-1- 

I was becoming somewhat of an expert at passing out.

Only this time, I don’t  mind it. When I come to, a mattress cushions my bruised stomach and the scent of recently washed sheets fills my face. The air is clean and cool and the soft hum of an filtration unit plays in the background. A tear falls down the side of my face and soaks into the plush mattress.

I test my hands and legs a bit.

I’m no  longer bound.

I slowly open my eyes and let them adjust to the artificial light. The first thing I see is the man with the cross in his forehead—the back of him anyway. He is sitting at a desk  opposite me with his face to the wall.  

The mirror reflects two identical beds, two dressers, an arm chair and desk identically designed and perfectly coordinated. A Do Not Disturb sign hangs of the door and a holographic room service menu projects off the coffee table. 

We are in a hotel.

 I look up a little more and to my shock the first thing I see is Sara Grace pacing in front of me. She's looking anxiously out at the balcony  and not down at me—she hasn’t even realized I’m awake. I quickly close my eyes a little so I could see but still look asleep.

“Where are those damn bastards ?” she mutters to herself. She has her gun out of the holster and is tapping it rhythmically against her hip.

 As if on cue, the door swings open and Jean and Minnie step in, Jean  carrying a tray piled with Styrofoam cups.

“This place is packed with people, even saw some of Dakota’s girls and a few G-Men,” Minnie rambles handing Sara two cups,” You sure no one saw you---”

“I’m sure,” Sara interrupted.

 In the mirror I watch Jean splay out on one of the beds and Minnie jumps on top of him, he curls his arm to catch her and they laughed as the bed shakes under their weight.

“I should see if I can wake Alan,” Minnie says, sitting up.

“That’d be fucking inconvenient as we were planning on  arguing about his death,” Jean retorts dryly.

“We aren't  arguing,” Sara said, “It’s decided. I don’t think we have use for him. He's got no skills and he knows too  much.”

“Oh, come on--he doesn’t know anything,” Minnie chimes in,” Not about us anyway. He could be a good help,  and you know it Sara—we need a bag man. Do you really want to waste killing him, hiding the body and all the loose ends. He’s got nothing to lose, he’ll listen to us--”

She is talking quickly and nervously, like if she doesn’t spit it all out in time her voice is going to cut off.

“He may have nothing to lose, but he has everything to gain.” Jean says with a spoon in his mouth.

“Even more reason why he won’t betray us,” she countered.

I’d never been more thankful for someone in my life. Minnie was fighting for me, I couldn’t figure out why. I barely knew her.

“That’s the thing. We don’t know if we can trust him,” Sara said.

“You can trust me,” I mumble from where I am.

It seemed like perfect timing and while I expected some look of surprise they all just looked unimpressed

I sit up on the bed, resisting the urge to get too comfortable and lay back in the pillows.

“I’ll do anything. Please, don’t kill me. I'll cooperate. Please.”

Sara stands in front of me. She sighs loudly and speaks to me in a clipped voice.

“I’m planning another little hack job in the East in the near future. I need to get back in. Last time things went a little... rusty. If you help me get in, educate me about the East I’ll let you live if--”

“I can do that.” I lie. I’m saying what I needed to keep alive. I’d be dammed if I helped a kidnapper.

Her eyes sink into me.

“But, first I need to know who the hell you are. I don’t know what kind of hack or block you have. I can’t find you in the employee database  or the Tempus family database. So, either you are a friend of someone or a waiter. Or you work for the party venue, but you weren’t in their database either.”

It was obvious she didn’t remember me coming in with Dad, which is good. If they figure out just how much I could be worth they might hold me hostage again or set their sights on my dad. I need to gain their trust before making an escape. As for not showing up in the database, I can only guess they don’t keep top people like my  Dad in a database that can be hacked. If they did, anyone could hack in and find someone like Allison Kyto’s address.

 “I crashed.  It was a friend of a friend thing,” I lie.” Free booze.”

