9: The Fun of Stealing

Currently in love with Eragon. Best book EVER.

A clatter up the street made them jump, but it was only a mangy dog looking for scraps. They had been led into what Logan imagined the cleanest part of the area, but it still looked sad and dirty. “Quiet,” hissed Alec. He and another girl, Thay, were showing them what they did for a living. Logan had also wanted to see whether Commander Brack or his men had showed up yet.

Thay stuck her head around the corner. She was fifteen, tall, with jet-black hair and bangs, and a nose piercing, clad entirely in black. Thay looked once more around the corner, then dashed out to the other side, the rest following behind. Under the filtered yellow light, the dismal street stood out of the shadows. Most of the buildings were single-level, a perfect example of urban sprawl. The bricks were faded, the windows dirty, the signs bright, kitschy, and annoying. They blinked in neon colours, though it was obvious no one was inside.

“This is the plan,” whispered Thay. “We want that building – Farmer’s Fun Foods. I’m going in from the front, and you wait in the alley until you hear me calling. Then come inside, load as much food as we can into your arms and sacks, then we’re leaving lickideesplit, okay?”

Alec, Flo P, Logan, Ji-Ji and Saraha all nodded and grumbled in ascent. Thay took off, stealthily and quick. She was almost a black blur, streaking over to the food-mart. At the door, she stopped. After a breathless few seconds, the door popped open and Thay disappeared inside.

Alec motioned them to follow. Slyly, they crept behind ugly buildings and under rusty balconies with dead and dried plants until they were next to Farmer’s Fun Foods. Alex put a finger to his lips, motioning the other to be silent, but whispered. “You ready?”

The four nodded. Logan felt his stomach roiling a little. This was his first real rule-breaking adventure since jumping the train, but he considered stealing worse. Still, it was all very exciting.

“Remember, we’re more important than the food. So what if the police nab our bag? We help our comrade before we take the food to safety. Although, don’t go fighting for a lost cause. One person who gets captured is better than two,” said Alec softly.

“You sound harsh,” said Saraha critically. “I’d go back for all of you, even Logan. Although, maybe not you, Alec, considering you wouldn’t come back for me,” she said distastefully.

As their bickering over morals continued, Logan drew Flo P off into a corner. “Let’s hope nothing goes wrong,” he said.

Flo P reached over and squeezed his hand, holding onto it reassuringly, for him and herself. He noticed her pale face, nervousness, the way she swung her foot when she was anxious.

“Are you okay?” he asked her. “I can ask Alec to take us back.”

“What are you calling me, a coward?” asked Flo P defiantly. She smiled in what she hoped was a sure way. “C’mon, nothing will go wrong. We can do it.”

Logan nodded at her. When Flo P wasn’t looking, Ji-Ji looked over, winked, and mouthed, ‘Good job.’

A shrill whistle sliced through the air. Everyone looked up. “That’s Thay’s signal,” announced Alec, and they streaked off into the building.

It was dimly lit, creating looming towers of Eezee Wipe toilet paper and Scrubbers kitchen soap. They noticed Thay in a corner, stuff her sack full of pears, ground beef, and potatoes. As they approached her, she hissed, “Alec, you get fruits and veggies; Saraha, beans; Logan, toilet paper; Ji-Ji, soap; and Flo P, meat.”

They set to their tasks immediately, and their sacks were full within fifteen minutes. “Go, go, go,” said Alex, and they all ran as fast as possible out of the store. Immediately, alarms when off. All that could be heard was wailing and screaming. Alec swore loudly, and took off, leading they way. He didn’t even try to hide and wasn’t cautious like usual; he streaked along alleys and backstreets without looking or caring.

Finally, the sirens stopped. Then a sound even worse met their ears: the sound of tires screaming on pavement. Flashing orange lights bounced along walls.

“There’s no way we can outrun them!” yelled Thay. Both she and Alec stopped. “You know what to do?” she asked him.

“Don’t worry,” he smirked, “I’ve got it.” He pushed his sack into They’s arms, and looked at them all. “See you soon,” he grinned hastily, and then ran off in the opposite direction.

“What’s he doing?” said Ji-Ji, uneasy.

“He’s leading them away,” said They as they ran. “Simple tactic.”

“That idiot! He was only pretending to be heartless, wasn’t he?” Saraha was frustrated.

“Don’t worry, he’ll make it back fine.” Even though she tried to sound indifferent, even Thay was worried.

They made it back to the hideout safely. Maxee, who was stacking and preparing food for dinner, looked up happily when they arrived. “Six full sacks of food! This’ll last us at least a week. Good job!” He looked up, noticing an absence. “Alec ran off, didn’t he?” He swore loudly. “Always showing off.”

He returned to stacking beans angrily.

Ji-Ji, Saraha, Flo P and Logan slumped into their hammocks in the corner that they’d been given the night before.

“He was pretty selfless, wasn’t he?” said Ji-Ji.

“Oh, stuff it,” said Saraha, vexed.

“He practically saved our lives, we should appreciate it,” said Logan, Flo P nodding in agreement.

“He may have, but say he dies or gets sent to an orphanage or gets injured – then it would be our fault, wouldn’t it? He may have saved us, but we certainly haven’t saved him.” Saraha rolled over and they lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

His arrival was evident right away, because nearly everyone was asleep. When the first few shouts broke the silence, the four groggily got up to see what was happening. Lots of others were peering out of their hammocks and out of sleeping rolls.

Alec was grinning, standing in the centre of the room, blood dripping down his face. His normally bright red hair was a gross brown and a questionable black substance covered his face. His lip was split and a bruise was blooming on the left side of his jaw.

Thay looked so revealed she might have started to cry. Maxee was patting him on the back, saying, “I should have known you’d come back alright, but that was probably the riskiest time yet.”

Eventually Alec broke away from his well-wishers and the cooing girls, ogling over his bloody face and ripped clothes, and came over to the Quad Squad, what Logan and Flo P had been giggling about naming their group after eating too many dried cucumber slices.

“Wow,” said Ji-Ji.

Saraha whistled through her teeth, and Flo P asked, “What happened?”

Logan nodded, frowning, “Are you okay?”

Alec grinned, and launched into his story of dodging police, hiding in a residential building, jumping out windows, tromping through a sewer, and finally finding a safe place to hide in the neighbouring area’s quarters. “So you’re lucky I’m here,” he said proudly. “I could be captured by the fat old men waving doughnuts and bats, calling themselves servants of the law. There isn’t ‘law’ anymore. Nah, I’m kidding. It was pretty scary.”

“What do you mean?” Ji-Ji asked.

Alec sighed, “Just have twenty tall, muscled, darkly clad and armed men pounding the pavement to oblivion behind you, and you’ll know the feeling. It’ll never leave you.”

“So what are you going to do now?” asked Logan.

“Wait until it’s my turn for it to happen again,” Alec said gravely.