"Are you insane?!"
It was early, the sun hadn't risen yet. However, the voice of Diana yelling echoed off the wall.
"Babe, please—the others are sleeping!" Aaron said, trying to calm his girlfriend down to no avail.
"Oh, so you mean something you should be doing?"
"I always go out and help early! What is the difference now?"
"The difference is that your—" She stopped, her breath catching, but she forced the word out. "You're cursed. You're cursed, Aaron—that's the difference."
He looked down. "I know."
"Then why won't you lay down?"
"Because I want to do something I enjoy, and helping people is something I enjoy." He reached forward and grabbed her hands. "So please, let me do that."
His grip on her hands tightened.
"While I still can."
A knock broke the silence in the room, and Diana turned away, wiping her eyes and taking a shaking breath. Aaron walked to the door and opened it.
Aaron blinked. "Amari? What are you doing up? Actually, what are you even doing here?"
She scratched the back of her head. "I stayed the night in my old room."
"Oh, right."
She glanced past him for a moment before looking back at him.
"Besides that, I guess all those times you woke me up really gave me a built-in schedule."
He was going to point out that it was earlier than when he used to wake her up, but she spoke before he could say anything. "I figured you were up and wanted to ask if you were going to do anything."
"Oh-uh." He looked to Diana, and she nodded, and he smiled a grateful smile at her. "I was just about to head out—I call it my morning assist run!"
"I'll go with."
He paused. "Are you sure-?"
She shrugged. "Yeah, I'm up anyway." She wasn't going to tell them that she heard them yelling and that's why she woke up. She also wasn't going to tell them that she heard almost their whole conversation, but as the door behind Aaron closed, she winked at Diana, who sent her a grateful smile.
************************************************
Alex and the chef of the gang stood at Otto's stand, and as they paid him, he spoke up.
"Hey, uh, be careful. Another gang is hanging around."
Alex paused. "Do you know who?"
"Yeah, the reapers."
Alex nodded. "Alright, thanks for the warning."
"No problem—oh, tell Amari I said hi!"
He waved as they walked away. "Will do!"
********************************************************
A hand grabbed Alex's collar and pulled him back.
"Hey-!"
The air was punched out of him. He reached for his spear-
It wasn't there.
He had left it.
He looked up and saw three men and two women, all with similar grins on their faces.
Another strike, this one across his face. He put his hands up and swung, but another person grabbed him from behind and threw him on the ground.
The chef tackled one off of him only to be held back by another and kicked to the floor.
"Ggh-!"
"Get off of him!
"Man..." One of the men said, "You're really supposed to be one of Aaron's guys?"
Another punch
"Disappointing," a woman muttered.
A laugh rang out from another. "Oh, this must be the chef!"
The man holding Alex started to walk over, but Alex grabbed him and struck him across his face. The man stumbled back, and Alex stepped forward to follow up, but his knee got kicked out and he fell to the floor.
The man he punched stood over him and raised his leg
and brought it down on Alex's own.
A scream tore from Alex's throat that rang down the street, and the man grinned as he writhed on the floor. He turned his head and asked the woman beside him, "What do you think we should do with the chef?"
"Oh, I know the perfect thing." She grabbed his fingers as he was held back and pulled.
A sickening crack sounded as a raw, guttural cry tore from his throat and he curled into himself. "YOU WENCH—!" A fist came straight toward him, knocking him out cold.
**********************************************
Jamie sat on the foot of the steps of the gang house, her leg wouldn't sit still.
Jace walked up to her. "Yo."
She looked up.
"Oh, hey."
"You okay? You've been sitting here for a while."
She sighed, "Yeah, it's just that Alex and the chef went to get some food, but they aren't back yet. Going to Otto's stand and back shouldn't take long, right?"
He shook his head. "Maybe they made a pit stop?"
"Maybe, but...my gut is telling me something is wrong, and I think I should listen."
**********************************************************
Jamie and Jace walked down the street, and as they turned a corner, they saw Alex, his leg bent in an awful way and dragging the chef—who was unconscious—on his back.
Jamie broke into a sprint. "ALEX!"
He rose his head. "...Jamie...?" He fell forward only to be caught by her. "Alex—are you ok?! What happened?!"
Jace caught up and took the chef off of him. When he looked down at the chef's hand, he froze.
His fingers on his hand—the hand he used to cook with—were broken and bent in ways they weren't supposed to be.
"We have to get them to Sabi."