You Can't See Me

For the rest of the weekend, I stayed at home, watching TV and what not. I also worked out a little. I wanted to just be able to choose what to do and when to do it finally. Ronnie didn’t mind me wanting to be alone; he liked to be able to spend time with his girl.

“Get the hell up!” My phone alarm blasted in my ear Monday morning. I grunted before grabbing it, “Dismissing” the alarm, and lying back down. It wasn’t long before my phone went off again, this time a call. I picked and up and looked at the ID, “Ronnie”

“What you want, dude?” I grunted into the phone.

“Time to get up, sweetie!” Ronnie joked into the phone. “School time!”

“Buzz off,” I said.

“I’ll be around in 15 be ready or you’re walking,” he ordered before hanging up. I cursed his name, but got up anyway.

I grabbed out a pair of loose black jeans, with chains on the sides, and a black tank. I went into the bathroom and got a quick shower. I shaved my face and brushed my teeth. I threw my clothes on with a pair of black sneakers. I grabbed my white hoodie and phone before rushing towards the beeping car out front. My neighbors were going to flip!

“Are you crazy?” I scolded Ronnie after I got into the car.

“What you mean?” He smirked.

“If I get kicked out of here, I’m moving in with you!” I warned.

“Whatever,” he laughed.It was a pretty silent ride to the school. “Now, have a good day at school, son, make me proud,” Ronnie laughed in a fake, husky mouth. He earned himself a punch in the stomach, which I will gladly say hurt him.

I knocked on the front door and waited. A man of about 40 opened the door. He had black hair, with a hint of gray. He was wearing dark cackys and a loose, faded red, long sleeved polo. His brown loafers made the outfit. He had a small beard and his voice was gruff. “Can I help you?”

“Uh, yeah, I’m here for Andrew Jones, I’m the new janitor,” I told him.

“Well, that’s me, nice to meet you, you can just call me A.J., everyone does,” he said, putting out is hand. “And what shall I call you?”

“My name’s John Cena, but you can just call me Cena,” I said, shaking his hand.

“Cena, we need to clean the entire school before school starts plus I need to give you a tour,” He said, closing the door behind me.

“All that?” I exclaimed.

“It isn’t that bad, they cleaned it before they left Friday,” he explained. “We just need to go over it.”

He lead me down the hall. An hour and half later I was tired and smelt like orange polish. I couldn’t walk through the school blindfolded but I knew the majority of it. A.J. had to leave for a second, something to do with his family, so I was in charge of letting the kids in. Oh joy, a promotion already!

The teens rushed past me, and I awkwardly scored a few glances from a few of the girls, but all I was looking for was Dice. I finally saw him, near the back. He had brown hair and headphones in. He had on blue jeans with a long-sleeved navy blue v-neck; you could see an orange undershirt. He also had a dark blue cap covering his face. He had a watch on one hand and a one strap, dark gray book bag slung across his body. He passed me without realizing who I was.

Nonchalantly, I followed. He went to his locker on the second floor. That’s when trouble was met. Two guys started to stroll over to him. One had short blond hair and was wearing tan pants and a red long sleeve shirt. He was a bit taller than your average high schooler. The other had on a black, backwards cap and a baggy gray sweater. He had on blue jeans, with chains like mine. He was the same size as the other. Cap boy looked down the hall; I’m expecting looking out for teachers. I looked like a student, I guess. Cap boy got the all clear and they went over to Dice, one on each side of him.

Blondie quickly twisted Dice around by the shoulders and pushed him against the lockers. Dice wasn’t short, but he was smaller than these two. Blondie held him there with his arm to the boy’s neck. Both bullies were leaning then, I guess teasing the him. They threw off his hat, showing a bad black left eye. I made my way towards them. Dice’s eyes were glazed over with fear and anger. He said something to the bullies, receiving a slap across the face. I made it to the group just as Cap boy punched Dice in his stomach. Dice slumped to the floor as the bullies cackled. I cleared my throat and they stopped. They slowly turned around, expecting an academics teacher.

When they saw me, they looked at each other, and laughed again.“You want some too?” Blondie cackled.

“Who the hell are you, some new kid?” Cap boy asked.

“Wow, okay, please, you are the one picking on this kid here,” I snarled. “And no, I ain’t any new kid, I work here, you two are in some deep trouble.”

“You must be the stupidest teacher ever then,” Blondie laughed.

“He ain’t even a teacher, look how he's dressed, bro!” Cap boy laughed. “He’s probably a janitor!”