“Seemed like more of a friend to that Kyto girl.”

“She’s cute.” Is all I say.

“How can you tell ? All you motherfuckers look the same. It’s awful.” She sighed,”Okay, well  what do you do ? Who are your connections? You got past security, you were there for an hour, they don’t just let anybody hang around that kind of party.”

“Honestly,” I say. “I’m nobody.”

“I don’t believe you,” she counters sternly.” I already know your name is Alan. Jean told me. What is your last name ?”

 A flurry of surnames pass through my head, Chambers was Marco’s last name,  Rousseau was my mother’s maiden name,  Knight was my dead grandmothers maiden name. Anything but my real last name—

“Gray.” I said

“Alan Gray ?,” she says and I’m sure to act like I’ve spent my whole life responding to that name.” You mean to tell me you are nobody to anyone ?”

“Well, no one has come looking for me in what ? A few days ?”

“Two weeks. Good point,” she says

Damn, two weeks.  I know my parents are looking for me, they had to be be. I just need to play it cool and survive until I can get in contact with them.

“That’s actually kind of sad,” Minnie says in a distant voice and I shrug it off.

“Well, Minnie’s right. We do need a bag man,” Sara says, “ You look strong  and I’m not adverse to keeping you alive, but you’ll be bagging the mess from our jobs.”

“Jobs ?,” I say  before thinking I shouldn’t have said it.

“We all have to eat, collarboy,” Sara smiles.

I didn’t follow her, but I tried to hide it.

I know I’m not very convincing.

Jean moves from his spot in bed and sits beside me. He gently places his arm over my shoulder and cups my neck with his hands. For the first time I noticed he isn’t just thin, his arm is strong with muscle and there is something hard and flat against his bicep.

He points a dark blue painted fingernail at Sara.

“Ace Hacker”

His finger moves to the bald, muscle man in the corner with the cross in his forehead

“That’s Saint. The Muscle.”

I make a note of how impossibly fitting that name is.

Jean points to himself

“ Insider  . . .  occasionally joyboy”

He flicked his hand dismissively towards his sister

“Adorable sidekick”

Minnow sticks up her manicured middle finger and squeezes her face into that annoyed look.

Jean takes my chin and turns my head so I am facing him. I’m taken instantly into his unnaturally clear violet pupils, which I was sure had been gray before. His eyes have an absorbing quality, like they could hold my gaze permanently and I'd be just fine with it.

“We are all, let’s say… assassins,” he explains matter-of-factly. “All working for the Shynjuku Cartel and in turn the chrome cartel. . . Welcome aboard, I’m so sorry our HR person  is out at the moment.”

If he was going for shock value he got it . I had thought drug dealers, cartel or something but…. assassins.

I thought I heard Sara give a small laugh, but when I looked up at her she looked dead serious.  She was picking up two of the Styrofoam cups Jean had brought in and handed one to me.

Inside is some kind of rice and meat mixture and it reminds me of how hungry I am. I cautiously take it from her.

“Just like that ?,” I say,” You’re not going to kill me or … sell me for parts ?”

Sara laughs a little and I actually see it, “Let’s say you have a little more  leverage.”

She extends her hand to me and I take it, the minute I do I realize I am shaking hands with the same hand with my System Identification Number tattoo. I turn my wrist to obscure the tattoo from her view. The first chance I get, I need to get rid of the tattoo, I can’t have them knowing who I really am or my real name. If they discover I’m the son of Mr. Kyto's secondhand man,  they’ll do to me whatever they were going to do to Allison.

I’m ready to ask them my next question, where the hell are we , when the balcony door bangs open and there is the kid.

“What the hell are you doing ?,” he barks at Sara.”You were shaking his hand ! Why the hell where you shaking his hand-”

“Go. Back. Outside,” she says sternly closing her eyes.

