Asphalt Tribe

“Okay, listen up!” I clapped my hands for attention.

It was a week since the battle with the police, since Screech died. A week of her screams haunting my dreams and surely everyone else’s. A week of pain.

I had decided that we all needed to brush up on battle tactics, so I had called a meeting in the backyard.

“YO!” I yelled. “You wanna win this thing or not?” They quieted down, and I glared at the ones still murmuring. They fell silent. “All right,” I continued in a pleasant voice. “That’s better. I have called you here today to practice our battle skills. I’ll just cut to the chase: we need to stop relying on weapons to win. Sure, it’s nice to be able to use clubs and knives and the occasional torch, but how good are we at hand-to-hand combat? That’s where we fall short, where we have to defend ourselves and when we can’t get to our weapons.

“Today, we will be practicing fighting techniques. I will start by facing one of you. Who’s up first?”

Sear raised his hand and stepped forward.
“I’ll do it.”
“All right. Let’s start. Stand there.” As he positioned himself, I took note of his vulnerable points. Arms, legs, stomach. I coiled my body and launched, slamming the ball of my foot against the inside of his thigh. He went down on one knee and grabbed my arm. Even through the pain, he was smiling. Probably thinks I can’t beat him up. Twisting my good arm, he bent it so that I was on my knees and he was above me.

I gave him a quick jab to the neck and leapt back. My jaw seemed strained and I realized that I was grinning, too. This whole situation was just so, so absurd that I-

I charged, aiming my hand like a knife just below his ribs. He latched onto my arm and swung me around, taking advantage of my small size. Sear flung me towards the pole holding up the canopy over the patio. I gripped the thin pole and swung around, using the momentum to tackle him. This time I got him in the stomach with my fist. He stumbled backwards, and I nailed my elbow into his chest, pinning him to the dirt.

We finally made eye contact and though he was smiling, I saw anger, full anger. He was ashamed at being beaten by his girlfriend. Sure enough, the boys and even a few girls were jeering at him. Most of the girls were cheering though, cheering for me. I grinned and helped Sear up.

“Now I hope you were watching closely,” I said. “The spots I was aiming at? Those are pressure points. They are sensitive points that you can hit to control an enemy, or knock them out. Some blows can even kill. If you push the heel of your hand,” I added, demonstrating on my own face, “on the bottom of the bridge of the nose and jab the bone upward, the bone goes into the brain, instantly killing your opponent. Now, I’m hoping that you never have to use that, but it’s good to know. Now what I want you to do is pair off and spar. I’ll walk around and give advice.”

As they paired off and started fighting, I strutted around, head light from the adrenaline high.

“That’s it, Crystal, the backs of his knees. Ruby, try to use your size to your advantage. You’re faster than him. Max, use that momentum – there you go.”

“You just googled all this last night, didn’t you?” asked Sear.
“Yeppers. And I studied it. I feel proud.”

He shook his head and paired up with Trouble, who was itching to fight by the looks of it.
“Yeah, and Sear? Could you not murder him?” I walked towards the trees and nearly bumped into Shadow. “Yo. You gonna fight or are you just watching?”

“I’m just-“
“Watching isn’t an option in a fight. Get crackin’. Here, fight me.” I postured myself for a fight.”

Shadow just blinked owlishly at me.

“I don’t wanna hurt you-“
“You won’t. C’mon. Hit me.”

All of a sudden Shadow swept his foot up, knocking the inside of my ankle. I stumbled, and before I knew it, he had jabbed me in the neck. The pain stunned me for a second, and that was all it took for him to get my arms behind my back. My face hit the dry, scorched-brown grass, which prickled on my face like needles. Spitting out grass, I rolled to the side, kicking him off.

Shadow raised an eyebrow at this, standing up.
“Still think I can’t hurt you?”
“Damn, boy!” I cried. “Why didn’t you do that when we were surrounded by those gangsters? You coulda gone all karate on them!”

“Yeah, this is how I work when I’m not terrified. When I’m actually in battle, I just freeze.”

I thought for a second.
“Fine. We can work on that.” I started to walk away.

“Bane? Wait! Bane! What do you mean by that?”
“You’ll see,” I said in a singsongy voice. Grass crunched under my feet as I hopped onto a tree trunk. The warm bark rasped against my hands as I scaled the old oak and perched on a branch. I stuck out my tongue at him.

