Judgement (The Twelve) (20 page)

Rage raised his hand.

“You’re joking!” Chris exclaimed.

The others laughed
including
Rage;
finally Patch admitted it was
she who had bought
them
the
ir
supper.

“I enjoy walking in real
time
and talking to humans. It’s refreshing somehow.
Since I enjoy it I get to run the errands that involve
s
them
”

Chris thought that a strange thing to say. They may be re
-
born
,
but to him they still lo
o
ked human
,
w
hich was more than he could say about
T
he Dark.

“How come we had fish and chips? Not that I’m complaining. It’s just we have a ton of stuff in the freezer.”

Heartless managed a loud belch and got one or two reproachful stares from the females, “What? In some countries it’s a sign of respect.
Look
kid, every now and then we get to take turns to choose a celebration dinner. It was my turn and I love fish and chips.”

Chris looked confused, “What we celebrating?”

Heartless offered a cold smile, “
D
estroy
ing
a Shades nest.”

Chris didn’t return the smile he didn’t see anything funny in what they had done.

Hot Cross added, “Poor choice of words, more like a reward for a dangerous job well done.”

It still didn’t impress Chris. But he decided to
let it go. I
nstead
he spoke
to Patch.

“Can I come next time?” Chris asked.

Patch looked to
Anvil
for confirmation, who after a
pause for thought,
agreed
.
The unspoken nod granting permission didn’t go unnoticed to Chris, again he kept silent.
So he was still a prisoner of sorts but under house arrest now.

Patch w
alked over to sit next to him on
the
settee and
la
id
a hand upon his knee,
which sent shivers up his spine,
“Your in luck, I’m
going out to buy more bottled water tomorrow with Bulls Eye backing me up in the In Between place with Rage. Two pairs of hands will hal
ve
the work load. Once clear of the store, we pass it to Rage. He has a massive backpack which can hold sixty litres of water
.
”

Rage smiled at the look on Chris’s face, “Don’t worry, water not heavy. Now Priest he’s heavy!” and
he started to chuckle at his own private joke.

Priest looked affronted for a second before joining in, “Guess you’re right there my old friend and since the waters not heavy, buy me a few ready cooked chickens will you?”

Chris
ignored Rages
rude
reply as he
sat there
next to Patch. Why was it she smelled so nice? And why did she make him tingle all over, just by sitting next to him?

A short time later Chris yawned and
admitting he
was
exhausted
. He
excused himself and went off to bed. Just as he’d pulled up the quilt, there was a knock
and Patch poked her head around the partially open door.

“You still awake, “She whispered.”

Chris’s heart rate went into over drive and for some reason his mouth was suddenly dry. Having had to spend most of his vagrant days sleeping fully clothed, he now afforded himself the luxury of sleeping naked, a fact he was now acutely aware.

“No…I mean yes
, I mean
.”
H
e managed to stammer.

Patch grinned and walked in, “We
will be wearing our civilian clothing when we pop out to the shops tomorrow. So wear that nice leather jacket and jeans
Anvil gave you
.
”

She
walked around his small room as she spoke, running a finger along the edge of his chair, then the table top, finally arriving at his bed. She suddenly yawned and sat down next to him.

Chris sank lower under the quilt, “
You sound
tired you
rself
.”

Patch grinned from ear to ear,
leaning down
she planted a quick kiss on his forehead
, th
en
after a second, a longer kiss on his mouth
. “Leach is wrong you know. I choose who I want to be with.”

Chris’s head was reeling, “Oh and who’s that then?”
His voice went up an octave and he silently cursed himself.

“You’ll know in good time.” She replied as she
stood and
left the ro
om, whistling softly to herself as she closed the door behind her.

Chris lay there for ages staring at the
ceiling. F
inally he flicked the bedside light switch
on and climbed from bed, “Now I need another bloody shower!”

Patch was shaking Chris, “Wakey wakey lazy head
,
time to get up.”

His quilt had slipped in the night and he was half exposing hi
s naked body
. Shocked, he quickly pulled up the quilt.

Patch laughed and walked out the room
, calling over her shoulder
, “
Nice body, now g
et dressed, time to go out.”

Chris
took a cold
shower
and dressed in the street clothing supplies by
Anvil
. He looked at himself in his mirror, amazed ho
w normal he looked but
realised he
missed wearing his hat.

Leaving his room
,
Chris
intended to make some toast, but Patch stopped him. “Let
’
s eat at McDonalds
.
I love there breakfasts.”

It had been years since he’d eaten fast food and agreed on the spot.
Bulls Eye joined them, then Rage. Chris’s eyes went wide at the size of the haversack on his back.

“Ready to go?”
Rage rumbled
.

Patch told them that they were going to call in at McDonalds first. Rage grinned from ear to ear.

“Get me twelve of those sausage and eggs things will you?”

Bulls Eye added, “And pancakes for me.”

Anvil gave Patch a wad of cash, she didn’t bother counting it, just shoved it in her tight fitting jeans pocket. Chris couldn’t help noticing that her tee shirt which sported ‘
I love it
’ on the front was also nice and tight fitting. Boy did she have some lovely curves!

Leaving the warehouse,
Bulls Eye and Rage vanished from sight whilst Patch and Chris
t turned left and headed towards the nearest underground station
. It was nice to walk in real time, feeling the cool fresh early morning air on his face
.
Chris marvelled that even though he knew Bulls Eye and the huge Rage were walking nearby, he couldn’t detect them.  For some unknown reason Chris tried something and really concentrated on looking for them both. After a moment he thought he caught a glimpse of Rages bulk moving about thirty yards ahead of him.
The effect made his eyes sore so he gave up.

They walked until they came to
‘
Popular
’
underground station. This was London City land,
where
Chris’s kind was always kicked out of th
e
area. He looked up at the
Gurkin building, a landmark for the City.

Chris wondered how much cash flowed
through here on a daily basis. As they passed a small closed office block, Chris saw a woman curled up in a sleeping bag in the entrance, she had a dog with her. At this point a police squad car pulled over to the kerb and both officers got out and approached the woman. Chris walked ahead with Patch for a few moments, before stopping.
He t
urn
ed to see
that the woman was getting her
meagre
belonging together. As usual the coppers were moving on any vagrants they found. The white collar rich boys didn’t like tramps anywhere near here.

“Patch can you spare some cash?” He asked.

Without replying she quickly split the cash in her pocket and handed him a roll of twenty pound notes. Chris walked over to where the officers stood watching the woman struggle with her sleeping bag. Obvious disgust showing on there faces.

“Excuse me officers.” He asked.

One of them was no more than nineteen, the other about forty. The older one asked what he wanted.

“With
you nothing
, h
ere lady a small present
, g
o get yourself some food for yourself and the dog.”

Chris handed her eighty quid. She looked down at the cash in her hand as if she couldn’t believe her eyes.

The young copper also looked amazed, before suspicion replaced amazement, “Where did a kid like you get that sort of cash?”

Chris smiled, “I’m a secret millionaire.”

The copper smirked, “And you give cash away to flea ridden tramps do you?”

Behind them, Chris caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. The front nearside wheel on there car was being slowly wrenched free from the vehicle. The older copper heard the noise, turned and saw the wheel slowly fall to the kerb. The car followed a second later as it crashed down on the axle.