Where Were You? -- Chapter 8: Krit (X5-157)
Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Wayne/X5-369, etc.).
“This place is so huge,” I
observed as Syl and I walked through the streets of Chicago. I'd dreamed about
visiting a city like this for years, but I can't believe I'm really here! “Can you believe how many people are out here? It’s busier than that time that Colonel Lydecker had all of us X-series line up in the courtyard for those generals that came out to visit that one time last year.”
“This is insane,” Syl agreed. “Can you believe that we’re in a real city? I knew from what we’ve learned in our classes that Chicago was a big city, but I never knew that it was really this big!” She grinned. “They’d never find us here!”
“Yeah,” I said. “What do you want to do first?”
“We should probably find a place to stay,” Syl
suggested.
“That alley looks good,” I said, pointing to a nearby alley.
“Krit, be serious,” Syl told me.
“I am serious,” I retorted. “This isn’t one of those little towns that we’ve been hiding out in for the past three weeks. We won’t be finding any abandoned houses on the edge of town here. We need to be realistic about this.”
“I hate being realistic,” Syl said.
“So do I, but we don’t have a choice about it,” I
reminded her.
“Yeah, we don’t want to get picked up by the local authorities and get put into the foster care system and split up,” Syl agreed. “I still say that we should exhaust all of our other options before we spend the night in an alley. Don’t you remember what the older ones all said after they got back from that mission that Lydecker sent them on almost three months ago about how dangerous it is for a normal child to be by his or herself at night in a place like that alley? We have to pretend to be normal. It’s as dangerous for us at least for the time being as it is for them.”
“I know,” I said. I gestured towards a group of kids
in the alley. “Then it’s got to be bad for those kids over there, huh?”
“Krit, for heaven’s sake don’t point like that,” Syl hissed. “Good grief, they saw us.”
“Hey,” the oldest kid spoke up. “You guys new in town?”
“We are,” I said defensively. “What do you want?”
“No need to jump down my throat,” he said. “I’m Jasper. I just wanted to know what you were doing. You look like you’re new in town.”
He probably did want to know what we were doing, only he wanted to know so that he’d have a valid excuse to try to beat us up later. “I’m Jason and this is my stepsister Kim.” I saw Syl give an almost unnoticeable nod of approval in my direction. “We’re just trying to figure out what we’re gonna do here.”
“Well, why are you here in the first place?” Jasper asked.
“His dad and my mom are drunks,” Syl lied. “Big-time drunks. They used to beat the hell out of us all of the time when they weren’t beating up each other. We had enough so we left our house and we haven’t looked back.”
“Happens all of the time,” Jasper commented knowingly. “That explains the ‘cuts?”
“With me, anyway,” Syl said. “Mom got jealous of my hair. It’s blond and it used to be really long and pretty. A few days before Jason and I ran away, she had some tequila and got upset that I had pretty hair like all the snotty cheerleaders did, whatever that meant, and cut it off and shaved my head.”
“I just thought that it looked really cool,” I told
Jasper.
“You don’t have to worry about that anymore,” Jasper
assured us. “You guys want to join my crew?”
“Crew?” I repeated.
“Yeah, those guys over there,” Jasper said. “We live out here on the streets, we steal what we need, and we’re free. I’ve only got a few basic rules. First rule: no whining about how what we do is illegal. No shit it’s illegal. All of us ran away from what passes for a home one way or another. How do you think we’re going to live? Second rule: everybody does their fair share of what we need to do. If you’re being lazy when you’re not supposed to be without a good reason, like when we’re out getting food or money, then you can kiss my ass and go away. Third rule: no squealing to the police. None of us wants to go back to our families or what’s left of them if we even have a family. That’s pretty much it. You guys in?”
“We’re in,” I confirmed.
“Great,” Jasper said. “Come with me and I’ll introduce you to the rest of our group. We don’t have a name that we call ourselves.”
“You don’t?” Syl wondered.
“Nah,” Jasper said. “We couldn’t think of one.”
“Do you mind if I have a word with my sis first?” I
asked. “We’ll be right there.”
“Nope, go ahead,” Jasper said.
We moved far enough away so that Jasper couldn’t hear us. “What is it?” I
whispered. “You don’t like this idea.”
“Krit, doing this could draw attention to us,” Syl pointed out.
“I know what I'm doing." I crossed my arms in front
of my chest annoyed. I might be only nine, but I'm not stupid. “But we’ll be safer in a group, at least for the first few months out here on our own until we really get the hang of living here in the Outside. Plus, Lydecker won’t think about looking for us in a gang of normal kids. He’ll be looking for us in the foster care system or hiding out on the streets by ourselves or at most in pairs and not with anybody else, whether they’re part of our family or not. This is our best option. Even Zack would have to agree.”
“Yeah, right,” Syl said, but she did start to smile at that thought.
“Maybe Zack wouldn’t like the fact that it’s our best option,” I conceded. “Zack doesn’t like anything, though. At least he doesn’t show it that often if he does.”
“Good point,” Syl agreed. She looked thoughtful for a moment. “Okay, it’s your call on this one.”
“Thanks,” I said. We walked back up to Jasper and I smiled. “Sorry about that. Kim was just a little nervous about this.”
“No problem. I understand.” Jasper led us over to the other kids. “Guys, we’ve got some new friends. This is Jason and this is Jason’s stepsister, Kim. Jason, Kim, I’d like you to meet Gabriel, Matt, Lauren, Bruce, Andrea, and Melissa.”
“Nice to meet you,” Lauren greeted us. “Welcome to our crew.”
“Thanks,” I said. I blinked in disbelief at her hair. I didn’t think it was genetically possible or even artificially possible for somebody to have hair that was that shade of pink.
“Do you like the dye job?” Lauren asked. “I did it myself.”
“It’s interesting,” Syl said.
“When your hair’s long enough, I’ll dye yours,” Lauren offered.
“Maybe,” Syl said. “If Jason and I are here long enough.”
“Of course you will be,” Matt told us. “You’re with friends.”
I smiled. I liked that idea. I hated being without any of the others of my family and I wished so hard that we would all be together again, but this would be pretty good, too.
TBC