Runaways

Light’s POV

It’s been a whole week…a whole goddamn week of hiding, running and dodging sudden bullets that were flying through the air. I keep asking myself what the hell is going on, but I can never get an answer just more violence. The town that I used to call home was now a baron waste land. Smoke filtered the air, fire burned houses, the green grass destroyed and even the sidewalk were severely cracked. It was like World War four.

“Light, I’m so sorry this is happening,” Spencer apologized again for what seems to be the fourth time today. I sigh and shake my head, “It really is our fault you can’t deny it.”

“I don’t want to blame anyone, you are all my friends and starting from today…or maybe like a week ago my family.”

To be honest I doubt my parents are alive anymore, but if they are I hope they get out alive. As for Alec’s parents I’m not so sure if I want them to live after what his dad did to him. Ever since this war has started Alec has been even more afraid of the world now then he was before. The poor boy cries almost every day and Terrance hasn’t left his side since. We unfortunately couldn’t stay in the hospital since it was evacuated when gang members started running down the hallways, guns blazing. I flinch at the memory as it flooded my mind with horrid images of people dying and screaming. I really hope Lance’s plan to save this town will work. We’ve actually started putting it into motion, David and Craig along with Lance and Alex all left to take recon photos of the surrounding area. The only weapons we have are hand guns so we had to plan this correctly or else we’re screwed.

“Man, it’s been hours since they left,” Ronnie whispered, “Where are they?”

“It takes awhile to get recon photos while being stealthy, Ronnie,” Terrance lightly laughed, “Don’t worry they’ll be back.”

“T-Terry…” Alec choked out, “Are we going to die?”

Terrance shook his head and held onto Alec tightly, “No we’re not Alec we’re going to survive and win.”

“H-How are we g-going to live? We have no food or water and we’re in an abandoned warehouse.”

“We can always find food and water, living here is going to be tough but it is the only safe place out here for right now. We might have to move in about a week.”

I looked over my shoulder and furrowed my eyebrows together, “Why must we keep moving?”

“Because if we don’t it’ll be easier for Spot’s lackeys to find us.” Spencer told me, “But we also have to be extra careful while we move around the streets.”

“We need rules.” Ronnie jumped in as he stood next to the window and peered out, “No one goes out at night, never leave without a weapon or with someone with you, and don’t trust anyone out there. We can’t be sure if they’re part of a gang or not.”

“My mama and papa were right!” Alec exclaimed, “The world is cruel and wicked, it isn’t safe to be here. I want to go home!”

“Alec, calm down,” Terrance cooed, but Alec shook his head and pushed him away to get to his feet.

“I cannot!” he shouted, “You guys told me the world isn’t a bad place, but look outside. Open your eyes already.”

“Then the world is both!” I snapped as I gathered Alec’s attention, “The world is a horrible place and wonderful place. Yes, your parents were half way correct, but you can’t go back to them. It’s a war out there and we won’t make to your house without getting shot at or killed!”

I heard Alec gulp loudly as he sat back down in Terrance’s lap. I sighed and let my blood pressure go back to normal. I didn’t want to yell at such an innocent boy since it made me feel so sick to my stomach, but he had to get through his head. Moments of silence went by when David, Craig, Lance and Alex run through the door. Huffing and puffing Alex tosses us my camera at Spencer and we all crowd around him to look at the pictures. I peered over Spencer’s shoulders as he flipped through the pictures quickly.

“So some of Spot’s gang is in district one, two and three,” Lance began to speak and we all gave him weird looks. He laughed as he realized what he said didn’t make sense to us, “I decided to name the areas of the town by districts. It’ll be easier for us to find each other and whatnot.”

“That makes sense,” Spencer agreed, “So what’s the plan of attack.”

“We can’t just jump on them, don’t be so rash,” Terrance reasoned and Spencer pouted, “We have to decrease the number of people in Spot’s gang. It’s going to be tedious to most of us,” he says as he looks at everyone except Ronnie, Alec of course and I, “but we have to do it one by one.”

“So we’re killing people?” Craig question with wearily eyes, “I don’t think I can manage to do that.”

“Oh, I haven’t gotten that far…”

“Then what the hell should we do?” David shot out, “If we can’t stomach pulling the trigger on people then we’re stuck.”

“You guys are gonna have to,” I choked out, “And be prepared for what might happen to you afterwords.”

