Young Writers Society

Howard

I wasn't irritated in the least when Ace and Maitea came in the door. I couldn't sleep or relax anyways, and they had to have had something to say. Ace appeared in mild pain, and Maitea was looking slightly irritated. In other words, no different than usual, unfortunately. I felt a little dizzy as I sat upright on my bed.

"What's up?" I said casually.

"We need some stuff from a pharmacy, we need some help holding it up", Maitea said bluntly.

"Why a pharmacy?"

"Ace-"

"-say no more", I interrupted. I couldn't really get out of this at all. What else was I going to say? Sorry you're fiance is in pain and risk of death, but I don't feel like it? I didn't think I was capable of being that big an asshole to say no.

"Just us?", I asked.

"We're asking Eve after you"

I pretended to think for a moment, and reached across the bed to a nightable drawer. I opened it up, pulled out a little P99 pistol, a few magazines, and stood up.

"Let's go ask", I said. I followed the stressed couple out of my room. She seemed a little irritated about my luck a few minutes ago, but she didn't hate me. And again, who'd be enough of an asshole to refuse getting medicine for a dying partner?

Reg Carter

Enough thinking for one day, especially about low down things like death. I slowly forced myself awake and realised I was still in Riley's bed. I cursed, must've drifted off and god knows how long ago. I wondered momentarily if Riley had come in, but I stopped thinking, stopped thinking about it all. Hypothetical bullshit was all it was. Pulling myself out of the bed, I went to open the door and walked outside. There, waltzing down the hall were Howard, Ace and Maitea, with both the lads weilding semi-automatic pistols and fiddling with spare magazine clips.

"Where on earth are the three musketeers off to?" I demanded, a snidey sarcasm in my voice.

Maitea seemed hesitant to speak, as did Ace. Therefore, Howard seemed to step forward and replied with his head held up tall in a bubble of fake self-confidence. "Getting some supplies," he mustered.

"And you need to be armed like a small blimmin' special ops to do that, eh?" I smiled. "I don't care what you're doin', but if you do it, don't get yourselves shot and don't lead the cops back 'ere, understood?"

"Yeah," Ace snapped back.

"Good," I grunted, then as they continued down the hall I yelled one more thing after them. "And if you do get your arses in trouble, don't play heroes. You get me and Riles on the phone and we'll try and unstick ya. Don't go thinkin' you can take a bullet neither. Life ain't nothin' like the movies."

Riley

After realizing Reg was asleep on my bed, and not having the heart to wake him up, I went to go outside. We were right near a little creek surrounded by a small patch of woods, and I wanted to take a little walk.

When I was younger, before The Fishers, before Jack, before the Foxes, I used to love to escape behind our house to a small path in the woods. Eventually, it met up with a stream and I used to swim in a deep section.

I wondered what our house look like now, the small farm on Gennie's Run. Someone else probably owned it now, and fixed it up. Hell, knowing today's society, someone had probably built over all the land we had once owned. Near twenty acres, or was it thirty? I hadn't gone past five acres, too wrapped up in my own misery. If I had never left, wold I have gotten past what had happened, gotten past my extreme dislike for my family?

If I hadn't left, so many people would still be alive. Bree, Antonio, Arnold, Jerro. But, then again, so many others would have died. How many people had I saved down in Mexico; convincing Jack that killing wasn't necessary, that there were other ways? But it didn't matter now, I couldn't go back, couldn't change the past and undo every mistake I had made. Starting with running away.

What would happen if I went back to the farm? Just to look, to put a final cap on the bottle that was my innocence. To end all of my thoughts that started with what if...

Suddenly, it hit me. My parents had never sold the farm. Hadn't on their last visit, they had mentioned how they had kept my room the same way as the day I left? It was still my house, and I had legal rights to it. It was perfect, located in the middle of nowhere, lots of space to live in, the nearest cop station a half hour away...

I would have to run the idea past Reg first, make sure I wasn't getting hopeful. There were risks involved, but a lot less than if we stayed here.

With that, I full-out sprinted back to the house.

