Waifs and Strays [Larry Stylinson]

Chapter Ten

Niall called for a meeting tonight. A meeting means our four captains come together and talk, pretty much what we always do. Our captains are the four eldest males of our gang; Niall, Liam, Zayn, and I.

I have no idea what Niall wants to talk about that needs to be labelled as "official" because I haven't been home all day. Zayn and I were out hunting for the entire day. But all we were able to shoot were two ducks and three squirrels which is nothing really. Ducks are made out of a lot of fat and meat, but squirrels are all skin and bones. That's not very much for almost 30 hungry stomachs. It's getting rather frustrating lately.

In all these 2 years that I've been the leader of the Sparrows, food was hard to come by. But recently we've only been able to gather enough food because we raided food transporters or stole from the shops every other day. It's our only alternative to feed all these kids but it's also so risky to resort to that strategy so often. It only increases our chance of getting shot or stabbed, or actually being caught by the police.

So, being out hunting for the whole day and coming home with basically no kill made my mood drop hard. Which sucks because I actually woke up quite content this morning, remembering my conversation with a certain curly haired boy just a few hours before.

We need to get that ransom money, and soon.

Niall, Zayn and I are sitting in our usual spots in the main hall, grilling our pathetic haul of the day over the camp fire.

"Guys, you have no idea what I learnt at the office today!" Liam burst out when he plops down next to Niall.

"Like what? How to shoot stray puppies whenever the job gets too boring?" Zayn jokes, turning the ducks on the rotisserie over the fire.

"Oh, you know that's already been part of the addmission test, Zayn," Liam scoffs dismissively.

"What is it?" Niall says, clearly eager to start the meeting.

"Chapman updated me on what happend at the station yesterday," Liam says.

Everyone goes silent, but Liam only stares back at us.

"So?" Zayn says while I jerk my shoulders up, telling him to go the hell on.

"I probably start at the abduction day," Liam suggests.

"The abduction day?" Niall says, "What does that have to do with anything?"

Liam looks at me. "I already told you, Louis," he begins, "I saw a Grey Skin at the office that day."

"I remember," I say and furrow my brows in concentration.

"He tipped them off, apparently," he murmurs, "He hinted that there's something "interesting" going on around town at the moment and that they should be watching out for a video for more information."

"Wait a minute..." Niall starts.

"Yes, Niall," Liam nods, "looks like they got their hands on it. Or maybe someone else. But it's online now, I've seen it."

"No way," Zayn groans.

I take an extra large gulp of my beer. This video has been shot in our cave, our shelter could be discovered faster now. It's not that hard to find a cave of this size if you really want to.

"That's probably how the Creepers found out, too," Niall says, "I mean the goddamned thing is on the internet now!"

"Can we get it down again?" I look at Zayn who has spent the most time at Burke's cyber cafe out of the four of us.

He shakes his head, though. "Wouldn't know how," he mutters, looking down to the ground with a frown on his face.

Then his head shoots up. "At Burke's is the only place where the Grey Skins could have gotten their hands on the tape," he says and looks at me pointedly. "Before we got there, it has only ever been on the camera, and after, it has only been on the stick that we put in Styles' mail box. And we watched him carry it into the house himself."