DAMNIT MARCO

Demolished buildings, obliteration, and fear that shook everyone to the core of their beings—technology was running rampant and ruining everything their creators had worked for. The system wasn’t the problem though, the hacker was. A majority of the population had gotten out when conspiracies had first risen, spreading panic across the entire country; however, not even that would stop the destruction that had been years in the making. What was once a pristine utopia was now a wasteland that was ruled by an unseen dictator who sat behind his computer screen with the virus that had changed everything they once knew.

         Everyone, even small children, knew the legend of Dr. Wick who had changed everything for what was thought to be the better. He had taken their small country and propelled them forward generations in a matter of years. He had set up new transportation known as portals, advanced their security system, and put them at the top of the world in technology. Of course, Dr. Wick died years ago and with no one to protect the system he had spent his life building up, a hacker, known as the Snake, reached it and inserted a virus. The bots that had kept them safe from criminals for years would turn on them, everyday appliances would detonate, and nothing was safe anymore.

         Claire stared out the small window that she had made in the wall. It was impossible to see now, but once it became morning, she would be reminded of how her perfect small town had been set on fire and destroyed piece by piece. Her heart ached for her family who had gotten out of the country while they could. Her separation from them on the first day of chaos had sent her on numerous emotional spirals downward. In the morning, there would be a rush to collect any food they could manage, like a sick game they were entitled to play each and every week just to get by. “Why can’t we go outside?” she asked for the hundredth time since the Snake had taken over.

         Dane, who had been standing only a short distance behind her, answered as he always had in the most patient tone he could muster. “The bots would be after us.” There really was no other proper response that could be given.

         She slowly turned to him, her hand still grasping the hole in the wall. “I know that, but why do they come after us? What’s the harm of being out when it’s dark?” Dane shook his head, and she turned away again. “Don’t tell me you don’t know. You have to have some sort of guess or information on it.” He still refused to open his mouth. “You have to know something!” she screeched louder than she should have.

         For a moment, they stood statue still, their wide eyes staring back at the other. After an eternity of waiting, Claire let out a sigh of relief. Dane, on the other hand, grimaced and began to speak in a whisper. “You need to watch yourself better.” He crossed his arms, absolute and seemingly unmovable, but Claire knew better. All his soft spots and weaknesses were in her possession.

         Her blank look morphed into a frown. “Come on, Dane. We don’t have anyone but each other. If you can’t tell me, who can you tell?” She turned her direction to the spot on the floor right in between her feet. “Unless you really just don’t trust me.” She looked back at him with the best puppy dogface she could manage.

         Dane’s eyes narrowed into a glare. “That’s just unfair.” He gave a sigh, an indication that she had won the battle. “The portals come on at midnight. Somehow, the Snake couldn’t manage to hack that part of our system.” He let a smile escape for one moment before returning to his explanation. “If they left us out, we’d have a chance to escape to some other area which doesn’t make any sense anyway. Where would we go? The portals all lead to somewhere just like our town. There’s really no point.” Claire’s ice blue eyes lit up like a fireplace. Dane shook his head. “No, no. Don’t get any ideas.”

         Still, her hopeful face didn’t disappear. “Come on, Dane. You know it won’t hurt just to try.”

         “Yeah, I do. We’ll end up lying around there, dead. It’s safe here. Why chance that?” It was more a rhetorical question than anything else.

         “I’m going whether you will or not tomorrow night. I’m so tired of living this way. If there’s a possibility that there’s a way out, I’m taking it. My family is already thousands of miles away, and yet I’m stuck here!” She threw her arms up in the air, ready to smash something. After looking around her options, she saw that everything was already smashed to pieces to her dismay.

         Dane’s expression softened as he put a reassuring hand on Claire’s shoulder. “I like you too much to let you go alone.” Claire gave him a sweet smile and rushed off to gather things together for the next night. Dane stood at the window, glaring at the now rising sun. “Yeah, I like you too much for my own good,” he whispered to himself, rubbing his blonde locks, trying to wrap his own head around what they were going to attempt. Was it possible? Surely it had to be. Was it easy? If it was, there wouldn’t be the number of bodies lying around, decaying and polluting their air with their wretched smell.

         Claire bounced past Ms. Speck, the little old lady that they stayed with due to both of their own houses being only a heap of bricks and wood that was unsalvageable. Ms. Speck stopped in front of the bouncy young child. “What has got you acting so ridiculous?” She lowered her glasses, giving Claire a long, hard look as if trying to see the answer written on her face rather than listening to what she had to say.