“No! How could you touch him ? How can you talk to him ? He’s one of them !  Don’t you care-”

His voice is strained and pitchy, he is gesturing violently at me. He looks unhinged.

“I said shut up," Sara says through gritted teeth. "You don’t know--.”

“I know what you told me—,” he interrupts

“Stop it!,” she snaps at him and pulls him by the shoulder like she is going to shake him. Despite the sudden grip he barely moves.

Sara jerks  him back out to the balcony by the collar and slams the door when they are both outside.

I peer through the glass and I see them arguing, with full arm movements and muffled screams, but beyond them I can see the skyline of the LOLA sprawl. The sprawl is made up of what was once Los Angeles and Las Vegas and it's breathtaking from this view. It's random assortment of  skyscrapers and spires seems to have just elevated right out of the white dust of the desert and goes on forever

“Why are we out of the sprawl ?,” I ask Minnie.

“Nuclear bomb sighting. It's why the alarms went batshit crazy. This is one of the safe zones, it used to be a  resort so, it’s more cush than the other safety shelters…come here,” she says patting a spot next to her on the bed.

Jean has moved on and is doing something in the corner, sharpening a knife I think. I lie down next to Minnie and she presses a button on the side of the bed and the bed goes from a thick firm foam block to a soft plush. She touches the button again and the bed begins to warm up as little massaging balls begin to move underneath our necks.

“I take it you come here a lot ?”

She shakes her head and purple hair covers her face.

“This is the first time we’ve actually been evacuated for a nuclear bomb. I was kinda hoping I'd get to see the place go up in flame, but it looks like a false alarm.” she says as she moves her hair out of her face.

I’m about to thank her for sticking up for me and saving my life when there is a loud smack from the balcony as a chair makes contact with the glass causing a crack to spider against the pane. After a beat,  the yelling escalates even higher.

“What did I do to that kid ?,” I ask her.

“It’s not you, Luce is just always kind of angry. Like mother, like son you know ?”

“He’s her kid ?,” I clarify.

“Uh, yeah, don’t you see the—oh!,” she stops suddenly  and looks into her Syndicate.

Jean turns his attention to her.

“What happ--,” he starts

“Shush!,” Minnow says holding up her finger.

It’s strange watching her look into the Syndicate when no one else in the room has one on. She is privileged to what’s going on in the real world, while the rest of us have to live with , well the other real world.

Suddenly Minnie claps her hands together.

“Told you, it was a false alarm ! The threat is lifted, we can go home !,” she smiles.

I’m not sure why she is so happy, it seems much better in the safe zone.

The balcony door slides open, Luce and Sara step through and they both look exhausted, I notice one of his cheeks is redder than the others.  Luce is holding a holoscreen displaying the same message Minnie just read.

“Let’s go,”  Sara commands picking up black duffel bags. "They’re loading the buses,  I  want to be on the first one.”

Luce walks past me and for the first time I notice it.

His left leg is gone.

Well, not gone. A  cyberntic leg sits in it's place, but it's unlike any cybernetic extension I've seen. Instead of looking like skin it's brushed metallic and almost...abstract. I'm so busy staring that I don't see as he casually slams the side of the screen into the raw spot on my ribs from where he had been kicking the shit out of me. The pain radiates through my teeth and I’ve never wanted to punch someone in the face more in my life

****

- 2-

I followed them  out of the hotel and joined the herd of people heading towards a fleet of buses with rusted Republican logos on them. Now would  be the perfect time to slip away, but Minnie keeps her hand  clenched around the back of my dirty dress shirt.

I could easily overpower her, but I really didn’t really want to hit a girl. Especially a girl who may have saved my life. And now more than ever I knew I had no where to run to except endless desert.

 “BUSES TO THE LEFT GO THE SPRAWL. BUSES TO THE RIGHT GO TO THE VALLEY. THE TRAIN FOR THE BASE IS ON ITS WAY,” A man in a starched Republic police uniform was shouting into a speaker.

