Ame Perdue

Chapter Two

I didn't even have time to brace myself before the car spun out as Janus attempted—and failed—to hit the girl. Time seemed to slow as the car jerked across the road, intent on following its own path. I slammed into the window, fumbling for something to hold on to. I automatically reached for the 'Oh S' handle, only to be met with the smooth felt of the roof. Curses flew from my mouth as the world around me spun out of control.

Beside me, I could hear Janus cursing as he tried to regain control of the car. I felt the car jerk as it hit the rumble strips on the side of the highway, then jerk again as Janus served back on. Both of us were screaming as he finally seemed to gain control of the car, the car still moving backwards as he slowly brought it to a stop.

I could hear my heartbeat in my ears as I sat there, my breathing coming out in small pants as I tried to figure out what exactly happened. My head was pounding from where it banded against the window, but as far as I could tell, it was just a nasty bruise. I turned towards Janus as my heart slowly evened out now that the immediate danger had passed. As far as I could tell, he was fine, just shaking up. I slowly exhaled.

He was staring wide-eyed at the front of his car, his foot still pressed firmly on the brake. I followed his gaze. We were facing the correct direction once more, but with night rapidly falling, visibility was growing increasingly limited. There was already a hint of orange coming across the horizon, soon it would be completely dark. I turned to look behind the car, seeing a lump lying motionless on the road. I grimaced at the sight.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him tremble. I cursed inwardly. He wasn't going to be any help if he didn't snap out of his stupor. While I was just as shaken up by what just happened, I was quickly calming down now that the initial danger had passed. He wasn't. He hadn't seen anything like this before, I had. How we grew up was one of the biggest differences between us. While he grew up in a small house, a crappy, rundown house with eight younger siblings, I didn't. My life started in the middle of the streets with nothing but an alleyway to call home.

It was a world where laws didn't exist, where all that mattered was staying alive. Nobody cared who you were or what you did, everyone was the same thing: scum trying to survive off of the rich's scrapes. I was good at living on the streets, I learned to pickpocket just about anyone, learned how to steal and con and lie. It was a world that I fit into well, far better than the one that I had found here. My 'parents' should probably be glad that I don't use half of the skills that I learned.

It wasn't for everyone. As much as I fit in with the other outcast of sociality, there was always the people who couldn't see the beauty in the simple way of life. Some people couldn't survive living on the streets. It wasn't unusual to see someone throw themselves off of a bridge or to see someone bait a gang into beating them to death. I had grown used to people dying earlier on, learned not to mourn the people that hoped to find a better life outside of this one.

Back then, someone dying made my day. Being the first one at the body meant that I would be able to grab anything valuable they might have had before someone else did. Often times I found an old piece of bread, an odd can hidden within their things. Sometimes, someone dying was the difference between having a meal that week or starving. Seeing someone throw themselves into a car didn't affect me anymore today than it did all of those years ago. They were searching for something better, they would be happier in death than they would in life.

This wasn't a road for pedestrians. All of the ramps leading to it had signs restricting the allowancing of anyone on foot. This was a spilt highway with a speed limit of 75 miles per hour with plenty of curves and twists to hide a person. Sure, it wasn't nearly as busy as it was before 279 was built as a faster way around this section, but people still flew down this road every so often. It was the perfect place to wait for death.