Brontide

"And so... yea." Chris looked up at Rae for the first time since he'd begun talking, Jeremy pacing behind the metal folding chair he was sitting in. "You okay?" he asked.

Rae looked at him. "Fuck no I'm not." She stood up from her seat and said in the calmest voice she could muster, "I just found out that my boyfriend and my best friend are fucking sociopaths. And not just sociopaths, but organized sociopaths. With organizations and shit. I'm not fucking okay."

"For the record, mine's an alliance," Jeremy said quietly. Chris shot him a look that could melt wood before turning back to Rae.

"I'm still the same person." He reached for her hand, standing. "Nothing's changed--"

She yanked her hand from his. "NOTHING'S CHANGED?! EVERYTHING'S changed you fucking dense Bastard. You have killed people, Chris. This sweet awkward guy who doesn't even fucking like heights, killing people. Taking lives. I can't even handle this, Chris. Bullshit, nothing's changed. Everything that we ever had has changed." She shook her head, trying to hold her composure, which she was doing very nicely, and turned away from him, walking towards the door.

"Rae, don't--"

She looked back at him, a hand on the door and took a deep breath. "Don't tell me what to do."

The night air hit her hot face with a freezing blast. She wandered out onto the gravel driveway, her teeth digging into her bottom lip and fighting tears. Her head hurt so bad she couldn't see or think straight. She took a deep breath and swallowed and told herself everything was okay. There was nothing to worry about. This was obviously a dream. It wasn't real. She would wake up in her bed with non-psychotic Chris and Jeremy just a phone call away or she would wake up back in Nebraska or in a hospital because of a horse-related accident that would leave her with a bump and some memories to laugh about later on. She squeezed her eyes closed and opened them, but she was still in that driveway. She went through this several times, even resorting to pinching herself which, by the way, she thought was a completely bullshit way to make yourself wake up, like honestly who really does that. No one that's who. But nothing she did would wake her up.

Okay, so this wasn't a dream. Then it was obviously a big fat fucking joke. A big fat cruel one. There was no way that her Chris Butler was a freaking assassin. And Jeremy? Jeremy was a big fat softy. He could never be part of an organization-- sorry, alliance-- that tortured information out of people. Who the fuck would even think of such a bullshit thing? Fucking creeps in their mom's basement that's who. Rae began looking around for the Scare Tactics crew. She thought about yelling that she was indeed scared and that all of this could end now, but the door to the warehouse opened and closed and then Chris was standing to the left of her. She hadn't realized that she'd sat down, but it was either that or he'd grown a whole lot since the last time she saw him.

"You're going to freeze to death out here," he said quietly.

"Fuck you I've been out here like maybe thirty seconds."

"Rae, it's been like ten minutes."

And suddenly she was cold. Really cold. "Why the fuck is it even this cold anyways? It's, like, April. Where the fuck did spring go." She tried and failed to suppress a shiver. He threw his jacket over her shoulders and sat down next to her. She pulled her knees up to her chest.

"I didn't have a choice."

"Fuck you--"

"No, I really didn't. That party you went with me to? Was my graduation from the academy that every single firstborn in my family has gone to. I'm a fucking legacy. It was that or... or die, I guess. I don't know what would've happened to me if I didn't go. My dad kind of pushed me into it before I knew what was going on."

"So you'd rather kill innocent people than piss daddy off."

"Rae, you aren't hearing me."

"Chris, I hear you loud and clear. And nothing you ever say will ever make me approve of this at all. You kill people, Chris."

"Please stop saying that--"

"WHY CHRIS? BECAUSE IT'S THE FUCKING TRUTH? YOU'RE A MURDERER."

"Ssh, Rae, listen to me, I don't have a choice." He tried to put a hand on her back, but she elbowed him away. "If I didn't-- I can't back out now. They'll kill you, they'll kill Marissa, they'll kill everyone I love. Rae you gotta believe me, if I had known that this was gonna be the way it all turns out-- fuck, I hate this. I hate doing this to you. Please."

She looked up at his face and her heart pretty much shattered into four million pieces. "Fine," she murmured. "I'll listen."

Chris bit his lip, looking from his feet to Rae, who could barely even look at him. Nothing broke his heart more than that. It took him a while to come up with something to say.

"Look," he sighed, "You know how I'm never hesitant to tell you that I love you. You know that. I can't help being protective, because you know what happened to my mother. Basically, her story isn't far from ours. I never got to do anything about it. I never got to tell her I love her. In fact, the last words I said to her were 'piss off'. That's not happening here. I'm giving up everything for you. I'd break out into Bruno Mars for you."

