by bret Wellman
“You can go back under one condition.” Adrian had said. “Blake believes you are gone and therefore he has not left town. Make sure he never crosses us again.”
We had spent the next few days devising a plan that would keep him off our backs. I insisted that making him move would be an abuse of power and after a long night of compromise I finally convinced everyone else. In the end we had decided to scare him, but not run him out of town.
That was the part that Spencer seemed most excited for. When we pulled into the school parking lot he pointed to Blake, getting into his hummer.
“There he is.”
“Not now.” I said, driving past without him even noticing.
Spencer sagged back, disappointed. “Then when?”
“Tonight.”
When we were farther into the parking lot Brianna yelled “Stop!”
We were blocking a small white car from backing out. The passenger door flew open and Neal leapt out. Nikki came from the driver’s side a few seconds later.
“You guys are alive!” He said, running up and tackling me in a bear hug. His eyes were as big as saucers and he was laughing. “I thought you were dead, man.”
“For a while I did too.” I glanced over at Nikki who was bawling historically on Brianna.
I never knew they were such good friends, then again people cry for strangers all the time. If you think someone is dead and it turns out not to be true. I could see why people cry, it’s simply a really good thing, though I also suspected that Nikki was the type of girl to over exaggerate just a little.
Brianna, patting her back, looked at me pleading. I stifled a laugh, she really hadn’t been raised to be sympathetic. She was struggling not to push the girl away and looked very uncomfortable.
“Dude, what the heck happened to you?” Neal asked.
“Well,” I started, remembering the lie we had all decided was best to tell. “The soldiers took us in and questioned us. Once they had decided we were innocent they let us go.”
“They had you this whole time?”
“You know the government, they won’t let you go unless they are absolutely sure. That is of course, if they let you go at all.”
“Did they hit you?” he asked.
“Yea, they beat the crap out of me.” I said, lifting my shirt to reveal the scars and bruising still left over from the beating.
“It looks like they tried to kill you!”
“They almost did.”
He continued to stare until I lowered my shirt, he looked mortified. “I’m glad you’re back, Blake has been really bad ever since you left. He’s taking revenge on anybody who ever took you’re side. Nikki and I have been getting it really bad.”
I watched Brianna politely peel Nikki off her and head for our side of the car. “I don’t think you are going to have to worry about that after today.” I said.
“What are you going to do?”
“Hey Neal, did you miss me?” Brianna asked.
“Yea, I’m glad you guys are ok.” Neal said, he was sincere, I think it was the first time he had ever said a word to her that didn’t sound nervous.
I glanced over to find Blake’s Hummer, he was pulling out of the parking lot, completely oblivious to our presence.
“Brianna?” A girl said in disbelief as she was walking by and stopped. She grabbed the arm of a kid passing her and pointed him in our direction. I noticed a few other heads turn to see what she was pointing at.
We weren’t there for much longer before droves of students started to realize we were there. I could see people whispering, some pointing. We were soon surrounded in a crowd. Some came up and gave us hugs, others tried to get closer so they could ask what had happened.
Brianna and I huddled up against each other as much as possible. It was like being an animal in a zoo. I could tell by the look on her face that she didn’t like being surrounded any more than I did.
It was mostly people that knew Brianna. They all seemed blown away that we were still alive. The life expectancy of someone hauled off by the government was almost zero, in their eyes we changed that.
Somebody turned their car stereo on full blast and a giant party seemed to break out right in the parking lot. I was glad we had decided to come here when school was getting out rather than just getting started, people were livelier in the afternoon. A few teachers came out to shake my hand or hug Brianna. It was almost as if they had never had anything to celebrate before.
We were the center of attention, forced to explain over and over how we were questioned and eventually let go. No one let on that they knew we were lying. Still, they pried us for as many details as they could get. Brianna glanced at me every time we were forced to make up something new. We both knew that the bigger our lie got, the harder it would be to keep it straight in the future. I think we did a pretty good job of keeping things simple and boring sounding. Some people even looked disappointed in our story… if they only knew.
After a while people started breaking off into their own little groups, constantly glancing in our direction.
Much to my disapproval, I watched as Spencer hopped up onto the hood of my car.
“Excuse me,” He called “As much as we love seeing all of you, I am afraid there is some business we have to take care of.” He hopped down and walked over so only Brianna and I could hear him. “Are we going to do this or what? It’s getting dark.”
I nodded. “Ok, let’s go.”
“Hey, can we come with you?” Neal asked when we were getting into my car.
“No.” Spencer said.
“I will see you first thing in the morning. For now we have a little family matter to take care of.” I slapped him on the shoulder then hopped in and shut my door.
Neal and Nikki held hands as they walked to the center of the lane to watch us drive away.
“That place got crowded.” Spencer said as I pulled out of the lot. “I can’t believe how excited they were to see us.”
I glanced into my mirror, Josh and Rachel were following us again. I wasn’t surprised when they didn’t come join the crowd. They weren’t as accustomed to outsiders as we were. They had no intentions of making any friends today.
“It was kind of nice.” Brianna said. “I didn’t know so many people cared about us.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I am sure they do, but I bet they were just overjoyed to see somebody had beaten the Kingdom’s oppression. Or at least been shown a little mercy, that doesn’t happen a lot around here.”
