Chapter 4: Undercover

Kid and Michelle are reunited.

Michelle's P.O.V. Earlier

Michelle ran as fast as she could when Kid ordered her to. She darted to the left as soon as she was out of the school. She could still hear Kid struggling with the guards as she cut through some thick trees that opened up to another small neighborhood. “Please be okay,” she whispered over and over.

She knew deep down he could handle himself, but her worrisome nature forced itself through. She contemplated turning back, but quickly threw the thought from her mind when she heard the rumble of a familiar engine a few minutes later. Two headlights shone on her from far behind. Acting fast, she dove behind a bush in front of a house that was barely visible in the night as the vehicle sped towards her. It let out a shrill whine when it came to an abrupt stop a little ways from her position. “It looked like whoever it was, was right over here,” one of the Harbingers said as he climbed out of the passenger's side of the raggedy truck.

Michelle split the bush in half, trying her hardest to see down the road, remaining as still as possible. “I don't freakin' see anything, man,” the driver yelled out of the window. “Besides, if he went this way, he'll go right near Wretched turf before too long.”

“Yeah, true. Between me and you, I think they're even crazier than Kiway thought,” the passenger grumbled as he climbed back in.

The truck sped off, leaving nothing but a desolate street, and the smell of burning rubber. Michelle didn't realize until that moment that she had been holding her breath the entire time. She looked back to where she and the truck had just came from, exhaled deeply, and continued en route to a distant gas station she could just make out down the way.

Halfway there, the adrenaline wore off, and her fatigue shone through. Her legs were burning and sweat was pouring down her face. She kept in shape, sort of, but this was a bit too much for her. She pressed on, however, as she was in this for the long haul. She may have just met Kid, but she was going to make sure he got home. She didn't really want him to die after everything he'd been through that night. Having him as a bodyguard didn't really hurt, either.

Before she knew it, the station's lonely parking lot was just a few feet away.

Kid's P.O.V. Now

Kid was in the middle of the field, fighting off insects and waist high sticky bush. Along with his heavy breath, he could see a few cars driving down the street in front of gas station. He couldn't stop looking behind him every few seconds. Growing up, he was always cautious, no matter what. He couldn't deny a strong feeling that someone would be attacking him sooner than he'd like.

Emerging from the field, Kid made sure the coast was clear before jogging to the station's nearest window. The small building had a surprisingly big parking lot. It was dimly lit, however, and provided enough light to just make out the pumps. Upon getting closer, Kid saw that the window was actually pretty big as well, and displayed the interior for any and all to see. The inside was brighter and full of junk food, sodas, and alcohol; the usual pit stop pickups.

Michelle was sitting on a plastic bench connected to a table almost directly in front of the window. He couldn't help but let out a huge sigh of relief. Her face was buried in her hands. She was visibly exhausted, making Kid start to feel a little bad that she got dragged into this night journey with him. After a quick look-around, he entered the self proclaimed one stop shop.

Warmth embraced him as he pushed through the glass door. Passing by the counter to reach Michelle, the clerk at the register, who resembled a stereotypical Brooklyn thug, eyed him up and down, showing utter disgust at Kid's very existence. “Yeah, yeah,” Kid muttered as he turned his attention to why he was there.

He slid into the seat in front of Michelle, apparently not to her knowledge as she didn't look up. “Hey,” he whispered, startling her.

“Oh my God,” she was struggling to regain her composure. “You're okay!”

“Yeah, I'm not goin' out that easy,” he said, peering out of the big window.

“Your ear, it's-- was bleeding.”

“I know, I'll take care of it later. Are you alright?” he asked, before he could stop himself.

“I'm okay,” she began to play with her hair. “I almost ran into those guys in the truck a while back, though.”

“Hm,” he looked down. “Well, I wasn't expecting them to give up anytime soon, if ever.”

“They said something about us heading towards Wretched turf.”

“The Wretched? Crap!” he hissed.

“What, are they really that crazy?”

“From what I heard, the craziest of the crazy,” he shook his head, while looking over Michelle's shoulder at the suspicious clerk, who was still eying him.

“Should we just wait here until morning then?” The store's bright lights glistened off of her innocent face.

“No,” he said as the clerk disappeared into a back room behind the counter. “We need to leave as soon as possible. I have a feeling something bad's about to happen.”

“Okay, fine,” she groaned. “Can I at least wait for another minute?”

“Sorry, princess, we're leaving now,” he stood up.

“Why, what's wrong?” she asked, looking around.

“Just come on,” he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her up, being more gentle than he felt necessary.

He led her to the entrance, trying to make them scarce before the clerk returned, knowing whatever he was doing in the back wasn't beneficial to the two in any way. When Kid's hand grasped the cold steel of the door, the clerk returned, brandishing a magnum. “Freeze!” his voice sounded strong and unshaken, like he'd been through this a hundred times before.

“Whoa, calm down now,” Kid threw his free hand up, feeling stupid for getting caught by and undercover.

“You're under arrest! Put both of your hands up, and turn around slowly,” he said, looking like the wolf who finally got those three pigs.

Kid couldn't think of a way to get out of the situation without catching a bullet, but he wasn't prepared to give up after everything. “We haven't done anything wrong, you can't arrest us,” he said, ignoring the order to turn around.

“I'm not after her, just you. I'm not stupid, I can clearly see you're an Angel. Everyone in the city knows about the assassination. I think it's safe to bet you had something to do with it. You stupid Angels started a war you cannot win. There's not one person in this city that doesn't want you dead, and that's definitely including me, so do what I said, or I'll blow your freaking head off!”

Kid was screwed, and he knew it. Being a gang member meant you were number one on the 'shoot first, throw away the body later' list. He honestly didn't know why the undercover hadn't shot him at that point anyway. He felt Michelle's other hand grab his arm and squeeze. Somehow, it made him even more worried about the outcome.

In these types of situations, he usually couldn't care less about what happened, but now, he was actually yearning for a happy ending.

Kid slowly started to turn towards the undercover, not knowing what else to do. His mind was racing with possibilities of how to escape, but they all ended with his brains being splattered on the wall. When his hope had completely dissipated, a young man and his girlfriend, completely oblivious to their surroundings as they laughed loudly at what was probably a corny joke uttered by one of them, sauntered in and stopped in the middle of the confrontation. The couple blocked the undercover's aim, providing just enough opportunity to escape.

The girl, now realizing what she had just walked into, let out a loud and absolutely terrified scream while Kid bolted out of the door; Michelle tightly holding on with no intentions of letting go.

They could still hear the angry cop screaming nothing but obscenities halfway down the long and dark road they stumbled upon after running into yet another eerily silent neighborhood.

Author's Note

Chapter 4. Hope you enjoy, any feedback of any kind is greatly appreciated, as it helps me improve, and lets me know my story has possibly entertained, or even wasted your time. (hopefully that's not the case though)