“Screw you!” I said, clenching my fists.

“Whatever, dude,” they laughed walking away.

I would’ve went after them, if I was in a better position. Plus, I needed to help Dice, who was currently, struggling to get up. I grabbed his upper arm and pulled him up.

“Let go,” Dice demanded, pulling from my grasp. I just saved the kid’s life and this is how he repays me. “I don’t need your help, Cena!” He spat my name like venom. He hasn’t seen me in a year and I instantly get attitude.

“Sorry for saving ya',” I said. “Who were they anyway?”

“The blond was Jeff Grams, known as Ax, and Mason Crandle, known as Miff,” he said, grabbing a text book and slamming his locker shut. “And I can hold my own.” He walked away. I followed again.

“Look, I can watch your back for you,” I told him.

“Just go away!” he yelled, holding back tears. “You’re just making it worse, they’re going to take your ignorance out on me, and they don’t care as it is, they will literally KILL me if you try to do this!” He went into a nearby classroom, leaving me to ponder about what to do. It wasn’t that complicated, I had a job to do but I wanted him to be happy about it. I went into the classroom after him and leaned over the desk to him.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” I mumbled before ironically leaving.

I kept an eye on Dice while he switched between classes. I kept an eye on Dice while he switched between classes. At lunch, I decided to sit by him and look out for him. I watched as he walked over to a table by himself. Where were his friends? I decided to go over and sit with him.

"Sup," I said.

"Go away!" he glared at me.

"Why isn't anyone sitting with you?" I asked, obviously ignoring his demand.

"Because they know that they'll get bullied for sitting with me," he shrugged, giving up on trying to get me away I guess.

"So the entire school is afraid of two guys?" I snickered.

"No, they're part of a gang," he explained. "Only 3 of them go here though, them two and Vince Llyod, who is absent today, I guess. But the whole gang will come after you if you try to mess with them."

"Oh," I said. "And how do you know this? And do you know the name of the gang?"

"There was this kid, Lewis, he was my friend. He tried to stand up to them but got beat to death," he mumbled. "Their gang, I think is named, Krooks, you know Crooks with a K."

My jaw dropped. He couldn't be serious. That was the same gang as Ronnie's father. We've tried to steer clear of them since the incident. Even when our gang got in a fight with them, our gang knew the reason why Ronnie and I didn't join in and accepted it. "Definitly with a K? Are you positive?"

"Yeah, Ax has a tattoo of it on his arm and Miff has 'Krook' on his knuckles," he said, starring at me weirdly. "Why?"

"Nothing, I just know the leader of the gang," I mumbled, deep in thought. I didnt know if I should even tell Ronnie about this.

"Really?" His face lit up. "You think, maybe, you could ask him to get them to stop picking on me?"

"We're not on good terms," I said sadly.

His smile disappeared."Oh," he said. "Your in a gang with my dad, right?"

"How do you know your dad is in a gang?" I shot my head up.

"I'm 16, not stupid," he said.

"Well, if your dad finds out he might get mad, dont tell him you found out from me," I said. "To answer your question, yes."

"Is Ronnie?"

"Yeah."

"Can I join?"

I was deathly quiet. "Um, why dont you ask your dad?"

"But you just said not to let him know!"

"If you join, he'll know, dumbass."

"Yeah, but if I had you and Ronnie with me..."

"No! You cant tell anyone about Ronnie and I being in a gang!" I interrupted. "I'm not sure why Miff and Ax would make it that obvious."

"My dad knows you two are in."

"Yeah, but YOU arent suppose to know. Trust me, no matter how much your dad and I get along, if he believes that were flashing around about being in a gang with him, we'll have to deal with an immensely painful group punishment. He lives two lifestyles and if someone puts the line that crosses them in danger, he'll destroy."

"Fine, but I'm still asking to join."

"Go ahead but do NOT say Ronnie or my name," The bell started ringing, meaning that lunch was over. "Nice talking to you Dice."

He smiled. "Yeah, it was cool not having to eat alone." With that, I lost him in the crowd.

My shift was over about 10 minutes before school was actually out (which was at 4) but before I could leave I had to stop by and see Holly first. I walked to the front office, waved to Ms. Rolanda, and peeked my head in her office. She was talking to a student, something about graffitti on the back walls, I went to leave and wait but she asked me to come in.“Uh, yeah?” I asked, leaning against the wall with one foot bent and on the wall.

“Jordon, along with a few others, needs to wash some walls Saturday, I need you to surpervise,” She said, walking over to her chair and sitting down.