Silence engulfed as all as we realized there really isn't a way out of this without killing people in the process. A person might go crazy if they start shooting at people to kill, the only times Spencer and Terrance have told me they've pulled a gun out on someone was to protect themselves and other just by injuring the attacker. I heard Lance's cough break the silence and everyone's eyes were on him.

"If you guys can't do it, then I will," he sternly said as he looked away from us.

"Since when do you think you can handle something like that?" Alex snapped suddenly, "What makes you so confident?"

"I just think I can handle better than anyone in this room," he shrugged, "You guys have been through enough shit as it is."

"You've been through more, Lance," I stepped in, getting to my feet, "You'll lose your mind, putting more images of death in your head."

"It doesn't matter,"

"Yes it does!" I stomped my foot on the ground, as I felt my blood pressure rise.

"Light!" Spencer raised his eyes and I looked at him through teary eyes, "Just let Lance do what he wants. There is no changing his mind."

I look down and watch the tears hit the cold ground of the warehouse. I didn't like this situation at all, I don't want to be surrounded by killing. Why must this keep happening? Why must people die around us? Why are those awful people after my friends? Just why?! I fall to my knees and continue to cry in front of everyone. Things won't go back to the way they were, we're all going to be haunted by the visions of this harsh reality. We're eventually going to have to move to a different town and start anew. I know they want to save this town, but how? They can't rebuild it..and if they did who is going to be living in it? We will move just to get away from the memories, just to runaway again.



Alex, David, Lance and Craig were followed, they were followed by members of the other gang and we were ambushed by them. Guns were being fired at us and Spencer and Terrance got injured protecting Alec and I. We had to run, we had to shoot back or else we all would've died. I shiver as I ran through the smoky streets at the thought of dying in an a warehouse. It's not an ideal final resting place. The worst image in my head wasn't seeing Spencer in pain again, it was seeing those who attacked us dead on the ground. Lance shot them where everyone else froze on the spot, aiming the gun at our enemy. No one could pull the trigger and I could tell it frustrated them and running out of the warehouse made everything worse.

As we ran through the streets we saw horrifying things. Dead bodies littered the sidewalks and roads, some of which were children. Terrance had to cover Alec's eyes, at least he'll be the only one sleeping well at night without the sicken images of the dead everywhere. Finally after running for what felt like hours we found the mall, and to the looks of it, it seems no one was inside. I sighed gently in relief.

“It's getting colder guys, I think it might snow,” I heard Ronnie say.

“Well, t-thank G-God for the ma-all,” Alex chattered out, “We can find warmth here.”

Spencer and Lance took the lead and guided us all in cautiously. I grip Spencer hand tightly as I walked closely behind him as he pointed his handgun in all directions, checking to see if the coast was clear. The mall still looked fairly decent, nothing seemed to be blown up or out of place and I felt myself calm down. Finally, a place where we might be able to rest for at least the month of December.

“Seems, like everything's alright in here,” Lance sighed as he put his gun away.

“We need to find a few things,” Terrance said as we all made a circle around him, “First clothes, then food, then a safe place in here to rest. We all need to take turns resting, if we all sleep at once we're done for.”

“I'll keep watch first with Lance,” Alex announced and grabbed Lance by the arm, dragging him away from the group.

“And I'll go with Ronnie to get food and find a safe place to rest somewhere on the upper floors,” Craig added, walking away from the group with Ronnie hot on his heels.
“Guess that leaves us to find the clothes for everyone?” I questioned and Terrance nodded.

“Yeah,” he replied, “And it'll be easy since we're all about the same size...well except Ronnie. He's smaller than all of us.” he laughed a little before getting serious again. I sighed as I followed him, Alec, David, and Spencer to find some clothes stores.

Alec was holding onto my hand tightly, biting his lip nervously as we continued to walk the empty halls of the mall. I wonder what's going on through his mind..every since I freaked out on him at the warehouse he hasn't really uttered a word. It's beginning to worry me, though I'm not sure what he will say if he does talk at all. This is a big emotional time for all of us here and I'm going to guess he's dealing with it by staying quiet. I patted his head to get his attention and smiled at him softly as we made eye contact.

“It'll be alright, Alec,” I whispered to him, pulling him into a hug. He only looked up at me and smiled, before resting his head back on my shoulder.