real, one’s not.”
Talk about no sense of humor. Haley probably enjoyed attending wakes. I wasn’t even sure why Lucy and Jeanette hung out with her.
Lucy attempted to lighten the mood. “I thought the sickest part was when the lifeguard zombie ripped off the pilot’s arm and started chewing on it.”
Charlie imitated the Australian pilot flailing around, holding one arm behind his back. “Aaaaah! My arm. Don’t eat my arm, dude!” He started hobbling toward Jeanette, dragging a leg and swaying from side to side. She squealed in mock horror, dashing out of his way.
Reed laughed. “Ha! That kind of reminds me of what your hawk did to that chipmunk the other day, huh, Mercer?” He paused, holding a hand to his mouth. “Whoops.”
I froze, a bullet to my gut. Reed challenged me with his eyes. Clearly his statement was no accident. The little baby was tattling on me because he was angry—the same way Maddie had, but she was only ten years old. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Reed.”
“Wait. A hawk?” Lucy looked at him and then at me. “What does that mean?”
I answered before Reed could. “Who knows? Reed gets confused easily, just like in school. I mean, flunking kindergarten? How dumb can you be?” I knew I was being mean, but he had crossed the guy code and he knew it.
“Shut up,” Reed said, his voice laced with battery acid. “At least I’m not a liar.”
If I could have whipped him to the ground and punched his face in, I would have. But since he had twenty pounds on me, I used my only weapon: sarcasm. “You’re right. I lied. You aren’t only confused in school, you need a tutor after school too.”
Lucy let go of my hand, but whether it was because of what Reed had said to me or what I’d said to him, I had no idea.
“Screw you, Mercer.” The chords in Reed’s neck were pulled taut, and the fire in his eyes made me nervous.
I didn’t want to have this conversation, not in front of Lucy. “Right back at you.” I glared at him. “So how about we just drop this whole thing for now and go eat, okay?” I headed toward the door, glad when I heard the rest of the group following.
As we reached the front of the theater, a dweeby male employee in a red vest cheerily told us, “Have a good night, folks.”
I wanted to say that after Reed’s little blowout, I wasn’t sure we could. We walked outside into the crisp night air. Maybe the chill would cool Reed off and shut him up. Lucy was still looking unsettled so I mouthed to her, “I’ll tell you later.” She nodded, and I stepped closer, wanting to get us back into the good mood from a few minutes ago.
Jeanette looked at Charlie. “What was all that about?”
“I’m befuddled, darlin’,” Charlie said, trying out an Irish brogue. “Boys will be boys.”
“It was nothing,” I said sharply, hoping my tone would give her the indicator to drop it. “Let’s forget about it, okay?” When I glanced at Lucy, I noticed she was shivering. I rubbed the sides of her arms briskly for a few seconds before throwing my arm around her shoulder, the way I’d seen Lincoln do at football games with his dates. “So . . . should we go to Starbucks? No major food complaints there, right?”
“Sounds good to me,” Lucy said, smiling. “You might even say I’m dying for a hot chocolate.”
“I’d kill for one,” I added.
“Starbucks?” Charlie wailed, invoking his one-armed pilot shtick. “How can I drink coffee without an arm?” Good old Charlie, trying to help me out by providing a diversion.
“With your other one, dummy,” I told him. “Let’s go.”
We had taken only ten steps toward Starbucks when Haley asked, “So do you really have a hawk, Mercer?” She had to go and bring up the unwanted topic like a regurgitated worm.
Before I could think of a response, Reed said, “Yep. It’s a red-tailed hawk named Flip.”
His disloyalty was a stab in the heart. “Shut up, Reed.” I pulled my arm off Lucy and took a step toward him, my hands in fists. “I can answer for myself.”
“Then do it. You’ve had weeks to fess up. What’re you waiting for?” He spat on the ground, as if drawing the proverbial line in the sand with his saliva.
“Maybe if you shut up, I will.” I stepped forward and pushed his shoulder, not hard, but enough for him to know I wasn’t screwing around. He sl
apped my hand away, and shoved me back. I’d braced myself, having been conditioned by Lincoln’s retaliations, barely moving an inch. We stood three feet apart, giving each other the eye-to-eye stare-down.
Charlie wedged his body between ours, his gut edging me back a few steps. He chuckled. “You see what happens when I let these guys watch a violent movie?” He shook his head in mock disgust. “That’s it. Only G-rated movies from now on for you two.”
