by Alan Janney
“Flying.”
He plunked a motorcycle helmet down around my head and before I knew it I was holding on for dear life as we drove…somewhere. The news stations had reported the Outlaw was using a motorcycle as his mode of transportation; it hadn’t occurred to me I’d get to ride on it! I’ve never been on one before. Even if I wasn’t blindfolded, I’d still have my eyes squeezed shut. Hannah Walker bought Chase a motorcycle but I hadn’t even seen it yet, much less ridden it. We’ve both been too busy.
Suddenly his voice erupted inside my helmet, like a radio. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes!” I said.
“You okay back there?”
“This is so cool! Our helmets can talk!”
“Do me a favor,” he said. “Put your hand under my vest. Onto my stomach.”
“Why?”
“It helps me concentrate.”
“No it doesn’t!”
“Please?”
“I can’t! I’m trying. It’s too tight.”
“Then unzip my vest at the neck. I just like our skin to touch,” he said and his voice sounded entirely sincere. So I fumbled with his vest until I found the zipper and carefully pulled it down. It might have been the hottest moment of my life. I slid my hand in until I felt his body and I almost melted. I kept reaching and then my palm was flat on his chest. “Thank you,” he said.
No no no. Thank you.
We parked. No idea where. But judging by the sounds, we were downtown. He took my helmet off, positioned my arms around his neck and then picked me up on his back, like a piggy-back ride.
“Hold on. Really tight. Okay?”
“Okay,” I answered. This was a little scary. Or a lot. I still couldn’t see. And then we were moving. His shoulders and arms were working. I clung on tighter because I was swaying and bouncing and then…then…then I realized my grip on his neck was the only thing keeping me from falling! He was climbing something, and I was dangling off his back! Where are we?
As if he could read my mind, he chuckled and said, “Don’t worry. I won’t let you fall.”
“Are we climbing?? What are we doing?” I gasped, and I managed to get my ankles crossed around his waist. If I adjusted my eyes just right I could peek under the blindfold and see his neck. He has neck tattoos. Never noticed before.
“It’s a secret. Almost there.” He didn’t sound like he was exerting much effort.
And then he was lowering my quaking feet to the ground. He untied the blindfold. I blinked against the city lights and got my bearings.
“We’re on a roof,” I said, turning in a circle.
“Yes.”
“This is so exciting! Which roof? It’s not a very tall building. Wait! Is it Natalie North’s building?” I asked, and I walked to the edge and peered down at the face of the structure and at the street below. We weren’t on a skyscraper, just a normal sized building, maybe five or six stories. It was dark up here but well lit below.
“No. But her apartment isn’t far.”
“I know those windows,” I said, examining the tall, pyramid shaped skylight in the middle of the roof. “We’re on top of the Bradbury Building!”
“Yes. Very good,” he said. His voice came soft and deep.
“Did you just…did you just climb the side of the wall?” I asked.
“I did. I tried it yesterday to make sure I could.”
I wanted to wave to the people below. Call to them. Yell, hey I’m up here with the Outlaw! A steady stream of people below were walking into the Subway restaurant but no one noticed me.
“No one ever looks up,” he said, joining me at the edge. “Not unless you do something ridiculous.”
“Too full of their own comings and goings.” He frowned at me. I smiled and said, “It’s from a book. But it applies.”
“Oh.”
“Is that why you brought me? You get lonely up here?” I asked.
“I brought you so we could fly.”
“What does that mean?”
“See that building over there?” he said, indicating a structure on the other side of a tuxedo shop. “Let’s jump to it.”
“Absolutely not!” I cried.
“We can do it. I tried it last night. It’s easy.”
“This building is, what? Five stories tall? That one is only three. And it’s forty feet away,” I explained, my voice cracking with incredulity.
“Do you trust me?”
“Implicitly so, Outlaw. But I also trust gravity.”
