Young Writers Society

Riley

"James, I am going to need you to take care of the heist. I have some things I need to attend to over in WestBrooke." I tell him.

"Where were you plaa\ning to go?" He asks.

"There is a little rich neighborhood, StoneFrok, near the edge of the town. Go down Maple street and takea left at the second light, you can't miss it. A large, brick house should be ungaurded at the moment. If not, make use of your guns."

"Okay."

"By the way, teach Eve how to shoot a gun. I am really not confident she knows how." I say with a smile.

"I'll get right on that." James laughs. I give him a quick kiss, and then run off to the garage where my motorcycle was.

Bree

I sit on the edge of the bed. Max in in the bed, his leg proped up.

"I will be fine, Bree. You guys treat me like a baby." he said.

"Well, never hurts to speed up the recovery. If some of your little buddies come back..." I say. Reg walks in.

"Leave 'im alone Bree." Reg laughs.

"Fine!" I say, and walk out the door. Reg follows me.

"Max 'll be fine. Just give 'im some time." Reg says.

"I know, but there could have been something bad in that bullet." I say.

"I don't think th' PK is tha' bright." Reg laughs some more.

Reg Carter

Bree laughed and walked down the corridor to go see Riles, I looked back into Max's room and then let a big grin glide across my face. Poor bastard, I thought. I wandered down the stairs and saw everyone armed and getting ready for some kind'a heist. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Christ, don't look like you lot are goin' on no heist. It looks more like you're off to start your own bloody war," I laughed.

Alis comes in and scowled at me. "They need to be able to fight if they have to."

"True that, but I don't want crap from no cops either," I snarled, I gazed around and looked evily at Sal. "Put down 'em grenades right now. Last thing you're doin' is bombin' anything!"

"What-" Sal began.

"No. You put 'em back. Handguns only, right?" I shouted, "And don't you dare bloody shoot 'less you 'ave to."

I walk out of the room and as I staggered down the main hall I notice Riles and Bree chatting in the kitchen. I look at them. Bree gives me a nod to say "they'll learn", Riley just looks blank. I wink at them both and then leave the mansion, hopping into my 4x4 and begin driving south towards Mexico.

The phone rang.

"Where the hell are you going?" said Riles.

"To see an old friend."

Maitea

"Where do your parents live?" I ask Ace as we climb into my car, the less conspicuious of the two.

"California." He says bitterly.

"I am sure she is fine. " I say, trying to make my voice sound honest. But under my confidence, there is a current of fear.

"She is." Ace says, clearly displaying that he thought the exact oppisite.

"Ace, she is fine." I say, but can't bring myself to believe it.

Sal

When Reg left, I picked up the grenades again.

"I thought Reg told you to put that down." James says. I put it down, and growl.

"Shut up." I say, but still end up with only two guns and a knife on me.

"How old exactly are you?" James asks.

"Fifteen." I say bitterly. He starts laughing. I stare at my gun for a minute, then decide it isn't worth the effort.

"Lets go." Eve says. James nods. I go get in the front seat of my car. I look at everyone else's choice of vehicle, and suppress a laugh. People, get a car that goes more than 50 mph, god!

Ace

She kept telling me that Ma was fine, but I knew my mother. She was intelligent as hell, but when it came to common sense, she was a little bit lacking. "Make sure you gas up before you hit the Mojave. Ma didn't do that once, and we were stuck on the side of the road for two hours with me sick as a dog." I shook my head as I put the seat back and stared out at the long stretch of interstate. "Something's wrong; I just know it."

"Well, if it is, we'll fix it. And if she was killed, it would be all over the news. Like you said, they can't kill an Admiral quietly."

I didn't know what I was going to do. I wasn't sure I could talk her into stepping down and keeping a low profile. I probably couldn't talk her into moving out of the house she was in, even though it already attracted too much attention. And, well, once I was there, I was going to have a hell of a time talking her into letting me go back to the gang. And with Dad, it would be even harder.

That was it. Dad. He could talk Ma into doing anything, and he was more likely to realize the danger she was in, as well as the danger I would put her in if I stayed.

"I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me up in Arizona and I'll drive the rest of the way." She nodded, and I drifted off. I was planning to do it all in one go.