Minnow pushes me to the left. Sara quickly finds a seat near a window and puts her hood up. Luce goes to stand near the back, but Sara grabs his arm and forces him into the seat next to her. The bus  begins to fill up, so I hold on to the railing and stand, Jean stands in front of me, our chests touch. Minnow slips to the back and is sitting in some guy’s lap laughing flirtatiously.

This bus had quite an eclectic crowd; people in all  black that don't make eye contact, the most  beautiful women I’ve ever seen showing off red tattoos down their backs, younger people in brightly colored clothing.

I turned away and looked out the window at where the buses to The Valley were loading. The people on them are  lower key than the crew on the bus we were on. I see more families and children but, none of them were really talking to each other.  They all just looked really freaked out.

I made eye contact with an older woman who briefly took me in and then turned away from me like I was poison.

“Valley dust,” Jean said leaning even closer to me, “They live outside the sprawl. Primitive I say--there isn't a god damn thing out there. They are all too afraid of being corrupted... Instead they want to be controlled like puppets.”

“Is outside the Sprawl so bad ?,” I ask and he shrugs

“Sara seems to think so. She was one of them.”

I glance back over.

A preteen girl  with dark black hair on the Valley bus holds her hand up to the window and watches as her handprint forms on the dirty glass. She draws a heart around her handprint with her index finger. A younger girl in the seat next to her copies her. I notice dark marks on the palms of their hands. The closer I look, I noticed a few other people had them.

“What are those marks on their hands ?,” I ask

“You ask a lot of questions,” Jean responds. He leans against the railing and closes his eyes as the bus starts up.

Minnow is still giggling with the guy, her legs propped up on the seat now. From what I could see of her face Sara had her eyes closed too (but a hand nestles her concealed gun) and Luce is looking down at the holoscreen, his forehead leaning against the seat in front of him.

I study Luce and Sara for a second. Their profiles are relatively similar; tanned skin, flat cheeks and the same sloping nose. But, he is like a less severe version of her.  Sara’s eyes were emotionless and black, blood red hair buzzed to her scalp; while Luce has a full head of  thick dark brown hair, with deep long lashed aquamarine  eyes set far on his face.

It gave him a youthful  innocence I didn’t believe he had.

I want a look at his cybernetic leg, but he changed into long pants that covered it.

“Can I ask one more question ?,” I say to Jean as the bus lurches forward and the sound of the engine drowns out my voice.

“I’m sorry, but you really aren’t my type,” he smiles.

Even though I wasn’t technically a hostage anymore, it still unnerved me how friendly the Dorys were. I’d been on dates with girls who smiled at me less than they did.

“I was going to ask you about Sara. Do you know why does her son hate me ?”

He sighs and swings around the railing to lean closer to me.

“Luce hates you, because he thinks his mother hates you. And not you specifically, Alan. Just anyone associated with Tempus." 

"Okay, why would Sara hate Tempus?," I continue.

"Sara's husband, Derek was killed because of Tempus," he answers and then seems to think on it."Well, actually, to be fair...he was killed by Tempus."

Without needing to ask another question, Jean leans forward and begins whispering in my ear.

" You see Derek Grace was this ace big shot tech guy, he had all these scholarships and fellowships for his work in. He was fucking brilliant. Fucking genius. Sara met him when he taught classes to her group home. Did I mention he was a saint, too ? Sara claims she fell in love, but I think she wanted a ticket out of the group home. She got pregnant with Luce at 17, they got married and Derek quit his academic stuff to get a higher paying job in counter-hacking at the Tempus Republic office--”

“I didn’t know Tempus had a Republic office,” I shoot out before thinking. Someone who is nobody wouldn’t care.

Jean just smirked.

