One of the Fallen

Chapter 6: On the Run

Just before the sun could reach its peak above the houses Cai led me to the rear of a store and told me to stay put.

"Where are you going?" I asked, he pointed at a surveillance camera just out of range of detecting us, and slowly he clung to the wall and inched toward it. He reached up and grabbed for it, but he was too short by a fraction of an inch. He mouthed minor curses then pulled up a box from nearby and used it to reach the camera. He gently pushed down on the front of the machine near the lens and the adjustable head lowered until all it viewed was the cement ground directly below it.

"Okay," he whispered as he walked away from the side of the building. "It's safe." I came out from behind the wall I was using to hide and joined him in the middle of the empty back alley.

"So..." I kicked some gravel and looked around the lot. "What are we doing here?" he glanced over at a donations bin beside a nearby fence and flashed me a grin. I stomped my foot down. "You're not serious?"

"Sophie, look at us?" I turned my attention to my bare feet and exposed ankles. I nodded in agreement... although I hated knowing I was stealing from the less fortunate. Cai reached in and tossed a few garbage bags full of clothes on the ground. While I stood there clutching myself in guilt he took the initiative to rip them open and expose their contents as emotionlessly as a man gutting a fish. Once finished he looked up my way with a puzzled expression on his face.

"What?" he said, he got to his feet and brushed off his muddy jeans. I shook my head.

"It's nothing." I then took to the piles of clothes laid out on their plastic bags and sifted through looking for anything worth wearing. Soon I found a shirt that surprisingly didn't smell bad and a worn out pair of jeans from Levis that I still considered useable. A pair of shoes caught my eye of in the corner of another pile and as I reached for them Cai leaned back up from the same pile and surprised me.

"Getting too into this are we?" I grumbled and whipped the sneakers on impatiently.

"No, just didn't see you there is all." He grinned and turned around; pulling on an oversized fundraiser shirt then completed it with a long trench coat that took me off guard.

"They hide your wings pretty well," I said after realising the purpose of the jacket. He laughed.

"If it's good enough for The Falcon it's good enough for me." He then manoeuvred a bit with the hem of his shirt before he could button up the coat.

"What's wrong?" he flustered a bit and continued with tugging on the hem.

"My wings don't fit this dumb shirt, even though it is too big the neck is too small to fit them through." I shook my head and got him to take off the jacket.

"Hold on," I said, and with a loud riiiiip I tore the back of the shirt open enough for his wings to pull through.

"Thanks," he said, I grinned.

"No problem." After I made sure the coast was clear I took to behind the bin and changed into my new clothes. I patted down some lint on the shirt and found out one of the pockets of the jeans had a hole the size of Texas... yeah they were real new!

"How are you doing?" I did up the zipper than came out from behind the bin.

"Fine, but I won't win any style points...that's for sure." Cai then contracted some shoes and tossed the left over donations back into the bin."Like we weren't even here." I added as he was about finished.

"Yeah," he tossed the last pile in and checked for any reminisce. "And just the way I want to keep it too."

~x~