“Oh, so that’s how it’s gonna be?” He started up the tree and I climbed further, disappearing into the leaves. “Get back here!” he laughed. For all his fighting skills, though, Shadow wasn’t very sneaky. The leaves and bark scraped and crackled under his sneakers. I could tell that he was close by. “Bane? Where are you?”

“Kapow!” I cried as I launched myself out of the leaves, tackling him. Thankfully, he had a good grip on the tree, and he hung on even as we swung out away from the trunk. I stopped a few inches from his face and grinned like a madwoman. His breath was coming in short, quick starts, blowing my hair away from my face, I was so close.

“What the hell was that?”
“That’s what I meant,” I giggled. “Good reflexes. I was expecting a twenty-foot drop to the ground.” I patted him on the back and backed away. I hadn’t meant to get that close to him, and I didn’t want him to see my blush. Shadow’s own face was going red, making his scars fade against his darkening face.

“What?” he asked in a dazed voice.
“Let’s just say that I’ll be making your life very difficult for the next few days.” I slithered away to watch the teens fighting on the ground. From my vantage point, I could see that they were doing very well. Grunts and battle cries filled the air. I did a little dance of happiness before remembering that I was being watched. Shadow swung himself onto the branch next to me, laughing.

“What was that?”
“That was my happy dance. Duh. Doesn’t everyone have one?” I’d meant for it to come out defensive, but I couldn’t help giggling.
“Not that I know of. Why are you happy?”

“’Cause this is working. ‘Cause they’re becoming better fighters. ‘Cause we might actually win the fight next time. And that makes me a good leader.”

“We won last time, didn’t we? I mean, they left.”
“Yeah, and Screech died. That’s not a win. That’s more of an epic fail, in my book. And we don’t win until they leave us alone. Until they treat us like equals. What that Maic group did was wrong, but I see their point. I’m done hiding. Why should we have to hide?”

Shadow didn’t say anything to that. He just leaned against the tree trunk, arms crossed. And we watched as our family became killers.

“Can I talk to you?” asked Sear.
“Sure,” I chirped. I’d come inside for a juice box and he’d followed me. The Tribe was still wrestling outside. “About what?”
“In private. Your room?”
“Sure.” My stomach was churning. He’s breaking up with me. What else could this be?

He locked the door behind us.

“I saw you with Shadow earlier.” Tension crackled in the air. He seemed jittery, pacing back and forth.
“Yeah? Something wrong with that?”
“I don’t want you spending time with him. He’s no good.”
“Well, I like him. Nice person. What’s not good about him?” I couldn’t help being defensive of my new friend.

“You shouldn’t be with him. You should be with me. I’m your boyfriend.”
“It wasn’t anything. We’re just friends. Is that what this is about? You’re jealous?” Waves of relief washed through me. He wasn’t breaking up with me. “Look, if it makes you feel better-“

“I am not jealous! I just… why are you friends with him? He’s weak. I don’t want you getting weak, too.”

I snorted.
“I’m half-starved. We’re all hungry, all the time. We’re all weak. Even you. And may I say, starvation doesn’t do you any favors.” I eyed him up and down. It was true. His hard muscle was leaving him, tempted away by hunger. “So don’t get cocky. I can name a few people who it suits better, if you like.”

Sear stood, trembling with anger. I barely registered his hand moving before it had struck me across the cheek. My own hand shot up to my stinging face as I recoiled from the blow.

“What was that for?” I cried.
“For insulting me,” he hissed. “For being with him. And FYI? Don’t try to beat me up in public again. Because next time, I won’t let you win.” He stalked out as I sank down to the floor in a daze. He slapped me. Does this mean we’re over? Does he not love me anymore? I crawled into bed, slipped under the sheets, and drifted into a restless stupor.

Aria wrapped her arms around me as I recounted the story to her later.
“Oh, sweetie,” she purred. “He still loves you. He just got a little upset is all. Maybe he was having a bad day. You hit things, too, when you’re having a bad day.”

“Yeah, but not the person I’m supposed to love!” I bawled. “Oh, God, Aria, what do I do?”

“You go two choices. You can either just go with it and hope that this was just a bad day. Or you can break up with him over one little thing.”

“Okay. I’m gonna stay with him,” I sniffed. My gut was saying no, that he shouldn’t have done that, that I had to break up with him. But Aria was my most trusted friend. And besides, even if I did break up with him, who’s to say he wouldn’t hit me again?