After tossing ideas back and forth in her head, Claire gave her a small smile. “I’m just feeling restless so I’m ready to get outside for a bit. That’s all.” Ms. Speck stared a moment longer with obvious suspicion. After a minute of Claire’s incessant smiling face, she simply continued on her way past. That same old woman had always hated children, even if they were almost to their adult years. However, the simple fact was they needed each other like two creatures coexisting not because of preference but because of survival. With Dane and Claire working for their food, the old woman would provide them with a house to live under every night.

After she had passed, Claire turned around and shot her a glare. Dane finally had made his way to their front door to wait for the morning call to ring. “Why do you have to be rude to her? It’s not like we don’t get anything out of this deal. It’s been how long. Isn’t it time to bury the hatchet between you two?” He tried to be the voice of reason as he always had when they were children.

Claire, however, was too stubborn to listen. “Back when I turned eleven, I got a Frisbee for my birthday. It was the best gift I could have asked for since it gave me something to chase after. It’s the equivalent of chasing after a dream to an adult. It could soar high in the air like a bird and would flow with the wind no matter what direction it would blow. She took that Frisbee from me though and burned it in her fire pit!”

Dane, hearing this childhood story many times over, rolled his eyes. “It did land in her yard. She had a reason to take it.” Claire shot him a glare. “It was only a Frisbee and it happened six years ago. Will you just let it go?”

Instead of snapping, Claire stood silent, crossing her arms and facing the door. Her thoughts drifted back to the Frisbee as it flew high and proud. “The fact of the matter is I’m still bitter about it. That present was important to me, and you don’t ruin something that’s precious to someone else.”

Dane cracked a small smile. “So what you’re saying is, the Snake, who ruined our precious country, is like a bigger version of Ms. Speck?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” With that comparison, the tension finally lifted and all was right for the time being. “So, today we work and eat. Tonight, we get to the portal station by midnight. Right?”

Dane looked down at Claire’s hopeful face, unable to tell the most important person he had around him no. She was right in some aspects, even if her thoughts were all over the place and lacking sense. If they continued the way they were, they could lose each other and leave the other one all alone. At least this way, they would have a chance to try.

At last, the bell, which seemed to echo much louder than usual, rang, signaling that it was finally safe to come outside after a long night of waiting impatiently. The two exchanged glances once more before pushing open their makeshift door of broken boards and stepping out into the all too bright sun. Claire looked sadly at all the destroyed homes, dead bodies, and broken spirits of the people that still had to reside there threw the hardships that the Snake was putting them through. “I can’t stand this place anymore,” Claire whispered to herself, looking all over for one happy thing to latch onto. Finding none, she directed her line of vision back to the ground at her feet. “Dane, will we be able to get out?”

“Of course,” he said, forcing some hope he didn’t really have into his words. Soon, his smile faded back into a dismal frown, not feeling as confident as he sounded.

         The day was long, much longer than it usually was—or at least, that’s how it felt. Claire was jumping about all day, her anticipation getting the best of her time and time again. Dane shook his head at her lack of control of her own actions. After long hours in the sun, they wandered back into Ms. Speck’s house, just before the sun set. Almost immediately, Claire turned to Dane. “What time should we leave?” Her head was filling with questions, and he wasn’t prepared to answer them. “I mean, if we leave by half an hour until midnight, we could get there on time.”

         “Yeah…” he said, his mind wandering elsewhere. “We should pack lightly and avoid the bots.” Claire’s face brightened up at the new adventure that was quickly approaching at a sprinter’s pace. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

         “Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts,” Claire said, pouting only a bit. “You told me we would. You got my hopes up!” She threw her arms about like a child whose parents wouldn’t buy them a toy they saw in a store.          Sighing, Dane shook his head. “No. We’re still going,” his voice dropped back down to a whisper as he directed his line of vision to their makeshift window. “But, you need to learn to be quieter.” Claire nodded, her excitement returning. “That’s what I like to see. Keep smiling for me.”

         Claire bounced off to her room to gather up the two items she hadn’t lost when her house was reduced to smithereens. The first was a small blanket that her grandmother had bought her when she was twelve and the second was the only photograph of hers that wasn’t lying as a pile of ashes. Sitting on the hard, ripped up carpet, Claire let her mind wander back to before the disaster, and soon everything was an endless void of black.

