Façade (DISCONTINUED. Revised and redone as a webcomic)

Chapter 14: Breakdown

Day 006 11:20am
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Dust and Echo sat on the couch in their pyjamas, eating cereal and sipping orange juice. Triumph was standing on the deck in the backyard with a cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in his teeth. He hadn't smoked before now, but he sorta struck me as the kind of guy who would smoke a cigarette and tell you some tall tale about how he lost his eye. I actually hadn't asked him before.

I thought that I should ask, so I started heading toward him. Shark stopped me, yawning,

"Eat that toast you made."

I grinned at her, then did as she asked.

"Thanks again for getting my phone replaced, Shark. It means a lot to me."

I commented, meeting her eyes. She waved her hand nonchalantly.

"It was nothing. Since your contract was still active, the phone didn't cost anything and all your old data was transferred over to the new phone. Here!"

She pulled a new iPhone out of her pocket, sporting a pale green case, and tossed it to me. I caught it with a nod of thanks to her.

As I sat at the table and ate, Dust suddenly called,

"Hey, uh, guys? You might or might not want to see this."

Shark, Triumph and I all turned as one and made our way curiously into the living room. Dust's hand was shaking as he held the remote, and Echo looked anxious. I glanced from the boys to the screen and immediately stiffened.

A news channel was live at Distance and Aspen's school. On the screen, Distance stood and faced the new leader of Lost Echo and a massive CEL soldier. Bruises marked Distance's right cheek.

I knew that the smaller guy's first name was Edge. How could I forget? He was the guy who nearly killed me. However, now that I saw him on tv again, I realized that he happened to be the one CEL soldier from the skirmish in the alley that had glared at me.

Smiling and deathly calm, Edge met Distance's angry violet eyes with an ice-cold gaze.

"Distance Anderson, I will give you one chance to save these defects. You can fight me or you can fight General Stork here. If you kill him or me, you all may go free."

He murmured.

I could see Distance weighing his options. I was pretty sure he'd pick Edge, but with a smirk, he instead replied,

"I'll kill your pet gorilla for you."

"Very well. Stork, you know what to do."

Edge said with a small dip of his head.

The man cracked his knuckles. Distance bent his knees and lowered himself into an improvised fighting stance. His legs were shaking.

"We need to get over there, now!"

I cried, but Triumph grabbed my shoulder as I turned.

"Even if we all go right now, there's no way he'll be able to hold out that long. There's also the issue of all those children there. We can't leave them. On top of that, there's enough soldiers to kill us all. Let's just watch and make sure he doesn't die. If he lives, we can start making a plan."

He murmured.

I felt a foreign emotion welling up in me at his words. Anger.

"How the hell can you say that?!"

"Would you rather let him watch as you get filled up with lead? Nobody would be able to help him then. I doubt they'll kill him. You're probably the intended..."