I trotted up the stairs after the sobfest, fully aware and conscious that my eyes were red and puffy, and that my spine was hunched in defeat. Instantly, I was surrounded.

“Bane, what are we having for dinner?” asked Scout, a little boy.
“I need some help reading this book,” chirped Rat. “What does this word mean?”
“Fen hit me!” cried Tricks.
“Make me dinner! I’m hungry!”
“It says fas-cin-at-ed. What does that mean?”
“Make him stop! Ground him!”
“Sunny ripped my shirt when we were fighting!”
“Laz is obnoxious!”
“I want food!”

“Shut up!” I screamed. The room fell silent. “I am not you babysitter! Don’t come to me for every little thing! You need to learn to help yourselves! Maybe Mom cooked dinner, but I don’t! And I can’t read any better than you, Rat, so ask someone smarter! And Tricks, just hit him back, for God’s sake! Sweet Jesus, I’m not your mother!”

A hush fell over the room after I’d finished my tirade.

“Mom would’ve grounded him,” mumbled Tricks.

My breath hissed through my teeth as I inhaled.
“But I am not Mom. You need to understand that. You need to help each other out, because I’m not always able to help. Mom had no life. She lived to solve our problems. But I have my own problems. I’m sorry, guys, but I’m not her.”

The people parted as I made my way out back. My face was going red, I could tell I was on the verge of more tears. I scrambled through the woods, nearly slipping twice in the ravine on the way to the Hobo Hut. When I got there, I lay facedown on the old mattress and pounded my fist on the old springs. Birds flapped away as I screamed obscenities into the old material. Leaves crunched in the distance and I looked up.

“What’s wrong?” asked Trouble. “What’s with the flip-out?”

“I’m not her,” I muttered. “They think I’m her, but I’m not. I can’t handle all that.”

“But you have to. You wanted to be leader. You’re the one who we go to when we need something, and you should be proud of that. You can do it.”

“No I can’t!” I cried. “I’m not special! I’m not superhuman! I’m not some goddess of war and health and happiness who can wave a wand and save the world!” I bowed my head. “I can’t even save myself.”

“What do you mean? What can’t you save yourself from?”
Sear.
“The police,” I lied. “Everybody who’s coming after us. I’m the one they’re going to go after now. I’ve never had to deal with every battle possibly being my last.”

Trouble put a comforting arm around my shoulder. I shook him off.

“Now you know how I feel,” he grumbled. “All this time, you’ve thought you were invincible, right? The best fighter, the smartest kid in the Tribe. And now you know that you’re not. You aren’t living a charmed life anymore. Do you even know what it’s like to want something you can’t have?”

“My life is anything but charmed,” I growled. “You call hiding in the shadows and losing every opportunity is charmed? You have it easy – you’ve always been like this. But me? I had a chance to get a taste of normal life – life without boundaries. I could get a job. I could follow my dreams. But then I learned what I was, and suddenly I couldn’t do that. Damn, I can’t even go to the doctor anymore without being booted out on the street. And now it’s just worse.” In ways that you would never know.

“You’re right. Maybe I don’t understand what you’re going through. But what I do know is that you don’t have to do this alone. We’ll help you.”

“Just a minute ago you were saying that I could do it. What are you, bipolar?”
“You know it.” He hugged me tight, and I couldn’t help feeling awkward. What did the hug mean to him?
“You make no sense sometimes, you know that?”

He drew back in mock surprise.
“Bane,” said Trouble, “you’ve known me for almost six years. Since when have I ever made sense?”

“Point taken. And I guess I could ask for help. But I won’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m a stubborn little bitch. Duh.” I sighed. “And you know what? I want to act on that. Ever since I saw those news reports the night Mom died, I wanted to get out there, to join those rogue Maics. They have the right idea. They know what they want and they’re working to get it. I mean,” I laughed, “all this time, we’ve accepted that this is the way things are. We have to hide in the shadows and steal for a living and we’re just supposed to accept it? No. No more. I’ve got to stop it right now.” I cracked a smile. “Guess I’m gonna need a little help, huh?”

“Guess you are. But I’ll help you. And so will Aria and Sear and Shadow and the rest of the Tribe.”