         She awoke to Dane’s voice and his hand on her shoulder, shaking her back and forth. “Wake up. It’s time to go,” he whispered to her repeatedly, an urgency prominent in his voice. Claire’s eyes fluttered open, locking with his. Instantly, she remembered their plans and jumped straight up. “You fell asleep. Listen, if you aren’t up for this—“

         “No. I’m ready,” Claire said, cutting him off midsentence. “Do you have your things?” Dane nodded and held open his hand to show her a watch he had saved from his house when it had been set on fire. With one last glance at everything in the rundown house, they took off into the night hand in hand.

         The night air whipped at their exposed skin. The rubble that had spread itself haphazardly on the streets assisted in making it even more difficult to navigate without tripping every ten seconds. It was crucial to go completely unseen by everyone and everything in their small, demolished town. Bots, flying robotic pieces of metal that used to protect people from crime, now were infected and did the exact opposite. Why Dr. Wick gave them abilities such as night vision and motion detection was a mystery to everyone at this point. If he was such a wise man, why had he not seen this turn of power and prevented it from happening in the first place? Questions buzzed through both of their minds. While Claire questioned how they were going to escape, Dane questioned why he had even agreed to this. While one’s thoughts were merely dreaming and curiosity, the other knew why but kept the answer hidden away in his mind.

         It was only a mile to the portal station, but they progressed slowly, walking in awkward fashions to avoid falling over rubble and at turtle pace to avoid bots. Their route took many unnecessary twists and turns just to avoid the main roads and houses. Their combined tedious efforts, however, all paid off when they caught sight of the portal station that was only a few streets away. “We made it,” Claire whispered to Dane, stopping in her tracks to try to meet his eyes.

         Dane took his eyes off the station for just a moment to look down at Claire, but froze when the clanking of metal rang out above. “Shit,” he said, grabbing Claire’s hand and making a dash for cover between two collapsed houses. A bot flies past, inspecting the area for anything living or moving. The two living hold their breath, not daring to move in the slightest. Dane sticks his head out just barely to check to see if the coast was clear; however, the bot instead detects his small movement and focuses its attention in their direction. Right away, the bot starts shooting lasers at them.

         “We should just hurry back to the house. There’s too much security around that portal,” Dane says as the houses around them are reduced to even more rubble than before. Claire sticks her head out to look at the station one more time. Before too long, she’s out in the open, running as fast as she can down the streets. “Claire!” Dane yells after her, forcing himself to follow after her and the bot that was now right on her heels.

         Her legs move, turning over quicker and quicker as she locks her eyes onto the portal that had just opened and would undoubtedly close if they didn’t get there soon enough. Her foot though caught on piece of protruding rock and sent her crashing to the ground, only yards away. She could hear the bot right above her, locking onto its target and preparing to exterminate her. Suddenly, she felt herself being yanked up and dragged along. Dane had her by the arm and wasn’t slowing down enough for her to catch her breath. The bot fired, but missed her by just an inch. “Dane, the portal!” she screeched as they closed the distance to their escape. Before she knew it, the rubble, the destruction, and the rest of her broken town disappeared around them. All that lay before them was an infinity of white doors. “What is this?” she asked, collapsing on the ground, trying not to shake as much as she was. If she hadn’t been pulled away just at the moment, would she still have her foot attached to the rest of her?

         “Without someone to operate the portal station from the outside, we don’t have any set destination. Therefore, all the portals we could go through are up for grabs,” Dane explained having taken the courses in school in order to become a portal operator himself.

         “Is there any way to tell which door leads to where?” Claire asked, her eyes darting from door to door.

         “No, but we should go before that bot decides to follow us.” Dane held out his hand to help Claire up and let out a smile even though he was also shaking due to their too close for comfort encounter. Pulling her up, he rushed to the closest door and stepped through, Claire following right behind him.

         The scene was hardly any different from that of their own town; however, this one consisting of larger buildings, more houses, and certainly more people. This was a city, one Claire knew from countless pictures and word of mouth. Even though the whole area was torn apart, she still picked out landmarks that caught her eye. A smile spread across her face when she confirmed where she was. Middleton was a city a few hours north-east of their own little town, and although she had never herself visited, she had always planned and now was her chance. “This way,” she said, slinking into the shadows to avoid more bots that would be lurking about here.