Chris

The thrill that shot through me when I looked into Alice's bag of mass destruction alarmed me slightly. It was like looking into a bag of toys, and I couldn't wait to find out how to use each and every one of them. The excitement warred with my morals;I still felt guilty about possibly killing some of those PK's, even though I had no idea if my bullets were to blame. And despite the fact that they were pretty much stereotypical bad guys; the ones that get killed off by the hundreds in movies. Still, it was still a human life being extinguished, and that stayed with me, but I knew I would kill again if it came down to it.

We left the house and everyone headed in the direction of their vehicles. I stood sheepishly outside the front door and wondered which way to go. I heard a screeching behind me and turned as Sal skidded to a halt right next to me.

"You gunna walk there or somethin?"

"My bike's still in England, didn't really think things through when I left," I grinned.

She rolled her eyes.

"Get in," she sighed.

I was strangely calm on the journey there. I started thinking about the people who were going to become a huge part of my life. They were all pretty cool, even Alis, when she wanted to be. I thought about Max and he seemed to me extremely brave for coming back to the gang the way he did. I was slightly in awe of him and the way he seemed to have to fight all the things the PK had left in his body. It was pretty impressive. And I did feel sorry for him, stuck in bed while we got all the action. He had tried to blow it off but I, and probably the others, could see he was disappointed to be left behind. I guessed he wanted a chance to prove his loyalty to the gang.

Riley

"To see an old friend." Reg says.

"Don't you dare shoot Jack." I tell him. He laughs, then the line disconnects. I sigh, and roll my eyes.

I go into our garage and get on my motorcycle. Before long, I am in WestBrooke. It isn't what most people would consider a nice area. To be honest, Reg's 4x4 would be considered a stand-out here.

The buildings are covered in graffiti, with some words that were just as colorful as the paint they were written with. The buildings are small, and crammed together. A good lot of them are falling down, and look like they are on the verge of collapsing.

I finally pull up at a little house at the edge of the curb. There is a small alley between the house and the house next to it. I get of my motorcycle, and go down the alley.

"Your late." A voice hisses.

"I couldn't just leave, they would notice something was up." I retort.

"Fine, but if it were anyone but you, my dear Riles..." He doesn't bother to finish his threat. I knew the answer. He would have just left, and kept the money payed in advance.

"Let me see them." I say. He hands me the manila envelope. I take out the papers, and flip through them.

"Do they work under the blue light?" I ask.

"Of course, you should know well enough, Riles, it is unnecessary to ask." He says. I nod my thanks, give him a tip, and walk back to my motorcycle.

It was good to have a fake license and birth certificate when you were on the run.

Max

The worry that PK would find the mansion was making my head hurt, but after the whole shot-in-the-thigh thing, I was in too much bodily pain to notice any more. It was getting better, and the attention so far helped, but I didn't like everybody leaving me for a heist. We had some more important things to be doing than a heist, taking on the PK and all, and as a bonus directly to me, they were getting to like me more and more, and...well, it felt a little bad to be all on my own. If nothing else, I was in a slight irritance that I was probably soon to get bored. And if you can remember from previous experiences, being bored in this mansion was what led me to the PK in the first place.

My leg was bad, but not too bad. I heard the cars all driving off, so I got up. I felt like finding something to do, looking around again, getting something to eat, whatever would come my way. Actually, I hadn't eaten anything but crap rice since I got here, so that seemed like my priority.

When I limped my way into the kitchen, I was pretty depressed at myself. I checked every drawer, and there was nothing good anywhere. That wasn't why I was depressed; I checked every drawer about ten whole times, knowing there was nothing during each search. I just went into the main living room and took a seat on the couch.

I was sitting on something. I didn't know what it was, but it was small, rectangular, and...

Oh god no.

My cell phone.

I pulled it out to see it'd been on for the entire time I was with the gang. Knowing SS, he probably had it tracking me the entire time. It wouldn't be worth destroying it at this point...somebody would probably be on their way by now.

The only bright side I could think of was that I knew that somebody was coming, and I could be ready and prepared. They probably didn't think I remembered the phone, or at least I hoped so. I had an idea on what I could do, and to make sure it'd work, I was going to start limping like the wind.

