Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy (44 page)

“I don’t know,” David replied. “But I don’t give a damn either way. They’ll figure it out and they’ll take me back when they’re ready. That’s what they told me, at least. Work things out. Move on.”

“They probably want us to get along,” Alice added.

“I’m sure they do.” I hit the big silver button on the crosswalk
post with my palm and waited for the light to change.

“They do now,” David confirmed. “Seeing how you kids have a hell of a lot more fight in you than they thought you
did. They told me to fix this—to get along with you—or they’d
choose someone else to take my place.”

The green WALK sign flashed and we darted across the street. David lagged behind, weaving in and out of the white guidelines on purpose like a kid lazily playing hopscotch. I was starting to think he was bipolar.

“I panicked when they threatened to take out my
fluorescence. I…I,” he stammered, stopping to kick a smashed soda can out of the crosswalk and beneath one of the stopped cars. “I had a meltdown, thinking Lucy would be in trouble.
I thought as long as I had this power inside me I could change
things. Protect her.”

“Now you know why I did what I did, too.” I looked back
at him as I stepped up onto the curb. “Why I would do anything
to protect her.” I glanced at Alice.

We strolled up the parking lot toward the store. David
stopped
and
looked
around to see if anyone had been
watching,
then he readjusted his handgun. The sidewalks were
relatively empty, but it would only be a matter of time before
the lunch crowd came out.

“I hope they don’t notice it,” Alice murmured, tangling her arm around mine.

David sauntered through the sliding door and I followed
behind, keeping some distance between us. Awkwardly forcing
a zombie-like grin at the cashier.

Keep cool. Act normal.

A beep sounded as we passed beneath the motion sensor.

Knowing David was brandishing a gun beneath his belt
had me on edge, but we were the only customers in the store,
so I was hoping for the best. He seemed so confident no one
would notice. That freaked me out. I could make out the small,
wrinkled bulge in the back of his shirt and couldn’t stop
thinking about what it was concealing. Then my mind started to
wander. What had he actually done with the thing? Had he killed anyone before?

“I’m going right over there.” Alice pointed toward the next aisle.

“Okay.” We split up. I kept a close eye on her, watching the top of her head drift down the neighboring aisle. David disappeared toward the back of the store, near the refrigerated section, while I sorted through a small end cap of cell chargers.

Alice
came back a few moments later with an armful of snacks and ready-made sandwiches.

“Nice haul,” I said with a laugh, though she barely cracked
a smile before turning to head toward the cashier. I changed my mind on the charger cable and tossed it back onto the rack. No use. Our cells could be tracked.

“This, too,” I said, snagging a cheap disposable cell phone
from a nearby display and setting it on top of our stuff. Better than nothing. Anonymous.

The cashier packed everything into a few bags and handed
them over to Alice.

I sorted out the money and offered it up. The cash drawer
popped out with a loud ding and then the cashier’s eyes widened like he’d seen a ghost. His jaw dropped.

“Uh, sir?” I began, but suddenly a sick feeling washed
over me. “Is everything…” I felt someone else’s presence and
swerved around.

David stood behind us, arm outstretched, pointing his gun straight at the man.

“Jesus!” I glared at him. “What are you—”

“Shut up, kid!” He pointed the gun at me, and then aimed
at the cashier again. “Come on, you know the drill.” David put out a hand and wiggled his fingers. “Come on, man, I don’t have all day. Put the money in a bag and hand it over.”

“What are you doing?” I muttered through clenched teeth.

“Do it, or I’ll shoot the kid.” David swung his arm toward me, targeting my face.

I sucked in a breath, unable to swallow.

Alice let out a whimper.

The cashier dug bills out of the money drawer and shoved
them into a white plastic bag with “Thank You” ironically stamped across it. He tossed it over the counter to David.

“Thanks. I knew we’d come to an agreement.” David
snatched up the money and pulled the gun away from my head.
Then he rushed out the door with a maniacal, satisfied grin on his face.

Freaking moron.

