Rebirth of a Rebellion; Stranded in a Parallel Universe

CHAPTER THREE: Aidan's Alive

Aria smiled to try and cover up her anger.

"Duffy, could you hurry up, please!" she shouted.

         Bolt sat his bag on the floor. "Aria, you're not as tough as people think you are. You may have everyone fooled...but not me."

Aria's patience was running thin. "Bolt, don't push your luck. Stop while you're ahead--for your sake." Bolt got in her face, "or what!"

In the blink of an eye, she quickly grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face through the glass counter. The sound of the glass breaking was deafening. She yanked him back, pulling him down to the floor, and then she picked up a piece of glass and grunted as she cut deeply across his face.

He was groaning and squirming around on the floor while holding his hands up to his bloody face; Duffy came running from the back with four duffle bags in each hand. "What the hell happened?" He asked, staring down at Bolt.

"Sorry, Duffy--I asked you to please hurry up," she said, dropping the glass. Finally, the skinny fellow ran in and looked around.

"Is everything okay?"

        "Yeah." Duffy said, handing Aria the bags, "you're paying for the glass."

         "I know," she said, handing Devon half of the bags. "I'll cover it at our next trade."

          When Aria went to shake Duffy's hand, he just stood there with a blank stare, looking worried.

          "Is everything okay?" She asked.

           Duffy stares at Bolt, still groaning and squirming, lying on the floor, holding his face. "You shouldn't have done that--you should go."

           Aria was confused and couldn't understand the sudden mood change in Duffy. "Duffy, he had this coming...Bolt is a piece of crap--I did us all a favor...I won't apologize for that."

        "Aria, please just go."

        Aria was a little disappointed at how Duffy started acting. "As you wish, Duf." She looked at Bolt. "Still don't think I'm tough?" She said, walking over to him.

Aria tossed the bags into the back seat of their SUV; after she shut the door, she adjusted the weapons in her holster a little before getting into the driver seat; she slammed the door and started the truck up with her thumbprint. "Thanks for having my back in there." She said sarcastically.

"I knew you would handle it," Devon said, shutting the passenger door.

Aria sighed. "Bolt is a scumbag, he was lucky I didn't have my gun, or I would have shot him."

Devon chuckled. "We could always just wait for him to come out."

She thought about it. "That's actually a good idea."

He looked at her like she was crazy. "I was kidding."

"All I'm saying is that doesn't seem like a bad idea."

They drove back to a lay low. The buildings on the block had been hit by explosions. Some had holes in the roofs; some were missing entirely, while others were caved in. Nonetheless, some buildings had no front foundation, and there were also loose rounded fragments of different size rocks everywhere. The vehicles in the area also appeared as if they had been hit by explosions.

Aria parked in front of the only building that looked like the war had missed it. It was an industrial building about a block long and a half a league broad.