“Woah, Woah, woah,” I said, walking over and leaning on her desk. “I’m not getting paid to babysit.”

“I’m 15!” the boy whined.

“Shut it,” I scolded him. “I’m not some teacher.”

“Mr. Cena,” she glared. “I will not tolerate that disrespect from anyone, including you, you are getting paid to work here, whatever the job shall be, but if you want to complain I can just end that payment.”

“Fine,” I snorted.

“Jordon, I will explain further later in detention, you can go now,” she dismissed the kid. Once he left, I slumped into the chair he was sitting in.

“You know, I am not coming any later then 3 p.m.,” I said.

“Good well, you can come even later,” she said, smiling at my confused look. “Come 9 a.m. Saturday morning.”

“How is that later?” I whined.

“It’s a later time then 3 p.m. Friday evening,” she shrugged.

“You know, Sexy, intelligence turns me on,” I smiled, knowing I’d get a rise from her.

“At school, I’m Principal Kress to you,” she hissed. “And anywhere else, I’m either Holly or Ms. Kress. And I’m surprised A.J. let you wear that today!”

I looked down at my outfit. There was nothing wrong with it to me. “Meaning?”

Holly walked over to a closet at the side of the office. She went in and came out with a olive green jump suit. “THIS is your uniform.”

“No, I am NOT wearing that,” I said as she threw it at me.

“Then you are NOT working here,” Holly said crossing her arms.

“Your gonna need to stop threatening my job. And, trust me, you cant get rid of me that easily,” I smiled and got up. “So what I get one to wear everyday? Doesn’t that kind of go against the hygene rule you got here?”

“You get two and can buy more, $10 each, get your other from A.J. tomorrow,” she explained. “By the way, you’ve got maybe 2 minutes before the rest of the school gets out, you better get going.”

“Whatever, bye,” I said, slamming the door when I was out. Ms. Rolanda gave me a questioning look to which I just shrugged my shoulders. She switched it to a knowing look which made me laugh. I then hurried out to meet Ronnie. Just as I closed the Passenger’s door, the bell rang. Seconds later, kids were running out.

“So, I have good news and I have bad news,” I started. Ronnie gave me a quick glance before going back to watching the road. “Good news, I found out what has been happening with Dice. I also think I’m getting to him to be happy about this whole protecting him. Bad news, there are 3 kids messing with him. And they are all in a gang…...a gang called Krooks.”

I paused to let it sink in. I watched as Ronnie’s body tensed. I could see his eyes harden and narrow. The knuckles on his hands turned white as he gripped the steering wheel harder. I believe he was reliving memories by the amount of sweat starting to glisten on his body. He started to breathe slowly and deeply. “We gotta watch the kids back.” He snarled.

“Speaking of, there he is,” I said pointing to Dice.

We slowly pulled out and followed the kid. He was listening to his ipod when we pulled on to a semi empty street. I was about to suggest pulling over and offering him a ride when a black lamborghini sped out of a side street. It turned and came to a stop. Two guys jumped out, grabbed an unexpecting Dice, and pulled him into the car. They raced off before Ronnie and I could think. Quickly we came to our senses and stepped on the gas.

The car was just barely in site when we turned onto a busy street. The car swerved through the traffic like it was nothing. Luckily, Ronnie has some experience in car chases so we were able to keep them in our sights. We turned off on to an almost hidden, dirt road. We stopped the car behind some bushes and watched as they pulled into an abadoned warehouse. Out of the car stepped five guys, the biggest pulled out Dice who had a bag over his face and hands were tied behind his back. The pushed him to the ground and then pulled him back up, laughing at his confusioin. They surrounded him and began walking to a side entrance. Ronnie and I both whipped out our phones, he called Mr. Cuts while I called other members of our gang. 15 minutes later, we had about 20 men with us and more coming. We surrounded the building, each with a gun, and entered through the same side entrance.

Inside, it was dark. There was one spotlight targetted on to Dice who was now tied up to a steel chair. The spotlight was bright enough to dimly light the entire room but not so that we could see clearly. Ronnie and I were in first, with the rest in close step behind us.

“Well, well, well, how you doing, son?” a man asked, stepping closer to Dice, hands in his pockets. The man was about 6 feet in length and looked to weigh between 150-200 pounds, mostly in muscle. He was wearing a white suit with a pale blue dress shirt. His black hair was short, almost a buzz cut. The clearest detail of all was the man’s eyes. They were a piercing gray that only one other man in this world had. That other man was standing right next to me.

