Fox Trott (First Book of the Shadow Series)

Chapter 3: The Cab Ride

The grey clouds grew nearly invisible with the dying day light, blending in with the blackness of the dense sky that didn't allow a single star to shine through. As the day melted away, the lights of the city flared up in colorful, glowing neon. Traffic lights bathed the street in red and green while the lamp posts lightened the shadows with a calming yellow glow. Sitting in Hunter's beat up NYC Taxi, Ashlie watched as the sky became brighter despite the dying light. Bright colors of red, white, and blue flared up all around the skyscrapers' collapsing sides.

'It's the Fourth of July...' Ashlie reminded herself as she remembered the ancient tradition. This was the time of year where Ashlie and her brother would run around their driveway with sparklers, pretending to have sword fights or spinning in circles until they felt too dizzy to stand. Fireworks would brighten up the sky around them, celebrating freedom from something so long ago, Ashlie barely remembered why they did it. How strange it was that people could celebrate such old victories when there were still so many battles being lost at that very second and so many lives being taken as people celebrated a life they would short live. Even in the midst of a world bombarded with hatred and slavery, they still lit up the sky to celebrate the freedom no one ever truly had.

Enraptured by the majestic explosions, Ashlie had to pull her thoughts back to the traffic jam she and her new-found companion were now stuck in. Since no one was moving till—it seemed—the apocalypse, Ashlie began to take in her surroundings. Though the darkness surrounded them, the sky filled with sparks of light that were bright enough to lighten the darkness in the cab. The back seat smelt as though smokers had sat there often, and even with Ashlie's keen sense of smell, she couldn't pick out exactly what they had been smoking. The seat she was strapped to was so mottled with stains it was impossible to tell what color it had been in its golden days.

Yet even as Ashlie sat in the beat up taxi, she couldn't help feeling a rush of gratitude for the driver. Sometimes, it was just nice to know that there were good people hiding in the crowds of normal people, willing to help strangers just because they had the ability to, even when they were oblivious to the fact that they were breaking the law by doing so.

A sudden vibration made both Hunter and Ashlie jump. It took only a moment for Ashlie to realize the buzzing had been her phone. Pulling the small device from her pocket, she flipped it open to see who was texting her. Hunter turned in his seat to see what she was doing, the vehicle still stalling as the cars in front of them refused to move.

"Is that a flip phone?" He asked, gesturing to the object in Ashlie's hand. She nodded, her attention mainly on the phone, "Those things are like... ancient."

She silently noticed Hunter's accent change with slight confusion. She shook it off quickly and sighed, "It was my great grandmothers. It was the only phone that ever kept working for her..." she trailed off, hoping with all her might that he didn't ask more questions.

To her relief, Hunter faced forward in his seat with a grunt. Turning back to the sleek black phone, she read the text from the contact named simply, "A":

"U almost here? I don't like u out on the streets 2 much Vix"

The use of her nickname reminded her of all the times she used to spend with him and their mother. All the days they had spent in the sun, discussing what others were too blind to care to notice. Some days, even pushing each other to see what new abilities they had produced overnight.

But everything had changed on the day the house turned to nothing but ashes in the streets. It had only been ten years since the incident.

With a jolt, the cab was back in motion and Ashlie was forced back into reality once again. She grabbed her phone that she had dropped into her lap as the memory of the fire replayed in her mind, and replied to her brother:

"I'm in a cab. Be there soon, Phoenix"

Then they were moving much faster. Hunter made an extremely sharp turn to get them away from the traffic, throwing Ashlie into the cab door. She was so dazed by the impact she hardly heard the car he had cut off honk angrily. With another sharp turn, Ashlie was holding on sharply to the PVC fabric in an attempt to stay upright.

Once she settled down and felt that it was safe to move once again, Ashlie glanced down at her flip phone to see that her brother had answered her message,

"Betr hurry someones excited"

Under the message was a poorly taken photo of a large black husky sitting in front of a scratched door. Before she had time to answer, the speeding taxi lurched to a halt. Ashlie's head hit the passenger's seat as Hunter tensed in order to stop himself from head butting the steering wheel. Rubbing her head tenderly, Ashlie looked around. She extracted her wallet from her pink pack stuffed with papers after unbuckling the ripped up seat belt.

"How much do I owe you?" Ashlie asked before glancing at the taxi meter. She opened the wallet and pulled out a five-dollar bill.

"Twenty dollars and fifty cents." He turned in his seat, his bald top glistening in the street lights on the front of an old hotel. Ashlie opened her mouth to protest, but Hunter stopped her with a raised hand, "but because I like ya," he continued, "I'll make it ten.

Ashlie couldn't help but smile, handing him fifteen dollars as she added, "Keep the change." She then stepped out of the car and walked up to the dark sidewalk alone.