"You aren't dying on me yet, Abby, and anyway," I paused, giving her a soft smile, "I need my hoodie back." I was holding onto Abby's hand as she dangled off an edge that seemed to be bottomless. I managed to pull her back up and the moment she got up she clung onto me as if I was going to disappear, I could hear her sobbing into my arm.
"Shhh, it's okay, I'm here," I said, reassuring her.
I looked up at Delacroix, grinning.
"So, what did I miss?" I said
Judging on the way Delacroix's face looked, he was perplexed.
"H...h..how are you here." Delacroix said, flabbergasted
"It's simple, I just walked through that door over there" I grinned, pointing to the door behind me.
I looked over behind Delacroix and saw a computer downloading something, it was at 45%. I helped Abby up and walked over to the computer and took out the hard drive.
"Seems that this is important." I said, fiddling with the hard drive through my finger
It was at this moment that Delacroix finally was pulled back into reality.
"Hand that over!" Delacroix shouted
I turned to Abby.
"Hey, you go help those people over there out." I said
Abby wiped her eyes and nodded, she began to help the two people out of the room.
"Dash! Give back that hard drive!" Delacroix shouted again
"Nah...I think I'll keep it." I said
Delacroix rushed me in a desperate attempt to get the hard drive. I spun around and threw my leg into Delacroix's face, my foot slammed into his cheek and sent him flying through a variety of computer servers.
"Ooh! That looked expensive." I said
It looked like I managed to knock him out, so using this opportunity. I made it through the hallways until I saw Abby. I rushed over there and picked up the guy.
"Here, let me help you with that." I said, smiling
Abby smiled back, I looked at the guy, and I realized it was Fisher.
"Damn bro! he did a number on you." I said to my unconscious friend.
I looked at Abby and the person in her arms.
"Who's that, is it Jessica?" I asked, throwing her name out there
"N...no, it's Macy" Abby replied
"Oh Macy, god I haven't seen her in years!" I said, looking back through my own mental archives.
Abby and I arrived at an elevator, we got in and had the elevator take us down. Abby was looking down at the ground, twiddling a strain of hair. It looks like she was upset thinking about something
"What's wrong?" I asked
"Where were you?!" Abby cried
I was startled at the sudden change in tone, but I looked away and to the ground
"I...don't want to talk about it...sorry" I said, tensing up at the memory that was about to resurface
Abby nodded in assurance as we rode the elevator in silence the rest of the way. The doors eventually opened, and we made our way out with our wounded friends.
"Let's go say hi to the gang." I said
Abby smiled and nodded, we walked out of the building and saw our friends. It looked like a lot had happened when I was MIA. As we made it across the building's campus, our friends noticed us. At first, they were squinting to make sure it was us, but then their eyes lit up.
"Dash?!" Everyone said.
"The one and only!" I said, bowing
I was bombarded with cheers and mushy hugs, especially from Jessica. I wasn't used to this much attention, so I was a little uncomfortable.
"Where the hell did you go?!" Cried Mercedees
"Yeah, I...We were worried." Jessica said
I was about to answer their question before Abby answered for me.
"He doesn't want to talk about it." Abby said
They all looked at me to see if that was true, I nodded in response.
"Abby, what the hell happened to you?" Mercedees asked
"Well, we were wrong, Delacroix was here" Abby replied
"Really?!" Mercedees said
"Yeah, I managed to knock him out before we left." I said
"Good, now we need to book it back to Macy's." Jason said
"I also managed to get this." I said, pulling the hard drive out of my pocket.
"That's the info we came for." Mercedees said
"Is it alright if I got only 45% of the info you guys came for?" I said
"Damn...yeah, we will have to make due with what we have." Mercedees said
"Yeah...sorry about that." I said, rubbing the back of my head
"No, it's fine really" Mercedees responded
Mercedes turned around and got up onto the Jeep that was parked just inside the walls surrounding the building. She clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention, everyone turned towards her direction
"Alright, everyone! We are heading back to Bend, make sure you get a lot of rest cause tomorrow we will look through the info Abby got and form a plan to make our next move!" Mercedees announced
Everyone started to get themselves loaded into the car. I felt slug me in the shoulder.
"Agh!" I cried
"Oh quit being a bitch!" Jason laughed
"Hey man!" I said
"It's good to have you back, brother." Jason said
We pulled each other in for a hug, he looked at me and then nudged me in the shoulder, smiling
"Bet she won't let go of you for a while." Jason smirked
I looked over and saw Abby holding onto my arm, her head resting on my shoulder. I suddenly felt the heat rising into my cheeks.
"Uh...y...yeah! you're probably right." I said, almost nervously.
He laughed as we got into the Jeep, as we were pulling out and getting on the street, I felt Abby tap my shoulder.
"What's up?" I asked
"Can I use your lap as a pillow?" Abby replied
I nodded trying to keep my blush hidden, she smiled as she sat her head delicately on my thighs.
The rest of the ride went smoothly, I began to think just how long I'd been gone, a week, a year, I'm not sure. We made it to this warehouse that seemed okay as a hideout, we parked in the back and we all got out. Abby was asleep, so I had to carry her in. I made my way to one of the bedrooms and I laid her down. I stretched and laid down next to her.
"Goodnight Abby." I said
I set the hard drive on the end table and closed my eyes.
YOU ARE READING
Budder Rising: The Delacroix Arc
ActionRick was just a normal 8th-grade student, trying to get by, and worrying when the next test was due, but when he gets called to the principal's office and gets invited to this unknown experiment. His life slowly begins to change and is given somethi...