When we were a little ways down the road I asked if anyone knew where Blake’s house was. Brianna did and started us on the ten minute drive out of town. We were passing a small subdivision heavily surrounded by trees when she told us to stop. She said there was a way to cut through the woods and come out in Blake’s back yard.
I pulled over and the suburban parked on the shoulder behind us. We all piled out and met at the edge of the woods. The night was closing in fast. I glanced back at the sliver of red on the horizon, stars were already starting to pop up in the sky.
“Are we ready to do this?” I asked, looking into the dark shadowy woods.
Josh’s hands burst into flames, he held them out to provide light. “Hell yea we are ready.”
As we stepped into the woods Spencer ignited his own hands, giving us a secondary source of light. With the flames on either side of our group, it was easy to see where we were going and not trip over any of the moss covered logs. Brianna was close at my side as we weaved through all the trees.
“I’m kind of nervous.” She said.
I glanced over at her face, reflecting in the fire light. “I know. I feel like we are about to egg and toilet paper someone’s house.”
After about a hundred yards we could see the glow from Blake’s house. We stopped at the edge of the woods where Josh and Spencer extinguished their flames.
“Ok, so what’s our plan?” Spencer asked.
Rachel pointed at a window. “I could slip
in there, incapacitate the target and bring him out to you guys.”
“I want to do that.” Spencer complained.
“No.” Brianna said “You guys hide under the front porch, let me draw out Blake.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Oh, I’m sure.”
After the details of the plan were figured out, we all snuck around to the front yard where everyone except Brianna hid behind the front porch. Brianna walked up the stairs and rang the doorbell. She stood there a moment before a big man smoking a cigar, answered the door.
“What do you want?” He asked, puffing smoke in her face.
“Is Blake home?”
He eyed her over a moment before disappearing into the house, a few seconds later we heard his scruffy voice yelling. “Blake, your girlfriend is here. Go see what she wants.”
Brianna stepped to the side of the door so she wouldn’t be seen when Blake came out.
Blake appeared in the doorway and walked onto the porch looking confident as ever. “Sup?” He said, his words trailing off into the night. He failed to see Brianna take a step to her right, blocking off the doorway. “Hello? Is this some kind of a joke?”
“I can assure you, this is no joke.” Brianna said.
Blake jumped about a foot and turned to face her, his confidence gone. “Da-“ He began to yell but Brianna struck him in the throat.
She swept out his legs and shoved him down the steps. Spencer and Josh dove on him the moment his back hit the pavement. They dragged him up against a car and slammed him onto the hood. Rachel created an ice spear and forced him to hold still with its tip against his throat. Josh and Spencer ignited their hands, casting light on me as I walked up.
“Hey Blake.” I said. “You know, the president was pretty pissed when you blew our cover.” I was telling the story I had been fabricating all day. “To think he spent all that time getting his super soldiers into the school system and you turn around and rat them out. He said that he is leaving me with the final decision, but he wanted you dead.”
Blake started to whimper, Rachel added pressure to the spear, forcing him to shut up.
“You really messed up Blake. Was your high school fame worth it?” I let my words linger into the silence. “Fortunately for you, the damage can be reversed. I’m not going to kill you.” I took a step closer to look him dead in the eyes. “But if you ever say anything about us again, to anyone, I’m going to have your body gift wrapped and sent straight to the president himself. He’s a cannibal you know.”
Rachel pulled the ice spear away and we all took a step back. Josh and Spencer extinguished their flames. Without the flames it was harder to see and easier for us to disappear into the night. We had sent our message, short and sweet and now we were like phantoms disappearing into the dark. Blake didn’t dare move from the car until we were all back in the woods. I watched from the edge of the trees as he walked back to the house on wobbly legs. Part of me felt bad for him, only a small part.
On the walk back Brianna and I trailed behind the others. They seemed in a hurry to get out of there. I knew Blake wouldn’t dare tell and I preferred to take my time.
“You sounded pretty scary back there.” She said.
I reached over and took her hand in mine “Just trying to keep everyone safe.”
“I wonder if he will even go to school tomorrow.”
I thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know. He might go anyways, thinking we wouldn’t hurt him in public.”
“Does this make us like him?” She asked a few steps later.
“No. This was purely self-defense. We are not like him, and we are definitely not what the president was trying to make us.”
“You don’t think we are trained assassins with unique powers?”
I suppressed a smile. “I don’t know about that. What I do know is that we would never hurt someone who didn’t deserve it. The president would have us kill the innocent just to force obedience.”
She reached out and took my other hand. “We are on the other side, assassins fighting for the people.”
“Maybe one day, but for now I like just slipping under the radar and living it up in a mansion.”
And then a thought occurred to me. There was something that I wanted to do before we went home.
I grabbed Brianna by the waist and pinned her up against a tree. Her lips were there, waiting for mine as I leaned in. Her kiss sent a thrill through my body. I wonder if I will ever get used to the feeling her kiss gives me. I pray that I don’t.
As the flames from the others got farther and farther away, and the night closed in on us, I hoped Spencer knew to get a ride home in the suburban.
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