The Uprisen

Chapter 18

For hours, he drives around to clear his head.  No music, no passengers, just the crisp fall air blowing through the windows.  He knows he should be at the Toher Mansion, helping the others, but he only finds himself driving in the opposite direction, looking for The Seekers new headquarters.

Finding it is a bit more difficult than he'd anticipated, but he can tell that he's close.  It'd be somewhere out of the way; somewhere without any traffic or even residents.  He makes a right turn into some abandoned neighborhood.  Roofs of houses are caved in, and weeds and grass grow against porches and swing sets.

Still too obvious, he thinks.

He drives forward, until he hits a dead end.  He looks left-toward the woods- and right-toward the city-and he turns right.  

Woods would be the obvious choice.

He drives a few more minutes down the road, and stops when he finds a red old abandoned hotel from the 1950's.  He parks in the back on the gravel, and shuts off the car.

I shouldn't be here.

Quietly, he shuts the car door and walks up to the back of the five story brick building.  He notices that it's a huge downgrade from the large factory The Seekers used to have, but that's why The Group wouldn't suspect it.

He opens the door, and breathes in the musty old air that the hotel holds.  In all of Massachusetts, this had to be the worst hotel in the state.  He ignores the smells and creaks on the wood panelled floors, and heads for the basement.  He tries to be quiet, so no one hears him, but the steps have another idea.  Halfway down, he decides that trying to sneak around in this place is about as useful as having a flashing arrow above his head blasting music.

He gets to the bottom of the steps, and hears someone in one of the rooms.  They're breathing is heavy, and chains rattle every few seconds.  He looks around for the room that the noise is coming from, and heads toward the one on the far left with a dagger ready in his hand.

He reaches the door, takes a deep breath, and stands in the doorway.

In a dimly lit room, a boy about five foot eight throws a few more punches at a punching bag.  With every hit, he lets out an angry grunt and puts more force into the next one.  He looks at the bag like it's an old enemy, one who's clearly done something to piss the kid off.

Without stopping, the kid mutters, "What are you doing here?  Aren't you supposed to be fighting The Seekers back at that precious mansion?"  He pauses, and uses his arm to wipe some sweat off of his forehead.  "Oh wait, no.  No, you're supposed to be fighting with The Seekers."

"Yeah, so are you.  Guess we both didn't want to kill children today."

"Yeah, whatever.  Today is just as good as tomorrow, right?  Besides, it's not like you haven't done it before, right Riley?"

He sighs.  "Devin, the girl had to go.  I made it quick and easy—"

Devin scoffs.  "For what, like five minutes?  What about the other three hours, Riley?!"  He suckerpunches the punching bag, and pushes it away toward Riley.  He takes off his gloves, throws them at the ground, and sits on the cool concrete.  "She was younger than me."

Riley sighs and combs his fingers through his hair with his other hand on his hip.  He's at a loss; he can't find any honest words to make Devin happy.  What he did was unacceptable, but he never imagined it'd affect the kid this hard.  

"Devin, why are you here?"

"I asked you first."

Riley waits a second, then joins Devin on the ground.  "I told you, I didn't want to kill anyone else."