“Watch.” With no further warning, he ran to the edge and jumped. My breath caught in my throat. He soared into the air! He leapt so high and so far that I had to track him across the sky by watching the stars wink in and out. Gracefully he landed on a taller apartment building across Broadway. Our eyes met and held and he shrugged.
“Absurd,” I whispered to myself. “Ridiculous. This is crazy.” I blinked and he was gone. What? Where’d he go? Then a rush of air and he landed beside me, his knees and ankles absorbing the fall like it was nothing. “I can’t believe you can do that,” I said lamely. I couldn’t even think.
“Me either.”
“How? How can you?”
“That’s complicated,” the Outlaw said. “But it’s not magic. The simple answer is, I was born weird. My body is many many times stronger and faster than average.”
“Why?”
“That’s a great question,” he chuckled. “I wish I knew.”
“Does it hurt?”
“No. When I exert myself I get both queasy and hungry, though. I’ll eat several pounds of food later. Ready?”
“Ready for-ahh!!” I screamed as he pulled me onto his back. I didn’t have time to fight him. He got a running start and jumped.
We flew! The initial surge of takeoff nearly jarred me loose, bruising my arms, but the otherworldly sensation took my breath away. The city dropped from our feet and swung crazily, like a piñata below us. The air was an ocean in my ears as we crested, and then the ground came rushing back. My stomach jumped into my throat! He was laughing, I was screaming! We didn’t crash, but rather touched down effortlessly in a run that absorbed all our momentum.
“You don’t have to hold on quite so tight,” he said, stretching his neck.
“I can’t stop,” I said through chattering teeth.
“Hitch yourself a little higher on my back.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Let’s do it again.”
We jumped forever, plunging upwards into the stars and diving back, successively higher with each leap. The earth danced under our shoes, the city lights twirling magically. I was weightless for hours, flying closer and closer to the clouds. On the last leap I let go at the zenith, briefly, and held my arms out wide, like an angel, before snatching him back again.
“Why are we doing this?” I asked when I could breathe again. We sat on the edge of the Bradbury roof. The world was warm and aglow, and I was in ecstasy. His vest was still partially unzipped. His eyes were afire and the black ink on his neck looked silver. “I love it. But why?”
“I wanted to show you. To share this.”
“Why me?”
He took his time responding. His voice was cavernous and choked with emotion. “Katie. There are big chunks of my life I can’t share with anyone. This is as close as it gets. I wish I could be with you. In your real life. Without my mask.”
“Why can’t you?” I said. I picked up his gloved hand and put my other hand on his arm. His shoulders sagged and his neck relaxed.
“Because of…a lot of things. But I wish you knew. If only you knew,” he said, and I think he was crying! “How much I think about you. How much I adore you.”
“Take off your mask, then,” I pleaded. I reached up and touched his jaw, covered in the stretched black fabric.
“I can’t. It’s a curse. But it also protects you. Protects me, too.”
I nodded. I hated it, but it was true. People raged against him, despised him. For no reason.
People might come after me, like T.
“Plus. We shouldn’t get too attached,” he said as an afterthought, shaking his head. “I don’t think I’ll be around much longer.”
“What?” I cried. “Why not?”
“Many reasons,” he said in a grunt. “One reason is, I’ve already tried to quit the Outlaw gig several times. And if I stay alive, I still plan to.”
“Of course you’ll stay alive,” I pointed out. “You’re the Outlaw. You can do anything. Even jump buildings!”
“I wish it was that easy,” he said, and through the disguise I could see his smile. I touched his masked lips. “I’m going to blindfold you again.”
“Oh. Is it time to go?” I asked, crestfallen. “No.
I’m going to take off my mask.”
I sucked in air. My heart stopped. “Why?”
“I want to kiss you. Just once. None of this is real. It’s not real life. The Outlaw is imaginary. But you’re real. And I want to kiss you, at least one time, before it’s over,” he said, watching me the whole time.
“Hurry,” I breathed. “Blindfold me.”
