I stared at the gun in horrified curiosity. My mind raced. Why was there a gun in the backpack? What was he planning? Was I a target? Who was this guy?
Slowly, I picked up the black metal pistol and held it carefully in both hands before placing it gently onto the kitchen counter. Should I call someone? No, bad idea. Would anyone even believe me if I did? Maybe not. I picked the gun up again and racked my brain for all the weapon safety my dad taught me years ago. I switched on 'safety' and checked to see if it was loaded. It wasn't, so I sighed in relief. I left the bullets inside, though. Never know if i might need it.
Suddenly i had an idea. I looked at the clock: 12:17AM. I held the gun tightly as i hurried to my room and tugged out the big box of Nerf play weapons from under my bed, yanked off the lid and spilled out the contents of the box. I sifted through the blue and orange toys until i found one about the same size as the real gun and ran back out to my living room. I set both guns on the couch and opened the backpack more. I let the items sit there in cold silence. I glanced back at the clock, and groaned. 12:42AM. I hurried to put the toy gun into the backpack and the real one in my back pocket before grabbing my faded red baseball cap and locking my apartment door as I made my way out to my car.
I was barely paying attention to the road as I drove back to Starbucks that night. I saw a few cops hanging around the corner from my apartment but they didn't seem interesting enough so I forgot about them. I pulled my navy blue sweater hood over my baseball cap and picked up the real gun from my passenger seat and slipped it into my pocket before hefting the backpack over my shoulders, locking my car, and made my way across the Starbucks parking lot and to the dark building.
The door was unlocked. I pushed it open and walked inside. Slowly.
"Hello?" I called a few times. Finally, as i made my way behind the counter, I heard him.
"You're late." A husky man's voice said from behind me.
I whipped around, and gasped. The person standing five yards away from me was exactly five inches taller than me, but still scary.
His hair was dark brown and hung in a curtain around his face and stopped at his chin. He also wore black jeans and a black hoodie, like mine. His steel blue eyes stared at me, but I couldn't read his expression. The only other thing about him that caught my eye was his left arm. It wasn't exactly an arm, but it sure did look like one. All silver, from the top of his shoulder down to his fingertips.
"Sorry, who are you?" I asked. He looked down and took a few steps towards me. I did too. But when he noticed me walking towards him, he stopped. That's when i noticed his limp. "Are you alright?" I asked taking another step towards him. He jerked back. Now we were only a few feet away from each other.
"I'm fine." He said. He looked back up at me, and now he let me read his expression. He immediately struck me as a war hardened, cold hearted stubborn kind of person.
"You know who I am, kid." He called my 'kid' with no problem, so I guessed he had another friend he called 'kid' too. He took a deep breath and sighed.
"James." I said. I did know who he was. The guy on TV this afternoon. He staggered, but caught himself on the counter. I tried to help catch him but her brushed me off. "Are you okay?" I asked again.
"I said I'm fine." He grunted as he righted himself. I tossed his gloves at him. This guy was starting to make me mad.
"Well you don't look fine. Let me call someone, a friend? A family member?" I went towards him again but he shook me off again.
"No one left alive, and my only friend went under the ice seventy-six years ago." Okay, I thought. This guy is a nutcase.
"I'm sure you have someone."
"It's just me." He took a few steps towards me now, and I stayed stiffly planted where I was. "Can I have my backpack now?"
I considered this. If I let him take it back now. I wouldn't get answers to questions forming in my mind at that moment. I would forfeit it all.
"Not until you come back to my apartment with me."
He laughed. "Why?"
I sighed. "Because I want to make sure you're okay. You look awful."
"If I go back with you, You'll be in danger." His face looked pained.
I considered his point. It was a good one, but I'd seen enough in my books. "Just trust me?"
"How can I?" he asked.
"We'll figure something out. Just try. Please?"
Now he looked like he was thinking. Minutes went by. Maybe an hour, I couldn't tell. I had to walk over to a stool and sit down because my legs started to hurt. Finally he looked me in the eye.
"Who do you work for?" He started over to me and my eyes widened.
"No one! It's just me, some kid who wants to help you out." I whispered since he was in my face. The two of us now just two inches apart, I could see the pain behind his eyes. Masked by the courage and ferocity was a guy who's life had been drastically changed. He was confused.
"Can you guarantee that your house isn't bugged? Do you know for sure?" I shook my head shyly, afraid of speaking in case words failed me. "Then I can't. You can't go back there." He stepped back from me, but he staggered. I started to try to help but he held out a hand for me to stop.
"I can't just go homeless." I said. "I have to work, I have to support myself-" Before I could finish he interrupted me.
"If you come with me you'll be fine."
"But how do I know I can trust you?"
"We don't. " It was silent for a moment.
"Let me call someone, I know a guy who can help both of us."
He righted himself on the counter again. "He'll be in danger too."
"In danger from whom?" I stopped typing on my cell and looked up.
"The bad guys." His face was now twisted in a sort of grimace and wince.
"Who are the bad guys?" I asked slowly, each word measured carefully as i said it.
"You don't want to know."
I was immediately regretting every single life choice thus far.
"Come on." He walks over to me and before I know what happened, he grabs me by the hood of my jacket and yanks me up. I have to pretty much jog to keep up with him.
"Where are we going?" I'm starting to get scared now.
"Away from here..." He sounds like he's fighting the urge to cry.
Maybe I imagined it, but maybe I didn't just see a tear roll down his face.
Please tell me what you think about this chapter! I really am trying to get a good grip on these two characters and right now it's really hard, so if you have any ideas please, by all means, i'm listening! More coming soon!