“Yeah, well there is a lot you won’t know. I ran in the same circle as Derek and Sara . Well, I was a kid, so I wasn’t so much running as I was trying to keep up with them and still make it home for school in the morning. Anyway, Derek used to always talk shit about how he hated Tempus, but couldn't say why for security reasons. He used to tell us how he hacked into their system  and found out the craziest shit. I guess the wrong person caught wind of it and seven years ago--”

“They took him ?,” I finished, trying to keep up.

“They shot him dead."

I was hoping he wasn't going to say that.

 "I was at the apartment that night. Tempus sent a fucking firing squad after him, right to their front door. It was ridiculous. But, good ol' Derek just stood before them, held up his hands--”

And at this point Jean raised his hands, just using his chest to balance on the bar.

“and announced he was going to say goodbye to his family. He moved to kiss Sara, who was holding Luce and the squad fired Derek point blank. Right in front of her and Luce, who was 6-years-old at the time. I remember the very second after it happened... Sara was so  silent, so stoic she just stared them down,I think she had resolved not to let them win, but Luce—poor kid. I remember him screaming, just screaming bloody murder. I thought it was from seeing his Dad killed, but it turns out a few of those mercenaries has bad aim and well..."

Jean paused to tap his calf.

 " But, I don’t think Luce remembers that day at all. What with all the trauma. He just likes to pretend too. It gives him a reason to wake up every morning and hate someone.”

I tried to imagine my Dad killed infront of me and the image chilled me. Killing employees wasn't the Tempus I knew.

“The whole thing scared me straight for a bit and I went back home. But Sara, well the whole thing turned her into an even colder bitch. She just couldn't let them win that easy. She learned to hack until she was even better than Derek, she wanted to find out what was so important it got him killed. She was eventually approached by The Shy Cartel to work for them and in return they provided for her and Luce.

A couple of years ago, I was on the streets again joined up with her, she was with Saint then, I’m not sure what his story is, he's a silent one. It’s just been us for a while…I guess until you came along.”

I wondered  where home was for Jean and what forced him back into the streets, but I didn’t ask that. And I couldn't help but to notice he didn't mention his sister.

“Does she really think kidnapping Allison or me is going to bring her any retribution for a death that happened 7 years ago ?”

Jean shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes, which were looking  a little strained, his pupils were trembling.

“Look at you, Alan.” He sighed with a smile, “You’re bringing back sad memories for me. Look just don’t pity her. We all have a past, but mostly we have the present and if we're lucky a future.”

“I don’t pity her.” I say. And I don’t. She stole my life from me and I hate her for that.

Jean just nodded his head and closed his eyes again. I stared at him as he somehow managed to fall asleep  standing against the railing.

The passing scenery out the bus window was nothing but  powerdy white dessert. The white covering the ground wasn’t just sand, but leftover nuclear ash. I had never seen so much of it one place. In junior high we had taken field trips to the nuclear ash conservatories in the North District. They were parts of land the government kept  just as they had been after the  Wars for study. After so many years the ash wasn’t even a little bit radioactive, but it was still creepy, how it never evaporated or melted after all this time. It just remained as a leftover from a decades old war.

The ride to the center of the  LOLA sprawl was 5 hours. I don’t think it was that it was far away so much as the bus was moving at an extremely slow pace. Minnie had moved to the a seat between Sara and Luce and at some point and had fallen asleep on Sara's shoulder. Even through her hooded face, I got the sense Sara was asleep too.

Luce just sat and stared at his screen the whole ride, even though I’m pretty sure he had it turned off. It was a government issue screen with an Education Sector seal on the back. I  guess the whole “school not being my thing” only applied to Minnow. I  almost sympathize with his boredom, but then I see the band on his wrist and remember he killed a man for it.

As if he can sense I am looking at him, Luce turns his head and we make eye contact. I quickly look away, but not before I swear I see something flash in his eyes.

When the bus enters the Sprawl it carefully curves around the wide streets and stops in front of a bus depot. The doors were barely open before people begin to stampede off and into the musky city streets.

