Kinship

Chapter 2

The air rolled through the unwound windows of the mustang, the cool wind blowing through the dark long curls of Jason's hair. It was refreshing to feel the breeze on his face, as his skin still held the humid heat of the chop shop. The city was loud this evening, being a Thursday night, and Jason observed large clusters of partiers on their way to the many clubs in the main part of town.

"Ladies night out, bud. Has there ever been a finer invention," said Drew, he too observing the many clumps of people walking along the sidewalk.

He revved the engine and pressed his foot to the accelerator when passing a specific group of women, all dressed in leather clad outfits and smoking on cigarettes. Jason couldn't help but roll his eyes at the gesture, wanting to be anywhere else at this precise moment. It was Drew's favorite pass time to go along the winding streets of the city and show off to as many girls as he could in his small, jumped-up Honda Civic, never actually coming away fruitful from his pointless endeavors.

Jason had to admit though that he liked the women in the south of the city a lot more than in the north. These girls were set primarily on clubbing until the early hours of the morning and spending the next day bent over a toilet seat to puke their intestines out. The women in the north, now they were a different story. They were much more focused on running for the gangs they associated with, most of them even known under the name assassins for how they hid amongst crowds and normal civilians to tempt the odd passer-by in, only to rob them and leave them in a pool of blood. Women in the north would make quick bucks out of Drew, this Jason was certain of. At least down in the south, gang activity was a lot less prevalent.

They turned onto the main high street and headed eastward, Drew's eyes still darting from the dark asphalt of the road to the many figures that lined the sidewalks, sometimes even swerving from the lane they were driving on and causing Jason to shoot his arm out and correct the steering wheel. Jason had long since given up on trying to stop Drew from being Drew. Now, Jason simply kept his attention on keeping them both safe and alive when he was around the boy, knowing that one inattentive-second could land them in a ditch somewhere with more than just a throbbing headache.

"You got the coordinates, Drew?"

Drew's eyes were locked elsewhere for a long moment before he tore them back to the road. Then he fished in his pocket for his phone and threw it over to Jason. Jason unlocked the phone with a swipe of his finger and was immediately met with the naked picture of Celine Montague, the town's most famous singer and actress who everyone thought was going to make it big in Hollywood. Jason examined the phone for a long moment before he found the folder that said WORK in big bold letters, clicking on it and finding only one file that simply read destination.

More confusion swept over Jason as he stared at where the two were meant to be heading. He double checked, making sure that he hadn't misread any of the local areas and landmarks; then he triple checked. No, he wasn't imagining it.

"Well, where we heading?" Drew asked.

"The scrapyard."

"The scrapyard? What in god's name is someone doing waiting for us in the scrapyard?"

Jason couldn't answer, as it was the same question that wrapped around his thoughts at this very moment. It felt like the air had gotten a few degrees colder and soon he was doing the passenger window up, disliking the feeling it was now leaving upon his scalp and against his face. Something wasn't right, and it was making his body tense and go rigid where he sat. His eyes were soon darting along the sides of the road and checking every shadow as if a group of people were about to emerge and riddle the car with bullets and fire.