Runaway

Chapter Twelve

Dakota walked in front of everyone, the scowl on his face unwavering. Magnolia was concerned, as she stepped up to let him know that she was there for him, but Phoenix stopped her and told her that he needed time. She listened to him, but couldn't stop thinking about what was going on inside his head. She had no idea where they were going, and no one did. Slate kept glancing at Magnolia as if to tell her to ask Dakota where we were headed. Magnolia shrugged back, ignoring him.

Finally, when Slate couldn't handle it anymore, he spoke up. "Where are you leading us, Moses?"

Dakota whipped around, his blazing eyes getting suddenly darker, "You always have to seek a fight, don't you?"

Slate glanced at Magnolia, confused. She stepped up to put a hand on Dakota but he quickly backed away from her, shaking his head in fury. "I can't take you kids anywhere. It wasn't even five minutes in, and we were already spilling blood."

"Well excuse me, but I wasn't the one beating the crap out of some old man like you had some secret vendetta when he was just drunk!" Slate fumbled with the end of his shirt, not noticing how much worse he just made the situation. Dakota shoved Slate backwards, harder than he meant to. Slate went stumbling backward, cursing in surprise.

"What's your problem, man?" Slate shouted. Hudson shifted, shaking his head at the ground.

"My problem is that I feel like I have to babysit you and everyone else. The problem is that we could all starve to death in a few days and none of you have even focused on surviving because we're all too busy living our lives to the fullest. Which doesn't even make sense, because we are like dogs on the streets, strays that no one cares to even second glance at. My problem we have been through hell and back and we still have no place in this kingdom that we can call home." Dakota said, spinning on his heel and continuing to walk ahead of everyone.

Everyone couldn't look at each other after that, all silenced. Phoenix wrapped an arm around his little sister, whispering something in her ear. They all continued to follow Dakota, Magnolia straggling in the back, unable to stop wondering if the runaways would've been better out without her.

Everyone stopped, looking up at the tall building, a very old brick hotel sitting in front of them. No one stayed at hotels anymore, and Magnolia didn't understand how this one survived all the destruction and war. Dakota kept walking, strolling up right up to the front desk. The girl working there flashed a smile at the handsome boy in front of her, who looked as if he wanted to punch something.

"How can I help you?" She asked, and Dakota cleared his throat.

"Um, two rooms." His voice came out really rough because he had forgot about the water in his bag. The girl typed something into her computer, her blonde chopped hair falling into her face as she did so.

"Ten gold." She smiled again. Dakota fished out the gold coins in his backpack, tossing seven onto the glass counter.

"That's all I have. Can I work something out with you?" He swallowed, glancing around the hotel carefully. The girl looked from the coins to Dakota, not knowing what to do. The runaways piled into the hotel, crowding around Dakota, who didn't make eye contact with any of them. The girl looked shocked, scanning the crowd of teenagers.

There was a long silence before Dakota slammed his hand down on the glass, turning to the others. "Does anyone have three gold?"

There was a quiet murmur, and no one answered. Which meant it was hopeless.

"Well, I guess we'll head out of here then." Dakota began to grab his gold back but the blonde girl interrupted him, "Sure, it'll work. Let me take you to your rooms."