I'll Take Spades (Draft)

Chapter XVIII: Not so alone

I woke up in a different place again, I didn't know how long I'd been out but I knew it had to have been a while. A boy stood over me, observing me, "He's awake!" The boy called, I didn't recognize this boy, my vision was blurry so I couldn't see much of him but he didn't have Will's voice or James's red hair.

I watched as the boy left the room, my vision straightened and I looked around the room, i was in a nice looking bedroom, big closet, white sheets, I'm guessing this didn't belong to us, we'd broken in like usual, but still, i wish I could just stay here, it was quite here, comfortable.

The boy re-entered the room, holding the door for a slightly taller, white haired girl, Ace walked over to me, her face was covered in bruise, dried blood surrounding her nose and left eye, i lifted my hand up to touch her face but she grabbed my hand, "I'm fine" she sounded kind now, nothing like the other day, "Miles?" I asked "he's in the other room" She said, "After out little... disagreement... he decided he didn't want to be near me" If I'm honest i wasn't to sure I wanted to be near her seeing how quick she can turn deadly.

The boy was standing at the door, his face turned away talking to someone, "I believe there's someone you should talk to" Ace said, turning around and walking out the door, she tapped the boy on the shoulder as she did so and he walked towards me,."Hunter?" I said quickly, surely enough, I was either seeing wrong or the boy walking towards me was a beaten up version of my older brother, "Hey" he said calmly, "how you feeling? You hit your head pretty hard there"

I went to touch where my head had slammed into the concrete, "don't touch it" Hunter said to me, "how? You? Here?" He smiled at me, "they were trying to find a place to stay, so was I, I ran into them down a street a little while from here, I saw the red head boy carrying you and i realized who you were"

"your brothers not totally awful then" a voice came from behind him, Ace was standing in the doorway, smirking at the two of us, "you sure your alright" I asked, she laughed, "I've put up with miles of 12 years, this is nothing" she pointed at her face, before exiting, "Ace?" I called before she could leave my view, she poked her head back into my room, "can I see him? Miles?"

"I guess, his in the other room with Will, I wouldn't" Hunter looked at me as I tried to get up, I stood up and swayed a little, "woah" Hunter said putting an arm around me. He led me out of the room, the world was spinning for a moment but stopped.

The house turned out to be a small apartment, I was standing in the kitchen, a few people with me, Diana sat at the table eating an apple from the fruit bowl, James sat in a corner, Ace sat with him, they seemed to be on good terms now other than both of their faces stained with blood, "Where is he" I asked, Hunter's arm still firmly around me, making sure I don't fall, Ace pointed towards the door on the other side of the kitchen.

I walked through, Hunter not leaving my side, Miles was sat on the end of the bed talking to Will, "Hey" I said quietly, Miles looked up, "Hey" he said calmly, standing up, I backed up a little and he stopped, "Listen" he said softly, "I'm sorry" he genuinely sounded it too, "I didn't mean to hit you, I just lost it" he looked sad, "it's ok" I said watching his face, he looked up at me.

"No, it's not, I could have seriously hurt you last night" he came closer to me, tears in his eyes. This was the first time I've ever seen Miles cry, it was strange to see him like this, he tapped me on the shoulder and walked out the door. "You alright" Hunter asked, looking at me, I nodded and walked out the door without him. Ace stared at me blankly, not knowing what to say, "So what do we do now?"

Diana asked, Miles sat down next to her and dug his face into her shoulder, "well by now we're all wanted" James said playing with his hair again, Ace gave him a dangerous look and he stopped, I laughed hollowly under my breath and looked back up to the conversation, Will was starring around the room and his eyes layer on Hunter.

"What do we do with him?" He said sharply, he had a strong sense of dislike in his voice but I didn't know why, "excuse me?" Hunter asked, I grabbed his wrist, knowing how violent my new group of friends could get when provoked. "What do you mean?" Ace asked staring at Will, her black eye still as dark as ever, "Is he staying is he leaving"

"Staying obviously!" Ace snapped standing up, "He's with Ash, plus I kind of owe it to him" Everyone stared at her, "what do you mean?" Diana said softly, "she left me in a burning building" Hunter said brightly. Everyone stared at Hunter then back at Ace, who shrugged and went to sit next to me.

She sat by Hunter, and stared at him as if he were the first reasonable person she'd met all day, she turned to me and smiled, "so, how you liking our little group?" I laughed slightly, "I mean it's different" Diana smiled at me from the other side of the room. "Well, that's us for you" James said, the only issue in this room is that James, Ace and Miles had to be separated, other than that it was quite nice.

"We'll have to move soon" Will said, walking over to sit with James, "whoever lives here won't be very happy if they find seven teenagers sat in their living room. Ace laughed and stood up, spinning her gun on her finger, "that won't be too much of a problem will it?" She said with a smirk, "No!" Diana said sharply, standing up, Miles looked at her before looking at Ace, he tried to stand up but Diana put a hand on his shoulder, signaling for him to sit.

He sat down, his bloodshot eyes not leaving Ace's face, he had about as much blood on him as she did but his white shirt was spotless. "Wills right" he said, looking at Hunter, then at me, "You ok to leave?" "Yeah, yeah, fine" i said quickly.

He smiled at me weakly before playing with Diana's hair, Ace left the room and James gave a deep sigh, "this isn't going to work" he said annoyed, "what" Diana asked, "Her, me, Miles, this group isn't going to work out unless we stop fighting"

He didn't seem pleased at his own idea but he was right all the same, "well that's your problem isn't it" Diana said bluntly, looking up at James, "you should sort it out" "Me!" James protested, "James!" Hunter snapped, he held a tone I had never heard him use before, but it was effective.

James looked at him before slamming his hand on the table and getting up to leave the room, "Damn" I said impressed, looking at Hunter, "getting James to do what you say" he laughed at me, I could hear incoherent speech from the other room and James walked out looking pleased with himself, everyone looked at him confused, Ace walked out behind him and pulled him into a headlock, "That's for pulling me off Him!" She said letting go, James fell to his knees and got up, "Now were even" she said smiling impressively.