Lonely

Chapter 35, Hanger

I stood outside the large apartment building with Liam and Nicco on either side of me. "He's in there?" Liam whispered, looking up at the dilapidated building. I nodded. My next person to collect, Boomer Corey was holed up in this old apartment building. I looked around. A few people were hurrying along, obviously nervous about being in this part of town, but no one went in the building. The pulling feeling was still there, and stronger than ever. We walked around the side of the building to where the heavily graffitied glass doors were. I tugged on experimentally, and to my surprise the door opened with a slight scratching noise. Nicco and Liam followed me in.

Inside, there as a dusty desk with a guy sitting behind it, smoking a cigarette and reading a Play Boy magazine. He glanced up at us. The rest of the room was empty, except a broken chair in one corner of the room. I followed the pulling sensation up the stairs and down a musty hall way. Doors lined the walls on either sided, and there were piles of dirt on the edges, but the hall was empty with only a little dusty light coming in from the other end of the hall. We walked about half way down the hall before ending up in front of a door. I shook the handle. It was locked.

"Boomer, open the stupid door." I said. I knew he wouldn't open, because any kid in his situation was going to be very cautious. Nicco pushed me out of the way. "Watch and learn." He said. He rammed his shoulder against the door and it splintered beneath his weight and collapsed. I saw a big guy, about as tall as the rest of us, with brown hair sticking straight up, about to jump out of a window. Before he could make a move, I flicked a hand and sent him flying back into the room. In the few seconds that he lay stunned on the ground, Liam and Nicco rushed in and pinned him to the ground. They grunted in unison.

"Hell, this kid is strong." Liam ground out as I approached. Realizing what I needed to say, I knelt down in front of him. "Quit it. Arianna sent us." I said. His struggling slowed as he eyed us, his gaze flickering back and forth between the three of us. "How do I know you're not lying?" he muttered. Liam barked out a laugh. "If we were lying, you'd be dead by now." Nicco said. The guy I assumed to be Boomer seemed to think about it, then he went limp. "Why?" I sighed. This was going to get harder and harder.

"She sent me to get these two," I said, gesturing to Liam and Nicco, who grinned at Boomer. "Because there is apparently going to be an uprising of some form. I need to get you and a few other guys and bring them back to her. I don't know the details. The monsters that come after you, they come after all of us, believe me." Boomers gaze traveled from my face to my arms, where he examined the scars. "If you come with us, we can bring it all to a stop." I said. After a few moments, Boomer shrugged. "Whatever. I figured you guys weren't on the bad side." With that, he shook his arms and sent Liam and Nicco flying. They crash to the floor and were immediately back on their feet, preparing to charge Boomer. I could see they were already working out strategy in their heads. I held out my hands as Boomer stood, and the twins paused.

"Nice, but take it easy. Arianna said you all have to be unharmed." I said, and glanced between all of them. I was beginning to wonder if she knew that one of them had super strength. They all nodded. "Right, then we need to get going. Before someone comes to see what all the crashing is about." I said. We ran down the stairs, past the guy behind the desk and back out onto the ruined streets of the large city we were in. Roads were all over the place, but if we could just get back to the woods, we would at least have some cover rather than following the roads.

******

That night, Liam and Nicco had forgiven Boomer for his little show off back at the apartment building. They were all showing off their skills, showing all the cool things they could do. I sat against a tree and played with a twig while I stared at the flames. I pulled the list out of my pocket and looked at the list. The next name was Dodger Sharp. The pulling feeling was pretty strong already, and I guessed he wasn't far. Somewhere around the city, or in it. The thought that I only had three more to get before I could return to Arianna's and back to Sadie made me more than happy. As I sat, thinking about her, Boomer snuck up and grabbed the list from my hands. I looked up at him. He was frowning at the list. "All of them?"

"I'm going to look for fire wood and make sure everything's good around here." I said. This got their attention. "Want me to come?" Nicco offered, letting a small flame erupt from the tip of his finger. I shook my head. "I'll go with you. You may need some help carrying it back." Boomer offered. I nodded. I didn't feel like carrying anything anyways, plus I had the feeling he might want some time away from the twins. They weren't very good about the whole personal information thing. Boomer and I started walking away from the small fire we had, and within moments we were in complete blackness, not even the moon light filtering through the tree tops. It was welcome sensation. I knew how to act in the dark.

Unfortunately, Boomer didn't. Several times I had to warn him of things on the ground so he wouldn't fall, and even then he often stumbled, muttering curses. "How can you see?" he hissed as he tripped over yet another root. I shrugged, even though I knew he couldn't see it. "Years and years if practice." I said. Boomer didn't ask any more questions, and every now and then I would instruct him to pick up a broken log. Before long, he was covered in dead tree limbs and were heading back to the camp fire.

"So, Arianna sent you?' he said casually. "Mmm." Was all I offered. He nodded. "Yeah, I miss her a lot. She was sort of like my mom." I found myself thinking of the night Sadie had called her parents, at that hotel, and had wanted nothing but a hug. The memory made my heart ache, and I shoved it aside. Now was not the time.