"WHAT?" Randy's head flew back and forth between Alistair and I. "What I delivered were children's clothes?"
Alistair nodded his head. "I'd appreciate it if you kept your eyes on the road, and yes, it was children's clothes."
Randy immediately looked at the crates that were still in the wagon. "Are these also...?"
"Nope," I replied. "Those are the actual crates of diom."
Randy shook his head in confusion. "I don't understand, what's going on?"
Alistair sighed in exasperation before explaining.
"Well basically the police have been watching us. Alex and I first noticed this when we were in our automobile on the way back to Freestone."
Randy looked at Alistair quizzically. "If you both knew you were being watched, why did you make this delivery?"
Alistair and Alex glanced at each other before turning and facing Randy.
"It was just a test," I said as I scratched an itch on my arm.
"A test of what?" Asked Randy suspiciously.
"Isn't it obvious." Alistair replied as he turned and faced Randy. "We were testing whether you were a rat or not."
I nodded my head in confirmation. "We were testing whether this delivery would be raided by the police or not. Alistair told you to only hand out the crates with a black cross for this reason, if you were a rat you would have warned the police and the raid wouldn't have happened."
"And before you ask," I quickly added. "The raid would have been called off because the police don't have much leeway when it comes to matters that have to do with Freestone Academy and they probably only have one chance to do something like this, and they wouldn't waste their one chance on something that wasn't a sure bet."
Randy looked taken aback as he wrapped his head around what Alistair and I had just explained. After a few seconds his face started becoming red with anger.
"Why the hell did you think I was a rat?"
"Why wouldn't we?" Replied Alistair calmly. "The only person who has anything to gain by Alex and I getting looked up is you. You think we don't know that you've been trying to turn the people working for Alex and I against us?"
As soon as Alistair said that Randy turned back to the road.
"I don't know what you are talking about."
I sighed and gave Alistair a pointed look.
"This is why I said we should just kill him, he's obviously more trouble than he's worth."
"And like I said he still has his uses."
"Just shut up!" Suddenly shouted Randy from the box seat.
He then turned to us. "Who do you people think you are? I'm almost four times the senior to you fourteen year old brats, you think that just because you're from Freestone you are above everyone else?"
Randy then raised his hands in mock surrender. "Fine I admit it, I've been talking to the guys, trying to convince them that I would be a much better leader than both of you.
He then gave us a look of challenge. "So....what you gonna do about it?"
For a moment all was quiet except for the sound of the horses pulling the wagon.
"First of all," Alistair pointed at the street. "Watch the road. And secondly, honestly you're not much of a threat. You don't have the brains to take over our operation, and the only chance you have is to go to the police.."
Alistair then looked him in the eye.
"And that's probably not going to happen based on how you reacted to me calling you a rat."
"And before you think about taking over by force." Continued Alistair as he pointed at me. "Do you honestly think you can defeat him?"
A look of doubt flashed by Randy's eyes and he hesitated.
Alistair nodded his head then leaned back.
"If you understand then take the reins, at this rate we're going to run out of road."
Randy stared at Alistair and I for a few more seconds before he slowly turned around and took the reins.
"Good decision." I said as the wagon left the slums. "Know your place."
-
-
-
The wagon pulled into the gate of Hydra Transportation stopped at the loading dock.
As soon as the wagon stopped Randy jumped off the box seat and onto the ground before stalking away.
I immediately called after him. "Deliver these crates to Mr. Toeeb on the day after tomorrow, I doubt the police will follow you. And even if they do just ignore them, it will be a long time before they try anything."
Without responding Randy stormed away.
I sighed and turned to Alistair. "I know you told him that he wasn't a threat but isn't he the biggest threat to us?"
I jumped off the wagon and continued speaking. "He could stir up trouble with our delivery men and workers which could lead to unrest. Or he could maybe go to 'him' and make a deal to take us out."
"I've already thought about that," Replied Alistair as he leaped to the ground. "Apart from four delivery men no other one knows about the diom, and those four aren't even Ranked so even if they went to the police their word wouldn't count for much."
"What about sabotage? He could always do that."
"If he does it, we'll just get rid of him." Replied Alistair.
"What about 'him'?" I asked thinking about the man supplying us diom.
"He has nothing to gain by using Randy, if he could kill us he would have done it already, and there is no way he would risk us going to prison, cause we would definitely take him down with us." Alistair jumped onto the loading dock and headed inside. "I've thought about it, he's actually not much of a threat."
I realized that Alistair was right, there wasn't much Randy could actually do. I then jumped onto the loading dock and followed Alistair.
-
-
-
I sank onto the couch in the living room of my house and sighed deeply.
'Eleven thirty-one.' I thought as I looked at my XOC. I had reached FI68 several minutes ago and had immediately headed here.
A few minutes later I got up and walked into the bedroom. As soon as I saw the bed I collapsed onto it and took the plastic bottle out of my pocket before opening it and taking out a blue colored pill.
I studied the diom pill for a few seconds before I put it in my mouth and swallowed it.
I waited for a moment before I slowly started to feel a sense of euphoria come over me.
"Ahhh." I said in contentment as I sank onto my bed.
I lay there for what felt like an eternity but was probably just a few hours, and eventually the feeling of euphoria started going, which left me with a clear head but that was soon replaced by a deep sense of tiredness.
Before long my eyes couldn't stay open anymore and slowly they shut before I fell asleep.
-
-
-
I opened my eyes even though it felt like I had closed them a second earlier.
'Here we go again.' I sighed as I turned around.
All around myself the only thing I could see was a dark, lightless looking void, and far in the distance there were hundreds, if not thousands of small bright specks of light.
I looked down and I saw exactly what I expected to see, something I had seen hundreds of times before during the past two years.
A man.
And not just any man, a ten foot tall man whose skin was a dark shade of ebony, with eyes that shone like a beacon when contrasted against his skin and long red hair that flowed down his back and grew past his feet.
All in all just by how he looked the man was obviously an extraordinary person.
But the most extraordinary thing about him was not his looks, no it was what he was doing.
I was floating in the black void and looking down I saw the ebony man far below me, hovering above a huge round, circular looking object. The object looked like a ball, but millions of times bigger and was also green in color.
The ebony man stayed in that position for a few more minutes before he suddenly adjusted his body and shot toward the object at a great speed, soon disappearing from my sight as he seemed to enter the object.
'This again?' I thought, wishing I could speak.
In this place I couldn't use my voice, if I tried it would come out as a thought. It was like I was supposed to be a quiet observer.
All was quiet after the man disappeared before, suddenly the object began to visibly start quaking. The shaking got worse, then I began seeing cracks appear on the object. The cracks soon extended over the whole mass of the object.
Then suddenly the cracks stopped extending and the quaking seized.
'And three, two, one.' I started counting down in my mind as I waited for pandemonium to begin. 'Start!'
*BOOM*
At almost that the same time as me saying start the object exploded into millions of tiny bits. The object broke into small pieces of rock and stone and flew in different directions into the void.