I found just about all I needed inside the mansion; a bunch of walkie-talkies, a sniper rifle and a shotgun with plenty of ammo for each, and a window on the top floor that had small, openable sections that I could poke the gun through without being easily noticed. I also managed to carry an armchair right to the window (the hardest thing to move, by far). Before I took my seat by the window with the sniper for lookout, I turned on every walkie-talkie and put them in range of any doors or windows they could get into without me seeing. Nobody was getting into this house other than the gang, or they'd get a bullet in the head or a shell in their chest.

I kept my eye outside the window, and my head was clear. There was something nice about having a gun in my hand, waiting for somebody to come. And if my phone was always on and here, they'd keep coming. They'd all die eventually, right?

It was really all I could do at this point...and it's what I wanted to do. I was willing to die for the gang, and I was going to be good enough that I didn't have to.

Maitea

"I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me up in Arizona and I'll drive the rest of the way." Ace says. I nod, and he falls asleep.

I just drive for a while, trying to keep my thoughts on the road. But my worring side eventually got the best of me. What if one of his parents were dead? What would that do to Ace? What if the PK caught up? I let the rehtorical questions spin around in my head.

Finally, a sign says: Welcome to Arizona. I look over to wake ace up, but decide against it. I would just let him sleep. He had told me where the house was, I could drive the rest of the way.

The rest of the drive takes another few hours, but eventually I think we are at the right place. I wake Ace up.

"Is this the place?" I ask.

James~~

We pulled up to the curb about two blocks from the target house and I hopped out and opened the trunk. I pulled up the false bottom and opened the safe I had buried there. There were five pistols, each equipped with different types of ammo, and different equipment, a submachine gun with the same equipment, a sniper, several grenades, night vision goggles, and knives of all types.

Alis came up behind me, "James... what did you do before you came here?"

I turned as I picked up a pistol, "Lets just say, the PK's mom used to tell them stories of me to make them behave."

Alis had that same look on her face as when she had first met me. Like I wasn't human.

"Come on we have a house to rob. We can discuss my past life some other time, actually I'm sure Riley would love to tell you all about it."

Eve

Before the heist, James came up to me and showed me how to shoot a gun. I just looked at him.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" I asked him. "I know how to shoot a gun!"

"Riles just told me to make sure of that." He said.

"Well, I know, so you can forget about it." I was only angry at him because him thinking I didn't know how made me feel kind of...stupid. Riley didn't trust that I didn't know those things. I didn't look that clueless when I first came, did I? I asked myself. I decided not to think about right then.

"Can I hitch a ride with you Jimmy?" I asked Jimmy when we were ready to leave. "My car crashed."

"Of course Eve." He said to me."

"Thanks." I said as I hopped in the passenger seat.

While we were driving to the house, I was thinking of some strategies that I could use. I didn't think anyone else would listen to them, so I only thought of ones that I could do on my own.

"This is going to be interesting." I said to Jimmy as we were riding there. He just nodded in agreement, but he wasn't too enthusiastic about it. I had a feeling he was nervous, as was I, but I figured he'd be okay.

When we arrived at the house, I got my weapons ready, thinking my strategy through in my head.

"Are you ready?" I asked everyone.

"Oh ya." Sal said, completely confident.

"Let's do this."

Jimmy

I watched Eve as I drove my pick-up truck. She almost seemed as nervous as I did. She seemed to be constantly tapping her knees, and I couldn't help but chuckle slightly. I was trying my best to keep my mind off what I was about to do, but I was failing; epically. What if I had to shoot someone? I shuddered at the thought.

"This is going to be interesting." Eve said, turning to me.

I could only nod in agreement. Interesting; that's one word for it. When it came to the stealing, I was fine. It was the thought of maybe having to shoot someone that scared me. Not because I might get myself killed but because I didn't want to kill.

Shaking the thought out of my head, I continued driving. Minutes later, we'd arrived in the right spot. I looked at the bright side; at least I hadn't gotten lost. As I stepped out of the car, Eve spoke.

"Are you ready?" She asked everyone.

No...

"Oh yeah!" Sal replied, overly enthusiastic.