Maitea

I grabbed my gun from where it was strapped to my belt and got in the back of Alis's car. I tossed the keys to Eve, "You can drive." Eve looked at me, then looked at the keys.

"How did you get her car keys?" She demanded, her voice raising an octave. She was probably afraid of what was going to happen to her if Alis found out.

"She isn't as observant as she likes to think she is," I laughed, and Eve and Ace couldn't help but join in.

"Okay, let's go," Ace said, still laughing a bit. Eve got in the front, and Ace sat beside me.

"This will make an interesting headline. 'Fishers Hold Up Local Pharmacy'." Again, everyone was laughing. It was good to see Ace laugh. He hadn't in a while, and I was a firm believer laughter could help almost anything.

We pulled up at a little CVS on the edge of town. Me and Ace got out our guns and went in. I took out my gun, and used the same voice I had used in Spain whenever I wanted something.

"Look, we're here for something. Don't give us any trouble, and we won't give you any trouble." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a young girl take a squirt gun out of a package. She pointed it at us.

"There's not 'nuff room in dis town fer the two of us," she said. I couldn't help it, I laughed. She had definitely been watching too many old western movies. The woman who was obviously her mother put her arms around the child protectively.

"Please, she's sorry. She's young, don't hurt her, please." The woman started to cry.

"We're not murderers, contrary to our reputation. We don't kill children. Ever." I assured her. I think I heard her mumble something about the dear lord under her breath.

"Get what you need Ace. I'll make sure no one leaves." Even under the protection of her mothers arms, the little girl was waving the squirt gun at me.

Reg Carter

It was classic that everytime I went near a door something crazy or dramatic occured and when passing the front doorit was no exception. Riley burst in, a grin stretched across her face as she leaned over and caught her breath. She was wearing a white vest and tight denim jeans and she looked remarkably attractive. I thought of Bree for a moment but then forgot as she lifted her head and smiled towards me. That's all I needed, I felt that heart sink when I first met Bree. Riley had pushed me over the edge, but I didn't have the balls to tell her right there and then or even plan to anytime soon. I'd wait; perhaps because of some dull hope something would happen in my favour or merely because I wanted to play it safe because this was someone I genuinely cared about. Either way was irrelevant.

"Reg," she said with an element of relief in her voice. "I need to talk about something."

"Ah, okay. Let's go into the lounge," I replied. She led the way, walking through with the confidence to display that she was the clear, natural-born leader, and sat down on the couch by the coffee table. "What's up?" I asked.

"Where I grew up, my parents place, is in the middle of nowhere. I might have legal rights to it," she said excitedly, her voice at a quick pace. "We could go there. All of us. Be safe, you know? I can go home, Reg. Somewhere I haven't been in a long time. You ever wanted to go home?"

"Only if I could turn back time," I said mournfully.

"Ah..." she said remembering my past and decided to avoid going down that road. "Well, I have. I want you to come with me Reg, but I need to know I'm not rushing, missing the risks. You know? Carries a lot of personal attachments that house. That farm."

"Okay, okay," I replied, "When the others are back from the pharmacy, we'll all talk 'bout it. Run through our options. Hell, it already seems better than this place."

Ace

Never had I imagined I'd sink so low as to rob a damn pharmacy. Well, I wasn't going to rob it; I fully intended on paying for what I needed. I just didn't exactly have a prescription in my name. It was under a false one. A false name I didn't have an ID to match because I was an idiot and didn't prepare properly. Go figure. But it happened to the best of us, I guess...

"You get 'em, Cowgirl," I nodded to the little girl with the squirt gun as I, with my own gun, headed up to the pharmacy counter. The girl behind it reached for the button. "Don't do it," I commanded, clicking the hammer back on my pistol. "I'm not going to kill you...so long as you don't push the button. Well, after I'm gone, feel free." From my pocket I produced an empty box, and slid it across the counter. "I need this."

"But this is--"

"I know what it is. I need it. Get me three, okay?" Then I held up ten hundred-dollar bills. "Six for the drawer, and four for you, if you don't press the button."

The red-headed girl looked at the money. "How do I know you won't kill me?"

