The Dome (Shadow Origins, Part One)

Truth and Pain

Going back to my bike, I rode it as fast as I could back to V's mansion. So out of breath due to this crazy war I had just been pushed into, I knew that the best chance I stood was with V.

This wasn't the first hostile takeover that V had faced. Stories were shared all over the dome about what had happened twelve years ago. Apparently someone from a gang, no one knew which one, had hurt V and hurt him bad. V didn't crawl, beg or fall. No instead, the stories go that V set fire to almost the entire dome.

Badass.

No one knew the secret little details about what had happened all those years ago, but from the information I had gathered today, maybe there was something there that added up to what had happened all those years ago.

Who the hell was Elias? What happened all those years ago?... Why the hell did I care??

So consumed with all of these thoughts, all the adrenaline and pain running through my body, I didn't know that the person in V's office...wasn't V.

It was Sandrino 'The Tank', and I was without a doubt...screwed.

"Uh...hey boss, I was looking for you," I said, plastering on a straight face with innocent eyes just for good measure.

Sandrino didn't say anything as he stood there, and everything that happened went by so quick I had no chance to even register it. Only after it had happened did I realize that I was a dead kitty.

Sandrino had charged so fast for a guy his size and latched a huge hand across my throat, body slamming me to the ground. Pain exploded all over my body but mostly in my head that felt like it had cracked on the hardwood floors.

"Kid, I'm disappointed."

Struggling to breathe and even to keep my eyes open, I clawed at his hand and began praying so hard I was sure I was screaming it.

"I take you in, I give you work and what do you do? You work for my boss, you turn on me without a second thought. No loyalty boy, none."

Lifting me up, my feet dangled almost comically. I felt the lack of oxygen begin to really hit me as I gasped for air that I wasn't allowed, "You think that Queenie wouldn't know that you had entered her territory? Or that Winter wouldn't call me to let me know that a small boy had broken into her territory the same day I send war terms?!"

Vision began to slip from me as I felt like my head was going to explode, "I had such high hopes for you, kid. Such a disappointment but I hope you understand, I simply can't let you go back to V and let him know about my plans. So I guess one more dead rat in the gutter."

Rat?! To tell the truth, I hated the word rat. I wasn't a rat, I was a cat!

With the last bit of strength I had left in my body, I took my hands and swiped up to his face. Clawing as hard as I could at his eyes, I heard him let out a sharp yell as I dug my nails in. Letting me go, I fell hard to the floor, I knew I didn't have the time to spit upon myself as I struggled to gain breath. I lifted myself up off the floor, took the closest chair to me and hit Sandrino as hard as I could over the head.

With that last hit, I took off running, stairs were no good. I had no idea who was here in the mansion, whose side they were on or if they just didn't care. Sliding open a window at the end of the hall, I heard Sandrino stumble out of the office and run hard towards me. Charging at me like a bull, I felt my heart pound right out of my chest but I couldn't stop.

Launching myself out of the window and onto the same tree I had seen yesterday, hanging off of a branch I slid as fast as I could down and took off at a run.