         “Where are you going?” Dane whispered, picking up his pace just to walk next to her. “We need to find cover and stop wasting time out in the open,” he hissed, making a grab for Claire’s arm to stop her.

         With a tug, she pulled away and continued on. “Will you relax? I’ll find cover in a minute,” she muttered, trying her best to focus on her surroundings. After a few minutes of Dane’s anxiety and protests, Claire reached the back of fairly intact house. She ducked into the basement entrance with Dane following closely behind, whirling his head in all directions, trying to still keep look out for anything potentially dangerous following them.

         A warm glow welcomed them almost immediately. “Who’s there?” a shaky, young voice yelled out. After it followed a small girl that was clutching a broom handle closely. “If you’re here to cause trouble, you need to get out before my brother gets down here. He could take both of you down with one arm.” The girl was terrified and trembling, tears filling in her eyes.

         Claire smiled at her. “Actually, that’s what I wanted. Can you go get your brother? Your last name is White, right?” she asked. Her question seemed to come as a surprise because the girl just stood there staring for another long moment. She looked as though she was about to speak, but shut her mouth and rushed up the basement stairs.

Soon enough, she came back down, following an older boy, one with shaggy chocolate brown hair and the brightest of green eyes that lit up when he saw his guests. “Claire?” he asked, rushing down and stopping right in front of her. “Is that really you? Why, this isn’t even possible,” he said with a chuckle. “Penny, you can go back upstairs with mom. Don’t worry about these two. They’re harmless,” the boy said with a kind smile toward his sister. He turned his attention back to Claire. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen your smiling face, hasn’t it?” he said, his smile more charming than ever.

Dane looked from Claire to the unknown face, clearly confused on what was even happening. “Um… I don’t believe I know you, but somehow, you seem to know her. How?” he questioned, becoming slightly annoyed at the fact that he hadn’t even been acknowledged in this meeting.

         “It’s been months, actually. I’m not sure how I still remember the layout of your city, but I guess I stared at the pictures long enough for it to be permanently etched into my head,” Claire said, the smile in her face growing. “Oh, Dane, this is Nick,” she said, being rather vague.

         Nicholas, on the other hand, turned his attention to the guest he didn’t have a history with. “I’m Nicholas White to be specific. I know Claire because she’s my favorite pen pal,” he said, holding out his hand for a handshake.

         Dane didn’t bite and slapped his hand away. “Pen pal? Who has pen pals when there are portals? Well, when there were portals at least,” he questioned, feeling awkward with the entire situation.

         Nicholas just smirked. “We had a class assignment, if I do remember correctly,” he said, trailing off and looking in Claire’s direction. She nodded in agreement. “They wanted us to experience what life was like back before Dr. Wick and his discoveries so they gave us pen pals to write to. I just so happen to get Claire, and we just kept it much longer than the assignment required us to.” The two were now completely indulging in their memories. “We took pictures using those old, disposable cameras of everything around us and sent them to each other, back and forth for years. It doesn’t surprise me that you could find your way here since I live right by the portal.” His expression grew serious for a moment, though, finally deciding to answer the questions that were more important. “But how did you get here without a portal operator and why are you even here?” he asked, scratching his head in confusion, leaving the rest of their reuniting to be done when everything was out in the open about the situation.

         Claire was about to open her mouth to tell Nicholas everything they had just endured when Dane cut her off completely with his own explanation. “Claire figured she could escape if she went through the portals to get out of town. We just got here by luck, nothing more,” he said, keeping it short and bittersweet. “She wasn’t really thinking when she made that decision.” Claire glared up at him, ready to protest, when Nicholas cut her off just as Dane had.

         “Oh, Claire. You’re always so curious. I missed that,” he said with a loud chuckle that made Dane become even more annoyed than before.

         “Can I get a word in?” Claire spat, pushing in between the two friends of hers which were still strangers to each other. “Nick, this is Dane. He’s back from my area. We’ve been friends since we were younger since we live right near each other. He came with me to make sure I didn’t get into too much trouble by myself. And Dane, you should like Nick. He’s a great guy,” she said, glancing up at him with a smile. “You’ll both get along for me, right?”