"Because I don't kill," I said simply, "unless you don't work with me, here. Okay? Hell, I'm even paying you for the time and aggravation. Not like I need the money, anyway; just the drugs. Please, hurry it up."

She went to the back where the medicines were kept and brought out three boxes. "You're lucky we even have it. We often don't carry this." Her eyes traveled up to my face, pleading still, but she slid them over to me.

I looked around momentarily and then dropped the bills in front of her. "You didn't see shit," I said as I turned to leave, my gun still held up and at the ready, the newly-acquired medication in my pocket. I nodded to the others. "We're good to go."

Back in the car, I looked at everyone in turn. "Thanks a lot, guys, for that. You have no idea how important that was."

"No," Maitea said. "We all know what we just did. That's why we did it."

I smiled. "All right, well let's get the hell out of dodge before she presses the button."

Riley

"Okay, okay," Reg said, "When the others are back from the pharmacy, we'll all talk 'bout it. Run through our options. Hell, it already seems better than this place."

"It is, let me just call my mom real quick." I pressed a few buttons, making sure that the call couldn't be traced, and dialed. She picked up on the second ring.

"Hello, who is this? What do you want? I am a very busy woman," Out of the corner of my eye I saw Reg laugh, so I assumed he could hear what she was saying.

"Mom, it's Riley, do we still own the farm?"

"Of course we do. What kind of a stupid question is that? God, Riley, its no wonder you barley passed fourth grade. When I was your age..." I hung up on her, causing Reg to laugh even louder.

"You failed the fourth grade?" he asked after-to an extent-stopped laughing.

"Almost failed fourth grade. But essentially, yes. I never paid attention. Couldn't care less."

Jack

I walked into the kitchen where Mark was sitting, a cup of something in his hands. I didn't care enough to ask what.

"So, hows everyone doing down south?" I asked.

"As much as Antonio misses you," we both laughed. Antonio had been trying to kill me for years, "it wasn't the same. We fought a lot. Over who was going to be leader, Antonio won in the end of that. But we fought a lot about other stuff too. We could never agree on one thing. That's why I left."

"I knew you couldn't survive without me," I said, grinning.

"Hey, were all alive, just not for much longer. The gang is on verge of collapse. Too many cops banging at the door, and not enough guns."

"Not enough guns? Hell, that's impossible."

Tia

After the lovebirds and their associates got back, Riley called us to a meeting. I sat down at the chair at the end of the table, and propped my booted feet up on the table. Riley walked by and pushed my feet of the table.

"Find a different seat," she said angrily. I rolled my eyes, and stood up, taking the seat to her immediate right. Reg sat across from me, but avoided looking at me.

"We have an option presented to us," Riley began, "that until now I had forgotten we had."

"If you came up with it it's probably going to get us all killed." I remarked.

She continued without even glancing in my direction, "I still have legal rights to the house, farm and land I grew up in. The place is very large, it should still be stocked with food and other necessities. It's located in the middle of no where and I have a feeling we could spend a good amount of time there, settle down for at least a month."

"A month," Alis scoffed. Riley shot her a look.

"There are obviously some dangers, though. Most of the people in town know me, know what I look like, and know I'm a criminal. I have enemies in the town, but I also have many friends. The other, obvious problem, is that it is an obvious place to hide. Hiding in plain sight, they call it. But it just might work. I need your opinions on this, because if it wouldn't be all your lives at risk as well as mine I would have left the second I came up with the idea."

I caught her eyes flicker to Reg, and I knew the other reason she didn't leave when she got the idea. She'd be leaving him behind. Pathetic. She needed to learn life didn't work like that. The way we lived, you fell in love and then the person you loved got shot. Reg would know all about that. I would know about that.

Reg Carter

The choice was inevitably the gang's, as Riley knew I'd be following her like usual. Not because of any stupid feelings that seemed to be haunting my mind recently, but because of the same reason I'd always stayed. I'd made that promise, just like I had to my sister. I liked Riley's idea a lot. Settling down for even just one month may allow me to safely make contact with my sister, sure it was a long shot but even long shorts were damn tempting in times like this.