I squeezed his hand.
“Thanks. I’ve already got an idea. If we hurt anybody, we’ll just end up in jail. We can’t dodge them forever, and especially not if we give them a reason to chase us. So what do we do? We don’t hurt anybody. We just show them that we can’t be pushed around so easy. Whaddaya think?”

“Sounds good to me. But… how?”

“That’s what I’m still trying to think of. I’m gonna go research and plan some more, but I’ve already got some ideas.”

From a few hours on my NetPad, I learned that my idea was called culture jamming. It was when a group tried to disrupt the system in a non-harmful way. There was even a group in the 1960’s called the Yippies that pulled pranks as a way to fight back. Ideas started flooding my brain. We had to pull pranks that were harmless, but had meaning behind them. Where can we do that? Where do most locals gather? A light bulb went off in my head. Where did most of the people in Riverton go on a daily basis? The SuperMart.

SuperMart was the fastest-growing chain store in the nation. There was one in every big town, and most of the small ones, too. About five years ago they actually bought out Wal-Mart. People loved the stores because they were always giving out free merchandise – free cookies, free t-shirts, free phones. There was one at the edge of town, and I remembered my mother always taking me there when I was a little kid. The bright displays and cheap offers were like a second home to me at that age. Everyone went there. Now I just had to figure out how to jam it.

“Aria!” I called from the street. “I need you!”

Aria poked her head out the window.
“What’s so important that it has to interrupt my singing practice?”
“Just get down here. I need help.”
“You want Trouble, too? He’s up here. Does this have to do with your big ‘fighting back’ plan he told me about?”
“Yes. Tell him the he’s a loudmouth and to get down here.”

My friends and I sat on the bed, typing out ideas on our NetPads.

“How about we take all the shopping carts, fill them up, and put them all around the store?” suggested Aria. “Then we could put a little campaign message-type thing at the bottom, so when they empty the carts, they see that it was us.”

“Ooh, that’s a good one,” said Trouble. “And we can type manifestos in the NetBooks!”

“Nice, nice,” I said, nodding. “But I want something that’ll jam up the system. Like… people always put things on layaway, right? I read once that layaway items account for more than half their total profit. So maybe we could do something with that. Let’s take, like, every bag of M&Ms and put it all on layaway. Just to cram up the storage.”

“But where do we get the money?” asked Aria.

“You only pay a little upfront. Then we wait a few days, get them panicking about the storage, and then cancel the layaway. And here’s another: pick up a gun in the hunting department, and antidepressants in medicine, and a box of tissues. People at checkout will think you’re suicidal. And if they ask for a permit, just say that death doesn’t need a permit.”

In the end we had a nice little list of things to do:

1. Type manifestos in the NEtBooks, phones, etc.
2. Fill up shopping carts with flyers and place them around the store.
3. Buy combinations of items, such as guns and antidepressants, that will raise suspicion.
4. . Fill up the pools with the garden hoses. When someone tells you to stop, tell them if you drown, you’re a Maic, so they won’t get sued.
5. Repeat number four with bikes, baseball bats, etc.
6. Steal a SuperMart employee shirt. Endless possibilities.
7. And of course, discuss Maic rights with the mannequins

“So when do we start?” asked Trouble. “I’m ready.”
“Dude, we’re gonna try to get the whole Tribe in on this,” I told him. “Otherwise it’s just a couple of freak incidents, nothing disrupted. And that could take a few days.”

“Aw,” he pouted. “I wanna disrupt the system now.”
“Don’t worry,” smiled Aria, patting him on the back, “it’ll come soon enough. Besides, I’m sure Bane wants to get a few more opinions first, don’t ya, Bane?”

“Why would she want more opinions?”
“Because you two aren’t exactly sane,” I grinned. “Now get out – and bring me Sear.”

“You want to do what?” asked Sear incredulously.
“It’s called culture jamming,” I said, feeling very proud of my idea. “You just disrupt the system without anybody getting hurt. It’s genius!”

“It’s stupid!” he cried. “Face it, Bane, this stuff is for educated, organized people. People who have a snowball’s chance in hell of pulling it off. Not you.”

“So what, you callin’ me stupid? I’m not stupid, Sear – if I was stupid, I would still be accepting the way we’re treated. I’m no doormat, and I won’t let people walk all over me.”

“You’re a teenager!” he shouted. “And a girl at that! What’ll you do if they arrest you, huh? What’ll you do then?”

