The boy rounded the corner and pointed the gun at me. I had a bad feeling this was going to be it. But, the sirens could be heard in the distance, and the boy cast a glance behind him, through the windows to see how close they were to being here.
I took the moment to run over and kick the gun aside and immobilize him. Grabbing the gun, which he had dropped, I fired one shot, hitting him in the leg and jumped out of the window onto the fire escape, braking the glass and cutting myself as I did so. I hopped off the railing onto the dumpster and ran down the alley and disappeared into a crowd full of people.
~.~
"You guys just left me there!" I yelled in Erik's face as I punched him in the stomach, though hurting him did little to satisfy me at the moment. I nearly died, thanks to you guys. What happened to the code?"
"That code is bullshit. We all know you would have run off if you would have had the chance!" Erik spat back. "You care about no one but yourself. Don't start pretending any differently." They were right of course, but it still stung.
"Tell us you killed the kid before you ran off," Joel said, cutting the two of our bickering off before it escalated into something worse.
I looked away, refusing to admit I had let him see all of our faces and then letting him go. "Shit, Aaralyn!" Joel ran a hand through his hair. "he's going to go to the police. You know as well as we do that the Big Guys aren't going to help us out of this."
Erik kicked a barrel and cursed. "I do not want to go to jail for your stupidity!"
Joel shook his head. "The Big Guys aren't going to be happy with you, not happy at all. You'll be lucky if you live to see next week."
I started to panic. The code was to help each other to finish the job. No witnesses. No survivors. Failure in this was punishable by death. I didn't want to die.
"What should I do?" I whispered.
"Hell if I know," Erik shook his head. "I'm not taking the heat for you, not on this one, Aaralyn." Erik had on more than one occasion had to finish off killing the victims because I couldn't bring myself to do it. I could beat the shit out of people sure, scare them a little, oh ya. But, nothing else.
I had gotten into this gang when I was fifteen, when they had caught me beating up a local school bully. They offered me money and I had accepted because my family was poor. But, they blackmailed me.
I started pacing. "I'll figure something out," I told him. "Just go home and we'll figure this out in the morning." I had no idea what I was going to do, but I knew it was going to have to include me running away.
~.~
I crawled into my room through the window after climbing the tree and onto the porch roof. I threw some clothes into my backpack along with other necessities and all the money I owned. Satisfied, I slung it over my shoulder and headed downstairs via the stairs.
Of course, my uncle intercepted me, slapping me across the face, making me fall back onto the stairs. I held my stung cheek and looked up at him, waiting for the next blow.
"You were supposed to have been home an hour ago!" he bellowed down at me with his loud, booming voice. Anger was flaring in his eyes, and I recoiled away from him as he kicked me in the side, making me fall down the last three steps.
"I'm sorry," I stammered, trying to get to my feet, but the wind had been knocked out of me, and I was having a hard time doing much of anything. This gave my uncle another chance to kick me on the side, pushing me against the wall.
Wincing in pain, I made my body move up off of the floor. Standing up, ducked a punch. I lashed out and hit him in the face. My eyes widened in fear. I hadn't meant to really hit him, but I just wanted to defend myself, to get him off of me, even for a moment. But, having made contact, the anger that was simmering at the surface boiled over and he came at me, a murderous look in his eyes.
I bolted for the door, running through the night, trying to escape. I didn't make it very far when I was tackled to the ground. He had me pinned beneath me. I was far to small to do anything against him, so I was stuck there. He pulled a gun out from his waist band and pointed it at my head.
I freaked and bucked under him, throwing him over my head when he lost his balance and fell forward. In the shuffle, he had dropped the gun, and I quickly grabbed it, backing away from him.
"I'll shoot you if you come near me," I warned, my hand not very steady at all.I released the safety and pointed the gun to the man who had been beating me for over five years.
He stood up, a small smile on his lips. "You don't have the guts to kill me." He took a step forward and I pulled the trigger, but I missed. He took another step towards me. I took a step back before I shot again, this time hitting him in the chest.
My uncle looked surprised as he looked over at me before he dropped to his knees and fell face first onto the grass. I took the gun and ran.I couldn't leave it behind or they'd have my prints.
I crossed the street and noticed someone laying on the ground. I walked closer to see it was a boy. He had a bullet hole in his neck. I gasped, falling back onto my butt. When I had missed my uncle the first time, I had hit him and killed him. What had I become?
Running, I took off. I threw the gun into a lake and left the city, unsure of where to go.