         Nicholas was the first to speak up. “Of course. Anything for you,” he said smoothly. “Now, it’s still the middle of the night and some of us enjoy sleep. Come with me so we can all get some rest.” Nicholas turned his back and ascended the stairs to the first floor of the house with Claire and Dane following closely behind. Claire looked around, finding that their house had been lucky enough to avoid drastic damage. The walls were crumbling, but it held sturdy and with few holes. Nicholas brought them into an empty room. “We don’t have beds anymore, but the floor isn’t too bad. I apologize for this,” he said, forcing out a nervous laugh.

         Claire plopped down in the corner, wrapping her blanket around her and getting out the photograph of Nicholas. “That’s fine. This is what it’s like back in town anyway.” Dane moved to another corner and tried his best to make a pillow out of his arm; however, no matter how much he tossed and turned, he wasn’t able to drown out the whispers between Claire and Nicholas as they told each other story after story about the “old days.”

         The next morning arrived without a bell that they had become accustomed to listening to every morning. Both Dane and Claire waited for it to be sounded until they finally came to the realization that this wasn’t home and it was too different, even if both places had been reduced to nothing. When the three grouped back together for breakfast, Nicholas attacked them with questions yet again. “So, when are we heading out for the portal?” he asked as though it was the most normal statement.

         Dane held back his retaliation, hoping that Claire would turn down his request to join them on their endeavors. He watched her, wondering why she hadn’t even seemed to be considering what he said. Was she waiting for him to answer? Instead, she made it completely normal. “I was hoping tonight. What do you think, Dane?”

         He stopped for a moment, bread stuffed in his mouth. Quickly, he swallowed it down and threw some words together that seemed to make sense in his head. It came off as rather harsh, though. “Why is he even coming with us?” Claire shot him a glare. “You already talked about this, didn’t you?” he asked, his hopes falling. She nodded, redirecting her attention back to Nicholas who wasn’t in the last affected by Dane’s puzzled reaction to the idea.

         “In that case, we should go downtown today to get my friend, Emma. I figure she wouldn’t appreciate it if I just left and didn’t ask her to come with,” Nicholas said, taking lead of a group that he wasn’t even a part of a few hours prior. “Whenever you get done, we’ll head out.” After swallowing the last bite of his own bread, he headed outside to wait.

         Dane was boiling mad and stormed out after him, hoping to avoid blowing up and getting scolded by Claire. He found Nicholas right outside leaning against the house, gazing up into the sky aimlessly. “Who do you think you are?” Nicholas opened his mouth to give a response, but Dane cut it off. “Don’t answer that. Claire had no right to invite you so don’t try taking over and demanding things from us. You’re not the leader here. Got it?”

         Nicholas shook it off and gave Dane the biggest smile he could manage to avoid showing his own irritation. “Of course, Dane. I wouldn’t want to step on your toes. You can be the leader and I’ll protect Claire. I got it.” Nicholas gave Dane an unappreciated thumbs up.

         Dane was ready to object, pounce, and whatever else came to mind just to wipe that arrogant smile off his face when Claire came outside to join them. “I’m ready to go. How about you two?” she asked, skipping forward to the front of the pack, gazing out at the city streets that gave them so many possible directions to go in.

         Nicholas put his arm around Claire’s shoulders and bravely locked eyes with Dane. “As long as Dane is, I am.”

         Dane cursed something under his breath and let Nicholas lead them down streets and streets so they could reach downtown without too many obstacles to cause them problems. Nicholas pointed out all the pot holes and helped Claire climb any large rocks that frustratingly blocked their path. At last, they reached downtown, an area in much worse condition than uptown. They climbed over the rusty old fence that surrounded a small run down shack. Nicholas walked right up to the decaying wood that was meant to be a door and made no move to knock. “Emma!” he yelled. After an awkward silence, the door finally opened and fell off its hinges with Nicholas stepping out of the way of the falling wood just in time.

         “Why does my door always fall off when you visit me?” a young female growled appearing in the doorway. She took notice to the two new people and immediately tried to fix her poorly groomed blonde hair. No one was paying attention to it due to their own hair problems, though. “And why didn’t you tell me you were bringing people over? I could have tried to spiff myself a bit more,” she said with a pout.

         “No one cares what you look like, Emma. This is Claire and Dane. They’re from a town south of here,” Nicholas explained, pointing to each person as he introduced them. “At that moment, Emma’s face lit up. “They came through the portal. They’re trying to get out of here.”

         Emma stood speechless for a moment, looking from person to person, and waiting for the “just kidding”. “When do we leave?” she asked, bouncing up and down excitedly.