The cashier crouched down and reached under the counter to press something.

“You kids, uh, okay?” he asked, out of breath.

“Yeah.” I heaved a sigh. “Yeah, we’re okay. Shit.” I drove a hand through my hair and slumped over. My chest ached from the tension.

Alice covered her mouth. “Oh my God, Brian. I thought…”

“It’s okay.” I looked up at the black orb protruding from the ceiling. “Did you get his face on camera?”

“Probably,” the man replied. “He was too dumb to cover it. He didn’t sound like he was from around here either, so the police shouldn’t have trouble finding him.”

“Good. We need to step out and get some air.” I relieved Alice of one of the bags of things we’d bought.

“The police are going to want to question you!” The cashier shouted after us. “Don’t go too far.”

“We won’t. Don’t worry!” We passed through the automatic
doors and walked over toward the bike rack on the corner.

“David. What a freak.” I started to sit.

“Hey! Psst,” a voice called from the side of the store.

Alice shook her head and swallowed hard. “Don’t.”

“Brian!” Again. I recognized the accent.

“Da-David?” I crept around the corner of the store and
into a narrow alleyway. David poked his head out from behind
a huge metal garbage bin in the distance.

“Come here!” he whispered as loud as he could.

“Wait here.” I gestured for Alice to stay where she was.

“Okay, but hurry up. The police are coming.” She sat down cross-legged on the asphalt. I heard police sirens wailing in the distance.

“David?” I approached cautiously, my eyes darted toward
the camera protruding from the side of the building. Sweat beaded on my forehead and my heart pounded in my chest. “What the hell was that back there?” I said, my voice cracking.

“I cut it off,” David smirked, revealing a small butterfly knife from the back pocket of his jeans. “Don’t worry, they won’t see us.”

I exhaled, relieved. “Jesus Christ, David. You’re crazier than hell!”

“Maybe.” He chuckled. “But you got to be a little crazy to survive nowadays.”

Can’t argue with that.

I stared at the bag tucked beneath his arm. “What are we supposed to do with the money?” I asked.

“Come back after you’ve finished talking with the cops.” He reached into his side pocket and pulled out a narrow roll of duct tape, smashed almost flat. He stretched a length of it from the roll, bit the edge of it with his canine teeth and tore it off the roll. “It will be here. Waiting for you.” He reached down beneath the giant metal trash bin and shoved the bag on the underside near the wheels, patting it flat against the base to make sure the tape stuck.

“But, it’s… stolen. We can’t… We shouldn’t…” I was so angry, all I could do was stammer like an idiot.

David shot an anxious look over my shoulder. “I gotta cut before the cops come.”

“But…”

“I’ll find you later. They didn’t make me your Tracker for nothing.” He darted off down the alley, running faster than I ever could have.

Tracker?

I walked around to the front of the store.

“It’s official. David’s insane,” I grumbled, lowering myself down beside Alice.

“But he’s one of us now,” she said, “right?”

“Yeah. Unfortunately.”

. . .

“Holy shit! He robbed a place?” Kareena’s eyes widened
and a huge grin spread across her face. We sat on the hotel
bed in a circle around a sizeable pile of money. She, creepily, seemed quite in her element. I, on the other hand, felt horrible.

“It is illegal, you know,” I said. “Why are you so thrilled about this?”

“Because it’s freaking badass,” she replied, picking several
hundred dollar bills out of the stack. “Damn. He really knows
what he’s doing, doesn’t he?”

“But now we’re thieves,” Alice cut in. “We should return the money. It’s not right.”

“Neither is what the Saviors did to us.” I ran a hand through the pile, filtering some bills through my fingers. It was surreal. “Neither is having to run from that store before the cops showed up so they wouldn’t call Jane on us. That was too close. No doubt they’re looking for us now, too.”

“What happened to him?” Kareena asked, now starting a third pile for all of the tens.

“I don’t know. He ran off. He didn’t seem worried about the cops at all. My guess is, he knew the Saviors were going
to send him home any second and used that as an opportunity.”