“So is he right? Do you own a hawk, Mercer?” Lucy asked, the group reclustering in a circle. “I don’t get it. Is it like a pet?” Strands of hair blew across her face. But I could still see the confusion in her eyes.
“For God’s sake, Lucy. Wake up. People don’t have hawks as pets. They use them to do their dirty work, hunting down and killing innocent animals.” Haley’s superior attitude made me want to jump kick her in the face the way they do in Commando Force.
“You go hunting?” Lucy’s mouth dropped open.
Frickin’ Reed. I couldn’t believe he’d do this to me. I watched him taking it all in, his broad shoulders hunched against the breeze inside his navy blue Chicago Bears hoodie. I bet he was loving every minute of it.
“Actually I’m learning how to be a falconer,” I told Lucy, remembering Lincoln’s advice. I flicked the hair back off my face, trying to look casual. “It’s a sport.”
“Oh? It’s a sport?” Lucy sounded relieved.
Jeanette shrugged. “Then what’s all the fuss about?”
“Because the sport is watching hawks kill animals,” Haley bristled. “Like bullfighting.” Her jacket was wide open, but she didn’t seem the least bothered by the cold, the ice queen.
“Not true. You got your facts wrong.” I dismissed her argument with a frown.
“I actually met Mercer’s hawk,” Charlie interrupted, “and he was quite a pleasant fellow. Said please and thank you, the whole bit.” I would have smiled if I hadn’t been under attack.
“I saw what falconers do on a HALT documentary.” Haley moved closer to Lucy, looking her in the eye. “They bring the hawk to a field and force it to kill, and then take the dead animal home and eat it. I even went to a falconry protest with my parents once at the forest preserve.”
So those had been HALT protesters. Dad and Weasel had told me how crazy people with bullhorns and noisemakers showed up at one of their falconry demonstrations and stood in the parking lot making so much noise, they couldn’t risk taking the birds out of the carriers. They had to cancel the whole event, even with a ton of spectators there waiting.
Haley’s ignorance made me so mad. “Force a hawk to kill?” I scoffed. “Like they need coaxing?”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Are you going to stand there and tell us that a hawk would rather be chained up in a cage instead of flying around in the wild?”
I made one last desperate plea before this whole night went up in flames. “Okay, listen. I wondered the same thing. But you’ve got it all wrong. If Flip hated being with me, he could fly away at any time.”
Haley shrugged, Jeanette and Lucy looked nervous, and Reed stood back, probably waiting for Lucy to walk away so he could pounce on my girlfriend of two hours.
I got a crazy idea right then and decided to run with it. “You know what? I can even prove it to you. Why don’t we all drive over to my house right now so you can see for yourselves? I live in the last house on County Q, that big white farmhouse next to the highway. We can order pizzas and I can show you Flip, along with all our other birds. I’ll even pay for the food. What do you guys say?”
Charlie raised his hand as if he was in class. “If Mertini’s buying, I’m eating.”
Haley sighed. “No, thanks, Mercer. There’s no way I can stomach seeing hawks chained up in tiny cages. Let’s just go to Starbucks.”
“We don’t keep our birds chained up in tiny cages.”
Reed shook his head, mumbling, “Yeah. You keep them chained up in big cages.”
“Shut up, Reed!” I stepped toward him, this time pushing him hard with both hands. “I told you to mind your own business!” I didn’t even care if he came after me at that point. My shove knocked him backwards a few steps, surprising me. Reed might have been stronger than me, but I was twice as pissed. I felt invincible, as if his fists would bounce off me like rubber balls.
He got his footing quickly, however, and came back toward me, pushing up his sleeves. “I’ll say whatever the hell I want.”
“So will I!” I unzipped my coat and whipped it to the ground. If Reed wanted to have it out here in the mall, I was ready. I might get the crap kicked out of me, but I figured that the way I felt right now, anger alone could help me hold my own for a while.
“Whoa, whoa! Down boys!” Charlie leaped in front of me, pressing his hands against my chest. “Let’s calm down and talk things out at Starbucks. Maybe over a Caramel Moco Loco or Frith-Froth Smoothie?”
I ignored Charlie and stared at Reed, finally realizing the truth. Reed wasn’t mad at me for falsely accusing him of trying to steal my girl. He was mad because Lucy liked me instead of liking him. He was trying to sabotage my chances with her—so he could have her for himself. I glared at Reed over Charlie’s shoulder. “You suck, you know that, Reed?”