         While Nicholas explained things to Emma in further detail, Dane pulled Claire off to the side. “What is up with these people just inviting themselves to come with? Don’t you find that in the least bit rude?” he asked harshly, glancing back at the two strangers with spite.

         “I think it’s nice if we have more people. There’s safety in numbers, right?” Claire asked, trying to make the situation a positive one.

         “There’s not safety in numbers when you’re trying to sneak around unseen and you know that,” he said, glaring off into the distance. “I guess it doesn’t matter anyway. It’s too late to blow them off, isn’t it,” he muttered, kicking a rock and watching it bang and rattle the rusty fence. “Who says we can trust them? We don’t even know them.”

         Claire took a deep breath. “I know Nick and Nick knows Emma. I think we’ll be fine. If you have a problem with it, you can go home,” Claire spat, skipping off to join the conversation that Nicholas and Emma were engaged in.

Dane stood there alone, dumbfounded at Claire’s acceptance to these strangers. “Why did I agree to this? It’s ridiculous,” he muttered, kicking another rock into the fence.

         With their new group formed and ready, they jumped the fence once more and started to make their way through downtown Middleton. Emma led the way with Nicholas and Claire following closely behind as Dane lagged in the back of everyone. Emma led them down the streets, even farther from uptown. “I want to check to see if Doni is home,” Emma told them, stopping at another shack house. She ran up to the front door which seemed much more intact than her own. “Doni!” she yelled, banging on the door a few times before stepping back and waiting.

         After a minute or so of waiting, Nicholas put his hand on Emma’s shoulder. “He’s probably not home. You haven’t seen him in a week, right? He’s probably off wandering again,” he said, trying to be encouraging in any way he could. The closeness of Emma and Nicholas became apparent, causing Claire’s stomach to turn.

         A cold wind blew, rocking the shack and making the boards screech in pain as if the entire system would just collapse right there. Claire shivered, trying her best to cover herself with her own arms. Dane walked up behind her, wrapping his own jacket around her. “I’m sorry I freaked out. I just don’t know Nicholas like you do. It’s hard to trust people who could threaten to take someone I care about away from me,” Dane said, wrapping his arms around Claire too, holding her close.

         Claire sighed, her anger diffusing as she watched Nicholas comfort Emma. “No, I’m sorry that I got upset,” she said, letting Dane embrace her. Still, the question haunted her as to whether he cared because they were friends or because feelings had actually developed. She shook the thought away though and proceeded to push it to the back of her mind.

         Looking up at him now, she realized how much he had changed without her noticing. He wasn’t just a little boy anymore, playing with sticks and mud just like she wasn’t the small girl that followed him around everywhere he went like a lost puppy. He appeared taller, stronger, and more grown up than ever. Dane, catching Claire staring at him, turned his head to smile at her. One thing didn’t change though; his sweet smile.

         As Claire was lost in her thoughts, a trashcan banged against the ground, creating a ruckus. Nicholas and Emma froze in their tracks, turning their heads slowly to identify the cause of the noise. Old, forgotten soda cans wailed as something or someone crushed each one. For the first time, Claire took notice their location which happened to be a damp alleyway between buildings. A number of birds that had been perched overhead cawed and took off in a frenzy. Claire reached for her ears, trying her best to block out the loud caws. When they seized, the clunking of a wooden substance against concrete took over—the sound steadily getting closer and closer. Simultaneously, the four turned their heads toward the sound. Standing before them was a group of three men, the one in front dragging a wooden bat so it banged against the ground. “Nicki! What a surprise to see you here,” the one with the bat chuckled, swinging the bat so it would rest on his broad shoulders. He was the most rugged of the group, his lip cracked along with the numerous scars that decorated his arms and one large scar that crawled down his neck. The other two appeared to be brutes like the first, but with less marks of evidence. “Who do you have here? I don’t believe we’ve met.”

         Nicholas held his ground, thinking over his answer, trying to find the right words for the situation. “They’re from uptown, very far uptown. They’re not usually out in the streets so of course you’ve never seen them before,” he said, looking the man right in the eye in the process. “We’re heading back home though so I don’t want any trouble.”

         The large man threw back his head and let out the loudest of cackles which echoed throughout the streets. “What? Do you really think I give two shits on what you want?” he asked, leaning forward and getting uncomfortable close. His companions joined in on the laughter. “But of course, I don’t want trouble.” Surprisingly, the man then backed off a bit, appearing as though he was ready to leave them alone to continue with their business. “Let me give you something first,” he muttered as he sent his fist flying into Nicholas’s jaw, knocking him off his feet and sending him crashing to the ground. “I’m glad we had this little chat,” he said, smiling like a mad man.