Ronnie froze and I could feel the pressure building inside of him. His body tensed and he glared at the man.

“Let the boy go,” Ronnie yelled. The order was filled with fear, disgust, and just pure anger.

“Oh what? No hug for daddy?” He laughed, putting out his arms.

Ronnie took a step towards him but I matched it and put my arm in front of him. There was just something you couldn’t let happen and Ronnie confronting his father right now was one of them.

“Oh, thank you, Cena my boy, you were always the protective type.”

“Just let the kid go you bastard!” I shouted at him.

With one quick motion, the man pulled the sack off of Dice’s face, revealing a brave, red face. Dice had quiet tears rolling down his face but he was trying to hide them. He looked around his surroundings and made eye contact with me. I could see the fear behind the green of his eyes. Dice’s eye was still bad, it wasn’t just going to change, but the other was now also brusied. There was also a small, dark red, cut on the boy’s neck.

“How about this, I give you this squirt for my squirt, is that a deal?” He crossed his arms.

“Don’t do it!” Dice screamed from the chair.

The man turned around and quickly pulled out a gun and pistol whipped Dice. Blood seeped from the kid’s face but he didnt even let out a whimper.

“Don’t be stupid, Cena,” he said, aiming the gun at the boy’s forehead, pushing it back. “I’ll kill him.”

I raised my gun towards him, as did everyone else. “You kill the kid, we’ll kill you.”

“Either way, he’s dead,” He shrugged. “Even so, how do you know that this place isnt full of my men? You will all be shot and killed in seconds after shooting me.”

“Well, I guess we’ll meet in hell then,” Ronnie said, raising his gun for the first time.

“You’ll kill your own father?” He said.

“Father?! No, I’ll kill an evil man, he goes by the name of Rick Keys, he’s an abuser, a drug dealer, a killer, kid napper, and just the devil in a body.” Ronnie snarled, stepping closer, I let him this time.

“I’ll do it!” Rick yelled, pushing the gun even harder towards Dice.

“So will I,” Ronnie taunted, he was in the spotlight now, only about a foot away from Dice and Rick. He took another step before throwing his gun towards me and pouncing on Rick. They rolled around on the floor, punching and kicking. The dust that was on the floor was forced into the air. It almost looked like one of those cartoon fights, the ones where two guys are fighting in a clowd of dust and its hard to see, a fist here, a foot there, the main character pokes their head out every now and then only to get pulled back in to the brawl. Rick’s men finally broke it up and I stepped forward to pull Ronnie back to our side. I wouldve grabbed Dice too but Ax and Miff were guarding him along with a kid I could only assume was Vince.

Neither side really won the fight. Ronnie’s lip was busted along with a few ribs. He also had a black eye already coming out. Rick’s nose was obviously broke and he held his side as he was helped up. Both men were bleeding and everyone there knew they would have secret, hidden bruises decorating their skin for a while.

“You’ve done it now,” Rick screamed. “Grab the kid, lets go, meet me behind the old ice cream factory, 10 tonight, with a million dollars or your life, Ron, if you don’t the kid is dead!”

Ax and Miff harshly cut Dice out of the chair, taking some flesh with them. Then Vince grabbed the boys wrists and twisted them around his back, we heard a crack and Dice screamed in agony, his wrist was broken. Without hardly acknowledging the damage, all they did was laugh, Vince tied Dice’s hands and pushed him out. We would've followed but all guns were trained on us so we did what we had to do. We let them leave.

As soon as the last member was out of sight, we all ran to our cars. I grabbed the keys out of Ronnie’s hand and jumped into the drivers side. I waited for Ronnie to get in and sped to Mr. Cuts place. Ronnie was staring off into space the entire time. We burst into Mr. Cuts house, not waiting to knock. We saw the other 3 children and Chloe huddled together in a small, crying circle on the floor. Mr. Cuts was pacing back and forth when we came in. He gave us a death glare and wagged his fingers, meaning for us to follow him. We went into his office where he slammed his door, making Ronnie jump.

“Tell me you killed the sum’bitch that took my boy!” He yelled. “And that you have him!”

“No, sir,” Ronnie mumbled.

Mr. Cuts took a quick jab to my stomach, making me slump against the wall and slide down to the floor. The man had one strong punch. “Where is he?”

“The Krooks,” I wheezed, not wanting Ronnie to have to answer. I then went into a coughing fit..The anger drained from Mr. Cuts face as he rubbed his chin.

