The Danger ABC's

Chapter 8: Biting the Bullet

After Joseph drops Call off in his room, he waits patiently outside the door. As much as Call hates Constantine, he's gotta admit that the guy did know Call's style. There was a closet, a large bed, and a fully stocked coffee bar with an adjoining bathroom. It had been ages since Call had had a hot shower, mainly because he kept forgetting to pay the water bill. Call grabbed a pastry off the coffee cart while the coffee was brewing, showered, and changed into the black hoodie and jeans that oddly fit him perfectly. There was even a pair of cool leather combat boots that Call secretly loved, and he decided not to worry about the fact that these people seemed to know everything about him, including his shoe size. So, coffee in hand, he felt surprisingly good considering he'd just kidnapped his best friend and then gotten kidnapped himself immediately after.

Joseph looked slightly taken aback, but he just grunted and lead Call in silence down more twisting corridors until they reached a large, well-lit room with artillery the likes of which Call had never seen. Call didn't know that so many weapons existed. Then Call noticed a boy walking up to them, definitely older than him but not by a lot. Call guessed he was probably 'the Strike boy' that was supposed to teach him how to shoot. Call noticed he was dressed a lot like Constantine, though whether that was customary or his choice Call didn't know.

"Hi, I'm Alex Strike. You here for a lesson?" the boy said.

"Uh, Call. And this is totally the reason why I came to a gang factory under my own volition with my hands tied behind my back.." A jab in the shoulder from Joseph reminded Call that he wasn't at liberty to use sarcasm here.

"If you ask me, It's just a useful skill to have. I'll start you off with the basics." Alex said, completely ignoring everything Call just said with a grin eerily similar to Constantine's.

"This here is your standard glock 19. This is the clip, it takes 9 mm ammo, good starter gun because of the short recoil." Alex said cheerily, as if.

"You put the clip in like this, turn the safety off here, you cock the gun by pulling this back, and then you pull the trigger. To release the clip you just press this and it slides right out. Got it?"

"Uh... Maybe?" Call didn't particularly want to be here, but he also didn't want to shoot himself in the foot while he was.

"Ok. Start by loading and unloading the glock a couple times, and then you can practice firing on that target." Alex said.

Call was clumsy at first, and he missed a couple shots, but after he started hitting the target he got faster and more accurate.

"You're a natural! Your grip is spot on." Alex exclaimed. Call nodded halfheartedly. He didn't want to be a natural. He would rather he sucked at it, because it meant there was a better chance that they would just leave him alone.

After Alex talked Call through a couple more guns and how to load them, Call could go back to his room and sleep. The bed was surprisingly comfortable, the caffeine had worn off. He should have been able to sleep. But something about the way Aaron had looked at him haunted him. Did Aaron hate him? Would he ever come back? What would they do to Call if he didn't?

And Constantine's words haunted him, too. Was he cut out for a life of crime? Did he even have a choice? Call didn't know if he could do the right thing, or what the right thing was. Granted, being on a first-name basis with a powerful gang head didn't help matters. Nor did the fact he was giving serious thought to Constantine's offer. He could get killed, arrested, or worse. But if he didn't join, he would have to escape. And if he didn't want them to hurt Aaron, he would have to escape with him. If Aaron came back at all.

Call wasn't a good liar. But he knew when to keep a poker face, at least. And that meant playing along until he knew enough to leave. He might as well keep his options open, anyway. He still didn't know why Constantine wanted him, a stranger, to succeed him, over someone like Alex. He still didn't understand how his father could have ever been friends with someone like Constantine.