"Let's do this." Eve's lips curved upwards slightly.

I slowly shut my eyes and felt the small gun in my hand. I wasn't bad at handling guns or anything. In fact, I'd been told that I was very good at it. I just hated doing it. I opened my eyes again and sighed. This next hour were going to be long and hard, that was for sure.

Sal

"Oh yeah!" I replied, overly enthusiastic.

"Let's do this." Eve's lips curved upwards slightly. I grin.

"Scared?" I taunted. Then I took out the grenade I had snached on the way out. James gives me a long, cold glare.

"I thought me, and Reg told you not to bring a grenade." He growls.

"And I didn't listen." I say. I put the grenade in my pocket and go to walk into the house.

"Coming?" I ask. James' hand moves towards his gun.

"Don't I get a grenade?" Alis asks.

"If you wanted one you should have gotten your own." I reply.

"You two amaze me, fighting over a grenade..." Jimmy says.

Ace

"Is this the place?" Maitea asked as she shook me awake. I blinked and looked; she was, in fact, in front of the beachfront stucco mansion I'd lived in for the past seven years.

"Yeah," I said. "Park next to the white car." She did, and I got everything together: my mini computer, two pistols, my jacket, and my sanity. "Okay. Now, where the hell is Dad...?" I got out of the car and had her follow me toward the front door, cautiously. I had one of my guns out and at the ready.

When I reached the door, I heard Maitea gasp my name, and before I could ask what was wrong, I was grabbed. "Wha--?"

"Shush, Ace," said a familiar voice.

"Dad, you scared the crap out of me! I thought you were...the lights aren't on..." I turned and hugged him. "Where's Ma?"

"I don't know," he returned, gripping me tighter.

"Where's...Benny? They didn't get him too?" If they would have had my little brother...he was only twelve. What could he ever have done to merit getting on the PKs' list?

"Come inside, Ace," Dad said. "Her, too. She your girlfriend?" I nodded and lowered my gun. "Keep your weapons out," he told me, and then I noticed that he was also armed.

Inside the lavish family room, I introduced my father to Maitea quickly. "Maitea, Paul, right. We all know each other now."

"I don't think I've met you before," my dad said to me, jokingly, and I grinned.

"So what's up, Comman-Dad?" I took a seat on the white couch and grabbed a cola from the mini-fridge beside it. "What did you see or find out?"

"I found Gracie's phone," he replied, holding it up. Ma never left without her phone. "Had an unsent message in the drafts folder telling me to take Benny somewhere safe. Well, I have no idea where Benny is. So I called the local police, and the police over at the sub base..."

"Why the sub base?"

"Because I work there and I have to. Anyway, the OBPD was acting kind of more nonchalant than the hippies who sit out on the wall, so something's going on. I bet they'll use Benny for ransom."

My eyes narrowed into little more than slits. "They'll kill him, Dad. And Ma, and us. We've got to solve this, and fast. And it's not unknown for the Paradise Killers to impersonate cops. Tristan did it."

"You turn him in?"

"I killed him."

Chris

It seemed like a nice neighbourhood we were driving through. Big houses, pretty little lawns. It didn't know what was about to hit it.

I watched Alice and Sal's argument with amusement; they really were two of a kind. But I didn't miss the way Jimmy's mouth curved into a smile when he teased Alis about it. It was interesting. I had thought of Alis as unfeeling, immune to normal young emotions. But instead of kicking Jimmy, she just glared at him, and I knew she was trying to suppress a smile. It was very interesting.

The gang seemed to be made up of pairs. In an environment that intense I guessed bonds were inevitable. The trust they had to put into each other was amazing. I wondered if something like that would happen to me. And I wasn't sure I wanted it to.

I made myself focus, I needed to stop living inside my head like that but I had become used to it in my old life. I had led a very solitary existence.

We quickly formulated a plan of action: James and Sal would take the front of the house, and the rest of us would go round the back. The experienced members of the gang took to it like robots, slipping into a much practised routine, while Eve, Jimmy and I were more visibly anxious. Jimmy was flicking his guns safety catch on and off and Eve was biting her nails.

Silently and quickly, we surrounded the house and waited for James's signal to move in.