Rae's expression softened for a moment, before becoming angry again.

"If you think of it this way, I'm putting up with someone I cannot stand, to make sure that your heart stays intact. Literally and metaphorically," Chris continued, looking at Rae for signs of understanding. "I'm speaking for him too, when I say that the last thing I want to do is hurt you. And you know that. You'll hate us now, maybe tomorrow too, maybe even for a week. But when a bullet buries itself deep into Jeremy's brain matter, that's when you'll realize how much you love him. I was in your place once."

Rae looked Chris straight in the eyes, tears welling up and her lips in a pout. "I'm scared," she said, her voice practically a whisper.

Chris held out his hand, nodding towards warehouse, "It's not safe out here."

Rae hesitated before taking Chris's hand, but as soon as she touched him she interlocked her fingers with his and pressed herself against his side. He put his arm around her shoulders, leading her back inside. When they were inside, Jeremy was gone, and there was what looked like blood stains on the ground. She inhaled sharply, looking at the crimson stains on the concrete. She put a hand to her mouth and leaned harder into Chris, unable to hold herself up. She tried to talk, but only managed to whimper a little bit. Chris gently pushed her to the wall, looking at her before walking forward to inspect the blood. He pulled his gun out of his waistband and held it ready. Suddenly Chris looked up to a door in the wall to the left of him, several yards away. Whatever he saw, it made his eyes widen, and he turned to Rae.

There was a loud shot, and Chris was holding onto his waist, his lips parted. He swayed and fell. Rae screamed. She fell to her knees next to him, desperately trying to wake him up as he groaned and his eyes closed. He wasn't moving, but he still had a pulse. He was alive, but she didn't know how long he would be. He was bleeding quite a lot. She suddenly realized that the bullet had to have come from somewhere, and she yanked the gun out of Chris's hand, desperately looking towards the doorway.

Rae had only seen George once, from far away, but she knew it was him. He was expressionless, but she could tell he was feeling a twinge of guilt. It was his girlfriend's brother, after all. He cautiously stepped forward, eyeing the gun in Rae's hand as he slowly reloaded his own.

"You're not a killer, little girl," he said quietly. "Put it down, and we can discuss this."

Rae pursed her lips, lifting up the gun and pointing it at him. She had no clue how to use it, and he knew that.

"I told him many times. Orders are orders," George sighed. "He learned the hard way. I had hoped I would only be dealing with one tonight. As for you, we can talk. You were never part of the deal. Let's talk."

Click!

Rae heard George click the bullets into place, completely against what he had promised her, and shut her eyes tight as she nervously squeezed the trigger with a shaky hand. She shrieked at the sound of her own gun, and kept her eyes shut as she heard a deafening bang and a thud. Then, complete silence. Rae dropped the gun, opening her eyes and looking around. She was terrified. Looking across the room, George was on the ground, arms and legs sprawled. He was completely clean, minus the massive red hole in his forehead. Rae had been extremely lucky. The sight made her nauseous. She had killed a man. She was a killer.

She suddenly remembered Chris, and ran over to his side. He looked like he was asleep, but his shirt was stained with red. The bullet had hit him in the side. It wasn't fatal, as far as she knew, but he was bleeding. With the little knowledge she had of bleeding wounds, she pressed her palms on it to attempt to stop the bleeding. She tried dragging him out, but he was way too big and heavy. She closed her eyes and tugged as hard as she could on his arms. At first, she just barely dragged him, but after a few seconds he became a lot lighter.

She opened her eyes to find someone else now holding his legs, helping her carry him outside. She was overwhelmed with relief, but she was cursing at him like a sailor. Jeremy helped her carry Chris out and to the side of the street, where he set him down next to Rae. There were some old cuts on his arm that had reopened, bleeding down the side of his arm. That's where the blood had come from.

"You faked your death," Rae whispered, hands covering her mouth in shock.

"No, I'm actually dead," Jeremy winked, giving Rae a peck on the lips before running around the warehouse and disappearing in the old truck.

Rae was left alone with her bloody boyfriend on the side of the street. She curled up into a ball, sniffing and wiping away at the tears on her cheeks. She was stranded, Chris was dying, but she couldn't give up now. It was a highway, after all. It may have been really late, but someone was bound to come down the highway. And sure enough, a pair of headlights appeared no more than ten minutes later. She waved it down, and to her surprise, it pulled over. Their savior.