“I’m..I’m sorry, Ronnie, it’s just my son and you two were supposed to be..” He started sobbing slightly.

“We know,” Ronnie said, walking over to him while I was still catching my breathe on the floor. “He wants 1 mill or me, by 10 o’clock.”

“1 million dollars? By 10 o’clock!” Cuts exclaimed, rubbing his hand through his hair. “I would need atleast half the people that owe me money to pay me in full to get that by then!”

“Its okay, I’ve already accepted going myself,” Ronnie sighed.

“No,” Mr. Cuts and I said in unison.

“Your not giving yourself to him,” I said. “He’ll get you back for what I did to him, you didn’t do anything!”

“You did it for me,” Ronnie said sadly. “Plus, I wont let that kid die.”

“So your kid will grow up without a dad?!” I yelled, feeling sorry that I had to bring up that card.

“Who says they’ll kill me?!” Ronnie yelled back.

“Yeah, your right, they're gonna pay for you to go on an all expense paid trip to Disney Land! Where you and your dead beat daddy can be a family again!” I cheered. “Wake up Ronnie! This is serious!”

Ronnie began to stomp towards me. I lept to my feet and raised my hands, I’d knock this kid out before he tried to beat the change into my mind. Mr. Cuts predicted what was about to happen and stepped into Ronnie’s way, holding him back. “Stop this,” He yelled, pushing Ronnie back. Ronnie got his balance, crossed his arms, and glared at me. “You're not going, I’ll try to get the money, just come back here at 9 o’clock tonight.”

With that, Ronnie and I left in a huff. I turned and started walking, there was no way in hell I was getting into that car with him. I heard him open his car door, pause, (I assume to glare at me), and then slam his door. He slowly drove by me while I flipped him off. After he turned the corner, I shoved my hands in my pockets and stormed off towards my house.

An hour later, I was home. I had stopped at the store to grab a Pepsi but other then that all I did was think. I thought about Dice and Ronnie. I couldn’t let Dice down or let him die. We didn’t have a million dollars and no matter how mad I was, I couldn’t let Ronnie trade himself in. Ronnie had a family to raise himself and no matter how much I loved Dice, Ronnie was first on my “Care For” list.

I also thought about Rick. Ronnie and I have been friends since the 6th grade, when I stopped an 8th grader from beating him up. Since then we watched each other’s back all the time. Rick was a good dad, not the best but not the worst. Sometimes he would get drunk and hit Ronnie but never brutally. Plus, he’d make it up to him, or atleast try to. Rick was there for me when my dad left my mom, though he did come back in the end. I know he was abused himself as a child and had to witness his brother getting stabbed to death by his own father. He had a younger sister but she was Daddy’s girl, so Rick and her weren’t on good terms. Why he disowned his son was beyond me. I would never let outsiders, even my gang, get between my family and I. Neither would Ronnie.

I got out lunch meat and made myself a sandwich for dinner. I ate and went to watch TV. I flipped through the channels, not able to fix my interest on anything in particular. I couldnt get the feared look of Dice from my mind. Finally, at around 7, I gave up on the TV and got in the shower. I was in there for a while, still thiniking. When I got out I put on a black with two thin white stripes on the side pair of basketball shorts on. I put on a white tank and black hoodie on over that. I threw on a pair of black shoes and my black ball cap.

I went outside to wait for Ronnie. Five kids were playing outside, I knew two of them lived in the apartment next to mine while the other lived on the other side. There was a little boy of about 8, his name was Peter but I usually call him Dirt The reason for the is because he’s constantly filthy. He has an older brother named Kristopher, Kris for short. He’s about 13. The one who lives on the other side is a 13 year old girl. Her name is Hannah. The other two playing with her were a boy and girl, they looked to be about 13.

“Hey Cena,” Kris yelled, half waving. He had been rap battling the other boy.

“Sup Kris,” I smiled.

“Cena!” Dirt screamed and ran over to high five me.

“How you doin’ Dirt?” I laughed. His red shirt had mud stains all over it and there was dirt in his hair.

“We found this huge hill today,” Dirt started. “And we soaked the dirt and then we ran and slid down it! It was so much fun!”

“I’m sure it was,” I laughed.

“Wanna play catch?” He asked.

“Sure,” I said, standing up as he ran to get his foot ball. After a few minutes, Ronnie’s car pulled up and I had to say good bye to all of them. I got into the car with a smile on my face, momentarily forgetting all that went on today.

“You’ve got a way with kids,” Ronnie commented.

