Link City

I Work Alone *

Chapter 4: I Work Alone

When I finally stopped I was somewhere downtown, walking in one of the huge ditches that filled with water when it rained. I didn't remember exactly how I'd gotten here, or why. Somehow running had felt safe, and I'd clung to it, although my legs still burned now.

A car drove onto the metal bridge over my head, it rattled and a sprinkling of water fell down, splashing onto my forehead. In the centre of the ditch water still sat, too little to flow away into any of the pipes, but probably up to my knees, if I stood in it. I wasn't going to try. How had I ended up here? This was not a good area of town. It hadn't rained in a week, yet everything down here was soggy.

I kept walking, between the water and the place where the ground curled up into a wall. The sun was setting. I could see the red in the sky. A street lamp flickered on, up on the street above me. I was so tired. It would probably get cold at night. I needed somewhere to sleep. As if the universe had heard my thoughts and was mocking me, I saw the pipe. It was large, dry, a considerable distance above the water. I didn't fight it. Grabbing the metal edge, I pulled myself up into the circular opening.

When the next morning came I awoke, not really remembering ever having fallen asleep. A semicircle of sunlight fell across my legs. Everything smelled like damp, and dawn. I rubbed my nose with my sweater sleeve, snivelling involuntarily. Scooting forward a couple of inches, I let my legs hang out over the edge of the pipe. I wiped my nose again. I was kind of soar, whether it was from the exercise or sleeping on the ground, I was unsure.

My phone beeped in my pocket, and I jumped, banging my shoulder against the outside of the pipe. Swearing, I pulled it from my pocket. Low battery, but I'd also missed countless text messages and calls. Before the machine could die, I checked them. Same as before, sister, Dustin, Aria, some school friends. There were even some missed calls from the home phone. I checked Aria's first, almost out of habit.

Please be alive

I felt tears pricking the inside of my eyes. Maybe it would be better if I was dead, to them at least. Even so, I checked Dustin's next, unable to read any more of Aria's.

Im going to kill them all

Typical Dustin, but something told me this wasn't the same joking declaration he'd made so many times in the past. Thought I heard no tone of voice, and read no body language, there was a sense I got from the letters on the screen.

Youre marked arent u?

I promised you youre not alone

Me and aria spent the night at your house. Come back if youre breathing

I shoved the phone into my pocket. No use reading the rest of them. It was going to die soon anyways. Jogging along the bottom of the ditch, I felt muscles in my back pop. It felt good. Climbing almost energetically up the service ladder that would lead me to the street, I began to plot how to return to my home with the least confrontation possible.

In the neighbourhood where I'd spent my childhood, I began to have second thoughts. My family did not need to be pulled into this, or Aria. But I needed to see Dustin. I just did. I cared for him more than anyone, and putting his life in danger burned, but I had to. I just did. Who knew how the government counted people as accomplices anyways? Maybe it was all one big bluff. Maybe it had to be obvious, in front of a bunch of security cameras.