When I finally step through the bus doors the erie quiet strikes me. Save for the sound of heels and footsteps it feels like someone turned the volume down on life.  The city had been completely abandoned.

“Looks like everything is still in one piece,” Jean observed stretching his arms, ”Damn.”

I hear some of his joints pop as he leans back.

Minnie takes my hand and leads me as we turned down the streets and through dark alleys. The sprawl wasn’t so different than the one I had left, but the structure was more chaotic. Less reason and sound. Some buildings were gleaming crystal edifices and others looked like they had been gutted years ago.

We walked through back alleys and on to an open street of brick a homes built close together. The streetlights were  dim and gave off more shadows than light. Sara led the way to a square brick house at the edge of the street.  The door rested off its hinges at the top of a cast iron staircase. She ascended the steps and peeked through the gap created by the dismantled door.

Sara opens one of the black duffel  bags and pulls out a black revolver. Looking reluctant, she hands it to Luce--who grabs it carefully.

"Don't you dare shoot this," she whispers to him

Sara pulls her own weapon out of the holster near her thigh and I see Minnie is now holding a tiny pink gun. Jean reached somewhere and was carefully twirling a knife in his hands and they went up the stairs.

“Coming ?,” Jean breathed.

I followed as they crept inside like spies in an old movie, Sara leading them, followed by Minnie, Jean and then Saint. At the top step Minnow flicked on the lights using her Syndicate and a figure shot out across the room.

I head a very quiet pop and he was on the ground in one quick motion, grabbing at his knee cap.  Sara ran over and took the man’s head in her hand.

“Are you alone?,” she demanded.

He sputtered.

He was young  and dressed kind of nicely in clean blue pants and shirt. His hair is pale blonde and his eyes are a fluid green.

“Do you want to live ?,” Sara pressed.” Tell me. Are you alone?”

“Yes.”

The thief’s voice is filled with regret. His eyes keep darting for the door.

“What did you take ?,” Sara continues, the edge in her voice disappearing.

He opened his hand to reveal a string of diamond necklaces and some packages of chocolate. Sara breathed a sigh of relief and twisted the boys neck in her hand.

All the life flickers out of him.

And I throw up.

“Yuck,” Minnie exclaims.

“I’m so--,”

“Don’t be sorry,” Sara said.”You’ll be the one cleaning that up,”

 She pushes her way inside the house and we follow. The furniture had been pushed on it's backs and ripped open. Clothes are thrown on the floor and everything is covered in broken glass.

"God damn, looters," Sara cursed.

Minnie  pulled her Syndicate out and turned on the large screen that hangs in the corner.

“Atleast that still works ! ,” Minnie chirps.

“I could have turned that on manually,”

Minnie just shrugs.

“Just wait until they turn those things to make you kill each other or even better yourself," Sara scoffs.

Minnie just smiled as she flipped Sara off.

It was just so odd, Sara has to be at least 30, I mean sure she was young, but she was still an adult. It was weird seeing Minnie, a teenager, treating her like that.

The screen was showing a live newscast , some kind of press conference. The man talking on the screen looked familiar and the text scrolled across the bottom confirmed it was Julian Walker, the head of the Republic Public Safety Sector and by default the chief of the Republican Police Force. In a country where lawlessness ruled, he had the hardest job in the Republic.

Julian Walker had come to the Eastern State for some kind of diplomatic dinner in Atlanta and I remember my Dad was invited, but didn’t want my mom to go because he always though Walker was too charming. I remember she got mad and they fought about it, which was rare. Mom said he was being ridiculous and it would look bad if she didn’t go, Dad said he refused to sit through the night watching some other guy charm her.

In the end neither of them went, and I’m sure Dad regrets it because later Allison told me a heated argument broke out over drinks between Walker and the State’s Secretary of Innovation and Technology. She said Walker got so pissed, he just up and walked out.

But on the screen Walker looks composed and despite his country just getting a nuclear bomb threat he seems to be in a good mood. His perfectly shaded brown hair is parted neatly and he is wearing a pressed suit.