"We're in," Ace and Maitea said, looking at each other and nodding. It surprised me how eager their decision was, but I'd assumed they were looking to settle down. It was only natural, Bree and I were going to do the same, until she was shot. Shot by someone I trusted too. It was past now, sure, but there was always an underlying disgust towards how Ace and Maitea's relationship had worked out and mine hadn't.

Riley's eyes flickered to meet mine every so often and I also caught Tia staring evily at her as she did so. Something felt different about it all and I placed it on my huge distrust for Tia since she arrived. I'd work with it though. Assuming Riles was looking for a clear answer from me, I grinned and said, "You know I'm with you, Riles, one way or the other. Made a promise, 'member?"

Riley smiled back and looked to the rest of the gang. Tia merely huffed and crossed her arms, looking expectantly to the others.

Alis

I finally spoke up, "You know, as much as my other options look so much better," sarcasm ruled in my voice, "I think I'll stay with you."

"Other options?" Howard inquired.

"Either I stick with you lot and put up with how pathetic you all are or go out on my own, get ratted out by someone close to me and end up shot. Some options."

"As long as your coming I could care less about your opinions of us, Alis," Riley said coolly. I rolled my eyes at her, and looked around at the rest of them.

Jack, of course, was going. Mark was yet to give an answer, as was Eve. I expected them both to come. Mark, to follow Jack, and Eve because she knew that we were a sort of safe haven for her. Safety in numbers and all that shit. I preferred the phrase safety with a shot gun, but I knew that wouldn't fly with her. Besides, she was a help to us. Probably the reason several of us were still alive.

"Come on, just give your answers. I have better things to do that sit around here."

"Why don't you just leave then?" Ace asked.

"Maybe I will," I stood up, and walked out the door.

Maitea

I watched Alis storm out the door. "Bitch," I mumbled under my breath. I watched Ace smile, he obviously had heard what I said.

"Exactly how much land do you own, Riley?" I asked to break the silence. "Or, your parents, I mean,"

"Twenty or thirty acres, maybe less now. It doesn't matter, we wouldn't be outside much." She responded, looking up at me from where she was staring at the table. Thinking, probably, just like we all were. This was tough for all of us, relocating constantly.

"What about food?" I asked.

"Eve, Howard, maybe Tia could go out and get it. They aren't wanted, or associated, with us. Howard, I think you are still associated with the PK. Hopefully; it would make things easier. People know Tia, though, and that could be a problem."

"How often was she at your house?" Ace asked.

"Once or twice a year, at the most, up until I was fifteen," Riley smiled at something, and I didn't know what. It made me curious, but I didn't press the issue. We would be safe, that's all that mattered.

Ace

I rolled my eyes as Alis stormed off from the table. What "better things" did she really have to do? I didn't even have much better to do. I mean. I didn't particularly like being in a room full of people, and never had, but no one saw me getting up and leaving. I was even feeling overheated, shaky, and physically ill from my injection, but I didn't leave. I cut the figure walking out the door a glare before turning back to the matter at hand.

"Bitch," Maitea murmured, and I grinned. So we were on the same page, then.

"So what happened," I asked about Tia not going to Riley's house anymore. "She beat you up? I could see it."

"Oh, funny, Ace," she spat.

I nodded. "She beat you up." And there I was, being mean again, picking fights again. I don't know why I kept doing that, other than that I was cranky because I was tired, sick, and everyone kept dragging me around everywhere. At that point, my face had twisted into a perma-glare.

Before she could even say anything back, I got up from the table. "I'm going to bed," I said. "I don't care what time it is. Don't disturb me." I looked, more softly, at Maitea. She could disturb me whenever she wanted, and I wouldn't mind.

On my way to the bedroom I'd chosen, I wondered if I was the only one that...didn't particularly want to be there anymore. I wished I could, like James, just...leave. Not necessarily in the same way, though. Even if I left the gang, I couldn't get away from the things I wanted to. And I liked the gang. Just...a few people made it unpleasant.

