The Outcasts [Discontinued Version]

Chapter Twenty-Four - My Baby

"Mathews' Drawer."

I spun around and saw a man in black standing across me, leaning with his arms crossed against a side table. "Who the fuck are you?! Driver!" I shout.

"He won't hear you, and neither will your brothers. I apologize for scaring you, but I had to see if what Nathan has told me was true," the man says.

"Oh, so you're the ass who's gonna make this go away," I say.

"I'm not here to make the change go away, as you said. That isn't possible. But I am here to see if I can figure out how you came to be like this."

"Look, I don't wanna be this. It's hard enough with the fucking label on my back, now I have to deal with Nathan and the fucked up decision that he made!" I shout.

"Well, I'm sorry about that. But this can't be reversed, it's something you'll have to live with for the rest of your life," he responded.

"Fucking -- people will notice my not aging!" I put Shade down and toss the red ball somewhere for him to play with, I need my hands empty.

"That's wrong, it takes a certain amount of blood for a vampire to stop aging."

"So that means you've killed a fuck-ton of people."

"No, I don't kill. I take what I need."

"You're a sick bastard, either way you kill or not. You can't just do that to someone --"

"You're miscounting the people that like it."

I give him a blank look. "Again, either way you're a sick bastard."

"It doesn't matter at the moment, I need to get to the reason why I am here. I need to know what happened at the moment when your eyes first changed," he said.

"I was arguing with Nathan," I say with gritted teeth.

"What were you arguing about?"

"I don't see why that's --"

"Just answer the question."

"Fuck you, and fine. I was telling, or rather yelling at, him that I was feeling sickening invincible for three days straight."

"That isn't supposed to be," the guy said, seeming puzzled.

"Yeah, well. Nothing I do is considered normal anyway," I say, getting my cigarettes and matches out. Matches are cheaper.

"You know, your smoking could be the cause of this. How long have you been doing this?"

"Ever since I was fif -- twenty," I answer.

"That's a short time."

I raise an eyebrow as I lit my cig. "What do you mean by that?"

"You are twenty years old, are you not?"

"No, I've been smoking for six years. I'm twenty six."

He tisked at me. "It's not good to lie about your age."

"Fuck off, I'm twenty six. Cry me a river, build a bridge, and get the fuck over it," I say, taking in a long drag.

He just laughed. "Excellent use of words, Ray. But I have to say it's useless to lie to me."

"I'm not lying," I growl.

"Alright, for your sake, I'll let it go. But you need to be truthful to me if you want this to stop."

"I want this to fucking end. I don't want to become some asshole who thinks he's better than everyone just because he's a fucking monster," I say harshly. "The only thing I really value of myself is my strength and my humility."

"Well, I'm sorry. But this won't just end. You need to accept it."

"I'm not accepting anything you fucking say!" I shout, throwing my cigarette at him.

It didn't do anything to him, it just lay on the floor. For once in my life I wish I had the ability to be wolverine so I could just kill these motherfuckers.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I understand, what with what you've been through its hard," he says.

I just stare at him. "What?"

He looked at me quizzically.

"What did you just fucking say?" I question. "You don't know fucking shit about what I've fucking been through! Don't you fucking dare say that you fucking understand!!"

Then I hear Shade make a noise of pain and see he had tried to play with the still burning cigarette. "Oh, fuck! Shade! Baby," I panic, picking him up and looking at his paw.

I stomp on the cigarette and curse at my not picking it up without thought. "Oh, baby," I shush, instantly calming down as I nurture my cat.

"Well, isn't this adorable." The man said with a smile.

"Shut up. This is my baby, you can just go fuck yourself. I'm fucking done talking to you, goodnight," I say, walking away. "I don't care if what I am isn't normal or what you or Nathan expected. As long as I'm not like you, I'm fucking happy."

I shut the door separating the bunk area from the rest of the bus and set Shade carefully on my bunk, I get in and hold him tight. I can't believe I let that happen, he's not even two yet and he's gotten burnt.

My thoughts instantly go to me as a little kid and I think I start to cry..

"No, you won't be like me," I say as I hear Shade start to purr and fall asleep.