Shattered

Two days had passed. Amity and Anarchy had long since gone down south of Denver into a small town to visit their friend. I was stuck in my ditch of sadness. Each day I would go and visit Wrecker, talking to the grave about what had happened and saying I was sorry I hadn’t gotten here sooner. It was my fault he had died.

That night that Amity and Anarchy had stayed with me, I had gone to the meeting at ten, in the pitch darkness. When I got there, everyone gasped and exclaimed their awe at how I had managed to basically come back from the dead. As soon as they were done with their gaping minds and mouths, I explained the situation.

They questioned if what had happened. I explained the black market for using girls as slaves. I told them my experience.

They wondered what had happened to most of the alley runner girls. I told them they were probably sold off, shipped all around the country. The thirty alley runners around me visibly sighed.

Someone asked why they beat me. I replied with the brutally honest truth: They want to break you so you are submissive to them and only them. The owners make you have no will of your own. I recounted that I was lucky to have my second owners be less like that.

But a woman in the back cried out, “Will they ever come back to us?” She pleaded.

I shook my head. “Most likely not. They put us on leashes. They treat us like dogs. The STREET DOGS are treated better than I was in my first house.” I raged on. My voice carried in over the silence, yelling that if we tried to run and got caught, we might die. The likelihood that one might escape and come back safe and sound was very slim.

Everyone cried their protests, but I held my hands for silence. They fell down, pained voices calmed. I now held the authority that Wrecker once did. We all mourned the great alley runner’s death, but now I had power that he once wielded.

“What can we do? We can take up what we have and protect those that are left. We can welcome back those that manage to find their way home with open arms. We are alley runners, and all we need to do is to band together and show those collectors that WE WILL GO DOWN FIGHTING!” I yelled over their cheers, raising my fist in the air.

Alley runners, for one of the rare times, were willing to band together to help one another out. We who are normally solitary humans, relying on ourselves, are going to help out and protect one another.

We might be homeless, but we do have feelings, we have some structure, and we have a family.

“So for now, those able bodied woman and teen girls, stay in groups and stay indoors. Don’t roam about at night and stay in the crowds. As much as this goes against all we do, this will be your only protection. Men, fight against those in the grey attire to help out fellow alley runners!” I cheered with them.

So that’s how the meeting went.

It’s Wednesday now, and I stared sullenly at the alley beneath me. It was my own personal watch tower. Yesterday, I had gone into the clinic with my pass and gotten fixed up. They had to put a metal plate on my stomach to protect it. It used up every last dime I had saved. Only fifty dollars that Wrecks had stashed away was left. I had to ration this out and now get a job.

I had felt much better today. My stomach didn’t hurt and the black spot on my back had faded. I took pain pills occasionally, but I didn’t feel too bad. The night sky overhead darkened the entire room. The only light from the abandoned building was the street lights that stood against the building’s worn walls.

I lay on the couch, the grey pack stashed away in the dresser with my clinic pass, but two pieces of paper in my hands. I stared at the numbers on each slip.

Chris was in my left hand, Austin in my right. It had been, what, two weeks since I’d last seen Austin? I couldn’t waste my money on calling him or Chris. If I saved up some extra cash, then I could make a couple of quick phone calls and check in. Maybe Austin would understand by then.

What did Amity say that one night in the rail car? If he really cares about you, he’ll follow you to the ends of the earth just to prove he can change. Not in the desperation sort of way, but in the dedication, I want to show you I can improve, way.

I sighed and slipped the paper back into my pack, which I still hadn’t unloaded after three days. I rested back on the couch, letting the sleepless night sink into my eyes. It had seemed like forever since I last slept. It didn’t matter. I was too sad and lonesome to fall asleep.

That’s when I smelled smoke.

I figured that someone was smoking pretty heavily outside so I got up and walked to a window overlooking the alley. No one was out there.

That’s when I saw flames racing up the stairs.

I lunged back, my senses kicking into overdrive. I leapt and took the belonging from the dresser-the fifty dollars, pack, and clinic card. Taking one look behind me to the red flames that hungrily consumed the dry wood, I went to the east window overlooking the building next to me. The jump from the window was only ten feet at most.

So I punched the broken glass, and jumped out.

Amity was right. I felt like a badass!

Getting over the fact that I felt pretty ninja, I ran from the abandoned building, across the roof of the restaurant next to what used to be my home. I found a set of emergency stairs and ran down it. I could hear pounding footsteps in the alley.

Someone was chasing me.

I did the most natural things I could. I ran.

Sprinting hard despite the recent surgery, I ran down the road, crossing in front of cars that honked. I knew the direction I wanted to take. Weaving in and out of alleys and streets, I kept on flying. The footsteps never let up.

After a few round about turns, I made my way up to the graveyard. The recliner stood like a dark figure under the tree. Even though I heard no one, I threw my pack behind the chair, just visible if you searched for it.

I kept going until I ran onto someone near the train tracks. He grabbed me by the throat, the familiar hands squeezing until my vision started to fade. I looked up into the crazed face of someone I never wanted to see again right before I blacked out.

“Well hello there, darling.” Miles snarled with a repugnant grin.

Notes

L:KSJD:FLKJSD:LFKJS:DLFKJ:LSDKJF:LSKDJF:LKJ

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