“No need to shout,” I said softly. “And I happen to be a girl who can kick your ass. And if they arrest me, I’ll end up in jail, and I’ll worm my way out of trouble, as I have a way of doing, and all will be fine because I’m not getting arrested, damnit!” I was starting to lose my temper. Who was he to say what I couldn’t do? “What can they arrest me for? Disturbing the peace? I’ve done that before, and all I’ve done was pay a fine! The point is that they have no reason to arrest me, and it’ll work! I’ll show you!”

Sear looked taken aback. As I glared at him in hot anger, I barely registered it as he moved towards me, slowly, like a snake waiting to strike. Then he shoved me up against the wall, holding me there by my shoulders. I tried to kick away, but he stepped on my feet. I cried out in pain. Now I didn’t feel any anger, now it was raw, cold fear, coursing through my body. As I tried to wriggle free, he punched me in the jaw. My teeth slammed against each other.

“Don’t you ever talk to me like that!” he hissed. “I am your boyfriend, and you can’t talk to me like that. If I say you can’t do something, you can’t do it. Understand?”

My head ached as I nodded, a hazy feeling clouding my head.

He backed away.
“Good. And if you tell anyone about this – Aria, or Trouble, or anybody – I promise, it’ll be worse.” He stalked out of the room, leaving me utterly terrified.

“What happened?” asked Crystal.
“Huh?” The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Could she possibly know about Sear? We were washing clothes together in the cool forest stream.
“That bruise,” she clarified, pointing to her jaw line. “What caused it?”
“I fell down the steps,” I lied. “The basement was dark... and I wasn’t looking where I was going. Obviously.”
“Oh. It looked like you got in a fight or something. God, you look like hell, actually. I noticed you limping earlier. And with those circles under your eyes… having trouble sleeping?”

“Yeah, nightmares.” I wasn’t going to tell her about what. “And the limp is from me accidently dropping a, um, a rock on my foot.” If only you knew.
“A rock?” she asked skeptically.
“Yeah, a rock. For weight training. Trying to bulk up.”

“Alright. Just wanted to make sure you were okay.” She looked me in the eyes. “You know you can always talk to me, right?”

“Of course! I just… didn’t want to seem weak. Gotta keep up the leader image, you know?”

Crystal laughed, a light, tinkling sound.

“Don’t worry. You’ll have to do a lot more than fall down the steps for that to happen. See ya.” She gathered her clothes and left.

After Crystal had disappeared, I bent over the stream, staring at the flowing water. I felt like puking. For the past couple of days I’d been reliving those moments with my supposed boyfriend, imagining myself fighting back, not being petrified by fear. Maybe he’s right. Maybe I can’t do it. I heard leaves crunching behind me.

I whipped around, fearing the worst. Shadow was striding down a pile of rocks toward the stream. He was carrying a pile of dirty clothes. I let out a long, relieved breath.

“Sup, Bane?” he asked, sitting down next to me.
“Sup, Shadow,” I replied with not much enthusiasm.

We both sat there for a few minutes, silently washing our clothes. Finally, he turned to me.

“No offense, but what happened to your face?”
“Hey! I’m not that ugly!”
“I didn’t mean it like that! I meant to ask where that bruise came from. Gotten into any more gang fights? Fall off the roof? Run into a tree? I did that once. It was painful.”

“No,” I said, cracking a small smile. “If you must know, I fell down the stairs.”
“You’re Bane. You don’t fall.”
“Yeah, well, obviously I do.”
“Well, okay, but it looks almost like someone punched you. And you had this sort of fearful gleam in your eye. Just checking up.”

I wrung out one of my many black t-shirts.
“Hey, can I ask your opinion on something?”
“If you want. What’s up?”

I explained my plan to him. He nodded, considering.

“That actually sounds like a lot of fun. I’m in. And it’s fun with a message.”

“You think?” I asked. “I mean, I came up with it a few days ago, and I told Aria and Trouble about it, and they were psyched, but now I’m starting to wonder if I can pull it off.”

“Well, I’m behind it one hundred percent. And I think you can pull it off. You can talk your way out of a police station, you can pull it off.”

“Thanks.” Suddenly exhaustion overwhelmed my body. I slumped over the stream.

“You okay?”

I nodded.
“Fine. Just a bit stressed out.” Even as the world began to darken I rose. And as I walked away, dread filled my sight.