“…Eastern United State drones were spotted and it was confirmed nuclear weapons were on board," Walked reports. "Communication with the drones was not returned and it was my call at the moment to issue the evacuation. I’ve been told this was a false alarm and The Eastern State Chief of Arms, Cyril Porter stated a system error caused the nuclear weapons to be put on the  drones and there was no threat.”

He pauses and something in his face changed. He was no longer looking just above the camera at the teleprompter, but right at the screen.

“Even with this knowledge, I want every good Republican citizen on alert. With tighter border controls, the State is drawing lines in the sand. It is my personal opinion this error, may just be a warning,” he added.

It was of course followed by a flurry of questions, but he walked away from the podium and the broadcast started over from the beginning.

“Drama queen,” Jean rolled his eyes and Sara smiled.

“Fu-uck!,” I head from down a hallway.

Luce walks out from down the hall, the bottom of his pants and shoes  wet. He was holding a waterlogged blue comforter.

“What the hell did you do ?,” Sara yelled when she saw him.

“Nothing.  They busted open a  pipe or something and there is water everywhere,  there’s a hole in your bedroom wall !," he shouts defensively.

“God dammit,” she breathed walking down the hall and Luce followed.

Minnie entwines her fingers in mine again and pulls me down the stairs and back into the basement. She leads me through the door to the bedroom she and Jean share.

The center of the room is obstructed by the biggest bed I have ever seen in my life. It's  covered in a variety of mismatched blankets,and comforters. Pillows in every shape and color are thrown over the top with a few stuffed animals mixed in. The rest of the floor is covered with storage bins and clothes. So many clothes.

The walls are bright with thinscreen posters of singers, landscapes and shirtless men.

 “We have more than enough room ! You can probably wear Jean’s clothes,” she says as she skips to the corner of the room and pushes back a mountain of clothing to reveal a cot.

 “You can sleep here,” Minnie continues.

We were silent as Minnie carefully scrutinizes every pillow and blanket before placing it on the little cot.

“Thank you, Minnie,” I said testing her name for the first time. “Thank you for sticking up for me, I-.”

“Don’t mention it,” she says with a light laugh.

I couldn’t help but think how cute the laugh was.

“Can I ask why ? I owe you my life.”

She shrugs and walks over to a beige vanity s in the corner. The top of the vanity was strung with blinking fairy lights and the rest of it is covered with little mint boxes, makeup and hair bows. She shuffled through the mess before opening a mint tin and taking a few pills inside.

“You’re nice,” she shrugs putting the pill on her tongue,” You see Jean and Sara and probably even Saint--I guess I mean  he doesn’t talk much-- anyway, they just hate everyone without even knowing them. And maybe I’m naïve but, I’m not like that. I can still see who is good and who isn’t."

Minnie reaches over and pulls a purple V-neck shirt and black dress pants out of the pile.

She throws them at me and then turns her back to me as she touches up her lips in the mirror.

“I am so burning that tux by the way,” she adds.

I falter on where to change, but since she is looking in the mirror I quickly undress. My body still felt like it had a layer of dirt and grime on it, but I knew it would be too much to ask for a shower right now.

Jean stepped through the door just as I was buttoning up what I assumed where his pants. His face quirks.

“I--”

“Hey, what’s mine is yours, brother,” he smiles

It wasn’t a genuine smile.

“So, looks like Sara and the kid are going to move into the basement, until the upstairs is fixed--,” he announces

“Tell me you are joking,” Minnie sighs.

“I only wish I was,” he mutters

“Saint and I are moving their stuff down, Alan you had better get rid of the body before the blueboys come around. They’ll want to make sure they didn’t kill any of us accidentally on purpose,” Jean said.

He backs out of the room, but takes a step back and peeks back in.

 ”And hey, Minnow, don’t do anything I would do.”

She ignores his last comment.