Cruel World (The Tribe Book 1)

18. Ebony

As I chase after her, I can hear the faint sound of rollerblades and shouting, her fanatics are outside but none are ballsy enough to try and enter the mall, knowing I'm here. By now, the Vipers would have heard the alarm from their building next door and would be coming through from a conjoining hallway between the two buildings to find out what's happening.

I follow her up into the storage bays but lose sight of her. I quickly stop moving and listen to the sounds around me, my hearing heightened from the rush of adrenaline running through me and the instinct to protect my tribe, my family. I keep my knees bent and step silently through the storage bay and spot her stopping for breath.

The boys have now come into the storage bay and are offering a distraction so that I can sneak up on her. Bray is the only one that spots me and makes sure that Ebony's attention is on them and their movement. Once she's distracted, I move quickly but silently towards her and pinch a couple of pressure points in her back, knocking her out for 30 minutes at the most. Lex and Bray pick her up and move her to the old service lift that no longer works, acting as a holding cell. We lock her in and Reg volunteers two of his boys to keep watch, and we all head back into the café.

Upon arrival, Martin sweeps me into a hug, having been one of the boys to go down to the sewers to scout them and shut off the alarm.

"Thank god you're okay! Did you find her?" Trudy asks, being the next one to hug me, surprising me slightly but making me happy, as our friendship has been really developing recently.

"Yeah, she managed to sneak up on her. When us guys wandered into the storage bay, it distracted her enough that Leia could sneak up behind her, pinch a couple pressure points and knock her out for a while. Luka and Nolan are guarding her, she's in the cage at the moment," Bray tells everyone.

"Good work guys. I'm assuming the rest of the Locos are gone?" Amber asked.

"Yeah, I think they came around to the sewer entrance but the alarm system scared them off from even wanting to come in here," Martin says, holding me close.

Cloe comes over and brings me a glass of water, as the other kids do for the others. Once I've grabbed it from her, she pulls me and Martin in for a hug, which we both happily return. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Bray moving away from Salene and over to Trudy and Brady, expecting her to be all over him but she couldn't care less, deciding he's not worth all her tears and she's better without him. She glances towards me and I smile, letting her know I'm proud of her. She returns it and then turns her gaze to the baby.

"I'd kill her! She ruined my wedding!" Zandra exclaims, visibly upset with mascara running down her face.

"Zan we're not killing anyone, that's not how we are. Currently, she's locked in a cage and we can worry about her later," I shut her down quickly, making sure everyone hears that I'm serious and that's not even an option.

"Can't we still have it?" Cloe asks.

"It's not really the right time, Cloe," Salene tells her, rather condescendingly.

"Don't worry, once we've dealt with Ebony, and Lex and Zandra are ready, we'll have the wedding," I reassure everyone, and majority of the group show understanding while others just don't move.

We can hear banging coming from the storage bays and assume Ebony has woken up and is rattling the cage. Lex, Amber, Bray, Martin and I all head to the storage bay with the Vipers, while the others start clearing up from the interrupted wedding and begin making dinner for everyone. Because of the extra's we're feeding tonight, I told Jack to get some food from the centre management to make sure there's enough to go around.