He did. We were so close his face touched mine when he reached his hands behind my head. I pressed my fingers against his chest. He finished tying the blindfold on…but he made a mistake. I could see through one of the thin folds over my eyes. Not well, but if I closed my other eye then I could clearly discern his features. I could see him!
I reached up with both hands and felt his mask. It was soft and cool. I curled my fingertips over the edge and began to tug downwards…
He stiffened. I panicked and let go. Too fast? His head cocked to the side. I could make him out well enough to see his eyes widen and eyebrows skyrocket. He wasn’t looking at me. He was staring at something behind me. What was…
“Watch out!” he shouted and he shoved me sideways!
I heard a soft crack as I was falling to the roof. A noise like an angry bee snapped at my ear. Through my mask I could see him twist and rock backwards, like a huge invisible hammer had crushed him. I screamed.
The Outlaw had been shot! He rolled on the ground, groaning.
“Are you okay?” I cried.
“Yeah,” he coughed and then he staggered to his feet, hauling me after him. His breath was coming in ragged gulps. “I’m going to kill that guy.”
“Is that the LA Sniper?” I asked as he pulled me onto his back. “What are we doing?”
“Getting out of here. Yes, that’s the Sniper.”
“Now? Like this? Augh!” I closed my eyes. Everything was happening too fast!
He took two steps and jumped into the atmosphere.
Chapter Sixteen
Friday, February 3. 2018
Katie
“Katie? Are you even listening, bro?”
“What?” I asked, reality coming back into focus. Lee was frowning at me. My lunch sat unopened. Chase’s head was on the table and his hand was clamped firmly around mine. Cory was eating and watching television. Samantha Gear was smirking at me. “What’d you say?”
“I said…” Lee huffed. “What is that you’re playing with? You’ve had it three days in a row.”
“Oh,” I said. I’d been daydreaming about that magical night on the rooftop. Well, it was magical until the gunfire. “It’s…it’s…”
Samantha answered, “It’s a wax bullet.” Chase’s head came up and he blearily examined the pink bullet in my hand. “I recognize it, even though it’s obviously been fired.”
“Yes,” I admitted. “It’s a wax bullet.”
No one spoke. I could feel my face redden. I brainstormed a reason for me to have a wax bullet but nothing surfaced. I certainly couldn’t tell them it was a memento from my night with the Outlaw. I’d pulled the bullet out of his vest before he’d abruptly left, and I hadn’t heard from him since.
“Dude,” Lee finally said. “Are you the LA Sniper?”
“Yes, Lee,” I laughed, relieved. “That’s me.”
Samantha Gear asked me, “What were you daydreaming about?”
Lee said, “I bet it was the Outlaw.”
“Hey, that reminds me,” Chase said, looking up. “Lee, have you heard of Outlawyers? The Outlaw fan club?”
“Course, bro.”
“Are you an Outlawyer?”
“Heck yes I am.”
“Of course you are,” Chase groaned and put his head back down.
“But I’m not an Outlawgiver,” he clarified.
“An Oulaw giver?”
“Outlawgiver,” he repeated. “One of those stupid Outlaw imitators.”
Samantha observed, “That’s a ridiculous name.”
“They call themselves Law Givers, for short. True amateur vigilantes. They mostly cause trouble and get hurt falling off roofs,” Lee said.
“Sooooooooooo dumb,” Chase said, his voice muffled by his arm.
“Anyway, Katie,” Samantha rolled her eyes. “Were you daydreaming about your big beautiful Latino boyfriend?”
“No,” I sighed. “He’s not my boyfriend. I haven’t even talked to him in a few days. I miss him.”
“Ugh,” Chase said.
“S’wrong, Chase?” Cory asked around some meatloaf. “Another headache?”
“Nah,” Chase said, rubbing his eyes. “Best I’ve felt in three days, actually. Just tired.”
Lee asked, “Dude, why are you holding Katie’s hand?”
“Because shut up,” Chase said and put his head back down.
“Taking notes in Spanish class has gotten crazy challenging,” I said, playfully trying to shake him off.