“Smart.” Kareena nodded. “That’s smart.” She patted the
sides of a wad of ones to straighten it and then placed them neatly beside the other bills.

“You’re not bothered by this at all, are you?” Alice narrowed her eyes at Kareena, who shrugged and didn’t answer. “What now? We’re going to resort to stealing? This is stupid! It’s not who we are. Brian?” Alice looked up at me, her blue eyes desperate. “Please? Tell her it’s not who we are.”

“I don’t know what to say, Alice. Maybe, as much as I hate to admit it, David is on to something. We need money if we’re going to survive on our own. I’m sorry.”

Alice looked down, disappointed.

“Maybe what David did was extreme, but… until we figure out what we’re doing, we have to take some chances. We can’t go back home. Not now. Not yet.”

“
I miss my mom,” Alice whined. “I really do. We shouldn’t
have cut her off like that.”

Kareena bit her lip and glanced at the clock on
the nightstand. “Um, Alice?”

“What?” Alice huffed, crossing her arms. “Now you want to talk?”

“Your mom… Jane… I… kind of told her you guys were here.”

“What!?” Alice and I echoed.

“Why?” I slammed my feet on the floor and stood. “Why would you—”

“Shut up, Brian.” She shot off the bed and made fists with both hands. “Just stop being a little bitch and listen to me! We need her on our side.”

“But… she can’t find out about…”

“
She called me a couple of times and I felt like
shit ignoring her. So I told her you two were okay and… the next thing I knew, she said she was coming. I’m sorry, okay? Jesus! I thought I was doing the right thing! How was I supposed to
know you and that crazy ass David were gonna rob someone!?”

How was
I
supposed to know we were going to rob someone?

Chapter 29

T
he hotel room phone rang and I clammed up.

Should I answer? What if…

It rang again. Alice
cringed.

A third time.

She wouldn’t stop twiddling her fingers. Nibbling her bottom lip. Shooting me anxious glances.

I lifted the receiver slowly to my ear.

“Hello?”

Silence. The caller took a breath.

“Hello?”

“It’s Jane. Please don’t hang up.”

“I won’t.” I cut a glance at Alice.

“Mom?” she mouthed and I nodded.

“Brian, I know you don’t want to see me right now. I know you’re scared and worried for Alice and yourself. But I want to help. I need to help you in any way I can.”

“We’ve been through this before, Jane. How are you supposed to help us with—”

“I’ve left something for you just outside. There’s a note in there that explains everything. Please, go get it.”

I veered toward the door.

“She left something for us,” I said, gesturing for Alice to retrieve it.

A moment later, Alice lumbered back inside carrying a stuffed pack in her arms, our leather riding coats draped over her shoulder.

“My backpack?”

Alice set it onto the bed beside me and unzipped the top to peer inside.

“There are some things in it I thought you could use and some extra clothes. Please, Brian, don’t be angry with
me for what happened.”
She started to breathe more audibly
into the speaker, like she was fighting back tears. I thought I should say something comforting, but nothing came out.

“I really do care about you as if you were my own. Be careful out there. Take care of my daughter and take of yourself. That’s all I ask of you. Goodbye, Brian.”

“Jane, wait!”

CLICK

The line went dead.

“Mom!?” Alice shrieked, scrambling to snag the receiver from my hand. “Mom?”

“She hung up,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

Alice groaned and pulled her knees up to her chest.

I slid my hand into the top of my backpack and lifted out a folded up piece of paper.

I unfolded the handwritten note and quickly scanned over
her writing.

“Oh no.” I shook my head and passed the note to Alice.

“We’re… wanted by the police?” She dropped the note onto the bed like it had been laced with poison. “But we didn’t do anything!”

“I know that and you know that, but no one else knows the truth.”

According to Jane, the man from the diner had died in the hospital this morning and the police were searching for us in connection both with his death and with the robbery of the convenience store.

I squeezed my eyes shut and dropped my head back. “We’re screwed. We’re so screwed right now.”