“It’s a gift,” I smiled.

“Did you think about what we’re going to do if we couldn’t get the money?”

My smile disappeared. “I couldn’t come up with anything.”

“Im going to them.”

“No, really, your not.”

“Its none of your damn business. If it’ll save Dice, I am. All I ask of you is that if I do die, you take care of my son.”

“It is my business. You're like a brother to me. I wont let you.”

“Just tell me you’ll take care of him!”

“Fine! If anything happens to you tonight, I’ll take care of him but you are still not going to be traded for Dice.”

“We’ll see what happens when the time comes.” Ronnie said, ending the discussion. We got to Mr. Cuts place quickly. We learned that his wife took the rest of the kids out to dinner, to get them out of the house.

"So you have the money?” I asked, nervously.

“I got half of it,” Mr. Cuts mumbled. “But we can put fake bills in and the real ones on top.”

“You don’t think he’ll notice?” Ronnie asked.

“Not till we’re out of there,” Mr. Cuts said, putting on a brown leather jacket.

“You’re coming with us?” I asked. Mr. Cuts never came with us. It wasn’t his style. It was like our country, the President sends the troops to war, but he doesn’t go himself. It would be to dangerous to not have a leader.

“My son is kidnapped, OF COURSE, I’m coming,” Mr. Cuts yelled. “Now, lets go!”

We rushed out to our cars. We drove quickly, picking up other members who knew the situation but didn’t have rides. Almost the entire gang would be coming with us. It was that big of a deal. In our car was Travis, Drake, and Johnny. We all pulled up to the factory and got out. We went behind, in silence. We heard gun shots and ran behind just in time to see Dice slump to the floor.

“You bastard!” Mr. Cuts wailed, tears fighting to come out.

“Don’t worry,” Rick laughed, like it was all a big joke. “He’s not dead..yet, but if you don’t make a deal soon and get him to a hospital, he will be.”

“We’ve got the money,” Ronnie yelled, holding up the silver case to show him. As soon as he lifted the case, shots sprang into the air. They were going to try to take both, I knew it! I grabbed Ronnie’s shirt and pulled down, almost getting shot myself. We each pulled out our guns, like everyone else, and started shooting. In the midst of the confusion, I was able to get a quick look around. We had more men but our bullets were dwindling. Travis was on the ground, pierced by several bullets, dead. Johnny was on the floor protecting his wounded leg, still shooting. I didn’t see Drake anywhere. Mr. Cuts was slowly making his way towards Dice, 5 other men with him. Vince was on the floor as well, I’m not sure if he was dead or just unconscious. Ax was physical with another member of ours, guns forgotten. Miff was clearly dead, in the corner of the small lighted area. I heard Ronnie wince in pain and turned my head quickly to see him holding his arm. It was immoblie and also the one that had the gun. He couldn’t shoot with his left, it was up to me to protect him and the money. Everytime I shot, I shot to wound, we were supposed to shoot to kill but I couldn’t do that. When things seemed to slow down, I grabbed the case and dragged Ronnie to the shaded side of the factory, we were unseen. I leaned Ronnie against the wall and shot from around the corner.

Suddenly things were quiet and I crept around the building. Any Krooks still living, made their way to escape as fast as they could, injured or not. There were several dead bodies, sadly almost just as many of theirs as ours. Mr. Cuts was cradling Dice’s head in his hands, whispering that he was going to be okay. I could hear sirens in the distance.

“We've got to go!” I screamed to Mr. Cuts.

“Just leave then!” He sceamed back.

“Come on, we need to get him and Ronnie to the hospital or they’ll both die!” I yelled. His eyes glowed in realization that Dice was just barely holding on.

“What about everyone else?” Mr. Cuts cried.

“We got it, don’t worry!” Johnny yelled, he was hovering over Drake whose ear had been shot through. Drake was also cradling the palm of his hand.

“Let’s go!” I picked up Dice it a sort of bridal style way. “You help Ronnie up, he’s on the other side with the case.”

I put Dice in the back seat. I could just barely make out the up and down motion of his chest. He had been shot in the chest, just missing his heart but still lethal. He only had a few minutes, if that. Mr. Cuts helped Ronnie into the passenger’s side and then got in the back with Dice. I hopped into the Driver’s side and rushed to the nearest hospital.

The whole ride, I couldn’t help but think we won. If Dice and Ronnie made it, we’d have one over on the Krooks and a big one at that. Either way I think they learned an important lesson, “Don’t fuck with us.”