         Nicholas sat himself up, spitting blood out to the side and wiping his mouth. Quietly, he started to laugh. “Ronnie, you picked the wrong day to mess with me,” he growled, pushing himself up so he could stand tall once more, his face inches from Ronnie’s. “Go on, guys. I’ll meet you back at the house, alright?” Emma nodded toward him and started to push Claire and Dane toward the opening of the alley, leading them away from the group. Turning back, Claire caught a glimpse of Nicholas throwing his own punch right toward Ronnie’s nose just before Emma pushed them both around the corner and out of sight.

         “Shouldn’t we go back and help him?” Claire asked as Emma pushed them farther and farther away. None of this area looked familiar, though. “How far away are we from the house anyway?”

         Emma shook her head. “We’re going to go the long way through downtown so we don’t run into any more problems like Ronnie. And don’t worry about Nick. He’s smart enough to not get ripped apart,” she said straight and to the point.

         “If he was smart, he wouldn’t have attacked that Ronnie guy. He’s obviously outnumbered,” Dane said just as nonchalantly. Emma smiled as if Dane had said funny joke.

         An hour of walking later and they reached the house with still no sign of Nicholas. Claire began pacing and looking out the window every few minutes. As the sun began to retreat, the anxiety in her grew. Just before the last of the light faded away, Nicholas dragged himself into the house and collapsed right away. Claire immediately ran to his side, inspecting the damage done. Surprisingly, he wasn’t all too beat up. He appeared to have taken a good number of punches though in numerous places. “How’d it feel?” Emma asked with a smirk.

         Nicholas lifted his head just enough so the whole group could see the fire burning in his eyes. “It felt amazing,” he chuckled but flinched in pain almost instantly.

         Claire stared at him, her eyes wide and surprised. “What!?” she screeched, feeling as though something had caused the two to act insane. “You’re hurt and yet you say you feel amazing?”

         “Claire, right?” Emma asked. “Those assholes needed to take a fist like they always make him. If we’re getting out of here, they needed to be knocked down a notch beforehand,” she growled.

         Sitting up and propping himself up against a wall, Nicholas motioned for Claire to sit beside him. “I’m alright. You don’t have to worry because I didn’t take them all on.” Claire raised an eyebrow. “I ran away and got them separated and then picked them off one by one. Ronnie was the problem though. I can still feel that bat slamming into my skull,” he muttered, forcing a nervous laugh. “Can we talk about this after I take a nap though? I’ll be fine to go then whenever you choose to wake me up.” Reaching up, Nicholas gently touched Claire’s cheek before laying down where he was and falling asleep.

         Grabbing her wrist and yanking her up, Dane pulled Claire along down into the basement, leaving Emma alone with the sleeping Nicholas. He turned to her, the most serious of looks spread across his face. “He’s going to slow us down,” he scoffed. “And it doesn’t help that he’s starting fights that he cowardly wins.” Dane turned around, clenching his fists and glaring at the wall.

         Cautiously, Claire approached him, not daring to try to face him. “You heard, Emma. They sounded like they deserved it. Besides, it was the smart thing to do—I mean the way he handled it with separating them and all before fighting,” she whispered, trying to grab onto Dane’s arm in an attempt to calm him down.

         Instead, he whipped around; steam practically pouring out of his ears. “Excuse me?” he asked, shaking his head. “Do you hear yourself?” he asked, moving his arm out of her reach. “You’re just going along with everything they do like they can do no wrong,” he spat, his face growing red.

         Averting her eyes to the floor, Claire backed away, afraid of his sudden outburst of anger. She attempted to form sentences but found nothing she could say would prove him wrong. “I—“she started, ready to blow up but stopped short when absolutely nothing came to mind. “I know.” Her voice was barely audible due to her embarrassment about the whole situation. “I guess I just let myself get excited over seeing an old friend.”

         Dane’s face softened and turned to her, ready to offer his comfort. “I guess that’s understandable,” he muttered, pulling her in for a hug. “Promise me you’ll think a bit beforehand though?” he asked, trying his best to make eye contact with her. However, she avoided his line of sight, keeping her eyes on the floor. “Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

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