The Degenerate (TO BE REWRITTEN...SOON)

CHAPTER 7: The Mission

CHAPTER 7: The Mission

As the Cherry Bomb rumbled on towards her destination, I gazed out the window. A monochrome landscape presented itself under the thin sickle of moon. The road below us was hardly three yards wide, a scratch in the side of a cliff with a deep ravine below. A few glints from the depths told me that water rushed; probably a river.

“Excited?” Pete asked, popping my bubble of concentration. His hands shook like mine, bottom lip falling victim to his gnawing teeth.

I answered him in a shaky breath, mirroring his posture. “Kind of. Are YOU nervous?”

“You’re the one I’m nervous for, newbie.”

“Whatever,” I muttered. I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants, swiping a chunk of bang behind my ear. ACDC played in the background- their way of getting pumped up, the chorus line ‘I’m on the highway to hell,’ replaying. For some reason, it didn’t exactly set the mood for me.

Anthony sat up front with Ben, their conversation muffled by music. I watched his lips form words without any undertones of hostility; unlike how he talked to me. My feelings were still confused for that boy. It wasn’t that I liked him- I mean, I had Pete; a perfectly nice, funny, and attractive male around my age. Anthony was just…mean.

Even when he didn’t address me I felt inferior around him- like he was some elder of the degenerates or something that didn’t have time to associate with others. But it was just around me. The way he talked to everyone else was respective and polite, even. The only reason I could think of as to why I would affect his behavior so was because of that one cold night so many days ago- when I attacked him.

Maybe if he liked me I wouldn’t feel guilty about it anymore.

But wait- I didn’t care what he though, I just…wasn’t used to be treated like I was the gum on the bottom of someone’s shoe. Sure, I had been ignored most of my life- but that was different.

But why was I dwelling on this? Why did I KEEP dwelling on this- the subject of Anthony? Did it bother me so bad that someone might possibly hate me?

I turned to Pete, ridding my mind of negative thoughts. His eyes flitted from Anthony to me- he had been staring too. In that half-second that I caught him staring, I noticed his face- it was dark and deep, like he had been thinking painful thoughts, or remembering something unpleasant. When his eyes focused on me, the emotions disappeared and were replaced with a plaster mold.

My first instinct was to ask him what was wrong, but the little voice in my gut told me that he was a guy, and he wanted to deal with his feelings by himself. I couldn’t remember what cheesy romantic comedy that was from, but the advice seemed valid enough so I followed it.

“So what are the rules again?” I asked. We had gone over the ‘rules’ countless times before, but I was at a loss for an interesting subject at the moment.

Deep, complaining rumbles omitted from Pete’s throat. “We’ve gone over this a million times!”

I shrugged, thankful for the filled silence. “I forgot.”

He gave me an annoyed expression, ending its reign on his face with a single upward tug of his lip. “The main thing is to remember to stay hidden, and stay back. We can handle this; you’re only here for the experience. But if you happen to be caught up in a bad situation without one of us, then use what I taught you. You remember how to knock a gun out of someone’s hand?”

“Yeah,” I replied, though the memory was faint. The only thing that registered was a bare chest and heat. A lot of heat.

“Good.” Pete scooted closer to me. I blushed at the sudden proximity. My heart went into hyper drive, my throat swelling like a middle school girl with a crush. I chastened my body inwardly.