Samantha Gear said, “Thanks for sitting with us today, Katie.” Her lunch today was a carrot and a chocolate bar. No wonder she looked like pure muscle. “Instead of sitting with the Queen.”
“She really doesn’t think of herself as a Queen,” I said in defense of Hannah Walker. Today was the first day she’d gone back to sit at her old table. Truthfully, I kind of missed her.
“How’s she doing?” Chase asked from his position, face down on the table.
“Hey, sit up,” Samantha Gear said and she whacked him solidly in the side. “You look ridiculous. Quit slouching.”
“Um, kicker? Hush your mouth. Katie, how is Hannah?”
“Ask her yourself,” I said.
“Noooooo,” he said, sitting up and looking pained at the idea. “It would be so weird. Just tell me.”
“She misses you.”
“No she doesn’t,” he scoffed.
“Yes. She really does,” I shot back.
“Do you think Hannah and I should get back together?” he asked me, and he gave my hand a squeeze. My Chase. My sweet wonderful Chase.
“That’s…up to you,” I said carefully, even though I wanted to shout ‘No!’
“Yo, Katie, how’s she feel about you always holding his hand?” Lee teased.
“She knows he’s initiating it,” I said. “And she’s kind of pissed at him.”
Chase yawned, “It’s no big deal. Sometimes friends hold hands.”
“Dude. No we don’t.”
Chase texted me that night, after supper as I was doing homework.
>>Katie. I’ve decided I need to tell you something. Something big. Something important. Can I come over in about ten minutes?
Sure! I replied. I FLEW into my room and changed out of my old t-shirt. Hair looks great. Make-up, done. Room, messy, but that’s okay. I popped a breath mint and was rubbing lotion onto my arms when he knocked.
That was fast! I opened the door for him.
But, once again, I was fooled. It wasn’t Chase.
Chapter Seventeen
Friday, February 3. 2018
I texted Katie that I was coming over and then I looked in the mirror. Oooof. Wow, that’s bad. I hadn’t been sleeping recently and it showed. I looked like the After Photo in an anti-drug campaign.
I had to tell Katie. She must know. She must know she’s everything. I don’t have much longer,
I can feel it. The virus was everywhere and I was constantly fighting a war between headaches and bouts of insane energy. The pain and the irrational unstoppable urges to go flying off buildings were closing in each day, both threatening to kill me. The nights I managed to stay in bed were spent tossing and turning.
I’d already written Dad a letter, for him to find in case I lost the fight. A letter explaining how much he meant to me, my hopes for his future, etc. I kept the details vague on why I wrote the letter, on how I knew I was dying.
Now, Katie. I practically floated to her house. I’d wanted to tell her for months. I love you. I think I always have. I want you. I want to be with you. There’s only you.
I knocked on her back door.
No answer.
I knocked again.
And then Tank opened the door.
Tank!
Tank ducked his head and emerged out of the sliding doors, one arm draped around Katie’s shoulder. They were both pink and had flushed lips.
They’d been kissing.
Katie looked affectionately at Tank, then at me, and then back at him. Tank smiled victoriously. No one spoke for a long moment. Time slowed. I could hear every animal within a mile. I could see both their pulses palpitating faintly in their neck. I could smell her lotion, his deodorant, and supper from both tonight and last night. In that instant, in that blast of startling clarity and acuity, I was confident I could count the blades of grass in her backyard with a single glance. I almost tore her whole building down.
“Hi Chase!” Katie giggled. Since when did she laugh like that? “I forgot you were coming over.”
“Yeah, I was going for some ice cream,” I lied smoothly, somehow. “Didn’t realize you had company. Some other time.”
Tank sneered at me.
I made a quick list of all the secrets. I knew Tank was Katie’s abductor. He knew I was the Outlaw. We knew each other knew. Tank was probably Infected, but might not be aware. Katie had been with the Outlaw, but wasn’t telling anyone. But Chase Jackson knew. And I knew they’d just been kissing.