A man and his wife strolled along. They exchanged glances and hurried past us.
Haley looked at me and sneered. “No, you suck, Mercer. Why’d you even join HALT anyway?”
“Haley!” Lucy snapped. “Don’t be rude.”
Jeanette backed up, twirling a lock of green-tinged hair around her finger nervously. Haley shrugged off Lucy’s rebuke, nodding her head toward Starbucks. “Fine. Let’s go then. I told you he was faking his love of animals. You see that now, don’t you?”
I touched Lucy’s sleeve. “Can I explain?” I pleaded quietly. “Privately?”
“I’m not sure.” Lucy bit her bottom lip, her eyes darting from me to Haley and then back to me. I debated grabbing her hand and running away, back to the protective darkness of the movie theater. I’d whisper to her that maybe, if she really, really wanted me to, I’d even give up Flip if only she’d agree to stop looking at me with sadness and kiss me again.
“You want to know why I joined HALT?” I turned my back to the others and spoke only to Lucy. I knew they were eavesdropping, but I didn’t care. “I’ll admit that at first I only joined because I thought you were pretty and funny and I wanted to talk to you some more.”
“See? What did I tell you?” From the corner of my eye, I could see Haley waggle her head in smug satisfaction, her lips pursed.
“Let him talk, Haley-tosis,” Charlie said, pointing his finger at her. “You got to say what you wanted, now it’s his turn.”
Thank God for Charlie. I took a deep breath. “But then you guys made some valid points about animal rights, and you got me thinking about things from a different perspective than my father’s. I figured I could pick which activities I wanted to protest against and stay home for things I didn’t agree with.”
Lucy nodded, but continued staring at her feet.
I faced Haley. “But no one told me HALT was a cult—that you either drank the Kool-Aid or you were out.”
Haley huffed. “A cult? Please. No one’s making you do anything, Mercer. Why don’t you just go home and torture your birds some more?”
“Rarrr!” Charlie growled at Haley, pretending to wield a whip. “Back to your cage.” With a sneer, she flipped him the bird. Charlie held out his arms and walked toward Haley, Jeanette, and Reed as if he was a shepherd herding his flock. “I have an idea. Let’s walk to Starbucks and give Mercer and Lucy a little space, shall we?”
As they headed away from us, Reed called out over his shoulder, “I can give you a lift home whenever you want, Lucy.”
“She doesn’t want anything from you!” I yelled back, wondering where Reed had learned his guy code—because it was obvious that someone had given him one that malfunctioned.
Struggling to st
ay calm, I turned back to Lucy. I needed to get this right. “Look, I know things got all messed up here tonight. This isn’t the way I wanted you to find out. Do you think you could come over tomorrow so I can prove that Haley’s wrong?” I reached out and grabbed her hand. “So I can show you that I’m not some freak animal killer?”
She pulled her hand out of mine. “It’s not that I can’t come, Mercer. I don’t think I want to anymore.” She glanced at the group walking away. “You lied to me about hunting, just like when you said you didn’t know what your mom did when I asked you the first time. It makes me wonder what else you lied about. I mean, is your name even Mercer?”
That hurt, but I couldn’t blame her for being angry. I stepped closer, ready to spill the truth, to tell her everything I’d been wanting to say but hadn’t—that my parents expected me to quit HALT altogether, that falconry was a lot like owning a dog, only different, and also that I thought she was the prettiest, coolest, most awesome girl I had ever met. “Actually I never lied to you—I just never told the full truth. I didn’t say who my mom was because I knew you’d hate her, and if you think about it, I never denied being a falconer. I simply never mentioned it.”
She tilted her head and looked at me. “That’s equally bad and you know it.”
I nodded. “Okay, you’re right. I should have told you—and seriously, I was planning on it if things worked out between us tonight—but falconry is in my blood. Bird rehab is what my dad does for a living. He only helps birds, though, he doesn’t hurt them. But I worried you’d think that anything to do with caged animals was horrible, just like Haley.” Now it was my turn to look down at my shoes. “So I kept quiet because I like you a lot and didn’t want to screw things up between us.”
“Pretty ironic, huh?” She zippered her hoodie to her neck and shoved her hands into her pockets. “Because I don’t know how I would have reacted if you’d told me you were a falconer, but you never even gave me a chance to form my own opinion.”
“I wanted to tell you about it, but it never seemed like the right time.”