I thought I heard someone say something to me, and I stopped in my tracks, not able to make out exactly what had been said. Pushing it from my mind, I went the rest of the way to my bedroom and shut the door, making my way to my bed, flopping down on it, wondering if anyone cared that whenever we gathered, I took the first opportunity to leave.

I pulled my hoodie off, then my shirt, my shoes and socks, and lay there in only jeans, a bit uncomfortable not wearing layers upon layers of clothing. It was chilly in there, but I ignored it, instead fixating on my arms. Had Maitea ever seen the carnage I'd wreaked on them? A hundred small reminders of how much life sucked. Only one reminder of why it didn't, and she had yet to walk into the room to see what was wrong. She was probably still with the rest of the gang, who'd probably given their answers. I wondered if "Where's Ace?" "Oh, off being emo," was ever part of their conversation. It amused me that it could have been. But I had nothing to do, so I had no reason to be out socializing. It was just something I didn't do.

Then I got to wondering, as I often did, if she just felt sorry for me, and what she actually saw in me, if not. To everyone else, I was just that weird, brooding kid who was sort of smart and could do useful things now and then, but was altogether sort of a drag.

"So we're going out on an excursion to the middle of nowhere," I spoke to my pillow, hugging it tightly. "Am I going to go crazier there? What if I end up as crazy as Alis?" I already felt crazy enough being in only pants with it this cold. And to think I'd been overheated just a few minutes before... Maybe I didn't have much further to go. I realized I was laughing to myself.

I rolled over on my side and stared at the door for no apparent reason. There was no way I'd be able to sleep; the blinds were crappy, so it was too bright outside. But at least I wasn't around everyone anymore.

So. Again, the middle of nowhere. Maybe I should've stayed to see when we'd leave, but...I didn't feel well. That was only natural, with what I had to put into my body to get rid of the disease. Truthfully, a lot of times when I just got up and left, I did feel bad about it. I wondered if they knew that...

Well, either way, I'd left.

"I'm just as bad as Alis," I sighed.

Riley

After watching Ace leave, I shook my head. Was I really boring everyone that much? Maitea looked like she wanted to follow him, but a look from me told her to stay.

"We will have a lot more freedom there than we have here. Again, since we own so much land, and because so much of it is forest, we will be able to go outside. We just can't go near the boundaries of it or leave the property. Eve, you'll be able to, and I'll need your help when we need to get things."

"What if they ask questions? I mean, some random girl in a small town they've never seen before..."

"Lie, but make it believable."

"When are we going to go?" Howard asked.

"We'll leave tomorrow, we should get there in about six hours. Not to much of a drive. But the sooner we get out of here the better. After our little pharmacy hold up, people know we are here." Maitea avoided looking at me, "I don't blame you, of course, you were doing what you had to." My voice turned to just above a whisper, and the room fell silent, "Aren't we all, really?"

Maitea

"I'm just as bad as Alis," Ace sighed. He hadn't seen me come in, and it sort of concerned me.

"No your not," I spoke. He jumped, and that confirmed the fact he had no idea I had been in the room. Ace looked from the door, to me, then back at the door again. He shook his head and mumbled to himself.

"God, you scared the life out of me," he said with a shaky laugh. I went over and put my arms around him. I noticed healing scars on his wrist, but ignored them. We'd all had bad times. I had just taken it out on other people, in the same way Alis still did. I had learned to control myself, she still hadn't learned.

"You really aren't as bad as Alis, she left because she's just a bitch like that. You weren't feeling well, I could tell. That's different."

"How different is it, really?"

"As different as day and night," I assured him. I sat down beside him, and in a very elementary move, put my head on his bare shoulder. We sat in silence for a minute or two, just thinking.

Finally, Ace asked me, "What are you thinking about?"

"The future. I mean, not like next week, but twenty years from now. We're young today, we can get along just fine. We're strong and we can defend ourselves. But we can't just hide the rest of our lives. When were eighty three, and the cops show up at our door, what are we supposed to do? There has to be something more for us to do than just live forever in fear. I just can't figure out what."

"You've been thinking about this a lot, haven't you?" He asked. I just nodded.