Youngblood Chronicles: Don't Panic

Chapter 4

The drive back took a lot longer than the drive up. We had to stop after only 20 or so minutes and had to work on the van. Thank God a few of us had taken the drivers ed technical course. We had the van working after an hour.

Then we had to stop for snacks, and also to get some bandages to put on everybody. The two least blood-stained of us, Cinnamon and Pete surprisingly, went into a convenience store. They came out with 3 cases of refrigerated water, two plastic bags of snacks, one bag of bandages and first aid supplies, and a pine tree air freshener. We quickly fixed everyone up and continued on the road.

I reached the sugar warehouse at about 6:50, 7 in the morning. Pretty much everyone was asleep, except Knight and Patrick. Patrick couldn't stop ranting and Knight was trying to get him to calm down.

Two kids ran around the gate. The two kids were the guards, running around made it look like they were playing, and they were the only 2 who wore not all white clothes. One of them walked up to my busted window. I recognized him Acne.

"Thank goodness you're alright," He smiled at me. "We were about to report you as casualties." I looked down at the floor of the car.

"We do have one casualty." Acne's smile fell.

"Bring him in." He backed away as I drove through the open gate. I drove around the warehouse and into the garage in the back. I parked, and me and Knight woke everyone up. The band members were taken to be fixed up. Everyone else got out and went to go sleep. Two girls, Aero and Expo took Text's body to be readied and buried.

My bed was under the window I had been at the night before. There were a lot of kids asleep from last night's escapade. I had a piece of plywood, topped by a piece of foam, with a sleeping bag, several blankets, 3 pillows, and even a few boxes to hold clothes and other crap. I laid down and collapsed into a deep sleep.

I was shaken awake 3 hours later at about 10 or so. Aero (who was the driver of the coupe along with Expo, who had been found after the coupe was stolen) had woken everyone up but me. She smiled then pointed toward the ladder.

"We're having a ceremony for Text. Come on." I got up and followed her down the ladder. We walked through the garage, past a few sheds, and into some empty land. They had dug a hole, and a small cross had been fashioned out of sticks. Text's body had been cleaned and wrapped in a white cloth. I was astounded that Patrick was there.

Since it was a custom at funerals to sing Amazing Grace, we asked Patrick to leave. Instead, I gave him my earbuds. As I did, I whispered.

"They block out music." I walked back to my spot and the singing began. One kid had somehow smuggled a good keyboard in, and Tiger began playing. Several kids, including History, Cinnamon, Aero, Expo, Acne, Mallord, Knight, me, and a few other kids got into a "choir formation" and began to sing. The lyrics sounded through the hills as Tiger played the first verse of the song. Since that was all he knew, we only sang the first verse.

The many voices blended together to make a serenade that flowed for the one minute we actually sang. Afterward, we all went back inside. Patrick tried to give me back the earbuds, and eventually just thrust them into my hand. Even though I didn't want them back, I guess I just was upset.

I went back up to my bed and laid down. Again, I fell asleep and was shaken awake. This time, it was by Pete.

"Hey, we were wondering if you were alright. It's almost 2." I jerked up and looked out the window. The sun was high in the sky, but starting to go down a little bit.

"Oh God," I got up. My white hoodie lay on the end of my bed over my feet. I threw off the semi dust covered covers and went to one of the boxes. I grabbed an outfit and went toward the ladder.

"Why did you give Patrick your earbuds?" He asked me. I stopped abruptly and turned and looked at him.

"I know why he's evil," I said quietly. I tried to go down the ladder, but Pete grabbed my arm. I was already on the ladder and it too dangerous to try and get him off of me. I climbed back up.

"Okay, spill the beans." He said. I sat down on my bed.

"My parents are part of the cult. My mom knows the "Head Bitch" and my dad is part of the "Demon Summoners"." Pete looked at me.

"Wait, wouldn't that make you part of..."

"No!" I screamed. I breathed hard for a few moments and then continued talking. "My parents tried to brainwash me in a whole lotta ways. They couldn't hypnotize me, and I wouldn't be bribed. They ran away from my house 5 months ago, 1 month after I started this thing. They left me some money, places I could get money, and even the address of where they would be." I chuckled. "I was even thinking of getting some tattoos." Pete smiled.

"Eh. Depends on what you get. After all, this is over, I can get a hold of a friend of mine that does good work with tats." I smiled, then went down the ladder, holding the clothes. I walked toward the front of the place, to one of the two "showers" we had made out of metal standing up. There were three 5 gallon buckets full of water. I stripped down in the stall, then threw my dirty clothes out somewhere outside. I dumped one partial bucket onto my head, shivering at the coolness of the water.

I got a little bit of shampoo and put it on, then used the rest of the water from that bucket and rinsed it out. I put on body wash, then used some of the water from another bucket and rinsed off. I took my towel and dried off, and then put on my clothes. I wore a white tank top, white capris, a white flannel with gray patterns and combat boots.

I walked out to see my clothes gone. I walked over to the place that we kept our food, grabbed a sandwich, then went out to the back. It was pretty hot as I walked to a small stream. We washed our clothes from there, and I had to help. I got down with Mallord. My dark skin helped with the sun, being mostly African and Mexican paid off big time out here.

After washing clothes for only about 15 minutes, I was called in for a meeting of the superiors. We meet in a small room in the back, opposite the kitchen area where we had our food. I walked in and closed the door.

"What is it?" I asked, crossing my arms in front of me.

"We need to appoint another superior," History told me. "We have either Mallord, Cinnamon, or Lake."

"Cinnamon," I said bluntly.

"That's who we had," Tiger said. He then leaned. I could tell he was trying to talk, but he couldn't.

"We need to get more people." Nickel said bluntly.

"How? Almost everyone is with the cult!" Knight stood up and threw up his hands.

"Woah! Woah!" After I had calmed down, he continued. "We've sent out a message all over California. We can get more people." Knight then stopped, and Cinnamon walked in.

"I got the message. What are we doing?" She stood next to me in white overalls and a white t-shirt.

"We have to save the Herold."

Here's another update. I really hope you enjoy this update! Peace!