City Skylines

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I knew I was being followed, but I wasn't scared.  I was excited.

Sometimes being in the city is scary, but I'm never afraid of the people in there.  The gangs, the strangers, none of them.  Even the guy who was following me who is part of a gang and his fellow gang members were working to corner me right now.

I turned a corner and started walking a little bit faster.  The cracked sidewalks and bits of gravel and rocks didn't bother me.  At this point, I didn't think anything could bother me.  I didn't mind the gloomy weather: cloudy and cool.  The sun was barely up, so the cold and darkness should've bothered me, along with the man following me, but it didn't for a few reasons.

I reached into my sweatpants pocket and pulled out my phone.  Ready. I texted Rose.

I heard the guy turn the corner, I looked behind me.  My eyes widened and I started to run.  He did too.  Stage 1 was in action.  I knew there was another guy coming from the opposite side, from the road across from the Chick-fil-a, so when he turned the corner, I wasn't surprised.  Maybe Janessa would let us go to the Chick-fil-a if we finish early.  I turned into an alley, which is exactly what they wanted me to do.

But it's also exactly what I wanted to do.

I ran to the back of the alley until I reached the dead end.  I scanned the area in case something went wrong.  Two dumpsters, the highest point of one was maybe six feet beneath one of the ladders from the fire escape, some of the bricks on the walls around me were jutting out; those could be used to climb.  I heard footsteps near the opening to the alley, and I looked down at them.  The two guys were jogging down the alley to me.

"Are we ever going to get a challenge?" the one guy asked the other.  "When they said a problem, I thought they meant someone dangerous, not a teenage girl."  I really wanted to laugh, but I didn't.  Being just a teenage girl was one of my many talents, but they had no idea how much more I was.  They kept moving closer, and then I saw two figures drop from the roof and land soundlessly at the opening of the alley.  Stage 2 was in action.

Perfect.

The one guy pulled out a gun.  Ok, now I had to be a little concerned.  I may be skilled, but I didn't have a talent for standing where bullets aren't.  "Don't make any noise, don't resist.  And you should be fine," he breathed quietly, but loud enough for me to hear.

Right.  Sure.  I knew who they were and what they did, and I wasn't going to be "fine" if this failed.  Fortunately, they didn't know who I am and what I do.

And the second guy seemed surprised when the one with a gun passed out.  While he was fumbling for his gun, he was taken out too.

"Kyler, you're crazy," Rose said as she walked towards me, placing her tranquilizer gun into her bag.

"I'm fine, I do this all the time," I said with a shrug as I pulled out my cuffs and locked their arms behind their backs.

"But he had a gun!  And you know who they are," Mary Beth said.  She was tough, but she was always freaked out about everything.